Friday, October 3, 2008
Work
Dabbleboard Collaborative Whiteboard
11:30PM Gina Trapani | Online whiteboard Dabbleboard makes drawing diagrams, jotting notes and sketches, and sharing that work easy online. Dabbleboard comes with a library of readily-available objects for piecing together org charts, mind maps, network diagrams, floor plans, photo annotation, interface designs, and electrical diagrams. When you share your Dabbleboard work with someone via emai, you can watch, real-time, as he or she makes changes to it. There’s also a public library of Dabbleboard drawings that you can copy and edit for your own purposes. Hit the play button above for a demo of what you can do with Dabbleboard. Dabbleboard [via Waxy] More »
Organise
iPhone-Backgrounder Lets You Run Multiple iPhone Apps
11:06PM Kevin Purdy | Jailbroken iPhones/iPod touch only: iPhone-Backgrounder, a free app utility available through the (jailbreak-only) Cydia store, makes running apps in the background seriously simple. After installing the utility, you simply hold down the Home button to “minimise” an application. Call it back up again using its app icon, and then hold the home button again to kill it off for real. Backgrounding worked with at least four apps I tested, and kept the audio playing from Last.fm while checking email or web browsing. There are bound to be a few bugs and inconsistencies, but it’s a great hack for keeping music, instant messaging, and other streaming programs close at hand. iPhone-Backgrounder is free and requires a jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch (check our guides for Macs and Windows for help with that). iPhone Backgrounder [Google Code via CrunchGear] More »
Organise
Wherever Change Directory Speeds Up Command Line Navigation
10:30PM Kevin Purdy | Windows/Mac/Linux (all platforms): Free command prompt plug-in script Wherever Change Directory makes navigating around your system fast and easy from the command line on any system. After adding wcd to your system path and running it once to index your hard drive, you can simply type wcd desktop, and the command will use the most likely match to get you there. If there’s more than one result (as pictured), you just type the choice you were looking for. The script can also handle wildcards (like Pictures*) and other syntax changes. The download package comes with installation instructions, but Windows users (especially Vista users) will want to enable running commands as an administrator to avoid a lot of access headaches. Wherever Change Directory is a free download for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems; there’s also a package for our favourite Unix-in-Windows tool Cygwin. Wherever Change Directory [Erwin Waterlander via gHacks] More »
Organise
Flickr Launches iPhone-Friendly Mobile Version
10:00PM Kevin Purdy | Photo sharing site Flickr just activated an iPhone-scaled version of the site for anyone visiting the site with a mobile Safari browser. The menus are optimised to put the most-accessed activities—photo stream browsing, “Explore” mode, and recent comment activity—right up front, and your upload-by-email address is placed in the “More” section. Best of all, Flickr’s site pre-loads many of the iPhone-scaled thumbnails you’re checking out, so flipping between pictures often doesn’t require any kind of refresh. No slideshows for now, given the lack of Flash on the iPhone, but the site’s a nice alternative to pinching and pulling gigantic photos on the standard site. Flickr Mobile [via Webware] More »
Fix
Keep iTunes 8 From Starting Filenames With Track Numbers
9:00PM Gina Trapani | Mac OS X only: By default, when you have iTunes set to automatically organize your music library, it saves the files in an /Artist/Album/Track # Song Title.mp3 format. But, if you don’t want that track number stuck in the beginning of your music file names automatically, a quick preference change in iTunes 8 will remove it. Macworld explains that you can fire up Terminal, and type the following commands: defaults write com.apple.iTunes create-filenames-with-disknumber -bool FALSE defaults write com.apple.iTunes create-filenames-with-tracknumber -bool FALSE Then, uncheck iTunes’ “Keep iTunes Music Folder Organized” preference, apply, and then re-check that option. At that point iTunes 8 will rename all your music files sans track number prefix. Of course, a backup to your collection before letting iTunes do its thing is prudent, just in case the big rename goes awry. How do you name and organise your music? Or do you not even think about it? Let us know in the comments. Prevent iTunes 8 from adding track numbers to filenames [Macworld] More »
Fix
4:32PM Angus Kidman | It’s a public holiday come Monday across much of the country, so make your weekend productive and fun by testing out these ideas from the past week on Lifehacker:
Book yourself a cheap hotel room for Christmas before they all disappear
Personalise your Vista machine by learning how to customise Windows visual styles
