For whatever reason, the "Safely Remove Hardware" dialog always seems a bit less than convenient to get to for me—mine is usually hidden behind that expanding arrow, and clicking through all the right menus when I just want to yank the cord is a bit tiring. The How-To Geek has a salve for impatient folks like myself: A hot-key-assignable shortcut to the full menu, with a "Stop" button close at hand. For those handy with shortcuts, here's where you should point one:

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Linux only: Convert audio files from inside your favourite music/playlist manager with transKode, a free plug-in for Amarok. If you've never installed an Amarok script, it's simple—grab the package ending in .tar.bz from the link below, head to the Tools->Script Manager menu, then hit the "Install" button and point to where you put that package. The plug-in is highly configurable, being based on the Mplayer multimedia tool, and accessible by right-clicking a file from the playlist. transKode is a free plug-in for Linux systems running Amarok only.

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Rather than just crunching numbers and spitting out a budget, The Simple Dollar blog suggests taking a step further back to examine your relationship to money.
The article offers up 20 thought-provoking questions and suggests using a journal to record your responses and thoughts:

"it’s almost like self-therapy - you’re digging through the relationship you’ve built up with money throughout your life and exposing the areas that really need work."

The questions including asking about ways you've attempted to control your spending in the past, how money is involved with your relationship to those closest to you, and asks where you want to be in five years and how you want to get there financially. Some of those questions are pretty challenging, but if you take the time to work through the list it could provide a pretty solid roadmap for where you're going financially.

Reflections on Money: 20 Valuable Questions to Ask Yourself [The Simple Dollar]

The how to details are a little sketchy, but the results of this DIY speak for themselves - it's a pretty slick looking laptop sleeve made from an old wetsuit.
Creator Alex says you can use any old neoprene wetsuit, as long as the piece of fabric which covers your back is big enough to fold over the laptop.
Because neoprene tends to be on the thick side, one thing you'd want to work out (which isn't covered in his post) is how fat a needle you need to use in your sewing machine (or maybe Alex should have asked his mum, since she did the sewing). :)

Neoprene Macbook Sleeve [Tinkerlog via MAKE]

The New York Times reports that the push-up, longtime signifier of fitness, really is an indicator that we should take seriously.

The push-up is the ultimate barometer of fitness. It tests the whole body, engaging muscle groups in the arms, chest, abdomen, hips and legs... Push-ups are important for older people, too. The ability to do them more than once and with proper form is an important indicator of the capacity to withstand the rigors of aging.

While workout and diet fads come and go, looks like you can add the push-up to those list of exercises that never goes out of style. When you're reading the article, be sure to check the included video for a few tips on proper form.

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If you hate cord clutter but don't have the DIY chops to run wiring through your walls or your crown molding, FlatWire is a paper-thin wire you install directly on your wall and then paint over. Aftering you've installed and painted over the FlatWire, it's supposed to be virtually invisible. The catch: It's not cheap, at $US37 for 25 feet of speaker wire, for example, plus the price of connectors, which run about $25. But then sometimes decluttering your mess of wires comes at a price. If you don't feel like unfurling your big money wad for the FlatWire, check out our top 10 ways to get cables under control on the cheap.

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Software engineer Chandoo shares some Excel conditional formatting tricks that make for good-looking and useful spreadsheets, like a Gantt chart. Conditional formatting makes a cell look a certain way based on its contents. A Gantt chart maps out deadlines within a project. Chandoo's Excel Gantt chart combines a calendar and to-do list to display what has to be completed when in a good-looking table layout. If you don't want to set up the sheet yourself, download an Excel Gantt chart template here. Here's more on using conditional formatting in your spreadsheets.

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The dead tree version of Wired (March 2008 issue) has a handy hint for how to break up on Facebook without sending a news blast to your friends list about it.
To change your relationship status without the press release, go to Facebook's privacy options, deselect "Remove My Relationship Status" then, in your profile settings, change "In a Relationship" back to its default setting "Select Status".
Voila, now you won't be broadcasting the news of your recent split to the world.
The article points out that your ex's Mini Feed will still display an update in *their* relationship status, so you can't get away scot free. They'll need to delete it themselves. Oh well.

Thunderbird only: Thunderbird extension Seek adds advanced search and sort functionality to the open source email client, Thunderbird, through a feature called faceted browsing. As you can see in the screencast above, faceted browsing narrows down emails by a number of conditions, introducing tonnes of useful ways to slice and dice your inbox to find exactly what you want. Add to that the timeline feature, which looks like a blast along with being useful, and we've got a pretty worthwhile Thunderbird extension here. If you give it a go, let's hear what you think in the comments.

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Time for a quick break from the life hackin' to get your opinion, dear readers. Do we post too many items here per day? Too few? Is it just right? After the jump, please indulge us with your thoughts on the matter.

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If you've spent hours ripping a DVD or downloading a video just to find—when all's said and done—that the audio and video aren't matching up, reader Will suggests using video-Swiss-Army-knife VLC's desynchronisation feature to sync up the audio.

In the VLC Preferences, click on Audio and then tick the Advanced options checkbox; there is an Audio desynchronization compensation setting that allows you to set a positive or negative time delay between the video and audio tracks in milliseconds. I find unsynchronized video/audio unbearable, and have been known to delete files without watching them for it. It never occurred to me that there would be such a simple solution!

Will points out that you need to stop and start the movie each time you make an adjustment, but if you've been banging your head against the wall over poorly synced audio, VLC can make quick work of it. Thanks Will!

Commercial shipping scales can cost a mint, so do-it-yourselfer arcticpenguin modified an electronic bathroom scale purchased at a thrift shop to do the job. A bathroom scale can weigh packages out of the box, but seeing the readout is almost impossible with any large box; so this modification involves dismounting the LED screen, extending the wires connecting it to the scale, and mounting it on the wall. Arcticpenguin completed this project with materials that cost under a buck, and the result can weigh packages up to 330 pounds.

