Thursday, July 10, 2008
Work
GetPDAScreen Takes Screenshots of Your PocketPC
11:30PM Lifehacker US Edition | Windows only: PocketPC app GetPDAScreen takes screenshots on your mobile device. There’s no installation required: simply launch the EXE on your PC, and take a screen capture of any device connected to your computer via an Active Sync connection with a mouse click. Save the resulting screenshot as a bitmap or copy it directly to the clipboard for pasting into your favourite image editor. GetPDAScreen is a free download for Windows only. GetPDAScreen [PocketPCFreeware] More »
Organise
Ten Handy Bash Aliases for Linux Users
10:38PM Kevin Purdy | TechRepublic’s 10 Things blog posts 10 shortcut ideas for Linux users (and Terminal-friendly OS X hackers) to make the terminal a friendlier, faster place to work. To use them, open up the .bashrc file found in your home directory and add lines in the following manner: Alias NICKNAME='full command here' Replace “NICKNAME” with a quick-type command, and put the full command in quotes. One example offered up by TechRepublic is a command to open up a file you regularly edit, like your /etc/apt/sources.list repository list, with a single command: More »
Design
Multicolr Search Lab Sorts Flickr Pictures by Colour
10:00PM Kevin Purdy | Need an image with dark blue and green undertones for desktop wallpaper or a design project? Multicolr Search Lab, a free search utility, digs through roughly 3 million images in Flickr’s “Interesting” set for photos featuring the colours you select. You can make one colour more prominent by selecting it multiple times, and the results seem pretty genuine—my only complaint is that you have to find the colours with your eyes, and can’t put in hexadecimal or RGB values grabbed from graphics programs. The colour search engine also has a front end for Alamy Stock Photography for those in need of definite royalty-free images. Multicolr Search Lab [via ReadWriteWeb] More »
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iTunes 7.7 Now Available For Download
6:04PM Gina Trapani | Windows and Mac OS X only: Apple just made the latest version of iTunes 7.7 available for download Update: and it includes the newly-opened iTunes App Store, which is available for iPhone users who have the iPhone 2.0 Software Update. The iPhone 2.0 software has not been officially released. From the iTunes 7.7 Readme: More »
Communicate
iPhone 2.0 Update to Add Polish (and Apps)
5:19PM Gina Trapani | If you’ve already got an iPhone or an iPod touch and you aren’t planning to buy the new iPhone 3G, you’ve still got goodies coming your way from Apple this week. Right beside the iPhone 3G, Apple is set to release the iPhone 2.0 software update, its new App Store, and iTunes 7.7 — so if new hardware’s not in your future, at the very least new software is. While the iPhone 2.0 update won’t add any mind-blowing features to your device, it does promise to fill in a few gaping holes in the touch interface. (Oh yeah, and the App Store, scheduled to open today, lets third-party developers fill in the rest.) Apple chief Steve Jobs announced iPhone 2.0 features during his WWDC keynote, but that was over a whole month ago—so let’s take another look at what exactly you’re getting this week in the iPhone 2.0 update. More »
Communicate
4:19PM Angus Kidman | Anyone who regularly uses a social network (be it Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or whatever) recognises the potential to solve problems by drawing on collective social intelligence, but could that same approach help us deal with the global warming challenge? In an article for the ABC, futurist Mark Pesce argues that similar collaborations amongst individuals could prove more effective in developing sustainable power sources than waiting for inevitably slow government reactions:
A promising young entrepreneur offers to build a plant, using AUSRA technology, to provide enough electricity to power 5,000 homes, if he can get guaranteed multi-year purchase contracts from 5000 buyers. (Like a mobile contract, but for electricity.) With these contracts in hand, he can secure the financing from a CBA or Macquarie Bank to build the plant, plug into the grid and provide that clean green power. All of this can be managed using nothing more than a website and the goodwill of Australians who want to do something – anything – to slow down global warming.
Would you want to take part in such a scheme? How else might social networks help deal with environmental challenges? Share your thoughts in the comments.DIY carbon change [ABC Unleashed]
More »
How social networks can help with climate change
4:19PM Angus Kidman | Anyone who regularly uses a social network (be it Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or whatever) recognises the potential to solve problems by drawing on collective social intelligence, but could that same approach help us deal with the global warming challenge? In an article for the ABC, futurist Mark Pesce argues that similar collaborations amongst individuals could prove more effective in developing sustainable power sources than waiting for inevitably slow government reactions:
A promising young entrepreneur offers to build a plant, using AUSRA technology, to provide enough electricity to power 5,000 homes, if he can get guaranteed multi-year purchase contracts from 5000 buyers. (Like a mobile contract, but for electricity.) With these contracts in hand, he can secure the financing from a CBA or Macquarie Bank to build the plant, plug into the grid and provide that clean green power. All of this can be managed using nothing more than a website and the goodwill of Australians who want to do something – anything – to slow down global warming.
Would you want to take part in such a scheme? How else might social networks help deal with environmental challenges? Share your thoughts in the comments.DIY carbon change [ABC Unleashed]
More »
Fix
4:00PM Angus Kidman | If you’re in the market for a new car, or just wondering how secure your current set of wheels is, the RACV’s annual review of how secure different models are is essential reading. While some manufacturers produced consistently good results, there are plenty who aren’t doing enough, especially with cheap but effective technologies such as self-voiding vehicle labels. The document itself is a PDF; it’d be good to see a proper interactive version next year.[RACV Car Security Ratings]
More »
Is your car likely to be stolen?
4:00PM Angus Kidman | If you’re in the market for a new car, or just wondering how secure your current set of wheels is, the RACV’s annual review of how secure different models are is essential reading. While some manufacturers produced consistently good results, there are plenty who aren’t doing enough, especially with cheap but effective technologies such as self-voiding vehicle labels. The document itself is a PDF; it’d be good to see a proper interactive version next year.[RACV Car Security Ratings]
More »
Work
3:34PM Angus Kidman | Following Optus, Vodafone is the second Australian telco to officially disclose its iPhone pricing plans, albeit less than 24 hours before the phones go on sale. Frankly, there’s nothing at all appealing in Vodafone’s pricing scheme, but they do have one useful possible option for queue-jumping: buying online. Click after the jump for our analysis of Vodafone’s offer.
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iPhone pricing: Choosing the best Vodafone plan
3:34PM Angus Kidman | Following Optus, Vodafone is the second Australian telco to officially disclose its iPhone pricing plans, albeit less than 24 hours before the phones go on sale. Frankly, there’s nothing at all appealing in Vodafone’s pricing scheme, but they do have one useful possible option for queue-jumping: buying online. Click after the jump for our analysis of Vodafone’s offer.
More »
Work
3:32PM Angus Kidman | It looks like eBay still needs to encourage sellers in the wake of its embarrassing PayPal backdown. Less than two weeks after its last discount listing offer, the auction site is now offering a 10-day period of free insertion fees for auctions starting at $0.99 or below, running from July 12 to 21. That’s only a saving of $0.30, but if you’re keen to sell some stuff with low reserves, it’s as good a time to do it as any.
More »
More discounts as eBay seeks to limit damage
3:32PM Angus Kidman | It looks like eBay still needs to encourage sellers in the wake of its embarrassing PayPal backdown. Less than two weeks after its last discount listing offer, the auction site is now offering a 10-day period of free insertion fees for auctions starting at $0.99 or below, running from July 12 to 21. That’s only a saving of $0.30, but if you’re keen to sell some stuff with low reserves, it’s as good a time to do it as any.
More »
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