It appears that Wal-Mart’s $199 PC running a web-friendly Linux distro has sold out online. Luckily, even if you can’t find one at your local store, you can still turn your old PC into a webapp monster with gOS yourself. [via]
DIY web site Instructables covers the perennial favorite: Cleaning up cord clutter beneath your desk. We’ve covered the cordless workspace plenty in the past, but if you still haven’t found a solution that fits your needs, this simple and cheap power strip basket could do wonders for your cable decluttering needs. The custom cut basket is particularly useful for retaining access to your power outlets without needing to unscrew the entire apparatus in order to unplug or plug in a new device.
How to mount a power strip (and power bricks) under your desk [Instructables]Windows/Mac/Linux (Firefox): Keep track of your daily to-read list with the Read it Later Firefox extension. Similar to previously mentioned Readeroo—which integrates directly with Del.icio.us—Read it Later takes a slightly different approach, keeping your reading list local until you read it and decide whether or not you want to bookmark it. If you do, you have the option to bookmark on any number of popular bookmarking sites, from Del.icio.us to Digg. The drawback is that Read it Later doesn’t currently sync across browsers, which would be a nice touch. Read it Later is free, works wherever Firefox does.
Read it Later [via the How-To Geek]Flickr is celebrating their 2 billionth uploaded photo, which—as luck would have it—was an attractive shot of a gum tree.
Open source Mac utility Quicksilver isn’t just an application launcher—it’s a comprehensive keyboard interface. Launching applications and documents is just Quicksilver’s gateway drug: The more you get used to doing things with Quicksilver, the more things you want to do with it. Out of the box Quicksilver comes with the barest essentials, but once you add the right plug-ins that interact with menus, apps, documents, and settings, you can accomplish more and more complex tasks from that familiar three-paned prompt. After the jump, check out top 10 favourite Quicksilver plug-ins, and how to set them up.
The Wall Street Journal added Digg buttons throughout its paid-subscription website yesterday, but any article that’s been dugg will be freely viewable. Tech blog Digital Inspiration points out that by adding the feed from this search result to your reader, you can check out every story that gets even just one digg click. New WSJ owner Rupert Murdoch has said he plans to break down the pay wall entirely, but until then, this might be the next best way to browse the influential newspaper. UPDATE: Well, less than an hour later and I’ve got 50 hits on that feed. Those wanting more specific, less overwhelming WSJ content should modify that search above by changing the parameters to “Title, Description, and URL” and adding a subject like “oil” or “Microsoft” after “online.wsj.com.”
Track Wall Street Journal Stories That Are On Digg Using RSS [Digital Inspiration]Windows XP/2000 only: Software firewall ZoneAlarm is offering free downloads of its basic firewall package with a spyware scanner/cleaner and a year of free updates until 5 p.m. PST today (although you’ll get an email with a download link that’s valid for a week after that). Program maker Check Point Software claims the free offering is made to coincide with Microsoft’s monthly “Patch Tuesday” and the ensuing new vulnerabilities that hackers start working on. Regardless of the piggy-back marketing, ZoneAlarm is an easy-to-use port protector, and a little free spyware protection couldn’t hurt either. ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware is a free download for Windows 2000 and XP only.
ZoneAlarm Anti-Spyware [via Digital Inspiration]Ars Technica’s Open Ended blog posts a helpful guide for Linux users running Compiz Fusion who want to make drop-down menus, tooltips, and other items transparent without digging through a massive configuration menu. The instructions requires having the compizconfig-settings-manager package installed, and those who want to tweak specific program windows (like Pidgin or Firefox) might have to spend some time with Compiz’s window-matching documentation. But for those who just want a cool-looking 10 percent shade on their menus, this guide should suffice.
Configuring conditional window transparency in Compiz [Open Ended]Windows/Linux: Popular, free virtualization software VMWare has released a beta of its next Server platform, which allows users to run other operating systems inside their own. The 2.0 beta adds support for running on Windows Vista Business and Ultimate editions, Ubuntu 7.04 and 7.10, and other systems, as well as a new browser-based interface and better support for USB devices. A somewhat-helpful PDF user guide is available at the download site, but I’m waiting for a handy step-by-step guide to come along before diving in too deep in Linux (I unfortunately have only Vista Home Premium at the moment). If you managed to get 2.0 up and running, share your experiences in the comments. VMWare Server 2.0 Beta is a free download for Windows and Linux systems.
VMWare Server 2.0 Beta [via eWeek]Online storage website Box.net has thrown open the doors and let all sorts of webapps in, giving users a handful of one-click actions and exports for their files. That means MP3s stored at Box.net can be sent to Myxer for ringtone conversion, documents can be opened in ThinkFree or Zoho or faxed through eFax, and the list runs to eight more services at this point, with more likely to come. Along with RSS file sharing and desktop mounting, the free 1GB of space offered to everyone is becoming a handy tool. Box.net requires a sign-up for its free service, as do all of the web services it currently links to.
OpenBox Services [via TechCrunch]
