A new way to test your bandwidth

Applications that test bandwidth speeds have been around for years, but Speedtest.net takes the concept a step further.

The site allows you to select servers to ping from around the country on an interactive map and graphically displays connections as they travel with varying speeds along the way. It also lets you store results of tests for your computer and sort them by date, time, speed and distance.

Finally, Speedtest provides a simple way to share your results with others--taking the practice of monitoring bandwidth into the Web 2.0 realm.

GMail Hacks/Tips

I’ve been using GMail since 2005 and have always thought it was the best email service. With the large amount of space it offers, and the amazing features the possibilities are endless. The filter feature is easily the best feature of GMail. You can use it for its purpose - to filter spam and other unwanted emails. Or use it in some unique ways such as bookmarking, and storing recipes. Here are some nifty hacks/tips that allow you to get the most out of your GMail account.

• GMail based blog - Fix for it This is an awesome idea to allow you to blog via GMail. Who needs an SQL database when you can save your posts to GMail? .
• Encrypt all GMail traffic
  • This is just a simple tip allowing you to encrypt your whole session. When you go to GMail.com only the login is encrypted. When you go to GMail.com. At https://gmail.google.com the whole session is encrypted.
• Make a GMail partition
  • This is a simple yet brilliant idea to make use of that 2.7 gigs and counting of space GMail allows. This will create a new partition� in explorer. You can then save files/folders to your GMail account via the explorer interface. Create one simple filter so none of the files clutter up your inbox and you’re set. I believe this is against the GMail terms of service, but I’ve been using it for a while with no problems.
• Linux on GMail
  • This awesome hack allows you to have a Linux file system installed on your GMail account. It will give you basic *nix commands such as cp mv rm and ls. This is by far the neatest of all these.
• Use GMail as notepad
  • It’s such a simple yet effective idea. Using GMail’s ability to save drafts you can edit and save text just like notepad. There are actually more advantages to using GMail as a simple notepad such as spell check and the fact that you can access the documents from anywhere.
• GMail skins
  • Tired of the same old default GMail theme? Not anymore. Use this simple firefox plugin to change the color and basic layout of your GMail account.
• GMail manager
  • This firefox plugin allows you to manage multiple GMail accounts from firefox. It will give you basic stats about all your GMail accounts, and can check for new mail at a user defined interval.
• GNotify
  • This one is actually by Google. It’s a simple yet totally needed plugin. It tells you when you have mail with a very unobtrusive notify box in the lower right hand corner of your screen. It also opens a new tab in your browser with the email and subject already filled out when you click a mailto: link. This is a must have for people who depend on their email.
• gDisk for Macintosh
  • gDisk is a software that turns your GMail account into a portable hard drive so you can always have your important files accessible accross the Internet.
• GTDGmail
  • GTDGmail is a Firefox extension that integrates the highly effective methodology of “Getting Things Done”� into the popular email service Gmail.
• Mp3 Player
  • GMail actually comes built in with an mp3 player.
• Gmail cryptography plugin
  • FreeEnigma brings cryptography to webmail, with an ingenious set of free and open browser plug-ins that work with Yahoo, Gmail, and others. The plugins implement a version of GPG and scramble and de-scramble the text in your webmail before you send it and after you receive it.