Thursday, September 11, 2008
Organise
Duplicate Cleaner Ferrets Out File Dupes
11:30PM Lifehacker US Edition | Windows only: Hunt down multiple copies of the same file with Duplicate Cleaner, a lightweight and quick duplicate file finder. Add multiple paths to Duplicate Cleaner’s search, handy for de-duping a media collection that spans multiple drives. Filter your duplicate search by file type, content, size, and date of creation. Additionally Duplicate Cleaner offers support for MP3 metadata, including artist, title, and album, a fantastic feature for weeding out a large music collection. For additional tips and tricks for cleaning up your duplicate files check out how else you can de-duplicate your data with free tools. Duplicate Cleaner is a free download for Windows only. More »
Fix
Change Your MAC Address in Windows
10:30PM Kevin Purdy | MAC addresses are the 12-digit strings that wireless routers and other network devices use to restrict or open up access to a computer. They’re also a huge pain in the butt sometimes, requiring pen-and-paper manoeuvres and frustrating connection attempts. If you’re running a Windows system, the Online Tech Tips blog has a step-by-step tutorial on “spoofing” your address to something you can remember, or for hooking into a wireless network that’s locked down. The guide is written for Windows XP, but the steps look much the same as they would in Vista. Change or spoof a MAC address in Windows [Online Tech Tips] More »
Work
Google Docs Adds Table of Contents, Dictionary Tools
10:00PM Kevin Purdy | Google Docs has gone and made the table of contents, dictionary, and thesaurus functions (once accessible only through JavaScript hacks) official in its “Insert” and “Tools” menus. The TOC creates live bookmarks from each heading in your document. [via] More »
Work
Insure Your Data with Personal Backup
9:00PM Tamar Weinberg | Windows only: Freeware Backup application Personal Backup offers lots of flexibility for backing up important files both locally and over a network using FTP or SFTP protocols. The application itself is a bit daunting and cumbersome at first with numerous menus and features, so novices may want to stick to the easy-to-configure (and super easy to understand) wizard. However, the feature-set makes a lot of sense given the richness of the offerings, including the ability to back up multiple files into a single zip file, encrypting file backups, compressing files, and more. Personal Backup also supports direct copy from source to destination, full backups (ignoring files already stored in the destination folder), incremental backups, and differential backups. Backups can be scheduled at logon, logoff, or weekly at a designated time, but monthly support has not been integrated into the application. Personal Backup is a great alternative to Lifehacker favourite SyncBackSE for $30 less: it’s free. Personal Backup is a free download for Windows only. Personal Backup [via gHacks] More »
Communicate
5:18PM Angus Kidman | After a quick change of cabin necessitated by a non-functioning power outlet, the Next G train torture test is fully underway. The most surprising result so far? The ease of using YouTube. Watching videos wasn’t such a big surprise, since YouTube has pretty decent buffering. However, I was impressed that uploading a file — a process that’s often painful even on my home office connection — was also trouble-free. You can see the resultant video tour of the ‘first class roomette’ on the train above (warning: seriously amateur camera work). More »
Next G train torture test no problem for YouTube
5:18PM Angus Kidman | After a quick change of cabin necessitated by a non-functioning power outlet, the Next G train torture test is fully underway. The most surprising result so far? The ease of using YouTube. Watching videos wasn’t such a big surprise, since YouTube has pretty decent buffering. However, I was impressed that uploading a file — a process that’s often painful even on my home office connection — was also trouble-free. You can see the resultant video tour of the ‘first class roomette’ on the train above (warning: seriously amateur camera work). More »
Communicate
4:53PM Angus Kidman | You might think that Australian Idol is the worst thing to happen to the local music scene since Joe Dolce, but its producers are trying out an interesting experiment: free ad-supported video content for mobile users. Idol enthusiasts will be able to catch up on weekly performances, recaps and an exclusive video blog via the service. While there have been plenty of shows that have flogged online access for a fee (including Idol itself in previous years), this represents the first time that video content has been made available cost-free from a current TV project that I can think of. Of course, as with most phone content, it helps to read the fine print. Vodafone is sponsoring the initiative, so while Vodafone subscribers get the whole lot for nothing, Telstra, Optus and 3 users are still up for data charges — and as we all know, all-you-can-eat plans don’t exist in this sector. Even so, it does represent a slight shift from the walled garden/wounded bull charging model that has predominated in the past. Would you be more tempted to watch mobile TV if it was free, even with ads in it? Send us your thoughts in the comments.
