All platforms: Mozilla releases the first beta of Thunderbird 3, the next generation of their desktop email client. Meant only for testers, this beta's features include:
Tab interface for Mail
Improvements to IMAP for faster message viewing
Improved message reader view
New Add-ons Manager
Improved Address Book interface
Improved import of mail from other Mail clients
Integration with Windows Vista search
Integration with Mac OS X Address Book
You've already seen our screenshot tour of the T-bird 3.0 alpha; probably the neatest bits in the beta are better Address Book capabilities and the Add-ons manager, which works like Firefox's extensions manager does.
New Add-ons Manager: The new Add-ons Manager (Tools > Add-ons) can now be used to find, download, and install Thunderbird Add-ons which includes Extensions, Themes, and Plugins. Note that few Add-ons are compatible with this beta at the time of release, as Add-on developers need to upgrade them.
Here's what the Add-ons Manager looks like:
Then there's the:
Improved Address Book: If someone is in your address book, it is indicated by a new star icon which you can click to edit contact details inline. If they are not in your address book, you can add them with one click of the icon. A new birthday field allows you to keep track of your friends' birthdays.
Here's what quick-editing a contact looks like (similar to Firefox bookmarks):
Then there's just general all-around better integration with Windows and Mac OS X:
For Windows Vista users, Thunderbird 3 Beta 1 is now integrated with Vista search results. On first start, Thunderbird will prompt to install its indexing system into Windows Vista and you can choose to see Thunderbird email and news messages in Windows search results.
For Mac users, Thunderbird 3 Beta 1 can import from Mail.app, read your OS X address book, and use Growl for new mail alerts.
The Thunderbird 3 Beta 1 Preview release is a free download for all platforms.
Set your TiVos, Lifehacker fans: our very own Adam will be on CNBC's "On the Money" show tonight, talking about holiday timesavers. Some guides say it airs at 9PM Eastern time, others 7PM Eastern, so make sure you check your local listings to see the Pashmaster rock Carmen Wong Ulrich's socks off.
The previously mentioned Windows 7 Preview's feature unlocker tool, Blue Badge, has been updated to enable Aero Peek in the preview build 6801. Win7 Preview testers, the Blue Badge download is available for 32 and 64-bit systems.
No matter how well-meaning your "You should try finding a job online!" or "Oh, I'm sooo sorry" is, chances are neither lines are what your recently laid-off pal needs to hear. Advice site Lemondrop covers some of the do's and don'ts for supporting laid-off friends and family right now—and we all have a few these days.
"Helpful" suggestions about getting back on their feet don't always come out right. Dale, whose Web site folded, resents the line, "Why don't you take this opportunity to go back to school?" which he says comes with the unspoken suggestion " ... and incur $40,000 in loans?" at the worst possible time.
You all had some great suggestions on what to do when you've been laid off, but friends or family members also need to know how to support our loved ones. What's the last thing you want to hear when you've been let go from a job? Let loose about insensitive still-employed cads in the comments—and give us some good examples of pals who have come through in your time of need.
Skype releases version 2.5 beta for Windows Mobile devices, which promises improved sound quality and better stability when using it via Wi-Fi. We haven't tried out the new beta, so if you have, tell us what you think. [via]
Windows/Mac/Linux: Free application AutoLyrix automatically fetches and displays album artwork and lyrics for the currently playing track in your music player of choice. AutoLyrix is an open-source alternative to previously mentioned EvilLyrics, and like EvilLyrics, it not only downloads lyrics but also advances lyrics karaoke-style with the music when possible. AutoLyrix could use some polish to the interface (though it does transparency and has a few other options), but functionally it's been working really well. The app works with virtually every popular media player, including iTunes, Winamp, Windows Media Player, foobar2000, Last.fm, MediaMonkey, and more. AutoLyrix is a free download for all platforms, requires .NET 2.0 on Windows and Mono on OS X and Linux.
Do-it-yourselfer Chris Connors says that one of the best ways to finish a complex project is to solve the first quick, simple problem—then move onto the next one. While his piece focuses on hardware projects, the concept is applicable to any undertaking. Connors writes:
Quick Simple Problems may seem too easy, and may seem like they don't get you to your destination. What they will do, however is to get you moving. If the problems are truly quick and simple, you will have rapid successes on your project. You won't be sitting there wondering if it will work, you will know whether it works or not, and what the conditions that cause success are. One of the greatest asset you can create for yourself on a project is to feel good about the likelihood of the outcome. If you feel good about it, and feel like you are moving forward, you will have more ambition to try new experiments, which will also move the project toward success.
What's the next quick simple problem you're going to solve today? Tell us about it in the comments.
