Sundial was a very simple webservice using a hacky Python script and a few CSVs. It did the job… and that was that. It had a fair number of defects such as missing DST support and a cluttered homepage, and I decided a few weeks ago that it was about time I addressed these issues.

I took the opportunity to brush up on my Java, and I re-implemented the entire thing from scratch over the course of a couple of evenings using Java servlets, JSON and the Google App Engine. (By the way, the App Engine is an excellent free platform for small tools and prototypes — check it out.)

As before, you can use dialti.me in a few different ways. The simplest is to visit the dialti.me website and enter a US telephone number that you would like to lookup. Format is unimportant—the number will be extracted as necessary. And as before, the alternative way in which one can use dialti.me is to navigate directly to http://app.dialti.me/Mobile: (651) 342.2323 or similar. It works well with Firefox keywords or as a Chrome custom search engine, too.

Unlike Sundial, dialti.me might actually see some further development such as support for international numbers. I’d love to hear any suggestions you might have, or feedback on the design. Let me know how you get on in the comments, or drop me an email.

My process used to be laborious: visit Bennet Yee’s Area Code Listing, by Number and look up the state to which the area code corresponds, visit Wikipedia and look up the capital city of the state, then visit the World Clock Meeting Planner and see how our timezones overlap. This got old pretty fast.

I’ve solved this problem with Sundial, a US telephone number to timezone converter. It’s a simple webservice which takes any old telephone number and, if it’s a US number, produces a timezone comparision chart to show how it corresponds to GMT. Sundial is freely available for public use, so please give it a try!

You can use Sundial in a few different ways. The simplest is to visit the Sundial converter and enter a US telephone number that you would like to lookup. Format is not important—stick it in with brackets, periods, warts and all. Alternatively, to convert Mobile: (651) 342.2323 you can just navigate directly to http://benjaminasmith.com/tools/sundial/Mobile: (651) 342.2323 and get the answer you’re looking for.

My favourite way to use Sundial is via Firefox Smart Keywords. Using smart keywords, I can just type:

sun Mobile: 651.342.2323

To set this up, just create a new bookmark to http://benjaminasmith.com/tools/sundial/%s and give it the keyword sun.

Sundial is still under development, so I’d love to hear any suggestions you might have or fix any bugs you might come across. Let me know how you get on in the comments, or drop me an email.