From the wholly minimal to the completely ornate, the Linux desktop has never been sexier. You’ve already seen the Windows and Mac editions of the Desktop Show and Tell, but you haven’t seen variety, inventiveness, and all-around desktop eye candy until you’ve taken a gander at what your fellow readers are doing with their Linux desktops. Read on for a look at some of our readers’ best Linux desktop submissions.
Digg addicts can browse the social news site on their mobile phones with newly launched DiggM8. Unlike previously mentioned Digg River or Digg Mobile, DiggM8 promises to deliver the full story quickly—it actually appears that the stories are routed through the DiggM8 server rather than on the other sites. As an avid Digg user myself, it would be nice if DiggM8 would list the number of votes every story has been given rather than numbering them from one to ten, but regardless, the service looks promising.
DiggM8Wired Wiki has a nice writeup of how to maximise your Flickr usage. They’ve thrown in some basic tips as well as a number of alternative apps or plugins for customising tasks like uploading photos. Nice to see them offering some Linux alternatives and Python gets a mention too.
It also rounds up some tools for uploading pictures to Flickr using mobile devices and email:
“Not many people know this, but you can also use Google’s free Picasa application to send photos to Flickr via GMail. As of version 2.0, you can e-mail directly to Flickr from the Picasa app, which will even automatically resize your photos before sending them. Just use the aforementioned Flickr e-mail address and send your pics from GMail.”
If you’re a dinosaur like me who’s still using Photobucket, this might kick you along to try out Flickr. :)
Blogger Jacob Grier discovers what Wikipedia calls “the least known stapling method”: pinning. If you rotate the plate on the bottom of your stapler, it will bend staples outward instead of inward to fasten things temporarily. Easily remove a pinned staple by pulling it along the plane of the document. Many modern staplers don’t have this feature any more, so pick up an old-school model to try it out.
The stapler’s secret [Eternal Recurrence]Personal finance webapp Mint monitors your finances for you. Enter your bank account and credit card details and Mint imports transaction data automatically and provides detailed charts about buying habits as well as suggesting how to save. Purchases are broken down by type (spending, gas, entertainment, restaurants, groceries), and Mint can alert you about any abnormal activity in your accounts. The interface is clean and friendly, and Mint looks like a clear winner in money management.
MintLess than two years after their beta release, Yahoo Mail has begun rolling out of beta after releasing an onslaught of innovative feature improvements along the way. On the other hand, a whopping three years into their beta release, Gmail remains one of the most popular but stagnant web-based beta email apps around—and most of Gmail’s innovation since its release has come in the form of third-party hacks and extensions. The short of it: Google makes a great beta, but with Gmail they’ve been much too slow to actually take the application to the next level. Let’s take a look at some of Yahoo Mail’s killer out-of-the-box features in comparison to what Gmail is offering.
It’s important to work in an ergonomic, body-friendly environment to avoid problems like RSI, but a lot of ergonomic products cost an arm and a leg. To get around the high price of ergonomic chairs like the popular Aeron line, blogger Jon Aquino made his own version (pictured) of the Aeron. This very faux Aeron might be a bit over the top, but I’m curious: How have you designed an ergonomic workspace without breaking the bank? What products would you never skimp on? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments.
Do-It-Yourself Aeron Ergonomic Chair [Jon Aquino's Mental Garden via DIY Life]Hurting from all your college expenses? Web site HowStuffWorks advises students on how to save cash with ten tips, like buying cheap textbooks, opting-in for an the best meal plan, organising your expenses, and splitting any shared resources with a roommate. My favourite:
Previously posted Google Moon been re-launched with “Street View” on-surface panoramic NASA photos from the astronaut’s perspective. Google’s Lat Long blog explains: This update brings higher-resolution map imagery, text search, and photos and stories from every Apollo landing. We even included Street View-style panoramas of the moon’s surface, taken by the Apollo astronauts … something you won’t see anywhere else. And last but certainly not least, we tossed in scientific charts that are good enough for actual mission planning and science classrooms alike.
Great stuff, but sadly the Swiss cheese Easter Egg’s nowhere to be found.
Google MoonJust when you thought we covered everything there is to know about food, the Bootstrapper web site offers 100 more foods that can enhance productivity. Among those listed are papaya (paw paw), pear, dill, salmon, apricots, avocado, soybeans and apples. Some of these tasty treats can give your brain a boost, others can aid in digestion and sleep, while others are good for the heart. Unlike other lists covered, this one is filled with foods that would make for a good nosh. Some snack foods are healthy, after all.
Top 100 Foods to Improve Your Productivity [Bootstrapper]
