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Firefox only: Just uploaded a new release of the Better YouTube Firefox extension, a compilation of user scripts that enhance YouTube. The update fixes bugs due to a site redesign, and adds features like an alternate video player that does not autoplay (but does auto-load video in the background while it's paused) and a handy link to download the video you're watching. Current users can get the update through Firefox's Add-ons dialog; everyone else, hit the link to download.
US-centric: Web site TrackMyShipments automatically tracks packages from any delivery company by examining the shipping email and adding any shipments to your tracking queue. It works like this: You sign up for TrackMyShipments, then forward any shipping confirmation email... Read More »
The email address you chose when signing up for Gmail seemed completely hilarious when you first signed up, but after a year of sending resumes to employers from strangelove45@gmail.com, you may be reconsidering your choice. Luckily with Gmail's easy-to-use Mail Fetcher feature and POP3 access, you can easily import all of your old emails to your new, respectable Gmail address with a few very simple steps. Here's how it works:
Posted by Sarah Stokely at 12:04 PM on February 5, 2008
Mark at the MakeUseOf blog points out that it's become all the rage to convert Greasemonkey user scripts into Firefox extensions - giving our own Gina Trapani's Better Gmail as an example.
The benefit of this is that even non-programmers can take a Greasemonkey script and turn it into a Firefox extension - a format more likely to be used by non-programmers.
Mark runs you through how to use a User Script Compiler to turn a script into an XPI file (Firefox extension) - no coding required:
Once you've filled out that screen and hit compile, you're done - just drag it onto your Firefox browser to start the installation. As Mark points out, you can find new user scripts from sites like Userscripts.org."First, you need to get the actual Greasemonkey script. Go to your Firefox profile in your Windows Explorer and find the “gm_scripts” sub-folder. This folder contains all the Greasemonkey scripts that you have installed on your Firefox browser and should all be in javascript file format (.js)...
Now right-click on the desired script, choose “rename” and turn the file from javascript to a text file (.txt). Open the text file and you have your code. Then go to the User Script Compiler and enter the required information in the fields provided."
In response to last week's Best of 2007 Smart Playlist, the Podophile weblog suggests another useful iTunes Smart Playlsit: the Lost Music playlist.
If you're a compulsive music collector like me, or suffer from an advanced case of M.A.D.D. (music attention deficit disorder) there are probably a lot of tracks in iTunes that you never got around to listening to. [...] Just set up a smart playlist of all music added in 2007 with a play count of 0. If you religiously listen to every new song at least once, you may need adjust the play count to 1, just to flesh out your playlist a bit.Not only is the Lost Music Smart Playlist is a great way to keep up with those undiscovered gems in your iTunes library, but you could also use a similar playlist (maybe throw a skip count rule into the mix) to prune your iTunes library of music you haven't lost but you just don't listen to.
Posted by Sarah Stokely at 11:50 AM on February 5, 2008
Here's a great hack for dealing with little kids in the kitchen. Rather than banning them from the kitchen and turning down their offers to help, this mum decided it would be quicker, safer and more productive to bring the kids into the kitchen, show them how to do things safely and let them help. And it worked.
"It turned out to be far easier to teach the 5-year-old how to use sharp things safely (and with supervision) than to let her try on her own... or to turn the kitchen into a complete hands-off zone."
Onions can stay fresh for up to six months (!)—if you store 'em well. Over at the Serious Eats boards, a user points out that a Trader Joe's onion label instructs the consumer to store them in pantyhose for maximum freshness. Web site eHow corroborates:
Take a washed pair of used or new pantyhose and place the onions into the feet. Tie a knot in the pantyhose above each whole onion. Repeat this process until both legs are full or you have inserted all the onions. Hang the pantyhose in a cool, dry, and dark place, such as a pantry, closet, or cellar.When you need an onion? Just cut one off the hose. Apparently keeping the onions dry, able to breathe, separated, and suspended in the air maximizes their shelf life. You can also use mesh bags to the same effect.
