Obvious disclaimer – the links on this page will take you to external sites.
A 🌟 indicates a stronger recommendation.
Software#
| Name | Description |
|---|
| Bitwarden | 🌟 Open-source password manager. |
| Obsidian | 🌟 A note-taking app that uses markdown files stored locally on your computer. |
| Syncthing | 🌟 An open-source file synchronisation tool that I use to keep local files in sync across different devices. |
| Ventoy | 🌟 Ventoy is an open-source tool for creating bootable USB drives. Rather than reformatting the drive each time you can put multiple ISOs on a single drive and boot to any of them from a menu. |
| Directory Opus | An absurdly customisable replacement for the Windows File Explorer. Not free. I was happy to pay for it as a Windows user, it also has a free trial. |
| Mullvad | If you need to use a VPN, I reccomend Mullvad. Other providers may be cheaper, but only if you opt into absurdly long subscritions. |
| Fedora Linux | Specifically the Sway spin of Fedora. For more information on reccomended Linux programs, see the Linux writeup page. |
| Name | Description |
|---|
Adblock Tester | A website for testing the effectiveness of your browser’s ad blocking capabilities. No longer maintained - looking for a good replacement. |
| DuckDuckGo AI Chat | Anonymous access to popular AI models, including GPT-4o mini, Claude 3, Llama 3.1 and Mixtral. |
| Enhancer for Youtube | 🌟 A browser extension that adds a lot of useful features to YouTube. I use it to remove comment sections and automatically expand video descriptions. Chrome / Firefox |
| Extensity | A browser extension for quickly enabling and disabling other browser extensions. Chrome (Not available for Firefox because the API doesn’t allow extensions to disable each other) |
| Guerrilla Mail | 🌟 A disposable email service. I use it for signing up to websites that I would rather not give my real email address to. |
| Gamepad Tester | A website for testing whether your controller is working correctly. |
| Learn X in Y minutes | A way to quickly learn the basics of a programming language. |
| Minimal Twitter | 🌟 A browser extension that removes the clutter from Twitter and makes it bearable to use. Chrome / Firefox |
| Obsidian Web Clipper | 🌟 A browser extension for clipping web pages to Obsidian. Chrome / Firefox |
Omnivore | Omnivore is an open source read it later application that can integrate with services like Obsidian. I use it to take notes on articles I read. The devoloper of Omnivore has moved on to other projects and the app is no longer maintained. I now use Wallabag. |
| Regexr | An online tool for mastering Regular Expressions. |
| SS64 | A command line reference tool. |
| Name | Description |
|---|
| Auto EQ | 🌟 AutoEq is a project designed to help equalize your headphones. It provides recommended settings tailored to your specific headphone model, which you can use in EQ software. |
| Exportify | A tool for analysing your Spotify library. It shows all the useful metadata that is used by Spotify’s algorithms that isn’t visible in the Spotify UI. |
| Last fm | A music scrobbling service. It keeps track of what I’m listening to across different platforms. |
| Music Map | A website that shows you a visualisation of similar artists to the one you search for. Useful for finding new music to listen to. |
Fun Web Games#
| Name | Description |
|---|
| Geocircles | You are given a location on Google street view and have to guess where in the world it is with increasing accuracy. |
| GeoGrid | 🌟 A daily geography game where you have to pick the most obscure country that correctly fits in each spot on a grid. |
| Pn0gstr0m | Play AI at Pong. Evertime you hit the ball it multiplies. |
| MapTag | 🌟 A daily geography game where you are given 5 locations and have to place them correctly with no markers to guide you. |
| OTW Wargames | A series of games fromt the OverTheWire community to learn and practice cybersecurity concepts. |
| Sports Under 150 | 🌟 A daily web game where you are given a series of countries and a selection of sports, you assign each country a sport and win if the cumulative world ranking for your selections is under 150. |
| Squardle | 🌟 A daily wordsearch type puzzle. Can be quite challenging. Aids are unlocked later in the day if you need them. |
| Wikitrivia | A game where you attempt to place a series of historical events in chronological order. |
Fun Websites#
| Name | Description |
|---|
| neal.fun | A website with a collection of interesting and fun creations from Neal Agarwal. |
| Plain Text Sports | A website for checking sports scores in plain text - without being bombarded with advertisements for sportsbooks. |
| Shademap | A website for visualising the position of the sun at different times of the day and year. |
| Scottish Beach Project | 🌟 A blog with nice pictures of beaches in Scotland. |
| WikiNav | A website for visualising Wikipedia traffic between articles. |
| How dense is your city? | A website for comparing the population density of different cities by distance from the city centre. |
| Flag Stories | An infographic site showing the common elements in flags from around the world. Useful for playing GeoGrid! |
Toronto#
| Name | Description |
|---|
| Fishing in Toronto | A website with lots of information about fishing in Toronto. |
| Seekers Books | 🌟 A used bookstore located at 509 Bloor Street West in Toronto. |
| The Toronto Public Library | 🌟 I particularly appreciate access to PressReader, online learning courses, and the New York Times cooking section. |
| Toronto Maps | A map from the City of Toronto that shows a lot of useful information about the city. |