Flickr Gallery Plus Tweaks Flickr for Better Galleries [Featured Download]
Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): The Flickr Gallery Plus Firefox extension or Greasemonkey script make browsing galleries faster and easier in Flickr.
Once installed and set up, Flickr Gallery Plus automatically grabs larger versions of each image in a set so you can view each picture waiting for another page to load. It even turns sets into nice slideshows that fade between photos. Like to navigate photos from the keyboard? You can advance between images with the right and left keys.
If you're a Flickr junkie, Flickr Gallery Plus is a great add-on to view Flickr sets. For more spicy Flickr improvements, check out our very own Better Flickr Firefox extension. Flickr Gallery Plus is available in both Greasemonkey script form and as an experimental Firefox extension (that means it hasn't been vetted by the folks at Mozilla yet and you need to log in to download it), works wherever Firefox does. Photos by Qole Pejorian.
Picasa for Mac Beta Released, First Look [Featured Mac Download]
Google has officially released their popular photo management application Picasa for Macs, after years of offering Picasa as a free Windows download.
It's an exciting announcement for anyone who's looking for a good photo management app on OS X that isn't iPhoto or for anyone who's used and fallen in love with Picasa on Windows or Linux. This release still sports the beta tag, so you can expect a bug here or there, but overall it appears to boast most of the same features as its counterparts. That includes:
Photo Management
Picasa scans your entire computer for new photos and keeps them neatly organized, with great timeline features, tagging, and folder organization.
Image Editing
Picasa sports simple but impressive editing capabilities, including non-destructive editing of photos. The Mac version offers a few smart options for users looking to run both iPhoto and Picasa so that neither application stps on the other's toes.
Integration with Web Albums
Just like Picasa for Windows and Linux, Picasa for Mac offers seamless integration with Picasa Web Albums, Google's online photo sharing site.
There's no telling what Apple has in store for us at Macworld, but right now the Picasa release looks to throw down some serious competition for iPhoto. It may be a bit soon for an informed judgment, but what do you think so far?
Let's hear more specific thoughts in the comments.
Ask MetaFilter Roundup [Hive Mind]
- Are there any free services where I can store my passwords online? Is this a good idea?
- Any suggestions for a cheaper alternative to my current internet provider?
- Is there a program that will display my keystrokes on the screen as I type?
- How can I achieve Gmail zen across my desktop and iPhone?
- Is it possible to burn M4V files to a DVD?
Craigsphone Brings a Better Craigslist to Your iPhone [Featured IPhone Download]
iPhone/iPod touch only: Free application Craigsphone puts the popular online classifieds site Craigslist on your iPhone, complete with click-to-call, history, and mobile posting.
At first blush it may not seem like a Craigslist-focused app could offer much beyond what Craigslist on mobile Safari does, but you may be surprised. Craigsphone can post directly from your phone, including photo uploads and location sharing (instant missed connections, anyone?) and a Nearby feature that uses your iPhone's location awareness to find classifieds nearby (San Francisco Bay area and Manhattan only for now).
Craigsphone is distributed for free by the same people who develop the very cool Dial Zero app (which helps you skip directly to an operator when you dial a customer service line), works on the iPhone and iPod touch only.
Tabhunter Adds Faster Tab Switching to Firefox [Featured Firefox Extension]
Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): The Tabhunter Firefox extension adds quick keyboard-based tab switching to Firefox—sort of like Launchy for Firefox tabs. Just invoke Tabhunter, start typing, and Tabhunter searches for a match through all your tabs.
Tabhunter searches only the titles of your open pages, but the search is very fast and works as advertised. You can invoke Tabhunter from the keyboard (Ctrl+Alt+T by default), start typing, and find the tab you want more quickly than you can likely switch over to your mouse and back.
