Dan Harkless' Bookmarks
Index:
Prices last updated: 2003-09-12
- Amazon.com: Books, Music & More!
(books have good user comment listings)
- Barnes & Noble (cheaper than Amazon.com;
has abebooks.com's used book selection, but at 2X price)
- buy.com - The Internet Superstore (also
has computers, electronics, etc. -- great deals in Clearance section)
- CD Japan (online Japanese CD,
DVD, and LD store specializing in J-Pop and Anime -- English site)
- Super Collector (good
selection of anime and Sci-Fi merchandise, including imports)
- YesAsia.com (Chinese, Japanese, and
and Korean CDs, DVDs, games, magazines, etc., with romanized titles)
- ARTISTdirect (free audio and
video downloads, etc.; incorporates the old UBL (Ultimate Band List))
- Campaign for Digital Rights - Corrupt
audio disc information (w/ bad CD list focusing on UK releases)
- ccMixter (remix site with music
licensable for free under Creative Commons licenses)
- CD Baby: a little CD store with the best
new independent music (free Real streams and CDs for sale)
- CD Europe (huge collection of
imports from all over the world)
- Covers Project, The (DB of
covers done by and of bands -- find obscure covers of your favorites)
- Fat Chuck (info on copy protected
CDs including a title list, plus a banned books list, etc.)
- freedb.org (GPL'd continuation of
CDDB w/o Gracenote's onerous licensing restrictions; mirrored, etc.)
- GEMM: World's largest catalog of music! New,
Used, Hard-to-Find, Discount, Collectible, Import CDs and LPs / Vinyl
- Gracenote (formerly CDDB.com --
good for checking what CDs certain tracks appear on, incl. OOP ones)
- Hydrogenaudio (audio tech.
site w/ lossless codec comparison & other good Wiki articles; forums)
- Magnatune (free full-length samples,
MP3/WAV purchases; easy, cheap licensing w/ free use if not profiting)
- MusicBuilder.com: All artists
welcome! (free MP3s & CDs for sale by independent artists)
- MusicStack.com: Rare CDs, Hard to Find
Music, Used CDs, Vinyl Records, Out of Print Albums, Cheap Music
- SoundtrackNet - the art of film and
television music
- Tower.com (acquired after demise of
Tower Records stores; advanced search and track names & samples gone!)
- Advanced Intelligence Spy Shop
(featuring See Thru Clothes filters for post-'98 Sony Night Shot cams)
- AVI_IO (a non-free
VFW capture app. that sometimes has better audio sync than VirtualDub)
- AviSynth (video-editing script
language and frameserver originally by Ben Rudiak-Gould)
- Bt8xx WDM video acquisition
driver (great quality, though no Bt87x onboard audio support)
- CinePaint (formerly Film Gimp; paint
on individual frames of video clips and flipbook-view them)
- Creative Cow -- User-focused Forums
for Dynamic Media Pros (package-specific forums for dig. vid.)
- CreativePlanet Communities (w/
2-pop Digital Filmmaker site, but reviews gone; now only forums?)
- DebugMode (freeware Windows SPFX
software: WinMorph; Wax with RotoMate, Particle Generator, etc.)
- Digital Digest (PC-DVD
Region-free Guide, Macrovision-removal Guide, DVD ripping, etc.)
- digitalFAQ.com (Blank DVD Media
Quality Guide; guides on video restoration, authoring, burning, etc.)
- DigitalVideoEditing.com
(lots of reviews, features, and excellent in-depth shootouts)
- DV & FireWire Central (home of
DV-L, the original DV discussion list; also some news and articles)
- DV Tape FAQ at ZenerA.com
- DV Streamer (allows you to use a
DV camcorder as a FireWire-attached backup drive for your Windows PC)
- DV, DVCAM, & DVCPRO Formats --
tech details, FAQ, and links. (on AdamWilt.com)
- dvbackup (equivalent of DV
Streamer, but for PCs running UNIX OSes)
- DVD Infomatrix (software DVD
player reviews, DVD Genie: util. to make them region-free, FAQs, etc.)
- DVD player
hardware modifications (incl. region-switching) from home-cinema.de
- DVD player hardware
modifications (incl. region-switching) from megavision.de
- DVD player hardware
modifications (incl. region-switching) from planet-dvd.ch
- DVDIdle.com (DVD Region+CSS Free
allows playing foreign DVDs w/o patching firmware & player software)
- DVDplusRW.org - The ultimate unofficial DVD+RW resource site
- DVTransfer/DVSpoof (abandoned (?) forerunner of DV Streamer)
- Firmware Page, The
(firmware patches to make DVD-ROM drives region-free)
- Gallery of CSS Descramblers
- Guy Graphics (digital video
hardware, software, and well-done reviews for a few of the products)
- Heroine Virtual: Motion Picture
Solutions For Linux (Broadcast 2000 video editor & related sw.)
- Huffyuv (fast Win32 lossless video codec by Ben Rudiak-Gould)
- iuLab (featuring iuVCR, a VirtualDub
type program for WDM drivers, plus a bugfixed universal Bt8x8 driver)
- Jukka Aho's site (inc. "A
Quick Guide to Digital Video Resolution and Aspect Ratio Conversions")
- Lagarith Lossless Video
Codec (reportedly offers better compression than Huffyuv, etc.)
- Lukifer's DVD Utilities for Mac (region & ripping tools, etc.)
- Mac DVD Resource, The (region-free tools, other Mac DVD utils)
- markertek.com - Everything For The
Broadcaster & Recording Industry Professional
- MonoPrice.com (best prices on the
web for HDMI cables, switchers, etc.; other A/V and computing parts)
- MPEG-2 Encoder Tests
- On2 Technologies (very high-quality,
high-compression codecs, including the open source VP3)
- OneRiver Media (feat. a page
reviewing compressed and uncompressed codecs w/ a special test image)
- rec.video.dvd FAQ
- TDC Ltd - PC, Video & Multimedia
(w/ info on SD & HD video chipsets)
- TMPGEnc (one of the highest-quality
MPEG1/MPEG2 encoders for Windows; low-cost and featureful)
- TV-Cards.com (TV card news,
reviews, FAQ, messageboard, and links to drivers and 3rd-party apps.)
