Windows and Linux: Free and open source application WinFF is a graphical front end for the command line tool FFMpeg, a veritable Swiss Army knife of mutimedia file conversion. Load an audio or video file into WinFF, select from a wide variety of output formats—including Flash files, phone-friendly ringtones and DVD templates—and hit convert. Users of Ubuntu and some other Linux distros may have to enable their FFMpeg tool to use additional codecs, which the author describes at his site. WinFF is a free download for all Windows systems and Linux distributions, with pre-compiled Ubuntu/Debian and Red Hat packages available at the link.

Windows only: Add freeware application JR Directory Printer to the list of tiny Windows applications that do exactly only what the name implies. Download the program, place it in a folder on your hard drive and fire it up. Once you point it to a directory and hit "Start," it creates a text file listing the file contents that's ready to print—or copy and paste. It saves you a screenshot, it's easy on printers, and it makes it far easier to show your friends a music or video collection. JR Directory Printer is a free download for Windows only. Thanks Yan!

The Freelance Switch work blog rounds up 10 low-cost improvements that can improve a home office (or most any office, really), including LH editors' favorite, the cordless workspace. One trick in particular could be a boon for those dwelling in fluorescent-lit caves:

If your office doesn't get a lot of daylight, you might want to begin by maximizing that. Make sure your windows are clear of anything that impedes the light. If you are on the ground floor but facing the wrong direction to get much natural light, you can use a strategically placed mirror outside to reflect more light in. Similarly on the inside a mirror can help push light around your room.

I get sunlight in my office, but in the wrong direction, so I'll definitely be trying this out soon. How have you improved your workspace without breaking the bank? Share your tips in the comments. Photo by flikr.

Professional Photographer Magazine has a relatively easy to understand long but helpful guide to histograms, the graphs that show what levels of light were captured by a digital camera's sensor. Along with detailing the changes that happen when you export to JPEG files, the guide introduces a concept that, while debatable, has found favour with some professionals—"expose to the right," or shooting a photo strategically over-exposed to capture detail and then adjusting it later in editing software. If you've ever wondered how the strange graphs in Photoshop or your camera's screen relate to good and bad photos, this guide can help demystify the process.

Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): Get directions to and from any address you see in your browser with GDirections, a Firefox extension that saves you the time of heading over to Google or Yahoo maps. After entering up to three pre-defined addresses in GDirections' preferences (like your home and office), selecting and right-clicking an address will allow you to get directions to the spot from those places, as well as enter the address into any of the sites you've installed in your quick search box. For those who regularly wipe out their cookies and have to re-enter their address into either Yahoo or Google Maps, GDirections is a real time saver. GDirections is a free download and works wherever Firefox (1.0-2.0) does.

Windows only: Dual-booters have long been able to get at their Windows-formatted files, but Windows certainly doesn't make it easy to go the other way 'round. Enter Linux Reader, a free Windows application that emulates the look and feel of the Windows XP Explorer and allows read-only access to ext2 and ext3-formatted drives, the most common formats for Linux installations. Linux Reader can also search through Linux images and mount images for browsing, and runs as a stand-alone application—for a driver-based reading tool, check out Ext2 Installable File System. Linux Reader is a free download for Windows 98 and later.

As 2007 begins to wind down and we start making plans for 2008, we've been talking about what kinds of productivity systems, calendars and emails systems we'll use for next year. No matter what system you're using though, it probably revolves around your humble office desk. So it's probably worth putting some time into thinking how you can make your workspace more welcoming and productive!
We've talked a little recently on add life to your workspace if you're an office worker, but today's post at Freelance Switch actually gave me a kick up the bum to make some improvements.
Since one of the reasons I love about working from home is having the freedom to create a workspace which suits me, at a budget I decide, it's probably about time I actually exercised this freedom. Collis' post at Freelance Switch offered 10 ways to cheaply improve your home office. Here's the ideas I'll be taking up:

*Setting up a recycling system. All you really need to get this up and running is an A4 size cardboard box like the ones which copy paper comes in, since most office waste is paper.
*Buying a plant. Make sure it's indoor friendly, or can have a place by the window to get the sunlight it needs.
*Getting (or in my case remember to use) a filing cabinet. Filing cabinets can be expensive to buy new, but you can try to find them cheap at second hand office stores or ex-government auctions.
*Buying some office supplies to bring order to the desktop - pen holders, inbox trays, CD/DVD shelves.

So do you have any plans to tweak or customise your workspace for the new year? Share in comments please!

