Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Work
Advanced IP Scanner Finds And Controls Network Computers
10:30PM Kevin Purdy | Windows only: If you’re running a home network with more than one or two machines, free network tool Advanced IP Scanner might save you a good chunk of time hunting down IP addresses and remotely connecting. The small utility scans a range of internal IP addresses and reports the status, name, NetBIOS/workgroup name, and MAC address on what it finds. You can then remotely shutdown, wake up LAN-listening machines, telnet or FTP into a machine—anything you’d normally be able to do, just in shorter order. It’s probably overkill for those with one or two machines with static IP addresses, but Advanced IP Scanner is a pretty sweet tool for networking geeks. Advanced IP Scanner is a free download for Windows systems only. Thanks, brodiemac! Advanced IP Scanner 1.5 (Free) [Radmin] More »
Communicate
Gmail Adds Canned Responses For Quick Replies
10:00PM Kevin Purdy | Gmail’s Labs offerings now include a seriously boon to anyone who ends up writing “Received the document, thanks!” or the like over and over again. Head to the Labs section in Settings and enable Canned responses and you’ll see a new drop-down menu on your toolbar. It’s blank at first, so write a typical reply, then click Canned Responses to save your reply text and give it a name. Better still, you can now filter certain messages to get automatic replies with canned text. Those pulling Gmail through IMAP on Thunderbird can get the same features with the Quicktext extension, as Adam detailed, and any Windows user can set up quick responses with Texter. Got a clever canned response for time-sucking messages? Share it in the comments. New in Labs: Canned Responses [Official Gmail Blog] More »
Communicate
5:31PM Angus Kidman | Dan Warne at APC runs down the most complained about Internet service providers, according to industry regulator the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman. Telstra and Optus top the list (no surprise given they have the most customers), followed by AAPT, Virgin Mobile and Soul. As APC points out, Dodo’s high ranking is remarkable given its relatively small market share. Does your ISP handle complaints well, or do you feel like you’re being ignored? Tell all in the comments.
NAMED AND SHAMED: the most complained-about ISPs
More »
Australia’s Most Complained-About ISPs
5:31PM Angus Kidman | Dan Warne at APC runs down the most complained about Internet service providers, according to industry regulator the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman. Telstra and Optus top the list (no surprise given they have the most customers), followed by AAPT, Virgin Mobile and Soul. As APC points out, Dodo’s high ranking is remarkable given its relatively small market share. Does your ISP handle complaints well, or do you feel like you’re being ignored? Tell all in the comments.
NAMED AND SHAMED: the most complained-about ISPs
More »
Fix
3:00PM Angus Kidman | The ever-reliable IKEA Hacker highlights a simple hack by blogger Anna that you can apply to almost any office chair: reupholstering it for a new look. One of the big advantages of working at home is that your workspace doesn’t have to follow standard corporate design guidelines, but it’s hard finding an ergonomically reliable chair that doesn’t look like it belongs in a call centre. Adding new fabric gets around that problem. As Anna explains, “To figure out what to do, I just googled ‘how to reupholster office chair’ and checked out some of the many tutorials out there.” For a head start, check out Instructables’ step-by-step guide.
Apartment Overhaul, part II [via IKEA Hacker]
More »
Reupholster Your Home Office Chair
3:00PM Angus Kidman | The ever-reliable IKEA Hacker highlights a simple hack by blogger Anna that you can apply to almost any office chair: reupholstering it for a new look. One of the big advantages of working at home is that your workspace doesn’t have to follow standard corporate design guidelines, but it’s hard finding an ergonomically reliable chair that doesn’t look like it belongs in a call centre. Adding new fabric gets around that problem. As Anna explains, “To figure out what to do, I just googled ‘how to reupholster office chair’ and checked out some of the many tutorials out there.” For a head start, check out Instructables’ step-by-step guide.
