Dapper makes it easy to extract and use information from Web sites. If you’re familiar with Web services, you might recognize Dapper as an API maker. We discovered Dapper through GridLab, where a clever Italian blogger applied Dapper to WhatIs.com. Put even more simply, Dapper creates an RSS feed for any Web site, which then can be manipulated in a number of ways. Dapper will only work on HTML-based sites, so if you’re trying to create a feed from a Flash or AJAX-heavy site, you’re likely out of luck. It’s possible to make your widget private, too, if that’s of interest.
Even if you aren’t ready to dig into serious coding, this widget is worth a look. Dapper is still in beta, free to all.