Posted by Sarah Stokely at 10:30 AM on February 5, 2008
Ebay's plans to stop sellers from leaving negative feedback on buyers has stirred up some discontent among users of the online auction house. The move was made to try to shore up the falling number of active buyers using the site, but may be swinging the pendulum too far in the other direction, as Zara Baxter's pointed out at PCA. It sounds like Ebay is breaking the reputation metric which used to help users decide who to trade with. What's your take on it?
If budgeting was at the top of your 2008 resolutions, you've probably reached that one-month burnout point where you're beginning to wonder if you can keep up the penny-pinching. Weblog Get Rich Slowly suggests several ways of coping with frugality burnout so you don't fall of the thrift wagon. For example:
Don't try to do it all at once. Even frugality zealots don't follow 100% of the things they write about. It's important to choose a few ideas that work best for you, and to begin incorporating them into your life.If you're big on budgeting, share your tips for how you cope with frugality burnout without going on a spending binge in the comments.
Mac OS X only: Free utility File List batch renames files on your Mac according to criteria you set up. Rename files using sequential numbers, prefixes or suffixes, or change to upper or lower case. File List supports advanced file naming specs that let you use conditional statements, too, like "if it's a .TIFF file rename it to PHOTO." Best of all File List can create file renaming "droplets" that you can pin to Finder's toolbar for drag and drop easy reuse. File List is a free download for Mac OS X only.
Despite obvious problems with full-fledged arguments in the workplace, productivity web site Behance suggests that a good fight can sometimes be just what a project needs.
When you really care about an idea, you are likely to develop an opinion; when multiple people have a strong opinion, you're bound to disagree - and clash. Your approach to managing the impassioned "fighting" that ensues is a critical factor in your ability to find the best solution. While some people shy away from confrontation, we have found that a healthy dose of tension helps ideas thrive.Like the post says, arguments aren't by default a bad thing; most of the time it means that you and your coworkers really care about the task at hand, and you're often more likely to "triangulate" on better solutions when passionate people are involved.
Those nights you have no idea what to make for dinner with the random food in your pantry, instead of heading for the grocery store or the takeout menus, hit up RecipeMatcher.com. Enter the ingredients you've already got on hand and RecipeMatcher will suggest dishes that contain them, and even make printable grocery shopping lists with any items you might be missing. For similar services, Adam's had success with Allrecipes and while RecipeMatcher also works for drinks, when you're cracking open the liquor cabinet you could also check ExtraTasty.
Windows only: Freeware application BurnAware covers all of your most common burning tasks, from burning audio CDs and video DVDs to disk images (like ISO files) and regular data discs. That's a good start, but BurnAware really impresses by supporting virtually every optical format, including Blu-Ray and HD DVDs. If you've been looking for a simple, all-in-one burning tool with a small footprint to replace expensive alternatives like Nero, BurnAware may be the ticket. BurnAware is freeware, Windows only.
Your TiVo can play more than just television it's recorded —it can also play video that you've downloaded to your computer from the internets, and it can do it without the pay-for TiVo Desktop Plus upgrade. If you're a BitTorrent'ing, usenet'ing, podcatching, downloading fool, filling up your hard drive with movies, television episodes, and video clips you want to watch from the couch instead of the computer chair, you can do just that if you've got a TiVo sitting under your flat screen in the living room. Using the free Videora TiVo Converter for Windows, here's how to watch your video downloads from the comfort of your couch without forking over extra cash.
Mac OS X Leopard only: You wouldn't think that Leopard's new Quick Look feature would work anywhere but from Finder, but you'd be wrong. From the command line in Terminal, you can invoke Quick Look to preview the contents of a file. Tips web site Mac OS X Hints details how: the command is qlmanage -p somefile where somefile is your document. As Mac OS X Hints recommends, setting up an alias (qlf, perhaps?) is a good way to save your typing fingers when reusing this technique.
