Monday, June 9, 2008

Close Multiple Growl Notifications with an Option-Click

11:00PM Kevin Purdy | The Tech-Recipes tips blog points out a handy shortcut that some users of the super-handy Growl Mac OS X notification tool might not know. Rather than closing every individual notification that piles up while you’re away from your desktop (assuming you’ve configured Growl to leave notifications on the desktop), you can simply option-click on any individual “close” (x) icon to wipe them all away. Good for quickly getting back to work after a quick browse of your Growl notices. Growl: Close Multiple Notifications with One Click [Tech-Recipes.com] More »

Teach your Eee’s OpenOffice to spell in Australian

10:18PM Angus Kidman | OpenOffice offers a fine word processor for users of the ever-popular Eee PC, but sadly the default shipping OS doesn’t offer any spell checker at all, let alone an Australian one. Fix that problem by following these steps. More »

Upgrade Your Life: The winners have been decided

9:55PM Angus Kidman | Thanks to everyone who entered our Upgrade Your Life competition and submitted tips for a chance to win an autographed copy of the Upgrade Your Life book by Lifehacker supremo Gina Trapani. We’ve sorted through the winners and picked out three winners, whose tips will be published on the site this week. Keep your eyes peeled for them! More »

Friends Reunited goes the free route

9:50PM Angus Kidman | FriendsReunited.com.au (which gained prominence as schoolfriends.com.au, for those of you with long memories) had a burst of popularity early in the millennium as a means of tracking down old school mates, but has been overtaken as a networking medium by its Web 2.0 successors, most notably Facebook. No surprise then that the site has taken a different tack recently, dropping its annual fee (which used to block access to email addresses). I’m not sure this in itself will curb my Facebook addiction, but it is nice to have more choices. Which social network do you find most useful for tracking down old Aussie school friends? Let us know in the comments. More »

Need an emergency toothpick? Grab a business card

9:37PM Angus Kidman | There’s few things more annoying than the feeling of random food stuck in your teeth and no way of removing it. If you’re in this fix and can’t get a toothpick, here’s a potential substitute: a business card. The card should be fine enough to slide between your teeth in an emergency, solid enough not to disintegrate, and if it’s your own card you know where it’s been. (For hopefully obvious reasons of taste, this tip is not illustrated.) More »

What Do You Want to Hear from Apple Tomorrow?

3:21PM Gina Trapani | Tomorrow morning at 10AM US Pacific time, some guy named Steve Something from some company called Orange—no, Apple—will make some kind of announcement probably involving some phone, and maybe some computer operating system. We’re not going to be there when all this happens, but we will be picking out the good parts reported by all the poor schlubs competing for not-blurry pictures and Wi-Fi connectivity who are. Rumours abound for what Apple news the Stevenote might reveal tomorrow—what are you hoping to hear? Tell us in the comments. More »

Get Rid Of Ants Without An Exterminator

1:00PM Lifehacker US Edition | Has warm weather brought a plague of ants down upon your home? We’ve talked about deterring ants with baby powder, but frugal blog fivecentnickel.com shares the following more aggressive method: First, pick up some boric acid powder (available at most chemists) and mix a small amount of it 50:50 with table sugar. There’s nothing particularly scientific about this ratio, so it’s fine to just eyeball it. Next, put some of this mix into a small container such as the the cap from a milk jug or the lid from a 2 liter bottle. Finally, drizzle some water into it to make a slurry (i.e., a thick suspension). That’s it — you’re now ready to kill some ants. Some ants feed off fats and grease instead of sweets, so you can make this mixture with peanut butter instead of sugar should the first round of ant warfare prove ineffective. Have ant woes of your own this summer? Tell us how you prevailed! Photo by Jimmy Joe. How to Get Rid of Ants Safely and Without an Exterminator [fivecentnickel.com via Parent Hacks] More »

Take Better Group Photos with a Ten-Second Race

12:00PM Kevin Purdy | The SundryBuzz blog offers up some key advice on taking group photos that aren’t boring, both for the participants and in the final result. As long as everyone in group is able to move about, place your subjects behind a digital camera, or put the camera facing up at a distance. Trigger a 10-second timer, wait a few seconds, then have everybody race to get into the frame. You’ll likely genuine smiles and enthusiasm, rather than faces strained from trying not to blink. For group photos of the more low-key variety, check out these helpful tips. Photo by jon gos. Two Tricks for Taking Good Group Photos [SundryBuzz via Photojojo] More »

IETester Renders Sites like Internet Explorer 5.5 Through 8

10:00AM Adam Pash | Windows only: Freeware web browser IETester renders websites in IE 5.5, 6, 7, and even 8 beta 1 for testing purposes. This is more of a tool for the folks out there building web sites, but if you want a bit more robust method of testing your designs against different IE browsers without using websites like previously mentioned NetRenderer or BrowserShots, IETester looks like a winner. IETester is freeware, Windows only, requires IE 7. IETester [via Web Worker Daily] More »

Make a Chalkboard Paint Wall Mural

9:00AM Gina Trapani | You’ve already seen how to make a giant wall calendar using two shades of chalkboard paint; now Real Simple magazine suggests making a wall mural for the kids’ room with chalkboard paint. Make huge (easy to paint) shapes so the kids can chalk in details on their own. Create a Wall Mural with Chalkboard Paint [Real Simple] More »