Free Web Resources

Following are free online resources you may find useful.
Some you are probably already well acquainted with -
Others you'll probably be delighted to learn about.

The Wayback Machine - The Wayback Machine is an internet archive that is building a digital library of internet sites. It allows you to access web sites and web pages that have disappeared without warning. Just plug in the URL address for the non-working site or page and if it has already been archived, you will be able to view it. 
http://www.archive.org/web/web.php

Copyscape Plagiarism Check - You can plug in the URL of the web page you're concerned about, and it will search for copies of your page on the web. It also has a paid for service (called CopySentry) that will automatically monitor the web for copies of your pages and email you as soon as they appear.
http://www.copyscape.com/

Akismet - "Automatic Kismet (Akismet for short) is a collaborative effort to make comment and trackback spam a non-issue and restore innocence to blogging, so you never have to worry about spam [in the comment section of your blog] again."
http://akismet.com/

Photo Pencil Sketch - Upload an image, and it will create a pencil sketch of it
http://www.dumpr.net/sketch.php

Sporkforge Sketch Generator - Upload your image, set your desired parameters and generate a "...sketch"-like abstraction of your digital photograph."
http://sporkforge.com/imaging/sketch.php

E-mail Templates for Newsletters - "Getting your email to look great in all the major email clients can be a challenge at times, so we’ve done the hard work for you with these 30 free email templates. We’ve tested them in all the major email clients, so add your own content."
http://www.campaignmonitor.com/templates/

YouSendIt - "YouSendIt technology is ideal for sending large files without the limitations of email attachments..." It is designed for individual use as well as businesses. The free "lite" version allows you to send a maximum file size of 100 MB with a 1 GB monthly download limit.
http://www.yousendit.com/cms/liteaccount

Google SketchUp - "Google SketchUp is software that you can use to create 3D models of anything you like."
http://www.google.com/sketchup/product/gsu.html

ShipGooder - "ShipGooder is the simple, fast way to find optimum shipping rates for local, regional and national couriers." It provides comparative rates to ship your item for all major national, regional and local couriers. Just plug in your origin and destination zip code, postal code or ISO code for a non-US/Canada destination. The advance option allows you to add package size information.
http://www.shipgooder.com/

The Acronym Finder - "The Acronym Finder allows users to decipher acronyms from a database of over 600,000 entries covering computers, technology, telecommunications, and the military. Unlike online glossaries, search engines, encyclopedias, or thesauruses, Acronym Finder exists purely to unravel the bewildering range of acronyms that impact daily life." - If you access it from the home page, you have the option of using it in 13 other languages. Note: unfortunately if there are "tons" of entries for the same acronym, its a little disconcerting because the listing of them is not alphabetized. Not a problem for SAQA which only has two entries, but there are 95 entries for SDA.
http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/

Artist's Butler: Studio Manager for All Artists and Photographers - Okay, this is not completely free, but you are allowed to download the program at no cost to try it out - this demo allows you to input, edit and/or delete up to 10 records so you can determine if this is the program for you. It has a long list of features.
http://www.lynnsoft.net/

The RasterBlaster - Create  giant scale prints and images - "The Rasterbator creates huge, rasterized images from any picture. Upload an image, print the resulting multi-page pdf file and assemble the pages into extremely cool looking poster up to 20 meters in size." - You have the option of uploading your image online or downloading the software. 
http://homokaasu.org/rasterbator/

The Big Picture Software – The Big Picture is an easy to use free poster printing software that allows you to divide any picture into several A4 pages for printing large posters…Not only does it divide the picture into suitable pages but it also interpolates each page for smooth printing…The program shows how the picture will be divided into individual pages and counts the physical size of the final poster. You can also preview the individual pages…The program contains clear instructions with sample pictures.
http://www.tml.tkk.fi/~tmakipat/thebigpicture/getbigpic.html

Grid Pattern Generator - Just upload your image and it will convert it into a grid. It gives you the option of showing the grid in black and white, in color, using squares and/or using the alphabet.
http://www.typorganism.com/asciiomatic/

Graph and Grid Paper Generator
http://www.incompetech.com/graphpaper/

Wordle - "Wordle is a toy for generating 'word clouds' from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes." - This is a great resource for designing a piece using text. http://www.wordle.net/

Exercises for Treating Carpal Tunnel Syndrome - This is a series of 15 videos - "How to understand carpal tunnel syndrome, its symptoms, and how to relieve pain caused by it with exercises and stretches; get expert tips and advice on treating carpal tunnel pain in this free physical therapy video series."
http://www.ehow.com/videos-on_3747_exercises-treating-carpal-tunnel-syndrome.html

This to That - "Because people have a need to glue things to other things"
http://www.thistothat.com/

Stain Removal Guide
http://www.chemistry.co.nz/stain_frame.htm

Universal Currency Converter
http://www.xe.com/ucc/

TinyURL - To convert those l-o-n-g URLs into something manageable - "By entering in a URL in the text field below, we will create a tiny URL that will not break in email postings and never expires."
http://tinyurl.com/

Zip Code Lookup
http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.jsp

LibraryThing - catalogue your books online - "LibraryThing is an online service to help people catalog their books easily. You can access your catalog from anywhere—even on your mobile phone." - The free account allows you to catalog up to 200 books. A paid account ($10/year or $25/lifetime) provides unlimited cataloging.
http://www.librarything.com/about

Free Conference Call - "Teleconferences can have up to 96 participants for 6 hour period of time per session." - Use for business or family.
http://www.freeconferencecall.com/

Create Jigsaw - Upload an image and it will show it in jigsaw puzzle format.
http://www.dumpr.net/puzzle.php

Rubik's Cube - Upload an image and see it rendered in Rubik's Cube format
http://www.dumpr.net/rubik.php