Lifehacker readers are nothing if not smart and opinionated. Let's take a look back at what you had to say about 2008's biggest tech questions in the top 12 reader polls we ran this year.
Photo by ldcross.
While we ran dozens of polls this past year, these are the top 12 questions that got the most responses in total in 2008. Click on each question to read more about the question at hand and see the percentages other responses received.
We asked:
What's your Linux distribution of choice?
49% of you said:
Ubuntu (10,606 out of 21,536 votes)
We asked:
Is Google Chrome with extensions enough to get you to switch?
28% of you said:
Hells yeah. Those separate tabbed processes are killer, and as soon as I can customize the browser with extensions, I"m in. (4,078 out of 14,454 votes)
We asked:
Do multiple or widescreen monitor(s) make you more productive?
69% of you said:
Multiple Monitors (8,608 out of 12,455 votes)
We asked:
Where's your Windows taskbar?
60% of you said:
Bottom (7,052 out of 11,682 votes)
We asked:
Which feature has you most eager to try Windows 7?
33% of you said:
The souped-up taskbar (3,647 out of 11,123 votes)
We asked:
Location awareness: Is it cool or creepy?
54% of you said:
Creepy. (4,641 out of 8,641 votes)
We asked:
If you had the choice, would you opt into a four-day workweek?
80% of you said:
Heck yes! I"d save money on gas, get more done in a day, AND get a three-day weekend every week. (6,880 out of 8,556 votes)
We asked:
What kind of server are you running at home?
29% of you said:
Straight-up Linux/Unix, run from a command line. (2,117 out of 7,218 votes)
We asked:
What's the best smartphone operating system you've used?
35% of you said:
iPhone 2.0 (2,477 out of 7,075 votes)
We asked:
Do you run an antivirus app on your Mac?
42% of you said:
Never have, and I don't plan on starting. (2,972 out of 7,032 votes)
We asked:
Are you living beyond your means?
49% of you said:
No (3,337 out of 6,806 votes)
We asked:
How long does it take your computer to boot to the login screen?
33% of you said:
30-60 seconds (2,204 out of 6,698 votes)
Special thanks to the fine folks at PollDaddy who power our on-site polls.
What poll questions and answers do you want to see run on these pages? We're taking requests—suggest away in the comments.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Greenshot Captures and Annotes Screenshots
Windows only: Greenshot is a lightweight, open source, and portable screen-capture tool.
The executable and supporting .dll files weigh in at 464KB, making Greenshot a rather lightweight tool and well suited for a flash-drive toolkit. You can generate screen captures by a variety of methods including using the print-screen button as a hot key and activating the main menu from the system tray where you can capture by region, freehand cropping, etc. Greenshot can be set to send your crops directly to a printer, open for editing, or to be saved. The file naming convention is userspecifiedword_YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS, typical for screen-capture tools and entirely practical. Once you have captured an image you can add text and shapes such as arrows to draw attention or a bright red box to isolate. One curiously lacking feature is the ability to crop after the initial capture. You can use the freehand-capture tool to carefully grab the area you want when getting the initial capture, but once you are in the actual editing stage there appears to be no method to crop. For another excellent, free, and portable screen-capture tool check out FastStone Capture. Greenshot is open source, Windows only.Thanks Ryan!
Erase Your Browsing Tracks by Editing Your Index.dat Files
Windows only: Index.dat Suite is an index file editor that allows you to selectively edit or completely erase the contents of index.dat files on your computer.
Why edit the index.dat? When you browse the web, your computer leaves more traces behind than just the cookies and history file. Erasing your browser history and cookies from within Internet Explorer still leaves behind the index.dat file hidden away. On top of retaining an extensive list of the sites you have visited, it can also expose plain text passwords. Index.dat Suite is a free application that lets you examine the contents of index.dat files in a human friendly format and selectively export and erase the entries you find. For additional help sweeping your virtual trail clean, check out MRU Blaster.
Top 10 Ways to Repurpose Your Old iPod
You just got a new iPod or other music player over the holidays, and your older iPod looks like Craigslist fodder. Here are at least 10 reasons to re-consider its worthiness.
In general, we're asking anyone thinking about ditching their older iPod to consider what it truly is—a super-slim, substantial storage device, from which you can do, well, just about anything you'd do with a USB or external drive, with a convenient tiny screen and headphone jack attached. So we've compiled ten of our best tools for making the most of an older iPod below. Read on, plug in your tried-and-true iPod, and get creative. Photo by ZabriskiePoint.
10. Make it a flash card player
Whether you're prepping for a presentation or cramming for a test, your iPod can be a much more convenient way to carry your memory-boosting flash cards around than trying to cram a whole deck of 3x5s in your pocket. Mac OSX Hints has a through guide to transforming Keynote slides into iPod-ready picture slides, but any slide presentation maker that can export slides to picture files can create a folder that you simply sync up to your iPod. Your mileage will vary with your screen size and clarity, but for straight-up words, it's a handy hack. Steve Rubel's Micro Persuasion blog details a similar spin on using your iPod as a presentation tool.
9. Instant stereo, just add speakers
No matter how old your iPod, it's still a pretty efficient music holder and player. If you're hesitant to shell out big cash for a full-fledged stereo system, your trusty iPod is a great hub for your music. CNET details why you should give your iPod speakers, noting the benefits of simultaneously ditching your actual-plastic CDs—or at least putting them deep into storage—and simplifying your music life through the power of "Shuffle." It's not a solution for audiophiles, but it is the start of a no-hassle, instant-on system for any room in the house.
8. Your portable drinks/recipe/Wikipedia reference
Next time your dinner party or casual chat session turns into a debate about what happened to the star of A Christmas Story or how to properly make a sidecar, pull out your spare iPod and put the details to rest. The fully-fledged Encyclopodia project can put the majority of Wikipedia's useful articles on your iPod without messing up its main functions. iPod Bartender puts just what you think it might into your player, and those who don't like printing or lugging a laptop into their kitchen just for recipe reference should take a look at PodGourmet.
7. Make it your backup drive
Simple, but supremely useful, enabling and using an iPod's "Disk Mode"—basically opening up for use as a USB drive—pays off in a number of ways. After speeding up your iPod drive with disk defragging, you can boot your Mac from it, use it with most any Windows backup program that lets you choose a save location, automatically back up your Mac home folder with iPodBackup, and generally stash away anything you want on one of the most space-optimized drives around.
6. Free it from iTunes' grasp
If you live in a world of Windows systems and you're sick of being tied down to iTunes and its memory-hogging tendencies, you don't have to live with it. Back in 2006, Adam showed us how to make a self-sustaining iPod using the free vPod software. vPod's author notes that the tool for directly adding your music doesn't work with the newer firmwares available for most iPods since iTunes upgraded beyond 7.3, but for an older unit that's been gathering dust, that's probably not an issue. For a newer spin on no-iTunes-required, take a look at Adam's newer iPod independence guide, or check out SharePod, Songbird, MediaMonkey a try. And then there's Floola, in a class by itself because it can run directly from your iPod and transfer songs on and off it.
5. Make a stand-alone, bootable XP computer from it
Sure, you can carry around the portable versions of your favorite Windows apps on your iPod's drive, but you can ensure absolutely nothing gets changed on your friends' and relatives' PCs by booting your own Windows system from your iPod. Gina detailed the process using an XP installation CD and the MojoPac software. The no-restrictions version isn't free ($29.99 for a license), but there's a free version that gives you a virtual XP desktop—and that might be just what you need.
4. Load it up with games
Apple's iTunes store offers up games for both older video iPods and the newer iPod touch models, but if you're just looking for a little airport time-killing, why pay for your games, or feel forced into an upgrade? Install iPod Linux on nearly any iPod, and you'll be able to play games on your iPod for free. The previously screenshot-toured Rockbox also brings games onto your older music box, but the open-source Linux installation is a bit easier, and the games seem a bit more appealing.
3. Give it a new look with iPodWizard
If you've got any iPod other than a second or third generation nano, the iPod classic, or the iPod touch, you can give it a new look and feel while keeping its basic controls in place. The free application iPodWizard does it with style, as we've shown you in our walkthrough and screenshot tour. Your friend/frenemy may have the hotter new gear, but only your iPod isn't sport the same old OS-X-lite look.
2. Turn it into an ultimate go-anywhere tool
Shelling out cash for larger jump drives when you've already got an iPod with a minimum of 4GB available isn't necessary. Gina put together a list of apps, files, and tools for putting your life on a portable drive, and these days, the average iPod can hold all that, your music, and probably a sizable batch of video files and photos with it. If, for example, you're never quite sure if you'll have access to a working copy of Microsoft Office when you need it, a full copy of OpenOffice.org 3.0 is available in a no-install, portable version that fits snugly into your little take-everywhere drive, as are plenty of other PortableApps.
1. Make a serious upgrade with RockBox
Until you've taken the plunge and put Rockbox's new, improved firmware on your older iPod, you haven't seen the significant rebirth a seemingly dated device can undergo. Apple gave you a device that can play music, and maybe display photos or videos as well, but RockBox gives you games ranging from Sudoku to Doom, a calculator, a timer, much greater control over your files from your device, support for a wider range of music files, and much more. Check out our screenshot tour of RockBox 3.0, then go and grab the RockboxUtility for Windows, Mac, or Linux systems.
What do you plan to do with your older iPod, or what have you done in the past when you got an upgrade? Tell us your reuse and renovation stories in the comments.
In general, we're asking anyone thinking about ditching their older iPod to consider what it truly is—a super-slim, substantial storage device, from which you can do, well, just about anything you'd do with a USB or external drive, with a convenient tiny screen and headphone jack attached. So we've compiled ten of our best tools for making the most of an older iPod below. Read on, plug in your tried-and-true iPod, and get creative. Photo by ZabriskiePoint.
10. Make it a flash card player
Whether you're prepping for a presentation or cramming for a test, your iPod can be a much more convenient way to carry your memory-boosting flash cards around than trying to cram a whole deck of 3x5s in your pocket. Mac OSX Hints has a through guide to transforming Keynote slides into iPod-ready picture slides, but any slide presentation maker that can export slides to picture files can create a folder that you simply sync up to your iPod. Your mileage will vary with your screen size and clarity, but for straight-up words, it's a handy hack. Steve Rubel's Micro Persuasion blog details a similar spin on using your iPod as a presentation tool.
9. Instant stereo, just add speakers
No matter how old your iPod, it's still a pretty efficient music holder and player. If you're hesitant to shell out big cash for a full-fledged stereo system, your trusty iPod is a great hub for your music. CNET details why you should give your iPod speakers, noting the benefits of simultaneously ditching your actual-plastic CDs—or at least putting them deep into storage—and simplifying your music life through the power of "Shuffle." It's not a solution for audiophiles, but it is the start of a no-hassle, instant-on system for any room in the house.
8. Your portable drinks/recipe/Wikipedia reference
Next time your dinner party or casual chat session turns into a debate about what happened to the star of A Christmas Story or how to properly make a sidecar, pull out your spare iPod and put the details to rest. The fully-fledged Encyclopodia project can put the majority of Wikipedia's useful articles on your iPod without messing up its main functions. iPod Bartender puts just what you think it might into your player, and those who don't like printing or lugging a laptop into their kitchen just for recipe reference should take a look at PodGourmet.
7. Make it your backup drive
Simple, but supremely useful, enabling and using an iPod's "Disk Mode"—basically opening up for use as a USB drive—pays off in a number of ways. After speeding up your iPod drive with disk defragging, you can boot your Mac from it, use it with most any Windows backup program that lets you choose a save location, automatically back up your Mac home folder with iPodBackup, and generally stash away anything you want on one of the most space-optimized drives around.
6. Free it from iTunes' grasp
If you live in a world of Windows systems and you're sick of being tied down to iTunes and its memory-hogging tendencies, you don't have to live with it. Back in 2006, Adam showed us how to make a self-sustaining iPod using the free vPod software. vPod's author notes that the tool for directly adding your music doesn't work with the newer firmwares available for most iPods since iTunes upgraded beyond 7.3, but for an older unit that's been gathering dust, that's probably not an issue. For a newer spin on no-iTunes-required, take a look at Adam's newer iPod independence guide, or check out SharePod, Songbird, MediaMonkey a try. And then there's Floola, in a class by itself because it can run directly from your iPod and transfer songs on and off it.
