Splice together YouTube clips without downloading a single one using Omnisio, a free video compilation website with all the standard share/embed/reply features of modern web apps. The editing interface is decidedly simple—move the sliders to the start and ending parts of the clip you want, then choose the next video and do the same. For presentations with online access and web projects, it’s a pretty handy tool, but having the entirety of YouTube, Google Video and Blip.TV as your stock material might inspire more than a few would-be film splicers. Omnisio is free to use, and a sign-up lets you save and embed videos.
Whenever Windows XP or Vista run across a file type the system doesn’t recognise (regardless of whether you do or not), the user is prompted with either selecting a program to open it or to “Use the Web service to find the correct program”—which has yet to work even once, at least for me. The How-To Geek shows how to disable this prompt and head straight to the program selector, using a quick registry hack.
If you’re not naturally gregarious or ‘charming’, people skills can seem like things that other people have, not you. The Lifehack.org blog had an interesting article which talked about the things you can do to get better at building rapport with people.Some of them might seem quite obvious – smile at people, listen to them, use eye contact. But if you’re naturally shy or introverted, even these things might seem difficult to you. I guess the thing to remember is that people (yourself included!) are very tuned in to body language – we can spot a fraud, or a fake smile, a mile away. So if you’re trying to get over a habit like looking at your shoes instead of the person you’re talking to, by all means try some of the tactics mentioned, but remember that *a little goes a long way*. A lot of this boils down to how relaxed you are around other people. As you relax, you’ll be able to trust your own instincts more, and you won’t need to remind yourself to do things like smile or make eye contact. As a bonus, your relaxed body language will be apparent to other people and they’ll relax around you too.How to improve your rapport development [Lifehack.org] More »
So did you make it to work on time today? I don’t know why a concept as simple as daylight savings (“Spring forward, fall back!”) seems to confuse people each year. This year was a bit different, since daylight savings was extended for a week (it now starts 6 April) to try to bring the south-eastern states and the ACT in line with each other. The result? My Vista PC behaved itself just fine yesterday (the “old” switchover date), my mobile phone however cranked the clock forward by an hour, a week too early. More »
The Password Meter web utility tests the strength of your passwords as you type it, scoring your password strength based on a number of positive and negative password attributes. The test measures your password’s number of characters, type of characters used, and the order of your characters. (Sequential letters or numbers, for example, equals weak passwords). Toss your favourite high-security password into this tool—you may be surprised at how you did.
Google has launched some cool metrics tools for YouTube which are available to anyone with a YouTube account. YouTube Insight will give you information about how often a video is viewed in different geographic locations, and compare its popularity to all videos in that region over a given period of time.You can also track video performance over time – for example how long it takes for a video to become popular.You can find currently available metrics by clicking under the “About this Video” button under My account > Videos, Favorites, Playlists > Manage my Videos.
Insight into YouTube videos [Official Google Blog] More »
Evan Meagher’s written an interesting overview of the “advanced desktop effects” built into Ubuntu 7.10. He talks through virtual desktops, ADD Helper, Scale and Focus Desktop, but saves the biggest kudos for Gnome-Do.Gnome-Do is for Gnome/Ubuntu what Quicksilver is for OS X – an app which lets you do a large number of things such as open apps, URLs, bookmarks or folders just by typing their name and hitting enter:
“With the right set of plugins, you can start chats in Pidgin by typing in contact’s names, play music without having to actually interact with your media player, search the web, or put your computer to sleep, just to name a few. You can tie Compiz Animation to it too, just to make it even more cool-looking.“
Got any personal Ubuntu productivity favourites to share? Leave them in comments please!Full-throttle Productivity and Web-Work with Ubuntu [Anywired] More »
Say what you like about Australia’s broadband market, one thing it never is is boring. Last week WA-based ISP Eftel announced it was bringing VDSL2+ to market – a tech which theoretically offers speeds of up to 100MBps. PCA had the story – and the next day none other than Simon Hackett, owner and MD of SA-based ISP Internode had chimed in on the comments page saying that with where Australian regulators are up to with VDSL2 “at this point it simply isn’t legal to turn that mode on.” So I’m guessing 100MBps is a while off then? More »
We’ve previously walked you through how to import old emails from other clients to Gmail using IMAP, or you can do it using POP. However you imported your old mail,Olivier Beyssac at the Official Google blog suggests a few tweaks to give you more options for searching or creating email from your old accounts. The Google support page runs you through how to set up Mail Fetcher. The last step is “Add Account”. At this point: * label incoming mail “imported” so it’s easier to search for later if you need to * once you’ve validated the new account, select “Yes, I want to be able to send mail as yourname@gmail.com.”
Olivier says this will let you use the “from:me” search in Gmail to look for email you sent using any name or address – so you can find everything you sent from all your old addresses and aliases.
If you still want to send mail through Gmail which looks like it’s from your old email address you can set up a custom “From:” so that you can select this address in the “From” field when creating an email or reply in Gmail.
* go to Settings > Accounts > Send mail as: > Add another email address. * Click on “Next Step” and then “Send Verification.” You’ll receive an email with instructions on how to validate your old address. * Once it’s set up, you can select this address in the “From” field when creating a message or reply by clicking “change” next to your address in the From field.Tips for importing old email to Gmail [Official Google blog] More »
Sick of dealing with wallets that get a bit, well, funky when they’re wet? Looking for something a bit sturdier but still stylish? Instructables has an easy-to-follow guide to turning a sturdy plastic shopping bag into a wallet, using only a few needles stitches and a piece of double-sided tape. For those who get nylon wallet envy but don’t want to swing the cash for one, it’s a pretty unique solution, and a guaranteed conversation-starter. Shopping Bag Wellet [Instructables]
