In my chosen career, I’m bound to deal with highfalutin words and jargons left and right. The sad fact is that no matter how many books and journals I read, remembering each and every meaning of the words and jargons I encounter is next to impossible. Back in the heydays, the good old thick dictionary is everyone’s best buddy when one comes across a word that needs to be clarified. These days have been much different. The benefits of having almost everything accessible online has never been more evident with the ease it has brought to people from all walks of life especially to students like me who do a lot of research. When I come across words that need instant definition, I visit a reliable online dictionary like Babylon.

What I like most about this website is that it’s not your typical online dictionary. Babylon is a dictionary, glossary, thesaurus and an encyclopedia all rolled into one. This free online tool is a student’s new best buddy because you get to access a wide array of information from an extensive collection in one single click. Before, if you want to get a definition of something, you go to your favorite online dictionary’s website, type in the term and the dictionary’s definition of the term will be shown. If you’re not satisfied with the definition, you go type in the same term in a different online dictionary - separately. Now, if you need more extensive information about the term, one will most likely visit an online encyclopedia to search for it. For lazier searchers, the good old search engine would be their most likely solution for their searching needs. It’s a lot easier than going to websites one by one but then again, the results of search engines are not always 100% relevant to what you’re looking for. This online dictionary I’m talking about, however, makes things a lot easier because it shows you everything indexed in their collection regarding your search term from dictionaries down to encyclopedia entries. What’s cooler is that Babylon also offers online translation of words and full texts across major languages for free! Really, Babylon is one great find online. In fact, I’m bookmarking it now. You will too, won’t you?

Xeeber is still down and I don’t think it’s going back up again any time soon. Anyway, I’ve been receiving hits from people looking for a Xeeber alternative after I shared one of online discoveries (Magic’s Yahoo! Status Multichecker) that I thought of looking for other alternatives online in case this one faces a problem in the future. I was actually quite surprised because there were indeed a lot of other YM status checkers available out there and the good majority of internet users hardly knew they existed.

Anyway, I’ve done my research. Here are some Yahoo online status checkers available for free. I’ve tried them and they’re working perfectly well as of this post. They’re all able to tell if the Yahoo ID entered is online, offline or invisible. Those italicized can even display the YM ID’s avatar. » Continue Reading

I tried accessing the Xeeber website and it’s still down. I am greeted by no longer a 404 Page Not Found error though but just a white blank screen. I did a whois lookup on Xeeber and found that the domain is set to expire in 2009 and it seems that all Xeeber servers are alive and kicking. So I’m assuming that it’s either CheckDNS is unreliable or Xeeber’s gone for good. Although I discovered an alternative to Xeeber (which appears accurate and reliable when I did my own background check), I still miss the good old online stalker’s tool. Hehe.

I wish it’s not yet the end.

Last year, there was a friend who despite my being always invisible on YM was still able to catch me online consistently that I wondered if he was telepathic. With me being close to freaking out, he introduced me to Xeeber - an online tool that’s able to detect whether a YM ID is online or on stealth mode. It was relatively new then but as more and more people created buzz about Xeeber, the tool became more popular and yes - the servers have become more crowded.

I have lost interest knowing who’s online or invisible after some time, after all, there was but one person I always talk to online: Bee; and he’d always buzz me or leave me a message when he gets online anyway that I don’t even need to use Xeeber on him anymore. This morning, I went to visit the good old YM buddy and much to my dismay, I received a 404 Not Found Error. Seems like Xeeber’s down. For good? That I don’t know. So now, I introduce you to another of my latest discoveries: Magic’s Yahoo! Status Multichecker. I don’t exactly know how long this one’s been up and running or how widely popular it is already amongst the YM circles, but at least for me this tool’s “new”. It works exactly like Xeeber: you have to input your friend’s YM ID and in a single mouse click, you’d know if he/she’s online or just hiding away. Like Xeeber, Magic’s Yahoo! Status Multichecker will also grab your friend’s avatar and display it for you. Here’s Magic’s Yahoo! Status Multichecker in action. That’s my avatar by the way. Neat huh?