5. Make a stand-alone, bootable XP computer from it
Sure, you can carry around the portable versions of your favorite Windows apps on your iPod's drive, but you can ensure absolutely nothing gets changed on your friends' and relatives' PCs by booting your own Windows system from your iPod. Gina detailed the process using an XP installation CD and the MojoPac software. The no-restrictions version isn't free ($29.99 for a license), but there's a free version that gives you a virtual XP desktop—and that might be just what you need.
4. Load it up with games
Apple's iTunes store offers up games for both older video iPods and the newer iPod touch models, but if you're just looking for a little airport time-killing, why pay for your games, or feel forced into an upgrade? Install iPod Linux on nearly any iPod, and you'll be able to play games on your iPod for free. The previously screenshot-toured Rockbox also brings games onto your older music box, but the open-source Linux installation is a bit easier, and the games seem a bit more appealing.
3. Give it a new look with iPodWizard
If you've got any iPod other than a second or third generation nano, the iPod classic, or the iPod touch, you can give it a new look and feel while keeping its basic controls in place. The free application iPodWizard does it with style, as we've shown you in our walkthrough and screenshot tour. Your friend/frenemy may have the hotter new gear, but only your iPod isn't sport the same old OS-X-lite look.
2. Turn it into an ultimate go-anywhere tool
Shelling out cash for larger jump drives when you've already got an iPod with a minimum of 4GB available isn't necessary. Gina put together a list of apps, files, and tools for putting your life on a portable drive, and these days, the average iPod can hold all that, your music, and probably a sizable batch of video files and photos with it. If, for example, you're never quite sure if you'll have access to a working copy of Microsoft Office when you need it, a full copy of OpenOffice.org 3.0 is available in a no-install, portable version that fits snugly into your little take-everywhere drive, as are plenty of other PortableApps.
1. Make a serious upgrade with RockBox
Until you've taken the plunge and put Rockbox's new, improved firmware on your older iPod, you haven't seen the significant rebirth a seemingly dated device can undergo. Apple gave you a device that can play music, and maybe display photos or videos as well, but RockBox gives you games ranging from Sudoku to Doom, a calculator, a timer, much greater control over your files from your device, support for a wider range of music files, and much more. Check out our screenshot tour of RockBox 3.0, then go and grab the RockboxUtility for Windows, Mac, or Linux systems.
What do you plan to do with your older iPod, or what have you done in the past when you got an upgrade? Tell us your reuse and renovation stories in the comments.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Video MobileConverter Formats Flicks for Small Screen
Windows only: BitTorrent super-host The Pirate Bay claims its ViO MobileConverter tool reduces nearly any video's size by 20 percent and converts it for mobile devices faster than anything else. Let's see about that.
Why the speed and quality test? Simply because ViO, with all the nuance of the typical Pirate Bay communication, claims this on its home page:
Converts virtually any web video format file into a file that’s 100% compatible with your portable media device, compressing it up to 20% of its original size without any reduction in image quality. ViO converts your media faster than any tool on the market today.
I decided to try out ViO on converting a DiVx-formatted episode of Mad Men ("The Benefactor" from season two, in case you're a fan) for my iPod touch. I'd previously been using the free version of Freez iPod Converter, which, while somewhat wonky and rough, got the job done faster and at acceptable quality faster than anything else I'd tried. I used Robin Keir's timer to clock the conversion speed.
So! Here's the results of plugging in a 350MB, 45-minute AVI file into Freez and letting fly with the default settings (which converts to MP4):
Freez iPod Converter
Conversion time: 7 minutes, 10 secondsFinished size: 251 MBQuality: Good, easily watch-able, only the same quirks as were present in the original.Screenshot:
I then ran ViO through the same process, plugging in the AVI file and asking it to convert to an MP4 for the iPhone (same video screen as iPod touch):
ViO
Conversion time: 7 minutes, 7 secondsFinished size: 54.7 MBQuality: Lots of pixel "ghosting" (blocky pieces left behind when scene jumps), general muddiness to multi-color scenes. Like a YouTube video that nobody selected "High Quality" or "HD" for.Screenshot:
I then realized that ViO's "Advanced Options," tucked away by default, let you change pretty much anything and everything about the finished product, including a target file size.
So I set ViO to re-encode that video to a 251MB MP4 file, and it instantly upped the video bitrate and other features. Here's the results of that second pass:
ViO (Take Two)
Conversion time: 7 minutes 10 secondsFinished size: 181MBQuality: Noticeably better than the first run, with no detectable ghosting. A small bit of jerky-ness when characters are moving quickly or scenes jump-cut (especially in well-lit situations), but watch-able.Screenshot:
So there you have it. ViO did—despite my wishes, even—make a smaller video file than Freez in the same amount of time, reducing its final size by about 30 percent with only a small amount of detectable difference. Given its more polished, somewhat easier-to-grasp interface and the huge range of devices it can convert for—HTC, Samsung, LG, Nokia, Apple, and many more devices are covered—it's definitely worth checking out.
ViO Video MobileConverter is a free download for Windows systems only. Make sure to watch for the toolbar option if you don't want a browser add-on; it's checked for installation by default.
Why the speed and quality test? Simply because ViO, with all the nuance of the typical Pirate Bay communication, claims this on its home page:
Converts virtually any web video format file into a file that’s 100% compatible with your portable media device, compressing it up to 20% of its original size without any reduction in image quality. ViO converts your media faster than any tool on the market today.
I decided to try out ViO on converting a DiVx-formatted episode of Mad Men ("The Benefactor" from season two, in case you're a fan) for my iPod touch. I'd previously been using the free version of Freez iPod Converter, which, while somewhat wonky and rough, got the job done faster and at acceptable quality faster than anything else I'd tried. I used Robin Keir's timer to clock the conversion speed.
So! Here's the results of plugging in a 350MB, 45-minute AVI file into Freez and letting fly with the default settings (which converts to MP4):
Freez iPod Converter
Conversion time: 7 minutes, 10 secondsFinished size: 251 MBQuality: Good, easily watch-able, only the same quirks as were present in the original.Screenshot:
I then ran ViO through the same process, plugging in the AVI file and asking it to convert to an MP4 for the iPhone (same video screen as iPod touch):
ViO
Conversion time: 7 minutes, 7 secondsFinished size: 54.7 MBQuality: Lots of pixel "ghosting" (blocky pieces left behind when scene jumps), general muddiness to multi-color scenes. Like a YouTube video that nobody selected "High Quality" or "HD" for.Screenshot:
I then realized that ViO's "Advanced Options," tucked away by default, let you change pretty much anything and everything about the finished product, including a target file size.
So I set ViO to re-encode that video to a 251MB MP4 file, and it instantly upped the video bitrate and other features. Here's the results of that second pass:
ViO (Take Two)
Conversion time: 7 minutes 10 secondsFinished size: 181MBQuality: Noticeably better than the first run, with no detectable ghosting. A small bit of jerky-ness when characters are moving quickly or scenes jump-cut (especially in well-lit situations), but watch-able.Screenshot:
So there you have it. ViO did—despite my wishes, even—make a smaller video file than Freez in the same amount of time, reducing its final size by about 30 percent with only a small amount of detectable difference. Given its more polished, somewhat easier-to-grasp interface and the huge range of devices it can convert for—HTC, Samsung, LG, Nokia, Apple, and many more devices are covered—it's definitely worth checking out.
ViO Video MobileConverter is a free download for Windows systems only. Make sure to watch for the toolbar option if you don't want a browser add-on; it's checked for installation by default.
Download Free Computer-Generated Christmas MP3s
Load up your iTunes playlist with some holiday cheer but save a few bucks in the process with almost 20 classic holiday recordings that are available as a free download from the Garritan music community.
The Garritan Community Christmas album includes tunes from O Holy Night to Auld Lang Syne. What's most interesting is how they were recorded:
A community of musicians from all over the world met on the Garritan community forum and agreed to submit their own recordings of holiday music, to be freely distributed. Each of these orchestral recordings were made not with large live orchestras in vast recording studios at huge expense, but rather were created by a single person working on their own desktop or laptop computer. What they have in common is the use of Garritan libraries representing software musical instruments based on samples of real instruments.
Preview the tunes on-site before you download, then grab the entire album (with art) to add to your collection for free.
Garritan Christmas Music Player [via Pogue's Posts]
The Garritan Community Christmas album includes tunes from O Holy Night to Auld Lang Syne. What's most interesting is how they were recorded:
A community of musicians from all over the world met on the Garritan community forum and agreed to submit their own recordings of holiday music, to be freely distributed. Each of these orchestral recordings were made not with large live orchestras in vast recording studios at huge expense, but rather were created by a single person working on their own desktop or laptop computer. What they have in common is the use of Garritan libraries representing software musical instruments based on samples of real instruments.
Preview the tunes on-site before you download, then grab the entire album (with art) to add to your collection for free.
Garritan Christmas Music Player [via Pogue's Posts]
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Boost Your PowerPoint Skills Inside PowerPoint 2007
Are you decent with a bulleted list in PowerPoint 2007, but need to get a bit more creative? You can learn how to pull off a few useful effects right inside the program.
Microsoft's Office Online team provides eight instructional PowerPoint templates that teach you how to pull off the effects demonstrated inside them. They'll show you where to click, what to enter, and you don't have to switch between instructional videos or text and your app. 3D shapes and graphs, backgrounds, process graphics, and more are free for the download.
Microsoft's Office Online team provides eight instructional PowerPoint templates that teach you how to pull off the effects demonstrated inside them. They'll show you where to click, what to enter, and you don't have to switch between instructional videos or text and your app. 3D shapes and graphs, backgrounds, process graphics, and more are free for the download.
Ubuntu Distributor Wants to Overhaul Linux Desktop Notifications
Canonical, the parent company behind the popular Ubuntu Linux system, wants to implement a new (and vaguely Mac-ish) method of user notification in Ubuntu's next release.
You can check out a demonstration of the new notifications in action at Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth's blog post. As noted by Ars, the goal is to provide a more user-friendly experience for anyone jumping onto Linux, and give the desktop's pings and blips a uniform look and feel, as opposed to the multitude of notification apps and tools that use the free D-Bus protocol in a variety of ways.
That's potentially a really good thing for dedicated Ubuntu users. But, as Ars Technica points out, it also means generally forcing users into using a 3D compositing system like Compiz, which often means (at least for NVIDIA video cards) enabling non-open-source drivers. As always, things can easily change between now and Ubuntu 9.04 (due out April 2004), but it's an intriguing discussion going on.
You can check out a demonstration of the new notifications in action at Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth's blog post. As noted by Ars, the goal is to provide a more user-friendly experience for anyone jumping onto Linux, and give the desktop's pings and blips a uniform look and feel, as opposed to the multitude of notification apps and tools that use the free D-Bus protocol in a variety of ways.
That's potentially a really good thing for dedicated Ubuntu users. But, as Ars Technica points out, it also means generally forcing users into using a 3D compositing system like Compiz, which often means (at least for NVIDIA video cards) enabling non-open-source drivers. As always, things can easily change between now and Ubuntu 9.04 (due out April 2004), but it's an intriguing discussion going on.
Internet Explorer Backup Zips Up All Your IE Settings
Windows only: If you never want to have to tweak Internet Explorer's settings again—and there are many, many settings—Backrex Internet Explorer Backup has you covered.
The small, step-by-step backup program grabs everything from Internet Explorer 6 or 7, including cookies, add-ons, auto-complete entries, connection settings, and, of course, your favorites .You back it all up to a zip file that's compressed and, if you'd like, password-protected, and can restore settings in the same click-by-click fashion. The app doesn't support the Internet Explorer 8 betas from what I can tell, but that may be on the way.
BackRex Internet Explorer is a free download for Windows systems only.
The small, step-by-step backup program grabs everything from Internet Explorer 6 or 7, including cookies, add-ons, auto-complete entries, connection settings, and, of course, your favorites .You back it all up to a zip file that's compressed and, if you'd like, password-protected, and can restore settings in the same click-by-click fashion. The app doesn't support the Internet Explorer 8 betas from what I can tell, but that may be on the way.
