Need a quick MP3 file of a certain saying to goof on a co-worker? Whatever your needs, Google Translate can be used as an impromptu text-to-speech converter, providing a handy MP3 file of your chosen words. More »
Imfy.us is a URL-shortening service for people who want to ensure the users clicking through their shortened URLs are actually people and not web-indexing search engine crawlers. More »
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 »
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 »
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]
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]
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]
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.imFree 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]
