The
web is a generally free place, but some sites and services want to make
it annoying to navigate and enjoy. Stream any video you'd like, see the
sites you need, and get at services you thought were down with these
tips.
Photo by chidorian.
10. Skip Past Annoying User/Pass Requests
Closed
betas, deleted cookies, and over-eager marketing firms want you to log
into just about every site on the net. If you're just stopping by to
read a story or browse around, the time-tested site BugMeNot often has a quickie user/pass combo you can use to log in, along with a Firefox add-on
that can do the checking and logging in for you. BugMeNot has gotten a
little soft-hearted since its early days, and will sometimes block
posting of login details for sites that request it, but is often a handy
resource for those who need to wipe their browser or last logged in a
long time ago. (Original post)
9. Read Articles That Rupert Murdoch Wants You Paying For
Many
news sites have a curious relationship with web traffic, including the
Wall Street Journal. They don't want you stopping by and browsing what's
available, but when they've got a scoop to share, they'll go ahead and
open a side door for the masses. You can jump in through that side door
at most any time using Google News, which most news sites offer at least
one click-through to. The simple way, as Digital Inspiration explains,
is to simply copy the URL of any article you're looking to read at the
Journal or elsewhere, and then paste it into Google. The first result
should usually get you right where you're trying to go. Otherwise, head
to Google News and enter either a site-specific (site:wsj.com) or
source-specific (source:wall_street_journal) operator, then type in your
search terms. It's an oldie, but a goodie. (Original post)
8. Change User Agents to Get Around Browser Blocks
Want a peek at what Gmail on the iPad looks like,
or get around sites that pretend Internet Explorer is the only browser
that works? You should switch up your user agent, the string of text
that a browser identifies itself to sites with. Firefox users can
install User Agent Switcher for the easy fix, while Safari has a user agent changer built in. Chrome can change its user agent string,
too, and other browsers usually have some kind of work-around
available. Next time you hear about coffee shops offering up free Wi-Fi
to iPhone users, feel free to take advantage.
7. Get to Gmail When It's Down
When
bloggers, Twitter addicts, and Gmail fans go nuts over "Gmail being
down," they often mean that the standard web interface isn't loading in
their browser. The Gmail team itself has recommended using an IMAP client when Gmail isn't loading, and the How-To Geek has quite a few other work-arounds to recommend, including keeping a link to Gmail's HTML-only and mobile versions handy.
6. Get Actually Usable BitTorrent Speeds
The
distributed nature of BitTorrent makes it a reliable means to
downloading files—unless your broadband internet provider, or your
router, doesn't want to play ball. We've detailed the best ways to set
up your software, router, and connections in our beginner and intermediate guides to BitTorrent. If it seems like your corporate net provider is the issue, Wired has a guide to outwitting your torrent-stifling ISP. You might not get top-notch speeds with such work-arounds, but you will get downloads that work. (Original post)
5. Get to Sites Taken Down by Traffic
You've
just found the coolest new site—unfortunately, so has everybody else on
the net. When a site goes down, you can try seeing if Google has a
recent cache of that page (by searching for something like
cache:lifehacker.com, or try the Coral Content Distribution Network,
which has proxies and nameservers and all kinds of geeky network stuff
all over the globe, grabbing images of sites on a regular basis. To see
what Coral has available, just add .nyud.net to the end of any URL—so lifehacker.com.nyud.net
shows what Coral can grab from Lifehacker. It's a fairly solid bet,
especially if a site or page has been around for any length of time, and
it beats hitting refresh every five minutes for two hours. But for the
full spectrum of page-saving options, the Resurrect Pages Firefox add-on
offers both Google and Coral's cache, along with a handful of other
page-saving services, so you can likely get lucky with one of them.
(Original posts: Coral Cache, Resurrect Pages)4. Control Computers at Home
Your DSL or cable company does not
want you serving up a web site or running a game server from your
house. That doesn't mean you can't occasionally jump into your home
computer to grab some choice music, shut it down, or stream some great
video to a hotel room without much on. The basics involve setting up your router for port forwarding, using DynDNS to give your home network a domain name, and, if you want total control, using VNC to remote control your computers.
It's not exactly a plug-and-play job, but once you're done, you'll feel
like you've got one of those secret tunnels back to your home, the kind
you turn over a rock and type a code into an embedded keypad to access.
3. Download YouTube and Other Flash Videos
Every
company wants to stream video on the web, but few want their viewers to
download it—even if the server hit is about the same, and it's already
in the cache, anyways. To get at YouTube and other streaming video
sites' goods, the How-To Geek wrote up a complete guide to ripping and converting Flash videos. Among the recommendations: YouTube Downloader or the Get YouTube Video bookmarklet, along with the old Vixy.net webapp standby. If Hulu's where you want to grab from, StreamTransport is, at the moment, working for that purpose. For conversion to nearly any format once the download's done, try the Format Factory.
2. Access Country-Blocked Streaming TV
Want to watch Top Gear
from Tucson? Hulu from Halifax? Find a good proxy in the country that's
intended to watch the content, set up your browser to use it, and
you're on your way. Commenter hengehog laid out the process of setting up either Firefox or Chrome with proxy add-ons in a step-by-step gallery, so we can all see what the fuss about this new Doctor Who is about.
1. Roll Your Own Proxy to Access Blocked Sites
More professionally maintained proxies (covered elsewhere here) get you your favorite shows, and the Tor project
can make your browsing anonymous enough to get past certain web road
blocks. For a lighter, home-rolled solution that gives you occasional
access to a more reading-based blog or site, consider making your own
proxy. You can set one up on the same space you maintain for a personal
site with PHProxy. Lacking for server space? No problem—set up a proxy on Google Apps Engine, or run a proxy server from your home computer.
Either way, you'll get good-enough access to sites that work may have
blocked, but you occasionally need access to. (Original posts: PHProxy, Google App Engine).
What's the go-between, work-around tool you use every day, at work or
home? What little tricks or software have helped you work past
artificial walls? We want to hear all about your clever means in the
comments.
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