Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Organise
Total Commander Pocket Reins in Your Mobile Files
11:30PM Lifehacker US Edition | Windows Mobile/CE/Smart phones: Wrangle files on your handheld with the portable version of popular Explorer replacement Total Commander. Bringing the increased functionality to Windows Mobile devices and smart phones that it brought to desktop users, Total Commander makes manipulating your files and directory structures on smaller devices a breeze. Zip and unzip files, edit the registry, view files in single pane, dual pane, or tree views, and even FTP and browse your LAN all from within Total Commander. Unlike its bigger desktop brother, Total Commander for mobile devices is a free download. Total Commander Pocket Version [Ghisler Software] More »
Communicate
Ira Glass on Getting Creative Work Done
11:00PM Kevin Purdy | Ira Glass, host of National Public Radio’s This American Life, knows a thing or two about turning the creative process into a polished, finished product—but he also remembers turning out work he didn’t necessarily want to put his stamp on. This video, part of an interview series on story telling, features some great advice about working through those first few attempts—or even years—where your product doesn’t quite meet your standards, as well as Glass pulling out some honestly awkward examples from his own portfolio. You can find the rest of Glass’ interview at YouTube user kentj1’s channel. Ira Glass on Storytelling #3 [via 43 Folders] More »
Fix
about:crashes Shows You Every Submitted Firefox Crash
10:30PM Kevin Purdy | From the files of the Maybe New To You Dept.: While Firefox 3 should be a bit less crash-prone than its predecessor, it isn’t bulletproof. Type about:crashes into Firefox’s address bar, and you can see a list of your browser crashes, when they happened, and click on them to get details of what happened. Some of the reasons and reports might not be in plain English, but a little copy/paste-to-Google could help diagnose your problems. This will only list the crashes after which you clicked “Submit” on the resulting pop-up, so you might want to think twice before hitting “cancel” after your next sudden failure. about:crashes – An Answer To Why Firefox Crashed [Daily Gyan] More »
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PassPack Enables Offline Password Management with Gears
10:00PM Kevin Purdy | Windows/Mac/Linux (Firefox or IE7): PassPack, an online manager for both your computer and web site passwords we’ve previously mentioned, has created an offline version using Google’s Gears add-on. That alone makes PassPack a more useful tool, but you can also download PassPack onto multiple computers, online or off, and sync your password management between them all (assuming the offline computers can make a one-time connection). As Adam noted, the site goes a long way to explain its encryption and privacy measures; if that sounds kosher to you, its offline version makes PassPack much more helpful. Fans of Adobe Air apps should check out PassPack’s “Desktop” AIR app. PassPack’s offline version requires Google Gears, which runs on Firefox and Internet Explorer; hit the link below for installation instructions. PassPack—Offline Version [via WebWare] More »
Communicate
Get Productive with Social Media (and Stay Sane)
9:00PM Lifehacker US Edition | Editor: We asked self-described social media junkie Steve Rubel for his tips on how to participate in online social sites like Twitter and FriendFeed without losing your entire workday. Here’s what he said. Social media is the equivalent of digital food. It’s nourishing, tasty and, for many of us, necessary. However, consume too much and you can get sidetracked and create larger consequences. The good news is you can participate in social media in a way that adds value to your life. You just need to know how to manage it so so that it does not devour your attention—the most valuable commodity of the digital age. Here are three simple steps I take. More »
Work
6:11PM Angus Kidman | If you regularly have to reinstall Vista on machines, you’ll appreciate that the arrival of Service Pack 1 is, despite its performance benefits, a nuisance in terms of how much time is needed to build a fresh system. James Bannan at APC offers a walk-through on how to simplify the process using freeware tool Vista Update Integrator to build an install DVD that integrates SP1 (and other routine drivers if you need to add them). This isn’t a procedure for the faint of heart, and it’s undoubtedly overkill for people who only rebuild their machine once a year, but if you’re a regular reinstaller, it could be a real boon.HOW TO: slipstream Vista SP1 into your Vista install DVD [APC]
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Adding SP1 to your Vista install disc
6:11PM Angus Kidman | If you regularly have to reinstall Vista on machines, you’ll appreciate that the arrival of Service Pack 1 is, despite its performance benefits, a nuisance in terms of how much time is needed to build a fresh system. James Bannan at APC offers a walk-through on how to simplify the process using freeware tool Vista Update Integrator to build an install DVD that integrates SP1 (and other routine drivers if you need to add them). This isn’t a procedure for the faint of heart, and it’s undoubtedly overkill for people who only rebuild their machine once a year, but if you’re a regular reinstaller, it could be a real boon.HOW TO: slipstream Vista SP1 into your Vista install DVD [APC]
