RSS Feeds
|
US Edition
Babblebaby
|
Defamer
|
Gizmodo
|
Kotaku
|
Lifehacker
Unsure whether those untimely sneezes and coughs are a cold, allergy, or maybe a bit of both? The New York Times offers a few helpful tips on knowing the difference, including the timing, itchiness, and where the congestion crops up.
Windows/Mac/Linux (All platforms): Online backup utility SpiderOak is notable for its true cross-platform availability, but it also offers (like Mozy) 2 GB of non-expiring free storage space and the ability to run in the background, making persistent backups as you change the contents of any folders you want to watch. The creators boast of a compression algorithm that speeds up both uploads and restoration, and unlimited bandwidth for paying customers, but its real value comes in its simple interface and set-and-forget nature. For any user—but especially Linux newcomers—who doesn't quite feel comfortable setting up their own automated backups, SpiderOak is a viable option. SpiderOak is free to download and create a 2 GB account; each 10 GB increment after that costs about $US5/month.
Posted by Angus Kidman at 7:06 PM on July 15, 2008
Twittervision shows real-time posts from Twitter users around the world on a Google Maps interface, providing odd insights from all corners of the globe. You can get added to the site by following 'twittervision' on Twitter itself, and use simple location codes to change where your tweet appears. We haven't managed to think of a productive use for this yet, but it's an interesting way of identifying new Twitter users who might be worth following. (Thanks Clinton!) [Twittervision]
Posted by Angus Kidman at 6:48 PM on July 15, 2008
Vodafone has confirmed its official stance that its iPhone plans don't allow data charges to be offset against monthly cap payments, but the carrier is yet to indicate how this policy fits in with its published terms and conditions, or what will happen to customers who signed up for iPhone service after being assured by salespeople that they could include data charges as part of their cap. Click after the jump for Vodafone's statement and what it doesn't yet explain.
Posted by Angus Kidman at 6:15 PM on July 15, 2008
By default, PowerPoint uses its 'snap to grid' feature to make sure objects line up neatly. That's great for beginners, but irritating if you want to move items more precisely for a particular effect. It seems obvious that you should be able to turn this behaviour off, but in the allegedly more intuitive Ribbon interface, you could waste a lot of time looking.
A post on the official PowerPoint blog admits as much: "It's never been really easy to find, but it only got harder in Office 2007." More practically, it also details how to temporarily move items independently of the grid, as well as how to switch it off snap-to-grid permanently in both Office 2003 and 2007. Microsoft has promised to make this more obvious in a future release, but at least this helps fix the problem if you encounter it.
Quick Try This: Smooth sailing [The PowerPoint Team Blog]
Regular Lifehacker AU 
poster Citizen Dee points out that Officeworks is currently selling a cross-cut shredder for the discount price of $59. Obviously no stranger to the joys of a shredder, Dee makes a good case for them:
As we all know, cross-cut creates more shreds which makes the output "finer" in a packing/composting sense but is also harder to reconstruct for the security conscious. I just got one and have spent the last ten minutes giddily shredding everything in sight (dangerous considering I haven't done my tax yet). Tip for buyers -- they also sell oil for them which is going to be needed as a regular maintenance going by the sound of the motor (it's probably cheap for a reason).au, organise, shredder, security,
Posted by Angus Kidman at 5:41 PM on July 15, 2008
It's hardly news that the bucketloads of applications (rather than 3G) are the biggest selling point for iPhone 2.0, but now we've got the official numbers. According to Apple, 10 million applications were downloaded from the store in its first three days of operation. To find the best programs amidst the sea of options out there (which includes, scarily, nine versions of the card game blackjack), check out our guide to the best free applications in the App Store.
Posted by Angus Kidman at 12:01 PM on July 15, 2008
While Outlook tries to make intelligent guesses when formatting phone numbers in its contact lists, often it ends up making the problem worse. Type in an Australian mobile phone number into the mobile field on a contact and Outlook will almost invariably try to separate out the initial (04) as an area code. Fortunately, there's a pretty simple fix: enter the number with spaces -- 0400 000 000 -- and Outlook will leave it alone. If you keep having problems, check under the Phone and Modem options section in Control Panel to make sure it isn't set to the US or some other unhelpful location with different formatting requirements. (The alternative is to enter numbers in international format with an initial +61 and no leading zero, useful if you also synch your contacts to your phone but a bit of a pain if nearly all your contacts are using Aussie numbers.)
Posted by Angus Kidman at 11:51 AM on July 15, 2008
Vodafone still doesn't seem any closer to deciding just how its iPhone data plans work in practice. A Vodafone representative has promised to contact Lifehacker with the definitive answer to whether data can be counted against the main monthly cap, but so far I've heard nothing. Readers have reported varying experiences, ranging from being told anyone can use their cap for data, only personal users can use the cap or that the entire idea is impossible. I'll update again when Vodafone makes up its mind.
