The List Master

I did a post recently for Mashable called “40 Great Resources for Making Lists” where I covered a slew of services that bring smiles to the faces of anal retentive types like myself. As with any post on a big blog, there were a bunch of great links shared in the comments. I’ve combined my 40 links with the ones shared in the comments along with new ones that I’ve found since the post went to press. So, consider this List Master the ultimate list of list services. :)

We like to keep all kinds of lists; wish lists, checklists, lists of lists… you get the picture. In this roundup we will focus on services specializing in wish lists (things we want) and checklists (things we want to get done). Using these mobile and web-based tools you can keep track of daily tasks, build your reading list, organize your holiday gift giving, and more.

***Now in Alphabetical order!***

 

Wish lists

Amazon – The grandaddy wish list keeper of them all now supports all other sites thanks to their universal wish list button.

BoxedUP – Real time listing of new items added to wish lists is unique, but is it useful? The ability to show what you already bought and own is nice for youngsters who want to show off their stuff.

ComicScout – List maker for comic book collectors

GiftBox Home – Similar to boxed up and the easiest to use, but its interface is not as slick as the other newcomers.

Kaboodle – Fun shopping service with list management

MyFavz – One of the newest wish list sites. We recently covered it here on Mashable.

My IT Things – Not to be confused with MyThings.com. It offers some nice widgets to show off your lists.

MyThings – Its unique feature is the ability to get ratings and feedback from others for any gift ideas you have.

ReQall – Create shopping lists, wish lists and more. View them on your iPhone with free app too.

No More Notebooks – Add items form any shopping list and share it

Twizon – Where twitter meets Amazon

Wisheo – Specializes in group gifts, which sets the site apart from many of the others.

WishList – Cut from the original post by editors because it didn’t look like a web 2.0 service.

Wishli.st – Slick list site

Wishlistr – Slick list maker that you can share with others. Includes rss feed of lists.

WishPot – Has the most modern web 2.0 look and feel, as well as social networking features that let you share lists. Another strong feature is the ability to send ideas for gifts from your cell phone right to your wishpot account.

Wists – Another strong web 2.0 site with nice options to embed your wish lists on your blog or website.


Checklists, To Do Lists & More

These list makers can be used to track things you’d like to buy, but more often they’re used to keep track of places to visit, people to meet, things to do before kicking the bucket, etc.

22Books – Tracks books you’ve read or want to read or own.

43Things – Lets you lists your goals in life and connects you to others who have either already achieved those goals or who are also currently pursuing the same goals.

43People – A sibling site to 43things, only geared towards people you want to meet instead of things to do.

43Places – The natural sibling site to 43things, only for places you want to go instead of things to do.

MyAnimeList – lists for Anime and manga community

Blist – More an online database builder but great for lists

Blippr – List your favorite music, movies, books and more.

Checkvist – Quick way to create checklists

DoitDoitDone – really simple to do service

Doominow – Adobe Air desktop app that tracks your tasks.

EverNote – The ever popular EverNote that does it all. Great iPhone App too.

FlexLists – Looks and feels more like an online database than just a list maker.

Gubb – Track reminders and make lists

HipCal – Calendar and task management service

HiTask – Group task management system

IWantSandy – personal assistant that reminds you what to do

Jott – More of a note manager but it can work with lists online and on the cell phone.

LifeTango – A Bucket list manager

ListaGator – Offers unique ability to turn lists into RSS feeds. You can share any list as well.

Listingly – Lots to do with this to do list manager

Lino – Unique to do lists on sticky notes that you share online on a big corkboard.

ListPhile – Lists with database capabilities. Lots of possibilities with groups.

List After List – Includes unique wiki list creator that lets anyone edit/contribute to your list.

Monkey on Your Back – Why not get a hairy assistant to remind you about what to do?

Nozbe – Not just a task manager but a project management system as well (up to 5 projects for free).

NutShell – Manage notes and tasks while doing research online

onZiList – List your top 11 (not 10?) items.

PlanZone – Project manager type of service

Qlubb – Task management for groups (sorta like Ning)

Remember The Milk -The popular task manager that can snap into Gmail or work on its site. See below for the iPhone app.

Seekler – Mostly just displays lists of peopl
e’s favorite things.

Stickified – use sticky notes to get organized

Stuffable – Mostly a place to show off your, well, stuff. Gives people a good idea of what you’re into.

