Saturday, November 15, 2008
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StreamDesk Brings Web Streams to the Desktop
11:45AM Lifehacker US Edition | Windows/Mac OS X 10.5 only: Want live video streams to run in a dedicated window instead of a forgotten tab buried in your browser? StreamDesk brings a hand-picked selection of live video streams from sites like Ustream.tv, Justin.tv and Stickam directly to your desktop. For Mac, it requires OS X Leopard (version 10.5) and Flash 10. For Windows, it requires .NET 3.5 and Flash 10 — though the StreamDesk installer will helpfully download both for you. The content is currently tech-heavy, but you can request new feeds like the Shiba Inu Puppy Cam from a form on the developer’s site. StreamDesk is a free download for Windows and Mac OS X 10.5. StreamDesk [via Download.com] More »
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Improve Your Google Experience With iPhone Optimised Sites
10:45AM Lifehacker US Edition | While you can load Google’s normal webapps in your iPhone browser, Google has iPhone-optimised versions for most of the popular ones. Google System compiled a list of URLs to bookmark on your iPhone for Google’s homepage, Apps, iGoogle, Gmail, Calendar, Reader, Docs, Talk and News. You can also use these on other mobile phone browsers, unless you have Windows Mobile and Mobile IE like I do. Want to see how the iPhone half lives? They’ll load just fine in Firefox as well. More »
Fix
Create A Shocking Cheese Plate With A Jacob’s Ladder
9:00AM Lifehacker US Edition | With a hot Jacob’s Ladder arcing angrily between a pair of wires, Rafael and Max put a thoroughly modern spin on the traditional cheese plate by sending a few thousand volts through a grape and a piece of fromage in this video. Note that the two chefs wear goggles to protect their eyes and non-conductive wooden chopsticks to hold the food. What they don’t offer is a taste test. They do, however, offer a winking “Don’t try this at home.” From coffee warming coils to hot dog electrocutors, what are your favourite ways of cooking with juice? Things – Cooking with High Voltage Electricity [Vimeo via New In November] More »
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Archive All Your Mac Sticky Notes By Converting To PDF
8:30AM Lifehacker US Edition | If you’ve got a clutter of Stickies on your Mac desktop and you want to archive them all in one fell swoop, here’s a kludge jury-rigged from Print to PDF: While there’s no direct “export all” feature in Stickies, there is a fairly simple workaround. First, select File -> Print All Notes. In the Print dialog, click the PDF pop-up menu, then select Save as PDF. The PDF can then be printed if you prefer a paper record, or you can copy and paste the text from a reader into any text editor. If you’ve set up a Stickies tutorial, this would be a good way to save what you’ve written for reusing it later. Looking for other ways to improve your sticky notes? Check out Stick ‘Em Up for extending Stickies or download and try SketchBox. If you have a quicker way to convert your stickies to a text file, let us know in the comments. Export text from all notes in Stickies [Macworld] More »
Fix
FragExt Defrags Individual Files
8:00AM Adam Pash | Windows only: Free application FragExt adds an entry to your right-click context menu so you can defragment individual files on demand. To use it, just right-click the file you want to defrag, then select FragExt -> Defragment. You can also run reports on the fragmentation of individual files and copy it to your clipboard, a file, or just view it in a newly minted tab in the file properties. If defragmentation is a major issue for you, your best bet is to find a good defrag app and set up automated runs. If you just need to defrag a large file every now and then, FragExt or the previously mentioned Defraggler will do the job nicely. FragExt [via gHacks] More »
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Comprehensive Firefox 3 Add-On Compatibility Report
7:18AM Gina Trapani | The next time you upgrade Firefox—which will be to version 3.1—you don’t want to find out that your favourite extension isn’t yet compatible with the new version, and Mozilla’s going out of their way to make sure that doesn’t happen. They’ve published an eye-popping list of Firefox add-ons which make up 95% of known add-on usage, and show what level of compatibility each extension offers. This report will update as Firefox 3.1 nears release; in the meantime, it’s very interesting to browse the list, which is ordered by usage frequency to compare it to your favourite extensions. Add-on Compatibility Report [Firefox Add-ons] More »
Work
SoftMaker Office Is A Fast And Lightweight Office Suite
7:00AM Adam Pash | Windows only: SoftMaker Office is a free, lightweight office suite consisting of two fast, simple applications. The first, TextMaker, is a Microsoft Word-compatible word processor that runs lean (using around 12MB of RAM on my system) and is surprisingly feature rich. The second, called PlanMaker, is an Excel-compatible spreadsheet app that likewise offers impressive functionality, speed, and an equally light footprint. As if all that wasn’t good enough, SoftMaker Office can run off your thumb drive, so it’s a no-brainer when you need to open a Word or Excel document on someone else’s computer. If you need an occasional word processor or spreadsheet app but don’t need all the extra bloat of Microsoft Office, OpenOffice.org, or even previously mentioned Go-oo, this one’s worth a try. SoftMaker Office is a free download, Windows only. Thanks johnsmith1234! SoftMaker Office 2006 More »
Fix
Spoonflower Prints Custom Fabric From Your Images
6:45AM Lifehacker US Edition | Whether you’re a Project Runway hopeful or a home crafter, you can have your own graphics and designs printed onto mercerised cotton fabric thanks to Spoonflower. After registering with the site and confirming via email, simply upload a JPG or TIF image set to 150 DPI and up to 25 megabytes. Designs can be centered or repeated across the fabric. You can start with a swatch for five US dollars or order up to three yards for $US54. Spendy if you want a full-sized flat sheet with a repeating pattern depicting the prime cuts from a hog (which will run you $US90 for five yards plus shipping), but falling asleep in your meat sheets dreaming of barbecue somehow seems worth it. While the company eventually wants to print and ship orders within a day (and expand the range of available fabrics), you’ll currently have to wait up to three weeks (and that’s just for US delivery; for Australia, add at least another fortnight). Spoonflower [via MAKE] More »
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XBMC 8.10 Atlantis Leaves Beta
6:26AM Adam Pash | Ladies and gentlemen, start your downloads. XBMC 8.10 Atlantis—the release that’s bringing the popular media centre to all platforms and integrating XBMC with Mac apps like iTunes and iPhoto—is officially available. For a closer look at what you can expect, check out our screenshot tour of XBMC Atlantis. More »
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