Need web-based access to WHOIS, reverse lookup, ping, tracert, spam database lookup, IP routiong info and more? Check this site out for several useful networking tools.

Neat. This one goes on my "IP Private Detective" list, along with samspade.org

DNS Stuff: DNS tools, WHOIS, tracert, ping, and other network tools.

Requires Java.

Visual Google Browser. Type in a URL, and it displays a visual representation of that URL and all the other URLs that are related to it (somewhat similar to visualthesaurus.com, if you've played with that).

Extremely cool to look at and play with.

TouchGraph GoogleBrowser V1.01

] This VisualRoute Server provides a graphical traceroute
] from this server to any other network device you choose,
] useful for pinpointing network connectivity problems and
] identifying IP addresses. To trace back to your computer,
] just press the button with your IP address below. To
] trace to any other network device, enter the host name or
] URL below and press Enter.

Requires Java. Watch a visual trace route appear, overlaid against a map of the world, as it runs a tracert to far away domains (for example, try bbc.co.uk for England, or yellowpages.com.au for Australia).

Visual Trace Route

] by typing a specific Web address that included the phrase
] "emailpwdreset," he could seize any person's Passport
] account and change the password associated with it.

Salon.com Technology | Microsoft admits Internet Passport was vulnerable

Charts and data showing how prevalent various "Plug in" Players are. One chart shows penetration of Macromedia Flash (98%) as compared to QuickTime (37%). Another chart shows penetration of the different versions of Flash player, by geographical area (for example, Asia is less likely to have Flash Player 6 than other areas).

Flash and Shockwave Players Usage Statistics

] The "Sinful Six" is the name for the subject categories
] that customers most frequently ask 8e6 to block -
] pornography, anarchy, criminal skills, gambling,
] hate/discrimination, and obscene or tasteless material.

I'd be interested to know how they define "anarchy" and "obscene" sites. Many of the sites that I surf to on a daily basis (especially the blog sites) might easily fit into either of those categories. ;)

They look at porn all day, so others won't be able to

] Open Smiler, then scroll through the over 2,500 available
] smileys. When you found one you want, click it and the
] smiley code will appear in the text box below. Click the
] Copy to Clipboard button, then switch to your AIM chat
] window. To paste the smiley into your chat window, Use
] Edit / Paste or the keyboard shortcut CTRL-V.

This uses the same "click on the link and drag it up to your browser's 'Links' menu to make a button" system that Memestreams does. I thought it was pretty spiffy, and gives you access to literally thousands of different "emoticon" graphics that can be pasted into an IM window. I haven't tested it yet to see if it works with Trillian, but it looks like it's worth a shot!

AIM Smileys - BigBlueBall.com

For those who use AOL Instant Messenger a great deal, this is an interesting utility. Aside from getting rid of the annoying ads on the normal AIM client, this one has some other nice features such as auto-logging, plus you can logon multiple ScreenNames at one time. And for people who routinely have multiple IM windows open simultaneously, you can use this to set up "tabbed" windows to keep different conversations more organized.

It still has the problem of being AIM-only, so for those people who use multiple services such as Yahoo and MSN, Trillian is probably still going to be a better choice. But just in terms of AIM clients, this one looks like it's one of the best around.

DeadAIM Instant Message Client

] Leading technology, consumer electronics and
] entertainment companies -- including Amazon.com,
] Microsoft and Walt Disney -- have joined together to
] lobby the Federal Communications Commission to adopt
] rules preserving the free-flowing nature of the Internet.
]
] The group, known as the Coalition of Broadband Users and
] Innovators, is raising fears that the FCC could
] fundamentally alter the Internet by adopting rules that
] could allow providers of broadband services to favor
] certain services and Internet sites.

I've been looking for any website by the "Coalition of Broadband Users and Innovators," but have yet to find one. If it's out there, could someone meme it?

More information about the FCC ruling here:
 http://www.mediaaccess.org/programs/broadband/legaltimes121602.html

CNET: Amazon, Microsoft, and Disney call for open high-speed Net

Good translation resource. This page has input boxes for multiple different translation utilities around the web, so you can quickly check to see if they have the language(s) that you're looking for. It also has links to a couple neat "guess the language" resources, so you can paste in some text that you're not sure about, and it'll display a chart plotting the likelihood that it's one of several different possible languages.

For example, I found this site very useful when translating a page I found via a Copenhagen News site. I'd tried to translate the Copenhagen page from Danish to English with very little success, but after analyzing it, I learned that the language on the page was more likely in Swedish or Norwegian, so when I tried those translation utilities, I got a much more understandable output. Very useful stuff!

Language Translation -- English, French, German, Danish, Spanish, Finnish, Czech, Italian & Portuguese