Tools Of The Trade
The following tools were compiled by artist-illustrator.net of The Purple Team & revisions by MacHeritage of The Purple Team.
- Wikipedia or any other encyclopedia. Always useful.
- FILExt: Is a database of file extensions and the various programs that use them.
- EveryMac.com: A complete guide to every Macintosh, iPod, and Mac clone in the world, with technical, configuration, and pricing details. Or there's the application MacTracker which will do the same thing and more.
- History of Computers: An online source for computer information. Old and new, from A to Z.
- Bablefish or Google Translate: Language translation websites. Or there's KavaServices, a paid for application ($25 US) that is more accurate on the syntax since it uses SYSTRANLinks. There is a free trial on their web site.
- Lexicon and qurgh tlhIngan Hol qawHaq: Two Klingon language Translation sites.
- Morse Code Translator: A dashboard widget that will convert text to morse code and vice versa.
- Braille Translator: A dashboard widget that will translate either text or computer braille.
- Leet Key Firefox add-on: Transforms typed or static text to L337, ROT13, BASE64, HEX, URL, BIN, DES, AES, Morse code, and DVORAK keyboard layout.
- Cypher: A tool created for MacHeist 2 by MacMage that does much the same as the Leet Key firefox add-on.
- |_|17|2@-1337 Translator: Website that can translate between 1337, |_|17|23@-1337 and normal text.
- Text/Binary Converter: Binary to Text (ASCII) Conversion. Also Text, Hexadecimal, and Binary Conversion.
- 0xED or HexFiend: Hex editors.
- Sudoku Susser: A powerful Sudoku freeware app.
- Anagrams: Anagram generator app.
- Anagram Generating Site: A Website that finds anagrams in multiple languages.
- Unscrambler: Easily unscramble any jumble of words.
- ExPASy Translate Tool: Allows the translation of a nucleotide (DNA/RNA) sequence to a protein sequence.
- Media Convert: Converts from one file type to another.
- Enigma Simulator: During WWII the Germans used mechanical devices to encrypt their radio messages. The best known of these machines is the Enigma.
- Google Earth or Live Maps from Microsoft: You never know where MacHeist will take you.
- Google Books: A massive database including many full books that are in the public domain. Lots of what you may call 'classics' can be found here.
- Astronomy: An overview of the history, mythology, and current scientific knowledge of the planets, moons and other objects in our solar system This site is aimed at kids but looks quite good.
- Stellarium Astronomy Software: View the sky from anywhere past, present or future. Also has the ability view non-traditional constellations from other cultures.
- Cacophony and Audacity Sound recording/editing: Audacity is one of the few freeware programs that does frequency analysis.
- The Gimp or GimpShop: Free image editing software.
- bannister.org: Emulators for gaming console's from the past. The Bandai Wonderswan, Atari Lynx, NES, Sega Master System, Nintendo Virtual Boy, and all you're old favorites. They're all there, and if The Directorate decide to throw a Rom our way we'll be ready.
- Colour Conversion: This is a page that will help you convert colours between RGB, CMYK and HSV colour spaces. RGB to PANTONE This little tool will display a list of the the nearest Pantone colours. Colour seems to be playing a part in MacHeist.
Accent history, mythology, and languages, Gods and Goddesses.
Other sites/services you should be aware of
Twitter: Its probably a good idea to follow anyone that @MacHeist is following.
Last.fm
MacHeist Wiki
MacHeist Chat
I mention Last.fm because johnred made a point of letting us know about the MacHeist Last.fm group shortly before MacHeist 3 started up. Why? Maybe he just wanted to share his taste in music with us, or maybe it will play a part in MacHeist 3 somehow.
Character Encodings:
- ASCII and EBCDIC: LookupTables.com has reference charts for correlating numeric values in decimal, octal, and hexidecimal to characters in ASCII, EBCDIC, and other electronic encodings.
- ASL: ThinkQuest provides a visual reference for the American Sign Language Alphabet.
- Braille: Wikipedia has a braille translation chart, as well as general information about the encoding.
- Caesar cipher: Wikipedia has general information on Caesar ciphers and links to Caesar cipher solvers.
- Morse code: Wikipedia has a morse code chart, as well as general information about the encoding.
- Naval signal flags: The Peabody Essex Museum has a visual chart of the International Code of Signals, a system of naval signal flags which use color and pattern to represent letters.
- Phone Number: PhoneSpell has a great tool to find out what a phone number spells out.
- Semaphore: The Australian National Botanic Gardens provide a visual reference for the Semaphore flag signaling system.
- UNICODE: Unicode.org is the official source of all UNICODE encodings
- Pigpen cipher: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigpen_cipher
- Beale cipher: http://members.fortunecity.com/jpeschel/gillog3.htm
Games:
General:
- Flight Statistics: FlighStats.com
- Broadway: Internet Theatre Database has a wealth of information on Broadway shows, actors, and theatre
- Dictionary/Thesaurus: Dictionary.com is a great tools for word related queries.
- Everything: Wikipedia contains a wealth of usually-accurate information on almost any subject.
- Fonts: Windows and Mac OS have character maps tools to view fonts.
- Movies: The Internet Movie Database has a wealth of information on TV shows, movies, actors, and production staff.
- Music: All Media Guide has a wealth of information about music artists, albums, and genres.
- Television: TV.com has a wealth of information about television shows, episode lists, and actors.
- When all else fails: Windows Live Search, Google, and Yahoo!
Geography:
Music:
Misc:
Puzzle Types:
- Anagrams: Andy's Anagram Solver is a great way to take the word "nagamar" and turn it into "anagram".
- Crossword puzzle clues: OneAcross can take crossword puzzle patterns and/or clues and find the word needed to fill in the puzzle. Crossword Maestro is also a great tool for visualizing crosswords (and Cryptic crosswords).
- Cryptic crosswords: Wikipedia has information and links about these types of puzzles. Also see http://www.home.gil.com.au/~vburton/cryptics/cryptics.htm
- Nonograms: For all you CS gurus, writing code to solve these is always fun. Check out The World of Cryptopics for information on where to get started solving these.
Science:
Sports: