Friday, December 14, 2007
YouTube Adds Visual Search Tool
11:30PM Kevin Purdy | YouTube has quietly added a visual “related videos” feature that, while not as efficient as smart text searching, does help you find videos in the same realm as the one you’re watching. To enable the feature (which doesn’t appear on all videos), click the full-screen button on the lower right corner of the video. In the full-screen window, click the network-type button next to the play button. It functions similar to Musicovery in its methods—and probably in its potential for procrastination, so beware. For more non-standard YouTube search options, check out VDoogle and Qooqle. YouTube Adds Cool Visualization for Browsing Related Videos [Download Squad] More »
Recover from Eight Cooking Disasters
11:00PM Kevin Purdy | It’s 6:45 p.m., the guests are due in 15 minutes, and the carrots you’d cooked using that fancy recipe look like limp little symbols of failure. Real Simple has eight ideas for fixing food that, usually through neglect or distracted cooking, goes awry, including a few common ones like mushy potatoes, crumbly cake and flavorless tomatoes. You can help disguise those carrots, by the way, if you sprinkle some pepper and parmesan on them. For our more culinary-minded readers—what last-minute fixes have you used to salvage dinner parties or just fancy dinners? Share your recipe hacks in the comments. Easy Fixes for 8 Common Kitchen Mishaps [Real Simple] More »
Google Brings Back Subscribed Links for Custom Results
10:30PM Kevin Purdy | A Google feature that lets you pick and choose certain informational sites to show up in your first page of results has made an unannounced comeback. Subscribed Links, formerly known as Search Add-ons, has been enabled in at least the U.S. version of Google, so those with a Google account can now pick from nearly 50 sites to place in their results. If you subscribe to CalorieLab, for example, searching for “calories cheerios” will bring up an info box from CalorieLab as the fourth result. To enable Subscribed Links, click the “Preferences” link next to the main search box on the plain or iGoogle home pages. Subscribed Links Directory [Google via Google Operating System] More »
Add Life to Your Workspace
10:00PM Kevin Purdy | Setting up a workspace—be it a cubicle, desk or home office setup—with a strict focus on productivity can leave it feeling a bit lifeless. You might not go to the semi-crazy extremes shown in Wired’s photo gallery, but designer Kelly Moore has a few ideas you can pull from each concept. For example: “If you think about it, the walls and floor are the largest spaces to transform,” Moore says. Pre-printed corrugated paper (available from craft and party-supply stores) is inexpensive and easily affixed with Velcro. “It sets the scene,” Moore says. Other workspace ideas offered include keeping a folding chair for guests under a desk, keeping piled work in clean-line containers, and keeping a cotton ball dipped in essential oils nearby to counteract lingering office smells. Fantastic Fixes Help Your Sad, Pathetic Cubicle [Wired] More »
Create a Monitor Power-Off Shortcut
9:30PM Kevin Purdy | If you’re using a Linux-powered laptop with limited battery life, or you just want to darken your laptop screen for whatever reason, Tombuntu has a tip for you. To turn the monitor off and have it wake up at the touch of a mouse or key, create a shortcut using this command, or type it into a terminal: sleep 1 && xset dpms force off (Note: The “sleep 1 && ” portion is only necessary for terminal commands). Any laptop can be set to darken its monitor after a certain amount of time, but even the quickest setting—15 minutes on mine—uses precious battery life if you need to look away. Adding this shortcut to a panel button or menu could come in handy. Create a Virtual Monitor Power Button [Tombuntu] More »
See the Cost of Your Energy Vampires
9:00PM Kevin Purdy | Good magazine has an interesting chart in their latest issue that details how much energy your vampire devices use, and how much it costs you to keep them plugged in. The guide differentiates between devices that are in “active” (ready to leap to life) and “passive” (just plugged in) standby modes, and some items are real shockers. A plasma TV, for instance, can cost about $160 per year just to keep plugged in. That Wii you got your hands on? $25 before you even hit one virtual tennis ball. The takeaway for me, at least, is thinking about putting some devices on power strips and turning them off if I know I won’t be using them for a day or more. Vampire Energy [Good Magazine via CNET News] More »Vampire
12:52PM Sarah Stokely | It’s been estimated that up to 4% of America’s power usage is sucked up by electronic gear in standby mode. If you’re interested in getting an idea of how much your appliances and gadgets are costing you just by standing there, check out Good Magazine’s Vampire Energy chart. Hint: your plasma TV and computer are the main offenders.[via CNET] More » 
Lifehacker makes the Top 30 Aussie blogs
12:25PM Sarah Stokely | I got an email overnight from Meg who maintains the Top 100 Australian Blogs list, letting me know that Lifehacker has rocketed into the Top 100 for the first time, reaching #29. I was really chuffed, it’s so good to know that people are reading and enjoying our Antipodean version of Lifehacker. Thanks to you guys for reading, and thanks to Meg for the email that made my night last night. I think this is the closest I’ll ever get to knowing what it feels like to have your single enter the charts “with a bullet”. :)
We want to keep improving too, so please help us by filling out the reader survey. You have until 21 December to fill it out and go into the draw to win a $250.gift voucher. Have an awesome weekend everyone. :)
More » Is broadband a productivity killer?
12:02PM Sarah Stokely | Many productivity gurus say that you need to firewall your attention to get things done. Always-on broadband internet is considered a basic business tool these days, but could it be hindering more than it helps? Darren Rowse, editor of Problogger, says getting booted back to dialup internet when moving house actually made him more productive: “…it has forced me to become more focused and to prioritize my tasks each day.”
Less time spent checking web stats, reading RSS feeds, checking emails and being on IM meant more time for strategic thinking and interruption-free writing, he says. And as a bonus, more time with the family as well.
I’d be loathe to give up broadband, although when I’m really under the gun on a deadline I do turn off IM and email notifications (and turn off the phone as well). Would you give up broadband in the name of productivity? Or are there other ways to firewall your attention? How Dial Up Made Me a More Productive Blogger [Problogger] More » 