- Videographica (detailed MPEG
encoder reviews; info on MPEG editors, bitrates, TV cards, TBCs, etc.)
- VIDEOGUYS.COM - The Electronic
Mailbox (desktop video information, hardware, and software)
- VirtualDub (a popular GPL'd
prosumer video capture app., but only supports VFW drivers, not WDM)
- VirtualDub Sync
(syncs audio w/ sample rate conv., not frame dropping/duplication)
- Worldwide Users Groups
(content-creation-product-specific forums hosted by experts)
- XAnim Home
Page (A/V player for UNIX supports AVI, MPEG, QuickTime, etc.)
- Anime´ - No Editing Zone
(info on cuts and changes made to anime titles in U.S. releases)
- CENSORED CARTOONS Page, The
- DAVISDVD (DVD announcements, industry news, rumors, etc.)
- Disney Animation
Release Table (from MousePlanet -- what's in print on DVD+VHS)
- Drew's Script-O-Rama: Free Movie Scripts For Everybody!
- DVD Easter Eggs
- DVD Journal, The (MIA list s.t.
out-of-date, but otherwise a good complement to dvdfile.com info)
- DVD-Register.com (sellers of a
database of all DVDs and LDs published in the U.S.)
- DVDFILE (info on most requested
titles not out on DVD, missing footage, reviews, news, bootlegs, etc.)
- DVDLaser.com: The premier online source
for reviews, info, commentary, links, and news about DVDs and LDs
- High-Def Digest (HD DVD and
Blu-ray info, inc. good reviews that compare features to DVD releases)
- IGN DVD (good reviews, release dates,
unreleased DVD info, Double Dip Digest on new DVDs of released titles)
- Internet Movie Database, The (IMDb)
- Movie Spoiler, The (read
full plots of movies you're curious about but not enough to see)
- Ren and Stimpy: The Lost
Scenes (QT clips of scenes cut from the "UNCUT" Season 1+2 DVD)
- Rewind @ dvdcompare.net
(comparisons of different region versions and releases of a title)
- Tron Sector - Dedicated to the Tron movie,
Tron 2.0 the game, and the upcoming film sequel
- TVShowsOnDVD.com (great site for
early and detailed news on DVD releases of beloved TV shows)
- VideoETA -- The most comprehensive DVD
release dates site (w/ feature to email you when title on DVD)
- 164 Currency Converter by OANDA
- Bank Deals (blog with news
on deals, weekly rate summary report, bank / account reviews, etc.)
- Bankrate.com (bank ratings; rate
comparisons for CDs, insurance, loans, MMMFs, savings accounts, etc.)
- BauerFinancial (star ratings
of banks & credit unions, more detailed pay reports, CD rates, etc.)
- BestCashCow.com (quick tables with
best rates for different types of accounts, user reviews, news, etc.)
- ANIMAL INGREDIENTS A TO Z
- CRYSTAL GEYSER alpine spring
water (most healthful mass-market bottled water in the U.S.)
- Delayed Sleep Phase
Syndrome (if you're an "incurable nightowl", you may have DSPS)
- Gourmet Shuttle (restaurant
delivery company serving O.C. and South L.A. county)
- HappyCow- Vegetarian restaurants guide
and directory of natural health food stores
- healthfinder.gov - a gateway consumer
health and human services information web site
- L.A. County Department of Health
Services: Restaurant Ratings (tons of info, inc. score history)
- Live On The Go (this O.C. site
allows you to view menus and place takeout pickup orders over the web)
- Lorraine Day, M.D. (information on
AIDS coverups, alt. cancer cures, vegan diet due to Mad Cow, etc.)
- "Mister Oxygen", Ed McCabe -- Oxygen
Therapies (terrible website, but potentially life-saving info)
- Natural Resources
Defense Council: Bottled Water: Pure Drink or Pure Hype?
- OpenTable.com - Make Restaurant
Reservations Online - Over 9 Million Diners & 2,800 Restaurants
- Orange County
Health Care Agency Food Program (only monthly closures online)
- PFPC: Parents of Fluoride Poisoned
Children (best resource on the health risks of fluoride)
- Restaurants on the Run (restaurant
delivery company serving major California metro areas, plus Las Vegas)
- TruthInLabeling.org: The whole
truth about MSG (MSG & aspartame may cause brain lesions, etc.)
- WebMD (good site for looking up info
on symptoms, illnesses, treatment, etc.)
- William F. Koch (Did Organized
Medicine drive Dr. Koch's successful cure for cancer underground?)
- craigslist (free online
location-specific classifieds (locations on right), inc. personal ads)
- eBay (seller fees a little on the high
side, but good eyeball count, especially for collectibles)
- Freecycle.org (location-specific
Yahoo! Groups for giving away & getting free stuff; a bit rules-happy)
- PennySaver (website of the
home-delivered classifieds flyer -- free online and pay print ads)
- Recycler.com (website of the So.
So. Cal. classifieds newspaper -- free online and print ads)
- Abandonware: The Official Ring
(4+ year old console and PC games no longer supported or sold)
- alt.games.mame website (incl.
a service where you can get all MAME ROMs burned onto set of CD-Rs)
- Arcade Games: Emulation &
ROMs (tons of links to ROM sites incl. CD/DVD burning services)
- Arcade History Database
(database of info on 3000+ arcade video games)
- Arcade ROM Heaven - MAME ROMs, News,
MAME beta ROMs, Arcade ROMs, Emulator stuff
- arcadecontrols.com (w/ links to
arcade control suppliers & info on interfacing with emulators)
- Coffee Break Arcade (online Flash, Java, and Shockwave games)
- Coinop.org (database of info on 4000+ arcade video games)
- Dadgum Games (Halcyon Days:
Interviews with Classic Computer and Video Game Programmers, etc.)
