Monday, September 29, 2008
Work
VLC 0.9 Revamps Interface, Playlist Features
11:06PM Kevin Purdy | Windows/Mac/Linux: VLC 0.9.3, the bug-fixed, updated version of our favourite cross-platform, hardly-ever-fails media player, is available for download. New to this version are a revamped interface and reorganised menus, an improved playlist tool for more traditional audio-only file browsing and listening (and native playing of YouTube videos), enhanced album art and metadata tweaking, Last.fm submissions, and much more. If you’ve already grabbed a new copy of VLC from an update, are you liking the new menus and interface, or are you tempted to switch back? Share your take in the comments. VLC Media Player 0.9.3 is a free download for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems (Windows downloads are currently 0.9.2). VLC Media Player [via Linux.com] More »
Work
Control Remember The Milk From Ubiquity
10:30PM Kevin Purdy | Firefox with Ubiquity: Command-line quickness and universal task managers go together like milk and ultra-organised cookies. Developer Gary Hodgson realised this and created a super-useful interface for universal to-do manager Remember the Milk inside Ubiquity, the natural language, terminal-style extension that we’ve taken a shine to. The command plug-in allows registered RTM users to log in and out, add and complete tasks with suggested auto-completions, and offers visual cues when tasks are seriously overdue or high-priority. RTM for Ubiquity is a free download; Firefox users with Ubiquity installed can install the command by visiting the link below (and approving third-party installation). Remember the Milk Ubiquity [via Remember the Milk Blog] More »
Work
PrinterShare Eases Remote Printing Across Operating Systems
10:00PM Kevin Purdy | Windows/Mac/Linux (All platforms): Free peer-to-peer printer-sharing tool PrinterShare cuts out the network fiddling and router tweaking necessary to share a printer from, say, a Mac system at home to your Windows PC at work. The PrinterShare system requires signing up each computer on your network and assigning it a name, but once you’re set up, sharing and accessing printers is truly simple. Files you send to be printed remotely are encrypted by default, and free accounts print, unfortunately, with a cover sheet that includes an ad. For those trying to make connections between troublesome systems, PrinterShare might save some frustration. Got another, non-ad-supported GUI tool? Share it in the comments. PrinterShare is a free download for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems. Update: Vista systems require a UAC work-around for full two-way printing. PrinterShare [via FreewareGenius.com] More »
Organise
TagScanner Renames And Tags Your Digital Music
9:00PM Gina Trapani | Windows only: Rename the thousands of MP3 files in your digital music library and add or edit tags, lyrics, and album art in one fell swoop with free utility TagScanner. Not only can TagScanner clean up the artist, album, song title, and track number information for your digital music files, it can rename your songs based on a pattern you define (like %artist% - %title%), it can make music playlists, and search online databases like freedb and Amazon to automatically tag music missing information. It includes a built-in player as well so you can listen to tracks while you edit. We’ve recommended Media Monkey to whip your music’s metadata into shape, but TagScanner looks like a solid alternative. TagScanner is a free download for Windows only. TagScanner [via Download Blog] More »
Fix
2:46PM Angus Kidman | Today marks the start of National Vegetarian Week when we’re all encouraged to go meatless for a week. If you’re more tempted by the joke “If God meant us to be vegetarian, then why did he make animals out of food?” than the thought of a meat-free diet, then the site has some recipes to get you started. For more ideas, check out meatless dishes that satisfy meaty eaters.
National Vegetarian Week
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Try A Meatless Meal For National Vegetarian Week
2:46PM Angus Kidman | Today marks the start of National Vegetarian Week when we’re all encouraged to go meatless for a week. If you’re more tempted by the joke “If God meant us to be vegetarian, then why did he make animals out of food?” than the thought of a meat-free diet, then the site has some recipes to get you started. For more ideas, check out meatless dishes that satisfy meaty eaters.
National Vegetarian Week
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Organise
1:40PM Angus Kidman | Whether you’ve got a last-minute work trip to sort out or you’re just trying to make the family holiday budget come right, getting a roof over your head is often the most expensive part of the exercise. It’s undeniable that the advent of the Internet has made it easier than ever to locate accommodation no matter where you’re travelling, but getting a decent deal requires more than just typing “place name hotel” into Google and clicking on the first link that comes up. Read on for some basic, practical ideas on how to get the most for your travel dollar without suffering from a room like the one in the video above.
