Windows/Mac only: Instant JPEG from RAW allows you to browse RAW photo files from a number of high-end digital cameras directly in Windows File Explorer and Mac OS X Finder. The software extracts the JPEG thumbnail usually embedded in a RAW file and makes it the file’s system icon—which makes editing large batches of pictures much quicker and easier. Instant JPEG from RAW is a free download for Mac or Windows after registration (licence key arrives via email). Instant JPEG From RAW – Version 1.1 [RawWorkflow via News.com]
Free webapp Scrumy helps teams manage and complete projects that will feel familiar to anyone who’s used Scrum collaboration techniques developing software. Frustrated when cheap sticky notes refused to stay stuck to the wall, the folks from Knockout Apps decided to develop a digital solution. A free version is available, but to go pro it’ll cost you $US7 a month or $US60 a year and you’ll get extra features like automatically generated burndown charts to track your progress from day to day. Plus, you won’t randomly get a clip from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air instead of your project. Check out the demo, and if you’re not convinced, check out the team’s “Professional Infomercial” after the jump.
When my household contents insurance bill came in recently and was more than double the previous year’s figure, I was gobsmacked. However, a quick call to my insurer later and I actually ended up with a lower quote than the 2007 instalment. I’m a pretty lousy negotiator, so this felt like a major victory. There are some obvious rules if you want to challenge any kind of bill: don’t rely on email (too easy to ignore); be firm but don’t be abusive; assemble as much documentary evidence as possible; make sure you’ve allocated plenty of time so the call can be escalated if need be. But I want to know how Lifehacker readers cope when a bill with massively excessive charges (be they for broadband or the plumber) come in. Share your tips and your triumphs in the comments.
Dear Lifehacker, Windows Media Player hijacked my MP3 files and converted them all to WMA. I want to change them back easily in one sweep—but am not the most savvy user. Help? Signed, Gimme My Beats Back Original photo by Mark Kobayashi-Hillary
DIY website Instructables demonstrates how to make an impressive and—dare I say—elegant vertical laptop stand with nothing but a coat hanger and a little ingenuity. You’d definitely want to find a thick, sturdy coat hanger before proceeding, and a few test runs may be necessary before you get it perfect. That said, the author’s setup looks great, the stand seems easy to make, and the laptop stand concept is always useful if you want to work more ergonomically with your laptop. Ergonomic Laptop Stand Made From a Coat Hanger [Instructables]
Most of the time a BitTorrent download gets stuck, it’s because the tracker can no longer find seeders who have the entire file available for download. Website btReAnnouncR resurrects dead BitTorrent downloads by scouring the internet for all torrent trackers following the same torrent. Once it finds alternate torrents, you can create and download a custom .torrent download file in which you select the primary and alternate trackers yourself. In doing so, you’ll (hopefully) find several more peers that are seeding the same download. If you’ve ever spent hours downloading a file using BitTorrent just to find yourself stuck at 98% complete and desperately adding “Seed please!” comments to the tracker, btReAnnounceR might be just what you need. btReAnnounceR [via TorrentFreak]
Gmail Mobile 2.0 adds basic offline email capability, performance improvements, and improved keyboard shortcuts for BlackBerry and J2ME-supported mobile phones. This is a huge update, especially considering offline access is something that everyone is waiting for from a Google-built Gmail client (your IMAP or POP email client doesn’t count). The update even adds quick switching between different Gmail and Google app accounts, along with all the rest of the great features that were already built into Gmail Mobile (like threaded conversations and search). Gmail Mobile is a free download, works with the BlackBerry and other J2ME-supported phones. (Raise your hand if you’re waiting for Google to release a Gmail app for the iPhone/iPod touch.) We don’t have a supported phone on hand, so if you give it a try, let’s hear how the new features work for you in the comments. Introducing Gmail for mobile 2.0 [Official Google Mobile Blog]
When it comes to computers, you want it all: the portability of a laptop, the extensibility of a desktop, as well as the sleekness of Mac OS X and the wide selection of software for Windows. After virtualising and dual-booting Windows on my MacBook Pro for well over a year, I’m done—done with slow virtual machines and “your hard drive is low on space” messages, done with having to switch gears to move from one OS to another. There’s software and hardware I’m invested in that simply works better on a PC over a Mac (and vice versa) and I want it all at my fingertips every day. When you want to move between the two operating systems fluidly and get the full benefit of both a laptop and a desktop, a few techniques can marry your Mac notebook and PC desktop to live and work in harmony. Here’s my current setup.
Windows/Mac/Linux: Search plug-in Inquisitor adds new functionality to your web browser’s search box, incorporating attractive autocompletion of your search, tailored results, and customizable search engines. Once available only for Safari, Inquisitor just released a Firefox extension and Internet Explorer plug-in to bring the same functionality to whichever browser you’re most comfortable with. Recently acquired by the folks at Yahoo, you can still use Google as your default search engine if you prefer. Inquisitor tailors your results to what it thinks you might be interested based on previous searches.
Microsoft Office jockeys may be interested to know that the Office 2007 SP2 should be available sometime in the rather large window between February and April of next year. The update will include improved calendar reliability, Outlook, PowerPoint and Word performance, and a lot more. Let’s hear what you’d like to see fixed in Office 2007 in the comments. [via Nirmal TV]
