15 insanely useful websites


  1. AudioBooksForFree.com

    All in mp3 format, can be loaded onto music players, burned to CDs, etc.


  2. Buy It Later
    "Adds a button to Amazon.com webpages, sending you email or tweets when items come back 'In Stock', or the price changes... Great for Wiis, Kindles, or watching for unannounced 'sales' on big-ticket purchases."


  3. Executive Planet
    A Wiki that offers "valuable tips on business etiquette, customs and protocol for doing business worldwide."
    See also: International Business Etiquette Internet Sourcebook (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada).


  4. gethuman
    "Below is a list of companies with instructions to get to a human using their customer service numbers. (NEVER call a customer service line without checking here first." Similar resource: Dial A Human.


  5. GPO Search -- Internet Publications Only
    "This catalog contains records for and links to Federal Government publications that are available online. Records date from July 1976 to the present."


  6. INFOMINE

    "(A) virtual library of Internet resources relevant to faculty, students, and research staff at the university level. It contains useful Internet resources such as databases, electronic journals, electronic books, bulletin boards, mailing lists, online library card catalogs, articles, directories of researchers, and many other types of information." Built and vetted by librarians.


  7. Lyric Wiki

    "(A) free site which is a source where anyone can go to get reliable lyrics for any song from any artist without being hammered by invasive ads."


  8. Mortgage Professor's Website

    "He is Jack M. Guttentag, now Professor of Finance Emeritus, formerly Jacob Safra Professor of International Banking, at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Earlier he was Chief of the Domestic Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, on the senior staff of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and managing editor of both the Journal of Finance (1974-77) and the Housing Finance Review (1983-89)."


  9. Consumer Form Letters and Opt Out Information
    (Privacy Rights Clearinghouse)
    See especially -- Online Data Vendors: How Consumers Can Opt Out of Directory Assistance and Non-public Information
    "There are many websites that sell or provide for free, personal information about individuals. This information is gathered from many sources including white pages listings (directory assistance), publicly-available sources and public records."


  10. Open CRS Network
    "American taxpayers spend over $100 million a year to fund the Congressional Research Service, a "think tank" that provides reports to members of Congress on a variety of topics relevant to current political events. Yet, these reports are not made available to the public in a way that they can be easily obtained. A project of the Center for Democracy & Technology through the cooperation of several organizations and collectors of CRS Reports, Open CRS provides citizens access to CRS Reports already in the public domain and encourages Congress to provide public access to all CRS Reports."


  11. RetailMeNot.com

    "(A)n easy way to find online coupon codes. Enter these codes at the checkout page of participating merchants for instant discounts."


  12. State Agency Databases Across the Fifty States

    From the America Library Association Government Documents Roundtable.
    "In every US State and the District of Columbia, agencies are creating databases of useful information - information on businesses, licensed professionals, plots of land, even dates of fish stocking. Some of this content is available on search engines, but much of it is part of the invisible web. In any event, no resource we're aware of has tried to pull together all publicly accessible state agency databases until now. Eventually each state page below will have a page listing state government databases by agency. If this project gets a wily programmer, we can talk subject access or even federated search."


  13. U.S. Government Photos, Graphics, and Multimedia

    "Collection of government graphics, photos, and images; most may be used without permission or fee." See also: Uncle Sam's Photos.


  14. University of Michigan Documents Center: Statistical Resources on the Web

    Not fancy. Insanely useful.


  15. Useful Items You Never Knew You Could Print Out - The Ultimate Guide

    Calendars, CD covers, mailing labels, graph paper...and much more, including many unusual items.

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