Windows guy Dennis O'Reilly says you can clear space on your hard drive by removing "uninstall folders"—temporary folders of files Windows sets up that let it roll back updates in case something goes wrong. To see your uninstall folders, browse to the C:\Windows\ directory, and take a gander at all the folders listed there whose name starts with "$NtUninstall." (You've got to have "Show hidden files and folders" enabled in Explorer's folder options to see them). I've got about 231MB of uninstall data stored there myself. Of course, deleting these folders all willy-nilly could screw up any System Restore points you've got going on, or perhaps the Add/Remove Programs functionality for Windows updates, so proceed with caution and only delete if you're desperate for space. Here's how to identify more system disk space hogs with a free download.
Tech blog CyberNet delves into System Restore, Windows' built-in configuration roll-back service, and surfaces with a shortuct that saves time, and might save your system, with just two clicks. Click through for the code to create the shortcuts in Windows XP and Vista.
iGoogle, Google's personalised start page and gadget platform, can be a great place to store things you want to glance at on a regular basis. Google Operating System points out a number of great gadgets that can take data in simple row/column formats and display them as graphs, charts, or a wealth of other visualisation techniques. Google's own Trendalyzer gadget can create some slick-looking spheres-on-an-axis charts to help you determine growing and shrinking trends, but those who prefer more easily read forms can get pie charts, bar graphs, line trackers, and other data mapped out pretty quickly. For more DIY data plotting, check out Gina's guide to rolling your own timeline and a Google URL hack for on-the-fly charts.
Linux.com has a great roundup of ways to use mouse gestures in nearly every corner of a Linux desktop. Newcomers who just want to try out a few shortcuts are walked through the previously mentioned Mouse Gestures Firefox extension and desktop corner activator Brightside, but those looking for universal gesture recognition can go further with the Gestikk and wayV packages. Both require a bit of terminal hacking to install and get running, but neither one will mess up your system if you decide to go back to the ol' trusty keyboard.
All-nighters are usually symptoms of planning gone awry, but sometimes they're just plain unavoidable. The Cranking Widgets Blog rounds up some hard-won advice on getting all the way to sunrise while actually getting your work done. Among the most valuable tips:
Map Out Objectives Before Starting Work ... If it's 8:00 p.m. and you know you'll be watching the sunrise from your desk, it's best to plot out exactly what needs to be done on a sheet of paper and check things off as you complete them. You don't want to have to count on your barely functioning brain to tell you what to do next, especially after you've been at it for several hours.I must sadly admit I can vouch for that wisdom, as it's all too easy to get sidetracked at 3 a.m. by web sites and other time holes. For more all-night advice, check out tips for pulling an all-nighter studying. Photo by patpompak.
Sometimes, you just feel like getting the word out quickly. With the wealth of social/communication networks available, though, posting a relevant status message—like when, say, your football team pulls off a prize-winning upset—can take a long time across multiple platforms. Enter HelloTXT, a free web app that can send your status to Facebook, Twitter, a Tumblr blog, and a handful of other networks. We've already covered a desktop Mac app that can perform similar time-saving status blasts, but those with mobile browsers or multiple services demanding their attention can benefit from HelloTXT's service. Best of all, a sign-up isn't mandatory, although it lets you store your social net passwords.
UPDATE: The terminal command highlighted below was corrected, at the request of the blog author (and numerous commenters). Apologies for any confusion.
Are you in the habit of leaving your digital desktop cluttered with temporary documents, images, and other files that you use once and—eventually—drag into the trash? Lifehacker reader Brian Aker uses a built-in feature of OS X to keep his desktop free of clutter. Using a single terminal command, he creates a symbolic "Tmp" folder inside his home folder that the system automatically cleans out at every reboot. The command is (replacing yourusername with the correct user:
ln -s /tmp /Users/yourusername/TmpWith the link in place (and dragged into the Finder menu), it's easy to save one-use documents into that /tmp folder from anywhere. Want a similar self-cleaning temporary folder in Windows? Give Adam's Belvedere self-cleaning software a spin.
Better YouTube Firefox Extension Updated with New Features
Manage Your Tracking Numbers with Track My Shipments
Tackle All Your CD/DVD Writing with BurnAware