BackRex Internet Explorer is a free download for Windows systems only.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Google Pack updates: better screensaver, new AV and spyware apps
Google's updated their previously-posted Windows software package, Google Pack.
Changes to the Pack address our biggest initial complaint: that the original AV software, free for six months, would nag you for pay-for updates after the trial was over. Now Google's included the no-nag, no pay-for-updates-needed Norton Security Scan antivirus and PC Tools' Spyware Doctor Starter Edition. We're still fans of Ad-Aware for spyware scanning and ClamWin AV, but hey - at least GOOG's new choices are free.
Also, the screensaver (which was our favorite part) now supports photo feed slideshows, like from Flickr. Neat! — Gina Trapani
Changes to the Pack address our biggest initial complaint: that the original AV software, free for six months, would nag you for pay-for updates after the trial was over. Now Google's included the no-nag, no pay-for-updates-needed Norton Security Scan antivirus and PC Tools' Spyware Doctor Starter Edition. We're still fans of Ad-Aware for spyware scanning and ClamWin AV, but hey - at least GOOG's new choices are free.
Also, the screensaver (which was our favorite part) now supports photo feed slideshows, like from Flickr. Neat! — Gina Trapani
Google's new mobile search
Google has unveiled a redesigned mobile search interface with an emphasis on varied result types.
Rather than giving you choices for your search type (e.g., web, images, local listings), the new mobile search automatically searches across different Google search types and gives you a short list of results for each. The idea behind the new interface is to let you get the information you want with the least amount of click-work (useful for any mobile app). The results vary based on your search terms, so search results for Lifehacker start out with web pages, while a search for cat starts with stocks, cute images, then web pages. What do you think, mobile users, love it or lump it? Give us your thoughts in the comments. — Adam Pash
Google Mobile Search
Rather than giving you choices for your search type (e.g., web, images, local listings), the new mobile search automatically searches across different Google search types and gives you a short list of results for each. The idea behind the new interface is to let you get the information you want with the least amount of click-work (useful for any mobile app). The results vary based on your search terms, so search results for Lifehacker start out with web pages, while a search for cat starts with stocks, cute images, then web pages. What do you think, mobile users, love it or lump it? Give us your thoughts in the comments. — Adam Pash
Google Mobile Search
Google SMS adds flight info
We've long been fans of using Google SMS to fetch information from our phones. Now we can use it to retrieve airline numbers and flight status.
Just text your flight number to GOOGLE (466453) and in short order you'll receive a message listing arrival/departure times, flight status and even the airline's phone number. If you need only the latter, just text the airline's name. Of course, you can still use Google SMS to get driving directions, stock quotes and tons of other useful info. This is just a bit of extra icing on that already yummy cake. — Rick Broida
Google webapp keyboard shortcuts
The Smallwire blog comes up with a handy reference for Google-lovin' mouse-avoiders: a keyboard shortcut roundup for Google Mail, Google Calendar, Google Reader, Writely, Google Video and Google Maps. Good stuff. — Gina Trapani
Google homepage goes mobile
Google has just announced that your Google homepage is now available for your mobile device:
Anyone who's ever tried to browse the web on their cell phone knows that it isn't always the best user experience. That's why I'm excited to tell you about Google Mobile Personalized Home. We've designed a way for you to view the things that you really care about, from your Gmail inbox to news headlines, weather, stock quotes, and feeds (Atom or RSS). The interface is optimized for small screens, and we've arranged things so you don't have to click on a bunch of links to locate what you're after - your personalized content appears on top, right where it should be.
Nothing too heady here - it's Google Homepage for your mobile. Pretty cool, though.
Google homepage modules bonanza
Back in December when Google added widgets to their personalized homepage, there weren't very many mini-apps to choose from. Google.com/ig users will be happy to know GOOG's added a bunch more modules to their directory.
Some of the more interesting ones include a music player, note-taker, slang translator, torrent search, Netflix queue info, Hangman, an SMS reminder service and a Bloglines notifier. If Google provided permanent links to each of these modules, I'd link 'em, but alas, they don't. Warning: word on the street is these modules can slow down the homepage load time.
Add live TV to your Google homepage
A new gadget streams live TV right to your Google personalized homepage.
The Live TV gadget - which requires the Windows Media plugin to work (booo) - lets you watch UK and US news, entertainment, kids programming, movies, educational, sports, music and financial channels for free. Now you're really not going to do that thing you need to get done when you open your web browser. — Gina Trapani
Watch Live TV on your Google Homepage [Google Gadgets via Dumb Little Man]
Google Homepage adds thumbnail view of RSS feeds
Google Personalized Homepage lovers will be happy to see that Google has added quick previews to RSS feed widgets.
As you can see in the screenshot, feed items can now be expanded by clicking the plus sign (+) next to the title. The preview includes all of the text of the feed along with embedded images. While you probably wouldn't want to keep up with all of your reading this way (I'd suggest Google Reader for that), this nice new feature looks like a good way to keep an eye on a couple of your most important feeds wherever you are. — Adam Pash
As you can see in the screenshot, feed items can now be expanded by clicking the plus sign (+) next to the title. The preview includes all of the text of the feed along with embedded images. While you probably wouldn't want to keep up with all of your reading this way (I'd suggest Google Reader for that), this nice new feature looks like a good way to keep an eye on a couple of your most important feeds wherever you are. — Adam Pash
Google Homepage adds personalized tabs
The very popular Google Homepage has just added the ability to add and personalize your own tabs.
The tabs are actually very cool. After clicking the "Add a tab" link, you can name your new tab, then drag and drop any of your Google Homepage modules back and forth between any of your tabs (you can't reorder your tabs, unfortunately). This control lets you organize and compartmentalize homepage components in very useful ways, and should also allow you to add or try out a lot more modules. I don't personally use Google Homepage, but I know that a lot of our readers do. Then again, it's features like this that make a service much more tempting to pick up. Let us know about your Google Homepage use in the comments. — Adam Pash
Google Calendar adds homepage module and calendar publishing
Google Calendar is making it easier to access your calendar outside of the Gcal homepage, with two new features: a Google Homepage module and Gcal integration with any web site.
The homepage module is nice, but it's not like we haven't seen something like it before. The bigger of the two new features, publishing your calendar, is definitely a nice addition to Gcal, and Google's Event Publisher Guide should make it easy for anyone to do just that. I had no idea that the E.M.G. (Everybody's Mad for Google?) band released a new album on the 12th! Thanks Michael! — Adam Pash
Add keyword-based tabs to Google homepage
Google Personalized Homepage just added a new feature: the ability to auto-populate a new tab of content based on a keyword.
Click on the add a tab link and make sure "I'm feeling lucky" is checked. You won't be so lucky with the keywords "life hack" or "lifehacker" but "Mac" filled up a tab with good content. — Gina Trapani
Google Image Search Adds Search-by-Style Options
Today Google adds clip art and line drawings to their image search criteria, in addition to photos and faces.
To restrict your search to either line drawings, clip art, photos, or faces, choose the style criteria from the drop-down on an image results page. (Alternately you can add the right parameter to your search URL to set up a keyword quick search; for line drawings, for example, it's &imgtype=lineart.) Check out a cool example search for Celtic art line drawings. For more Google search fun, check out our top 10 obscure Google search tricks.
Friday, December 19, 2008
David Pogue's Best Photography Tricks (and Ours)
Tech columnist David Pogue pulls out "The Best Photography Tricks of All Time" for anyone shooting digital, including the crafty use of a lampshade:
It turns out that the threads at the top of just about any lamp—the place where the lampshade screws on—are precisely the same diameter as a tripod mount! In a pinch, you can whip off the lampshade, screw on the camera, and presto: You've got a rock-steady indoor tripod.
His other tips—always half-pressing the shutter button to reduce camera lag, getting a limited depth of field, forcing the flash on outdoors, and exploiting the "magic hour"—are all good reading for anyone new to shooting, especially to memory cards instead of film. We thought we'd add a few of our own collected tips from over the years to round things out a bit:
Exhale and pull elbows in for steady shots: Especially if you're not rocking a vibration-control lens on a DSLR rig, this body-steadying practice can make all the difference for no-flash shots.
Use the Unsharp Mask/Smart Sharpen for crisper shots: Photojojo explains how to use Photoshop (and similar photo editing tools) to get finer contrast on digital camera pics. Our commenters wisely point out, however, that the Smart Sharpen tool in Photoshop CS1 and later is the way to go.
Deal with shooting in direct light: Because you, and your subjects, can't always get up at the hour just after dawn, Digital Photography School explains how to work with, and around, a hard sun.
Get behind something to shoot more candidly: As Rick pointed out (taken from Digital Photography School's tips), it's hard to walk around with a lens pointed and not be noticed. For more candid shots, try shooting over someone's shoulder, or shooting through or around something that you don't mind being in the actual photograph for a voyeuristic effect—tree branches, window frames, and the like.
Get a cheap, DIY lens hood or flash filter: A lens hood—like the kind you can print yourself—prevents glare, flare, and other light tricks beaming in from just around your lens edges. Similarly, a piece of white coffee filter can work wonders for diffusing your flash, giving bar shots and other low-light situations a much mellower light.
If you had only one tip to give a newcomer to digital photography, what would it be? Step up the chalkboard in the comments. Photo by ssh.
It turns out that the threads at the top of just about any lamp—the place where the lampshade screws on—are precisely the same diameter as a tripod mount! In a pinch, you can whip off the lampshade, screw on the camera, and presto: You've got a rock-steady indoor tripod.
His other tips—always half-pressing the shutter button to reduce camera lag, getting a limited depth of field, forcing the flash on outdoors, and exploiting the "magic hour"—are all good reading for anyone new to shooting, especially to memory cards instead of film. We thought we'd add a few of our own collected tips from over the years to round things out a bit:
Exhale and pull elbows in for steady shots: Especially if you're not rocking a vibration-control lens on a DSLR rig, this body-steadying practice can make all the difference for no-flash shots.
Use the Unsharp Mask/Smart Sharpen for crisper shots: Photojojo explains how to use Photoshop (and similar photo editing tools) to get finer contrast on digital camera pics. Our commenters wisely point out, however, that the Smart Sharpen tool in Photoshop CS1 and later is the way to go.
Deal with shooting in direct light: Because you, and your subjects, can't always get up at the hour just after dawn, Digital Photography School explains how to work with, and around, a hard sun.
Get behind something to shoot more candidly: As Rick pointed out (taken from Digital Photography School's tips), it's hard to walk around with a lens pointed and not be noticed. For more candid shots, try shooting over someone's shoulder, or shooting through or around something that you don't mind being in the actual photograph for a voyeuristic effect—tree branches, window frames, and the like.
Get a cheap, DIY lens hood or flash filter: A lens hood—like the kind you can print yourself—prevents glare, flare, and other light tricks beaming in from just around your lens edges. Similarly, a piece of white coffee filter can work wonders for diffusing your flash, giving bar shots and other low-light situations a much mellower light.
If you had only one tip to give a newcomer to digital photography, what would it be? Step up the chalkboard in the comments. Photo by ssh.
Detect Forgotten Attachments Before You Send That Email
New VB scripter Troy modified a script for Outlook that lets him know when he's forgotten an attachment on an email (not counting his company logo).
Troy writes:
I started a new job back in July, and had to fill out a form to get access to a client’s network. Unfortunately I sent the email without the form. As part of my new job I had been working on learning VBScript, so this was the perfect opportunity to test my skills. With a little searching I was able to find an example of what I needed, and tweaked it to account for my signature’s company logo.
In short, Troy modified a script Jack Stowage originally posted in the comments here to work for him. Since he attaches his company logo in his outgoing message signature, this version of the script lets you set a base messages attachment number (in his case, one logo file) and compare from there. So if he sends a message with the word "attach" in it and it only has one file attached (the logo)? Outlook pops up the notification shown above.
(Gmail users, you can also have this feature by enabling it in Gmail Labs.)
Hit the link below to grab a copy of the VB script for Outlook, and get the instructions for setting it up yourself. Congratulations to Troy! He's earned himself a signed copy of our latest book, Upgrade Your Life. Here's how you can win one yourself by sharing your best timesaver of the year.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
My English studies
I have been learning English for more than twenty years. Recalling my English studies, I would like to share some good ways and some frustrations with you.
