Not interested in building an album art wall but have a few cool record covers hanging around you’d like to put to good use? The Paper and Stitch weblog suggests DIY album cover wall organisers. [via]
Blogger and designer Jof Arnold suggests carrying a mobile portfolio on your phone wherever you go. Arnold is a designer, but the idea extends to almost anything—your resume, business plan, etc.—and it works like so: Just take screengrabs of your work, size them to an iPhone-friendly 480×320 (or the other way round if you wish) then shove them in a folder and sync with your phone! Best of all, if they would like a copy it’s an ideal opportunity to cement the introduction via email.
The post focuses on the iPhone or iPod touch, but any smart phone with a big enough screen and email capabilities would do. As Arnold points out, it’s an incredibly simple idea, but it’s the kind of preparedness that could be the perfect supplement to your already killer elevator pitch. Lifehack: Carry Your Portfolio on Your iPhone [Jof Arnold]
Simple web site WebSource.it compares the number of search results for multiple search terms to help you determine which term is more popular. There are a lot of potential uses for a simple app like this—some of which are more useful than others. For example, after arguing with my brother-in-law for years that the phrase “play it by ear” is not “play it by year,” WebSource.it works as a quick poll that gives a pretty clear answer. To compare more than two queries, just hit tab to create a new search box (up to five inputs). It may not do anything you can’t already do with separate Google searches, but if you’re looking to quickly compare the internet’s barometer on a couple of topics, WebSource.it is up for the job. WebSource.it
All platforms with Firefox: Firefox extension Timelope helps you keep track of web sites you’ve visited, when you’ve visited them, and how long you spent on each site. Sign up for an account, install the extension, authorise yourself, and you’re ready to roll. Timelope works in the background and keeps track of the number of pages you visit: as you visit more pages, the number of Timelope “hops” is increased. Additionally, Timelope features a separate but useful social networking function where you can follow friends and see exactly where they’ve been online. By default, your visited web sites are private; you can make your stream public if you are interested in the social features of Timelope. Timelope is free, works wherever Firefox does.
Timelope [via Webware]Access worldwide patents with Patent Search, a comprehensive and powerful webapp that features over 450 million patents in 15 languages. The unique thing about Patent Search is that the entire text of each individual patent is indexed in addition to offering the PDF application for download. Better yet, if you’re interested in a particular patent, you can contact the owner and check availability for a possible project down the road. Patent Search seems to be miles ahead of Google’s patent search, which searches through a mere 7 million patents and only provides the publicly-accessible PDF. Looking ahead, Patent Search seems like one of the better sites for finding inspiration for your very own project. Patent Search [via Webware]
Windows only: Free application Moo0 SystemMonitor places a simple dashboard on your desktop full of system information and real-time graphs covering everything from CPU usage to up time. The lightweight utility comes with a variety of skins to match the feel of your desktop, but other than that there’s not all that much to it. You can get similar data embedded directly in your desktop with previously mentioned desktop Swiss Army knife Samurize, but Moo0 SystemMonitor is a simple alternative for folks who don’t feel like learning to use an entire desktop customisation tool like Samurize. Moo0 is freeware, Windows only. Mac users, check out previously mentioned iStat Menus.
Moo0 SystemMonitor [via Life Rocks 2.0]More than 100 companies are strutting their stuff at the Demofall ’08 and TechCrunch50 conferences out on the West coast this week. At events like this, which involve dozens of beta demonstrations of new products in development, a lot of the items blend together into a white noise of over-hype, but a handful of this week’s debuts are intriguing. Let’s take a look at 10 of the neatest up-and-coming offerings that aren’t yet available—and the tools already available to you that replicate some of their eyebrow-raising tweaks. Photo by TechCrunch50-2008.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that dieters asked to take a picture of everything they ate—before eating—led to better weight loss achievement, according to the UK’s Telegraph. Sounds like a great reason to put that Flickr account to some real use. [photo][via]
Windows: taskTome is a lightweight task manager with a host of additional features. While the task system is robust enough to stand on its own with just the basic task management list, taskTome includes several other modules which enhance usability. The following is a breakdown of the planner, tasks, notes, and money management sections of taskTome:
