From The Tips Box: Cable Storage, Phone Stands, SD Card Readers

Lifehacker readers offer their best tips for storing extra cables, making a cheap smartphone stand, and using an SD card reader without wasting space in your computer.

Every day we receive boatloads of great reader tips. From the Tips Box is where we round up some of our favourites. Got a tip of your own to share? Add it in the comments or send it using the contact tab on the right.

Store Extra Cables on a Coat Rack

Chris shows us how he keeps his extra cables easy accessible:

I use a wall-mounted coat rack to hang all of my USB, HDMI, and other often-needed chords. It hangs right over my desk.

Not the prettiest solution, but you could hide it away in a closet. It’s certainly easier than rooting around in a big box.

Turn a Gift Card Into a Cheap, Instant Smartphone Stand

Jen gets her phone movie-ready at a moment’s notice:

I made a quick iPhone horizontal stand from a used gift card. Just fold as shown.

We’ve shown you another way to do this with a gift card, and that’s probably better as a long-term solution. However, Jen’s method is quick, simple and perfect for when you don’t have anything else around.

Store SD Card Readers Inside Your Computer to Save Space

I discovered an easy way to keep my SD card reader, even though I was out of drive bays. After installing a dual-bay water reservoir for my water cooling setup, I had no room for my SD card reader. However, my case has two front fans that pop right out with a button, giving me easy access to the hard drive cages. I put my SD card reader inside that opening, on top of an empty drive sled. While it isn’t as easily accessible as it was before, it’s still plugged in directly, and I can use it just by popping off the fan (even while the computer’s still running). I don’t like USB readers so this is a nice alternative. Obviously, only some cases can do something like this, but it worked out pretty well for me. I’m using an NZXT Tempest 410 Elite, for those curious.

Use Gmail as a Powerful Journaling App

Allan Ellis finds that Gmail works better as a journal than most other apps:

A long time ago I set up a second gmail account to handle all my business, professional, and spam email. That leaves my first email address for personal use only.

I recently added a new Gmail account with a .journal suffix to use as my journal app. I was frustrated with other journal apps for a number of reasons and now have found Gmail to be my favourite. It is password-protected, syncs anywhere, and you can send your .journal email address a journal entry from anywhere or any other email account you have. You can leave it in the inbox by date, or incorporate labels. You can also include pictures, videos, and links.

Photo by Joel Montes de Oca.