- Digital Leisure (developers
of CD-ROM, DVD, and DVD-ROM versions of Don Bluth's LaserDisc games)
- Dragon's Lair Project, The (tribute to all LaserDisc games)
- Emulators Unlimited
- INFOCOM: The Unofficial
Homepage (info on all Infocom games and downloads of PD ones)
- Interactive Fiction Archive, The
(public domain and shareware IF games, tools, walkthroughs, etc.)
- Interactive Fiction Archive, The: Baf's
Guide (reviews of games in the archive, search engine, etc.)
- KLOV.com -- Killer List of Videogames
(DB of info on 4000+ video games; s.t. more detail than Coinop.org)
- Macintosh Garden
(Mac abandonware games)
- Pagat.com: The Card Games Web Site: rules
and information about card and tile games from all parts of the world
- Penny Arcade Website, The
(photos of collection of early arcade machines, w/ historical info)
- Phosphor Dot Fossils
(classic arcade/home game reviews/info w/ Flash movies of gameplay)
- STARCADE (official website
of the 80s kids' video game game show; with footage of classic games)
- Vintage Gaming Network, The (emulators)
- 9mm Special Effects (awesome large
collection of hand-painted theatrical contacts, incl. many scleral)
- A Masquerade (masquerade masks,
nice rental costumes, wigs, inexpensive footwear not seen elsewhere)
- Alley Cat Scratch's Home Pad
(LOTR costume research, Halloween in LA comprehensive calendar...)
- Aradani Studios Fantasy
Costuming (exclusive ear and orc face prosthetics, etc.)
- Arms of Valour (more limited
selection than By The Sword but some superior items, e.g. sword frogs)
- BuyCostumes.com: The Web's Most
Popular Costume Store! (Halloween delivery until last minute)
- By The Sword (best selection
of ancient/Medieval/Renaissance clothing, armor, weaponry, etc.)
- Chamber Of Horrors, The
(huge selection, great customer service, print catalog, etc.)
- Cinema Secrets (the full
Woochie line, including hard-to-find items like the Troll Ears, etc.)
- Cosplay Lab (cosplay community
site that sells Vision Science
Studios contacts -- only one selling their Custom Lenses in RX?)
- Dental Distortions (FX
teeth that only cover the front; detailed fang-making tutorial)
- DEVIANT - Liquid Latex / Rubberwear and Accessories / Fetish Magazine
- Extreme Halloween Network
(large selection including footwear & horns not seen elsewhere)
- FrightCatalog.com (big
selection, including many items I haven't seen anywhere else)
- FX Warehouse (best SPFX makeup
selection, including PAX paint, alcohol-activated colors, RMG, etc.)
- Gentleman's Emporium
(Victorian men's & ladies' clothing; sister site w/ Old West stuff)
- Greyland Film (Czech company
with pretty amazing mask line; more movable than normal latex ones)
- HalloweenDirect.com (small
selection, but incl. many really cool prosthetics not seen elsewhere)
- Hightower Crafts (UK-based
seller of leather armor, clothes, prosthetics, etc.; no online orders)
- Knighthawk Armoury (foam
latex weapons approved for LARP combat, including LOTR designs)
- LensQuest (large selection of
theatrical contacts, including some scleral; good prices)
- Make Up Mania (large selection
of Rogue Planet prosthetics, custom appliances, stage swords, etc.)
- MakupArtist.com (Czech co. w/ foam
latex masks; sculpts mostly bad compared to Greyland, but a few good)
- MaximumEyewear.com (sports
goggles, unofficial movie & TV replica glasses & sunglasses, etc.)
- Medieval Weapon Art (big selection of
weapons, armor, clothing, POTC and other movie replicas, etc.)
- Michael Davy Film & TV Makeup
(RMG, PAX paint, alcohol/acetone dissolvable-edge bald caps, etc.)
- Monster Makers, The: Complete 1-stop
shop for DIY monster makers (foam latex, teeth materials, etc.)
- Noble Collection, The
(weapons, armor, movie prop replicas incl. LOTR & Harry Potter)
- Norton Armouries (awesome
polyurethane armor from film supplier, including a great Orc design)
- Scream Team, The: Beyond Halloween Masks: Foam Latex Prosthetics
- SPFXMasks (whole-head-and-neck
silicone masks w/ realism rivaling prosthetics; between $600 and $800)
- Spirit Halloween (original
Halloween superstore; selection somewhat limited but good exclusives)
- Tudor Shoppe, The (reproduction
clothing, weapons, etc., from 1485-1603, incl. a pirate collection)
- Vampfangs (Scarecrow custom-fit
fangs, FX horns, veneer teeth, plano lenses, Bloody Mary makeup, etc.)
- Wholesalesword.com
(amazingly affordable swords and other weapons, inc. LOTR replicas)
- WildEyes Special Effect Contact
Lenses (orig. cheap brand; selection ltd., X-Colors discont.)
- AccuWeather (PDA vers.; more)
- Amazon
(mobile version)
- BroadbandReports - Speed
test (mobile version; requires JavaScript for accuracy; also avail. is
WAP version)
- eBay (WAP/WML & HTTP/HTML;
cellphone-specific versions also
avail.; 2roam.com mobile proxy is gone)
- Fandango (mobile version;
allows you to type in a given movie title; can buy tickets)
- Google (PDA version;
also available are
i-mode,
J-Sky,
SMS, and
WAP / WML versions)
- Google Local (mobile
version; includes Driving Directions)
- Google Maps for Mobile (program
for Palm, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, & most J2ME-enabled cellphones)
- GreenScanner
(access to UPCdatabase.com data; environm. & general prod. reviews)
- IMDb (via MobileLeap -- official mobile site requires payment)
- InfoSpace White
Pages (AvantGo version; includes reverse lookup)
- InfoSpace Yellow Pages (AvantGo version; also hit Find on
this version to
get links to Browse by Category, Near Address, and Nationwide Search)
- Local.com (mobile version --
basically a yellow pages search w/ maps; results ordered by distance)
- MapQuest (PDA version;
others avail.)