Task2gether – Interesting concept of tasks with groups

TaskBin – Sharable task lists for groups

Taskee – Great to do list for groups of developers working on websites

TaDa List – Very simple but powerful to do lists from 37Signals. ***Pai’s Pick***

Toodledo – Powerful task and project management service

Treedolist – Tree view of lists

Tweeto – twitter task manager

Utterli – More of a micro-blogging platform but it works great on cell phones to record to do lists and such.

Vitalist – Collaborate with others on tasks and projects.

Voo2Do – Does things differently than the rest in this group. Allow you to link tasks to projects and tracks tasks by due date, priority and time estimates. It has a good collaboration feature and a nice interface.

Worst3 – Mostly just for laughs, you can share lists of the best 3 and worst 3 things you can think of.

Wridea – Also offers RSS feeds and shareable lists.

Zirr.us – Brain dump capturing for notes and tasks

Zoho Creator – Create Web Apps for tracking lists and more

 

List Making Apps for the iPhone

Christmas List – Create your own Santa list and manage Christmas gifts.

EverNote: Free app that works with the web version in realtime

Holiday Gift List – Gift list manager for any holiday.

Remember The Milk – The popular online service now has an app for your iPhone. Read our previous coverage here.

ToDo List – Free app to track all your to do items.

To Do’s – Yet another free to do list tracker.

 

List Apps for Other Mobile Devices

ToDo List Matrix – BlackBerry app to track tasks.

QuickList – Free list maker for Google’s Android OS such as the T-Mobile G1 phone.

TooDo – Another free to do list app for Android.

ShopSavvy – Barcode app for the Android G1. See the video below to learn more:

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Domains 101

All of us know how to find websites and save bookmarks but many don’t really know what’s really going on behind the scenes whenever we surf the internet. We click links or enter website addresses (URLs) and like magic the website appears in our browser. Here’s how it all works in a simplistic explanation.

Domain Name Magic

Someone registers a new domain name with a domain registrar such as MyCompany.org. They then link the name with the host account of their website, sometimes it’s the same place, sometimes it’s not. Once everything is live and active, whenever someone enters MyCompany.org they are redirected automatically to the website host address but the browser still shows the same MyCompany.org address. Behind the scenes, the browser has hopped several servers and networks in seconds. All this done so that we don’t have to enter cryptic IP addresses such as http://192.16.200.122 which would stink.

Domain Name Police

Domain names are acquired through authorized Domain Registrars which are acredited by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). Here’s the official ICANN website.

Here’s a complete listing of all the acredited domain name registrars that have been approved to sell website addresses. Here’s the contact information for all of the registrars.

Here’s an important and useful site that monitors the top-rated registrars.

http://dailychanges.com follows daily activity for all of the official domain registrars. This service will display how many new names have been registered and how many have been deleted or removed for all of the top registrars.

Domain Name Information

WhoIs is a valuable tool for doing research on any domain name. Just go to any of these Name Search sites and perform a search for any domain you want more information on. It will tell you who owns the domain name, when they registered it, when it expires and their contact information. One of my favorites is http://whois.org but there are many to choose from.

Best Prices?

CheapHostingDirectory’s Domain Name Price List performs periodic price checks of the top rated domain name registrars. While it is nowhere near all inclusive or as accurate as it could be, it is the best rough estimate to the best prices available for registering a new domain name available today.

Domain Auctions

Believe it or not, there are ebay like auction sites just for domain names! Yes, that’s right, people are treating domain names as if they were commodities on the stock market and they’re right. There are countless stories of domains selling for massive amounts of money. You never know which names will be worth something. However, most people don’t use these services just for the slim chance of striking it rich. Most of the time it’s just to buy or sell domains for fun or marginal profit. Here are some of these sites:

GoDaddy Domain Auctions

AfterNIC

DotPound

SnapNames

Useful Domain Tools

http://www.domaintools.com has just about every imaginable tool for domain management.
SnapNames Live Auction is software you need in order to participate in live auctions of domains.

10 Free Domain Tools has several useful tools you can download and use for free

Free Domain Name Redirector lets you redirect your domain to a free web host or blog host

The Differences between Domain Registrars and Web hosts

In a nutshell, you can either buy a domain name without any web hosting account or you can buy a webhosting account that includes a “free” domain name with the package. The word “free” is highlighted because it isn’t really free because the annual cost is included in the monthly or annual fee that you pay for the webhosting account. The average cost for a decent hosting package runs between $5 to $10 per month and this includes the annual cost for the name itself.