Granted, Tabhunter is decidedly for keyboard shortcut lovers, but if you fall in that group and you regularly have a browser full o' tabs, it's a great extension. Tabhunter is a free download, works wherever Firefox does. If you're not quite into the idea, I've always liked previously mentioned LastTab for boosting my tab-switching skills. Unfortunately it's been buggy for me ever since Firefox 3, so Tabhunter is a welcome entry. Either way, your mileage may vary. Let's hear what you prefer in the comments.
Coke Can Clean Your Toilet in a Pinch [Clever Uses]
When your toilet's got rings and lime scale stains and you've got no cleaning gear on hand, grab a can of Coke out of the fridge.
According to wikiHow, you can pour Coke into a dirty toilet and the carbonic, citric, and phosphoric acids in it will break down stains, especially if you can leave it overnight to do the work. (Soda water will work too, without all the sugary residue.) Be warned though: this technique won't save you from the dreaded brushing of the bowl itself.
Disable Startup Stops Unwanted Apps from Creating Startup Entries [Featured Windows Download]
Windows only: Free application Disable Startup keeps just any old app from adding itself to your list of startup applications, keeping your boot time snappy and RAM happy.
At its core, Disable Startup is a startup manager similar to the built-in Windows System Configuration Utility. It does the trick if you just want to use it for that, but it's really nothing special strictly as a startup manager. If you're willing to run Disable Startup in your system tray (which will cost you about 4MB), it'll closely monitor your startup applications for new additions. The app gives you the option to disable all new startup entries, warn you when new startup apps are added, or allow any new additions. Likewise, Disable Startup can prevent new software installations from changing your IE start page. It may not be worth the added system tray app for some, but if you install a lot of software that ends up sneaking entry after entry into your list of startup apps, this simple utility is perfect. Disable Startup is a free download, Windows only.
Download and Print the 2009 Compact Calendar [Printables]
So you're back at work after the holidays and planning out your big projects of the year—time to print out Dave Seah's excellent compact calendar for 2009.
This good-looking and useful spreadsheet template lays out the year in a continuous block of time with U.S. holidays marked (international versions are available as well). Use it to block off spans of time for certain projects, or to check off days you've gotten to the gym, skipped a cigarette, or any other habit you're trying to form. The spreadsheet should work on any platform, and it's a free download. (We mentioned the 2009 edition back in September, but thought it would be most useful today).
"Downloading Is Wrong" Trojan Blocks Access to BitTorrent Sites [BitTorrent]
BitTorrent weblog TorrentFreak reports on a new piece of malware with a strange bent: If it infects your computer, this trojan will prevent you from accessing popular BitTorrent sites The Pirate Bay and Mininova. It does so by modifying the hosts file on your computer. We've shown you how to use the power of the hosts file for good by banning time-wasting web sites or setting up universal ad blocking through your router, but this novel new trojan adds the unfriendly blocks to your hosts file. If by chance you've been affected, check out the TorrentFreak post for more details.
Changing of the Guard [Announcements]
It's a new year and we've got some new changes happening around here: Mr. Adam Pash will take over as lead editor of Lifehacker on January 16th.
After a wild and woolly four years at the helm, I'm stepping down from the site lead position to work on Some New Stuff on a day-to-day basis in 2009. To be clear, my decision has nothing to do with the big bad economy or any kind of scandalous company blow-up—it's just time for me to move onto new projects. It's tough letting go of something I love so dearly, but it's easier knowing it will be in very capable hands.
No one knows the ins and outs of this site and its community as well as Adam, who's been posting away at my side for over three years now. Adam has authored some of the most popular articles that have appeared on these pages, and he's always had a keen sense of what makes a cool and exciting project or time-saving trick. I can't wait to see where he takes things this year and beyond.
As for me, well, you haven't seen the last of me yet. I'll be contributing a weekly feature and some fun new coding projects to the site starting in February. Freed up from the grind of daily news editing, I'll be able to dedicate more time and research into these posts and projects, so I promise they'll be good.
I'll be around publishing posts, passing torches, dabbing tears, and tying up loose ends until January 15th. Get in touch if you need me on Lifehacker business till then (gina at lifehacker.com), and prepare yourself for an even mushier goodbye post in two weeks. Photo by Nenyaki.
