Supernifty - nifty stuff » fun

Late Night Creativity – Comic #5

peter — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:48:24 +0000

Speed Scrabble Notifier for Firefox

peter — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 11:20:31 +0000

If you’re a Speed Scrabble player and running Firefox, then you might be interested in trying the new Speed Scrabble Extension.

The add-on helps you keep track of who is currently online so you can easily drop in for a game. Try it out!.

Speed Scrabble is a fast, fun and free online multiplayer word game. If you’ve not played it before then check it out!

If you aren’t a Firefoxer, there are similar extensions for Safari and Chrome.

If you’re a software developer interested in seeing how the extension works, the source code is freely available and can be used for any purpose.

If you have any thoughts on the new extension, feel free to get in touch!

Helping the world through microlending

peter — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 06:36:22 +0000

Supernifty likes helping others out, especially those who really need it. Microlending is one way to do this.

Microlending involves lending a small amount – sometimes just a few dollars – to someone just to help get their business off the ground.

In developing countries, often this is all that is needed to get a viable business up and running. The recipient starts earning money, can pay back the loan, and can help bring their whole family out of poverty. Children can afford to go to school, get proper jobs, and the cycle of poverty is broken.

Kiva is a well-known microlender. One of Kiva’s founders gave a good explanation of how this works.

Interested? Well then, try it out.

You can lend as little as $25, and since the loan is (typically) repaid, you get to help someone out and improve our world a little – for next to nothing. Brilliant!

Visit Kiva to learn more.

Speed Scrabble – most popular words

peter — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 13:58:27 +0000

We did some analysis on our Speed Scrabble players to find out the 80 most popular words used in games:

QI is easily the number 1 word, with AI and IN second and third. I guess most people know that trick when you get stuck with a Q without a U.

2-letter words dominate the list, taking the top 11 spots, and 66% of the top 80.

3-letter words round out the list, with the first 4-letter word, RAIN, coming in at 112th.

It’s a little surprising, but understandable given that Speed Scrabble focusses on speed.

Some users have commented on the unlikely sounding 2-letter words, doubting whether they are really words, so with the help of Wordnik, we have compiled a list of definitions of some of the more obscure words:

qi: The fundamental life-force or energy.
ai: See sloth.
en: The letter n.
aa: Lava having a rough surface.
ae: Chiefly Scots One.
un: One.
er: Used to express hesitation or uncertainty.
id: In Freudian theory, the division of the psyche that is totally unconscious.
oi: Said to get someone’s attention.
qat: khat
ye: Archaic “The”.
ad: An advertisement.
lo: Used to attract attention or to show surprise.
re: Music – The second tone of the diatonic scale in solfeggio.
et: and
jo: Scots Sweetheart; dear.
oe: A small island.
el: The letter l.
za: Slang – Pizza.
ar: The letter r.
la: Music – The sixth tone of the diatonic scale in solfeggio.
ti: Music – The seventh tone in the diatonic scale in solfeggio.
li: A traditional Chinese measure of distance, today standardized at 500 meters (547 yards).
pi: The 16th letter of the Greek alphabet.
bi: A bisexual person.
yo: Slang – Used as a greeting or to attract someone’s attention.
joe: Informal – Brewed coffee.
ain: Scots Own.
yen: A strong desire or inclination; a yearning or craving.
fa: Music – The fourth tone of the diatonic scale in solfeggio.
ne: Not.

So now you know: yes, they really are words.

If you’ve not played Speed Scrabble, try it out. It’s fun, fast and challenging. And occasionally educational.

Crossword Solver 0.5 released

peter — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 10:43:40 +0000

Supernifty is pleased to announce version 0.5 of Crossword Puzzle Solver.

We’ve added some requested new functionality.

Custom Word Lists

It is now possible to add your own word lists to the crossword solver. Useful if you want to

add a new language,
have a particular niche set of words, or
just want to add something that you think is missing.

To add a word list, you just need to create a file, where each line is in the format “word,definition”.

Then click Definitions->Add… to add your definitions. It’s then easy to enable and disable the word lists you wish to include in your search.

If you happen to create a word list that you think might be useful to others, please let Supernifty know and we can publish your word list.

Ignore Spaces

Sometimes you might want to search for words and ignore any spaces. There’s now an option to do this.

Crossword Solver and all updates are free. Next time you run the software you should be prompted to update. If not, click Help->Check for Updates.

Feedback is always welcome.