We’ve been all about Google Translate ever since it introduced automatic language detection, but language detection isn’t the default, and even then, it could be streamlined. Enter the To English bookmarklet.
Reader Jeff found a clever way to quickly remember his favourite Gmail shortcut keys—by creating a folder of bookmarks named for the most useful hotkeys. Combined with the Lifehacker favourite Xmarks extension (previously known as Foxmarks), Jeff has his quick Gmail tips available on any computer with Firefox—a very clever solution for adding reference material that you use often. The more geeky readers will probably note that you can use thebuilt-in Gmail keyboard shortcut guide accessible through the ? key, but the idea of using a folder of bookmarks as a quick reminder system is a very interesting one—you could add a folder with a list of your long term goals. Which makes us wonder, what else could this technique be used for? Can you think of something clever to share with your fellow Lifehacker readers? Tell us in the comments.
PDF-to-Word, the free, surprisingly accurate conversion tool we’ve previously demonstrated, moves out of closed beta and is open to all. The operation remains the same: upload a file, choose Word (.doc) or Rich Text (.rtf) output, and supply an email to have it mailed to.
Tech-nut Amit Agarwal explains why and how he uses browser bookmarklets instead of extensions whenever possible to keep Firefox running smooth, then highlights several incredible bookmarklets worth checking out. Agarwal’s most compelling reason for preferring bookmarklets to extensions (when possible) is browser compatability: Add-ins are browser specific, so tomorrow if you decide to move from Firefox to Opera or Google Chrome, your favourite add-ins will no longer work. On the other hand, a bookmarklet written for Firefox is very likely to work with Safari or IE.
I’d add that bookmarklets are easily syncable between browsers using something like Foxmarks, while add-ons still aren’t easy to sync. We’ve covered several of the bookmarklets the post highlights, but they’re all very nicely rounded up for easy drag-and-drop “installation” to your bookmarks toolbar. For more bookmarklet fun, check out our 10 favourite bookmarklets.
Your Guide to Most Useful Bookmarklets [Digital Inspiration]If you have an aversion to orange, it might be best to skip over this post. Got a color-neutral appreciation of organisation and design? Come on in.
Apple announced an iPhone event today where they’ll be giving “a sneak peek at the iPhone OS 3.0 software.” Gizmodo suggests this might coincide with the unveiling of a rumoured touchscreen tablet based on the iPhone, but we’ll see for sure on March 17th. Got a feature you’d love to see added to iPhone 3.0 (*cough, copy and paste, cough*)? Let’s hear about it in the comments. [Gizmodo]
Windows only: Email attachment searching utility OutlookAttachView has a killer feature: You can export or delete multiple attachments at once—so you can finally get your files out of your inbox. Using the utility is extremely simple—just launch the executable and it will search through your Outlook profile for every attachment, though it might take a while if you have a large amount of mail. The Options -> Show Inline Attachments checkbox is probably a good idea if you get a lot of embedded pictures through email, as they aren’t stored as regular attachments in Outlook. Once you’ve selected the attachments you want to handle, use the File menu to copy the attachments to a folder, and then you can even delete the attachments in bulk to save a ton of space in your mailbox. OutlookAttachView is a free, portable download from the always useful folks at Nirsoft, the same people that let you recover lost Outlook passwords, manage your Outlook auto-complete entries, and even edit your Explorer right-click menu.
OutlookAttachView [Nirsoft via Life Rocks 2.0]A new build of Windows 7 appears to have shown up on the BitTorrent scene—build 7057. From first impressions over at Neowin, the build features some UAC fixes, improved superbar resizing, and some nice user interface updates like new user icons, wallpapers, and a snazzy new logon and shutdown dialog. Apparently they even went all Twitter for their default wallpaper (pictured). [NeoWin via Download Squad]
Over at Listable, a tiny webapp that creates linkable, uh, lists, one user has posted a list of “Passwords you shouldn’t ever use.” We’re wondering if our readers, IT guys or otherwise, have seen worse.Not that we necessarily want to revel in the really bad, insecure, or otherwise impractical passwords and security questions we’ve learned from friends, co-workers, vice presidential candidates, or, er, close Lifehacker relations. But you can preach the gospel of secure password schemes ’til you run out of breath or typing strength—sometimes it’s the bad examples that really teach us what not to do. jono Ellis’ list is practical and a great password-don’t primer, but far from complete. We’d love if you could share some bad password experiences, or memories, in the comments, possibly benefiting a future round-up. But, you know, make sure you or someone you could be identified with are not actually using one of those passwords. List of Passwords you shouldn’t ever use [Listable]