First, I am independent in English studies. Instead of waiting for the teacher to explain, I try to find the patterns and rules on my own.
Second, I am an active English learner. I never wait for a chance using English. I look for such a chance, and create an language environment by myself. I am willing to make mistakes and not afraid of losing face.
Try your best to enjoy the pleasure of English studies, bear in mind that "frustration gets you nowhere".
First, I am independent in English studies. Instead of waiting for the teacher to explain, I try to find the patterns and rules on my own.
Second, I am an active English learner. I never wait for a chance using English. I look for such a chance, and create an language environment by myself. I am willing to make mistakes and not afraid of losing face.
Try your best to enjoy the pleasure of English studies, bear in mind that "frustration gets you nowhere".
Help For Elderly People
It is reported that China has stepped into an aging society. As the aging of the population quickens, the number of elderly people is becoming very large. Therefore, it is necessary to find good ways to deal with the problem.
According to traditional Chinese moral values, it is the sons or daughters who should take the responsibility of caring for their elderly parents. The youth should not only look after their elderly parents in material terms but also understand their loneliness and do their best to spend more time with them.
But because the family plan has been carried out for many years in China, it is a common picture that a young couple has to support four elderly parents. This trend will reach its peak in coming years. The government is responsible for guaranteeing the basic living standards of the elderly and safeguard（保护）their legitimate（合法的）rights and interests and establish a multi-level old-age insurance system.
According to traditional Chinese moral values, it is the sons or daughters who should take the responsibility of caring for their elderly parents. The youth should not only look after their elderly parents in material terms but also understand their loneliness and do their best to spend more time with them.
But because the family plan has been carried out for many years in China, it is a common picture that a young couple has to support four elderly parents. This trend will reach its peak in coming years. The government is responsible for guaranteeing the basic living standards of the elderly and safeguard（保护）their legitimate（合法的）rights and interests and establish a multi-level old-age insurance system.
Microsoft sues cybersquatters
SOFTWARE GIANT Microsoft has decided to drag a group of US cyber squatters into court to stop them using variations of its name in their scams.
Vole has also sorted out a domain-infringement settlement with the Dyslexic Domain Company in Blighty and two US civil lawsuits filed against cyber squatters in Salt Lake City and Los Angeles.
The various organisations have used names like winowslivemessenger.com and www.micr0soft.co.uk which are often used when the user is a bit under the weather or typing too quickly. The cybersquatter makes cash by selling advertising on the page, or even selling the name back to the company whose name it resembles.
Vole has been on the hunt for cyber squatters lately. Instead of paying them off it is calling in the courts. So far it has reclaimed more than 1,100 infringing domain names in six months.
The men in grey suits at Microsoft reckon that such sites confuse visitors who are trying to reach a genuine company.
This can only stuff up corporate brands and reputations, not to mention the user who gets to see bogus adverts.
Latest in Volish sights are Maltuzi which Microsoft claims registers large blocks of domain names, some of which infringe on its intellectual property rights.
Sule Garba, Darin Grabowski and Yi Ning have been named as defendants in the case of 217 domains which have Microsoft variations in the title. When Vole called foul on the site they found that the three had hidden their names during the registration process to avoid detection.
Vole has filed a civil lawsuit in state court in Seattle against 54 unnamed defendants to determine the identities of people infringing on Microsoft trademarks. µ
L'Inq
Computerworld
Vole has also sorted out a domain-infringement settlement with the Dyslexic Domain Company in Blighty and two US civil lawsuits filed against cyber squatters in Salt Lake City and Los Angeles.
The various organisations have used names like winowslivemessenger.com and www.micr0soft.co.uk which are often used when the user is a bit under the weather or typing too quickly. The cybersquatter makes cash by selling advertising on the page, or even selling the name back to the company whose name it resembles.
Vole has been on the hunt for cyber squatters lately. Instead of paying them off it is calling in the courts. So far it has reclaimed more than 1,100 infringing domain names in six months.
The men in grey suits at Microsoft reckon that such sites confuse visitors who are trying to reach a genuine company.
This can only stuff up corporate brands and reputations, not to mention the user who gets to see bogus adverts.
Latest in Volish sights are Maltuzi which Microsoft claims registers large blocks of domain names, some of which infringe on its intellectual property rights.
Sule Garba, Darin Grabowski and Yi Ning have been named as defendants in the case of 217 domains which have Microsoft variations in the title. When Vole called foul on the site they found that the three had hidden their names during the registration process to avoid detection.
Vole has filed a civil lawsuit in state court in Seattle against 54 unnamed defendants to determine the identities of people infringing on Microsoft trademarks. µ
L'Inq
Computerworld
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
New Bushs Boot camp and download
http://www.t-enterprise.co.uk/flashgame/flashgames/bushbootcamp.swf
Here's a new Flash Game from T-Enterprise about Bush dodging shoes.
Players of Bush's Boot Camp take on the role of a gun-toting security agent, and must shoot shoes out of the air before they can hit the hapless president.
Click Start, then click the guns and shoot the shoes, not the president.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Google Web Toolkit(GWT) v1.5.3 - Google Web
Google Web Toolkit (GWT) is an open source Java software development framework that makes writing AJAX applications like Google Maps and Gmail easy for developers who don't speak browser quirks as a second language. Writing dynamic web applications today is a tedious and error-prone process; you spend 90% of your time working around subtle incompatibilities between web browsers and platforms, and JavaScript's lack of modularity makes sharing, testing, and reusing AJAX components difficult and fragile.
GWT lets you avoid many of these headaches while offering your users the same dynamic, standards-compliant experience. You write your front end in the Java programming language, and the GWT compiler converts your Java classes to browser-compliant JavaScript and HTML.
Release Notes for 1.5.3
Fixed Issues
RPC requests no longer fail on the embedded Android web browser
Leaf TreeItems now line up with their non-leaf siblings
Removing the last child node from a TreeItem no longer creates extra margins on the left
HTTPRequest no longer uses POST instead of GET on some IE installs because of incorrect XHR selection
Compiler now uses a more reliable check to prevent methods with local variables from being inlined
getAbsoluteTop()/Left() can no longer return non-integral values
Time.valueOf() no longer fails to parse "08:00:00" or incorrectly accepts "0xC:0xB:0xA".
Update：http://code.google.com/intl/zh-CN/webtoolkit/releases/release-notes-1....
Official Network：http://code.google.com/webtoolkit
Official download：
Windows：http://google-web-toolkit.googlecode.com/files/gwt-windows-1.5.3.zip
Mac OS X：http://google-web-toolkit.googlecode.com/files/gwt-windows-1.5.3.zip
Linux：http://google-web-toolkit.googlecode.com/files/gwt-linux-1.5.3.tar.bz2
GWT lets you avoid many of these headaches while offering your users the same dynamic, standards-compliant experience. You write your front end in the Java programming language, and the GWT compiler converts your Java classes to browser-compliant JavaScript and HTML.
Release Notes for 1.5.3
Fixed Issues
RPC requests no longer fail on the embedded Android web browser
Leaf TreeItems now line up with their non-leaf siblings
Removing the last child node from a TreeItem no longer creates extra margins on the left
HTTPRequest no longer uses POST instead of GET on some IE installs because of incorrect XHR selection
Compiler now uses a more reliable check to prevent methods with local variables from being inlined
getAbsoluteTop()/Left() can no longer return non-integral values
Time.valueOf() no longer fails to parse "08:00:00" or incorrectly accepts "0xC:0xB:0xA".
Update：http://code.google.com/intl/zh-CN/webtoolkit/releases/release-notes-1....
Official Network：http://code.google.com/webtoolkit
Official download：
Windows：http://google-web-toolkit.googlecode.com/files/gwt-windows-1.5.3.zip
Mac OS X：http://google-web-toolkit.googlecode.com/files/gwt-windows-1.5.3.zip
Linux：http://google-web-toolkit.googlecode.com/files/gwt-linux-1.5.3.tar.bz2
iPhone 3G Unlocked, Free Unlock Software By End of Year
The jolly band of hackers known as the iPhone Dev Team have successfully unlocked the iPhone 3G for use on unsupported GSM networks. Right now they've simply confirmed the 3G unlock, but according the the Dev Team blog post, a free unlocking software should be available by New Year's Eve. [via]
Firefox Mobile Slated for Symbian Phones in April
Mozilla engineer Christian Sejersen announced today that Firefox Mobile (codename Fennec) will be released for Symbian phones by the end of April, 2009—complete with full browsing features. The bad news: Sejersen says we shouldn't plan on seeing Firefox Mobile on the iPhone, BlackBerrys, or Android any time soon due to "technical or licensing reasons." If you're curious about what Firefox Mobile will offer once it's released, check out our screenshot tour of Fennec. [via]
Top Ten Wordpress Security Tips
Below are 10 security tips that you can easily implement on your WordPress blog. Please share one or more life-savers you use permanently to help protect yourself from WordPress security issues.
1. Upgrade Wordpress - In general, keeping your Wordpress installation up to date is a great way to avoid known problems. Do note that the lastest version, especially in the case of major upgrades, may cause more problems then it resolves.
2. WordPress Version - The tag in your header.php that displays your current version of wordpress. Since everyone knows your wordpress version this way, your blog is prone to hackers if you have not upgraded to the new version.
3. WordPress Username - Every hacker knows Wordpress has a user “admin” with god-like administration privileges. Slow the hackers down by removing the “admin” user. Create a Wordpress user with admin privileges using the administration interface. Log out of Wordpress and log back in with the new user. Delete the admin user. The new admin user should be different than your normal post author.
4. WordPress Password - Are you still logging into your wp-admin page with the same default password that was emailed to you? If so, CHANGE IT! That password is only 6 characters and just numbers and letters. Make it complex and more than 10 characters if you can. Also, try not to use words, make it a nice jumble of letters, numbers, and symbols.
5. Prevent Directory Listing - In many Wordpress installations it is possible to view a list of installed plugins by navigating to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory. This is not a good idea as known plugin vulnerabilities can than be easily exploited. Add an empty default index file, such as index.html, to the directory. You can also protect it using an .htaccess file assuming you’re using Apache.
6. Protect Your WP-Admin Folder - You can protect your Wordpress admin folder by allowing access to it from a defined set of IP addresses. Everything else will bring up a Forbidden error message. So if you only access your blog from one or two places routinely, it’s worth implementing. Also, you’re supposed to create a new .htaccess file inside your wp-admin folder, not replace the one at the root of your blog.
7. Protect From Search Engines - There is no need to have all of your filesWordpress files indexed by Google, so it’s best to block them in your robots.txt file. Add the following line to your list:Disallow: /wp-*
8. Install Login Lockdown WordPress Plugin - This plugin records the IP address and timestamp of every failed WordPress login attempt. If more than a certain number of attempts are detected within a short period of time from the same IP range, then the login function is disabled for all requests from that range.
9. Install WordPress Database Backup Plugin - You always have to take regular backups of your file directories as well as the database. WordPress Database Backup plugin creates backups of your core WordPress tables as well as other tables of your choice in the same database.
10. Install Wordpress Security Scan Plugin - The WP Security Scan plugin attempts to both to audit your blog security and to implement many of the suggestions mentioned above.
1. Upgrade Wordpress - In general, keeping your Wordpress installation up to date is a great way to avoid known problems. Do note that the lastest version, especially in the case of major upgrades, may cause more problems then it resolves.
2. WordPress Version - The tag in your header.php that displays your current version of wordpress. Since everyone knows your wordpress version this way, your blog is prone to hackers if you have not upgraded to the new version.
3. WordPress Username - Every hacker knows Wordpress has a user “admin” with god-like administration privileges. Slow the hackers down by removing the “admin” user. Create a Wordpress user with admin privileges using the administration interface. Log out of Wordpress and log back in with the new user. Delete the admin user. The new admin user should be different than your normal post author.
4. WordPress Password - Are you still logging into your wp-admin page with the same default password that was emailed to you? If so, CHANGE IT! That password is only 6 characters and just numbers and letters. Make it complex and more than 10 characters if you can. Also, try not to use words, make it a nice jumble of letters, numbers, and symbols.