Soonr Syncs Files from Desktops to iPhones [Featured IPhone Download]
iPhone/iPod touch only: Free online sharing service Soonr has launched an iPhone/desktop app combo that gives you 500MB of space to keep your Windows or Mac documents synced to your device.
After signing up at Soonr's site, installing the desktop software from an emailed link, and installing the free iPhone app, you're pretty much on your way. Soonr's "Desktop Agent" software lets you choose what folders or types of files get synchronized to your device and how much bandwidth gets used doing it. Soonr's app lets you preview Microsoft Office, PDF, text, and image files, and even lets you print to networked printers if your iPhone/touch is connected to a Wi-Fi network.
Check out screenshots of Soonr's desktop application (on Windows XP) and iPhone capabilities below:
Soonr is a free download and sign-up, requires a PC or Mac computer and an iPhone or iPod touch. Looking for a less cloud-based, controllable solution? Try the previously mentioned (and previously free) Air Sharing.
AntennaWeb Finds the Best Outdoor Antenna for Your House [TV]
If the upcoming switch to HD digital broadcasting has you considering dropping cable for the free stuff, the AntennaWeb site can help find the receiver that will net the most channels at your address.
The free-to-use site only requires your street address or ZIP code and asks whether you've got any tall buildings or trees nearby. Based on your location (which it sometimes details down to the street level), it lays out how far each local broadcaster is from your house, what channel and signal type they're offering, and what kind of antenna will net you the best reception for the most digital channels. You can even get a map showing which direction each station will come to your house from, for those who need to point a directional unit (or plan to stick with a strategically-placed indoor antenna).
AntennaWeb leaves the purchasing of your outdoor model to your own preference and Google abilities, but the site does explain the whys and hows of antennas pretty decently for those who haven't worked at a RadioShack. Confused in a more general sense about the Feb. 17 transition and what it means? Try the official DTV 2009 site.
Porta'Menu Launches Programs from your USB Drive [Featured Windows Download]
Windows only: Porta'Menu is a tiny (175k!) application launcher for your portable drives. It is extremely spartan, but effective.
Add your applications, it remember the relative path and from there on you only have to launch the application launcher when you insert your flash drive instead of digging through the application directories. The interface is very reminiscent of earlier lower resolution versions of windows, and if you read the readme.txt you'll find out why. The author found that an ancient program he'd written to launch applications back in the days before start menus worked perfectly as a relative-path application manager for portable drives. For another application launder that is a little less spartan and has a scratch pad for notes, check out PStart—the first piece of software I recommended to Lifehacker when I was a new reader! Porta'menu is freeware, Windows only.
Open Office Documents from Gmail Without Google Docs [Gmail Tip]
A simple URL edit can open attached Office docs from Gmail in a sleek viewer, rather than the sometimes funky HTML option.
The Google Operating System blog points out that Google's viewer—powered by Google Docs, but not requiring a sign-up at that service or a cluttered dashboard for existing users—works with Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files just as easily as the PDF files Gmail already tells you it can handle. Simply replace the segment view=att with view=gvatt in the URL after you hit "View as HTML," and you'll launch a scalable, zoom-able, easier-to-manage viewer for your attachment.
Super Ubuntu Rolls Multimedia and Helpful Extras into Ubuntu [Featured Download]
Most anyone using Ubuntu Linux has to install Adobe Flash, Java, DVD playback, and other plug-ins to actually enjoy it. Super Ubuntu packs all that essential in from the get-go.
It's basically just a re-compiled version of the official Ubuntu distribution, but with a whole bunch of features included that save you the time of grabbing them yourself. File-sharing apps, multimedia codecs, Windows compatibility tools (including WINE and support for PortableApps installations), and lots updates that haven't hit the official repositories are included, but you'll still get official security and application updates through Ubuntu. The creators seem pretty intent on keeping Super Ubuntu up to date, and offer a constantly-seeded ISO torrent and live USB creation tools for anyone looking to try it out.
