Markdown Guide

Markdown is getting to be popular and most editors are now accepting the basic Markdown syntax. It's a good idea to get some fundamentals on how Markdown works. Soon you'll discover why more and more people are using it.

Matt Cone has put together an excellent Markdown Guide which makes it easy to understand the basic syntax . There's a section about the extended syntax which isn't supported in all platforms - but good to know the possibilities.

Website Description

https://www.markdownguide.org/

Popular Playgrounds

If you want to play around with Markdown try https://dillinger.io/, it's a great way to get a real time view of how Markdown works.

BBC Sound Effects

Having sound effects can go a long way to spice up a video. There are lots of places where you can get them, but many places lack quality sound effects.

The BBC Sound Effect is a great resource to for profession sound effects for your YouTube videos or Powerpoint slides.

Website Description

http://bbcsfx.acropolis.org.uk/

Now you can have an awesome howling dog for the Halloween video, or the laugh track when you want people to laugh.

Yoda Speak Generator

Yoda spoke a funny way - inverses of a normal speak. A classic example:

Now you can translate any text into Yoda speak with the Yoda-Speak Generator.

Website Description

https://www.yodaspeak.co.uk

Have Fun and Try It

Robot.txt File

If you have a website, you might be familiar with robot.txt file. This file that search engines use to determine what directories should get indexed.

Google has a robot.txt checker tool, which is pretty good. However, the folks over at websiteplanet.com created a useful robot.txt audit tool. Now you can see if your robot.txt file is up to specs! Simply enter the location of your robot.txt file and then go!

Website Description

https://www.websiteplanet.com/webtools/robots-txt/

Robot.txt Tips

Three tips on using the Robot.txt file:

Put in a fake directory that only exists in the robot.txt file to indicate that it shouldn't be searched. Then check your logs to see if anyone has hit it. This is a good way to see if someone is harvesting the "forbidden search directories."

Yoast.com created The ultimate guide to robots.txt. This is useful to understand all the latest options that robot.txt files have.

Doesn't hurt to check out other websites on how they have their robot.txt file setup.

Robot.txt References

Useful Robot.txt Guides:

• Create a robots.txt file - Search Console Help
• How to Create a Robots.txt File - Bing Webmaster Tools
• Blocking the Baiduspider

Canva Logo Design

Canva makes it easy to create you own custom logo. You simply type in your company names, select some styles that you like, and within a matter of minutes you get some creative ideas.

They provide lots of cool styles and inspirational ideas to get you started.

Website Description

https://www.canva.com/tools/logo-maker/

Typing Speed Test

Do you think you're a good at typing at the computer? Why not take a test to see how good you really are. The Typing Speed Test at Live Chat Inc. is a good way to test your typing accuracy.

Why not take the test and start a foundation of your typing skills.

Website Description

https://www.livechatinc.com/typing-speed-test/#/

When I took it, I was surprised how bad I did - I scored a 39 WPM with a 99% accuracy. Time to go back to typing school.

Blog Title Generator

Creating the perfect Blog headline can be tricky. What headline in a Google Search will attract the largest possible target audience?

Title Generator has some good title ideas. While many of the titles are just keyword substitution, they are some good things to think about. Title Generator is also good when you have that post topic but need a way to organize the actual post.

Website Description

https://www.title-generator.com/

Sample Headlines

Here are some suggested headlines for was the "Moon Landing was Faked" keywords. I can say I am not impressed with this top-15 results but it's some ideas to think about:

• How To Find The Right MOON LANDING FAKE For Your Specific Product(Service).
• Learn Exactly How We Made MOON LANDING FAKE Last Month
• MOON LANDING FAKE An Incredibly Easy Method That Works For All
• Being A Star In Your Industry Is A Matter Of MOON LANDING FAKE
• What Everyone Ought To Know About MOON LANDING FAKE
• Cracking The MOON LANDING FAKE Code
• What Make MOON LANDING FAKE Don't Want You To Know
• How To Quit MOON LANDING FAKE In 5 Days
• MOON LANDING FAKE: What A Mistake!
• The A - Z Guide Of MOON LANDING FAKE
• 5 Brilliant Ways To Use MOON LANDING FAKE
• The Truth About MOON LANDING FAKE In 3 Minutes
• How To (Do) MOON LANDING FAKE Without Leaving Your Office(House).
• 15 Lessons About MOON LANDING FAKE You Need To Learn To Succeed
• MOON LANDING FAKE? It's Easy If You Do It Smart

hilite.me

Adding color coded HTML to websites shouldn't be tricky. Thankfully sites like hilite.me make it easy. You simply paste your code and then click on the 'Highlight' button. Then copy the HTML code to your website or HTML form.

This is great when you are code sharing and want it to look so it's easy to read. Unfortunately, this won't work in Slack or Jira.

