We all know hackers like their coffee, but just how do they like to take it? A relatively unscientific check — asking the staff on the coffee stand at Linux.conf.au 2009 in Hobart — reveals that the three most popular choices this week are long black, double espresso and flat white. Gorging yourself on coffee isn’t a wise idea, of course, but at least leaving the milk out makes it more slimming (except for the flat white lovers, of course).
Linux/Mac only: Social bookmarking service Delicious is a great way to save and share your bookmarks, but what happens if they go the way of JournalSpace and lose all your data? You need backups!
Whether you’re polishing your resume because you’ve been laid off or you just like to be prepared, weblog Squawkfox suggests six words you should banish from your curriculum vitae. The six words or phrases described in the post include:Responsible for Experienced Excellent written communication skills Team player Detail oriented Successful
According to the author, these common phrases are problematic because they gloss over what should be an opportunity to demonstrate something specific that you’ve done. Sure a hiring manager wants you to have experience, but she’d rather know the details. For example: BADResponsible for writing user guides on deadline.
GOODWrote six user guides for 15,000 users two weeks before deadline.
Head to the post for more details on how you can spin your resume no-no into a strong addition. If you’re resume-reading employer or just an expert at constructing a great CV, let’s hear your biggest resume pet peeves in the comments. Photo by SOCIALisBETTER.
6 Words That Make Your Resume Suck [Squawkfox]Previously mentioned Start Killer—the simple utility that frees up taskbar space by removing the Start button—now officially supports hiding the Start button in Vista and unofficially in Windows 7 (I tested it and it seemed to work just fine). Granted, the Start button doesn’t eat nearly as much real estate in Windows 7 or Vista as it does XP, but if you always access it by pressing the Windows key anyway, Start Killer performs a nice little tweak that can save you much needed screen real estate. Thanks Rupert!
Sticking with trusted computers is your best bet for security, but sometimes security-unknown setups are unavoidable. Enter text with a Greasemonkey-powered virtual keyboard, though, and key-loggers are out of luck. Using a virtual keyboard isn’t an absolute guarantee against having your login and password lifted—thieves can be rather resourceful, of course—but it is a good defence against hardware and basic software key-loggers. More than 22 keyboard layouts are available, making it easy to take advantage of that great Slovenian password you’ve been dying to use. Virtual Keyboard Interface is a Greasemonkey script, works wherever Greasemonkey does. Virtual Keyboard Interface [via DownloadSquad]
Gmail Chat now supports inline, embedded videos from YouTube and Google Video. To use it, just paste the URL of the video into your web-based chat box and hit Enter. The video will automatically appear in a small embedded popup so you can enjoy it with your chat buddy from the comfort of Gmail. [via TechCrunch]
If you’ve ever wanted to send an electronic message to a friend without spying eyes reading your network traffic, web app Whisper Bot might be just the ticket. Sending a message is as simple as entering your text, the recipient’s email address, and optionally adding a password to secure the note against anybody spying on your email. The recipient gets the link and enters the password that you communicated (through another means) to retrieve the message. The site is secured with SSL to prevent eavesdropping, but like any online service you are still at the mercy of a third party, so you probably shouldn’t use this for anything really sensitive. Granted, you should already beusing your secure https connection for your email anyway (you can even tell Gmail to always use a secure connection), but you can’t always count on your email’s recipient to do the same. Since the sender name field is optional, this could also be used as an alternative to previously mentioned NiceCritic for sending awkward messages anonymously.
Whisper Bot [via Digital Inspiration]CCleaner—Lifehacker readers’ favourite Windows maintenance tool —has added support for Google Chrome in its latest release. Granted, the release first saw light about a month ago, but it’s great to see CCleaner continue to add new browsers. Chrome cleaning includes cookies, download history, cache, browser history, and saved form info. [via Cnet]
Windows only: QTWeb, a WebKit-based browser, is seriously speedy, doesn’t let its interface get in your way, and can blend into any Windows theme. More than that, though, it has a quick-fire privacy mode. The browser does most of the stuff you’d want from its portable, no-install-needed executable, including password-saving, tabbed navigation, and plug-in compatibility. The real reason you might use QTWeb over, say, a portable version of Firefox 3.1, is its built-in, quick-access privacy mode, if you want to browse on someone else’s system (or your own) and not leave a trace. Firefox 3.1 may have a built-in privacy mode, but if you’re looking for a slimmed-down, no-add-ons-please browser for on-the-go browsing, QTWeb’s a great choice. QTWeb is a free download for Windows systems only; make sure to grab the “stand-alone executable” if you’re going the USB route.
QTWeb [via Download Squad]Depending on how your 2009 fitness resolutions are working out, the results of a study of just how long it really takes to change your body’s look could be disappointing or hugely empowering. University of Wisconsin researchers asked a host of mostly sedentary people to be judged, based on swimsuit photographs, by a panel and given a rank on a scale of 1 to 10. Put on a six-week exercise program, the participants were graded again, and, well … The subjects’ ratings barely changed, if at all, after their exercise program. And neither did objective measures, like weight or percentage of body fat, or waist size or the size of the bicep or thigh.
So if you’re not noticing much change over the last few weeks, don’t despair—real change, the study found, takes at least six months of individualised diet, exercise, and weigh-training. Those with serious commitments might be able to shift the scale a bit, but it’s worthwhile for anyone working on their goals to read how real people made a real impact in the study write-up linked below. Photo by cogdogblog. Fitness Isn’t an Overnight Sensation [New York Times]
