After several false starts, eBay is rolling out its upgraded search engine next week, making it the default search option from Tuesday October 21. Enhanced features of the new search system include automatically including synonyms and alternate spellings, and a pictorial Window Shopping View. We’ll be giving it a full spin once the final version goes live, but it’s good to know that (unlike some other recent online upgrades) it will be possible to switch back to the old version if you find the new approach less useful. eBay General Announcements
Windows only: Free, open-source application Window Extractor pulls embedded videos and even windows out of the application they’re confined to, placing them in their own independent window that you can resize or make fullscreen. The application is designed primarily for use as a presentation aid—allowing you to extract anything from a YouTube video to a Windows Explorer folder—but it’s applications aren’t limited solely to presentations, either. I found it a little bit difficult to get the hang of, but it’s worth a try if you’ve been looking for similar functionality. Window Extractor is free, Windows only, requires .NET 2.0.
Window Extractor [via Life Rocks 2.0]iTunes 8 has added simple under-the-radar feature that allows you to quickly and easily tag any file in your iTunes library as an audiobook and move it into the Audiobooks section of iTunes and your iPod. The simple trick? Just right-click a track and select Get Info, head to the Options tab, and then select Audiobook from the Media Kind drop-down menu. The file will instantly leave your Music library and head straight for your Audiobook library. To mark multiple files at once, just select them all and go through the same process. The only remaining step is to tick the Remember Position checkbox if you haven’t already, and your tracks should now have easily found their way to your Audiobooks section, and even better, they should work like an audiobook. Finally. Thanks Brett!
According to a study conducted at the University of Iowa, many bottled waters are no purer than tap. The study found that while most of the brands tested still fell within regulatory guidelines for contaminants, much of the bottled water contained the same impurities as tap. Might be worthwhile to save a couple bucks this month and give tap another chance.
Windows/Mac/Linux: Previously mentioned Firefox extension and Internet Explorer plugin LastPass has updated, adding an automatic form filler to help you save more time filling out forms on the web. We’ve been on a bit of a password syncing kick lately, what with Foxmarks adding support for password syncing and our own guide to syncing passwords with Dropbox, but LastPass’ seamless browser integration for syncing both passwords and forms could attract a lot of people. After all, these useful features earned LastPass its honorable mention in our Hive Five Best Password Managers less than a week after we covered it. LastPass is a free download, works anywhere Firefox and IE do. LastPass [via Download Squad]
We previewed the new iGoogle with support for full-screen gadgets months ago and showed you what full-screen Gmail looks like, but now Google has officially rolled out the new and improved iGoogle to regular old accounts. The new full-screen feature—called canvas view—lets you toggle between viewing your gadgets in collapsed or full-screen form. Not every gadget has canvas support yet, but Google does offer up some of the best:
A recent usability study conducted by Yahoo shows that users are still confused by OpenID—the single sign-on technology out to eliminate multiple usernames and passwords. Tech site Webmonkey reports: The study observed nine female Yahoo users in their thirties who considered themselves of medium-to-high internet savvy. The participants were told they could log in with their Yahoo ID at a third-party site. In many cases, the users tried to log in using the site’s main login, rather than the OpenID login. Users don’t understand multiple ways to log in, at least not without some education.
Mac OS X only: Free application EyeSight takes time-lapse photos with your Mac’s built-in iSight camera. EyeSight is very customisable, so you can set your photo intervals anywhere between 10 seconds to 999 days, save the images in whatever format you like, and upload the results to an FTP server of your choosing (or just save them in a local folder). If you want to eventually turn the results into a video, I’d recommend previously mentioned Gawker, but if you’re more interested in something like a web-enabled security camera, EyeSight is the way to go. EyeSight is freeware, Mac OS X only. Windows users, check out previously mentioned YawCam. If what you really want is to beef up your laptop’s security, we’ve got you covered there, too.
EyeSight [via MakeUseOf]Ubuntu 8.10, the next release of the Linux distro we looked at earlier this month, will have a much-requested “DarkRoom” theme available, though the lighter Human remains the default. A full screen of the DarkRoom desktop is below. [via]
Windows only: Free utility Orphans Remover scans the places on your system where shortcuts to uninstalled programs and deleted files tend to accumulate and gives you a single button to wipe them all away. It’s a pretty straight-forward affair—check the locations you want the app to scan, and browse to add any directories not covered in the basic options. A scan of my 80 GB hard drive took less than 15 seconds, and the results seemed valid and safe to delete. As with any find-and-delete tool, you’ll want to review the list carefully, but Orphans Remover seems to know what an invalid pointer looks like. Orphans Remover is a free download for Windows systems only.
Orphans Remover [Digital Architects Software via gHacks]