Super Ubuntu is a free download for most any computer running on x86-based processors. It appears to be a 32-bit-only affair at this point.
AeroPeek Puts Windows 7's Desktop Showing into XP/Vista [Featured Windows Download]
Windows only: A small background app can give XP and Vista users part of the functionality of "Aero Peek," a smart way of previewing windows and showing the desktop in Windows 7.
Unfortunately, that part is just the desktop showing aspect, available from a tray icon installed by the Aero Peek app—though it likely won't be long before we see the windows previews, whether from this developer or elsewhere. In the meantime, it's an intriguingly different way for users of desktop gadgets, or those who have to head back to their desktop often for files, to minimize their active windows. Unlike hitting the Windows Key+D combo, restoring your windows from Aero Peek always keeps whatever windows you had active in the front, and shows what windows you have open in shaded outlines.
Not for everyone, especially those inclined toward keyboard shortcuts, but an intriguing attempt at getting yet another one of Windows 7's features into your Windows desktop. Aero Peek is a free download for Windows systems only.
Check if Your Carrier Will Support an Unlocked iPhone 3G [IPhone]
Wondering if your cell carrier can support your jailbroken iPhone 3G after unlocking it? PC World rounds up a great collection of unlocking tips, and points to a extensive list of carrier results.
Take Accurate Photos with the White Balance Lens Cap [Stuff We Like]
The White Balance Lens Cap is a replacement for your standard plastic lens cap with the added benefit of helping you easily set a custom white balance.
The center of the cap has a white plastic dome like you find on light meters. Before you start photographing, you set a custom white balance from within the settings menu of your camera. The camera sets the white balance based on the reading through the white light diffusion dome and bam! Perfect custom white balance for your set of shots. Prices range from $45-65. If it's after the fact and you need to do some white balance correcting, check out Fix Your Photos' White Balance.
VortexBox Turns Your Old Computer into a Music Server [Media Server]
VortexBox is an open-source CD ripping and media server solution. Based on Fedora 10, VortexBox is capable of streaming in multiple formats allowing you to hear your music on your other computers, iTunes, media centers, slim devices like squeezeboxes and other media devices. Installation is straight forward, download the ISO file, burn it to a disc, pop the disc in the unused computer you want to turn into a jukebox and you're on your way. Once the installation is complete you can access the box remotely with the build in web server. Ripping is completely automated, just pop in the disk you want it to rip and it rips, tags, and gets the cover art. VortexBox is an open-source linux-based media server.
MyOpenBar Finds You Free Drinks [Free]
MyOpenBar is a web site that catalogs where you can drink for free in major cities across the United States. Drink on the alcohol companies dime!
Alcohol companies and bars list promotions on MyOpenBar to attract patrons and increase exposure for their products. You just have to scan over the listings to see who is running a promotion in your area. There are listings for New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chcago, Miami, and Honolulu with plans for more metropolitan areas in the future.
Locations are ranked and events can be sorted by days. All listings include contact information and directions. Photo by Saquan Stimpson.
WindowsPager Manages Multiple Virtual Desktops [Windows Featured Download]
Windows only: WindowsPager is a free and light-weight application for managing virtual desktops. The application is just over 300k and uses around 5MB of system memory.
Windows Pager requires no installation or administrative rights to run. After running the executable a small bank of four screens—see the screenshot at left— is placed on the Windows taskbar. Clicking on one of the four panes in takes you to one of the four virtual desktops. On a multiple monitor setup, WindowsPager treats all of the monitors as one enormous desktop and cycling through the virtual desktops will fresh all of the multiple monitors accordingly. WindowsPager was quick to respond to changes and bring up the new windows for each virtual desktop. WindowsPager is a free portable-application, Windows only.
Ask the Commenters Roundup [Hive Mind]
- What are some good high-end headphones for a cheapskate?