Install Skype 4.0 and catch up with a few online friends
Make yourself an iPod stand from a paper clip
Gather up the USB sticks lying around the office and increase their capacity and performance by ditching the U3 software
More »
Five Things To Do This (Long) Weekend
4:32PM Angus Kidman | It’s a public holiday come Monday across much of the country, so make your weekend productive and fun by testing out these ideas from the past week on Lifehacker:
Book yourself a cheap hotel room for Christmas before they all disappear
Personalise your Vista machine by learning how to customise Windows visual styles
Install Skype 4.0 and catch up with a few online friends
Make yourself an iPod stand from a paper clip
Gather up the USB sticks lying around the office and increase their capacity and performance by ditching the U3 software
More »
Fix
3:00PM Angus Kidman | Residents of NSW, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT should remember that daylight saving kicks in on Sunday October 5, and your PC clock will need to go forward an hour. If your machine is patched, this should happen automatically, but it’s worth quickly checking to make sure the system time is correct and that your appointments haven’t been scrambled. Windows users can double-check their system using Microsoft’s dedicated daylight saving site. More »
Remember To Check Your Computer For Daylight Saving Change
3:00PM Angus Kidman | Residents of NSW, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT should remember that daylight saving kicks in on Sunday October 5, and your PC clock will need to go forward an hour. If your machine is patched, this should happen automatically, but it’s worth quickly checking to make sure the system time is correct and that your appointments haven’t been scrambled. Windows users can double-check their system using Microsoft’s dedicated daylight saving site. More »
Communicate
1:55PM Angus Kidman | Don’t fancy taking that work trip next week? Push the benefits of video conferencing by calculating how much you’ll save in carbon emissions using Telstra’s new telecommunications ready reckoner. The calculator is part of Telstra’s Now We Are Talking blog, and thus not entirely neutral, but it’s still a useful tool for stimulating workplace discussion. For a more flight-specific carbon calculator, check out previously mentioned Carbon Planet. More »
Telstra Carbon Calculator Pushes Benefits Of Videoconferencing
1:55PM Angus Kidman | Don’t fancy taking that work trip next week? Push the benefits of video conferencing by calculating how much you’ll save in carbon emissions using Telstra’s new telecommunications ready reckoner. The calculator is part of Telstra’s Now We Are Talking blog, and thus not entirely neutral, but it’s still a useful tool for stimulating workplace discussion. For a more flight-specific carbon calculator, check out previously mentioned Carbon Planet. More »
Organise
12:00PM Angus Kidman | While part of the joy of travel is discovering new cultures at your own pace, sometimes there’s not enough time to get to know an area before you have to move on, and a little expert assistance can pay off. OurExplorer offers a search engine to locate tour guides in 91 countries, letting you search on criteria such as location, rates charged and languages spoken. The interface is a little fiddly (testimonials are in PDF form, which seems odd), but if you’re trying to hunt down tour guides for that round-the-world trip, it’s one to add to the bookmarks list. OurExplorer
OurExplorer
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OurExplorer Finds Tour Guides For Your Trips
12:00PM Angus Kidman | While part of the joy of travel is discovering new cultures at your own pace, sometimes there’s not enough time to get to know an area before you have to move on, and a little expert assistance can pay off. OurExplorer offers a search engine to locate tour guides in 91 countries, letting you search on criteria such as location, rates charged and languages spoken. The interface is a little fiddly (testimonials are in PDF form, which seems odd), but if you’re trying to hunt down tour guides for that round-the-world trip, it’s one to add to the bookmarks list. OurExplorer
OurExplorer
More »
Fix
10:30AM Angus Kidman | A round-up of minor furniture hacks includes a simple but appealing idea: carving a slot in the edge of a kitchen island or bench with a circular saw for an easy way of storing knives so they’re easily accessible. Good trick for a compact kitchen where you don’t want to devote bench space to a separate knife block.
IKEA Hacker
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Carve A Knife Slot In Your Kitchen Island
10:30AM Angus Kidman | A round-up of minor furniture hacks includes a simple but appealing idea: carving a slot in the edge of a kitchen island or bench with a circular saw for an easy way of storing knives so they’re easily accessible. Good trick for a compact kitchen where you don’t want to devote bench space to a separate knife block.
IKEA Hacker
More » 