video demonstration
Work
New ‘Aero Shake’ Clears the Windows 7 Desktop
5:00AM Gina Trapani | Not only does Windows 7’s upgraded Aero interface power up your taskbar, but it includes new gestures for managing your workspace — like shaking a single window to clear away background windows. Check it out in the screencast above. When you want to focus on the task at hand on a desktop cluttered with windows, just grab the window bar of the app you want to work in and shake it back and forth to clear away the rest. Another shake will restore the background apps to their former state. You can also drag and drop a window to the edge of the screen to maximise it, and click on its top bar again to restore its previous size. Hit the play button above to see the shake-shake-shake and the drag and drop maximisation in action. Unless you’re a big fan of mouse gestures, you probably won’t use this new feature a whole lot—unless, of course, you wind up running Windows 7 on a touchscreen device. More »
Work
New Windows 7 Taskbar, Peek Feature Look Awesome
4:00AM Adam Pash | Microsoft has already caught some flack for “copying” the OS X dock with the new Windows 7 taskbar; the video above from the Professional Developer’s Conference both addresses that criticism and takes you on a guided tour of the new taskbar. Whether or not you think Windows 7 borrowed from OS X with the update, there’s no question that Microsoft added its own flair and probably even improved the taskbar/dock concept, particularly with the peek feature. For a look at some of the other features you can expect from Windows 7, check out our Windows 7 first look. Thanks Jason! [via NeoWin] More »
OrbLive Streams Live TV to Your iPhone or iPod Touch
6:00AM Adam Pash | iPhone/iPod touch only: You may be familiar with Orb for its music or TV-streaming abilities (it can even turn your Wii into a media center), but now the folks at Orb have taken on the iPhone and iPod touch with a new application called OrbLive. You can now stream live television to your device, in addition to music, videos, photos, and everything else Orb is known for. Hit the jump for a look at Orb’s live streaming in action and a guide for installing OrbLive on your iPhone or iPod touch. More »
Xobni Beta Now Open to the Public
3:12PM Gina Trapani | Windows only: Previously mentioned Microsoft Outlook plug-in Xobni (pronounced “zob-nee”) is now available to the public for immediate download. Previously in invite-only beta, Xobni adds email analytics, better contact cards, fast search, threaded conversations, and more to your Outlook inbox. The NY Times explains one way Xobni makes your inbox more of a social network of connected contacts: Xobni recognises that if an executive sends a copy to someone else on each message he or she sends, it might be to an assistant or another colleague. When someone using Xobni searches for that executive in Outlook, the second person is listed as well. Huh-wha, you ask? Here, have a video demonstration of Xobni in action. More »Provider Extension Integrates Remember the Milk into Thunderbird
11:05PM Kevin Purdy | Windows/Mac/Linux (Thunderbird): Harness the to-do-managing power of Remember the Milk from inside your mail reader with an alpha extension for Thunderbird. Once installed and authenticated with your RTM account, the task manager provided by the Lightning extension will have bi-directional access to your tasks, which you can add, delete, modify, and prioritise from inside your mail manager. Hit the video above to see a few of the things you can do with the extension, and hit the via link below for step-by-step installation instructions. Remember the Milk Provider extension is a free download, but requires a free Mozilla Add-Ons account to download, needs the Lightning calendar extension, and works wherever Thunderbird does. Remember the Milk Provider [via Daily Gyan] More »PalBee Does Collaborative Video Conferencing
4:00AM Adam Pash | Online collaboration service PalBee integrates video conferencing and whiteboard sharing so you can meet up with co-workers over the internet. PalBee supports one free hour at a time for up to five collaborators, and it can record the session as its happening for later review—the results of which can be embedded on any web page (similar to the video above). Naturally, since PalBee is web-based, it works on all platforms as long as you’ve got a webcam. PalBee is currently completely free to use, though pay plans are likely to emerge. PalBee [via Web Worker Daily] More »Fill a Used Print Cartridge with Invisible Ink
9:30AM Kevin Purdy | If you’ve got a spare printer ink cartridge and a document you only want one person to see—or just some free time and a cloak-and-dagger kick—one helpful Metacafe post has a project for you. The tutorial requires a utility knife, some invisible ink pens and a syringe, and an empty ink cartridge, with black seeming to be an easier solution that the yellow-only solution the creator recommends. It’s a fun way to cover up sensitive documents, and a guaranteed friend impresser as well. How Make Invisible Printer Ink [Metacafe via Instructables] More »
Repair an old NES System for a Few Dollars
2:00AM Kevin Purdy | Few families made it through the 1980s without collecting one or more Nintendo Entertainment Systems, but many of them sit unusable today, no matter how hard you blow into them. Wired’s Chris Kohler and his brother Dan show in the above video that given a screwdriver, a 72-pin connector available for a few dollars online, and a wee bit of patience, the garage-bound game system can be revived and made ready for duck hunting, Koopa-stomping, or whatever lies inside the cartridges you haven’t sold off. How to Fix Your Broken NES [Wired Blogs via Hackszine] More »Hide Cords with the CD Spindle Cable Organiser 2.0
4:00AM Adam Pash | If you already liked the original CD/DVD spindle cable organiser, a creative user from DIY web site Instructables has taken it to the next level, cutting a couple of slots in the organiser and using it to conceal desktop cable clutter. We’re no strangers to the cordless workspace around here, but this is easily another great option to add to our already extensive list of the top 10 ways to get cables under control. Even better, assuming you’ve got an unused spindle or two, this method won’t cost a dime. Cables Box [Instructables] More »
