Since opening up last July, Google’s Wikipedia competitor Knol has attracted more than 100,000 entries. While that’s an impressive number, it’s well and truly dwarfed by Wikipedia’s 2.7 million English-language articles. And while Knol’s “moderated edits” model might mean that there are fewer visible edit wars, there are still plenty of unsourced, rambling and opinionated articles which wouldn’t survive five minutes at Wikipedia (check out superman of calculated happiness for just one example). 100,000th Knol published [Official Google Blog]
The foul-mouthed folks at Ars Technica wondered why their iPhones weren’t updating and recognising their, um, custom verbiage. Turns out there’s only one way to make sure an iPhone/iPod touch learns the words you use. The iPhone’s custom auto-correct dictionary (located at /private/var/mobile/Library/Keyboard/dynamic-text.dat for all your jailbreaking, SFTP-ing types) doesn’t update itself when you’re using, say, Notes. Using Mobile Safari’s Google search box, however, seems to instantly refresh the file: … Clearly, not every iPhone application can “learn” words. Notes seems to be brain-dead in that regard. At the same time, using Safari’s Google text entry field worked every time, expanding the database and adding new items to my keyboard dictionary.
At the same time, Notes and other type-friendly apps will pick up whatever additions you make with Mobile Safari. Whether that information is worth spending some time creatively searching in Google to train your device is up to you and your time constraints (and finger thickness).
What the duck? Train your iPhone to (truly) learn new words [Ars Technica]Google has released a new experimental search feature—called preferred sites—that returns customised search results based on a list of sites you like. So, for example, setting Lifehacker as a preferred site at your Google preference page will increase the likelihood that a Lifehacker post will appear in the first page of search results when you search for something. According to Google Operating System, the feature isn’t available to all users (including this editor). If your account is one of the lucky ones, let’s hear how the feature works for you in the comments. (Photo via Google Operating System)
There are already dating and friendship sites for all kinds of niche communities, so it shouldn’t be surprising that someone’s spotted a gap for animals who need to meet up with others of their species, or dogs who have a strange desire to spend time hanging out with other people’s cats. MyPetNeedsLove is designed to allow animal owners to co-ordinate meetings with other pets in their area, and includes all the features you’d expect (profiles, picture galleries, search functions, Google Maps integration and so on). MyPetNeedsLove is free to use, requires registration. Do not come complaining to us if your cherished spaniel ends up pregnant. MyPetNeedsLove
Windows/Mac OS X only: Syncplicity—one of the most popular file-syncing application among Lifehacker readers—has expanded from a Windows-only application to the Mac. Right now the Mac version is in a private beta, but we come bearing invites. Syncplicity’s Windows app left beta a couple of months back, and now Mac users attracted to the feature set of Syncplicity can give it a crack. Right now Syncplicity offers a free account capable of syncing 2GB and 2 computers. If you need more, Syncplicity covers 50GB syncing with unlimited computers for $US9.99/month or $US99/year. We’ve got 1,000 invites to share with Lifehacker readers, so hit the signup link below to get started. If you’ve been using Syncplicity on Windows, share your experience with the syncing app in the comments. Syncplicity is a free download, Mac OS X (closed beta) and Windows (open, out of beta) only.
Syncplicity Mac BetaSyncplicityWindows/Mac/Linux (Adobe Air or Flash): Font Picker is a simple application that previews your text using different typefaces to help select from the fonts installed on your own computer. To use, simply highlight any of the example boxes and type in your own text, which will be replicated to the rest of the items. Use the check boxes to select the fonts you like, and the Clear button to remove the fonts you don’t, leaving you with a smaller list of fonts to choose from. If you’ve ever wondered what font to use in a presentation or logo, this application could be useful, especially for those of us that got stuck with the designer hat at work when it doesn’t really fit. Font Picker is a free download for the (Windows/Mac/Linux) Adobe Air platform, or can be run in a browser without installation. Font Picker [via Digital Inspiration]
Businesses have policies for how long records and paperwork are to be held—and you should, too. Cut down on the clutter in your office by establishing rules for handling paperwork. Over at the organizational blog Ian’s Messy Desk, Ian has several great tips on reducing office clutter. Chief among them is creating a record retention policy. Despite technological advances, there are certain files, such as personnel records and corporate documents, that you’ll need to keep for extended periods of time. To manage this process, you’ll need a record retention plan. How this policy reads will vary depending on local laws.
It isn’t effective or practical to keep paperwork beyond the point where it is required by law or directly benefits you—so goodbye five-year-old cable bills. Ian’s process starts by assigning a rule and duration for each type of document in one’s “active” pile, then consolidating and organisng your archive boxes with destroy-by dates. That way, your clean-out sessions allow you to quickly and confidently shred, burn, or shoot the documents into a lower earth orbit. Photo by Marcin Wichary. Eight Ways to Keep Your Office Clutter Free [Ian's Messy Desk]
Website Rouxbe breaks down high-quality instructional cooking videos into separate steps, teaching the basic skills you need to be a great cook. The website claims to “focus on the food” instead of fancy-pants recipes from famous chefs, and while recipes can be submitted by users, they have to be voted up by the community before they’re turned into premium videos. There’s also a cooking school section with tips ranging from skinning hazelnuts to butterflying a chicken. What makes these videos impressive is the broken-down, step-by-step nature, letting you skip back and re-watch the detail you need to watch again instead of dragging a slider bar around (which can be difficult with chicken-greased fingers). Watching most of the videos requires a free membership (which gives you a 30-day pass to everything), but you can check out a couple of the videos without signing up. For completely free cooking videos on a wider range of topics, check out the previously mentioned FoodTube.
RouxbeWindows only: If you’re looking to securely store files on your flash drive and unlock them without any installed software, WinPT is like a TrueCrypt you can take anywhere. TrueCrypt, one of our favourite apps for securing data on any system, requires administrative privileges to run on any system—a source of frustration for many commenters, and a non-starter when it comes to being truly portable. WinPT is a nice step-in solution as a portable, graphical front-end for GnuPGP, an open-source implementation of the Pretty Good Privacy encryption. Portable versions of both WinPT and GnuPGP are available from PortableApps.com, tweaked and ready to play nicely with each other right out of the box. All the standard encryption key tools are available, including a symmetric encryption option that does away with keyrings (but makes choosing strong passwords a must). The application is listed as an in-development beta on PortableApps.com, but in testing the product performs like a polished release. WinPT Portable is freeware, Windows only and requires portable GnuPGP.
WinPT Portable [Portable Apps]Save yourself an embarrassing moment with the NiceCritic.com website, which can anonymously tell that co-worker to wash their hands before they leave the bathroom, or at least stop trying to shake your hand. Using the site is as simple as choosing between one of their pre-written messages. Unlike the similar previously mentioned Annoying Coworker site, there’s no option to create your own message, but they do cover a wide variety of topics for office as well as personal situations. Add in your recipient’s name and email address, and the message arrives in their inbox. It’s worth noting that the site is a little slow, and likely to get slower under the “Lifehacker effect,” at least for today. Have an awkward co-worker moment you’re just dying to tell somebody? Is Milton playing the radio at an unreasonable level? Share it in the comments—just don’t use your real name!
NiceCritic.com
