Mac OS X only: Freeware application SpaceControl keeps watch of your hard drive space and alerts you when you’re getting low on free space. The application lives in your Mac’s menu bar and displays the total amount of free space available on all drives. You can also set alerts to notify you with a simple system sound or with an email when your startup disk drops below a threshold you define. In general iStat Menus is an excellent menu bar app for monitoring you system (including hard drives), but if you have trouble keeping enough free space on your drive, SpaceControl might be for you. SpaceControl is freeware, Mac OS X only.
SpaceControl [via Simplehelp]I read about Listable this morning on Online Tech Tips, and it sounded like an okay premise. It’s basically a website which draws on social search/bookmarking principles to compile lists of online resources. We know that members of online communities will voluntarily create lists – Amazon is a classic example.
Unfortunately when I went to Listable to have a look around, it seems to have fallen prey to a bunch of porn and credit card shysters – every second ‘list’ seems to be pushing porn or how to get out of a bad credit rating. You need to create an account on the site in order to create a list there, but obviously they need to put a few more controls in place if they want the site to work.
While the links identify the user who submitted them, there doesn’t seem to be any mechanism ensuring that links are relevant to the list topic – I found a listing for ‘personalised dog tags’ in the “Resources for Wedding Planning” list.
A barometer for contributor credibility is also going to be necessary – I’d want to know whether someone who has created a list is a genuine user rather than someone promoting their own business – so a flag showing the number of lists they’ve created or number of “votes” they’ve received as a useful contributor would be helpful.
In short, nice idea, but right now it’s just an example of how not to run a social recommendation site. Shame.
Like to tinker but just don’t have the hands to keep up with all your doin’s? Build a third hand to assist your work with a howto from DIY web site Instructables. You can buy similar “third hand” tools at electronics stores, but according to the author they just don’t do the job of this robust, inexpensive third hand. If electronics tinkering isn’t your thing, you could still use this for anything from scrapbooking to recipe card holder, and seems to me that with a few tweaks to the design you could even turn the third hand into your own anywhere tripod.
Third Hand++: A multi-use helping hand for electronics and other delicate work. [Instructables]Firefox with Greasemonkey: Bring the keyboard shortcut glory of Gmail Macros back to your updated Gmail account with the new and improved Gmail Macros Greasemonkey script. Whether you grew to love the Gmail Macros script through its integration with our very own Better Gmail Firefox extension or you’ve always used it with Greasemonkey and have been aching for it back ever since Gmail updated and broke Macros, the new script from Google Reader developer Mihai Parparita promises to restore your favourite Gmail shortcut tool.
As an added bonus for the productivity set, the script has added a new shortcut (f) that will focus the current view. That is, pressing ‘f’ from a Followup label will display all unread, starred, or messages that are also in the inbox. The Gmail Macros script is free to install, requires Greasemonkey. This also means that Better Gmail enthusiasts can eventually expect restored support for Gmail Macros. That snappy new Gmail is beginning to look really attractive.
Macros for the new version of Gmail [persistent.info]As more and more full-featured web applications look to replace traditional desktop apps, the concept of a web-based operating system has gained a lot of momentum. And since Wal-Mart began selling a $199 PC running a free Linux distribution—called gOS—with a hearty dose of webapp integration, we’re getting closer. If you’ve got an extra PC gathering dust, gOS is not only a worthy operating system for a cheap PC from Wal-Mart; it’s also an excellent (and free) way to repurpose your old PC.
Leopard only: Another handy new set of features in Mac OS 10.5 that didn’t get much attention arrived in Preview.app, that trusty utility that opens images and PDF files. In Tiger, Preview was mostly a file viewer, but in Leopard, you can edit images, rearrange and merge PDF files, as well as perform batch actions on a set of files. Let’s take a look.
US-centric: If you haven’t booked your ticket home for the holidays yet, the Productivity Portfolio weblog test-drove some top travel search engines you may want to hit up. They tried out Lifehacker favourite Kayak, Yahoo Farechase, SideStep and Farecast for a flight in December and got back varying results for each. How did you get the best price for your flight home this holiday? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to check out Adam’s checklist for the power traveler. Photo by S. Baker.
How to Find Low Airfares Online [Productivity Portfolio]Windows only: Free internet radio application Screamer Radio is a streamlined audio ripping solution with a bonus in the form of a huge library of new stations to discover. Load up a Shoutcast, Ogg Vorbis, WMA or AAC stream, listen while Screamer sits in your taskbar and click once to record directly to MP3 or Ogg formats. Those who already have a favourite ripping solution, such as StationRipper, might still want to download Screamer just to grab a few new stations to try from its extensive preset list. Screamer Radio is a free download for Windows 98 and higher, and it looks like it can be run off a USB thumb drive as well. Thanks, Dan!
Screamer RadioThe New York Times’ Well blog points out that behavioral modifications worked faster and better than sleeping drugs when it came to beating insomnia, according to numerous medical studies. Many of the reinforcements mentioned—exercise, shutting off the TV/computer and regular wake times in particular—have been covered here before, but the article points out one meta-strategy: Don’t try too hard to fall asleep, and turn the clock around so you can’t see it. Watching time pass is one of the worst things to do when you’re trying to fall asleep.
Those looking for more insomnia-busting tips could try contributor Ryan Irelan’s “Blue Energy” technique or check out 12 strategies for getting to sleep. Ever had a bout with insomnia, or find yourself fighting it now? Feel free to share your experiences and victory stories in the comments. Photo by littledan77. Thanks, Jay!
Curing Insomnia Without the Pills [NYT Well blog]
