Friday, February 20, 2009
Fix
Kid-Key-Lock Locks Your Keyboard And Mouse In Degrees
11:30PM Jason Fitzpatrick | If you’ve longed for more flexibility than the simple on/off method most input control/tyke-blocker programs offer, Kid-Key-Lock gives you finer control over keyboard and mouse use. Unlike the keyboard lockers we’ve previously covered, Kid-Key-Lock has degrees of lockout. You could, for instance, use Kid-Key-Lock to lock out system key combinations to prevent your little ones (or your own little fingers) accidentally booting out of a game or important app again. Alternately, you can lock the keyboard to just let in letters, numbers, or spaces to help a young typist learn the basics. The mouse can be locked with a similar range of finesse, with individual buttons, the scroll wheel, and double clicking allowed or halted. Kid-Key-Lock is freeware, Windows only. Kid-Key-Lock [via Download Squad] More »
Fix
Run Silverlight Plug-In On Google Chrome
11:00PM Kevin Purdy | For those Google Chrome users who need access to one or two Silverlight sites, a Microsoft developer offers a file-tweaking work-around to get access to certain sites. The Chrome/Silverlight hack requires grabbing a few .js files normally intended for Silverlight developers and tweaking them to have Silverlight sites accept and provide content to Chrome. By downloading the .js files and modifying them a bit, you should be able to access, as the developer rates it, “most” Silverlight apps, but your mileage will certainly vary. Moonlight 1.0 Released, Silverlight script updated – and a Chrome hack [Tim Heuer via FavBrowser.com] More »
Design
Use Office’s SmartArt For Simple Illustrations
10:30PM Kevin Purdy | Next time you need to make a list look a bit fancier than bullet points on white pages, Microsoft Office’s SmartArt tool can fill in for your awkward Photoshop skills. Online Tech Tips details how. SmartArt works around your text or data to add colour schemes, connecting illustrations, and different styles of organising frames. Most of the designs aren’t ostentatious or smack of border art; just a way to spiff up your text for display in a PDF or pasting into a larger illustration. Hit the link below for a screenshot walkthrough of a typical SmartArt case. How to use Office 2007 SmartArt [Online Tech Tips] More »
Organise
4:35PM Angus Kidman | Life’s a beach . . . but you’ve still got time to check out these handy hints from the past week:
Keep up-to-date with Lifehacker via our new Twitter feed
Learn how to disable iPhone auto-correct on the fly
Change the colours in your Gmail theme
Remind yourself of the BlackBerry’s less-used functions
Fix that older PC with the Computer Repair Utility Kit
More »
Five Things To Do This Weekend
4:35PM Angus Kidman | Life’s a beach . . . but you’ve still got time to check out these handy hints from the past week:
Keep up-to-date with Lifehacker via our new Twitter feed
Learn how to disable iPhone auto-correct on the fly
Change the colours in your Gmail theme
Remind yourself of the BlackBerry’s less-used functions
Fix that older PC with the Computer Repair Utility Kit
More »
Communicate
Twitter Trials Search Integration On Main Page
3:00PM Angus Kidman | Twitter may have acquired search provider Summize back in July 2008, but for most Twitter users there’s still no obvious way to search every tweet on the planet from their home page. That’s about to change though. Twitter is trialling offering direct access to its search facilities on a small handful of accounts (presumably to make sure that it doesn’t add to the list of features which can make Twitter stop working for everyone, a list that’s already scarily large). Testing A More Integrated Search Experience [Twitter Blog] More »
DVDs Toswap Lets You Trade Those Unwanted Movies
1:30PM Angus Kidman | Finished with that DVD movie you got cheaply in the pre-Christmas sales and don’t know what to do with them? A free DVD swap site might be just the ticket. Creator Matthew Hollingworth takes up the story:
The site is pretty straightforward; it lets users list DVDs that they no longer want, and swap them directly with other site users. The site finds swaps for you automatically, so it is easy to use. There are no costs of any kind (except for postage when a swap is made) and no advertising. (i.e. I’m not making any money off it!) Users can also swap Xbox, Playstation and Wii games (each under a separate subdomain). There are a few similar sites in other parts of the world, but none in Australia that I could find. Admittedly, the site does look a bit lame at the moment as there are
no DVDs yet! I do think it has the potential to be useful for a lot of people though.
If you want to trade a DVD, this seems like a sensible idea — so let’s see if the “Lifehacker effect” can create a market.
DVDs Toswap
More »
Communicate
12:00PM Angus Kidman | If you’ve often had the impression that phone advertising is only just up the moral scale from the bloke flogging you a cheap TV set in the local pub, you’re not wrong. The Australian Competition And Consumer Commission (ACCC), normally a highly restrained and legally minded body, has received so many complaints about dodgy phone advertising that it felt compelled to issue a press release denouncing the “lack of clarity in phone service advertising”. ACCC chair Graeme Samuel didn’t mince his words:
“Complaints to the ACCC indicate consumers are fed up with getting charged more than they bargained for when the bill arrives, and getting less value than they were promised in the case of phone cards.”
What’s the worst example of deceptive phone advertising you’ve encountered? Share your shockers in the comments. More »
ACCC Slams Dodgy Phone Ads
12:00PM Angus Kidman | If you’ve often had the impression that phone advertising is only just up the moral scale from the bloke flogging you a cheap TV set in the local pub, you’re not wrong. The Australian Competition And Consumer Commission (ACCC), normally a highly restrained and legally minded body, has received so many complaints about dodgy phone advertising that it felt compelled to issue a press release denouncing the “lack of clarity in phone service advertising”. ACCC chair Graeme Samuel didn’t mince his words:
“Complaints to the ACCC indicate consumers are fed up with getting charged more than they bargained for when the bill arrives, and getting less value than they were promised in the case of phone cards.”
What’s the worst example of deceptive phone advertising you’ve encountered? Share your shockers in the comments. More »
Communicate
10:30AM Angus Kidman | Having created a live map of bushfire activity the same weekend devastating bushfires began, Google has now collaborated on the development of the Victorian Bushfires Event Map. The site lists fundraising and memorial events relating to the bushfire tragedy. Support everything you can in your area.
Victorian Bushfires Event Map [via Official Google Australia Blog]
More »
Google Creates Official Bushfire Recovery Information Map
10:30AM Angus Kidman | Having created a live map of bushfire activity the same weekend devastating bushfires began, Google has now collaborated on the development of the Victorian Bushfires Event Map. The site lists fundraising and memorial events relating to the bushfire tragedy. Support everything you can in your area.
Victorian Bushfires Event Map [via Official Google Australia Blog]
More »
Money
Home Internet Costs Still On The Rise
9:00AM Angus Kidman | Competition is meant to keep prices down, but in a distorted market like Internet services in Australia it’s not entirely surprising that hasn’t happened. AAP reports that a survey conducted by AAPT shows that the average home phone and Internet bill has risen $44 in the past year, and that a third of households try and restrict their usage to control bills. Are you paying more for Internet access, or have you found a way to get more for less? Home internet costs spike: survey [AustralianIT] More »
Organise
