Windows only: Downloadr is a small application that allows you to completely back up the photos from your Flickr account. You can grab everything in one bulk swoop or use a series of filters to drill down to just the photos you want to grab. It automatically grabs the highest quality image and preserves the EXIF and IPTC data. In addition to searching grabbing images from your own account, you can search creative commons works on Flickr and use Downloadr as a tool for bulk grabbing them also. Downloadr is freeware, Windows only. Downloadr [via gHacks]
The Tech ARP web site nabbed a draft “Technical Guarantee Program” from Microsoft that implies anyone buying a PC from major vendors after July can receive a Windows 7 upgrade for free. Microsoft wouldn’t confirm, but didn’t truly deny, the implied upgrade program when Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley asked. And an official release date, isn’t set for Windows 7, though Foley hears third quarter 2009, and Microsoft will only officially say early 2010. So new PC buyers might want to hold off if they’re geeked for a fixed-up Vista—depending on one’s faith in Microsoft ship dates, of course.
If you’re looking for one particular, recognisable YouTube video amidst a galaxy of copycats and look-alikes, Wibe7.tv offers a vast wall of thumbnails that pop up the clip, no visit to YouTube required. It’s very similar to (and inspired by) the previously mentioned, just-the-pics-ma’am Flickr searcher Compfight. Once you’ve searched, the results can be sorted by relevance, views, user ratings, or date published. It looks like you only get one page of results, so if the clip is buried deep inside YouTube, only search term refinement will dig it up here. All told, it looks like a powerful and quick way to gun through YouTube videos to find what you’re looking for.
Wibe7.tv [via ReadWriteWeb]Lifehacker’s go-to food writer Mark Bittman offers a list of stale, uninspired (and expensive) pantry items you might think about tossing for fresher cooking this year, and what to replace them with. For example:
OUT Bottled lemon juice.
IN Lemons. Try buying six at a time, then experiment; I never put lemon on something and regret it. (Scramble a couple of eggs in chicken stock, then finish with a lot of lemon, black pepper and dill; call this egg-lemon soup, or avgolemono.) Don’t forget the zest: you can grate it and add it to many pan sauces, or hummus and other purées. And don’t worry about reamers, squeezers or any of that junk; squeeze from one hand into the other and let your fingers filter out the pips.
All of Bittman’s suggestions revolve around the idea of keeping only the true pantry essentials hanging around, and using the inexpensive tools of a home cook (oil, vinegar, onions, garlic, and, most often, your hands) to fill their place. Those in colder climates, of course, can’t always depend on a wealth of fresh stuff all year round, but most of the fresher replacements for overpriced kitchen stockers are available to anyone. In general, though, it’s a good time to run through and toss the spices and boxes that you can’t remember buying; if you re-stock all at once, it’s easier to remember when you next need to freshen up. Photo by box of lettuce. Fresh Start for a New Year? Let’s Begin in the Kitchen [The Minimalist | New York Times]
Unsurprisingly given my job, I know a lot of people who write about technology for a living. A large percentage of that group are self-employed and work from home. As a result, when a discussion started on a tech journalist mailing list I subscribe to about the requirements for the perfect home office, there was plenty of lively debate and a lot of useful ideas. Here’s some of the things that Australia’s tech writers think are essential when working from home. More »
The news that Apple will offer DRM-free tracks and let you convert existing protected music is pretty welcome, but as Nick over at Gizmodo points out, it won’t come cheap. Converting existing tracks will cost 50 cents a pop, videos will be $1, and whole albums will cost 30% of the original purchase price. All that sound nastily excessive to us for stuff you’ve already paid for (and a good reason to break out the CD burner for some cost-free conversion instead). As Nick notes, it’s also important to check any future purchases to ensure you don’t actually purchase a DRM-hindered track; if that looks like the only option, hanging out until April, when a bunch more tracks will be freed up, seems sensible. More »
My daily Twittermail summary earlier in the week included the following interesting notion:
Waiting at the airport? Tweet #boarding along with your airport code to find other stranded Twitter travelers
While this is quite a neat idea, the French developer of what’s been dubbed the Boarding Project (the site provides a summary of boarding activity on a map) has been a bit over-keen with the promotion. A dedicated bot is so busy promoting the concept that every search for a #boarding tag finds lots of copies of that promo message as well as actual relevant posts. Nonetheless, it’s worth pursuing if you’ve got time to kill airside — just remember to include and search for the relevant three-letter airport code (such as SYD) as well. More »
iPhone or iPod touch only: The already-good Pandora music recommendation engine app for the iPhone has gotten better with version 2.0, which adds Cover Flow view, artist and song info, and bookmark previews. Take a look at some screenshots.
The latest Windows 7 beta offers an even speedier startup than its predecessor: for me the beta boots to a fully functional desktop in under 30 seconds, faster than the preview.
It took a little longer than originally predicted, but tech shopping comparison engine staticICE is once more up and running. If you’re a regular staticICE user, check out its guide to adding browser search plug-ins; since we last mentioned this back in October 2007, an option for Opera has been added alongside Firefox and IE. More »