10 Things You Can Do to Improve Your Home Office Cheaply [Freelance Switch]

Wired science reporter Alexis Madrigal is doing an interesting experiment into using social networking technology to aid in the creation and formation of news stories. Alexis will be posting story ideas and updates on Twitter, as well as sharing blogrolls via Google Reader, with the aim of letting readers "chime in with suggestions, new ideas, and story angles" which they hope will help readers get the kind of news they're interested in.
It's a nice proposition for readers who are keen to share their ideas and tips, but that's not really so new. Most news outlets rely on user feedback and tips for shaping the direction they go in. But given that Alexis makes it clear in the comments on that article that Wired is interested in breaking news, I wonder how they plan on balancing this transparency with the need for keeping things quiet until they're ready to publish and break a news story. I'll be watching with interest. :)

My Outboard Brain is Your Chance to Shape News (Wired)

If you're a They Might be Giants fan, you'll either be thrilled or revolted by this news - it kind of depends on whether you've got kids. TMBG - the cult band who gave us "Birdhouse in Your Soul" and the annoying theme song from Malcolm in the Middle - have gone and done a Wiggles. Yep, they've got a kids album coming out.
They're releasing teaser material in the form of a weekly video podcast for kids, entitled Friday Night Family Podcast. It's hosted by muppet-esque puppets of the two Johns.
The Geek Day blog gave it the thumbs up from both the parents and the kid in his household, and that's pretty impressive considering you'd be hard pressed to find a parent who enjoys listening to the Wiggles.
The podcast is avaiable on iTunes here or you can download the High Five video episode here.

I spotted a review of a nifty sounding product over at the Cool Tools blog. Lay-It-Out sells lifesize furniture templates which you can place on the floor of your new home to help you visualise where furniture should go.

The templates are made of paper and come in "average" sizes which you trim to your exact specifications (they show measurements in inches and centimetres, which is nice for us metric-types).

Speaking as someone who has moved house and rearranged furniture far too often, this sounds like a nice way of simplifying a process which would otherwise involves modelling software (if you're a geek) or graph paper if you're less technically inclined. It also means you get to visualise how it looks in the room, rather than on a piece of paper or computer screen.

They sell a "whole house" kit for $US40, or individual rooms. I note that the templates don't seem to take wardrobe doors and the like into account - so you'd need to factor that into your room planning as well.

So how do you solve the problem of arranging furniture in a new house? Leave tips in comments please!

Lay-it-Out [via Cool Tools]

For many of you, finals are right around the corner. If you're starting to prepare, the College Scholarships blog has six considerations to account for when you're getting your learn on. Avoid caffeine and other stimulant drugs, especially if you've exceeded the normal usage amounts as you wouldn't want to crash during the exam and end up performing poorly. Choose your study area carefully: is a setting with music better or worse for you? Make sure your study setting accommodates your wants and needs. Don't stress and be positive. Remember, your exams will all be over soon. Prioritise and put your most important classes first on your list. Manage your time efficiently. Study alone or with your classmates, but avoid hanging with your crush. It's a distraction you'll want to avoid.
If you have additional study tips, feel free to share them in the comments.

Do you feel that you have too much to do and not enough time to do it in? We're being pulled in hundreds of different directions nowadays which adds to the perception that we can never get anything done. So... Read More »

Looking to lose weight? That conscious decision starts when you go shopping, according to Yahoo Health. In an article listing 127 foods that comprise the "Picture Perfect Anytime List"—low-calorie foods that you can eat anytime and anywhere, Yahoo Health goes as far as to say that you'll be thin for life if you live by these treats. What, then, is on the Picture Perfect Anytime List? Any fruits and vegetables, soups, garlics and herbs for flavor, hard candy, sorbet, unsweetened juices, seafood, beans, brown rice, and other health foods. Certainly, some of this seems hard to believe, and for good reason. In any event, moderation might still be key, but going low-cal is certainly better than opting in for more fattening alternatives.

Mac OS X only: Sick of not being able to exit Finder? A quick terminal command will add a "quit" option to the menu in Finder. This means you can run Finder like any other Mac application. If you're running some heavy applications, simply close Finder and enjoy the extra, albeit small, processing power. Open a terminal and enter the following command:

defaults write com.apple.Finder QuitMenuItem 1

You will need to restart for the changes to take effect. Here's the caveat: Finder also manages the icons on your desktop. If you exit Finder, you won't be able to see any of the icons on your desktop. Just click the icon in the dock to bring Finder back.

Weighting in at the size of a business card, the tiny Thumb Calendar makes it possible to keep a calendar on you at all times. The Thumb Calendar is two sided and in order to use it, you must cover the dates that are not directly below the month header with your thumbs. The designer only has a PDF version for 2007 on his homepage, but you can grab a 2008 version from Flickr (linked below). The Thumb Calendar is a free download and makes a great addition to any purse or wallet.

If you're looking to create a high-tech Christmas wreath, this high-output LED project should do the trick. You'll need a plastic card case, a 9-volt battery, a Ryobi fan from Home Depot, 8 high output LEDs, a CB220 protoboard, and a few Ohm resistors. Fit the protoboard, battery, and plastic card case onto the fan. Solder the LEDs and the rest of the parts onto the protoboard. Then, solder the resistors onto the pins. You'll need to download a program to the module, but once you're ready, drill 3 holes into the back of the plastic case and affix the case onto the back of your fan. Power on the module and you're ready to roll. The end result is a pretty nifty light display, but just be careful to keep out of reach of young children.