INTERNET TOOLS
KNOW THIS! - INTERNET SECURITY IS #1
Secure your computer with Security tools
TOOLS For monitoring your articles on the Web against theft
FREE Tutorials and Applications
Get the Info Out to the Community
FREE CLASSROOM COURSEWARE TOOLS
HANDY DANDY DIGITAL GOODIES AND GIFTIES
- rollyo.com You can create your own searchroll (create your own set of sites to search) or use other people's searchrolls.
- Fundable - Get it to happen or get the money back. Allows groups of people to raise money to fund projects or make purchases.
- Raise money for a personal project.
- Pool money for a gift.
- Sell to a group before making a product.
- Collect money to throw an event.
- Raise funds for an organization.
- Collect money for a group trip.
- Buy as a group and get a huge discount.
- Free Cycle - The Freecycle Network was started in May 2003 to promote waste reduction. The Network provides individuals and non-profits an electronic forum to "recycle" unwanted items. One person's trash can truly be another's treasure!
- download.com Free or cheap software downloads find tons of useful goodies here. Specifically, these caught my eye, as a graphics/digital photography enthusiast: Easy Thumbnails (generates web thumbnails on the fly), Webshots, Font Thing, Cute PDF Writer, Colorpic, etc.
- Post your PowerPoint presentation online (it creates an online slide show) -
- Create pdfs for free - http://www.pdf995.com/
- Track what's being said on the web, track press releases - http://www.pubsub.com
Are blogs talking about you (or your org.)? - http://www.technorati.com - Receive email updates with the latest relevant Google results based on your topic. http://www.google.com/alerts
- Save a .ppt file as .pps, so the reviewer doesn't even need PowerPoint to view your presentation. Other shortcuts: press "B" for blank screen, press "N" for the next slide, press "P" for the previous slide.
- Store bookmarks: http://del.icio.us
- Monitor website changes: http://www.changenotes.com/
- Bypass Compulsory Web Registration: http://www.bugmenot.com. Type in the
website you'd like to access, and you'll get some bogus login info, that you can use instead of registering. e.g. - Shutterfly.Com allows you to set up independent websites to share photos, and there is no file size limit.
http://www.htmlkit.com/services/favicon/
http://browsershots.org/
http://jrm.cc/color-palette-generator/
http://www.ornj.net/software/
http://www.designerstoolbox.com/ - Web Accessibility Toolbar for IE:
http://www.webaim.org/techniques/articles/aistoolbar - Firefox Web Developer Toolbar extension:
https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=60&application=firefox - Don't forget Firefox and Thunderbird!
http://www.mozilla.com/ - How about a suite of productivity applications that run from a portable USB drive?
http://johnhaller.com/jh/useful_stuff/portable_apps_suite/ - SKYPE www.skype.com online phone and video... for realtime interaction and free communications (unless long distance charges apply...)
- A whole page of digital goodies http://www.cooltoolsforchange.org/resources.ph
- I also like the word-html cleaner here: http://textism.com/wordcleaner/ and backpackit
- Free, disposable personal organizer
- Google Search Technique: Use the syntax filetype. filetype:(txt) or filetype:pdf
To include this in your search type +filetype:pdf
to exclude it type -filetype:pdf
Example:if you were looking for music information for a certain type of music, but wanted to avoid PDF music forms or documents, you could create a query like: "The Band" wheels on fire +filetype:txt
If you wanted to find all the .edu pages about Karen Ellis. You will need to use syntaxes. Look at 3 examples below- allintitle:
- allinurl:
- site:edu
Google allows the following search:
allintitle:"karen ellis" site:edu brings you to a Karen Ellis but it is not me.
To find me use this oneintitle:karen intitle:ellis
Warning: when you are using more than two syntaxes you have to be careful sometimes using
allintitle: and allinurl:
together can cause search errors. Instead, use
intitle: and inurl:
This query works:
intitle:karen intitle:ellis inurl:cyberpg site:comI suggest you do all this with your own name and then also try using your email address and see what shows up for you :-) - Karen Ellis
REAL TIME TOOLS
Real-Time #1:
+++ FlightAware
One of a number of tools to track planes (both commercial and private) as they travel across Canadian and U.S. airspace. It's also possible (although sometimes unreliable) to track international flights either coming or going from the U.S or Canada. Many similar services exist (expect coverage of them soon). We like FlightAware because:
+ Track by tail number, airline/flight #, or airport
+ See all flights coming/going from a specific airport
+ If you register (free and easy) pages will autorefresh
+ Archive of past flight info
+ Near real-time location info (example)
+++ Amtrak Real-Time Train Status
+++ What's Playing on Sirius Satellite Radio Right Now
+ Page auto-refreshes as new songs/shows hit the air
+ Also searchable
+++ City of Seattle Real-Time 911 Dispatch
+ Also searchable back to 2003.
+ Yes.com
Near real-time access to music played on most commercial radio stations in the U.S. Search for stations and then review the list. 24hr archive. Example.
+ New York City Traffic Cams and Video Streams
Select your borough and go. A mobile version of this site is also available here.
+ Currently on the House Floor
A "virtual ticker" of what's being debated/voted on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. Seven day archive available.
