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Useful Corners of the Web Worth Knowing

Some of the most useful places online are old, non-commercial and slightly unglamorous. A handful are worth bookmarking for life.

The memory of the web

The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the web run by the Internet Archive. When a link is dead, it is often the first place to look for an old copy of the page, including earlier versions of sites on recycled domain names like this one.

Free books

Project Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitise and archive cultural works, mostly older books whose copyright has expired in the United States. Check the copyright rules where you live before downloading.

Maps anyone can edit

OpenStreetMap is a free, editable map of the world built by volunteers. Hiking apps, cycling planners and many small projects are built on its data.

The original random button

Wikipedia has a random article link that sends you to an article chosen at random. It is the simplest serendipity machine on the web and a good antidote to recommendation feeds.

How to keep finding new corners

• Bookmark generously and prune once a year.
• Keep a short note of why you saved each link; the reason is easy to forget.
• When a favourite site disappears, check an archive before giving up on it.

filed 2026-10-22