Website Description

http://hilite.me/

Sample Source Code

This is one of the first Perl Scripts that I wrote. I basically copied another script functionality. This was created on February 6, 1996. Brian Exelbierd now works for Red Hat.:

#!/usr/local/bin/perl
# joke-sub.pl
# By Brian Exelbierd (bex@ncsu.edu) 1-2-95
#
# This script appends a submitted joke to the joke submission file.  It returns
# A note to the user telling them their joke will be reviewed.

push(@INC,"/disk4/web/cryan/cgi-bin");
require("cgi-lib.pl");

&ReadParse;

print &PrintHeader;
print "<HTML><HEAD>
";
print "<TITLE>Joke Acknowledgement</TITLE>
";
print "</HEAD><BODY>
";
print "Thank you ",$in{'name'},", your submission will be reviewed ";
print "when I get to it.<P>
";
print "</BODY></HTML>
";

open(JOKE,">>/disk1/web/user/cryan/joke.txt");
print JOKE "Name: ",$in{'name'},"
";
print JOKE "
";
print JOKE $in{'joke'},"
";
print JOKE "--------------------------------------------------
";
close JOKE;

Kapwing Meme Maker

Creating Meme can be fun and entertaining. There's no shortage of websites that offer the ability to create Memes using all the popular graphics and layouts.

One popular site is Kapwing. They are unique because they have a lot of common images, and they make it easy for you to transform any image into a Meme. What's nice is that you can pick from seven different styles that fit your message.

One cool thing I like about Kapwing is that you can create Memes from any YouTube videos.

Website Description

https://www.kapwing.com/meme-maker

clipboard2markdown

Markdown is getting more popular as the best way to handle text. It's super easy to use and allows users to focus on the content.

Getting non-markdown content into Notion, DayOne can be tricky. While sometimes a copy/paste will work, more often than not, the posted content needs a lot of touch up.

One solution is to use a clipboard converter, such as the Clipboard 2 Markdown tool over on Euangoddard's Github. Simply paste any clipboard content onto the browser window and you get an instant converter. Now you can take that text and safely place it in Notion or Day One for easy import.

https://euangoddard.github.io/clipboard2markdown/

I have the page bookmark so that I can access the tool whenever I need it. While it would be awesome if there was a Macintosh application, this works just as well. I don't always have to convert the text, but if it's just a click away, why not just use this tool?

For those using Slack and Atlassian Jira, this comes in handy!

Text Color Fader

Colors can help make plain text stand out. Using multiple colors helps words stand out even more. Color Fader creates a cool effect with adding different colors to each letter of a word.

Note: This doesn't work in Slack

Website Description

http://patorjk.com/text-color-fader/

Sample Outputs

AnswerThePublic

Have a Blog? Do you Need Blog Topic Ideas? A good place to get some fresh ideas is "Answer the Public." Simply type in your broad topic, and in a matter of a few seconds, you'll get a list of questions and bullet point ideas.

Your topic results are broken down into questions, prepositions, comparisons, alphabetical.

Website Description

The auto-suggest results provided by Google & Bing is a goldmine of insight for today’s marketers. As you type you are presented with an aggregated view of the questions & therefore a hint of the motivations & emotions of the people behind each search query. It’s perhaps one of the best but most underutilized sources of research for content ideas.

AnswerThePublic is brought to you by the team behind CoverageBook. Find out how over 1,500 PR teams worldwide Make Coverage Reports, Faster at CoverageBook.com.

https://answerthepublic.com/

Some Sample Searches to Try

Interested in the capabilities of Answer the Public, but don't know what to put in the search query? Try these to start:

• Boston, Massachusetts
• Red Sox
• Macintosh Computers
• Donald Trump 2020
• Guinness Beer

Interesting Use of "Answer the Public"

One of the nice things about "Answer the Public" is that you can get some creative questions out of it. These are good to ask in technical interviews. In addition, these are good when putting together technical documents, making sure that your document or paper answers some of the questions.

This is also good for those A-Z challenges. You can get creative ideas on your topic from A to Z.

Trip Clip

Daily routines are difficult with some kids. They may not always remember certain tasks that they have to do every day. Thankfully Trip Clip has come up with some handy checklist for children. These can be completely customized to your needs.

Trip Clip has all sorts of creative games that keep kids off technology for a bit: Airport Bingo, Mazes, Word Search, Coloring Pages, Crosswords and so much more. The Word Search is very cool because you can add your own words, think Spelling Words, and it will help your children remember the letters. You can buy a clipboard to help the kids perform their activities - in the car or at the airport.

While this isn't a free service, it's pretty cool and certainly worth checking out if you have children.

Website Description

https://thetripclip.com

Good Deal!

For $14.95 you can have lifetime access to all the activities on the website. If you're a grandparent, this is a great site to have as a resource for "things to do" on a rainy day.

Not a Paid Endorsement

Just like all the blog post that you see on cryan.com, this is not a paid product endorsement. This is a cool service that I think is worth sharing.

If you know of a better service, please let me know in the comments below.

Technology Book Generator

Working in technology can be stressful, and every once in a while it's nice to brighten up things with some humor. One way is to create silly O'Reilly Book Covers.

If your not familiar with O'Reily Books - they are known technology books with some animals on the cover. They cover just about every possible technology segment and have been around for years.

Website Description

https://dev.to/rly

Sample Books