Linux only: Easystroke, a free mouse gesture manager for Linux systems, makes the often quirky business of summoning applications, web sites, and desktop actions with your pointer a simple affair. After installing Easystroke and adding it to your startup programs, it sits in your icon tray to register movements and add new ones. By default, it only records mouse gestures made when the middle mouse button is held down, and it’s surprisingly intuitive at knowing what you wanted. Let’s take a look at how to set up Easystroke to help you get at frequently-accessed site, desktop manipulations, and favourite programs with a flick of the wrist.
We noted earlier that Google Analytics had begun tracking usage of Google Chrome. As of today, Chrome now accounts for 2.43% of Lifehacker visitors, almost three times what it was when we first checked the number. OK, that’s still a lot less than Firefox, Internet Explorer or Safari, but it does put Chrome ahead of Opera — not bad for a browser that isn’t yet than a fortnight old. If you’re new to the Chrome experience, be sure to check out our power users guide.
Newspapers get printed on tight deadlines, so tight that enormous rolls of paper are yanked with a good deal of material still on them if there’s another roll ready to go in. The Simple Dollar blog points out that buying one of these rolls gives you a good amount of uncut paper perfect for all kinds of kid-friendly projects, including a paper snowflake, paper aeroplane competitions, and 13 other posted ideas—and the giant, firm tube it comes on is a DIYer’s dream. From experience, some newspapers are so happy to get rid of their “end rolls,” they’ll give them to whoever takes them away, so a call to your local newspaper or printing house might make for a cheap weekend of quietly busy tykes. Photo by LizMarie. Fifteen Ways to Have Cheap Fun With Your Kids Using a $1 End Roll of Paper [The Simple Dollar]
The recipe for making your own liquid hand soap is super-simple—so simple, in fact, that it might raise your ire a bit when you realise how much markup you pay for a slim tube of the stuff. The Tipnut blog shares a recipe pulled from a “country wisdom” tome that uses just bar soap, honey, glycerine, and boiling water to make a good vat of the stuff. You can add your own herbs or other scent enhancers—just don’t go tossing anything that will spoil in the mixture. Make a good amount of the stuff, store it away, and refill your pump containers instead of giving the smelly store in the mall another $4. Photo by Loopzilla. Homemade Liquid Hand Soap [TipNut]
Mac OS X only: Free application X Resource Graph (XRG) adds a customisable system monitoring dashboard to your Mac desktop. XRG shows real-time graphs of everything from your CPU and memory usage to system temperature and stocks (like the financial kind). It’s a very attractive piece of software for what it does, and better yet, the look and feel is completely customisable. If you’re a fan of system monitoring apps, XRG is worth the download. On the other hand, if it’s not quite your cup of tea, check out previously mentioned iStat Menus. Windows users, try Moo0 SystemMonitor. Thanks PeterPumpkinEater! X Resource Graph
Many people adore the look of photographs taken with older cameras. The millions of plastic bodied cheap lens bearing cameras that flooded the consumer photography market starting around the mid-20th century had flaws that have come to be a hallmark of their time. The dark vignettes, over saturated colours, and often blown highlights have a certain undeniably flawed appeal to many. Why scrounge the flea markets looking for a camera or waste the money on trendy new (but just as poorly constructed) expensive knockoffs?