- MobileLeap
(interactive web proxy compacts HTML and reformats pages for PDAs)
- Moviefone (Palm version -- have to look up movies by category)
- MSN Maps & Directions (mobile version)
- MSN Yellow
Pages (mobile / Pocket PC version; can find bus. near address)
- Palm (mobile portal with
handheld-friendly site links; originally designed for the Treo 600)
- Skweezer (not as configurable as
MobileLeap, but sometimes works on pages it doesn't)
- TANN Traffic (3rd-party
mobile version on Lllama's Mobile Portal)
- TreoBits Movies (can
only see films close to given ZIP playing today, but search is 1 step)
- TreoCentral
(mobile version)
- VidConvert (conv.
YouTube, other Flash vids to TCPMP-compat. AVIs; use Xiino not Blazer)
- wapSwap.com's SMS/Text Messenger
(handheld-friendly web interface to Teleflip's formerly open email-to-SMS
gateway)
- Weather Underground
(mobile version)
- Yahoo! (mobile version)
- YouTube (mobile version; currently
has only a small subset of videos; missing interactive functionality)
- ZYPd (Movie search allows you to type
in movie name and ZIP; also Map, Directions, city-centered Traffic...)
- HostTracker (HTTP every 1-60 min.
from worldwide checkers; POST params.; check keywords; 2 free SMSes)
- Service Uptime (1 any/tcp
check every 30 min. from 9 worldwide checkers; WWW regex check; MySQL)
- SiteUptime (1 FTP/HTTP/POP3/SMTP
check every 30-60 min. from 1 designated location of 4 in U.S. & U.K.)
- upPanel (5 any/tcp or ping checks every
30-60 min. from 5 worldwide checkers; has sent many false DOWNs)
- Bujinkan Orange
County Dojo (Ninjitsu gear and Mission Viejo dojo)
- Japan National Tourist Organization
(no longer has train schedules, but does have some useful info)
- Japan Railways Group (JR New York
Office site has route, schedule, and fare info in English)
- JavaDict
(J <-> E dictionary with Japanese handwriting recognition!)
- Jeffrey's Japanese <-> English Dictionary Server
(Canadian,
Swedish, and
U.S. mirrors also available)
- Jim Breen's WWWJDIC Japanese <-> English Dictionary Server
- JustBeToys.com (pretty
amazing selection of Japanese toys, especially Alien merchandise)
- Ken Lunde's Home Page (author of
the "UJIP" and "CJKVIP" books, CJK.INF, JConv, JCode, JChar, etc.)
- Quirky Japan Homepage,
The (Japan is a lot weirder than you realize)
- Tokiwa Takako: Official Web Site
- Alternative Dictionaries,
The: Slang, profanities, insults, and vulgarisms from all the world
- babelfish.altavista.com
(the original web translator, SYSTRAN w/ 36 language pairs)
- CARLA: Less Commonly Taught
Languages (course offering DB misses some specialty companies)
- Dictionary.com
Translator (SYSTRAN w/ 20 language pairs; no URL support)
- Morse Code and Phonetic
Alphabets (w/ Java & CGI Morse code translators, etc.)
- Morse Code and the Phonetic Alphabets (handy single chart w/ graphical
Morse Code, and NATO, U.S. police, and other phonetic alphabets)
- SWEARSAURUS ::: How to swear in 108 languages!
- SYSTRAN - eServices -
SYSTRANBox (SYSTRAN w/ 38 language pairs)
- Translation
Experts' InterTran (non-SYSTRAN translator; 702 language pairs)
- Translator's Home Companion,
The (web translator links, prof. trans. resources)
- VoyCabulary.com (28 language
pairs; annotates web page w/ popups to look up words in online dicts.)
- Zhongwen.com (web version of best
selling "Chinese Characters: A Genealogy and Dictionary"; lang. info)
- Google Maps (draggable, Google
Local integration, high-res zooming, satellite view, and hybrid view)
- MapQuest (line-drawing street maps
(aerial photos discontinued), driving directions, world atlas, etc.)
- MSN Maps (formerly MapBlast!; uses GDT
along w/ NAVTEQ; s.t. has data right the NAVTEQ-only providers don't)
- RyderMap (w/ MapQuest options long disabled on their own site)
- Sigalert.com - Personalized Traffic
Reports (So. Cal. fwy. 4-speed traffic maps w/ incident popups)
- TANN (Travel Advisory News Network)
Traffic Reports (3- and 6-speed street & freeway maps)
- Traffic.com (NAVTEQ's traffic site
-- maps not as useful as Sigalert's or TANN's, but some cool features)
- Yahoo! Maps (airport codes; Reverse
Directions; traffic overlay; says if dest. on L or R; send as SMS)
- Anthony W. Haukap (home
theater calibration, including Sony TVs' Service Mode, and other info)
- California State Controller's
Office's Unclaimed Property Information (w/ online search)
- DonBluth.com
- EQUIPPED TO SURVIVE - Outdoors Gear,
Survival Equipment Review & Survival Information
- GreenBatteries.com (battery
& charger FAQs; store w/o the current best charger, the Maha MH-C9000)
- LED MUSEUM, THE
(comprehensive reviews of discrete LEDs and LED flashlights)
- Lehman's Non-electric Catalog
(rustic and modern non-electric appliances, cookware, tools, etc.)
- PhotonLight.Com (best keychain
flashlights available, esp. the white-LED Photon II w/ hard switch)
- Public Patent Foundation, The: Representing
the Public's Interests in the Patent System
- Thomas Distributing
(one of the best & cheapest suppliers of batteries, chargers, etc.)
- Urban Exploration Ring,
The (exploring abandoned buildings, underground tunnels, etc.)
- Yesterdayland - Your Childhood Is Here (TV shows, toys, etc.)
- Zappos.com (huge selection of shoes
& other clothes; returns up to 1 yr.; free shipping both directions)
- 3D Sound Surge - 3D Sound News &
Features (detailed sound card reviews not just covering 3D)
- 3dGameMan.com (video reviews of
PC components; cooling component reviews include noise demonstrations)
- AnandTech - your source for hardware
analysis and news (great in-depth hardware reviews & previews)
- ATX Case Inc. (apparently the
cheapest 1U and 2U rackmount cases in the industry as of 2000-08)
- bit-tech.net (UK site w/ hardware
reviews, etc., including motherboard reviews w/ unique stress test)
- Case Depot: The Largest Selection Of
Cases On The Web (doesn't ID manufacturers other than Lian Li?)
- Chris Hare's PC Hardware Links
(amazingly comprehensive data and links, incl. CPU wattage figures)
- ctSPD (reads SDRAM
specs from EEPROM; German site -- use babelfish.altavista.com)
- Dan's Data - PC hardware reviews and
tutorials! (good case and fan reviews; also gadget reviews)
- ExtremeTech - Deep technology for
enthusiasts and professionals (OK hardware reviews, good news)
- flatpanels.dk (Danish
site, but w/ LCD monitor panel type lookup tool available in English)
- HardDrive.com ("the largest
source for black components", per the company)
- Intel Platform
Memory (component validation, SPD spec for use with ctSPD...)
- Memtest86: a thorough, stand alone
memory test for x86 architecture computers (open source)
- memtest86+ (based on Memtest86, but
with support for ECC polling on newer chipsets, SPD readout, Mac...)
- Monitor Outlet, Inc. (only
site I could find that allowed seeing at a glance all LCDs with DVI)
- Neoseeker - Hardware and Games Reviews
Index (also in-house articles and user reviews, news, etc.)
- PC Guide, The (includes especially
useful Hard Disk Drives guide with info on RAID, IDE vs. SCSI, etc.)
- PC Weasel (VGA+kbd. to serial
translator makes PC headless server w/ remote BIOS+bootloader access)
- Plycon: Cutting Edge Computer Hardware and
Cooling Solutions (huge fan selection, round ribbon cables...)
- PracticallyNetworked.com
(site & user reviews of routers, switches, wireless hardware, etc.)
- SIMMtester.com (hardware RAM
testers and (currently) free DocMemory bootable floppy RAM tester)
- StorageReview.com - Hardware,
Benchmarks, Reviews, Reference, Research, and Surveys
- Tom's Hardware Guide (German
English can be awkward, but some great articles like CPU cooler one)
- TweakHardware.com (take adv.
of manufacturer economy -- add resistor, transform to high-end model)
- x-bit labs - Special Hardware
Infocenter (another good site w/ detailed HW reviews, news...)
- 123Macmini.com (Mac Mini news,
reviews, comprehensive accessories guide, forums, etc.)
- iFixIt (upgrade/repair parts for Mac
Minis, PowerBooks, and iBooks; per-model disassembly guides w/ photos)
- 49 Ideas of Silence
(German page -- use babelfish.altavista.com to translate)
- Antec Quiet
Computing (quiet cases, power supplies, fans; quieting info)
- AVS
Forum: Home Theater Computers (incl. discussions of quiet PCs)
- Building a mini-'quieter-than-a-whisper' linux pc
- Directron.com (has special
sections for quiet components, black components, translucent, etc.)
- Dynamat (sound damping panels that
convert vibration and noise to low-grade molecular thermal energy)
- EndPCNoise.com (full line of
quiet cases, fans, power supplies, etc., plus guides and comparisons)
- Enermax U.S.A. (products include
high-perf. power supplies w/ hard switches & thermal-controlled fans)
- Globefan (fans and coolers, incl.
thermal-controlled and the ultra-quiet 15dB DSF-80UL-25 PSU fan)
- How to Build a Fast
Air-Cooled Quiet PC (Tweak3D.com article from December 2001)
- Jab-tech (PC component vendor with
a Quiet PC section; sometimes has best prices, even on obscure stuff)
- Nagasaki (Taiwanese
manufacturer of fanless brick, tablet, and other non-trad. PCs)
- PC Power & Cooling, Inc.
(high-end cases, fans, and power supplies (incl. redundant))
- QuietPC USA: Hear Yourself Think
(quiet power supplies, fans, CPU coolers, cases, dampeners, etc.)
- RSG Electronic Components
(a German company with fanless power supplies)
- Sharka Corporation: Providers of Quiet
Cooling Solutions (was Zalman Tech; also non-cooling items)
- Sidewinder Computers
(PC cooling and rounded cables, plus MP3 samples of fans they sell)
- Silent PC, The (falling out-of-date
as of 2007, but still has a lot of good info and vendor links)
- Silent
Systems (now a Molex div. -- quiet heatsink/fans & drive encl.)
- SilentPCReview.com :: We carry a big stick
- Topower Computer (products include
high-perf. power supplies w/ hard switches & thermal-controlled fans)
- Yahoo! Groups:
Silent-PC (mailing list with searchable online archive)
- AVS (Audio/Video Science) Forum
(these A/V discussion forums a good place to find user experiences)
- BizRate: Compare Prices, Product Reviews
and Store Ratings (includes shipping, tax, and stock info)
- broadbandreports.com - the place
for BROADBAND (cable/DSL/wireless ISP locator, info, reviews)
- CNET Reviews (editorial & user
reviews; online & local store prices w/ shipping, tax, and stock info)
- ConsumerREVIEW.com - Consumer
Product Reviews (minimal non-audio-product content, no prices)
- Epinions.com (best general website
for user reviews; price comparisons w/ shipping, tax, and stock info)
- Google Product Search
(formerly Froogle; base price only -- no shipping, tax, stock info)
- mySimon: Comparison Shopping
(buying guides; product capsule descr.; incl. shipping, tax, stock)
- NexTag: Comparison Shopping for Products,
Mortgages, Travel, Cars & More... (incl. shipping, tax, stock)
- PriceGrabber.com: Comparison Shopping
Beyond Compare (prices w/ shipping, tax, stock; storefronts)
- PriceSCAN.com - Unbiased Price
Comparison Shopping Online (incl. shipping, tax, stock info)
- Pricewatch (orig. price compare
site, mostly for PC parts; no ZIP-specific shipping & tax, nor stock)
- ResellerRatings.com (orig.
just PC hardware vendor reviews; now prices w/ shipping, tax, stock)
- Radio-Locator (radio station
search engine -- search by call letters, location, format, etc.)