Must-Have Domain Features

When it comes to buying a domain name, price should NOT be the only factor that you consider.

Sure, the annual cost is critical, but you must examine what the domain registrar offers for that package because it makes all the difference in the world. Here are the mind-numbing amount of features that come with domain accounts these days. The most important ones will be highlighted so do your best to make sure these are included with any domain name you register.

Private Domain Registration (Whois protection)
Subdomains
Host External Domains
DNS Management
Domain forwarding (without ads!)
URL Masking (without ads!)

Free Transfer of Ownership
Domain Contact Management
Domain Access with or without “www”
CNAME, A, MX, MXE Supported
E-mail Account
IMAP & POP3 Support
Mailbox space
E-mail aliases
E-mail Forwarding

E-mail Auto-responder
Catch-all E-mail Addresses
Spam Filter

Site-Building Tools
Starter WebsiteBuilder
Control Panel

24/7 Phone & E-mail Support

Conclusion

It’s become extremely economical to purchase domain names as well as webhosting so there’s really no excuse not to get your own domain name these days. However, because of this decrease in cost there has been a steady increase in domain name registrations. This makes finding an available domain name all the more difficult. This cartoon sums it up best.

P.S. Look for two live documents coming to this blog that will track the best deals for domain names as well as web hosting.

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Create Your Own Favicons

Favicon (pronounced fav-eye-con) is short for ‘Favorites Icon.’ A Favicon is an image included on nearly all websites. Within a browser the Favicon is displayed on the Address line and in the Favorites menu. The Favicon allows the webmaster to further promote their site, and to create a more customized appearance within a visitor’s browser. Often, the Favicon reflects the look and feel of the web site or the organization’s logo.

Here are some free and easy ways to create and display your very own customized Favicons.

FavIcon from Pics – Generates favicon images for browser address bars, favorites and tabs, from pictures, logos and other graphics. ***Pai’s Favorite***

AntiFavicon – Simple online tool that can create text favicons in different colors.

Collabyrinth – A free, online icon editor by Andy Deck for producing favicons in the windows ICO format. Requires Java. You can create your own from scratch pixel by pixel.

DeGraeve: Favicon Editor – An online favicon editor by Steven DeGraeve, which also offers the option to generate a favicon from an uploaded PNG image.

Favicon Generator – A free online tool which creates a favicon.ico from an uploaded image.

Graphics Guru: Favicon Generator – Free online tool that can create favicon (.ico) images.

After you create your new favicon simply download it then upload it to root folder of your website via FTP (such as the free FileZilla). That’s all there is to it!

Here’s the one I made with the online text editor.

Here’s one I made with the image converter editor.

It’s fun and makes your website URL look better in the address bar as well as when it’s saved as a bookmark.

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e-Graveyard


e-Graveyard is a wiki that I started a long time ago. Its primary purpose is to become a digital museum of all the amazing technologies that come and go in our lives. There are some new sites that cover some of this ground like the TechCrunch DeadPool but they just focus on dead websites which is just one element of the E-graveyard, which covers much more, for example:

Software Cemetery
This area is for honoring the memory of software applications that are no longer with us like Microsoft BOB and even utilities like the Microsoft Binder which I still miss to this day!

There will be links to downloads if they exist and screenshots whenever possible to show what they looked like during its prime.

Hardware tombstones
We cannot neglect the importance of hardware technologies that come and go. How can we forget things that were so important to the evolution of our internet experience such as the Hayes modem? What about the US Robotics USR Sportster 56k modem!

Burial Ground for Websites & Companies
Another section of the museum covers those websites/companies that have gone to the big 404 in the sky such as these two fabled startup failures: WebVan & Kozmo

Webvan logo.jpg Kozmo.gif

The Geek Mausoleum
This wing is a tribute to all those people who contributed much to the technological progress of mankind. Some will still be alive while others not so much physically but their memory and their work still a part of our digital lives. Examples, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Marconi, Tesla, etc.

Last Rites:
Some might consider this idea a tad bit morbid or negative, but I totally disagree! This is actually a celebration of all the contributions that have been made to our technological experience in history. This is my attempt to document everything and everyone that has made some sort of impact in our digital lives, however big or small it might have been.  Also, I think this is an inspirational place to visit because sometimes we have to look back at where we came from before we can fully understand where we are today which will only assist us with envisioning our future.

