Thursday, May 8, 2008
Visigami Image Search Results Screensaver
11:30PM Gina Trapani | Mac OS X only: When you need a little break from regular web surfing and want some random images pulled from the internets to give you a little creative jolt, you want Visigami, a search-based photo screensaver. Tap a keyword into Visigami (may I suggest “puppy”?) and watch it zoom and pan image results from Flickr, Google Images, or Picasa and send them flying across your screen in one of three random effects. Control the zoom, spacing, and speed of the ’saver movement, and sit back and enjoy the spectacle. While Visigami is more eye candy than anything else, it’s a neat way to enjoy a montage of photos associated with your search term. Visigami is a free download for Mac only. Visigami [Google Code via The Official Google Mac Blog] More »
Keep Tabs on Your Web Presence with Addict-O-Matic
11:00PM Kevin Purdy | Let’s face facts—you’re probably Googling yourself on a regular basis, whether for pure ego satisfaction or monitoring of your professional image online. New search aggregator Addict-O-Matic just happens to be great for seeing how you “look” online, as it focuses on returning results from the top social networking sites, Web 2.0 services, and blog-watching services. Of course, it’s also a great tool for monitoring a topic or another person across the web’s wide expanse, but once you add Addict-O-Matic to your Firefox search bar options or just as a bookmark, you know you’ll be heading back to satisfy your online-mirror-checking fix. Addict-O-Matic [via Geeks Are Sexy] More »
MagToo Stitches Panoramas Together Online for Sharing
10:35PM Kevin Purdy | Looking for an easy way to stitch together a cluster of photos you took of that great vacation scene? MagToo, a free online panorma-sharing service, offers a free online tool to create 360-degree panoramas (or more simple wide-angle stitches) and share them from a flash applet on its site or embedded on another. As the Digital Inspiration blog points out, you have to use Internet Explorer 7 to create the panoramas in MagToo’s ActiveX app, but the Flash-based viewers can be seen in any browser. For a guide to creating high-quality stitches yourself, check out our guide to panorama-stitching with free software. MagToo [via Digital Inspiration] More »
OpenOffice 3.0 Beta Now Available, Adds Native OS X Support
10:00PM Kevin Purdy | Windows/Mac/Linux (all platforms): OpenOffice.org, the free office application suite, has released a beta of its 3.0 version to the public with a few key features rolled in. The biggest update is native support for Mac OS X platforms, meaning no need to install X11 packages on older Macs or switch to NeoOffice for a smoother experience (although NeoOffice plans to release a 3.0 of its own, so stay tuned). OpenOffice also adds built-in conversion filters for Office 2007/Mac Office 2008 files, a new “solver” function for spreadsheets, enhanced notes and viewing options in Writer, and other enticements for those willing to risk a few bugs. OpenOffice.org 3.0 beta is a free download for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux systems. OpenOffice.org 3.0 beta More »
See Lifehacker Posts on Eastern Time
9:00PM Gina Trapani | US-centric: Firefox with Greasemonkey only: Two of the Lifehacker editors may reside on the West coast of the US, but a lot of the US readers are on Eastern time, and that means you’d probably like to see our posts timestamped that way. Now you can—with a Greasemonkey user script I just threw together. With Greasemonkey installed, using Firefox, install the Lifehacker on Eastern Time user script. More »How do you control your computer gaming time?
2:33PM Sarah Stokely | The hype around the release of the new GTA game got me thinking about how to maintain your work/life/gaming balance in the face of a shiny new game. :)My tips are:
link your gaming time to a productivity goal (ie as a reward for completing a task)
if you fear you’re not getting enough exercise, make your gaming and exercise time a 1:1 ratio – ie exercise for an hour to earn an hour of gaming time
particularly if you play group-oriented games like World of Warcraft, reduce your time commitment – ie if your guild expects you to raid 3-5 times a week, but you decide you don’t want to commit that much time to the game, you need to tell your guild you can’t commit to that much time in-game anymore. You may need to drop down to casual status in your guild, or even leave your guild to achieve this.
break the habit. Just as you can mindlessly waste time online by switching the computer on whenever you have some spare time, gaming can become a major time suck if you log in automatically first thing in the morning, or as soon as you get home in the evening. Break that habit, and you’ll probably end up playing less (and enjoying it more when you do).
Got any other tips for keeping your game time under control? Share in comments please. More » 101 Things to do with old technology
2:17PM Sarah Stokely | Here’s a competition which looks right up Lifehacker’s alley. As part of a honours course at Swinburne uni, a group of students are creating a book called “101 things to do with ‘old’ technology” and they’re running a competition to get ideas from the public.
Get creative and make us your own little sketch of what you’d do with an “old grey box”. You can be as serious, as funny, or as strange as you like with your entries. All entries will be published in the book for our Swinburne University Honours project, and your name will be published with it too, if you wish.
Entries are in the form of black and white line drawings – head on over to the post at Melbourne Maniacs for further details on how to enter. Entries close on May 26.
Competition: 101 Things to do with Old Technology [Melbourne Maniacs] More » Plan a historical treasure hunt for your kids
1:59PM Sarah Stokely | The Geekdad blog shares a wonderful idea for a fun activity to do with your geeklet – create a treasure hunt for them – complete with a home made treasure map. There are two lovely examples in the post which draw on local history – one of a pirate treasure hunt, the other steeped in wild west history.Key ingredients are an old looking map (parchment paper works well, singe the edges with a candle or lighter), an antique-looking chest or box, and some ‘treasure’ related to the story.If you want to teach your geekling local history or how to navigate with a compass, this could be a very fun way to do it. :)
Treasure Hunting with Kids [Geekdad] More » 
Click your home into party mode at the push of a button
1:49PM Sarah Stokely | Some folks opt for a home theatre, but in this case, a home entertainment geek opted to wire up his party space so that at the touch of the big red “Emergency Party Button”, the lights are dimmed, the party lights come on, the dried ice machine kicks in, and the music starts. Awesome home automation job (we’ll overlook the dodgy choice of music). :)
The creator kindly put up a website detailing the equipment used, how it was put together and the cost of materials ($US634).
Emergency Party Button [via Make] More » 
Next gen Eee PC with XP cheaper than with Linux!
1:34PM Sarah Stokely | The second generation of the geek friendly ASUS Eee PC mini-laptop will hit Australian shelves this month, but Linux lovers are set for a double blow – not only has the price gone up by $150 dollars to $RRP649, but the XP version of the Eee is actually cheaper!APC had the rundown on this strange state of affairs – pointing out that the Eee PC 900 loaded with XP will cost only $599, which means that even with the Windows XP license, it’s $50 cheaper than the Linux version. The Linux version gets 20GB of storage to compensate, in comparison to the 12GB in the XP version. But still, rather odd.I’d been hanging out for the 2nd gen Eee because they’ve kept the same small form factor but increased the screen real estate by about an inch to 8.9 inches by moving the speakers away from the sides of the screen. But I have to admit, I’m wondering whether I should snap up a $500 first gen unit rather than ponying up for the 900. Here’s our original review of the first Eee PC – it rocked our socks. :)Got an opinion on whether the new Eee will be worth the extra $150 – or whether to go for the cheaper XP version? Let us know in comments.
EDIT: It seems I fail at basic subtraction – the XP version of the Eee 900 is $50 cheaper than the Linux version, not $150 as I originally wrote. Apologies! More » 
