Evernote's Web Clipper is a fantastic way to save select parts of an article, but it's not really useful unless you use Evernote. If you'd prefer something simpler, Gloss allows you to highlight and save text from any site quickly.

Web page archiving site BackupURL takes point-in-time snapshots of web pages on demand—useful for capturing and sharing fast-changing web pages. To create a snapshot, simply go to BackupURL, paste in the link to the page, and click the Backup button to generate the cached copy, which is accessible from an already-shortened URL. The web application is very simple, and the lack of information makes it questionable for long-term archiving, but it could be very useful for saving a quick copy of a constantly changing news site for sharing with others. For a similar service with more features (although requiring a browser extension), check out previously mentioned Iterasi.

BackupURL

As Google Notebook dwindles into non-development, more services open up to catch all your web-captured data. One week after startup Ubernote jumped in, Evernote and Zoho Notebook arrive on the scene.

Google's Notebook webapp was tightly integrated with other Google apps, had a killer Firefox extension, and was great at getting things done. "Was," though, because Google is ending support. Here's where heartsick users should turn.

Windows/Mac/Linux (Firefox): Fireclip, a free plug-in that monitors specific sections of web pages, puts the at-a-glance convenience of the OS X widget screen in a Firefox tab.

Free web-clipping tool Snipd, one of the 10 up-and-coming products that intrigued us at this year's start-up conferences, has opened its doors to public sign-ups. The service works through a bookmarklet that puts mouse-over clipping icons on text, images, or embedded Flash, and stores all the content on a Tumblr-style page, though you can change the privacy settings for all or individual items. You also get RSS feeds for your public content, and text fiends may love that Snipd keeps the formatting on any copy you grab. Snipd is a free service that requires a sign-up. Read on for a demonstration video and screenshot from a Snipd collection page.

Windows only: Free web clipping and file sharing tool Clip2Net is an easy-to-use system tray applet when it's on the desktop, but its real value may be its online storage space. Sign up for a free account at Clip2Net and you get 500 MB of space to store screenshots, files, or whole folders—just select the screen area or drop the files into the "drop zone" and hit publish, and you'll have a link to offer collaborators or friends. Clip2Net also features built-in Picnik integration for screenshot/image editing, and files can be password protected. Clip2Net is a free download for Windows systems only.

The Google Operating System points out an overlooked but seriously worthy iGoogle gadget that can display entire up-to-date web pages inside a tab on Google's start page service. You might have seen this trick deep inside our Show Us Your iGoogle gallery, but it deserves its own spotlight here. You'll want to create a new tab for each web page you want to embed, and make sure that tab is selected before clicking the "Add to Google" link on creator Michael Bolin's page. Best of all, dynamic web apps seem to work fine inside the tabs, giving you access to Gmail, Google Reader, Remember the Milk, or any other of your favourites, right from your point of browser entry. Got your own embedded page timesavers on your start page, Google or otherwise? Share your sites in the comments. Your Page Here (an iGoogle gadget)

Windows only: There are lots of tools out there for "clipping" text and images from web pages for later access, but few of them have the feeling of web clippings' creative predecessor, the scrapbook. Enter Ript, a free download for Windows systems that offers much of the same grabbing functionality as its project-oriented brethren, but does so without any browser extensions and creates an end product with a highly tweak-able layout. Drag images or copy text into the "bin" Ript creates on your desktop, and then double-click to jump to the "table," where you can resize and rotate images and re-format text. The Ript projects can be expanded to several pages, and views of the project exported to JPEG files for further tweaking. If you're the type who regularly attacks their photos with scissors, Ript is likely the best online equivalent to satisfy your DIY drive. Ript is a free download for Windows systems. Ript

Leopard only: A lesser-hyped feature in Mac 10.5 is Web Clips—the ability to turn a section of any web page into a Dashboard widget. We're not huge fans of gadgets and widgets around here, but Dashboard Web Clips can be a big timesaver, because it lets you check several pages you might otherwise manually refresh throughout the day in one keystroke, no browser required.