On-Line Reference & Research
- Online Etymology
Dictionary - a great little site for finding word origins. Nice abbreviation
explanations, too!
- wordwizard.com
- origins of English words or phrases...
- Bartleby.com - Access
to dictionaries, thesaurii, quotations, verse, non-fiction, and more...all
for free!
- Visualthesaurus.com
- Cool! A thesaurus for visual thinkers...and everyone else.
- hyperdictionary.com
- free web-based dictionaries, including specialized computer, medical,
and dream dictionaries.
- people
names and their meanings and origins
- Project Gutenberg
- 17,000 books and other works - out of copyright and free in various formats.
A non-profit site.
- ReadPrint.com
- a bunch of out of copyright classics in HTML format for easy searching.
A profit based site.
Computer and Technology Research
- Infosyssec
- Whois, host lookup, ping, reverse lookup and many more on-line Internet
research tools - "The Security Portal for Information System Security
Professionals".
- Driverzone.com
- Drivers for new and old computer hardware.
- PCpitstop.com
- Free PC Diagnostics and Tuneups
- Sourceforge.net
- "the world's largest Open Source software development website"
- open source and off the beaten track software being developed here.
- pcmag.com - PC Magazine's
site. Less biased reviews of technology products and services.
- majorgeeks.com - Tons
of free utilities and help with PC and Internet technical issues.
- tomshardware.com
- Reviews, articles, and support for PC hardware. Check out your parts before
you build or upgrade your computer.
- pcmech.com - Another
site with great reviews, articles and support for hardware and software
related computer issues.
Consumer Research
- Consumerreports.org
- One of the very rare low-biased consumer products reviewing and rating
organizations - free access to many reports and ratings lists for tons of
products.
- epinions.com -
this is a commercial site where you can get opinions, reviews, and ratings
on a myriad range of products. However, beware that you have no way of knowing
if the reviews are from the company producing the products or a real consumer
with a real experience to share. Or a competitor wishing to blacken a product's
reputation.
- Equifax.ca - free
copy of your personal credit report from this major credit rating company
(Canada) - U.S.: equifax.com.
- TripAdvisor.com -
when you need to check out a hotel, this is a pretty good place to get reports
and ratings. Travelocity
seems to have many, too, but Trip Advisor is stronger (?) LonelyPlanet
used to be the best...
Subscription Research Tools - Excellent ones
(Note: These are not free, but some things are worth paying for)