- YES.com (7 days of past playlist
information for most stations in most good-sized radio markets)
- Acronym Finder: 336,000+ acronyms /
abbreviations (beware popup ads, censorship on e.g. "FUBAR")
- alt.usage.english Home Page
(with FAQ, accent audio samples, ASCII IPA notation guide, etc.)
- American Registry for Internet Numbers
(ARIN) (does IP registration in U.S. formerly done by InterNIC)
- Animal Diversity Web
(animal info, drawings, photos, browseable taxonomy trees, etc.)
- Animal
Pictures Archive (archive.org cache of apparently defunct site)
- ATTRITION Web Page Hack Mirror
(1st defaced website archive; links to archives still in operation)
- BarCode 1 - A Web Of Information About Bar Code
- Bartleby.com: Great Books Online --
Encyclopedia, Dictionary, Thesaurus and hundreds more
- Better Business Bureau (trustworthiness
ratings of businesses and general info on complaints and how resolved)
- businessCreditUSA.com
(search by name/phone/owner for credit rating, comments, etc.)
- Copyright & Fair Use
(presented by the Stanford University Libraries)
- Fast periodic
table (lots of detail, all available as JavaScript rollovers)
- GeekTools - WHOIS Proxy
(queries the approp. WHOIS; now requires CAPTCHA on each query)
- IANA: Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
- Internet Archive, The (archived
ARPANET docs, Usenet posts, websites, and informational short films)
- iTools: Quick access to the best Internet
tools (financial, language, map, research, and other tools)
- Jargon File, The / The New Hacker's Dictionary
- LANANA: Linux Assigned Names And Numbers
Authority (Linux Device List esp. useful -- dev maj+min # spec)
- LivingInternet.com: the net's most
comprehensive reference source about the net
- Merriam-Webster OnLine (free-access
dict. & thesaurus; by-subscription unabridged dict. w/ extra features)
- Nolo Self-Help Law - Legal Information, Books, Software and Forms
- Object Identifiers Registry
(links, lookup, and info on OIDs, as defined in the ASN.1 standard)
- OneLook Dictionaries: The Faster
Finder (a multi-language dictionary meta-search with wildcards)
- Online Etymology Dictionary (a
useful lookup site whose info is compiled from several books)
- RFCs: FAQs.org's BCP/FYI/RFC/STD
Archives, with good indices and full-text ranked reference search
- RFCs: RFC-editor.org, including prefix
/ whole-word Author/Keywords/Title search, errata, and tar archives
- SamSpade.org (quick lookup page
featuring DNS, DNSBLs, Routing Explorer, RWHOIS, WHOIS, etc.)
- Search Systems (~30,000
public record databases: business info, court filings, property, etc.)
- snopes.com: Urban Legends Reference
Pages (before forwarding that "interesting fact", check here)
- Snort.org Port Search Database
(includes unofficial and alternate assignments IANA doesn't list)
- SURBL.org's list of two-level
ccTLDs (e.g. .co.uk -- useful for domain-parsing programs)
- TIOBE Programming Community
Index (Google survey on relative popularity of prog. languages)
- United States Patent and Trademark
Office (includes searchable full-text & images patent database)
- UPCdatabase.com (look up
product details by UPC code or using :CueCat; clean HTML is parseable)
- Uwhois.com: The Universal "Who Is" for
Internet domains (useful 133.177.0.0 results, unlike GeekTools)
- Vendor/Ethernet MAC Address
Lookup (or try the IEEE's version)
- VeriSign IDN Conversion Tool
(convert International Domain Names to WHOIS-lookupable Punycode)
- Webopedia: Online Dictionary for
Computer and Internet Terms (w/ intra-site and external links)
- What
does {some strange unix command name} stand for? (on faqs.org)
- Who Owns What: Columbia
Journalism Review's guide to what the major media companies own
- Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia
(multilingual encyc. you can edit yourself; surprisingly high quality)
- Wiktionary: a wiki-based Open Content
dictionary (the dictionary equivalent of Wikipedia)
- Word Detective, The (indexed
archives of humorous newspaper column on word and phrase origins)
- Word Spy, The: recently coined words,
existing words enjoying a renaissance, and old words used in new ways
- Alcohol Soft (Alcohol 120% can
back up copy-protected CDs & non-CSS DVDs, mnt. imgs. as virt. drives)
- CD Media World (collection of
CD and DVD utilities, inc. CDR Identifier -- ID good & bad CD-R mfgs.)
- EAC - Exact Audio Copy (aims
to be the most error-free CD audio extractor, esp. for scratched CDs)
- Feurio! (ripping / burning
software; good tables on site of reading & writing drive capabilities)
- ImgBurn (good freeware Windows CD /
DVD burning software with no ads, unwanted browser toolbars, or nags)
- LAME Ain't an MP3 Encoder
(actually it is the standard MP3 encoding engine used in much s.w.)
- Sound & MIDI Software For Linux
(includes sound software that works on other UNIXes as well)
- Total Recorder (replacement
Windows sound driver that can capture streaming audio to WAV/MP3 file)
- Active@ KillDisk (drive-wiping DOS
boot disk; free vers. just zeroes; pay vers. DoD 5220.22-M compliant)
- Autoclave
(drive-wiping Linux boot disk; var. sec. levs., no DoD 5220.22-M?)