Mac user's who rely on Google's Picasa Web Albums Uploader to get photos from OS X to Picasa online will be happy to see a new button in the latest release that can also download full albums to your hard drive. The Windows and Linux versions of Picasa have had similar options for a while, but this should be a welcome addition for Mac owners. [via]
Nothing sullies the effect of a much-needed vacation like an overflowing inbox when you return to reality. For PhD student danah boyd, who is about to undergo the dissertation filing process, that's a burden that's not worth shouldering.
For those who are unaware of my approach to vacation... I believe that email eradicates any benefits gained from taking a vacation by collecting mold and spitting it back out at you the moment you return. As such, I've trained my beloved INBOX to reject all email during vacation. The effect is very simple. You cannot put anything in my queue while I'm away (however lovingly you intend it) and I come home to a clean INBOX. Don't worry... if you forget, you'll get a nice note from my INBOX telling you to shove off, respect danah's deeply needed vacation time, and try again after January 19.
Over at 43 Folders, Merlin Mann suggests that those of us unwilling to take as extreme approach as danah often set up unrealistic expectations for ourselves, make promises we can't keep to other, and, ultimately, you end up taking a similar approach:
You ever done the opposite of what danah is doing? Where you come back from a vacation during which you half-checked email from a mobile device, ignored most of it, and didn't properly finish processing the rest? Sure, you have. And, what happened?
Well, if you're like most people, you deleted a lot of the messages without even reading them. Right?
We've seen a similar approach before, but now that the holiday season upon us, so is the inevitable email logjam. While cutting off your email entirely may be unrealistic for many, it's could be perfect for you. If not, let's hear how you successfully manage your vacation email while avoiding common pitfalls in the comments.
Google announces that its Book Search engine now includes magazine archives in its results, in full-color, page-to-page, browseable format. The Googlers write:
Are you a baseball history fanatic? Try a search for [hank aaron catching babe] on Google Book Search. You'll find a link to a 1973 Ebony article about Hank Aaron, written as he closed in on Babe Ruth's original record for career home runs. You can read the article in full color and in its original context, just as you would in the printed magazine. Scroll back a few pages, for example, and you'll find a two-page spread on 1973's fall fashions. If you'd like to read further, you can click on "Browse all issues" to view issues from across the decades.
Other available titles include Popular Science, New York Magazine, and the more obscure Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Results from magazines appear alongside Book search results, and they can be difficult to ferret out—they've got the word "Magazine" in the result snippet. While there doesn't appear to be a magazine-only advanced search operator you can type in yourself, from the Advanced Book Search page you can ask for results from magazines only.
Mac OS X only: The open-source utility that mounts network file systems on your Mac, MacFUSE, has now updated to version 2.0, which adds a sparse Preference pane that checks for program updates and several developer improvements and bug fixes. Got an FTP server, or network share available over SSH? With MacFUSE running, you can access those disks as if they're native OS X network drives. Here's our tutorial on how to mount a file system on your Mac over SSH—like your web hosting provider's account or home SSH server—with MacFUSE. MacFUSE 2.0 is a free download for Mac only.
Windows only: Free application Flash Drive Reminder wants to ensure you never forget your thumb drive again when you leave your computer. It does so by adding an autoplay option to your thumb drive that, if chosen, provide reminders in two different ways, depending on which version you download. In the standard version, Flash Drive Reminder displays a pop-up reminder as soon as your thumb drive is plugged in, then alerts you again when you log off or shut down (assuming you haven't already unplugged your thumb drive)—perfect for the forgetful crowd. In the quiet version, the app only displays a reminder notification whenever you try to log off or shut down. Flash Drive Reminder is a free download, Windows only. We've covered a similar USB reminder script in the past, but Flash Drive Reminder makes the whole process a lot easier. UPDATE: Sincerest apologies for the dupe.
Gina here. I'm heading up to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA on Thursday to attend Add-on-Con, a one-day get-together for browser extension enthusiasts. If you're in the area, Mozilla has kindly offered $50 off the $150 registration fee for you: just use discount code "Lifehacker" to get the deal. Hope to see you there!
Google comes out with an open-source project, Native Client, that lets users run more resource-heavy applications using their own hardware—in a simple example, that means opening Quake from a web page. It could take off if other developers dig in, or might just be a peek at something bigger Google's got coming down the pike. What's your take? [via]
Fonolo, an online phone tool for getting past all the "Press X for ..." prompts on customer service numbers, is now open for public beta. Our sister site Consumerist took a screenshot tour when Fonolo was privately tested, and it looks much the same—in other words, just as cool. Pick a company, browse their phone directory tree by title and automated dialog, choose where you want to jump in, and Fonolo calls you with a direct connection there. We gave Fonolo a quick spin this morning, so read on for screenshots and a quick tutorial on working some auto-dial jujitsu.