Posted by Angus Kidman at 11:48 AM on July 15, 2008
For the next few days, I'm going to be in Tokyo, so the usual run of Australian-focused organising ideas may be supplemented with a few Japanese-inspired tips and techniques. I doubt I'll match the expertise of Lifehacker's resident Japanese expert Lisa Katayama, but with luck some useful ideas will show up. The Japanese already get points for having accurate electronic indicator boards in all their trains, something train companies the world over would do well to emulate. And coincidentally, this week also sees the launch of Lifehacker Japan, a Japanese-language version of Lifehacker.
Windows only: Music application TuneUp scans your iTunes library to fill in and clean up your music's metadata, including album art. After you install it, just point it at songs in your library you want to clean up; TuneUp fingerprints and analyzes them and then provides a diagnostic overview of your missing or incorrect metadata. You can then verify and clean up all your metadata with the stroke of a button. In theory it's very similar to previously mentioned MusicBrainz, but it's an altogether fresh take with a few more features.
iPhone/iPod touch only: The iPhone has sported a .com keyboard shortcut for making quick work of URLs in Mobile Safari since it was released, but reader George points us to an expansion to this keyboard shortcut that can save tons of time for entering email addresses and non-.com URLs. First, in Mobile Safari, just hold down the .com button for a second to see other domain options (namely .net, .edu, and .org). Second, when the keyboard has the @ symbol but no .com key, you can hold the '.' (period) key to get the same domain shortcuts—something that comes in especially handy when you're manually entering email addresses or filling in login credentials in new apps. I'm not sure if this keyboard shortcut is an iPhone 2.0 feature or something that was added when hold-for-accents was added for international language support, but it's definitely one to know. Thanks George!
All things Google weblog Google Operating System details how to take full advantage of Gmail Superstars, a souped-up version of Gmail's standard yellow star available in previously mentioned Gmail Labs. When enabled, Gmail Superstars allows you to set the star to one of 12 different icons for more robust labelling via the previously single-function star icon. The really cool part? Gmail Superstars are incorporated into Gmail's advanced search, so you can use queries like:
Mac OS X only: Free utility Dock Spaces creates and swaps between up to five customizable Docks in Leopard. Contrary to what the name might imply, Dock Spaces does not swap out your Dock every time you change Spaces. Instead, it swaps Dock content through your menu bar on demand, perfect for creating different task-specific Docks. Dock Spaces is donationware, Mac OS X only.
Jotting a simple list is a great way to brainstorm, but when you want to visualise, organise, and untangle a deep set of ideas, you want a mind map. Web-based mind mapping tool MindMeister offers a simple interface to create mind maps collaboratively or on the go. We've mentioned a few mind mapping apps in the past, and showed you how to mind map meetings as an alternative to linear note-taking. But if you haven't tried mind mapping yet, MindMeister is a great place to start. Let's dive into MindMeister to give mind mapping a go without downloading a thing.
Mac OS X Leopard only: One of the built-in Mac utilities that got the most feature additions in Leopard—albeit pretty quietly—is Preview, the PDF and image viewer. We've already covered how you can do more with Preview in Leopard, but Mac OS X Hints points out another good one: image annotation. Add arrows and notes, or circle and outline areas of an image in Preview using the Annotation menu. (In Preview's View menu choose Customise Toolbar, then drag the Annotate menu onto the toolbar.) Then, when you're editing a non-PDF image in Preview, just select your annotation, and click and drag on the image itself. Handy, and no third-party software required.
Google Notebook already offers quick-clipping tools for Firefox and Internet Explorer users (although the IE7 version requires adding the Google Toolbar), but the recent addition of a "Note This" bookmarklet closes the gap for anyone on Safari or another non-standard browser, or those who like their browsers lean and clean. Select text on a page and hit the bookmarklet to take a quick note, or hit it with nothing selected to create a link to the page. Opera users (insert sigh here) can only view notebooks, unfortunately, so this won't help them add notes. Other than that, Notebook fans will want to make room on their toolbar for it.
Search engine Scour aggregates results from Yahoo, Google, and MSN on one page, displays reviews and feedback from other Scour members about those results, and rewards you with points that you can trade in for a Visa gift card. Register for a free account at Scour, and use it each time you search the web. Accumulate enough Scour points and you can get a $25 Visa gift card.
Every member is awarded one point for every search, two for a vote and three for a comment with a maximum of 4 points a search. Once you aggregate at least 6,500 points you can cash them out for a $25 Visa gift card... it's more than you currently make from searching, right?Since Scour uses results from Google, Yahoo, and MSN anyway, you're getting the same results you'd get if you were using those engines—but racking up points while you do. A Scour browser toolbar's available for for download as well.
