Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Fix
VehicleFixer Videos Detail DIY Car Repairs
10:30PM Kevin Purdy | If you’re living without a seriously trustworthy mechanic, or you just like to bust out the wrench and fix your own wheels, VehicleFixer.com’s descriptive videos are worth watching. Many of the site’s videos appear to come from old VHS instructional tapes, so the quality’s a bit lacking by modern standards, and the cars are older models—though most of the techniques and parts are going to be the same as today’s units. You’re also treated to the cheapest synthesized soundtrack the tape makers could swing. But the videos on replacing brakes, changing oil, fixing belts and hoses, swapping out filters, and the like are slow, step-by-step, and explained in clear language, which is what really matters when you’ve got the hood open. You might have to do some clicking around, mostly to force more video and sidebar ads upon you, but VehicleFixer is probably still worth it if you want to learn how to get things done on your car. Free to watch, no sign-up required (though the site promises a share-centric members area coming soon). VehicleFixer.com [via MakeUseOf.com] More »
Work
DVDSmith Movie Backup Copies Everything Or Just Video Easily
9:00PM Kevin Purdy | Windows only: DVDSmith Movie Backup is terrible for our headline style, since it does exactly what its name implies. It’s great, though, for anyone who simply wants to watch a DVD without the disc. There are just five buttons to click on DVDSmith’s single window, and most times you’ll only need one. You can choose between “Full Disc,” which gets you menus, extras, and the full DVD-watching experience, or click “Main Movie” to grab the longest video and audio tracks. What you end up with on a “Full Disc” backup is a familiar VIDEO_TS folder, wherever you told the app to put it, and a bunch of .vob files, which can be played in most advanced media players like VLC. “Main Movie” does much the same, but with fewer .vob files turned out. DVDSmith is proud to announce on their site that their tool breaks through all the the major copyright protection schemes. If you’re looking for a bit more control over your DVD backups, check out the free, cross-platform Handbrake, our own DVD Rip, or any of our Hive Five best DVD ripping tools. If you’re looking for a DVD backup tool an 8-year-old could grasp, though, DVDSmith Movie Backup is worth a click or two. DVDSmith Movie Backup [via Life Rocks 2.0] More »
Communicate
Gmail Labs Adds Location To Your Email Signature
4:46PM Adam Pash | Gmail Labs keeps up its steady pace of releasing new, fun features, this time with a new Location in Signature option that appends your current location (determined by your public IP address) to your email. If you’ve got Gears with location awareness baked in, your results will be even more accurate. [via Gmail Blog] More »
Organise
4:30PM Angus Kidman | Dear Lifehacker, There has been a growing problem in my life that I have done my best to ignore and avoid for the last 12 months… alas, with a new Macbook Pro and iPhone, it is now un-ignorable. I have about 200 CDs sitting in a storage box complete with much treasured album artwork. All these albums are also in my iTunes library along with all the album art — which displays wonderfully on both my MacBook and iPhone. I also have 10 or albums in digital format which I have been doing my best to avoid building on for the sake of keeping the CD format as the primary collection. Due to the enjoyment of this digital organisation, I wonder if it may finally be time to say goodbye to the continued purchase of albums in CD format. My question: What the heck do I do with 200 CDs which I own (and I cannot sell –due to that ownership) and which are safely stored on iTunes (and backed up on Time Machine)? And should I avoid digital purchases and just find those albums on eBay for relatively the same or a cheaper price … which kind of rips off the artist doesn’t it? Thanks, Gareth
Dear Gareth, There’s a human tendency to view life as a series of either/or decisions: my music is all on my computer, so why keep the CDs? Reality is always messier, and allows for multiple choices. They might take up more space than your hard drive, but CDs have several advantages: you can easily play them in all sorts of locations, and you can easily re-rip them without having to reauthorise your PC every time you change (a major pain with digital music). And the artwork generally looks better.
Quite frankly, as someone who owns a lot more than 200 CDs, I can’t see storing that number as a major problem. But one solution is to file them in a storage box without the jewel cases, which saves a lot of room. As for your buying dilemma: if you want a whole album, I’d say buy the disc if you can. Save iTunes for singles and one-off track purchases. Of course, all this is only my opinion: if you’ve got some alternate advice for Gareth, share it in the comments.
More »
Dear Lifehacker: What Should I Do With My Old CDs?
4:30PM Angus Kidman | Dear Lifehacker, There has been a growing problem in my life that I have done my best to ignore and avoid for the last 12 months… alas, with a new Macbook Pro and iPhone, it is now un-ignorable. I have about 200 CDs sitting in a storage box complete with much treasured album artwork. All these albums are also in my iTunes library along with all the album art — which displays wonderfully on both my MacBook and iPhone. I also have 10 or albums in digital format which I have been doing my best to avoid building on for the sake of keeping the CD format as the primary collection. Due to the enjoyment of this digital organisation, I wonder if it may finally be time to say goodbye to the continued purchase of albums in CD format. My question: What the heck do I do with 200 CDs which I own (and I cannot sell –due to that ownership) and which are safely stored on iTunes (and backed up on Time Machine)? And should I avoid digital purchases and just find those albums on eBay for relatively the same or a cheaper price … which kind of rips off the artist doesn’t it? Thanks, Gareth
Dear Gareth, There’s a human tendency to view life as a series of either/or decisions: my music is all on my computer, so why keep the CDs? Reality is always messier, and allows for multiple choices. They might take up more space than your hard drive, but CDs have several advantages: you can easily play them in all sorts of locations, and you can easily re-rip them without having to reauthorise your PC every time you change (a major pain with digital music). And the artwork generally looks better.