Apartment Overhaul, part II [via IKEA Hacker]
More »
Organise
1:30PM Angus Kidman | eBay’s introduction of a new search system with extra features on the Australian site hasn’t gone too smoothly, with the eBay discussion forums attracting complaints about the new system. The biggest issues? Speed (which eBay has promised will improve in the next fortnight), confusion over the impact of daylight savings time, and inability to accurately pinpoint the location of items. While you’re supposed to be able to opt out of the new search, some users have also had problems with that, particularly under Firefox. How have you find the new system? Share your experiences in the comment.
eBay Round Table
More »
New eBay Search Fails To Hit The Mark
1:30PM Angus Kidman | eBay’s introduction of a new search system with extra features on the Australian site hasn’t gone too smoothly, with the eBay discussion forums attracting complaints about the new system. The biggest issues? Speed (which eBay has promised will improve in the next fortnight), confusion over the impact of daylight savings time, and inability to accurately pinpoint the location of items. While you’re supposed to be able to opt out of the new search, some users have also had problems with that, particularly under Firefox. How have you find the new system? Share your experiences in the comment.
eBay Round Table
More »
Work
12:00PM Angus Kidman | Google Operating System reports that Google Docs has been upgraded to allow footnotes (an essential component for any students or academics out there), but that the implementation has some serious limitations. Because Google Docs doesn’t support pagination, you can’t tell how your footnotes will appear until you print them, and importing into a standalone word processor creates endnotes (rather than on-page footnotes). With luck, the next implementation might be better — in the meantime, old-fashioned, non-cloud, standalone word processors like Microsoft Word and OpenOffice.org Documents still look like the best formatting bet.
Footnotes in Google Docs [Google Operating System]
More »
Google Docs Gets Footnotes (With Limitations)
12:00PM Angus Kidman | Google Operating System reports that Google Docs has been upgraded to allow footnotes (an essential component for any students or academics out there), but that the implementation has some serious limitations. Because Google Docs doesn’t support pagination, you can’t tell how your footnotes will appear until you print them, and importing into a standalone word processor creates endnotes (rather than on-page footnotes). With luck, the next implementation might be better — in the meantime, old-fashioned, non-cloud, standalone word processors like Microsoft Word and OpenOffice.org Documents still look like the best formatting bet.
Footnotes in Google Docs [Google Operating System]
More »
Fix
10:30AM Angus Kidman | Christmas consumables are already in the shops, which might just serve as a cue for working out ways to celebrate the festive season which don’t involve so much cheap plastic from China. F**kTinsel.com (decidedly not safe for work) is largely designed to flog a T-shirt bearing the same slogan (which I for one would happily wear), but still offers a handy list of 10 tips for greening up your December 25. I especially liked the workplace option of banning Kris Kringle parties:
have you ever remembered receiving a kris kringle gift that you actually liked or found useful? probably not. well the important thing is not to encourage it.
A separate tip via OzBargain is to use biodegradable paper plates to minimise the impact of your celebrations. If you’ve got other green Christmas tips, spread the joy in the comments.
F**kTinsel (NSFW)
More »
Start Planning For A Greener Christmas
10:30AM Angus Kidman | Christmas consumables are already in the shops, which might just serve as a cue for working out ways to celebrate the festive season which don’t involve so much cheap plastic from China. F**kTinsel.com (decidedly not safe for work) is largely designed to flog a T-shirt bearing the same slogan (which I for one would happily wear), but still offers a handy list of 10 tips for greening up your December 25. I especially liked the workplace option of banning Kris Kringle parties:
have you ever remembered receiving a kris kringle gift that you actually liked or found useful? probably not. well the important thing is not to encourage it.
A separate tip via OzBargain is to use biodegradable paper plates to minimise the impact of your celebrations. If you’ve got other green Christmas tips, spread the joy in the comments.
F**kTinsel (NSFW)
More » Advertisement
News. Now Made By Hand
Want the latest news? Look to your hand. With the Nokia N96 you can create the news from the palm of your hand. Capture a moment. Capture a story. Capture the world’s attention. Record an event and share it instantly. Upload your footage and write in your blog. Then geo-tag your 5MP photos with in-built A-GPS & Nokia Maps. Tonight, the news will be created by…you.For a closer look at the N96, click here. More »
Design
Punch Up A Photo In Under 60 Seconds
10:15AM Lifehacker US Edition | Using a couple of basic tools in Photoshop and other image editing programs, you can take a flat image and make it pop with just a little bit of effort and no experience in the finer arts of exposure and colour correction. With a little practice, you can get some quick and dirty work done in just seconds that will make your presentation, blog, or social network profile pictures look a lot better online. Even mobile phone snapshots can be made presentable while your instant noodles soften. Here’s how: More »
Fix
