url hacking
Work
VapURL Creates Self-Terminating Temporary URLs
11:30PM Jason Fitzpatrick | Need to create a URL that disappears into thin air? VapURL creates a shortened URL with a shelf life. More »
Work
Convert Google Reader Items To PDFs
1:00AM Kevin Purdy | Once Google Reader added manual controls to its new “Send To” menu, you knew some delicious URL tweaks would follow. Some already have, including a “Save as PDF” trick from the Digital Inspiration blog. More »
Organise
Display Just The Items You Liked In Google Reader
2:00AM The How-To Geek | Yesterday Google Reader updated with more social features, including a “like” feature—but didn’t give you a way to view all the items that you “liked”. Reader Michel writes in with the solution. More »
Work
Open Office Documents From Gmail Without Google Docs
11:00PM Kevin Purdy | A simple URL edit can open attached Office docs from Gmail in a sleek viewer, rather than the sometimes funky HTML option. The Google Operating System blog points out that Google’s viewer—powered by Google Docs, but not requiring a sign-up at that service or a cluttered dashboard for existing users—works with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files just as easily as the PDF files Gmail already tells you it can handle. Simply replace the segment view=att with view=gvatt in the URL after you hit “View as HTML,” and you’ll launch a scalable, zoom-able, easier-to-manage viewer for your attachment. Google Viewer for Gmail Attachments [Google Operating System] More »
Fix
Get Rid Of YouTube’s Embedded Search Bar
12:30AM Kevin Purdy | YouTube recently added, without warning, a top-aligned search bar to pretty much every embedded video across the net. Want to turn them off on your own embeds? Add &showsearch=0 in the embed code, as explained here. [via TechCrunch] More »
Fix
More Ways To Hide Google SearchWiki Features
10:00PM Kevin Purdy | We’ve already pointed out a Greasemonkey script that hides Google’s new SearchWiki ranking buttons, but there are viable work-arounds for those not using Firefox or its page-styling Greasemonkey extension. The Google Operating System blog points out four other methods. Most clever and convenient among them is heading to your Experimental Feature settings and enabling any other experiment, like keyboard shortcuts, which disables SearchWiki buttons and notes until you clear out your browser’s cookies. Also recommended: Signing out from your Google account and a URL-ending trick, detailed at Google Operating System’s post. More Ways to Hide Google SearchWiki [Google Operating System] More »
Organise
Tr.im Webapp Creates Even Tinier URLs For Twitter
7:30AM Lifehacker US Edition | The latest entry in the URL-shortening service is Tr.im, and while there are a number of features that might make you switch from your current favourite, the most compelling is that with so few characters in the service’s domain name, it creates really tiny URLs. A quick test for shortening the address to to Lifehacker got it down to a mere 17 characters, equivalent to abbreviated web addresses from is.gd. If you’re a hard-core character counter, it’s probably because you’re a user of Twitter or similar services, and Tr.im will automatically send created links directly to your Twitter stream if you like. It also offers stats to keep track of where from and how many folks clicked through the link. A bookmarklet is available to make it quick and easy to trim a site’s location while browsing. And you can also give a custom word for the URL or even add tags to improve searchability. Check out our Hive Five of best URL shrinkers for more tiny-fying solutions. Tr.im More »
Organise
HideLinks Password-Protects, Shortens Your Bookmarks
1:00AM Kevin Purdy | Free URL-shortening and password-protecting service HideLinks is a simple, useful service that’s perfect for links you want to hold onto, but don’t want anyone to necessarily see. Go ahead and joke about the most typical uses, but with the holidays approaching, many of us are doing our best to hide gift ideas and Amazon bookmarks from those who share browsers or provide tech support. Like TinyURL and its brethren, HideLinks also cuts gigantic search bookmarks into shortened links, and the service presents only a minimal few ads when prompting for a password. HideLinks is a free service; signing up allows you to review links you’ve posted through the site. HideLinks [via MakeUseOf.com] More »
Get Complete Help Files for Any Google Service
5:30AM Kevin Purdy | It can take awhile to figure out all the shortcuts and features in the ever-growing list of Google web applications. The Google Operating System blog unearths a quick URL hack to display a Google app’s entire help file—normally split up on cross-linked pages—in easily-saved and printable HTML. Head to the app’s “support center,” usually found at, for example, mail.google.com/support/, and add ?fulldump=1 to the end of the URL. Hit the Google Operating System link for direct, download-able links to the most popular apps’ full help files. Download Google’s Help Files [Google Operating System via Web Worker Daily] More »