Quite frankly, as someone who owns a lot more than 200 CDs, I can’t see storing that number as a major problem. But one solution is to file them in a storage box without the jewel cases, which saves a lot of room. As for your buying dilemma: if you want a whole album, I’d say buy the disc if you can. Save iTunes for singles and one-off track purchases. Of course, all this is only my opinion: if you’ve got some alternate advice for Gareth, share it in the comments.
More »
Work
3:00PM Angus Kidman |
I’ve always found handwriting recognition on tablet PCs to be about as effective as throwing bricks at the screen, but Microsoft remains convinced that we’re just months away from ditching our keyboards altogether. A new post on the engineering Windows 7 blog goes into exhaustive detail on how Microsoft develops and improves its handwriting models, and makes for interesting reading even if (like me) you remain convinced that the keyboard is king.
Recognizing Improvements in Windows 7 Handwriting [Engineering Windows 7]
More »
How Handwriting Recognition Has Improved In Windows 7
3:00PM Angus Kidman |
I’ve always found handwriting recognition on tablet PCs to be about as effective as throwing bricks at the screen, but Microsoft remains convinced that we’re just months away from ditching our keyboards altogether. A new post on the engineering Windows 7 blog goes into exhaustive detail on how Microsoft develops and improves its handwriting models, and makes for interesting reading even if (like me) you remain convinced that the keyboard is king.
Recognizing Improvements in Windows 7 Handwriting [Engineering Windows 7]
More »
Work
1:30PM Angus Kidman | If you reckon you’re working too many hours, look on the bright side: you could be in China or Nebraska. According to a new Datamonitor survey, Australians get an average of 5.6 hours leisure hours a day — which is higher than China (4.7 hours), the US (5.2 hours) or Europe as a whole (5.5 hours). OK, we get beaten by Germany and the Netherlands, but you can’t have everything. More disturbing is the revelation that we’re spending an increasing amount of time on personal grooming, since “feeling physically attractive” is cited as a key to wellbeing by almost two-thirds of Aussies. Given my face, I’m glad I’m not in that group.
More »
Aussies Get More Leisure Time Than Yanks But Waste It On Grooming
1:30PM Angus Kidman | If you reckon you’re working too many hours, look on the bright side: you could be in China or Nebraska. According to a new Datamonitor survey, Australians get an average of 5.6 hours leisure hours a day — which is higher than China (4.7 hours), the US (5.2 hours) or Europe as a whole (5.5 hours). OK, we get beaten by Germany and the Netherlands, but you can’t have everything. More disturbing is the revelation that we’re spending an increasing amount of time on personal grooming, since “feeling physically attractive” is cited as a key to wellbeing by almost two-thirds of Aussies. Given my face, I’m glad I’m not in that group.
More »
Communicate
12:00PM Angus Kidman | Freed from the legal problems that beset series one, the Underbelly prequel has already become the highest-rating drama in people-meter-ranking TV history — but Nine is apparently keen to get even more people watching the show, and is offering free downloads of the episodes the same evening they air. While the episodes are DRM-protected (you’ll need a special codec for your preferred media player), can’t be downloaded outside Australia and will expire when the series finishes, it’s still a step forward a the TV industry which often acts like sharing program information is a capital crime.
Underbelly Downloads [via APC
More »
Underbelly Episodes Freely Available Online
12:00PM Angus Kidman | Freed from the legal problems that beset series one, the Underbelly prequel has already become the highest-rating drama in people-meter-ranking TV history — but Nine is apparently keen to get even more people watching the show, and is offering free downloads of the episodes the same evening they air. While the episodes are DRM-protected (you’ll need a special codec for your preferred media player), can’t be downloaded outside Australia and will expire when the series finishes, it’s still a step forward a the TV industry which often acts like sharing program information is a capital crime.
Underbelly Downloads [via APC
More »
Money
10:30AM Angus Kidman | While there are plenty of webapp options for tracking how you spend your cash (including locally-oriented sites like previously-mentioned ANZ Money Manager, for some people using spreadsheet software remains the simplest option. If you’re in that category, the Microsoft Excel blog walks through how you can use its table and advanced summation functions to quickly calculate and categorise expenses — a neat trick for spreadsheet jockeys.
Simple Expense Tracking With New Excel 2007 Functions [Microsoft Excel Blog]
More »
Using Excel Tables For Expense Tracking
10:30AM Angus Kidman | While there are plenty of webapp options for tracking how you spend your cash (including locally-oriented sites like previously-mentioned ANZ Money Manager, for some people using spreadsheet software remains the simplest option. If you’re in that category, the Microsoft Excel blog walks through how you can use its table and advanced summation functions to quickly calculate and categorise expenses — a neat trick for spreadsheet jockeys.
Simple Expense Tracking With New Excel 2007 Functions [Microsoft Excel Blog]
More »
Communicate
9:00AM Angus Kidman | Nokia continues to drip-feed information on its forthcoming Comes With Music subscription service for phones. While there’s still no more specific launch date than “before Easter”, we’re now told that major local independent music label Liberation will be on the roster. While that’s welcome news if you fancy any of Liberation’s lineup (big hitters include Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson and Jimmy Barnes), it’s also a reminder of the limitation that applies to any subscription service: you’re stuck with whatever labels agree to take part, which isn’t the case with CDs.
More »
Liberation Joins Comes With Music Australian Lineup
9:00AM Angus Kidman | Nokia continues to drip-feed information on its forthcoming Comes With Music subscription service for phones. While there’s still no more specific launch date than “before Easter”, we’re now told that major local independent music label Liberation will be on the roster. While that’s welcome news if you fancy any of Liberation’s lineup (big hitters include Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson and Jimmy Barnes), it’s also a reminder of the limitation that applies to any subscription service: you’re stuck with whatever labels agree to take part, which isn’t the case with CDs.
More »
Organise