- BCWipe for
UNIX (commercial; Linux/UNIX commandline or boot floppy/CD)
- Darik's Book and Nuke (DBAN)
(drive-wiping Linux boot disk; DoD 5220.22-M, SATA, SCSI, etc.)
- GNU shred (file and device wiping; part of the GNU coreutils)
- Linux Wipe Tools (shell
scripts for wiping swap partition, unused disk space, or entire disk)
- Wipe (Linux/UNIX secure file
wiping utility using write cache disabling and Mersenne Twister PRNG)
- Blender (formerly commercial open
source 3-D modeling, animation, rendering, and game creation suite)
- BreezeBrowser (inc.
Twiddle, a Win32 GUI program for lossless EXIF thumbnail rotation)
- Dia (open-source Visio clone)
- EXIFutils - Command Line EXIF
manipulation tools for JPEG and TIFF images
- Exifer
(backup/view/edit/restore EXIF data, including EXIF thumbnails)
- Extensions of jpegtran (with list of
programs supporting lossless JPEG rotation and cropping)
- iniCom GIF
Optimizer (free, non-color-munging Win32 GUI GIF optimizer)
- GIMP Homepage (GPL'd Photoshop-type
application for UNIX, plus a not-necessarily-up-to-date Windows port)
- ImageMagick (cross-platform,
cross-language image creation/manipulation libraries and toolset)
- Independent JPEG Group (standard free
JPEG library & commandline utils. for comment editing, rotating, etc.)
- Thumber (view APP12 +
EXIF data, extract thumbs (s.t.), edit image w/ EXIF preserved, etc.)
- Aaron
Margosis' Non-Admin Blog (non-Administrator Windows tools+info)
- AntiOnline (includes large,
well-organized archive of security exploit tools)
- AntiSniff
(the original packet-sniffer-detector, for OpenBSD/Solaris/Windows)
- AV-Comparitives (thorough
independent effectiveness benchmarking of all the major AV packages)
- Block Cipher
Lounge, The (review of block ciphers+attacks; last updated '99)
- Bugtraq (the
premiere full-disclosure security hole discussion list)
- CERT Coordination Center (detailed
advisories with multi-vendor responses on high-profile security flaws)
- Cryptology
Pointers (comprehensive crypto links; good stream cipher sect.)
- Dan Harkless' Secure UNIX
OSes Buying Guide (moved OS and security component links here)
- Degaussing Magnetic Media (incl. which media degaussing kills)
- dropsafe: Alec
Muffett's Home Page (includes Crack and CrackLib)
- DShield - Distributed Intrusion Detection
System (amalgamates user firewall logs into global IDS report)
- ElcomSoft Password Recovery
Software (trial vers. more functional than LostPassword.com's)
- ftps -
FTP-SSL and FTP-TLS (comprehensive look at clients and servers)
- Gibson Research Corporation (personal
firewall shootout, portscanning CGI, SpinRite HD recovery tool, etc.)
- Hash Function RIPEMD-160, The (home page by algo.'s co-author)
- Hashing Function Lounge, The (review of hash funcs. & attacks)
- Insecure.org (NMAP, the best port
scanner and remote OS identifier, Exploit World archive, etc.)
- IP Filter (firewalling
kernel module as on Linux, but for *BSD, HP-UX, QNX, Solaris, etc.)
- Jotti's online malware scan
(upload a file to be scanned by 15 Linux-based anti-virus programs)
- LEAF - Linux Embedded Appliance
Firewall (LRP successor -- firewall fitting on one boot floppy)
- LostPassword.com (password
recovery/cracking software for many applications, mostly for Windows)
- Nessus (actively updated remote
security scanner with a modular architecture)
- netcat (interactive client /
server that can connect to or listen on arbitrary TCP/UDP ports)
- Nikto (open source web
vulnerability scanner; finds things that commercial AppScan doesn't)
- NJS JavaScript Interpreter
(commandline JS intrprtr. handy for evaluating obfuscated JS, etc.)
- Offline NT Password &
Registry Editor (boot floppy/CD can reset Administrator passwd)
- OpenSSH (SSH implementation from
the OpenBSD folks -- lacks usage restrictions of the ssh.com version)
- Openwall Project (incl. John the
Ripper, password strength checking PAM, Owl secure Linux distro, etc.)