Post Mordem:
I chose the wiki platform so that everyone can contribute to the e-graveyard and help build the museum into a hall of fame for all things technological.

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The First 100 Registered Domains

Top 100 List of the internets First Registered Domain Names


The history of domain names is an interesting and unique one. The first domain to ever be registered online occurred over 20 YEARS ago! Symbolics.com is credited with the first domain name. After a quick Whois check, the domain was registered on March 15, 1985.

In 1984-1984, the DNS was created and the first top level domains were .com, .org, .edu, .gov, .mil and ccTLD’s.

The first of firsts for the domain industry:

* First .com – symbolics.com
* First .edu’s – cmu.edu, purdue.edu, rice.edu, ucla.edu (April of 1985)
* First .gov – css.gov (June of 1985)
* First .org – mitre.org (July of 1985)

The first 100 .com’s to be registered: (Actual websites from the year indicated)
1. 15-Mar-1985 SYMBOLICS.COM (1998 Archive – http://web.archive.org/web/199812070…www/index.html)
2. 24-Apr-1985 BBN.COM (1996
http://web.archive.org/web/199612231…//www.bbn.com/)
3. 24-May-1985 THINK.COM (1997
http://web.archive.org/web/199702182…www.think.com/)
4. 11-Jul-1985 MCC.COM (1997
http://web.archive.org/web/199702140…//www.mcc.com/)
5. 30-Sep-1985 DEC.COM (Not Available)
6. 07-Nov-1985 NORTHROP.COM (1999
http://web.archive.org/web/199901251…northgrum.com/)
7. 09-Jan-1986 XEROX.COM (1996
http://web.archive.org/web/199610221…www.xerox.com/)
8. 17-Jan-1986 SRI.COM (1996
http://web.archive.org/web/199612151…ttp://sri.com/)
9. 03-Mar-1986 HP.COM (1996
http://web.archive.org/web/199612201…://www.hp.com/)
10. 05-Mar-1986 BELLCORE.COM (1997
http://web.archive.org/web/199710122….bellcore.com/)
11. 19-Mar-1986 IBM.COM (1996
http://web.archive.org/web/199610221…//www.ibm.com/)
12. 19-Mar-1986 SUN.COM (1996
http://web.archive.org/web/199610200…//www.sun.com/)
13. 25-Mar-1986 INTEL.COM (1996
http://web.archive.org/web/199610221…ww3.intel.com/)
14. 25-Mar-1986 TI.COM (1996
http://web.archive.org/web/199612192…://www.ti.com/)
15. 25-Apr-1986 ATT.COM (1996
http://web.archive.org/web/199610291…//www.att.com/ Beware this page trys to load Java and might mess up your browser like it did mine. I use FireFox.)
16. 08-May-1986 GMR.COM (1996
http://web.archive.org/web/199612270…//www.grm.com/)
17. 08-May-1986 TEK.COM (1998
http://web.archive.org/web/199801140…//www.tek.com/)
18. 10-Jul-1986 FMC.COM (1997
http://web.archive.org/web/199707070…com/index.html)
19. 10-Jul-1986 UB.COM (Unavailable)
20. 05-Aug-1986 BELL-ATL.COM (1998
http://web.archive.org/web/199812012….bell-atl.com/)
21. 05-Aug-1986 GE.COM (1996
http://web.archive.org/web/199611050…://www.ge.com/)
22. 05-Aug-1986 GREBYN.COM (1999
http://web.archive.org/web/199901162…ww.grebyn.com/ (just the URL on a page)
23. 05-Aug-1986 ISC.COM (1997
http://web.archive.org/web/199701030…//www.isc.com/)
