Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Design
Get Free Logos At LogoInstant
11:30PM Jason Fitzpatrick | If you need a logo but you’re lacking the design chops to whip one up, score a free one at LogoInstant. LogoInstant is a design service that cranks out a new logo every day. The logos are completely free for both personal and commercial use and come in a layered Adobe Photoshop source file so you can edit the name or make more advanced changes. Logo Instant [via gHacks] More »
Communicate
Hear Your Mobile Better By Covering The Mouthpiece
11:00PM Kevin Purdy | Wired’s How-To Wiki gets advice from a neuroscientist on how to hear your mobile phone better in a loud crowd, whether indoors or outside. By covering the mouthpiece, you’ll eliminate hearing the noise around you pitched back at you through the speaker, and your brain will have a clearer shot at singling out the voice on the line. Just remember to take your thumb off the mouthpiece before talking again, of course. Photo by gwaar. More »
Work
Ketarin Keeps Installer Packages Up To Date
10:30PM Kevin Purdy | Windows only: Ketarin is a great thing for any travelling tech support worker, as it can easily keep a folder or USB drive full of installation packages up to date. The open-source, no-install-needed app works just fine as a go-between for your thumb drive or utilities folder and FileHippo, as it can automatically check the popular download site for new installers of your favourite apps with a simple URL copy/paste. If you’re looking to keep an app not on FileHippo up to date, Ketarin’s got you covered—you can point it at any download location and help it work through any variables an app maker might use to change up the names of their packages. In other words, if AwesomeApp1234.exe updates to AwesomeApp1250.exe, Ketarin can read the site and figure that out if you’ve told it to look for AwesomeApp{version}.exe. More »
Organise
What’s On Your Productivity Wishlist For 2009?
9:00PM Kevin Purdy | We asked our editors and contributors to create a blue-sky wishlist for all things productivity and software in 2009. Read on for their responses, and to contribute your own do-wants for the new year. More »
Fix
3:30PM Angus Kidman | Losing your car keys is a nuisance, but leaving them behind in Europe is potentially worse. That was the experience for Lifehacker reader Mark, but the story turned out to have a happy ending, as he recounts:
I recently came back from Europe after a three-week holiday. When I got home, I realised that I hadn’t brought my car keys with me and instead had left them overseas with my girlfriend. As my girlfriend doesn’t return for another week, I considered my options (taxi/public transport everywhere/hire a car). Recalling a story that I read recently that keys just represent number codes and can be cloned from a photo (after reconstruction with a computer); I asked my girlfriend to email me a scan of the car key to see if I could get someone to cut it. I rang a few locksmiths, most of who confidently told me that what I was asking for was impossible and that I would need to replace the locks. One guy, however, said to bring the image and he would see. I took my laptop along and showed the guy the image. To my satisfaction, he was able to read all but one of the numbers from the key ridges/dips with confidence. He then asked the make and model of the car and was able to cross-reference the number he had generated off the image with a database of known keys ( I didn’t know such a thing existed). As one of the numbers was uncertain, he tried a few options and one of them came up as a match. He was then able to cut a key from the computer which worked first try. The cost? $29 dollars. A good life hack I think! Obviously, this applies to older model cars that have a simple key with no specialised electronics.
If you have found yourself in this scenario, and have the patience to find a co-operative locksmith, this could well get you out of trouble. Thanks Mark! More »
Get Keys Cut From A Photograph In An Emergency
3:30PM Angus Kidman | Losing your car keys is a nuisance, but leaving them behind in Europe is potentially worse. That was the experience for Lifehacker reader Mark, but the story turned out to have a happy ending, as he recounts:
I recently came back from Europe after a three-week holiday. When I got home, I realised that I hadn’t brought my car keys with me and instead had left them overseas with my girlfriend. As my girlfriend doesn’t return for another week, I considered my options (taxi/public transport everywhere/hire a car). Recalling a story that I read recently that keys just represent number codes and can be cloned from a photo (after reconstruction with a computer); I asked my girlfriend to email me a scan of the car key to see if I could get someone to cut it. I rang a few locksmiths, most of who confidently told me that what I was asking for was impossible and that I would need to replace the locks. One guy, however, said to bring the image and he would see. I took my laptop along and showed the guy the image. To my satisfaction, he was able to read all but one of the numbers from the key ridges/dips with confidence. He then asked the make and model of the car and was able to cross-reference the number he had generated off the image with a database of known keys ( I didn’t know such a thing existed). As one of the numbers was uncertain, he tried a few options and one of them came up as a match. He was then able to cut a key from the computer which worked first try. The cost? $29 dollars. A good life hack I think! Obviously, this applies to older model cars that have a simple key with no specialised electronics.