- Paros (interactive HTTP[S] proxy
that allows you to view and change headers; also has spider & scanner)
- PGP Commercial: International
(v8+: DH/DSS & RSA for Mac, Windows, handhelds)
- PGP Commercial: U.S. (v8+: DH/DSS & RSA
for Mac, Windows, handhelds)
- PGP Freeware: International (v2+:
DH/DSS & RSA for most OSes)
- PGP Freeware: U.S. (v2:
RSA for DOS, Mac, UNIX; v6: DH/DSS & RSA for Mac, UNIX, Windows)
- PGP Open Source: GnuPG (OK worldwide;
incompatible with PGP 2, only partially compatible with PGP 5/6)
- PGP Various: The OpenPGP Alliance
(the OpenPGP standard and links to products compatible with it)
- plp_snprintf
(free, portable, robust impl. of missing-in-old-OSes [v]snprintf())
- SARA: Security Auditor's Research
Assistant (actively updated SATAN-derived OSS security scanner)
- scponly (restricted
shell for scp/sftp-only access; more actively maintained than rssh)
- Secure Shell FAQ, The
(great info on the various available implementations of SSH)
- SecurityForest.com (includes
ExploitTree: project to archive and categorize all available exploits)
- Sentinel
(packet-sniffer-detector for BSD & Linux; can outdo AntiSniff)
- Shoreline Firewall (Shorewall)
(secure-by-default iptables wrapper customizable w/ config. files)
- SmashGuard.org's Buffer Overflow Page (anti-overflow software)
- sudo (safer replacement for su)
- SunSolve WWW (it used to be very
hard to find this Solaris patch site, starting from www.sun.com)
- SWATCH: The Simple WATCHer of
Logfiles (unlike Logwatch, monitors in real time; has triggers)
- Tiger UNIX security
tool (resurrection of the old TAMU Tiger security scanner)
- TRIE: TRick Internet Explorer (Liu
Die Yu's continuation of Thor Larholm's "Unpatched IE security holes")
- Tripwire
v1.2 (last version for commercial UNIXes avail. as open source)
- Tripwire v2+ (versions for
commercial UNIXes now a commercial product; open source for Linux/BSD)
- TrueCrypt (open-source disk
encryption for Windows [incl. full-disk encryption], Linux, and Mac)
- ucspi-tcp (an inetd
replacement that incorporates TCP Wrapper functionality and more)
- Wietse's tools and
papers (includes TCP Wrappers and one-time password daemons)
- Abuse.net: The Network Abuse Clearinghouse
(master contact database & tools for reporting abusive users)
- Brad Templeton's Home Page
(includes interesting pages on the history and etymology of "spam")
- dnsbl-milter (can
select different DNSBL sets per user, unlike with bare sendmail)
- drbcheck: dr. Jørgen Mash's
DNS database list checker (meta query of ~700 DNSBLs)
- Clueless Mailers: The Latest Ugly
Trend in Spamming (w/ the Spamdemic Map of company connections)
- DNSBL Resource (DNSBL news, reviews,
stats indicating spam hit and non-spam false positive rates, etc.)
- Fighting Spam
(surveys on how many IPs are matched by dozens of different DNSBLs)
- Get that spammer!
(dig, ping, whois, etc. CGIs & how to use on spam header info)
- Greylisting: The Next
Step in the Spam Control War (uses MTA-observed temp. failures)
- Greylisting: Whitelist (servers Greylisting has problems with)
- How do spammers harvest
email addresses? (w/ info on preventing some methods; links)
- Junkbusters (how to rid
yourself of junk mail, spam, telemarketing calls, web ads, etc.)
- Junkfax.org: Dedicated to helping stop
junk faxes (with detailed if rambling profiles on the spammers)
- List of All Known
DNS-based Spam Databases (150+ DNSBLs, with some details)
- Mail Abuse Prevention System (MAPS)
(original RBL & RSS, etc.; now a pay service and controversial)
- mod_access_rbl2
(Apache module stops DNSBL-listed IPs from spidering for addresses)
- openrbl.org: DNSBL Lookup (meta query
of 30+ DNSBLs, plus hit percentage stats; terse and cryptic interface)
- Postini - Email Stat Track
(global spam and email virus stats and maps; broken on Mozilla)
- Spam Links (comprehensive
links & categorized RBL list w/ HTTP/rsync/zone-xfer copyability col.)
- SPF: Sender Policy Framework
(prevents spoofing: DNS rec. of IPs that send mail as your domain)
- Yahoo! DomainKeys
(like SPF but w/ crypto key on mailservers instead of tracking IPs)
- Fandango.com (only listings for
partner chains like Regal; often no synopsis for small-release films)
- Hollywood.com (only site w/ "all
local movies" mode; otherwise must pick 1 theater; missing synopses)
- Moviefone.com (synopsis excerpt, link
to full, s.t. missing; in past, saw near future listings disappear)
- MovieTickets.com (must pick 1
theater; no "Spinal Tap" listings though film mentioned on main page)
- StubHub! (person-to-person ticket
sale site now owned by eBay; haven't found any great deals here)
- Ticketmaster
- NIST: Time and Frequency Division
(atomic clock time signals via radio, Internet, modem, and phone)
- ntp.org: Home of the Network Time Protocol
(formerly on udel.edu; software for most OSes, server list, etc.)
- PDFCalendar.com (generate blank
printable PDF calendars in 1-month, 1-year, or N-weeks formats)
- timeanddate.com (calendar
generator, good for checking dates in other years; time zones, etc.)
- www.time.gov (Java applet w/ NIST/USNO
atomic clock time accurate to 1 second; links to "Time Exhibits")
- WorldTimeZone.com (world and
country maps with timezone demarcations and current local times, etc.)
- 9th Tee Enterprises (TiVo upgrade
parts, including TiVoNET boards; also other electronics parts)
- DealDatabase Forum
(uncensored & DirecTiVo-specific TiVo hack info; deals & freebies)
- Hinsdale How-to
TiVo upgrade (only complete, up-to-date guide at this writing)
- OzTiVo (this TiVo
hacking site is in Australia, but most info is internationally useful)
- TiVo Community Forum, The
(original, best-known TiVo forum, but some hacking topics censored)
- TiVo Utilities Home Page
(TiVo hacking programs, datasheets, and manuals)
- Unofficial TiVo
Hackers Site, The (home of TiVo Hacking FAQ; archive.org copy)
- WeaKnees.com (TiVos and upgrades;
Maxtor QuickView PVR HDs, quieter replacement fans, and other parts)
- Cheap Tickets - Flights, hotels,
cars, cruises, last minute trips (unpub. fares; FlightTracker)
- Expedia Travel (Microsoft's baby,
so you may not want to support them, but seems to be the standard now)
- Hotwire (specially-negotiated deals
unique to them; can see prices w/o credit card, unlike Priceline)
- Orbitz (cool retro 60s ad campgaign;
study showed they return 20% more choices than closest competitor)
- Priceline.com (name your own
price, but you have to pre-commit to it with a credit card number)
- SmarterTravel.com (low-cost
last-minute and other travel options, including email alerts)
- Southwest Airlines (good, cheap
domestic airline; travel websites generally don't carry their flights)
- Travelocity.com (the long-time
ASP of Yahoo! Travel)
- TripAdvisor - Reviews of vacations,
hotels, resorts, vacation & travel packages (reviews & forums)