5. Prevent Directory Listing - In many Wordpress installations it is possible to view a list of installed plugins by navigating to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory. This is not a good idea as known plugin vulnerabilities can than be easily exploited. Add an empty default index file, such as index.html, to the directory. You can also protect it using an .htaccess file assuming you’re using Apache.
6. Protect Your WP-Admin Folder - You can protect your Wordpress admin folder by allowing access to it from a defined set of IP addresses. Everything else will bring up a Forbidden error message. So if you only access your blog from one or two places routinely, it’s worth implementing. Also, you’re supposed to create a new .htaccess file inside your wp-admin folder, not replace the one at the root of your blog.
7. Protect From Search Engines - There is no need to have all of your filesWordpress files indexed by Google, so it’s best to block them in your robots.txt file. Add the following line to your list:Disallow: /wp-*
8. Install Login Lockdown WordPress Plugin - This plugin records the IP address and timestamp of every failed WordPress login attempt. If more than a certain number of attempts are detected within a short period of time from the same IP range, then the login function is disabled for all requests from that range.
9. Install WordPress Database Backup Plugin - You always have to take regular backups of your file directories as well as the database. WordPress Database Backup plugin creates backups of your core WordPress tables as well as other tables of your choice in the same database.
10. Install Wordpress Security Scan Plugin - The WP Security Scan plugin attempts to both to audit your blog security and to implement many of the suggestions mentioned above.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Killer Add-ons Make Songbird So Much Better
Like Firefox, the open source media player Songbird is a pretty neat alternative to a big-name competitor on its own, but the ability to extend it through add-ons is what really makes it boss.
We considered the release candidate of the potential "iTunes killer"—Songbird a sloppy mess, then backed up a bit when it's 1.0 release was official. Now we're geeked to show you a few add-ons that make Songbird a great place to organize your MP3s, iTunes purchases, iPods, and whatever else you listen to.
The suggested pack
Songbird's developers chose wisely when it came to the extensions it recommends installing when you first load Songbird. iPod Device Support, QuickTime Playback and Windows Media Playback give owners of protected files, and iPods, access to their tunes with few hitches. Shoutcast Radio and Last.fm integrate nicely as streaming players, and Concerts tells you whenever an artist you dig in your library is swinging by town to play a live gig. Last, but certainly not least, mashTape gives you all kinds of web-driven contextual content on your played artist, putting artist info, news, photos, and videos from a wide variety of popular sources—Flickr, YouTube, Wikipedia, Digg, etc.—in your bottom tray. All worthy of installation, and, in some cases, hard to imagine music browsing without.
LyricMaster
LyricMaster smartly hunts down the lyrics for any song playing in Songbird, whether in the file's metadata or through Mashtape's search. If it gets a match, it puts them in a skinny right-hand window; if not, it offers a pre-formatted Google search for your song, which you can copy the results of and paste directly into the song file. Pretty straight-forward, but seriously helpful, too.
Seeqpod
Those familiar with Seeqpod's find-and-stream MP3 search engine can smile at its seamless Songbird integration. A search bar and results listing pops open in a new tab, and you can queue up over-the-net tracks or download them directly to your library or specific playlists. Downloads head into your standard Songbird downloads window, and, well, that's it—it just works, and it expands your library exponentially, assuming you're down with the kind of quasi-legality involved.
MediaFlow
If you're a fan of iTunes/OS X's CoverFlow style, with album art flipping by as you play and switch tracks, this is its Songbird near-equivalent. There's a few bugs and performance tweaks still to be worked out, but it basically delivers on the promise of big, flip-sliding pictures. If you're going to install this, it's best to also install the FocusTrack extension to get instant album art updates as you switch tracks.
Last.fm Album Art
If your library looks pretty barren in MediaFlow, let Last.fm's vast database do the heavy digital image lifting for you. This extension shows the album art that the music-sharing service has on file for whatever you're playing in the lower-left. It (unfortunately) doesn't let you grab and save that art for metadata implanting, but makes for a light-weight way to keep your visual field stocked in your media player.
The Exorcist
As a long-time iTunes user, this is the add-on your long-suffering editor is probably most excited about. The Exorcist adds two views to your media listing options, Ghost Tracks and Duplicate Tracks, that do exactly what you'd hope—list songs referenced in your library without a related media file, and list any songs that seem to be similar in file size or metadata. Better still, those views show you the full path of duplicate files, and offer buttons to just clear out all duplicates or find your missing tracks.
Pause/Play/Stop Buttons
If a single play/pause button just doesn't do it for you, you can add a stop button that looks built-in with this tiny, helpful extension. Not the sexiest of extensions, for sure, but a good indicator of the Firefox-like potential to customize Songbird to whatever shape you want it in—once more add-ons make the list and get updated.
What Sonbird add-ons are you enjoying alongside your music? What functionality would you love to see someone code up for a weekend project? Tell us your add-on ideas in the comments.
We considered the release candidate of the potential "iTunes killer"—Songbird a sloppy mess, then backed up a bit when it's 1.0 release was official. Now we're geeked to show you a few add-ons that make Songbird a great place to organize your MP3s, iTunes purchases, iPods, and whatever else you listen to.
The suggested pack
Songbird's developers chose wisely when it came to the extensions it recommends installing when you first load Songbird. iPod Device Support, QuickTime Playback and Windows Media Playback give owners of protected files, and iPods, access to their tunes with few hitches. Shoutcast Radio and Last.fm integrate nicely as streaming players, and Concerts tells you whenever an artist you dig in your library is swinging by town to play a live gig. Last, but certainly not least, mashTape gives you all kinds of web-driven contextual content on your played artist, putting artist info, news, photos, and videos from a wide variety of popular sources—Flickr, YouTube, Wikipedia, Digg, etc.—in your bottom tray. All worthy of installation, and, in some cases, hard to imagine music browsing without.
LyricMaster
LyricMaster smartly hunts down the lyrics for any song playing in Songbird, whether in the file's metadata or through Mashtape's search. If it gets a match, it puts them in a skinny right-hand window; if not, it offers a pre-formatted Google search for your song, which you can copy the results of and paste directly into the song file. Pretty straight-forward, but seriously helpful, too.
Seeqpod
Those familiar with Seeqpod's find-and-stream MP3 search engine can smile at its seamless Songbird integration. A search bar and results listing pops open in a new tab, and you can queue up over-the-net tracks or download them directly to your library or specific playlists. Downloads head into your standard Songbird downloads window, and, well, that's it—it just works, and it expands your library exponentially, assuming you're down with the kind of quasi-legality involved.
MediaFlow
If you're a fan of iTunes/OS X's CoverFlow style, with album art flipping by as you play and switch tracks, this is its Songbird near-equivalent. There's a few bugs and performance tweaks still to be worked out, but it basically delivers on the promise of big, flip-sliding pictures. If you're going to install this, it's best to also install the FocusTrack extension to get instant album art updates as you switch tracks.
Last.fm Album Art
If your library looks pretty barren in MediaFlow, let Last.fm's vast database do the heavy digital image lifting for you. This extension shows the album art that the music-sharing service has on file for whatever you're playing in the lower-left. It (unfortunately) doesn't let you grab and save that art for metadata implanting, but makes for a light-weight way to keep your visual field stocked in your media player.
The Exorcist
As a long-time iTunes user, this is the add-on your long-suffering editor is probably most excited about. The Exorcist adds two views to your media listing options, Ghost Tracks and Duplicate Tracks, that do exactly what you'd hope—list songs referenced in your library without a related media file, and list any songs that seem to be similar in file size or metadata. Better still, those views show you the full path of duplicate files, and offer buttons to just clear out all duplicates or find your missing tracks.
Pause/Play/Stop Buttons
If a single play/pause button just doesn't do it for you, you can add a stop button that looks built-in with this tiny, helpful extension. Not the sexiest of extensions, for sure, but a good indicator of the Firefox-like potential to customize Songbird to whatever shape you want it in—once more add-ons make the list and get updated.
What Sonbird add-ons are you enjoying alongside your music? What functionality would you love to see someone code up for a weekend project? Tell us your add-on ideas in the comments.
Wikipedia Officially Launches Mobile Version
Popular user-edited online encyclopedia Wikipedia has finally released a mobile-friendly version of the web site at mobile.wikipedia.org.
The site offers a trimmed down version of Wikipedia proper, supports 14 languages, and even has a mysterious Spoken Wikipedia setting that—though currently not enabled, may presumably one day read Wikipedia articles to you.
We've seen plenty of tools for making Wikipedia friendlier for your mobile device, including the previously mentioned Wikipanion iPhone app, Encyclopedia for jailbroken iPhones, Wikipedia-va-SMS app GoLive Mobile, and webapp SnapAsk, but a lot of people will be thrilled with the official offering. It's not a terribly advanced mobile webapp at this point, but it does break down Wikipedia articles into a nice, readable format for your small screen, which is plenty as a start. If you give it a go, let's hear your thoughts—including what else you'd like to see from Wikipedia Mobile—in the comments.
UPDATE: It looks like the mobile interface might not be as new as we thought, though this is the first time we've covered it.
Most Popular Free Windows Downloads of 2008
In the past year we've highlighted hundreds of Windows apps aimed at making your life easier, boosting your computer productivity, and powering up your PC.
For those of you who weren't able to keep up, here's a look back at the most popular Windows downloads of 2008.
Keep in mind that this list is based on the popularity of posts we've published in 2008 only, regardless of the original release date of the app. Many were brand new this year, while others were solid updates to popular software. Here's the full run-down of the 12 most popular Windows downloads of 2008:
Firefox 3 Is Released, We Download
Firefox 3 was easily one of the biggest events in software in 2008 regardless of what platform you run. We may be well on the way to Firefox 3.1 now, but if you're looking to brush up on your Firefox 3 chops, be sure to check out the top 10 Firefox 3 features and our power user's guide to Firefox 3.
Mojo Downloads Music from Your Friends' iTunes Libraries Over the Internet
Mojo makes it easy to download music from your friends' iTunes libraries over the internet. Mojo comes in both free and premium flavors, but the free version offers plenty of functionality for the money. If you're just getting started with Mojo, check out our guide to using Mojo.
Free PDF to Word Doc Converter Does What It Sounds Like
It's easy to convert or print Microsoft Word documents to PDF, but what about when you want to go the other way around? The aptly named Free PDF to Word Doc Converter does exactly that. (Original post)
OurTunes Grabs Music from Shared iTunes Libraries
If the limitations on Mojo aren't for you, the open-source classic ourTunes—which downloads music from any shared iTunes library on your network—made a comeback earlier this year, as a new developer took up the reigns and continues to release updates. (Original post)
CCleaner Clears the Crap from Your PC
The popular PC colonic CCleaner (the first 'C' stands for Crap) pushed out a 2.0 release earlier this year and you were quick to update and enjoy the crap cleaning goodies. (Original post)
AVG Free Anti-Virus 2008
AVG Free Anti-Virus 2008 hit the streets in May, and the application that you voted the best antivirus applications for Windows was unsurprisingly popular. (Original post)
Windows Vista Service Pack 1
Microsoft released the first major service pack for Vista, Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (x64 version), in March, and you were eager to download and update to the latest and greatest from Redmond. (Original post)
Hotspot Shield Gets Around US-Only Blocks and Content Filtering
Looking to protect your browsing privacy or access US-only content from outside the US? HotSpot Shield received a lot of attention in '08 from users looking to do that and more. (Original post)
Quick Media Converter Easily Converts Media to Any Format
Quick Media Converter converts virtually any media file (audio or video) from one format to another. The application has an emphasis on simplicity: Just drag and drop a file you want to convert onto the app, click the icon of the device you're converting for, and let Quick Media Converter take care of the rest. (Original post)
DExposE2 Brings OS X's Expose to Windows
Freeware application DExposE2 is a clone of Mac OS X's Expose feature for Windows XP and Vista, providing an attractive, innovative interface for switching and managing windows in Windows. Check out the original post to see a video DExposE2 in action.
Dropbox Instantly Syncs Files Across the Internet
Instantaneous file syncing was huge in 2008, with free, cross-platform application Dropbox leading the pack. Dropbox boasts web-based version control, fast and instant syncs, and a dead-simple setup. Among other things, Dropbox makes for the perfect password syncer. (Original post)
Executor Challenges Launchy, Impresses
Open-source application Launchy has long been a favorite of savvy keyboarders looking for quick app launching in Windows, but a saucy newcomer called Executor hit the ground running when it was released earlier this year. Check out our original post for a more detailed rundown of what makes Executor so impressive.
