web utilities
Work
Pingdom Uptime-Monitoring Service Now Offering Free Accounts
1:30AM Jason Fitzpatrick | The popular web site uptime-monitoring service Pingdom is now offering free accounts. More »
Fix
BareSite Strips Web Sites To The Basics
10:00AM Lifehacker US Edition | Baresite is a simple web-based application which strips images and formatting from a web site to display just the bare bones. The above image shows how Baresite displays Google News on the left, and how the site looks during normal browsing on the right. If there is a news feed available on the site Baresite defaults to that, otherwise it strips down the HTML to a simpler form. While not every site I tested worked like a charm with Baresite, it’s worth using on a mobile device for faster and cleaner loading pages or when you’d like a distraction free interface. For another site stripper, check out Finch. BareSite [via MakeUseOf] More »
Communicate
Pective Uses Life-Size Images For Gadget Comparison
11:00PM Kevin Purdy | Free size-comparison site Pective scales product images for your LCD screen to full size, allowing you to make a side-by-side comparison of your current clunker to that hot new phone you’ve been eyeing. You’ll first be prompted for your diagonal screen size, then you simply browse and click to pull up full-size pictures. You can vote an image larger or smaller if it looks a little off, and add your own product images. There are a few handy reference points already there—nickels, compact discs, and the like—but the site would seriously benefit from a search function (which is supposedly in the works). Pective is a free web site that requires no sign-up; for geekier, you-type-the-dimensions comparison, try Sizeasy. Pective [via Webware] More »
Organise
Tip of My Tongue Finds The Word You’re Looking For
12:10AM Kevin Purdy | A thesaurus is a repetitive writer’s best friend, but what happens when you’re looking for a specific word, the one that starts with a certain letter, or means the same things as that other word? Free word search site Tip of My Tongue makes it easy to find that word that’s just out of your fuzzy mind’s reach. Type in parameters on the left—letters the word starts with or contains, definitions it matches, and others—and the word matches appears instantly on the right. It’s worth a bookmark for anyone who’s struggled at their keyboard, only to just type in, say, “useful.” Tip of My Tongue [Chir.ag via Digital Inspiration] More »
Fix
Finch Formats Web Sites For Really Slow Connections
3:00AM Kevin Purdy | The universal, high-speed-everywhere web isn’t quite a reality yet, as anyone who’s used a relative’s dial-up or a seriously weak airport connection can testify to. Web page re-formatting tool Finch gives you just the text, ma’am, from any site you plug into its address box, stripping Flash, JavaScript, stylesheets, and even images from the layout. Tools like this often crop up for mobile phones, such as Google’s Mobilizer, but Finch is made for the desktop browser. Some sites will work better with their graphical navigators removed than others, of course, but for anyone stuck with a fist-poundingly slow connection, or paying for every megabyte, Finch is a great bookmarket to keep handy. Finch [Adam Brenecki via Digital Inspiration] More »
Design
Identifont Matches Fonts with Step-by-Step Analysis
10:30PM Kevin Purdy | Free font-matching service Identifont is a good bookmark for anyone who works in words, design, or just has to occasionally match up hard-to-pin-down fonts. While not as automatic as the previously mentioned upload-and-analyse app WhatTheFont, Identifont leads you through a series of questions about certain characters, like how the tail on the “Q” is shaped, the style of the “$” symbol, and so on. After a maximum of 15 questions, you’ll likely get a match from Identifont’s huge database, or at least a remarkably similar font. If you’re in need of an exact match for a weird font, Identifont is a free spot to dig deep for it. Identifont [via Online Tech Tips] More »
Wanokoto Webapp Turns Photos Old-Timey
4:00AM Kevin Purdy | The Red Ferret Journal points out a slick, Japanese upload-and-convert tool for giving photos that browned-out, decades-old look. Select a photo or paste in a URL (both words are written in English, as luck would have it), and hit the bottom blue button. The photo results aren’t returned at full resolution, but, depending on lighting, quality, and, of course, modernity of subject, you can get pretty authentic-looking results without any image editor filters or plug-ins. The site is free to use, and (it appears) doesn’t restrict upload file sizes. Wanokoto [via Red Ferret Journal] More »
Kotatsu Automates HTML Table Generation
12:00AM Kevin Purdy | If you’re one of those folks who handwrites HTML, you know how laborious it can be to type out all the tags and descriptors for a simple but highly-efficient table. Kotatsu, a free AJAX utility, generates clean code for however many rows and columns you need, with optional class options thrown on the cells. The code is blog, personal site, and start page-friendly, and that’s all there is to it (thankfully). Kotatsu [via MakeUseOf] More »
K7 Offers Free Fax/Voicemail Lines
11:05PM Kevin Purdy | Need a phone line to receive a one-time fax or voicemails on a particular project, auction, or job search? Free service K7 hands out 10-digit Seattle-area phone numbers that can answer calls with customised voicemail greetings or accept faxes. You can access both the audio files and fax documents through your sign-up account, and the only restrictions are a 20-message/fax limit (the site starts deleting the oldest after that) and an account wipe out after 30 days of inactivity. Other than that, you’ve got a free bin to keep your personal numbers private and still get at your messages. K7 [via MakeUseOf.com] More »