- Any tips for dual booting Windows 7 and Windows Vista?
- I have a Windows 98 CD and a Windows XP Upgrade Disc, can I use them to install XP on a new machine?
- How can I throttle bandwidth by individual computer on my network?
Productivity Meter Tracks Your Computer Usage [Featured Windows Download]
Windows only: Productivity Meter is a time tracking tool from Fruitful Time, makers of the task manager we reviewed earlier this year.
Once installed the software sits in the background and keeps tabs on your activity. Productivity Meter tracks the active versus idle time, how your active time is split among applications, which applications were used the most, and which websites you browsed and for how long. You can review the stats for the last day, week, month or a user defined block of time. One of the most useful features is the ability to tag programs, windows, and domains. It would be entirely useless to many users—myself included— if the program simply told you when you'd been using a web browser and time spent on certain domains. I use a web browser for nearly all the work I do on my computer. By using the tag function I can tell Productivity Meter which domains I access for certain tasks and jobs. It's tracking for how much time I spend doing Lifehacker related work became significantly more accurate when I tagged all the domains I use. Another concern was that with a triple monitor setup and a huge number of windows open at any given time it wouldn't accurately track what I was really focusing my time and attention on. 
After testing it for the better part of a day it does a fantastic job tracking what I'm actually working on. The program is free for personal use, with the small caveat that after 30 days the ability to generate time cards is removed. If you don't need to generate time cards to show a boss or client how your time was spent on a give project it shouldn't matter much. All the graphs and information in the main dashboard is available even after the 30 days window. Productivity Meter is freeware, Windows only.
Kallow Helps Your Non-Geek Relatives Select Electronics [Shopping]
Kallow is a web-based consumer suggestion service. Think of Kallow as a simplified Consumer Reports. They take enormous tasks like shopping for a new HDTV and reduce it down to the best value.
From the about section on their site:
We love technology, we love reading about it, we love playing with new toys, we love debating which new LCD is the best. Let us do the heavy lifting. We do the research, we compare each model, we balance performance, ease of use and price for you. We pick products that we find to be the best value. We cut through the crap. These are the products that we would recommend to our family and friends if they asked, 'What digital camera should I buy?' or 'We are thinking of getting a new HDTV. Which one should be get?'
I looked over every category on their site, and while I disagreed with some of their choices, that's the whole point. I'm the kind of geek that would spend a whole weekend reading about HDTVs before buying one. Within my family and social circle I'm one of the few people who actually does—and enjoys!— that kind of thing. So while the recommendation of Kallow that my next laptop should be a macbook doesn't actually fit me, it does fit almost every friend and relative I have. Kallow just might save you from spending another holiday as Uncle Bernie's human-encyclopedia for the digital age.
Make Magazine Debuts Their Own TV Show [Television]
If you're a fan of Make magazine and their DIY-ethos, you won't want to miss the premiere of Make Television. Available both online in HD and on a large number of public stations across America.
Check out if and when the show is being broadcast locally by looking at the Make.tv's broadcast listings. The listings will tell you if the show has been picked up but not formally scheduled, if it is schedule, when it will first or next broadcast, and what time.
If you're not too keen on waiting for an actual airtime, and many of our readers here have professed a deep love of their Tivos and all things digital, you can jump right in and watch the episodes in HD online. Check out the episode guide and click on the links in the episode summary to watch the actual segment.
JPG Magazine Archives Available for Free [Photography]
JPG Magazine, suffering in the current economic state, is boarding up the doors January 5th. Until then, they have all their back issues available for free.
The quality of the publication is enormous and the pages are filled with beautiful photographs and interesting tips and tricks. If you're at all interested in photography it's worth a stroll through the archive to admire the excellent work of the thousands of photographers that contributed to the magazine over the years.
YackTrack Keeps an Eye on Comments [Tracking]
YackTrack is a comment tracking service. If you've ever wondered who is talking about a blog post or news article you can enter the URL and see who is talking about it and where.
