Saturday, December 8, 2007
Coffee Better Than Napping for the Sleepy Driver
12:00PM Adam Pash | The New York Times looks into which option is better to help sleepy drivers stay alert: a nap or a cup of joe. In a study conducted by French researches to determine which better helped drivers avoid crossing the centre line, it looks like coffee wins out, but how well it works depends on your age. For middle-aged drivers, aged 40 to 50, coffee was a far better choice. Caffeinated coffee lowered risk for these drivers by 89 percent, while the nap only reduced line crossings by 23 percent. But among younger drivers, a nap was almost as effective as caffeine. Among 20- to 25-year-old drivers, the risk of line-crossing fell by 66 percent after a nap, and 74 percent after drinking caffeinated coffee. Of course, it only stands to reason that you could improve your alertness even more with the ever-popular caffeine nap. Now that’s a winner. Photo by aphasiafilms. For Sleepy Drivers, Coffee vs. Napping [NYT] More »
DIY Christmas Cards Roundup
11:00AM Adam Pash | If you send out Christmas cards every year, you know that buying cards can be a spendy endeavor. So in the spirit of saving money this holiday season but not skimping on the cool-factor of your cards, we’re rounding up a few very cool, very 3-D DIY Christmas cards that’ll help you spread a little holiday cheer without breaking the bank. Like the pop-up tree and reindeer below, the video above (from this Instructable) details how to make an angel pop-up card. The video moves pretty quickly, so if you give this one a try you’ll probably want to go to the step-by-step on Instructables. Web site wikiHow describes in detail how to make a simple elegant Christmas tree pop-up card or this Reindeer pop-up card with a thick piece of paper, their printable templates, and some glue. The tree is probably the most elegant of the bunch, and even better, probably the easiest to pull off. Okay, so it’s not necessarily all that cheap or practical (according to the author it takes approximately an hour to complete), but if you’re only sending out a few very special cards, this full-on 3-D Christmas tree greeting card (complete with lights) is pretty cool. It collapses into an envelope for sending, and when it’s opened, unfolded, and connected, little LEDs glow for an impressive Christmas tree effect. Last, if you need help organizing your recipients, check out how your fellow readers keep their contacts organized. More »
Take a Quick Look at Your Trash
10:00AM Adam Pash | Leopard users: One simple annoyance when browsing the Trash on your Mac is that Finder won’t allow you to open a file from the Trash. Your Mac may have good reasons for it, but this can be particularly frustrating when you’re ready to empty the Trash but you want to make sure you don’t actually need that ambiguously named file. That’s because you can’t open files that are in the Trash. If you try to, you’ll get a message saying the file can’t be opened because it’s in the Trash, and if you want to open it, you’ll need to drag it out of the Trash—which is kind of a pain. But weblog TUAW points out that Quick Look works with files in the Trash, meaning you can get a quick look (!) at the file to make sure it’s ready for oblivion. Leopard love: Quick Look works on files in the Trash [TUAW] More »
Free Project Manager Project2Manage
9:21AM Gina Trapani | Just-launched webapp Project2Manage tracks multiple projects, to-do’s, milestones, clients and companies for free online. Great for small or side businesses, consultants, or just a group of friends working on something, you can set up several users in your Project2Manage account, create to-do lists, assign tasks to users, set milestones with dates, post messages, and track project activity with RSS. While the interface is slick and modern, Project2Manage isn’t quite as polished as Basecamp, and it includes advertising. However, for folks who don’t want to pay for Basecamp’s features, Project2Manage looks like a solid alternative. Project2Manage More »
Restickable Glue Stick Makes Sticky Notes
9:00AM Gina Trapani | Post-It notes don’t have to be boring, square, and yellow any more: make your own sticky notes with any size and colour paper with the Scotch Restickable Adhesive Glue Stick. Just apply the magic sticky stuff to the back of any piece of paper, and stick and re-stick it anywhere you’d like. Over at the Cool Tools weblog, reader Bill says it helps him GTD: I use it to make my various Getting Things Done/43 folders items and tasks stay put in my handheld binder. I jot my items and tasks down on variously coloured pieces of paper of whatever size I need, rub the magic stickum on them, and they stay put in my binder until I decide to move them around. My inner child is happy because I get to play with stickers and glue; my inner adult is happy because I can continually and easily refine my GTD system. Sounds like a good stocking stuffer for the crafty person in your life, too. The Restickable Glue Stick costs more than a regular glue stick, about $1.20 a pop (at Amazon at least). Scotch Restickable Adhesive Glue Stick [Cool Tools] More »
Fifteen Foods that Burn More Calories than They Contain
8:00AM Adam Pash | We need to scarf down plenty of calories in a day, but if you’ve got a nasty snack habit that’s tipping the scales to heavy, weblog Bootstrapper’s list of 15 foods that burn more calories than they contain might be the perfect addition to your grocery list. Called negative calorie foods, the following 15 treats actual burn more calories in their digestion than they offer, so you can fulfil your snack craving without the guilt of a bag of potato chips. From apples to zucchini, these foods make the perfect snacks. Hit the jump for the full list. Celery Oranges Strawberries Tangerines Grapefruit Carrots Apricots Lettuce Tomatoes Cucumbers Watermelo Cauliflower Apples Hot Chili Peppers Zucchini Keep in mind that a diet limited to only these foods could lead to malnutrition (according to Wikipedia), so don’t go getting all unhealthy on us. But when snack time hits, these healthy, negative calorie foods sound like winners. For more opitons, check Wikipedia’s longer list of negative calorie foods, and for a glimpse at other low-calorie snacks, check out the 200-calorie gallery. Negative Calorie Foods: 15 Foods That Actually Burn More Calories Than They Contain [Bootstrapper] More »Credit
7:30AM Tamar Weinberg | Two years ago, we covered how to avoid New Year’s credit card debt during the holiday season. More »Fold a T-Shirt in Two Seconds (Redux)
7:00AM Gina Trapani | Almost two years ago Adam posted a Japanese video that demonstrates how to fold a t-shirt in one quick motion, and today reader Sean writes in with the English version that’s a lot easier to follow along. Hit the play button above to fast-track your laundry folding and impress your friends with a two second t-shirt fold. For more folding techniques, see how to fold a mattress cover or fitted sheet. Thanks, Sean! More »