Sharepod Frees Your iPod from iTunes
Want to free yourself from the shackles of iTunes but still want full functionality from your iPod? Sharepod is a lightweight iTunes alternative that runs directly from your iPod, so it's with you whenever and wherever you plug in your player. (Original post)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whether or not your favorite Windows download of '08 won out in the popularity contest, let's hear more about your favorite download of the year in the comments.
For those of you who weren't able to keep up, here's a look back at the most popular Windows downloads of 2008.
Keep in mind that this list is based on the popularity of posts we've published in 2008 only, regardless of the original release date of the app. Many were brand new this year, while others were solid updates to popular software. Here's the full run-down of the 12 most popular Windows downloads of 2008:
Firefox 3 Is Released, We Download
Firefox 3 was easily one of the biggest events in software in 2008 regardless of what platform you run. We may be well on the way to Firefox 3.1 now, but if you're looking to brush up on your Firefox 3 chops, be sure to check out the top 10 Firefox 3 features and our power user's guide to Firefox 3.
Mojo Downloads Music from Your Friends' iTunes Libraries Over the Internet
Mojo makes it easy to download music from your friends' iTunes libraries over the internet. Mojo comes in both free and premium flavors, but the free version offers plenty of functionality for the money. If you're just getting started with Mojo, check out our guide to using Mojo.
Free PDF to Word Doc Converter Does What It Sounds Like
It's easy to convert or print Microsoft Word documents to PDF, but what about when you want to go the other way around? The aptly named Free PDF to Word Doc Converter does exactly that. (Original post)
OurTunes Grabs Music from Shared iTunes Libraries
If the limitations on Mojo aren't for you, the open-source classic ourTunes—which downloads music from any shared iTunes library on your network—made a comeback earlier this year, as a new developer took up the reigns and continues to release updates. (Original post)
CCleaner Clears the Crap from Your PC
The popular PC colonic CCleaner (the first 'C' stands for Crap) pushed out a 2.0 release earlier this year and you were quick to update and enjoy the crap cleaning goodies. (Original post)
AVG Free Anti-Virus 2008
AVG Free Anti-Virus 2008 hit the streets in May, and the application that you voted the best antivirus applications for Windows was unsurprisingly popular. (Original post)
Windows Vista Service Pack 1
Microsoft released the first major service pack for Vista, Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (x64 version), in March, and you were eager to download and update to the latest and greatest from Redmond. (Original post)
Hotspot Shield Gets Around US-Only Blocks and Content Filtering
Looking to protect your browsing privacy or access US-only content from outside the US? HotSpot Shield received a lot of attention in '08 from users looking to do that and more. (Original post)
Quick Media Converter Easily Converts Media to Any Format
Quick Media Converter converts virtually any media file (audio or video) from one format to another. The application has an emphasis on simplicity: Just drag and drop a file you want to convert onto the app, click the icon of the device you're converting for, and let Quick Media Converter take care of the rest. (Original post)
DExposE2 Brings OS X's Expose to Windows
Freeware application DExposE2 is a clone of Mac OS X's Expose feature for Windows XP and Vista, providing an attractive, innovative interface for switching and managing windows in Windows. Check out the original post to see a video DExposE2 in action.
Dropbox Instantly Syncs Files Across the Internet
Instantaneous file syncing was huge in 2008, with free, cross-platform application Dropbox leading the pack. Dropbox boasts web-based version control, fast and instant syncs, and a dead-simple setup. Among other things, Dropbox makes for the perfect password syncer. (Original post)
Executor Challenges Launchy, Impresses
Open-source application Launchy has long been a favorite of savvy keyboarders looking for quick app launching in Windows, but a saucy newcomer called Executor hit the ground running when it was released earlier this year. Check out our original post for a more detailed rundown of what makes Executor so impressive.
Sharepod Frees Your iPod from iTunes
Want to free yourself from the shackles of iTunes but still want full functionality from your iPod? Sharepod is a lightweight iTunes alternative that runs directly from your iPod, so it's with you whenever and wherever you plug in your player. (Original post)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whether or not your favorite Windows download of '08 won out in the popularity contest, let's hear more about your favorite download of the year in the comments.
Raw snake villagers living on beer and eat with relish addiction (map)
Snake watch on Shen, also Ganchi? Some people dare! Yesterday, Zhumadian City Station Hu Wang Miao Xiang Village, and many villagers reporters on the scene witnessed the 41-year-old villager Wen-de-hi Lianpi raw live snakes. Of those days, people numb scalp, the fine hair on the body upright.
10 o'clock yesterday, heard the text-hi-de-site to perform live to eat snakes, the homes yard Wai will be packed with people. Wen Lin Chu-hi-de house from the two plastic bottles, which more than 30 cm long snake clearly visible. He said that this was a snake-earth, plain areas is the most poisonous snake, known as "seven-step down," the two are now in Tiaoyi hibernation, the basic loss of power. But for the sake of security reasons, he was ready to understand the poison. Performing before the text intended to de-hi out a bottle of beer. He said that due to heavy Xingqi snakes, plus they are not peeled live to eat this thing, I better teeth is not enough light, but also drink a few beers. He stressed that their extraction from raw snakes, even the belt swallow meat together. The beginning of the show, see the text-de-hi to cut plastic bottles with scissors, scissors with a snap snake-heads, and then with one hand and hold the snake Qicun, Ye Zhao tail with one hand, stroking up and down a few, and then ask for a favor Snakeheads bite, Jiaosui go after the pharynx. The loss of the head of the snake-body in the land-hi-de-wen of the hands of non-stop swing curly. Even after the beer drunk, the de-hi to eat, "addiction" big fat, big relish to a stuttering, mouth from time to time out of the remnants of snake blood. "Ga Ga bang bang" sound Jiaosui so that the villagers stunned onlookers, some people Wuzhuo Lian Jing De, the two Mother is unable to control, up vomitus in the side. A few minutes later, the snakes will even de-hi belt meat organs and even disappeared, leaving only the hands of non-stop swing of the tail. We asked him how the taste? He said that the relatively fresh, delicious. "A little fishy, but other than the meat more delicious." Moon Hee-young and Germany are also afraid of snakes, but a pack of cigarettes in order to bets that would eat a live snake, since out of control, is now addicted to eating snakes. His 8-year-old son, to see him twice a live snake to eat the "competent", is also itching mouth, his son has been eating a live 8-earth snake. Moon said that raw live snakes for 10 years, his body good, too Shabing did not cause gastrointestinal discomfort, his son is also very good. For this particular hobby, Zhumadian City First People's Hospital, director of digestive internal medicine physician, said Tian-Ming Wang, Wen-de-hi raw live snake is a special case, may be suffering from nervous system symptoms of the special, called "rustic food disease", leaving him with ordinary people Different. However, this approach does not promote, as snakes who live in the body and may be in possession of certain parasites may be eaten raw, infected, the parasites of parasites in the liver, kidney, part of the cause organ failure. In addition, the gall bladder are still toxic to the body against. Source: Oriental Daily News reporter Wang Yaocheng this correspondent Wang Jiancheng / Ventura
Sunday, December 14, 2008
A Dao of Web Design
What Zen was to the 70’s (most famously with motorcycle maintenance), the Tao Te Ching was to the 90’s. From Piglet and Pooh to Physics and back, many have sought sense in applying the Tao Te Ching to something (the Tao of Physics), or something to the Tao Te Ching (the Tao of Pooh). It can be a cheap trick, but lately it has struck me that there is more than a little to be understood about web design by looking through the prism of the Tao.
Daoism is a philosophy, like Buddhism, a way of living, of being in the world, which stems from a text of great antiquity, the Tao Te Ching, whose 81 “chapters” enigmatically sweep across human experience, but with a strong common theme, that of harmony.
For the last couple of years, for better or worse, my life has revolved more than a little around style sheets. I write software, tutorials, and guides for them; I’ve answered too many questions to count about them on newsgroups and via email; I’ve fought for their adoption with The Web Standards Project. And slowly I’ve come to understand web design entirely differently because of them, and to see a strong association between design and the Tao.
What I sense is a real tension between the web as we know it, and the web as it would be. It’s the tension between an existing medium, the printed page, and its child, the web. And it’s time to really understand the relationship between the parent and the child, and to let the child go its own way in the world.
Same old new medium?“Well established hierarchies are not easily uprooted;Closely held beliefs are not easily released;So ritual enthralls generation after generation.”Tao Te Ching; 38 Ritual
If you’ve never watched early television programs, it’s instructive viewing. Television was at that time often referred to as “radio with pictures”, and that’s a pretty accurate description. Much of television followed the format of popular radio at that time. Indeed programs like the Tonight Show, with its variants found on virtually every channel in the world (featuring a band, the talk to the camera host, and seated guests), or the news, with the suited sober news reader, remain as traces of the medium television grew out of. A palimpsest of media past.
Think too of the first music videos (a few of us might be at least that old). Essentially the band miming themselves playing a song. Riveting.
When a new medium borrows from an existing one, some of what it borrows makes sense, but much of the borrowing is thoughtless, “ritual”, and often constrains the new medium. Over time, the new medium develops its own conventions, throwing off existing conventions that don’t make sense.
If you ever get the chance to watch early television drama you’ll find a strong example of this. Because radio required a voice – over to describe what listeners couldn’t see, early television drama often featured a voice over, describing what viewers could. It’s a simple but striking example of what happens when a new medium develops out of an existing one.
The web is a new medium, although it has emerged from the medium of printing, whose skills, design language and conventions strongly influence it. Yet it is often too shaped by that from which it sprang. “Killer Web Sites” are usually those which tame the wildness of the web, constraining pages as if they were made of paper – Desktop Publishing for the Web. This conservatism is natural, “closely held beliefs are not easily released”, but it is time to move on, to embrace the web as its own medium. It’s time to throw out the rituals of the printed page, and to engage the medium of the web and its own nature.
This is not for a moment to say we should abandon the wisdom of hundreds of years of printing and thousands of years of writing. But we need to understand which of these lessons are appropriate for the web, and which mere rituals.
Controlling Web PagesThe Sage
“... accepts the ebb and flow of things,Nurtures them, but does not own them,”Tao Te Ching; 2 Abstraction
Spend some time on web design newgroups or mailing lists, and you’ll find some common words and ideas repeated time after time. Question after question, of course, is “how do I?”. But beneath questions like “how do I make my pages look the same on every platform” and “how can I make my fonts appear identical on the Macintosh and Windows” is an underlying question – “how do I control the user’s browser?” Indeed, the word control turns up with surprising frequency.
Underpinning all this is the belief that designers are controllers (think about the implications of the term “pixel mechanic”). Designers want to override the wishes of users, and the choices that they have made about their viewing experience (by “fixing” font size, for instance). Designers want to second guess platform differences, caused by different logical resolutions (for instance the Macintosh’s 72dpi, versus the standard Windows 96dpi). Designers are all-knowing, and will not tolerate anything less than a rendering on every browser that is pixel perfect with the rendering on their own machine.
Of course, this exaggerates the case, but not greatly. A very strong example of this is the often expressed disappointment of developers when they learn that style sheets are not “DTP for the web”. And if you are a Mac user, you will be acutely aware of just how many really major sites abuse style sheets to make their pages illegible. Chances are they are using points as a measure of font size. Underlying this choice is the “designer is controller” philosophy.
Where does this idea come from? I believe it flows from the medium of print. In print the designer is god. An enormous industry has emerged from WYSIWYG, and many of the web’s designers are grounded in the beliefs and practices, the ritual of that medium. As designers we need to rethink this role, to abandon control, and seek a new relationship with the page.
Why does it matter?“A newborn is soft and tender,A crone, hard and stiff.Plants and animals, in life, are supple and succulent;In death, withered and dry.So softness and tenderness are attributes of life,And hardness and stiffness, attributes of death.”Tao Te Ching; 76 Flexibility
Perhaps the inability to “control” a page is a limitation, a bug of the web. When we come from the WYSIWYG world, our initial instinct is to think so. I admit that it was my first response, and a belief that was a long time in going. But I no longer feel that it is a limitation, I see it as a strength of a new medium.
