How To Find And Get Involved With A Hackerspace 
What Are The Hourly Rates For IT Contractors? 
What Do You Do With Your Gadgets When You Move Overseas? 
The Lifehacker Total Security Guide 
Spotify And Its Rivals: Subscription Music Services In Australia Compared 
The Stupid Things You Do On Facebook (And How To Fix Them) Video web site Videojug details how to install “invisible” bookshelves that make your books appear to be floating on nothing. The tutorial requires one large book you’re willing to sacrifice, an L-bracket, and a few other common supplies. We’ve covered the invisible bookshelf once before, but the video provides a much more detailed account of the process (despite the unnaturally loud narration). Like the original, it’s just as good and a lot cheaper than the commercial version. Looking for other inventive ways to sacrifice books? Try the iPod carrier or secret hollow book. [via Home Rejuvenation]
Reader Rob P. uses Firefox quick search bookmark to see if web servers aren’t reachable. He says: Add this as a Bookmark in Firefox: http://network-tools.com/default.asp?prog=ping&host=%s I have its keyword as “ping” … so all I have to do is type ping google.com in the address bar.
The advantage of pinging a server using a webapp versus from your own command line is that you can see whether or not your network connection is the problem. This looks like a good alternative to sites like DownForEveryoneOrJustMe.com, though a bit more geared towards networking geeks. Thanks, Rob P.!
Mac OS X only: Freeware application Breakaway automatically pauses and resumes your iTunes music when you unplug or plug in your headphones, perfect for using your laptop in public places. Not only will the auto-pause prevent you from blaring music to everyone around you if you accidentally unplug your headphones, but you also won’t miss a beat if you step away with your headphones and then come back and plug in. Breakaway is freeware, Mac OS X only. Breakaway [via Cool OSX Apps]
The Austin American-Statesman interviews Gina about how Lifehacker was born, being nice on the internet, and fear and worship of tech. (Thanks for making us look so good, Sarah!)
Following up on last week’s guide to creating a shortcut to Windows’ Safely Remove Hardware dialog, the How-To Geek weblog details how to set up a shortcut or hotkey to immediately eject a specific USB drive, particularly handy if you typically only use one USB drive on your computer. The guide uses previously mentioned app USB Disk Ejector in conjunction with its command line options to create simple shortcuts for specific drive ejection. When you’re finished, you should be able to instantly eject any drive with a couple of quick keystrokes without clicking through menus. These shortcuts would be perfect to index with Launchy for quick access. Create a Shortcut or Hotkey to Immediately Eject a Specific USB Drive [the How-To Geek]
More devices in your living room have Ethernet ports than ever before, but you can’t plug them into the network if your router’s in the other room. When your Wi-Fi access point is in the home office but your TiVo, Xbox, and media centre are screaming for network love under your TV in the living room, you want a wireless bridge (also known as an Ethernet converter). A wireless bridge catches your home network’s Wi-Fi signal and provides ports where you can plug in wired devices near it. Let’s take a look at how to wire up your living room using a wireless bridge.
Yesterday when we asked you what your favourite Windows firewall software is, we got back tons of responses, from ZoneAlarm to Sygate from free to commercial. Now we want to narrow down the choices to the best. All those who take your Windows PC out onto open networks and protect it from network baddies on the cheap, vote for your favourite free Windows firewall software after the jump.
CNET blogger Dennis O’Reilly is using Google Docs to manage his NCAA basketball pool; the bracket spreadsheet he put together is public and free for anyone to copy and use.
Dear Lifehacker, I’m trying to make a keyword search bookmark for Lifehacker.com in Firefox, but it’s not working. In the address bar, I can type http://lifehacker.com/search/myterm/ and it’ll search for “myterm” but when I make a quick search bookmark for this, using http://lifehacker.com/search/%s/, I get a “Bad Request” error since Firefox doesn’t replace the %s with the actual search term. All my other keyword search bookmarks work great. Am I doing something wrong? Signed, Desperately Seeking Quick Search
Forgot to wear green today, little leprechaun? Dress up your computer desktop instead with a few St. Patrick’s Day screensavers and games.
AU – aww, too late for those of us in the advanced southern hemisphere! ;)
