Category: Digital

dafont.com has free fonts you can download fonts to use in your documents, create titles or logos. Best of all, they have a font preview feature so you can type in a word or phrase and see the text previewed before you bother to download the font. Very nice.

iNFOSYSSEC hosts the most complete collection of web-based network information tools I've seen in one place. It's free, and indespensible to any technophile needing to do some network diagnostics, or anyone wanting to quickly research domain names.

• Smart Whois
• NSLookup and Reverse Lookup
• Anti-Spam Multi-tool
• Server Response Time
• HTTP Headers
• Company Factsheet
• NetCraft Domain Reporter
• Network-Tools.com "multi-tool"
• Name Server Lookup
• Usenet News Author Profile
• AnalogX DNSDig
• Dig It! (was: Multi DNS Tool)
• SMTP Relay Check
• Realtime Blocking List Check
• ARIN Whois
• (IP Registry)
• IP-Range DNS Query
• Demon.Net Tool Array
• RWhois Query
• MX Lookup
• Ping
• IP Lookup
• Test Email
• Tracemap and Visual Trace Route
• Bandwidth Test

Check it out at  http://www.infosyssec.com/infosyssec/ipsectools.htm

Tired of going to dictionary.com to look up a word's definition? You can do it in Google. You can even define phrases.

Simply type define: plus the phrase:

define:apoplectic

or

define:"coat of arms"

MySQL 5 is pegged to ship in November. This landmark release will include triggers, views, and stored procedures.

Oracle will be facing some competition from MySQL within Enterprises who need simply a 'just good enough' solution. I imagine Microsoft shops will still prefer SQL Server though. 

Read more on this in an article at InfoWorld

Google's new RSS Reader (still in beta) looks slick and uses Google's trademark slick but minimalist AJAX technology to offer a distinct way to read RSS/Atom syndicated content. 

One missing feature -- most other RSS readers show you how many unread articles there are while Gmail's Reader does not. I'm sure this an other things will improve as the beta progresses.

Here's what LifeHacker had to say about it:

I've only spent a little time playing with it, but it seems to be pretty cool. One thing that's nice is that it has a really nice search feature that pulls the RSS or ATOM feed in a transparent manner. The interface is plain, but functional, and it puts the focus on the content. It doesn't seem to pull images very well though.

It'll be interesting to see how this shapes up. It is only a beta, but it could be just the thing to make RSS and feeds something that everyone can understand.

Sign up for the beta Reader. 

With this software package called ARSC (Really Simple Chat) you can add chat features to your Web site. Runs on PHP and MySQL, relatively easy to set up -- what's not to like?

Once installed on your webserver, ARSC provides a chat interface to the visitors of your site. Your visitors need no special plugins or additional software to chat, only their webbrowser.

Read more: ARSC Really Simple Chat

A Favicon is that little icon that shows up in the address bar of your Web browser. Most good Web sites have them. While they’re fairly easy to create (all you need is a 16x16 graphic) they’ve just got a bit easier.

Favicon from Pics is a Web site where you can upload your own image and it’ll turn it into a favicon for you. You’re best starting with an image that is close to to 16x16 as you can get, but it does a pretty good job on things are aren’t huge.

Simply select a picture, logo or other graphic (of any size/resolution) for the "Source Image" and click "Generate FavIcon.ico"

On a related note -- you can add custom favicons to your FireFox toolbar to spiff up your 'Favorites' links using this FireFox plugin. (Note: Use the 0.2.5 for FireFox 1.0.x browsers, and the 0.3 beta for FireFox 1.5 beta or above).

Opera Software today permanently removed the ad banner and licensing fee from its award-winning Web browser. The ad-free, full-featured Opera browser is now available for download - completely free of charge – at http://www.opera.com.

"Today we invite the entire Internet community to use Opera and experience Web browsing as it should be," said Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software. "Removing the ad banner and licensing fee will encourage many new users to discover the speed, security and unmatched usability of the Opera browser."

Opera was previously available free of charge with an ad banner. Users had the option of paying a licensing fee to remove the ad banner and receive premium support.

Opera also includes a mail client that is worth taking for a spin. 

Want a universal way in OS X to strip formatting from text in the clipboard? It's as simple as creating an Applescript with the following line:

set the clipboard to (get the clipboard as text)

Read full instructions on doing this at Lifehacker

WP plugin: Secure Files Allows you to safely upload and download documents stored outside of your web document root for security purposes.

This is great for people using plugins like Registered Only that secure your WordPress blog (Posts, Pages, etc). The problem with these plugins is that your loose files aren’t protected - only the contents of your WordPress database. So, any images or other documents you’ve uploaded are easily accessible to those who aren’t authenticated via a plugin like Registered Only. This plugin aims to solve this problem.

Read full article: Secure Files at almost effortless