YackTrack currently tracks comments on Blogger/Blogspot, Digg, Disqus, FriendFeed, Google Blog Search, Google Reader, IntenseDebate, Mixx, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Technorati, TypePad/MoveableType and WordPress blogs. Additionally there is a "Chatter" function that lets you search for key words instead of single URLs. On the time saving side of things it's possible to set up a bookmarklet to help you search YackTrack and you can turn a search term into an RSS feed to plug it into your favorite reader and stay abreast of new comments.
Make Your Own SAD Light Box [DIY]
Boris wanted to build a light box for his sister, who suffers from Seasonal Affective Disorder, a disorder brought on by lack of exposure to bright light in darker winter climates.
My sister suffers from seasonal affective disorder, also known as winter depression. A commonly prescribed therapy is light therapy - about thirty minutes of bright light in the morning. Bright in this context means more than 10 000 Lumens. You can of course buy commercial light-boxes, but I wanted to construct one by myself.
He neglects to point out that commercial light boxes can run $200+ and that building you own is a really economical choice. By repurposing a wooden filing box from Ikea, buying some compact fluorescent bulbs and some basic light sockets he was able to craft a very serviceable light box for his sister that exceeded the 10,000 Lumen requirement by nearly 6,000 Lumens.
Create Custom Planner Templates with Dynamic Templates [Templates]
If you're a big fan of the templates at D*I*Y Planner, and we certainly are, you'll be thrilled to know they have released a cross-platform program for generating your own templates.
The application, at least the Windows version I tested, is stand alone and portable. It is currently limited to generating month/week/day appointment templates but will have other D*I*Y Planner templates like notes and such included in future releases. Automatic scaling to various US and international paper sizes is included, as well as the ability to tweak a host of smaller things like line weight. Completed templates are exported as a PDF file. Dynamic Templates is open source and cross-platform.
Hard Lessons in the Importance of Backups: JournalSpace Wiped Out [Backup]
Blogging service JournalSpace has been completely wiped out after the drives that housed their entire database were overwritten.
The problem was that their backups weren't actually backups at all. The servers were set up with a mirrored RAID system so that if the primary drive should fail the secondary drive would be used to recover the primary. This alone is risky business, as it only protects you from the failure of one drive. In the case of JournalSpace, the drive didn't fail but instead the data was overwritten/erased on one drive leading the other drive to follow suite and clear itself. A data recovery team was unable to retrieve the database.
So where does that leave you, assuming you didn't lose your blog in the data-meltdown? Hopefully taking a hard look at your backup plan and making sure that there aren't the kind of holes in it that were in the JournalSpace backup plan. If you need some tips and tricks for securing your data check out: The Five Best Windows Backup Utilities, How to Automatically Backup Your Hard Drive, How to Create Your Own Cross-Platform Backup Server.
Learn about Different Screw Types [Tools]
There is an entire world beyond slotted and Phillips head screws. Learn your screw types and a whole lot more about the history of screws.
For each screw drive type, from ancient Slot through to space-age Lox we present a quick view of the screw head, the drive name, a picture of the appropriate drive bit, followed by an explanation of the type. Also presented are the advantages and disadvantages of each drive type.
Never find yourself peeling back the warranty sticker on an electronic device again and exclaiming "What the hell is that!" when confronted with an exotic screw type.
Increase Productivity with the 3 Open Project Method [Time Management]
Glen over at the self improvement blog LifeDev has an interesting way of dealing with distraction and remaining productive. He works through projects in parallel, so that when he's distracted it's by another project.
Recently he found out that his father had been working the same way for years, by balancing projects to keep himself interested:
Dad has a simple method for keeping himself busy and entertained with what he's working on. He simply starts 3 projects at the same time. He can work on whichever he pleases throughout the day, and go back and forth as his mood permits. If he becomes bored with a task or needs to think about how to do something, he switches tasks. By the end of the day he'll have completed, (or nearly completed), 3 different projects. This is much better than only making halfway through a single project and getting distracted.
