Thursday, January 10, 2008
Steal this
4:11PM Sarah Stokely | Security guru Bruce Schneier, who’ll be keynoting at Linux.conf.au in Melbourne later this month, has penned an opinion piece for Wired on why he leaves his home Wi-Fi network unlocked. Under the heading “Steal this Wi-Fi” he says he considers sharing access to his internet is basic politeness: “Providing internet access to guests is
kind of like providing heat and electricity, or a hot cup of tea.” We love the sentiment Bruce, but in Australia at least we have download caps and excess use charges to consider too. More » 
Quickly check if your system can run a PC game
3:49PM Sarah Stokely | PC gamers will appreciate Can You Run it, an online tool which checks your system spec against a list of popular and new release games to see if your computer can play them. Note that it does require you to download an Active X or Java plugin to work. The test runs quickly and shows you the results in an easy to read format – spelling out both what componentry you have and what the minimum requirement is for the game you’ve asked about. It also shows you the optimal or “Recommended” specs for the game – my system got the all clear for the minimum requirements for playing Bioshock, but when I clicked into the “Recommended” specs it warned me my video RAM wasn’t up to snuff – Bioshock recommends 512MB of RAM, and I have a measly 256MB. Oh the shame.I also liked the fact that the results page also prompts you to the vendor’s download page if you need to update your driver. More » 
Automatically Remove Ads from Recorded TV with Lifextender
3:40PM Adam Pash | Windows Vista only: Free, open source Vista application and Media Center plugin Lifextender removes commercials from Windows Media Center-recorded TV shows, cutting the average 30 minute show down to around 22 minutes. Lifextender scans the directory your Media Center records to, analyzes, and re-cuts the videos one at a time, then replaces the original file with the new, commercial-free one. Not only will it save you time, it’ll also save you hard drive space. If you’re using Vista’s Media Center to record TV, this is a must-have (it even works with extenders like your Xbox 360). If you aren’t using your Vista PC as a media center, maybe it’s time you turn it into the media center powerhouse it’s meant to be. Lifextender [via Inspect My Gadget] More »
Gmail Mobile for Google Apps
3:40PM Gina Trapani | Not sure how we missed this last month, but a new release of Gmail’s Mobile App that works with Google Apps (For Your Domain) accounts is now available for your Java-enabled mobile phone. Just browse to m.google.com/a on your mobile phone and download “Mail by Google.” The icon is a blue envelope (instead of the regular Gmail Mobile red icon) and it’s labeled “Mail by Google.” You log in using your name@yourdomain.com address. You can have both Gmail Mobile and Mail by Google installed on the same phone, and it works on Symbian and other Java-enabled handsets like my Nokia 6682. Check out our screenshot tour of the Gmail Mobile 1.5 app to get a taste of Gmail Mobile 1.5. The Mail by Google mobile app is a free download direct to your handset. Gmail Mobile Application, Now Available for Google Apps [Google Operating System via Web Worker Daily] More »
Customize Visible System Tray Applications
3:30PM Adam Pash | Windows tip: Weblog gHacks details how to customize your system tray to selectively show and hide system tray apps Right-click the start menu button and select Properties. Uncheck Hide Inactive Icons to display all icons. You could alternatively click on customize and select items that you always want to see. If you prefer the behaviour as is, this isn’t for you, but if you get irritated by the often-flaky behavior of that little arrow, this might be just the tweak you’ve been looking for. Five Quick Windows Tips [gHacks] More »Gates
3:30PM Gina Trapani | In a video interview, Bill Gates admits to Gizmodo that Vista needed more polish before it shipped (well, in a roundabout way). Gotta respect the guy for the honesty. More »
BitNami Installer for MediaWiki and More
3:30PM Gina Trapani | Windows/Mac/Linux: After all that trouble of writing up a step by step tutorial on how to install the software that powers Wikipedia on your home computer, and someone goes ahead and builds a simple click-click-click installer. The BitNami project offers executable installers for lots of open source webapps, from MediaWiki (of Wikipedia) to Drupal to WordPress. Download the installer for the app you want on your computer, and in a few clicks you’ll have it up and running—no configuration file editing or installing MySQL, PHPmyadmin, and Apache separately required. Sweet. All BitNami installers are free, and most seem to be offered for Windows, Mac and Linux. Thanks, RIDRU! MediaWiki [BitNami] More »
Lifehacker Australia’s guide to keeping your cool at work this summer
3:20PM Sarah Stokely | As the temperature shoots up to 40 degrees and above, most of us are melting in our shoes and dreaming of escaping to the Antarctic for a few days. If you can afford to do that, go for it.But if you’re like most of us and stuck in the office through the summer, here’s a guide to beating the heat and keeping your cool. Read on for Lifehacker’s tips to choosing summer-friendly clothing and shoes, how to survive commuting hell, and how to stay cool in the office. More » Avoid being duped by a shonky domain registrar
2:27PM Sarah Stokely | If you’re on the lookout for a new domain name, here’s a trap to look out for. When checking domain availability via a registrar, ensure you’re using a site you trust. Most domain registrars have a tool on their website which lets you search for available domain names (for example, Network Solutions WHOIS Search).
But you may want to careful when you use WHOIS services – and here’s why. Some domain registrars have been known to immediately register a site (for a period of a few days) when you query a .com domain for availability through their website – thus preventing you from registering it via any other registrar.
While operators doing this may claim they are doing it to stop someone else grabbing the domain while you’re completing the shopping cart process, it’s effectively a lockin, and it looks like it’s against ICANN’s registrar agreement too.
ICANN’s registrar agreement says:
3.7.4 Registrar shall not activate any Registered Name unless and until it is satisfied that it has received a reasonable assurance of payment of its registration fee. For this purpose, a charge to a credit card, general commercial terms extended to creditworthy customers, or other mechanism providing a similar level of assurance of payment shall be sufficient, provided that the obligation to pay becomes final and non-revocable by the Registered Name Holder upon activation of the registration.
Thanks for the tip, Andrew!
More » Neuros OSD
2:26PM Sarah Stokely | Open Source isn’t just about software, and it’s nice to see an open
source hardware product getting publicity somewhere as mainstream as
the New York Times. They’ve written up the Neuros OSD,
an open source video recorder. With a “Hackers, welcome!” message on
their website, the makers of this hardware recording device have based
it on Linux and made all the hardware documentation available, hoping
to harness the OS community to drive development and improvement in the
product. Smart stuff. [via O'Reilly Radar] More » 