The Baby Name Wizard site recently launched their Name Voyager, a javascript application that shows the popularity of a name from the 1800s to 2006. My name, Christopher, was on it’s way to #2 when I was born in 1979 (my parent’s were so on the cutting edge).

The Name Voyager and its creator were recently featured on NPR’s On Point with Tom Ashbrook. You can also check out the Social Security’s “Popular Baby Names” section for more on the historical popularity of names or TechBlog reader, Guy Davis’ excellent Google Maps mashup, Baby Name Map, that shows US popular names along with other countries.

How trendy were your parents?

What services do you use for a better shopping experience?

Snacksby is a different, easier kind of recipe site. You tell us what you’ve got in your fridge or in your pantry and wham!, we let you know what your options are.

Recipes and ingredients are categorized with snacksonomies, which are tags like lowfat or vegetarian that help you find what you might like better and faster. Are you missing something? Snacksby can tell you what to do if you don’t have buttermilk or if you’d like a vegan substitute for eggs.

You can also create lists of favorite recipes and get RSS feeds of those lists. If you find a recipe you don’t have all the fixin’s for, Snacksby will take your Pantry list into account and give you a shopping list.

Snacksby is free to register and use.

Like their previous incarnation, AllFreeCalls, all users have to do is call an access number in the U.S. and then forward on to an International number for free. The main difference now is, at registration, you’re asked to enter up to 10 phone numbers and assign each a numeric code (1-10). You then dial the access number and enter the code number you want to dial.

This change lowers the overall usability now, but the service can still be very useful for people who call the same international number regularly.

[AllFreeCalls Back From DeadPool, Free Calls Are Here Again - Via: TechCrunch]

By using the FCC approved, industry standard, disconnected number tone sequence (those three tones you hear when you get a bad number) at the beginning of your voice mail or answering machine message, you can trick the auto-dialer computers into thinking they’ve got a bad number and putting you on THEIR “do not call” list. Andy even provides you with a download of the three tones.

Get the full scoop and the download here.

Of course, if you don’t want to change your message, you can always use the Anti-Telemarketing “Counterscript”.

Raymour & Flanigan Furniture have a nifty little flash Room Planner tool on their website. Just launch the Room Planner, input your room’s dimensions and start adding furniture. The furniture is from Raymour & Flanigan’s inventory, but you can easily get the dimensions on any piece of furniture by viewing its details.

(UPDATE: The Room Planner also has a separate “generic icons” tab to place and size furniture not tied to the product line up. Thanks Joel.)

GasBuddy.com can help you find cheap gas prices in your city. It is a network of more than 179+ gas price information web sites that helps you find low gasoline prices. All web sites are operated by GasBuddy and has the most comprehensive listings of gas prices anywhere.

If you already know where the cheapest gas is in your city, test Gasbuddy out to see if it gets the right answer, then post your findings in the comments.

Ever received an email asking for $30 or more with a promise of an official report indicating whether or not your state owed you any unclaimed money? The truth is your state may indeed owe you money. However, it does not cost you $30 to find out.

Tip blog, Dumb Little Man, has done some deep background research into the area and put together a nice and thorough list of state and government established websites for searching through their databases of unclaimed property.

Your State may Owe you Money – find out here [Via: Dumb Little Man]