Windows/Mac/Linux (Firefox): Free design tool Palette Grabber grabs all the colours used in the basic design of a site—backgrounds, text, borders, and the like—and exports them to a wide range of compatible palettes. If you’re a Photoshop or GIMP user, Flash designer, or Mac user, you’ll be able to see precisely which colours work so well on certain sites and then, well, “borrow” them for your own work. The extension itself is smaller than some text files, and is well worth the minuscule cost for anyone who works in the realm of web colour. Palette Grabber is a free download, works wherever Firefox does. Pallette Grabber [via Download Squad]
You can spend hours figuring out how to lock down every browser in the house to prevent the net’s nastier stuff from reaching your kids. Or you can set up the web-boosting, attack-preventing Open DNS service to work with your router and drill down on specific prevention measures. You filter by category or content, block specific sites, pop up custom warning messages (as in, “Donny, I know what you’re up to …”), and keep logs of web activity. The How-To Geek’s got a screen-by-screen look at what you can do, for free, to keep your net stream relatively pure. Protect Your Kids Online Using Open DNS [The How-To Geek]
Portuguese-language DIY weblog SuperZiper details how to turn a simple wire hanger into a book, magazine, or file rack with just a few simple bends. All it takes is a sturdy wire hanger, a nail, and a few minutes and you’ve got a quick rack. The author uses her wire hanger rack to hold library books near the door so she doesn’t forget them on the way out. Make the base a little wider and shorter and it could also be a very cool way to hang some art on the cheap-and-easy. Want to get more creative with your walls? Try building your own wire photo wall.
DIY: Porta-livros ou discos de cabide [via Apartment Therapy]iPhone/iPod touch only: Browse your Delicious bookmarks by tag from your iPhone with free application Bookmarks. As of its first iteration, this app is very simple: Once you enter your username and password, you can browse through all your tags and launch any bookmark in Safari. You can’t edit bookmarks or add tags, unfortunately, but if you’re looking for a quick and easy way to access your Delicious bookmarks from the mobile comfort of your iPhone and iPod touch, Bookmarks is a good start. Bookmarks is a free download from the iTunes App Store. Bookmarks [iTunes Store]
Schedule phone calls to any phone with web site getmooh (get me out of here). The idea behind this webapp, as the name suggests, is that you can schedule a call to give yourself an excuse to get out of an awkward situation or mind-numbing meeting. You can choose from one of dozens of pre-recorded messages to play when you answer, from an angry Alec Baldwin to an absurd but probably effective instructional message that feeds you your excuse line by line. (“Repeat after me: ‘Hey, how’s it going? Oh no, where are you now? I’m sorry, I’ve got to go. My flatmate has lost his keys.’”) Don’t plan on using the site for pranks, though—it reads your number back at the end of each message it sends. For more phone call scheduling fun, check out previously mentioned Popularity Dialer or SorryGottaGo. Get Me Out of Here