[Australian Idol]
More »
Free Australian Idol mobile channel launched
4:53PM Angus Kidman | You might think that Australian Idol is the worst thing to happen to the local music scene since Joe Dolce, but its producers are trying out an interesting experiment: free ad-supported video content for mobile users. Idol enthusiasts will be able to catch up on weekly performances, recaps and an exclusive video blog via the service. While there have been plenty of shows that have flogged online access for a fee (including Idol itself in previous years), this represents the first time that video content has been made available cost-free from a current TV project that I can think of. Of course, as with most phone content, it helps to read the fine print. Vodafone is sponsoring the initiative, so while Vodafone subscribers get the whole lot for nothing, Telstra, Optus and 3 users are still up for data charges — and as we all know, all-you-can-eat plans don’t exist in this sector. Even so, it does represent a slight shift from the walled garden/wounded bull charging model that has predominated in the past. Would you be more tempted to watch mobile TV if it was free, even with ads in it? Send us your thoughts in the comments.
[Australian Idol]
More »
Communicate
3:39PM Angus Kidman | Twitter’s instability is infamous, and in recent weeks it’s seemed like a lottery whether you’ll be able to access the ‘Older’ button to see earlier tweets at any given point in time. Yet apparently Team Twitter is confident that it has finally got its act together on that front, boasting in its latest blog post that you can now go back through 40 pages of Tweets or see 3,200 timeline posts for any individual — definitely useful if you’re following a lot of vocal and interesting people.
[Official Twitter Blog]
More »
Twitter extends ability to view old tweets
3:39PM Angus Kidman | Twitter’s instability is infamous, and in recent weeks it’s seemed like a lottery whether you’ll be able to access the ‘Older’ button to see earlier tweets at any given point in time. Yet apparently Team Twitter is confident that it has finally got its act together on that front, boasting in its latest blog post that you can now go back through 40 pages of Tweets or see 3,200 timeline posts for any individual — definitely useful if you’re following a lot of vocal and interesting people.
[Official Twitter Blog]
More »
Design
3:29PM Angus Kidman | Google has added another set of artist themes to its prepackaged iGoogle designs. The word ‘artist’ gets interpreted pretty broadly, and this time around fashion designers and musicians are at the forefront, so there’s options from Radiohead, Vera Wang, Tommy Hilfiger and (I kid you not) Celine Dion.
[iGoogle via Official Google Blog]
More »
New artist offerings for iGoogle themes
3:29PM Angus Kidman | Google has added another set of artist themes to its prepackaged iGoogle designs. The word ‘artist’ gets interpreted pretty broadly, and this time around fashion designers and musicians are at the forefront, so there’s options from Radiohead, Vera Wang, Tommy Hilfiger and (I kid you not) Celine Dion.
[iGoogle via Official Google Blog]
More »
Communicate
1:25PM Angus Kidman | I’ve boarded the Sunlander at Roma St Station in Brisbane and am about to head north and see how well Next G broadband really works when you’re remote and you’re on the move. Thanks to everyone who suggested testing methods — I’ll try out as many as I can over the next 24 hours.
More »
Time for the Next G Townsville train torture test to commence
1:25PM Angus Kidman | I’ve boarded the Sunlander at Roma St Station in Brisbane and am about to head north and see how well Next G broadband really works when you’re remote and you’re on the move. Thanks to everyone who suggested testing methods — I’ll try out as many as I can over the next 24 hours.
More »
Design
