Life Hacks
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Saturday, May 24th, 2008- Mojo 2.0 Windows Beta Shares iTunes Over the Internet (Mac and Windows)
“Adam already walked you through how to download music from your friends’ iTunes libraries over the internet using Mojo on the Mac, and now Windows users can get in on the fun.” - Elevator Quickly Disables UAC for Specific Programs (Windows)
“Freeware application Elevator disables the User Account Control prompt for specific applications through your right-click menu, getting rid of the UAC annoyance for apps that require administrator privileges every time they run.”
Google Sites Now Open to Non-Google Apps Users [Web Publishing]
Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
Google’s free web site creation tool, creatively named Google Sites, is now open to users who have a non-Google Apps account. The What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) web page editor lets folks who don’t know a lick of HTML put together a good looking web site quickly and easily. You can also allow only certain people to view the site, edit its pages, and you can even hook up Google Analytics to get your web site traffic charts going. Your Google Sites URL will be something like http://sites.google.com/site/yournamehere/ and you get 100MB of file storage space for free, as well as page templates for common uses, like announcements, lists, and a “file cabinet.” Hit the play button above for a closer look. Like most of the big G’s stuff, for the low price of free, this is an impressive offering.
Get Professional Value from Idle Web Surfing [How To]
Thursday, May 15th, 2008
Want to get more than just behind on your work from idly browsing the web? The Simple Dollar weblog shares a few tips for getting both personal and professional value from your “wasted” web time. The post suggests several different methods for getting more from your browsing, most of which revolve around participating on the web rather than just consuming—whether that involves social bookmarking, commenting and sharing your knowledge, or befriending others with similar interests. If you’re a pro at squeezing value out of your web surfing (hey, you read Lifehacker, right?), let’s hear your tips in the comments.
Ask MetaFilter Roundup [Hive Mind]
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008- Should I bother trying to buy eco-friendly furniture?
- Is there a way to subscribe en masse to a few hundred web sites without knowing the feed URLs?
- How do I learn new programming languages and start using modern webapps without getting frustrated and angry?
- Should I legally change my often mispronounced name?
- How do I go from out-of-shape to a baseline level of fitness in a relatively short time without giving myself a heart attack?
- What are the best alternatives to PayPal?
Thunderbird 3 Gets Tabs [Alpha]
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008The first alpha release Thunderbird 3 (for extremely early adopters) is now available, and it's got tabs! T-bird 3 can open several messages in tabs rather than popping new windows—great news for your clean desktop.
How to Cram All Your Travel Gear in One Bag [Travel]
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
Now that most of the major airlines have begun charging an extra fee for checking a second bag, National Public Radio's All Things Considered tackles the art of one-bag packing, interviewing Doug Dyment, owner of previously mentioned OneBag.com. In the piece, Dyment suggests that the key to a one-bag trip is making a list of your must-haves and sticking to it. In all the story offers some good advice, but since we've covered one-bag territory a lot in the past, hit the jump for some of our favorite tips for traveling light.
- First, also from OneBag, comes the bundled-wrapping method of packing. Folding your clothes with this method will not only keep your gear more compact than rolling, but it also means less wrinkles.
- If you simply can't fit everything you need into one bag (this better be a long trip!), you might prefer shipping your luggage ahead rather than paying for the extra bag just so you can lug it around the airport.
- On the other side of the coin, if you're looking to save time at the terminal and avoid the huge lines at baggage check, you may also benefit from these tips for traveling with one carry-on.
- With a ruthless checklist of acceptable items, you can even pack your vacation into one backpack.
- Finally, if you're really into packing light and you're not afraid of spending a little cash and buying specifically for the purpose, check out how author Tim Ferriss travels the world packing less than 10 pounds.
If you've got your own favorite tips for stuffing all your gear in one bag as summer vacation approaches, let's hear them in the comments.
ReadAir Brings Google Reader to Your Desktop [Featured Download]
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
Windows/Mac/Linux (Adobe AIR): Free, open source application ReadAir syncs your Google Reader feeds to the comfort of your desktop. ReadAir—whose three-pane interface looks and feels much more like a desktop newsreader than Reader—also retains a lot of Google Reader features, like starring items and adding and tagging feeds. The biggest missing feature in ReadAir is its lack of keyboard shortcuts; you won't be j/k-ing your way through your unread items in ReadAir the same way you can on the web—at least not in this version. That said, the app's to-do list includes offline mode and keyboard shortcuts, so if you'd prefer Reader had that desktop look and feel plus a killer web interface when you need it, ReadAir is a great option. ReadAir is free, all platforms, requires Adobe AIR. Thanks StevieB!
Top 10 Things You Forgot Your Mac Can Do [Lifehacker Top 10]
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
Macs may be more expensive, and Mac users more elitist (ahem), but blind Apple loyalty aside, there are a number of neat features bundled into your Mac that make it super useful and fun. We've covered dozens of Mac tips over the years in these pages, but today we're highlighting 10 lesser-known Mac tricks that come baked into Leopard. From pure eye candy to outright productivity-boosters, read on to get reminded of some of the more obscure things you can do with your Mac, fresh out of the box.
10. Say anything.
Turn on your speakers, launch Terminal and type:9. Show off Stacks and Expose in slow motion.
Pretend you're Steve Jobs showing off Leopard's incredible graphics capability on the big stage with a press of the Shift key. Hold down Shift and click on one of your Dock's Stacks, or hit F12 to invoke Dashboard—and watch the action happen in slow motion.8. Activate screen corners.