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Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): Freeware Firefox theme Littlefox replaces buttons and adjusts spacing on your Firefox chrome to optimise your screen space and focus on the browsing. The Littlefox chrome is unquestionably tiny, and it identifies bookmarklets and such in fun ways, but overall the design could be a little cleaner. If you like the idea of taking Firefox minimal but aren't keen on the looks of Littlefox, check out how to roll your own consolidated chrome in Firefox.

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Just because hard drives are cheap doesn't mean you should keep every file you ever come across. The Unclutterer weblog, which usually focuses on your home and office, turns its organising eye to your hard drive and runs down ways to herd all the bits and pieces we collect on our computers all day. They suggest deleting everything you don't need, creating folders that mirror your life, using descriptive file names, and making liberal use of a temporary folder. There's lots of similarity here to my six-folder system for organizing "My Documents." Also, remember you can use automated tools like Belvedere for Windows and Hazel for Mac to automatically clear out files from a temporary folder after a certain amount of time. What's your preferred way to stow files away on your desktop? Let us know in the comments.

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US-centric: March Madness is just a week away, and this year you've got more ways than ever to catch the action no matter where you are. First, the freeware TV-over-the-internet app Joost (remember our full tour and review of... Read More »

We were impressed with part one, part two blew us away, and today we're back for an incredible third and final installment of the 2008 Coolest Cubicle Contest, with $500 at Amazon up for grabs. Today's submissions feature some over-the-top cubicles—like race tracks and bunkers—and some incredibly clever and subtle cubicle decor that anyone could pull off with a minimum of effort. Hit the jump to take a look at the last group of cubicles.

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Macworld's running a fantastic "Leopard Survival Guide" series, covering little-known Mac tips of all sorts, like how to customise the welcome text in a new Terminal window:

Open Terminal and enter cd /etc, press return, and then type sudo pico motd. That second command launches a text editor and loads a new file called motd (Message Of The Day). Type whatever you like for a message (for instance, "Welcome to the land where text is king"), press control-X (for Exit), press Y (for Yes, to save changes), and then press return (to accept the file name, which will be shown as motd). From now on, new Terminal windows will display your new greeting, right below the date and time of the last login.

Don't miss the rest of the series, which also covers the Dock and Stacks to Spaces, Expose and the Dashboard.

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• How can I upgrade my home sound system and radio to a 21st century solution, without breaking the budget?
• How do I force Firefox to cache PNGs?
• What brands and models of UPS should I be looking at?
• How do I know when I'm being self-assertive versus being a jerk?
• Should I avoid discount camera web sites?
• Why is Firefox refusing to spellcheck?

Windows and Mac OS X: Free data-syncing utility FolderShare has released an updated Windows client with better Windows Vista support and performance, as well as a redesign of the website where you can easily share and grab files from another computer, whether it's Mac or PC. As with the first time we mentioned it, FolderShare only limits individual file sizes (up to 2 GB) and the number of files per shared library (10,000)—other than that, it's whatever you want to share. If you've got a different OS at home and work, or you just want an easy synchronisation tool for an always-on box, FolderShare fits the bill, and can help you keep Firefox profiles and Greasemonkey scripts in sync. FolderShare is a free download for Windows and Mac OS X systems (with an updated Mac client in the works, according to developers).

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The Wall Street Journal reports on a recent study that asked whether more screen real estate gave workers the ability to do things faster and better. Workers were given either an 18-inch or 24-inch monitor, and the researchers found that:

People using the 24-inch screen completed the tasks 52% faster than people who used the 18-inch monitor; people who used the two 20-inch monitors were 44% faster than those with the 18-inch ones. There is an upper limit, however: Productivity dropped off again when people used a 26-inch screen.

Interesting findings (albeit funded by a monitor manufacturer), but I have to ask our space-savvy readers: How would you use extra screen space to make your desktop more effective, if you had the chance? What can you get done with a bigger monitor than with, say, a multi-desktop app like OS X Leopard's Spaces (or its Windows and Linux equivalents)? Tell us what you think, and share your own story of making the most of what you've got, whether it's laptop-sized or home theatre proportions.

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The Productivity Portfolio blog has a great walk-through on how to create a collection of personalised RSS feeds to show any new jobs that pop up on eight popular or specialised job search sites, including Craigslist, CareerBuilder.com, and previously mentioned site Indeed. Even if RSS feeds are old hat for you, you might not know just what each of the major job-finding sites offers in localised, career-specific searches. Have you ever found a job through an RSS ping or email alert? Have a better way of not missing that potential next career? Share your story in the comments.

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Windows only: Freeware utility MediaInfo adds a wealth of information to the file tooltips—the boxes you see when mousing over a file&mash;for a range of video and audio files. It works similarly to previously mentioned Infotag Magic, and for those working a decent amount with video and audio conversion programs, MediaInfo can help cut back on file confusion and give you a heads-up on a file's resolution and size. MediaInfo is a free download for Windows XP and earlier only.

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If you're the type who doesn't keep a virus-scanning program running on your desktop out of memory concerns, or you find yourself at a system without your preferred scanner, you might want to think twice before downloading any suspicious attachments—even if the boss sent them. Luckily, previously mentioned service VirusTotal offers the same multi-AV-scanning service through a utility email address. Simply forward your email, attachment included, to scan@virustotal.com, with the body cleared out and "SCAN" in the subject. After running McAfee, AVG, F-Secure, and other apps over it, VirusTotal will email you back to let you know whether the attachment is infected. High thanks to Digital Inspiration, which offers a link to similarly useful email addresses at the link below.

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