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Best Ways To Find Cheap Accommodation Online
1:40PM Angus Kidman | Whether you’ve got a last-minute work trip to sort out or you’re just trying to make the family holiday budget come right, getting a roof over your head is often the most expensive part of the exercise. It’s undeniable that the advent of the Internet has made it easier than ever to locate accommodation no matter where you’re travelling, but getting a decent deal requires more than just typing “place name hotel” into Google and clicking on the first link that comes up. Read on for some basic, practical ideas on how to get the most for your travel dollar without suffering from a room like the one in the video above.
More »
Organise
ChromePass Displays Google Chrome’s Saved Passwords
1:05PM Gina Trapani | Windows only: Free utility ChromePass displays all the passwords Google Chrome has saved for your web site logins. You can view saved passwords one by one in Chrome itself, but ChromePass displays the list all at once, and lets you export your username and password list to a file (XML, HTML, comma or tab delimited text). ChromePass also displays the name of the username and password field, and the time it was created. It doesn’t look like ChromePass can import a file of passwords, so the exported file is just a reference if you want to take your saved passwords to go. ChromePass is a free download for Windows only. ChromePass [Nirsoft via Techie Buzz] More »
Fix
Sleep Boosts Creativity By 33%
12:00PM Gina Trapani | A Harvard sleep researcher finds that if you sleep on new ideas and information you’re 33% more likely to make connections between distantly related points. Not getting enough shut-eye? Check our top 10 ways to sleep smarter. More »
Communicate
11:30AM Angus Kidman | Pay TV provider Foxtel is changing its prices from November 1. While the entry-level service is going up (from $37.95 to $40), many of the additional channel options are dropping in price (adding extra entertainment bundles is $0.95 cheaper, for example), and pay-per-view movies are also marginally less expensive. It seems that Foxtel wants to encourage people to spend up more on extra content by offering minor discounts, so for people (like me) who just get the basic service, it’s a nuisance, though not a dramatic one. Check out the link for full details on what’s changed (all prices are now in round dollar amounts, which is sensible). Would rising prices put you off pay TV? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Foxtel
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Foxtel Prices To Change From November 1
11:30AM Angus Kidman | Pay TV provider Foxtel is changing its prices from November 1. While the entry-level service is going up (from $37.95 to $40), many of the additional channel options are dropping in price (adding extra entertainment bundles is $0.95 cheaper, for example), and pay-per-view movies are also marginally less expensive. It seems that Foxtel wants to encourage people to spend up more on extra content by offering minor discounts, so for people (like me) who just get the basic service, it’s a nuisance, though not a dramatic one. Check out the link for full details on what’s changed (all prices are now in round dollar amounts, which is sensible). Would rising prices put you off pay TV? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Foxtel
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Organise
10:02AM Angus Kidman | Online shopping often reaps bargains, but for some categories of goods, it’s always going to be hard to beat big-box retailers. Catalogue Central Catalogue Central offers digitised versions of current catalogues and sales brochures from a large selection of stores, including Big W, K-Mart, Myer, Officeworks and Dick Smith. It’s a relatively easy way to flip through possible bargains without having to give up the ‘no junk mail’ sign on your letterbox, though a search that’s more detailed than just broad categories would be nice (if unlikely). For a similar concept with an added social networking layer, check out previously mentioned u.Lasoo.
Catalogue Central
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Catalogue Central Lets You Browse Store Catalogues Digitally
10:02AM Angus Kidman | Online shopping often reaps bargains, but for some categories of goods, it’s always going to be hard to beat big-box retailers. Catalogue Central Catalogue Central offers digitised versions of current catalogues and sales brochures from a large selection of stores, including Big W, K-Mart, Myer, Officeworks and Dick Smith. It’s a relatively easy way to flip through possible bargains without having to give up the ‘no junk mail’ sign on your letterbox, though a search that’s more detailed than just broad categories would be nice (if unlikely). For a similar concept with an added social networking layer, check out previously mentioned u.Lasoo.
Catalogue Central
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