Assign actions to each corner of your desktop by activating screen corners. In System Preferences, Expose & Spaces, set actions for each corner of your desktop. Then, perform those actions with a swipe of the mouse. (original post)
7. Display custom hard drive icons.
ID your digital camera card, USB drive, and external FireWire drive at a glance in Finder. Assign custom icons to each one of your drives to pretty up your desktop and make them easy to see.
6. Look up words in the dictionary with a keystroke.
Highlight any word in a native Cocoa app and press Apple+Ctrl+D to look it up in the built-in OS X dictionary and thesaurus.
5. Launch applications from Spotlight.
If Quicksilver ain't your cup of tea—or you just use it to start applications—Spotlight can do that for you without running another application. Simply set Spotlight to include Applications in its search results, invoke it with the (default) keyboard shortcut, Cmd+Space, type your app name and hit Enter to launch it.4. Tab between all controls.
By default your Mac's Tab key doesn't move between controls on a page or form other than text boxes and lists. Click the "All Controls" radio button at the bottom of the Keyboard & Mouse pane in System Preferences to right this wrong.3. Zoom WAY in on a page.
Examine small text up close or just zoom in on a huge image by using the two-finger trackpad trick. Hold down the Control key, then drag TWO fingers up your Mac's trackpad to give it a try. Here's how to set up two-finger zoom. For more "holy crap look at that" tomfoolery, press Ctrl+Cmd+Opt+8.
2. Show the date on the menubar.
If you need more than just the current time in your Mac's menubar, you can add the date as well. Here's how to edit your date and time format to keep yourself from having to click the time whenever you want to see what day of the month it is.
1. Double as an external drive.
Want to move huge files onto one Mac from another? Using the Mac's "Target Disk Mode," a press of the T key during startup transforms your Mac into an external FireWire drive. Plug it into another Mac with a FireWire cable and copy files to and fro, no networking required.
For more Mac fun, don't miss our twenty useful Leopard downloads, and Leopard power tweaks.
What are your favorite Mac tricks? Shout 'em out in the comments.
Log Into Zoho Suite with Your Google Account [Zoho]
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
Since most of you said you've stuck to Google Docs over Zoho Suite because you already have a Google account, Zoho Suite added the ability to log on with your existing Google or Yahoo account. You can even import your contacts from Google or Yahoo into Zoho.
Brief Adds Lightweight Browsing to Live Bookmarks [Featured Firefox Extension]
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
Windows/Mac/Linux (Firefox): Brief, an in-browser RSS reader for Firefox, adds a clean Google Reader-type feed reading interface to your browser, and makes Firefox's default "Live Bookmarks" system far more useful. The stand-out feature for GReader users is the starring system that lets you tag posts for later viewing, but I also like the "X" boxes put on each post—instead of marking a post "read" and scrolling past it, you can actually remove it from your view. It's a lot like Sage, but with a more robust set of features and customization. Brief is a free download and works wherever Firefox 2 and 3 beta do.
Sleep Deprivation Isn’t a Badge of Honor [Sleep]
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
Developer David Heinemeier Hansson says that sleep deprivation isn't a badge of honor that shows how hard you work—it just makes you dumb and miserable.
Forgoing sleep is like borrowing from a loan shark. Sure you get that extra hours right now to cover for your overly-optimistic estimation, but at what price? The shark will be back and if you can't pay, he'll break your creativity, morale, and good-mannered nature as virtue twigs.
Hansson says that in the tech industry (especially young startups) and in college, people often brag about staying up all night to get work done, but in the end it just keeps you from performing at peak levels. Have you or your co-workers bragged about pulling an all-nighter recently while chugging double espressos to stay awake? Does the boss encourage it? Tell us about it in the comments. Photo by losiek.
Punctuality Counts
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008IntelliScreen Adds Widgets to iPhone’s “Slide to Unlock” Screen [IPhone]
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
Add email, calendar updates, RSS feeds, and more to your "Slide to unlock" home screen with IntelliScreen, a free application for jailbroken iPhones and iPod touches. Similar to the widgets of Windows Mobile's "Today" screen, the app lets you order and customize what infor, and how much of it, you see on your wake-up screen, including new SMS messages and local weather conditions. Better still, you can bring up that email message or check out that feed item in Safari by swiping over the widget and pressing the button that pops up. The app's makers warn that IntelliScreen has run into restoration-required conflicts with a few other third-party apps, so back up anything you can't afford to wipe clean. Intrigued enough to try unlocking your iPhone/touch? Check out our guide to unlocking with ZiPhone.
Saving Time on Routine Tasks: Optimized Reading
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008IPlist Protects Torrent Traffic in Linux [Featured Linux Download]
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
Linux only: Free IP-filtering application IPlist protects your BitTorrent downloads from third-party snoopers and blockers by controlling which IP addresses can and cannot connect to your system. The default blacklist installed with IPlist is a pretty good start to protecting your torrent privacy, and an "Update" button adds the latest known addresses with bad juju behind them, but the app also lets you add ranges, specific addresses, and other kinds of traffic to allow and block. Simply fire up IPlist before running your BitTorrent client, and the app will do its work. IPlist is a free download for Linux systems; hit the link below for prerequisites and installation help with Debian/Ubuntu and Fedora systems.