Thursday, November 6, 2008
Fix
Duplicate Files Searcher Finds File Matches Across Systems Or Discs
10:30PM Kevin Purdy | Windows/Mac/Linux (All platforms with Java): Duplicate Files Searcher has a pretty modest name, but it’s a powerful program for finding exact matches of files on one hard drive, across multiple systems, or on a CD or DVD compared to other storage systems. The Java-based, no-install-needed app simply has you add directories (and their sub-directories) to its list of places to search, including shared network files and removable discs. By default, the app will compare the hashed indexes of each file, and also do a byte-to-byte comparison of any potential matches found. You can also have it look for exact matches of name and date, and create pre-loaded databases of files to save time on future dupe-hunting sessions. It’s also easy to switch the app’s look and feel to match Linux, Mac, or Windows environments. Duplicate Files Searcher is a free download, requires a Java runtime environment to run. Thanks, jsong78! Duplicate Files Searcher More »
Work
Open Office 2007 .DOCX Files In Gmail, Google
10:00PM Kevin Purdy | The Google Operating System blog points out that both Google web search and Gmail can now read and convert Office 2007 documents, i.e. .DOCX files. That makes for easy mail-yourself conversion if you need it, or bulk-converting files to HTML, just like with PDF files. There are, of course, online tools like Zamzar for those without Gmail. More »
Fix
Five Tweaks For Your New Ubuntu Desktop
9:00PM Kevin Purdy | With the recent release of the popular Linux distro Ubuntu’s 8.10 version, code-named Intrepid Ibex, we’ve recently detailed some productive-minded Ubuntu Kung Fu, as well as a user-minded tour through 8.10. This morning, though, we’re taking a more nuts-and-bolts look at changes you can make to your newly-installed system to make it faster, reliable, and more enjoyable from the inside out. Read on for five tweaks that any Ubuntu user (or Linux user in general) should consider making to get started on the right foot. More »
Communicate
3:34PM Angus Kidman | Telstra today rolled out MyConnect, a set of email-related services designed for mobile phone users. While the concept — the ability to access multiple email accounts on your Next G phone and synchronise contacts — is appealing, the pricing is not. The offering consists of three services: MyInbox (essentially web mail with MMS and SMS access), MyEmail (up to five accounts accessible on your mobile), and MySync (contacts synced from your mobile into the cloud daily). MyInbox is free if you’re a BigPond or Next G customer, but MyEmail is $7 a month, and MySync is $3 a month. Admittedly, rival email sync services like the BlackBerry or MobileMe aren’t free either, but $3 a month for contact syncing — something you should be able to achieve for free via Bluetooth to your PC — sounds way overpriced.
Telstra MyConnect
More »
Telstra MyConnect A Pricey Way To Keep Mail, Contacts Synced
3:34PM Angus Kidman | Telstra today rolled out MyConnect, a set of email-related services designed for mobile phone users. While the concept — the ability to access multiple email accounts on your Next G phone and synchronise contacts — is appealing, the pricing is not. The offering consists of three services: MyInbox (essentially web mail with MMS and SMS access), MyEmail (up to five accounts accessible on your mobile), and MySync (contacts synced from your mobile into the cloud daily). MyInbox is free if you’re a BigPond or Next G customer, but MyEmail is $7 a month, and MySync is $3 a month. Admittedly, rival email sync services like the BlackBerry or MobileMe aren’t free either, but $3 a month for contact syncing — something you should be able to achieve for free via Bluetooth to your PC — sounds way overpriced.
Telstra MyConnect
More »
Communicate
3:00PM Angus Kidman | In the spirit of the infamous Fake Steve Jobs, Fake Stephen Conroy has arrived on Twitter, making a mockery of our Minister for Communications. As Dan Warne reports at APC, the faux feed is actually the work of Electronic Frontiers Australia, as part of their campaign against the government’s clean feed proposal. If you’re opposed to that proposal, it’s a great addition to your Twitter friends.
Say G’day to Fake Steve Conroy [APC]
More »
Fake Stephen Conroy Arrives On Twitter
3:00PM Angus Kidman | In the spirit of the infamous Fake Steve Jobs, Fake Stephen Conroy has arrived on Twitter, making a mockery of our Minister for Communications. As Dan Warne reports at APC, the faux feed is actually the work of Electronic Frontiers Australia, as part of their campaign against the government’s clean feed proposal. If you’re opposed to that proposal, it’s a great addition to your Twitter friends.
Say G’day to Fake Steve Conroy [APC]
More »
Design
1:00PM Angus Kidman |
I went to a charity concert by Bananarama (yes, the 80s girl group who sang ‘Venus’ and ‘Love In The First Degree’) the other night, and found myself unexpectedly positioned right in front of the stage. Even more unexpectedly, the usual security goons who try and block people taking pictures were nowhere in evidence, leaving me cursing that I’d left my EOS at home and only had the basic camera in my BlackBerry to fall back on. I took 150-odd photographs, but unsurprisingly given stage lighting and the camera’s limitations, not many of them turned out too well. More »
Build Wallpaper From Dodgy Camera Phone Photos
1:00PM Angus Kidman |
I went to a charity concert by Bananarama (yes, the 80s girl group who sang ‘Venus’ and ‘Love In The First Degree’) the other night, and found myself unexpectedly positioned right in front of the stage. Even more unexpectedly, the usual security goons who try and block people taking pictures were nowhere in evidence, leaving me cursing that I’d left my EOS at home and only had the basic camera in my BlackBerry to fall back on. I took 150-odd photographs, but unsurprisingly given stage lighting and the camera’s limitations, not many of them turned out too well. More »
Organise
11:00AM Angus Kidman | Electronic calendars are all very well, but sometimes a print calendar is easy to work with for long-term planning. Lifehacker reader Phil recently went hunting for a calendar-generating application, and ended up plumping for PDFCalendar.com. Here’s why Phil finds it useful:
As a person who finds calendars scary (which kind of inhibits planning), I was excited the other day to figure out I could break my year into four 13-week blocks. I wondered if there would be any calendar printing apps online that would let me print out in that format. PDFCalendar.com does all that and more — enter your specs, click ‘download pdf’ and it’s done in moments. The only limitation is that it only produces one page at a time, so you need to enter a start date and download a pdf for each new quarter. Very cool though.
A cautionary note: remember to change the paper size to A4 from the default US Letter to avoid printing hassles. If you’re after a more compact calendar approach, check out recently mentioned Compact Calendar Creator. Thanks Phil!
PDFCalendar.com
More »
PDFCalendar Can Span Any Period
11:00AM Angus Kidman | Electronic calendars are all very well, but sometimes a print calendar is easy to work with for long-term planning. Lifehacker reader Phil recently went hunting for a calendar-generating application, and ended up plumping for PDFCalendar.com. Here’s why Phil finds it useful:
As a person who finds calendars scary (which kind of inhibits planning), I was excited the other day to figure out I could break my year into four 13-week blocks. I wondered if there would be any calendar printing apps online that would let me print out in that format. PDFCalendar.com does all that and more — enter your specs, click ‘download pdf’ and it’s done in moments. The only limitation is that it only produces one page at a time, so you need to enter a start date and download a pdf for each new quarter. Very cool though.
A cautionary note: remember to change the paper size to A4 from the default US Letter to avoid printing hassles. If you’re after a more compact calendar approach, check out recently mentioned Compact Calendar Creator. Thanks Phil!
PDFCalendar.com
More »
Organise
Thoroughly Invade Someone’s Privacy With 123people
11:00AM Lifehacker US Edition | People search engine 123people.com aggregates search results from several different sources online — and off. Simply enter a person’s name, and 123people will display search results from social networks, telephone listings, web pages, Wikipedia and the like. A quick search on my likely new representative in city government, David Chiu, turned up some good candidates for his home address and phone number, and certainly found plenty of photos on Flickr and web sites and articles related to his recent campaign (as well as plenty of information about David Chiu, competitive poker player and others). Potentially creepy? Yes. Potentially useful? Also yes. (It didn’t do half as well for non-US searches like the Lifehacker AU editor, it should be noted.) 123people.com More »
Fix
How Can I Sync My Firefox Installations?
10:30AM Adam Pash | Dear Lifehacker, I have Firefox installed on three separate computers, and I find it difficult to keep the same Add Ons/Preferences synchronised between all three machines. Is there an automated way to synchronise my Firefox installation between all three machines? In other words, if I add a new Add-on or Greasemonkey script to one Firefox installation, can it be automatically added to my installation on my two other machines? Signed, Three Firefoxes, One User More »
Work