Let’s look at this through the other end of the microscope. The fact we can control a paper page is really a limitation of that medium. You can think – we can fix the size of text – or you can think – the size of text is unalterable. You can think – the dimensions of a page can be controlled – or – the dimensions of a page can’t be altered. These are simply facts of the medium.
And they aren’t necessarily good facts, especially for the reader. If the reader’s eye sight isn’t that of a well sighted person, chances are the choice the designer made is too small to comfortably read without some kind of magnification. If the reader is in a confined space, a train to work, an airplane, the broadsheet newspaper is too large. And there is little the reader can do about this.
The control which designers know in the print medium, and often desire in the web medium, is simply a function of the limitation of the printed page. We should embrace the fact that the web doesn’t have the same constraints, and design for this flexibility. But first, we must “accept the ebb and flow of things”.
Adaptability is Accessibility“The best of man is like water,Which benefits all things, and does not contend with them,Which flows in places that others disdain,Where it is in harmony with the Way.”Tao Te Ching; 8 Water
There are those who think that dao is fatalistic. A simplistic reading is that one should wander, without plan, allowing for things to happen and to respond to them. I think of it as saying we should not be fixed in our outlook, with goals far ahead, rather we should be adaptable, not fixed in our views or direction.
“As observing detail is clarity,So maintaining flexibility is strength;Use the light but shed no light,So that you do yourself no harm,But embrace clarity.“Tao Te Ching; 52 Clarity
The flexibility I’ve talked about so far I think of as “adaptability“. Everything I’ve said so far could be summarized as: make pages which are adaptable. Make pages which are accessible, regardless of the browser, platform or screen that your reader chooses or must use to access your pages. This means pages which are legible regardless of screen resolution or size, or number of colors (and remember too that pages may be printed, or read aloud by reading software, or read using braille browsers). This means pages which adapt to the needs of a reader, whose eyesight is less than perfect, and who wishes to read pages with a very large font size.
Designing adaptable pages is designing accessible pages. And perhaps the great promise of the web, far from fulfilled as yet, is accessibility, regardless of difficulties, to information. It’s an important belief of the World Wide Web Consortium, and is becoming an imperative of web design, as web pages will be required by law to provide universal access, just as building codes around the world require access to buildings.
It sounds an impossibility, designing the universal page. Perhaps now it remains an aspiration, with browsers so broken, and many of the devices through which we will access the web in their infancy, or not yet born. But there is a lot we can do now which will set the foundations for pages which adapt to the users wishes and needs, and so will be accessible.
The Way“The Way is shaped by use,But then the shape is lost.Do not hold fast to shapesBut let sensation flow into the worldAs a river courses down to the sea.”Tao Te Ching; 32 Shapes
So what can be done to design for adaptability, and so accessibility? Firstly, there are a couple of ways of thinking which might be helpful. Then I have some practical suggestions about steps you can take to avoid making your pages inaccessible.
Firstly, think about what your pages do, not what they look like. Let your design flow from the services which they will provide to your users, rather than from some overarching idea of what you want pages to look like. Let form follow function, rather than trying to take a particular design and make it “work”.
A cornerstone of this idea is to separate the content and its appearance. You’ve probably heard this a hundred times, but it is perhaps the most important step you can take. Let’s look at a simple example. On a page there is some text which is italicized. Why is it italicized? It might be for emphasis. It might be a citation. It might be a foreign word used in English. In traditional publishing, the form follows from function. The advantage of web publishing is we can make explicit what is implicit in the appearance on paper. If the reason for italics is emphasis, why mark up your page with the element? Use the element, and so browsers other than PC based web browsers can handle the element appropriately.
On the larger scale, don’t use HTML for presentation. No or , and other presentational elements. Where HTML provides an appropriate element, use it. Where it doesn’t, use classes. And of course, use style sheets for your presentational information. It’s time to look to the future, not cling to the past.
If you use style sheets properly, to suggest the appearance of a page, not to control the appearance of a page, and you don’t rely on your style sheet to convey information, then your pages will “work” fine in any browser, past or future. Browsers which don’t support style sheets simply present pages that look a little on the plain side. Our biggest concern is browsers which have buggy style sheets support. Today this is an issue. Not too long from now, it won’t be much of an issue. For now, you can limit yourself to a subset of CSS which is well enough supported, and still have more presentational effect than using presentational HTML. I’ve written quite a bit about this elsewhere, so I won’t repeat myself here.
In practical terms, there are some things you should and some things you shouldn’t do when designing style sheets that will impact on the adaptability of your pages. Above all, don’t rely on any aspect of style sheets to work in order for a page to be accessible. Absolute units, like pixels and points are to be avoided (if that comes as a surprise, read on), and color needs to be used carefully, and never relied on.
FontsTypically, a Windows, Macintosh, or other system will have only a handful of fonts installed. There is little overlap between the default installed fonts on these various systems. Already with many browsers, and increasingly in the future, readers will be able to decide on the fonts they want to view web pages with. With CSS, you can suggest a number of fonts, and cover as many bases as possible. But don’t rely on a font being available regardless of how common it is.
More important still is font size. You may be aware that the same font, at the same point size on a Macintosh “looks smaller” than on most Windows machines. In a nutshell, this is because the “logical resolution” of a Macintosh is 72dpi, while the Windows default is 96dpi. The implications of this are significant. Firstly, it guarantees that it is essentially impossible to have text look identical on Macintoshes and Windows based systems. But if you embrace the adaptability philosophy it doesn’t matter.
What? If you are concerned about exactly how a web page appears this is a sign that you are still aren’t thinking about adaptive pages. One of the most significant accessibility issues is font size. Small fonts are more difficult to read. For those of us with good eyesight, it can come as a shock that a significant percentage of the population has trouble reading anything below 14 point times on paper. Screens are less readable than paper, because of their lower resolution.
Does that mean the minimum point size we should use is 14 pts? That doesn’t help those whose sight is even less strong. So what is the minimum point size we should use? None. Don’t use points. This allows readers to choose the font size which suits them. The same goes even for pixels. Because of logical resolution differences, a pixel on one platform is not a pixel on another.
You can still suggest larger font sizes for headings and other elements. CSS provides several ways of suggesting the size of text in such a way as to aid adaptability. We’ll look at just one to get an idea.
With CSS you can specify font size as a percentage of the font size of a parent element. For example, headings are inside the BODY of the page. If you don’t set a size for the text in the BODY, then the text of the BODY will be the size that the reader has chosen as their default size. Already we are aiding adaptability of our page, simply by doing nothing!
You might say “but the text looks too big” if I just leave it like that. Make it smaller then. But in your browser. And your readers will then have the option to make it bigger or smaller in their browsers too, depending on their tastes, or their needs.
We can make headings and other elements stand out using font size by specifying that headings of level 1 should be say 30% larger than the body text, level 2 should be 25% larger, and so on. Now, regardless of the size that the user chooses for their main text, headings will be scaled to be proportionally bigger than the main text. Similarly text can be scaled to be smaller than the body text, however, this can give rise to situations where the text can be illegibly small, so use with caution.
We’ve done very little really, just avoided using absolute font sizes, and used proportional sizes for headings, and we’ve already made our pages much more adaptable and accessible.
LayoutsMargins, page widths and indentation are all aspects of page design which can aid readability. The web presents difficulties for the designer with each of these. Browser windows can be resized, thereby changing the page size. Different web devices (web TV, high resolution monitors, PDAs) have different minimum and maximum window sizes. As with fixed font sizes, fixed page layout can lead to accessbility problems on the web.
As with fonts, layout aspects of a page can be designed using percentages to create adaptable pages. Margins can be specified as a percentage of the width of the element which contains them.
Using percentages (or other relative values) to specify page layout in CSS automatically creates adaptive pages. As browser windows widen and narrow, the layout of an element adapts to maintain the same proportions, and so the whole page layout adapts. Readers can choose the window size they find appropriate to their needs.
Margins, text indentation and other layout aspects can also be specified in relation to the size of the text they contain, using the em unit for specifying margins, text indentation and other layout aspects. If you specify
p {margin – left: 1.5em}you are saying that the left magin of paragraphs should be 1.5 times the height of the font of that paragraph. So, when a user adjusts their font size to make a page more legible, the margin increases proportionally, and if they adjust it to make it smaller, the margin adapts again.
ColorsThe web is by and large a more colorful medium than the printed page. Color is cheaper on the web. Color can be ornamental, can help to establish a visual identity, and can have practical value (red might draw attention to important information). But color poses difficulties to accessibility as well.
Did you know that in many countries (if not all) people with red green color blindness are unable to obtain an aircraft pilot’s license? That is, regardless of any other ability, because warning information is almost invariably conveyed using red for danger and green for safety. It’s a shame that warning lights aren’t simply adaptable.
Do your web pages exclude people in a similar way? It would be a shame, as in the near future most web browsers will provide simple ways for readers to adjust the color of elements on a web page, via user style sheets, which can override your style sheets. (You can do this now with IE5 Macintosh edition.)
How to avoid these problems? Use style sheets, rather than the HTML element. And avoid relying on color combinations to alone convey meaning.
The Journey“Yet a tree broader than a man can embrace is born of a tiny shoot;A dam greater than a river can overflow starts with a clod of earth;A journey of a thousand miles begins at the spot under one’s feet.”Tao Te Ching; 64a. Care at the Beginning
Changing our ways of thinking and acting isn’t easy. “Closely held beliefs are not easily released”. But I’ve come slowly to realize that much of what I took for granted needed to be reassessed. Judging by what I see and read and the conversations I’ve had, the email I’ve read over the last couple of years, many hold these beliefs closely, and need to rethink them too.
Now is the time for the medium of the web to outgrow its origins in the printed page. Not to abandon so much wisdom and experience, but to also chart its own course, where appropriate.
The web’s greatest strength, I believe, is often seen as a limitation, as a defect. It is the nature of the web to be flexible, and it should be our role as designers and developers to embrace this flexibility, and produce pages which, by being flexible, are accessible to all.The journey begins by letting go of control, and becoming flexible.
Which Top Apps Have the Most Security Holes?
Some of the most-used applications on Windows today are also some of the most vulnerable to security flaws. And it's often the user's fault.
A list compiled by enterprise application whitelisting vendor Bit9 found that 12 of the most popular consumer applications are being used despite having vulnerabilities that could make for compromised systems or stolen data.
The rankings -- ordered by number of vulnerabilities -- include Mozilla Firefox, Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) iTunes, QuickTime and Safari Browser and Adobe's (NASDAQ: ADBE) Flash and Acrobat. Antivirus utilities didn't escape mention, with products from Symantec's (NASDAQ: SYMC) Norton family and from Trend Micro making an appearance. Also on the list were virtualization offerings from VMware (NYSE: VMW) and Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS).
Top popular apps with vulnerabilities
Application Affected Versions
1. Mozilla Firefox 3.x, 2.x
2. Adobe Flash & Acrobat Flash: 10.0- 10.0.12.36 and 9.0- 9.0.151.0
Acrobat: 8.1.2, 8.1.1
3. EMC VMware Player, Workstation and other products ESXi 3.5 or earlier
Workstation 5.5.x
Player 2.0.x & 1.0.x
ACE 2.0.x & 1.0.x
4. Sun Java Runtime Environment (JRE) Version 6 Update 6
5. Apple Quicktime, Safari & iTunes Quicktime: 7.5.5
Safari: 6.0.5.20B iTunes: 3.2, 3.1.2
6. Symantec Norton products 2.7.0.1
7. Trend Micro OfficeScan 8.0 SP1 before build 2439
8.0 SP1 Patch 1 before build 3087
8. Citrix Deterministic Network Enhancer (DNE), Access Gateway, Presentation Server DNE 2.21.7.233- 3.21.7.17464
Access Gateway 4.5.7
Presentation Server 4.5
9. Aurigma Image Uploader, Lycos FileUploader 4.6.17.0, 4.5.70.0, 4.5.126.0
10. Skype 3.6.0.248
11. Yahoo! Assistant 3.6
12. Microsoft Window Live Messenger 4.7 & 5.1
Source: Bit9
But Harry Sverdlove, Bit9's CTO, told InternetNews.com that the real fault generally doesn't lie with the products' vendors themselves, most of whom have fixes available for the security holes.
