Friday, November 28, 2008

Erase Your Browsing Tracks By Editing Your Index.dat Files

9:00AM Jason Fitzpatrick | Windows only: Index.dat Suite is an index file editor that allows you to selectively edit or completely erase the contents of index.dat files on your computer. Why edit the index.dat? When you browse the web, your computer leaves more traces behind than just the cookies and history file. Erasing your browser history and cookies from within Internet Explorer still leaves behind the index.dat file hidden away. On top of retaining an extensive list of the sites you have visited, it can also expose plain text passwords. Index.dat Suite is a free application that lets you examine the contents of index.dat files in a human friendly format and selectively export and erase the entries you find. For additional help sweeping your virtual trail clean, check out

Window Markers Help You Identify Party Glasses

6:00AM Jason Fitzpatrick | Next time you throw a party use markers intended for window art to mark up the glasses. Dry-erase markers wipe off too easy, glass charms only work on glasses with stems and then you have to remember which charm was on your glass, and if you’re throwing a classy party with real glassware busting out the permanent markers is a no-no. There has to be an easy way to remember whose glass is whose. We talked about how handy it was to leave notes on the bathroom mirror with window markers back in 2006, but they came up with a clever new use over at the blog ParentHacks. Have guests write their names/doodle on their glasses with washable window markers. They are permanent enough to withstand some pawing during the party but wash right off after a trip through the dishwasher. For more marker tricks check out more uses for dry-erase markers and how to remove permanent marker from any surface. Use Window Markers to Identify Party Drink Glasses [Parent Hacks] More »

Top 10 Ways To Repurpose Your Old iPod

2:00AM Kevin Purdy | You just got a new iPod or other music player over the holidays, and your older iPod looks like eBay fodder. Here are at least 10 reasons to re-consider its worthiness. More »

Play Your Favourite Old-School Games In Emulation

1:00AM Jason Fitzpatrick | Reward yourself for surviving another holiday with some old-school game playing. Skyler over at SimpleHelp has put together a guide on emulating every Nintendo game system on a Windows-based machine. Whether you are craving some truly old-school NES play or newer N64-goodness, the guide has you covered. If you’re a glutton for punishment you can even grab an emulator for the Nintendo Virtual Boy and relive the weirdness of that system all over again. For other ways to enjoy old NES games check out FireNES to play over 2000 games in Firefox. Photo by Hamish Duncan. How to Emulate Every Nintendo System in Windows [SimpleHelp] More »

Five Things To Do This Weekend

4:30PM Angus Kidman | When you’re not busy overloading on Christmas shopping and chilling out, spend some quality time with your PC and try out these tips from the past week: Make yourself an iPhone dock out of cardboard (or jailbreak your new 2.2 firmware if you don’t feel like messing with cardboard) Annoyed by Google’s new SearchWiki buttons? Get rid of them! Tweak your system and pretend you’re running Windows 7 Check out some web sites to help sort the pre-Christmas finances Curl up and read a free ebook More »

Run Quake 3 On Your Nokia Phone

3:00PM Angus Kidman | Decoder details how you can go about installing classing first-person shooter Quake 3 Arena on your Nokia phone (supported models include the N82, the E80 and 8Gb versions of the N95). The installation process sounds fiddly, and the lack of sufficient input mechanisms on the phones themselves means you need to use a Bluetooth keyboard to actually play, but the post still sums it up pretty well: “Who would have thought that a game that I shelled out hundreds of dollars for a graphics card to run it on back in the day, would be ported to a mobile phone with full multiplayer, keyboard and mouse support?” Play Quake 3 Arena on Nokia N95 8GB, N82 & E90 [Decoder] More »

GetUp Launches Campaign Against Clean Feed

1:30PM Angus Kidman | Concerned about the proposal to impose clean feed Internet on all Australians? Activist group GetUp has launched a ‘Save The Net’ campaign to help citizens protest against the plan, including an email petition and a useful factsheet on why the plan is so deeply, deeply flawed. More »

Best iPhone Apps For Australians

12:00PM Angus Kidman | Danny Gorog at APC has picked out ten of the best Australian-developed applications for iPhone owners. There’s a useful emphasis on local information, with applications for travel information, weather and postcodes. We’d have thought there could have been a shout-out for perennial favourite Remember The Milk, but regardless there’s lots of stuff here you’ll want to be adding to your iPhone. Ten apps for Aussie iPhone users [APC] More »

DIY IKEA Salad Bowl Speaker Enclosures

10:30AM Angus Kidman | Round speaker enclosures look great but often cost a fortune. Hacker Roberto got the same effect for much less money by taking a set of IKEA Blanda Matt bowls and gluing them together to build the enclosure — a trick you could replicate with any reasonably constructed salad bowl. For another take on DIY speakers, check out how to make speakers from paper cups and earbuds. HiFi Wigwam [via IKEA Hacker] More »

What’s Cheap In The Apple Store Sale

7:49AM Angus Kidman | Apple’s Black Friday sale predictably offers the biggest discounts on the most expensive items: $161 off a 13-inch MacBook. The entertainment options has some OK but not astonishing deals ($11 off the iPod Nano, $21 off the iPod Classic, iPod Touch or iPod TV), though there’s some bigger savings on speakers. Use the spare cash to buy your annoying cousin an iTunes voucher. Apple Store AU More »