Online (and Other) Tools of Our Choice

These are the tools we use. Many of the them (but not all) are: free & open-source (FOSS), public-domain, share/community-based, etc., in a sense, sort of more "democratic" than many dominant forces.

• Web search: DuckDuckGO, with a great privacy policy, cf. Google
• Public/Configurable Domain Name Server: OpenDNS (test link), "a safer, faster, smarter and more reliable Internet"
• Book search/shopping:
  • BookFinder.com, for meta-search and even to sell books, cf. Amazon
  • Bookshop.org, "online bookstore with a mission to financially support local, independent bookstores," cf. Amazon
  • Open Library, an open, editable library catalog
• Book sharing/shelving: goodreads, the world’s largest site for readers, cf. Amazon
• Language/Writing tools:
  • Collins Dictionary, with extensive grammatical information, e.g., countable/uncountable distinction for nouns, verb argument structure, collocation, etc., cf. Merriam-Webster
  • Free Dictionary Word Finder, results on a single page
  • wordhippo, thesaurus and more
  • Related Words
  • Wikitionary
  • Forebears.io, names and place names in the world
  • Special characters, full list, click & copy
• Japanese language tools:
  • Weblio, 国内最大級のオンライン辞書
  • 辞典オンライン
  • 連想類語辞典, 日本語シソーラス
  • 語尾検索エンジン
  • 赤ちゃん命名ガイド
  • 恋する方言変換
  • Character conversion
• Korean language tools:
  • Korean Keyboard, and for many other languages as well
  • Korean-Japanese Dictionary, with a built-in Korean keyboard
  • Korean-English Dictionary, with a built-in Korean keyboard
• Writing: Wordpress; Quotev; Booksie; 小説家になろう; エブリスタ; ステキブンゲイ; アルファポリス; NOVEL DAYS; カクヨム; note; はてなブログ; Ameba
• Music library/score sharing:
  • musescore, to find/share editable scores
  • IMSLP, sharing the world’s public domain music: Public domain information page
  • SheetMusicPlus, world's largest sheet music selection (ArrangeMe.com, to arrange/share copyrighted music)
  • mymusic5, especially for Asian music
  • Public Domain Information Project, massive list of Public Domain Music and Songs
• Image sharing: Pexels; imgur; 写真AC
• Video streaming: Rakuten Viki
• Copyright/Licensing:
  • creative commons, build a vibrant, collaborative global commons, cf. copyright
  • Easy Song Licensing (Help Center), helpful information and assistance
  • ASCAP FAQs on YouTube
  • YouTube help
  • 日本音楽著作権協会　(JASRAC)
  • 한국음악저작권협회　(KOMCA)
• Online archive/storage: Internet Archive (occasional down time); PDF Host (occasional down time); pdfarchive
• Map/geocode systems: Open Street Map, by community mappers, cf. Google Map
  • Custom map creation: uMap, quick and simple
  • Plus Code/Open Location Code, e.g., to get together in a playground 87G77985+2H (full) or 7985+2H NJ (abbreviation)
  • what3words, a really simple way to talk about location, e.g., to get together in a playground ///serving.lovely.couple
• Weather:
  • Weather Underground (map), most informative, cf. Weather Channel
  • NOAA/NWS: storm information (PNI, Mt. Holly, NJ), snow information
• Eathquake tracking: USGS, at its best
• Weather/Earthquakes in Japan: tenki.jp, all in Japanese
• Date/Time/Calendar: timeanddate.com, lots of tools
• Flight status/tracking: FlightAware; FlightStats
• Audio/hearing tests:
  • Audio Check, to test speakers/headphones/amps
    • Online Hearing Test and Audiogram Printout (associated with the above site)
  • 20-20kHz Audio Sweep with frequency info
• Survey: Typeform, more flexible free accounts, cf. Survey Monkey
• Web browser: Firefox/Librewolf, with uBlock, FireShot cf. Chrome
• Email client: Thunderbird, with Mailbox Alert, to customize notification for each folder
• Office suite: LibreOffice, open-source suite based on OpenOffice, cf. Microsoft Office
• Anti-malware: Malwarebytes free, the most effective, cf. McAfee
• Backup utility: SyncBackFree for Windows; FreeFileSync for all platforms
• Music score editor/player: MuseScore, to create/edit and play music scores
• Audio editor: some variant of Audacity (privacy policy criticisms after Versions 3.0.2)
• Video editor: Shotcut, free, open source, cross-platform
• Universal tag editor: MP3TAG for Windows; kid3 for Linux
• Filename utility: Bulk Rename Utility for Windows; KRename for Linux
• Command-line utility: nircmd, e.g., to turn off the computer speakers at night
• Shopping: cf. Amazon
  • REI (outdoor+)
  • B&H (tech)
  • Reverb (music gear)
  • Mouser (electronic parts)
  • Howard Piano (piano parts/supplies)
  • Northcoast Keyless (remote key fobs)
  • eBay
  • craigslist
• Subscriptions: Panera Unlimited Sip Club, actually, too good to be true
• Mobile phone (carriers/plans/apps): cf. T-Mobile; AT&T; Verizon; speedtalk [WARNING: CREDIT CARD LEAK suspected/reported, e.g., here and there]
  • Mint Mobile (unlimited calls/texts+5GB/$15/mo. with int'l roaming support)
  • tello (unlimited texts, from $6/mo., highly customizable, now with int'l roaming but costly data)
  • US data SIM: EIOTClub
  • Japan data SIM: Mobal (free worldwide delivery); Vendors at Narita Airport
  • Android apps: F-Droid (repository), Fossify (file manager, calendar, voice recorder, ...), KDE Connect, Tuner (de.moekadu.tuner), BatteryBot, etc.
• Domains/Hosting: NameCheap (free WhoisGuard+basic DNS, cheap decent hosting)
• Internet Services: Express VPN; pCloud
• Home phone: MagicJack, cf. Verizon
• Recycling: Call2Recycle (batteries); Medic (phones); Raybob (foam protectors, unfortunately their hours are unpredictable)
• As for mobile platforms, we are strongly interested in newcomers, such as Sailfish, cf. Android; iOS
• ... forgot Wikipedia, will show up in a search any way, cf. Microsoft Encarta† (surviving only as an article of other encyclopedia)
• Operating systems: Linux varieties, cf. Microsoft Windows; iOS
  • Linux Mint; ubuntu
  • Linux tools: Firefox+LbreWolf+Chromium, Thunderbird, LibreOffice, Evolution, Okular, GIMP, gThumb, Clementine+Celluloid, MuseScore, Audacity, Shotcut, FileZilla+Bluefish, FreeFileSync, kid3, KRename, PDF Arranger, PeaZip, KAlarm, KDE Connect, ...