"The vendors update their patches, but end users often don't install these," Sverdlove said.
For enterprises, the fact spells trouble -- especially since many of these apps slip in without IT knowing. Additionally, the news comes as businesses face growing security threats, punctuated by a slew of recent data breaches, while also contending sharply reduced spending on IT projects.
Bit9's solution is whitelisting -- like having a guard dog. It will not allow anyone into the house until its master tells it that person is accepted. And, even then, it will sit on watch, eyeing a visitor.
"Even if you don't update or patch your application, as long as you have a whitelist, malware can come in but it can't execute," Bit9's Sverdlove said. "And we alert the IT administrators so that they can take action."
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However, whitelisting is not a panacea, Gerry Egan, director of product management at antivirus vendor Symantec, told InternetNews.com. But neither is blacklisting, which takes the alternate approach by maintaining a list of applications to keep out.
"Where whitelisting breaks down is the same place blacklisting breaks down -- there are files used by a few people because they're new or for a niche application, and they aren't popular enough for their signatures to be recognized by whitelisting or blacklisting applications," he said.
Symantec has incorporated some whitelisting technology in its Norton 2009 products, released in September, and is working on a reputation-based technology, Egan added.
This will work similarly to the rating method on Amazon.com and eBay, where products and sellers receive a rating by users, and users' comments about them are published. Symantec is thinking about leveraging its installed user base to calculate the reputation of applications, Egan said.
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"We, as a vendor, will say 'X number of people have downloaded this application in the past couple of hours and this is what they say, so here's its rating," he said.
Symantec is betting that this will make for strong protection against new, unsecured applications that have not been around long enough for blacklisting or whitelisting techniques to recognize their signatures, he added.
Both Bit9's Sverdlove and Symantec's Egan agree that whitelisting helps keep out or control polymorphic malware.
Ultimately, though, both Bit9's Sverdlove and Symantec's Egan said that it's critical that end-user applications be patched and managed centrally by the IT department.
"Relying on the user to download or install a patch or make conscious decisions about safety contributes to a breakdown of the process," Egan said. "Also, the user shouldn't have to be knowledgeable about security."
iTunes
MorphThing Creates Celebrity Face Mashups
If you're looking for something fun to goof off with this weekend, look no further than MorphThing. Finally you'll know what the love child of Hillary Swank and Jack Nicholson would look like.
Or for that matter you can find out what you and any other celebrity or uploaded portrait would look like as a morphed image. The lead image for this post was an unholy mashup of my face and that of Heather Graham's, which shall hence forth insist on being called by it's stage name: Jasather.
MorphThing is a bit more precise than other simple image morphers online. Instead of simply using a basic image blend to layer one photo over the other, you actually go through a process after uploading each image to identify important features. Using a dot system, you assign place markers to prominent features like the edges of the eyes, lips, and face. The image at right is an example of how you would place the dots on lips to mark the center and boundaries. The dot system is actually pretty accurate, when I purpose messed with the placement of the eyes on my test image— putting the dots for the upper lid above the eye brow for instance— the results were rather horrific. If you don't want to upload your own images, there are thousands of predefined images in the database allowing you to morph celebrities to your hearts content. Never again will you wonder what a Brangilina actually looks like! MorphThing is free to play with, but requires a basic login (no email verification required) for uploading personal images.
Or for that matter you can find out what you and any other celebrity or uploaded portrait would look like as a morphed image. The lead image for this post was an unholy mashup of my face and that of Heather Graham's, which shall hence forth insist on being called by it's stage name: Jasather.
MorphThing is a bit more precise than other simple image morphers online. Instead of simply using a basic image blend to layer one photo over the other, you actually go through a process after uploading each image to identify important features. Using a dot system, you assign place markers to prominent features like the edges of the eyes, lips, and face. The image at right is an example of how you would place the dots on lips to mark the center and boundaries. The dot system is actually pretty accurate, when I purpose messed with the placement of the eyes on my test image— putting the dots for the upper lid above the eye brow for instance— the results were rather horrific. If you don't want to upload your own images, there are thousands of predefined images in the database allowing you to morph celebrities to your hearts content. Never again will you wonder what a Brangilina actually looks like! MorphThing is free to play with, but requires a basic login (no email verification required) for uploading personal images.
KickYouTubes Lets You Download Videos Without Extra Software or Hassle
KickYouTube is one of the simplest solutions for downloading YouTube videos we've reviewed at Lifehacker. So simple that if you can find YouTube videos you like and type the word "kick" you're in business.
The mechanism is web based and very straight forward. When you're watching a YouTube video that you would like to download for archiving or later perusal, simply add the word "kick" to the URL immediately in front of the word youtube. For example if you wanted to download the Merlin Mann video we suggested as weekend viewing to throw on your iPod for a subway commute, you would do the following:
Load the URL for the video in your browser:
http ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOgHE5nEq04
Insert the word "kick" between the www. and the youtube.com section of the URL:
http://www.kickyoutube.com/watch?v=uOgHE5nEq04
That's it! After you send that URL, the page will reload with the KickYouTube toolbar at the top of the screen, as seen in the screenshot above. From there you can download the file from YouTube as an FLV, MPG, MP3, and even HD MP4. Note: going to the KickYouTube website directly will just give you a video demonstration on how to use the service, to actually engage the toolbar and begin grabbing files you have to find a YouTube video you want and insert the "kick" into the URL of the video. For another simple and cross platform method of downloading files from video sharing sites, check out All-In-One-Video Bookmarklet.
Five Best Sites for Finding Deals Online
Did your holiday gift budget shrink considerably this year? Your friends and family need never be the wiser: You just need to know where to find the best deals. Photo by ginnerobot.
Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite sites for finding great deals online, and now we're back with the five most popular answers. Let's take a closer look at the best sites on the internet designed to help you stretch your dollar further this holiday season and beyond.
Slickdeals
Slickdeals.net is a comprehensive deal-finding web site with an active user community dedicated to scouring the web for great deals. Slickdeals posts deals in a blog-like format, providing a uncategorized and steady stream of deals on their home page covering the gamut from tech to toys and clothing to appliances. Avid users emphasize that while you should certainly come to Slickdeals for the front page deals, you should stick around for the thriving and thrift-conscious forums.
DealsPlus
Relative newcomer DealsPlus is much like the other popular deal finders listed but with a twist: It integrates social bookmarking features à la Digg or Delicious to help the most popular deals rise to the top. DealsPlus users submit deals and vote on the submitted deals they like; popular deals make the DealsPlus home page. If you're nuts about deals and user-driven content, DealsPlus may be right up your alley.
Dealnews
Dealnews is a popular deal finder "where every day is Black Friday." In contrast to the blog-like style of Slickdeals, the Dealnews front page organizes deals by category. While Dealnews has a clear emphasis on tech, it's no slouch when it comes to covering other categories, like clothing, home, and toys. It's friendly interface—complete with large pictures of featured product deals—makes it a fun and easy scan for the casual deal-searcher.
FatWallet
FatWallet is a popular deal-finding web site that aims to help you maintain a healthily plump wallet. Probably best known for it's active community of prudent spenders, FatWallet is an excellent resource for saving money online and off. As deal finders go, FatWallet doesn't do the same front page style as sites like Dealnews or Slickdeals, but if you do a little digging, you can find plenty of great deal streams—like in their Hot Deals forum.
PriceGrabber
Unlike the rest of the competition in this Hive Five, PriceGrabber is a comparison shopping web site that searches and compares prices from popular online retailers to bring you the lowest price available price. Apart from the simple search, PriceGrabber supports Price Alerts and rates products based on expert and user reviews.
Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite sites for finding great deals online, and now we're back with the five most popular answers. Let's take a closer look at the best sites on the internet designed to help you stretch your dollar further this holiday season and beyond.
Slickdeals
Slickdeals.net is a comprehensive deal-finding web site with an active user community dedicated to scouring the web for great deals. Slickdeals posts deals in a blog-like format, providing a uncategorized and steady stream of deals on their home page covering the gamut from tech to toys and clothing to appliances. Avid users emphasize that while you should certainly come to Slickdeals for the front page deals, you should stick around for the thriving and thrift-conscious forums.
DealsPlus
Relative newcomer DealsPlus is much like the other popular deal finders listed but with a twist: It integrates social bookmarking features à la Digg or Delicious to help the most popular deals rise to the top. DealsPlus users submit deals and vote on the submitted deals they like; popular deals make the DealsPlus home page. If you're nuts about deals and user-driven content, DealsPlus may be right up your alley.
Dealnews
Dealnews is a popular deal finder "where every day is Black Friday." In contrast to the blog-like style of Slickdeals, the Dealnews front page organizes deals by category. While Dealnews has a clear emphasis on tech, it's no slouch when it comes to covering other categories, like clothing, home, and toys. It's friendly interface—complete with large pictures of featured product deals—makes it a fun and easy scan for the casual deal-searcher.
FatWallet
FatWallet is a popular deal-finding web site that aims to help you maintain a healthily plump wallet. Probably best known for it's active community of prudent spenders, FatWallet is an excellent resource for saving money online and off. As deal finders go, FatWallet doesn't do the same front page style as sites like Dealnews or Slickdeals, but if you do a little digging, you can find plenty of great deal streams—like in their Hot Deals forum.
PriceGrabber
Unlike the rest of the competition in this Hive Five, PriceGrabber is a comparison shopping web site that searches and compares prices from popular online retailers to bring you the lowest price available price. Apart from the simple search, PriceGrabber supports Price Alerts and rates products based on expert and user reviews.
Understand people saying where?
"One day in the evening, a city in a return to his FBI officers in a city apartment, and when he reached the kitchen has identified a murder scene bloody, terrible, what is called the deceased."
Optimal Home Location Helps You Find a Commute-Friendly Residence
Optimal Home Location is a Google Maps/Zillow mashup tool that helps you calculate the central location between all your commuting destinations.
After plugging in the six most frequent places you and your family commute to: work, school, other family members, etc., Optimal Home Location will crunch the numbers. The map it returns will show you the best place for you to live in order to minimize your commute times. The service is really handy, although not without its quirks. It cannot take into account anything beyond physical distances for instance, leaving you decide if the area is a safe neighborhood and whether or not it's cost effective to live there. Perhaps it was just luck— on the part of the search engine or on my part for picking the house I did— but in my testing Optimal Home Location picked a handful of homes right in the neighborhood I currently live in. One of the things my wife and I both love about where we live is that we spend little time commuting thanks to a very strategically located home. Score one for the Optimal Home Location engine! On top of showing you the optimal location, it also allows you to compare commute times from various addresses you are already have in mind and show the location of local features like schools and libraries to help you pick an ideal locale. For more help with home hunting and moving, check out our top ten real estate tools.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Sábado,
http://rapidshare.com/files/33775603/LA._Street_Racing.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/33778348/LA._Street_Racing.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/33780848/LA._Street_Racing.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/33781913/LA._Street_Racing.part4.rar
Saint Paint Studio 15.0.3 (Image Processing) License
Saint Paint Studio 15.0.3 (Image Processing) License
Serial: MELUP-FYNEW-GENKA-HERCH
Software size: 3510KB
Software categories: foreign software / Image Processing
The number of downloads: 33368 authorized software: Version sharing
The software Language: English environment: Win9x/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003
Software Rating: Updated: For-11-7 9:32:12
Want their photos to add more color it? Or want to own their own beautiful picture it? Saint Paint is a simple graphics software, but also can modify the function of photographs, is a multi-functional and simple software!
Software Download: http://www.onlinedown.net/soft/26246.htm
Serial: MELUP-FYNEW-GENKA-HERCH
Software size: 3510KB
Software categories: foreign software / Image Processing
The number of downloads: 33368 authorized software: Version sharing
The software Language: English environment: Win9x/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003
Software Rating: Updated: For-11-7 9:32:12
Want their photos to add more color it? Or want to own their own beautiful picture it? Saint Paint is a simple graphics software, but also can modify the function of photographs, is a multi-functional and simple software!
Software Download: http://www.onlinedown.net/soft/26246.htm
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