24. 05-Aug-1986 NSC.COM (1997
http://web.archive.org/web/199702181…//www.nsc.com/)
25. 05-Aug-1986 STARGATE.COM (1998
http://web.archive.org/web/199811111….stargate.com/)
26. 02-Sep-1986 BOEING.COM (1996
http://web.archive.org/web/199610191…w1.boeing.com/)
27. 18-Sep-1986 ITCORP.COM (None Available)
28. 29-Sep-1986 SIEMENS.COM (1996
http://web.archive.org/web/199612262…w.siemens.com/)
29. 18-Oct-1986 PYRAMID.COM (1998
http://web.archive.org/web/199812050…ome/index.html)
30. 27-Oct-1986 ALPHACDC.COM (Not Available)
31. 27-Oct-1986 BDM.COM
32. 27-Oct-1986 FLUKE.COM
33. 27-Oct-1986 INMET.COM
34. 27-Oct-1986 KESMAI.COM
35. 7-Oct-1986 MENTOR.COM
36. 7-Oct-1986 NEC.COM
37. 27-Oct-1986 RAY.COM
38. 27-Oct-1986 ROSEMOUNT.COM
39. 27-Oct-1986 VORTEX.COM
40. 05-Nov-1986 ALCOA.COM
41. 05-Nov-1986 GTE.COM
42. 17-Nov-1986 ADOBE.COM
43. 17-Nov-1986 AMD.COM
44. 17-Nov-1986 DAS.COM
45. 17-Nov-1986 DATA-IO.COM
46. 17-Nov-1986 OCTOPUS.COM
47. 17-Nov-1986 PORTAL.COM
48. 17-Nov-1986 TELTONE.COM
49. 11-Dec-1986 3COM.COM
50. 11-Dec-1986 AMDAHL.COM
51. 11-Dec-1986 CCUR.COM
52. 11-Dec-1986 CI.COM
53. 11-Dec-1986 CONVERGENT.COM
54. 11-Dec-1986 DG.COM
55. 11-Dec-1986 PEREGRINE.COM
56. 11-Dec-1986 QUAD.COM
57. 11-Dec-1986 SQ.COM
58. 11-Dec-1986 TANDY.COM
59. 11-Dec-1986 TTI.COM
60. 11-Dec-1986 UNISYS.COM
61. 19-Jan-1987 CGI.COM
62. 19-Jan-1987 CTS.COM
63. 19-Jan-1987 SPDCC.COM
64. 19-Feb-1987 APPLE.COM
65. 04-Mar-1987 NMA.COM
66. 04-Mar-1987 PRIME.COM
67. 04-Apr-1987 PHILIPS.COM
68. 23-Apr-1987 DATACUBE.COM
69. 23-Apr-1987 KAI.COM
70. 23-Apr-1987 TIC.COM
71. 23-Apr-1987 VINE.COM
72. 30-Apr-1987 NCR.COM
73. 14-May-1987 CISCO.COM
74. 14-May-1987 RDL.COM
75. 20-May-1987 SLB.COM
76. 27-May-1987 PARCPLACE.COM
77. 27-May-1987 UTC.COM
78. 26-Jun-1987 IDE.COM
79. 09-Jul-1987 TRW.COM
80. 13-Jul-1987 UNIPRESS.COM
81. 27-Jul-1987 DUPONT.COM
82. 27-Jul-1987 LOCKHEED.COM
83. 28-Jul-1987 ROSETTA.COM
84. 18-Aug-1987 TOAD.COM
85. 31-Aug-1987 QUICK.COM
86. 03-Sep-1987 ALLIED.COM
87. 03-Sep-1987 DSC.COM
88. 03-Sep-1987 SCO.COM
89. 22-Sep-1987 GENE.COM
90. 22-Sep-1987 KCCS.COM
91. 22-Sep-1987 SPECTRA.COM
92. 22-Sep-1987 WLK.COM
93. 30-Sep-1987 MENTAT.COM
94. 14-Oct-1987 WYSE.COM
95. 02-Nov-1987 CFG.COM
96. 09-Nov-1987 MARBLE.COM
97. 16-Nov-1987 CAYMAN.COM
97. 16-Nov-1987 ENTITY.COM
99. 24-Nov-1987 KSR.COM
100. 30-Nov-1987 NYNEXST.COM

It’s interesting to see the first domain names ever registered. There’s plenty of names on the list that you wouldn’t expect to be there, and some domains that you would expect to see there but aren’t.

Non-.COM Domains

mit.edu – Domain activated: 23-May-1985
Nordu.net – 01-jan-1985
MITRE.ORG 10-Jul-85
SRC.ORG 25-Mar-86
SUPER.ORG 10-Jul-86
NSF.NET 05-Nov-86
AERO.ORG 07-Jan-87
MCNC.ORG 15-Jan-87
RAND.ORG 02-Apr-87
MN.ORG 04-Apr-87
RTI.ORG 01-May-87
UU.NET 20-May-87
USENIX.ORG 14-Jul-8
SESQUI.NET 21-Jul-87
SOFTWARE.ORG 03-Sep-87

 

References: PopuPlace
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