Both he and his father recognize that they are more prone to distraction than some people, so rather than fight it they set up their work so that when they do get distracted it's by another relevant project and not a time sink. Photo by Flik.
DivFix++ Repairs Your AVI Files [Featured Download]
DivFix++ is a cross-platform .AVI repair program that rebuilds the index file within the .AVI container to restore your movie to a functional state.
DivFix++ can be downloaded pre-compiled for Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems. The interface and operation is straight forward. Tell it where you want the repaired file to be saved, drag and drop some files to be repaired into the Source Files pane of the program and let it loose. Repair time was fairly quick on my mid-level machine and the resource utilization was lower than I expected. The program required no installation, just a simple unzipping, but beyond that I can't vouch for it's portability. DivX++ is cross platform and open source.
In Defense of Buying Books [Books]
We're big fans of public libraries here at Lifehacker and frequently share tips on how to get cheap books. Ann Zurkle logs the argument at financial blog Get Rich Slowly that buying books is OK.
Ann goes on to detail the average cost of a variety of leisure activities people spend money on compared to her expenditures on books and the the uniqueness of the bookstore and reading experience. Ann uses books as an indulgence over other activities:
Even if the previous logic isn't convincing, consider that books are my reward. Instead of a big fancy meal or a special treat, I often get a book to celebrate things. A book is usually much cheaper than a meal at a fancy restaurant or a concert, is fewer calories than ice cream and lasts a lot longer than both!
Do you prefer to get your books through free channels like the library or nearly free channels like book swapping websites, over buying them from a bookseller? For more book fun, check out 13 Book Hacks for the Library Crowd. Photo by Adan Garcia.
Build a Hackintosh for under $240 [Hackintosh]
Industrious tinkers at eclectic technology blog UselessNinjas have put together a guide to building a sub-$240 computer to run Mac OS X.
Last year Adam showed you how to build your own Hackintosh, the build at UselessNinjas continues in that spirit of installing OS X on non-Apple hardware. They use an extremely small desktop computer from MSI, the same manufacturer that built the hackintosh friendly MSI Wind Netbook we looked at a few months ago. For the details on their build, check out the full article. Even if you aren't in the market for a mac-clone, the specs and size on the mini-desktop unit they use for the project look promising for a Linux based XBMC project.
New Year's Deal: Get 24 Months of Hosting + Domain for $11 [Deals]
DreamHost is running a New Year's promotion right now. 95% off a 2 year hosting agreement which works out to $10.47.
QuickOnlineTips posted a promotion code earlier today that gives you a steep 95% discount off the 24 month package from DreamHost. Use the promotional code 202 when prompted for a promo code during checkout. For $10.47 you get unlimited transfers, bandwidth, a free domain registration and all the perks that come with a full account like unlimited MySQL databases, email accounts, and domain hosting. DreamHost also has a plug and play web control panel for quickly adding in popular components like WordPress. Disclosure: after reading about the affiliate program it would appear that QuickOnlineTips benefits directly from people using their promotional code. I'm perfectly comfortable with that for web hosting that costs $0.44 a month. If you're wondering what kind of experiences other Lifehacker readers have had with DreamHost, read over the comments on Call for Help: Reliable and Affordable Web Hosting? If you're wondering how to take advantage of a cheap web host, check out the Top 10 Way to put Your Remote Server to Good Use.
SnapBits Stores Your Snippets of Text [Capture Tools]
Web-based application SnapBits functions as a web locker for your data. You can add text via the website or by emailing it to the unique email address for your account. Your text entries can be searched and filtered by the tags you assign. There is a small but convenient feature where you can tag a note as "classified" which simply makes the note appear masked when it appears in searches through your tags or browsing your list of entries. Clicking on it will reveal it, but if someone were looking at your screen at say an internet cafe, it would be masked until you wanted to read it. If you need a service that allows you to clip more than just text, check out Snipd.
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