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Useful web-based tools you didn’t know existed and will use Carefully selected free web-based tools that I find useful without the need to download anything or having to install any App.

by
on July 30, 2021
(5 minute read)

It seems like nowadays you need to download an app for everything you want to do, running out of space on your phone/computer and making it slower while also allowing these Apps to gather your data and spy on you.

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But the time where you had to fill your phone and computer with tons of Apps occupying space has passed.

Current advancements in web technology allow us to do a ton of things directly from a web browser like Chrome or Firefox, without the need to download anything or having to install third-party software with escalated privileges that can access way too many information on our phone, or even have to register on an App Store with your credit card and pay for the apps.

It does make me sad to see people paying money to deceiving companies earning millions of dollars for things that are available free of charge. So here’s a list of a few tools that I use daily/weekly and are free, without registration needed and without the need to download anything.

If you know any other free web-based tools that you find useful and can be helpful for everyone else please share them in the comments.

 

AirDrop alternative

AirDrop is a very useful tool to share documents, photos and any file with phones and computers around you. It is only available for iPhones and Apple devices because Apple wants you to buy their phones, but it is not rocket science and you can do it with any phone and computer simply with a web browser. SnapDrop works on Android, Windows and everything else without the need of an app, just open this website on any device (no need to download any app or sign up) to start sharing files between computers and phones regardless of the Operating System (Windows, iOS, Mac, Android, Linux, etc.). You need to be on the same Wi-Fi network though, so you can’t send files to a friend at the other side of the city or while in a concert somewhere unless you create a WiFi hotspot which defeats the purpose of simplicity, but for everyday use in the office or at home, it works great and it is super fast.

snapdrop airdrop alternative

 

Chromecast for websites

Cast any website to a Chromecast, great for web-based dashboards and websites you want to display on a TV or big screen without the need of an extra device. I haven’t tested it with YouTube videos and such but it works wonders at the office with KPI Dashboards and such.

 

White noise to muffle conversations

This exact URL takes you to my custom settings I’ve been tweaking over time to muffle human voices and avoid distractions while working, studying, meditating or focusing on anything. Cool thing about it is that you can play music over it if you want to. The website itself has tons of features and is super complete so if this sounds good, explore a bit to find a few gems.

white noise muffle voices

 

Generate a QR code for WiFi auto-login

Got friends coming over and sharing the Wi-Fi password is always a daunting task due to your long and secure password? Do you fear changing the WiFi code of your router because it’s cumbersome to update it on all your other devices? Generate a QR code with this web tool and print it (or not, just take a photo directly of the screen), then have it handy and just let your friends or coworkers scan it to auto-login to the WiFi in seconds.

wifi qr code generator

 

Google Translate alternative

Better translations than Google Translate using Machine Learning. These have worked better for me than Google specially with technical documents and also detects company names and other words I don’t want translated. I’ve got two to show you, LibreTranslate and DeepL. I’m not sure about the limitations of them if you translate a lot but these sure help get better translations while degoogling and not depending on the big G for everything.


Video-chat without signup or middle-server

Direct (no middleman server) video-chat without signup. The advantages of Briefing over Google Meet, Zoom and the like are a few: 1) no one needs to sign up, so this is great when setting meetings with third-parties such as interviews or sales calls, just enter the URL they give you and you’re in; 2) connection doesn’t go through a server so it should be faster and it is also more private; 3) it’s open source, which means you (or with your techy pal’s help) could host it on your servers for full ownership and you can also see the code and improve, rebrand it with your company logo, etc.

 

Tea/Pomodoro/Egg timer

This is a really simple tool I developed myself out of frustration of my tea and going sour by forgetting to remove the bag. It can also be used as a Pomodoro Timer, to boil eggs… you name it. You can tweak the end of the URL to your hours/minutes/seconds and bookmark it so it starts with your preferred countdown with a simple click:

https://xaviesteve.com/pro/countdown/#0:25:00

Text tools and computer info

A webpage to do a lot of different things: convert text uppercase/lowercase, remove duplicates in a list, find your IP address, generate unique passwords, convert units… There’s a lot of tools in there so take your time to explore all the possibilities and bookmark it right away. Really handy to have around and save a ton of time and repetitive work. You would be surprised how many people I’ve shown this tool too and have changed their lives, technologically speaking.

tools manipulate text computer info

 

Plain-text headers

Create nice headers on plain text documents. Sounds like a petty trick but it does work wonders for long documents that you want to skim.

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Conclusion

So that’s the list I wanted to share and spread out the word of, I’ve got many more tools like this that are simple to open and use, if you’d like me to share more let me know! Also, please share the ones you use if they are easy to use, free and don’t require you to download it occupying precious disk space.

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