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Communicate
5:59PM Angus Kidman | Voracious book lover but find it difficult to get to the local library? Australian book rental site Slim Ink could solve your reading woes. Like previously mentioned US-only service BookSwim, Slim Ink takes the DVD rent-by-post concept popularised by NetFlix and applies it to books, sending out titles you select along with a post-paid envelope to swap when you’re ready. Plans range from $14 a month for a single book to $60 a month for a dozen out at a time. While the range isn’t gigantic (and there’s no download option), this is a good solution for people who can’t access existing libraries (because of location or work hours) and don’t want to build a collection of their own. If you’ve tried it out, let us know your experiences in the comments. [Slim Ink]
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Slim Ink posts books to your door
5:59PM Angus Kidman | Voracious book lover but find it difficult to get to the local library? Australian book rental site Slim Ink could solve your reading woes. Like previously mentioned US-only service BookSwim, Slim Ink takes the DVD rent-by-post concept popularised by NetFlix and applies it to books, sending out titles you select along with a post-paid envelope to swap when you’re ready. Plans range from $14 a month for a single book to $60 a month for a dozen out at a time. While the range isn’t gigantic (and there’s no download option), this is a good solution for people who can’t access existing libraries (because of location or work hours) and don’t want to build a collection of their own. If you’ve tried it out, let us know your experiences in the comments. [Slim Ink]
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Organise
11:23AM Angus Kidman | Venerable URL shortening service TinyURL has caught up with its rivals by adding a feature allowing you to define your own short names (or as it calls them, custom aliases), rather than just accepting the supplied random stream of characters. Most of the obvious choices have already been grabbed, but it’s worth a try if you have a particular abbreviation in mind and a long site address to deal with. Some points to bear in mind: you can’t associate a given URL with more than one abbreviation, and for short site names the abbreviated version might not end up much shorter.
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TinyURL adds custom shortcuts
11:23AM Angus Kidman | Venerable URL shortening service TinyURL has caught up with its rivals by adding a feature allowing you to define your own short names (or as it calls them, custom aliases), rather than just accepting the supplied random stream of characters. Most of the obvious choices have already been grabbed, but it’s worth a try if you have a particular abbreviation in mind and a long site address to deal with. Some points to bear in mind: you can’t associate a given URL with more than one abbreviation, and for short site names the abbreviated version might not end up much shorter.
More »
Organise
10:21AM Angus Kidman | Lifehacker reader Shannon wrote in with this “obvious once you’ve thought of it but always worth remembering” tip for backing up your email service:
Instead of using other software to back up your emails, why not let your existing email provider and Gmail do it for you? Just set up a Gmail account and call it something useful (maybe [your family name]emailbackup@gmail.com). Then configure your existing email provider to automatically forward a copy of every email you receive to this address. Most ISPs allow this functionality now — it is usually in the account control panel somewhere under the ‘email setup’ section. Send a couple of tests to make sure it is working and you are on your way! No software to worry about or schedules to follow. Gmail’s storage is always on the increase, so you should never run out of room.
An added advantage of this approach is that you can use Gmail’s excellent search facilities to locate older mails, and apply filters if there’s routine mails from mailing lists you don’t want to back up. Got any other preferred backup strategies, or tips for getting this working with particular ISPs? Let us know in the comments. [Thanks Shannon!]
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Use Gmail to backup your existing email
10:21AM Angus Kidman | Lifehacker reader Shannon wrote in with this “obvious once you’ve thought of it but always worth remembering” tip for backing up your email service:
Instead of using other software to back up your emails, why not let your existing email provider and Gmail do it for you? Just set up a Gmail account and call it something useful (maybe [your family name]emailbackup@gmail.com). Then configure your existing email provider to automatically forward a copy of every email you receive to this address. Most ISPs allow this functionality now — it is usually in the account control panel somewhere under the ‘email setup’ section. Send a couple of tests to make sure it is working and you are on your way! No software to worry about or schedules to follow. Gmail’s storage is always on the increase, so you should never run out of room.
An added advantage of this approach is that you can use Gmail’s excellent search facilities to locate older mails, and apply filters if there’s routine mails from mailing lists you don’t want to back up. Got any other preferred backup strategies, or tips for getting this working with particular ISPs? Let us know in the comments. [Thanks Shannon!]
More »
Fix
