Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Free Remote File Storage Space at Who.hasfiles
11:30PM Lifehacker US Edition | Need a little go-to storage space but don’t have your own remote server set up? Online storage start-up who.hasfiles offers a free 100 MB space ($US1 per GB per month after that) easily mounted from Windows, Mac, or Linux. The site offers its own one-step software for connecting from Windows and simple but detailed instructions for other systems, with sharing allowed between registered users. Who.hasfiles certainly isn’t the first kid on the online storage block, and 100MB can feel a bit cozy these days, but it could easily serve as a fail-safe space for important documents or a way to privately share a few files. Who.hasfiles Online Storage More »
Edit and Convert Graphics with XnView
11:00PM Tamar Weinberg | Windows/Linux/Mac: Freeware app XnView gives you incredible control over editing digital photographs in a lightweight package. Similar to Lifehacker favourite IrfanView, XnView is fast and can import and export hundreds of image formats. It also features lossless rotate and crop, filters, colour modifications, red-eye reduction, and slideshow view. Categorize images and easily access EXIF meta information. Beyond image editing, XnView is a solid choice for making life posters. XnView is freeware for Windows/Mac for non-commercial use only (and completely free for Linux). XnView More »
Wait for Leopard Before Buying a Mac?
10:30PM Gina Trapani | Dear Lifehacker, I’m going to finally take the leap from PC to Mac. But the next version of the Mac OS is due out soon, right? Should I wait? Now that I’ve decided, I’m just dying to head on over to the Apple Store today to scratch this itch. Signed, Soon-To-Be Switcher More »
Display Your GCal Agenda in Firefox’s Sidebar
10:00PM Gina Trapani | You already know that you can load bookmarks in Firefox’s sidebar, and that narrow webapps like iPhone-optimised services work well there. Reader Eli writes in with how he customises his Google Calendar agenda to load in his Firefox sidebar, with events from multiple calendars, as wide as he likes. Here’s how to set up your Firefox sidebar-friendly agenda using GCal’s embeddable calendar HTML. More »What it’s like to Switch to Ubuntu
5:37PM Sarah Stokely | Longtime Linux users, avert your eyes, this ones is for the newbies like me. As someone who’s looking at getting on the Ubuntu bandwagon when Gutsy Gibbon comes out in a little over a week, I had to read Laptop magazine’s feature on what it was like for a longtime Windows user to trial Ubuntu on a Vista machine. What it’s Like to Switch to Ubuntu [Laptop magazine] More »A breath of (Adobe) AIR
1:37PM Sarah Stokely | APC magazine has a writeup of Adobe’s cross-platform runtime, AIR, which looks at eBay’s beta version of eBay Desktop based on Adobe AIR (its verdict: less annoying that eBay’s website) and a number of other applications which have been written for AIR, including:
Arise – a news aggregator;
Bee – a desktop blog editor which integrates with WordPress and Flickr;
Fresh – an RSS feeder created using AJAX;
MapCache – a map/direction system using Yahoo! Map Web Services;
Podcast Player;
RoadFinder which combines Google Maps and Yahoo! Maps.
A breath of (Adobe) AIR [APC magazine]
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5 Great (And Free) Games You’re Not Playing Now
1:02PM Sarah Stokely | If, like me, you’ve witnessed a slew of your friends become addicted to playing Scrabble on Facebook (search for the Scrabulous application to get started), you know that online games have taken off in a big way lately. Digg turned up this post recommending five free games, all Flash-based, which can be played in your web browser. Check the comments for a few more reader recommendations - I have to admit I’m intrigued by the description of Kingdom of Loathing.
Timewasters, sure. But they’re free – think of the money you’ll save from not buying the lastest Star Wars Lego game. ;)
5 Great (And Free) Games You’re Not Playing Now [GigaOM]
More » Build your own working Star Wars X-Wing
11:36AM Sarah Stokely | I couldn’t let this one go unnoted (yes, I realise my inner Star Wars geek is showing). Our pals at Gizmodo found some Star Wars fans with enough DIY mojo to build their own *working* rocket-powered X-Wing fighter.
“After drawing the plans using CAD software, Andy’s team and his friends at Polecat Aerospace (with the help of RMS Laser and Aerotech Consumer Aerospace) used laser cutting to make the pieces out of Baltic Birch wood.”
The Giz boys in the states also drove out to the Californian desert to film the launch (and sad demise) of the X-Wing. Awesome. Will they make a Millenium Falcon next?
Rocket-Powered 2-Foot Long X-Wing Model Actually Flies
and
Video: The Rocket-Powered X-Wings Flight… and Death [Gizmodo]
More » How to become a tagging master
10:39AM Sarah Stokely | 43 Folders has written a guide devoted to the fine art of tagging. No matter what the data is that you’re tagging – blog posts, photos on Flickr, or bookmarks at del.icio.us, a good tagging system will help you find what you seek with ease. This three point guide basically says consider what you’re tagging and how you’ll remember them (ie photos are often associated with the place they were taken, or the person they depict). It also points out you should consider what needs to be tagged – for example, OSX files already have the date created and modified attached to them, so tagging them with a date is redundant.
FInally and most importantly, create a list of attributes from which you’ll draw your tags.
“Write out a list of the attributes that you think of when thinking of your target items. Ideally, you should make this a brainstormed list that includes every attribute you can possibly think of that you might want to tag. As you make the list for your different target items, star the attributes that spring immediately to mind.
Once you have a list, go through it to weed out the attributes that are covered by the item’s non-tag metadata. Then go through it again and pick out what attributes you want to use for tagging. Try to keep it a short, specific list focused on the attributes that sprang immediately to mind. You should also add attributes that didn’t spring immediately to mind, but that you want to make a habit of tagging anyway because they will be useful.”
Having this list available (printed or in digital form) will help you remember the tags you want to use until you’ve developed good tagging habits. After all, it’s much easier to tag items correctly the first time rather than having to go back and fix them up in a batch later. Trust me, I’ve been blogging since 2000 and only started tagging this year (sob).
Becoming a tagging kung-fu master [43 Folders]
More » Deal of the day websites
9:56AM Sarah Stokely | Fans of ‘deal of the day’ websites like Woot! and Bits Du Jour may already know that we have our own Australian version, Zazz. If you aren’t aware of these sites, they basically offer one item per day at a discounted price, usually with a limited amount of product available. It’s great for impulse buying – which can be a good or a bad thing!
Along with Zazz, there’s another Aussie site called Catch of the Day. Its offerings aren’t necessarily tech related, but on the 28th of each month they have a Catchathon where they put 28 products up for sale.
Bits Du Jour specialises in software, and while they’re in the US, their special today is iPod compatible text to voice reader Text2Go, which we mentioned a little while ago. Text2Go’s creator Mark Gladding emailed me to let me know that visitors to Bits du Jour or the Text2Go site will get the software for $5 today.
I’m a newbie at the ‘deal of the day’ shopping caper, so if I’ve missed any websites, leave them in comments please. :)
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