If you have found yourself in this scenario, and have the patience to find a co-operative locksmith, this could well get you out of trouble. Thanks Mark! More »
Organise
1:30PM Angus Kidman | No matter how carefully you plan, there’s almost always a point on Christmas morning when little Jared’s shiny new toy won’t work because you forget the batteries or some other implementation disaster. As a card-carrying geek, I’m all for giving the kids tech presents, but after a few minor incidents of this kind over Christmas, I’ve made a few notes on what to do better next time around. More »
Christmas Kids Toys And Gadget Checklist
1:30PM Angus Kidman | No matter how carefully you plan, there’s almost always a point on Christmas morning when little Jared’s shiny new toy won’t work because you forget the batteries or some other implementation disaster. As a card-carrying geek, I’m all for giving the kids tech presents, but after a few minor incidents of this kind over Christmas, I’ve made a few notes on what to do better next time around. More »
Communicate
Win A BRAVIA Z Series LCD TV
12:43PM Kym Weathersten | Remember, for your chance to win that BRAVIA Z Series LCD TV we keep harping on about head to our absurdely brilliant site survey and take a few minutes to tell us about yourself. [Survey] [Terms and Conditions] More »
Organise
11:30AM Angus Kidman | As part of my annual end-of-year clearout, I’ve decided to ditch the print versions of the White and Yellow Pages and reclaim some bookshelf space — let’s face it, if I want a phone number, I’ll inevitably go online to look for it. However, it seems that might be a less common viewpoint than you’d think. Sara Rich at The Australian reports that revenues from both Yellow and White Pages print editions continue to grow, with the latter rising by 10.8%. While growth is even faster for online directories, they’re not yet making the same amount of money. Do you still make use of print directories, or would you rather get your phone numbers from the Net? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Sensis bucks global trend as Yellow Pages revenue grows
More »
Somebody Out There Still Wants The Yellow Pages
11:30AM Angus Kidman | As part of my annual end-of-year clearout, I’ve decided to ditch the print versions of the White and Yellow Pages and reclaim some bookshelf space — let’s face it, if I want a phone number, I’ll inevitably go online to look for it. However, it seems that might be a less common viewpoint than you’d think. Sara Rich at The Australian reports that revenues from both Yellow and White Pages print editions continue to grow, with the latter rising by 10.8%. While growth is even faster for online directories, they’re not yet making the same amount of money. Do you still make use of print directories, or would you rather get your phone numbers from the Net? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Sensis bucks global trend as Yellow Pages revenue grows
More »
Work
Burn More Reliable Discs With QuickPar
10:00AM Gina Trapani | Reader ST discovered that aging data backup CDs he had burned had become unreadable, so now he uses QuickPar to make recovering data on disc with bad sectors possible. Here’s how he does it. More »
Communicate
9:18AM Angus Kidman | If you’re planning on using a calling card to help cut costs during holiday travel, it makes more sense than ever to read the fine print. David Neiger and Dan Warne at APC report that Optus is now slogging customers who use a separate calling card service to access international numbers on their mobiles that they’ll still be hit with international calling rates, even though they’ve dialled a local number and the call itself isn’t being handled on Optus’ networks. Sounds like a fair degree of nerve to us, though such profiteering isn’t untypical amongst telcos.
Optus threatens customers over VoIP calls [APC]
More »
Optus Gets Narky Over VOIP Calls On Mobiles
9:18AM Angus Kidman | If you’re planning on using a calling card to help cut costs during holiday travel, it makes more sense than ever to read the fine print. David Neiger and Dan Warne at APC report that Optus is now slogging customers who use a separate calling card service to access international numbers on their mobiles that they’ll still be hit with international calling rates, even though they’ve dialled a local number and the call itself isn’t being handled on Optus’ networks. Sounds like a fair degree of nerve to us, though such profiteering isn’t untypical amongst telcos.
Optus threatens customers over VoIP calls [APC]
More » 
