windowsvista
Yahoo Upgrades Its Web Search
11:38PM Gina Trapani | Yahoo rolls out some big upgrades to its web search tool today like the new Search Assistant, a pretty list of dynamic suggestions based on your search terms. (Check out the assistant in action on a search for “lifehacker” above.) You can also watch web video right inside Yahoo’s search results (search site:youtube skateboarding to try it out) and any search with the word photos in it will return Flickr pics. (Here, have some sunset photos.) From “To Do” to “Done” in One Search [Yahoo! Search Blog] More »
Computer Display Calibration 101
12:13PM Sarah Stokely | The Coding Horror blog has written up “Computer Display Calibration 101″.
“If you’ve invested in a quality monitor for your computer, you owe it to yourself– and your eyes– to spend 15 minutes setting it up properly for your viewing environment.”
It also points out that Microsoft Media Center has a decent display calibration wizard built in. That I did not know.
Unfortunately since the DVI input on my monitor went south for no reason that I can discern, I’m back in VGA hell, but reading this post has given me a boot up the bum to actually get that fixed.
Computer Display Calibration 101 [Coding Horror] More » 
Cancel Services Quickly
7:00AM Wendy Boswell | Sometimes, cancelling a service that you don’t want or need anymore can be a giant pain in the behind. However, calling outside of regular business hours might turn the tide your way: The biggest tip is to call well outside of normal business hours — in my company, customer service was open 24/7, but the retention department closed in the evening. If you call, say, before bed, or during the middle of the night, you’ll just be talking to a regular CS rep who has no incentive whatsoever to keep you as a customer. It can turn a twenty minute phone call into a two minute phone call. If you’ve ever had to deal with pushy reps this could be a lifesaver. What’s your best tip for getting out of services you don’t want? Thoughts in the comments. How to cancel a service [Boing Boing] More »Stop Unauthorised Access to Emailed Links with Hidelinks
12:00AM Wendy Boswell | You might be worried about your boss reading your email (it happens). You can’t necessarily stop this practice, but you can at least prevent Big Brother from accessing the links that you include in your email by using HideLinks. HideLinks is a free service that operates much like TinyURL in that it shortens long internet addresses; however, it goes one step farther and lets you password-protect links as well. Of course, you’ll have to figure out a way to get the password to your email friend—obviously, including it in the body of your encrypted super email sort of defeats the whole purpose. HideLinks [via Digital Inspiration] More »
Practical Applications for Dental Floss
11:00PM Lifehacker US Edition | Because it’s so sturdy, dental floss has its uses beyond mouth hygiene. You can repair shoes with it, cut cakes with it, and keep your gadgets’ plastic caps intact with it. But did you know you could also sew with it, use it as a clothesline, tie a strong knot with it to keep your suitcase closed, and silence a dripping faucet? Traveler’s weblog Gadling suggests these tips and others without requiring extra baggage. What other hacks do you have for dental floss? Share your tips in the comments. Clever Uses for Dental Floss [Gadling] More »
Find an Available Merchant Fast with FastCall411
7:00AM Adam Pash | US-centric: Find a local merchant fast with web application FastCall411, a tool that calls multiple businesses at one time and then connects you to the first business to pick up. FastCall411’s goal is to put an end to the days of flipping through your Yellow Pages calling one business at a time until you finally get ahold of someone. Right now the app only supports limited areas and services (I can only quickly get ahold of a plumber in Los Angeles), but in time it should have a pretty robust list of service offerings. If you happen to see a merchant you like in the search, you can also tell FastCall411 to dial only that merchant. Right now FastCall411 has a little way to go, but in time it could be an interesting and useful service. Alternately—if you’re feeling lonely—you could just use the demo on the front page to call up three of your friends and talk to the first one that answers. FastCall411 [via Webware] More »
Fundamentals for Personal Growth
10:30PM Lifehacker US Edition | Personal growth blogger Peter says that before we get overly ambitious, we should apply some basic rules to our daily living. We can improve our outlook on life by defining our successes, having a positive attitude, and by getting a grasp on our health, wealth, and relationships. Here are a few of my favourite tidbits: An open mind: some of our beliefs and actions are so ingrained that we automatically disregard any evidence that we should think or act otherwise. Keep an open mind, and you may just come across a better way of seeing or doing things. More »Annoyances
6:30AM Adam Pash | YouTube will begin adding 30-second bumper ads to video clips starting in 2008, according to DirectTraffic. Guess we’ll have to wait and see how intrusively it’s implemented and if TubeStop can still block ads. UPDATE: As pointed out by our savvy tech gossip brothers at Valleywag, the source story is fishy at best (dated as 23/04/07… damn backwards dates!), so the report should be taken with a microscopic grain of salt at best. [via Gizmodo] More »
