Monday, December 22, 2008
Work
Google Docs Gadget Offers Drag-and-Drop Uploading
11:30PM Gina Trapani | Google releases a desktop gadget for Google Docs that lets you drag and drop spreadsheets, presentation, and word processing files onto it to upload it to your account. You’ll need to be running Google Desktop to get the gadget (available for Windows and Linux only), which lists all your account’s documents for quick access to your files. Along with the recently-launched
Fix
Make An Origami Reindeer
11:30PM Jason Fitzpatrick | What better way to spend a slow pre-holiday morning at the office than folding your own army of reindeer. Over at the how-to website wikiHow there are step by step instructions on turning a square sheet of paper into an origami masterpiece. The folds aren’t too challenging, but if you’ve never attempted anything more daring than a paper air plane you’ll want to look at the pictures carefully as you fold. Aside from impressing young relatives over the holidays with your ability to turn paper into reindeer, the only other proper application of your new found folding ability to to make an army of them to cover your desk. When asked anything of importance from now until Christmas, reply calmly in a Dilbert’esque way “Ask the reindeer.” If you’ve got reindeer and office mayhem on the brain, check out how to turn a cardboard box into a reindeer. How to Make an Origami Reindeer More »
Work
Windows XP’s Availability Extended Until May 2009
11:12PM Gina Trapani | Presumably due to its popularity—and Vista’s low adoption rates—Microsoft has extended Windows XP’s life from January till May of 2009. The BBC reports that hardware firms will be able to get XP licenses delivered up until May 30, 2009, instead of January 30, the original cutoff date. More »
Fix
How To Reuse Nine Types Of Leftovers
11:00PM Kevin Purdy | Trent at the Simple Dollar writes up nine ways to reuse common holiday leftovers, written in plain English rather than culinary cursive. Ham, chicken, mashed potatoes, roasts—they’re all “merely an ingredient for a completely different meal”—and a pre-prepped one at that. Photo by adactio. More »
Organise
Sticky Screen Makes Your Start Page A Sticky Note
10:30PM Kevin Purdy | If you’d rather have a simple reminder for your browser home page than a host of gadgets and feed checkers, Sticky Screen is just about perfect. The site doesn’t require a login or plugin—it stores whatever you’ve typed into the lone sticky note in a browser cookie. Lean and lightweight, and pretty helpful. It’d be neat to see a multi-space remix of this site, though, with additional writing spaces and maybe other no-login features. Anyone with a knack for JavaScript up to the challenge? Sticky Screen is free to use, doesn’t require a sign-up. Sticking with iGoogle, but looking for sticky note features? Try the Web Stickies Mod. StickyScreen.org [via Digital Inspiration More »
Communicate
Touch-Screen Keyboard Shown In Android ‘Cupcake’ Video
10:00PM Kevin Purdy | A new video shows off the primary features of the all-touch-screen keyboard in the next update of Google’s Android mobile platform, code-named Cupcake. The video shows the touch-screen keyboard running on HTC/T-Mobile’s G1 handset, but other manufacturers are reportedly considering an all-touch handset to be run on Android. You’ll also see the newest updates to the G1’s capabilities, including video recording and, for the browser, inline finding and selective copy and paste. More »
Fix
Video MobileConverter Formats Flicks For Small Screen
9:00PM Kevin Purdy | Windows only: BitTorrent super-host The Pirate Bay claims its ViO MobileConverter tool reduces nearly any video’s size by 20 percent and converts it for mobile devices faster than anything else. Let’s see about that. More »
Communicate
3:59PM Angus Kidman | If wall-to-wall TV broadcasts of cricket over summer aren’t enough for you, Cricket Australia has the solution: its own YouTube channel for even more leather-and-willow goodness. The channel’s currently dominated by background information on current players and recent activities, but Cricket Australia is promising more archive footage in the future.
Crciket Australia @ YouTUbe
More »
Cricket Australia Launches YouTube Channel
3:59PM Angus Kidman | If wall-to-wall TV broadcasts of cricket over summer aren’t enough for you, Cricket Australia has the solution: its own YouTube channel for even more leather-and-willow goodness. The channel’s currently dominated by background information on current players and recent activities, but Cricket Australia is promising more archive footage in the future.
Crciket Australia @ YouTUbe
More »
Travel
2:00PM Angus Kidman | I know I have something of a bias against touch-screen phones, but even allowing for that, it has to be said: the BlackBerry Storm is not going to be any use to you at all if you hope to actually get some work done on the road. More »
BlackBerry Storm’s A Wet Blanket For Productivity-Minded Travellers
2:00PM Angus Kidman | I know I have something of a bias against touch-screen phones, but even allowing for that, it has to be said: the BlackBerry Storm is not going to be any use to you at all if you hope to actually get some work done on the road. More »
Design
12:00PM Angus Kidman | Microsoft’s official IEBlog points out one of the less obvious features of Internet Explorer 8’s most recent beta: the ability to use alternate style sheets, effectively enabling people to define their own approach to site layout. While it’s likely to be some time before this feature is widely supported, it’s worth remembering when you’re laying out your pixel-precise site design that user interference is likely to be more common in the future.
The CSS Corner: Alternate Style Sheets [IEBlog]
More »
Using IE8 For Alternate Style Sheets
12:00PM Angus Kidman | Microsoft’s official IEBlog points out one of the less obvious features of Internet Explorer 8’s most recent beta: the ability to use alternate style sheets, effectively enabling people to define their own approach to site layout. While it’s likely to be some time before this feature is widely supported, it’s worth remembering when you’re laying out your pixel-precise site design that user interference is likely to be more common in the future.
The CSS Corner: Alternate Style Sheets [IEBlog]
More » 