Fonolo has limited their directory of businesses covered during their beta phase, but there's still a good range of companies covered—credit card issuers, cell carriers, retailers, even AARP and EZ-Pass (the New-England-area auto-toll taker). Once you've signed up with a username, password, email, and your phone numbers, you'll validate your email and be on your way.
After searching or browsing through their directory for the firm you want to get into, hit the "View Menu" button to see Fonolo's trace of their automated phone tree. You can click "Call here" to get to any area, and where you see little human icons, that's a direct connection to a customer service representative—the person you usually try to get to by jamming "0."
The one drawback I see at a glance is that Fonolo can't auto-store account numbers and get you past the prompts asking for them. That's obviously a whole bushel of privacy and security issues to deal with, but if I'm looking to get deep into a company to deal with a thorny issue, I definitely want to skip past carefully entering 16 digits over touch-tone.
If you've found the prompt, or human, you want to connect to, simply hit the button and Fonolo asks which of your phones you want to be called on when it gets through. It's not instant, because Fonolo is actually doing the drudgery of dialing, pressing "1" for English, hitting "3" for customer service on existing accounts, etc. And you can watch it happen—or, actually, just walk away and wait for your cell to ring:
Fonolo's service worked for me on the three services I tried out—Chase credit cards, HSBC, and EZ-Pass—but, as noted above, I usually couldn't get past any point where the company wanted an account number to continue. Once you're done calling, you can take note of what happened or what needs to be done on the next call, and leave Fonolo some feedback if you had problems:
That's about it for this beta of Fonolo. Sign-ups are free at the moment, so if you give it a try, let us know how it works for you. Looking for a less automated end-run around customer service prompts? Try the Dial A Human! directory, or the previously mentioned 99-cent iPhone app Direct Line.
Consumer Reports' Money Blog notes that now is a good time to figure out how to spend any money left in your health spending account, or "flex account," at work, before losing it at the end of the year. Nice glasses, stocking up on medications or diabetes supplies, anything before you lose that tax-deferred cash. Here's one account administers' listof eligibles to get you thinking.
Windows only: Programmer's Notepad is a free Notepad replacement with features aimed towards those who spend their days dealing with code. On top of the basic functionality afforded by Notepad, Programmer's Notepad has code outlining, docking toolbars, tags, interactive error finding—clicking on an output error will jump you to the section of code that generated it—, quick search, syntax highlighting, and a user customizable interface which can be exported via xml files. For another notepad replacement that has recieved accolades from code-writing readers here, check out Notepad++. Programmer's Notepad is freeware, Windows only.
Windows only: Free, open-source utility Winsize2 sets up a single keyboard combination to remember, and change, the preferred size and positioning of your Windows applications. In other words, if you hate how your browser opens up to seemingly random sizes, or full-screen instead of windowed, have Winsize2 running and hit Ctrl+Alt+Z (or, on some systems, with Y as the final key). That locks down the apps' size and place, and hitting the combination again will over-write that preference if you like another position better. You can get specific with the numbers and delete troublesome entries from the system tray icon, which uses 2.5MB of physical memory on my Vista system. It's a nice, no-frills solution to a common Windows annoyance, and written in AutoHotKey—which means coders can tweak it how they'd like, and users of some anti-virus software might have to confirm that it's fine to run. Winsize2 is a free download for Windows systems only.
USB Drives (for Windows systems): If you're the type who brings their USB flash-memory drive everywhere you go, yet often has to backtrack all the places you've been to find it, Flash Drive Reminder is definitely worth the download. The tiny app, and its auto-starting accompanying file, sit on your drive and activate whenever you've plugged it into a Windows system. You'll get a pop-up screen asking you to keep the Reminder app running during your session, and it takes up very little memory. When you go to log off or shut down your session, the reminder pops back up, reminding you to yank out your drive. That's about it, though there is a "quiet" version that doesn't present the pop-up window when you first plug in. Flash Drive Reminder is a free download, works on any USB drive (but only activates on Windows systems). If you've got a better system for remembering your drive, software or physical, let's hear it in the comments.
When like-minded hackers come together to unleash the true power of seemingly simple gear, it's truly a beautiful thing. We've featured a good number of how-tos and hacks over the years that make expensive upgrades unnecessary and unleash seriously cool features in your gear, and 2008 was no exception. In the last year, our iPhones and iPod touches got jailbroken all over again, our wireless routers were graced with a new super-charged firmware, our Canon digi-cams gained pro-level powers, and we learned that our Nintendo Wiis were even neater than we'd thought. Today, however, we wanted to take a long view on the best hacks that unlock the best features in our standard hardware, and ask our readers: What's the best one you've seen so far? Take a look at our gallery of gear-boosters, and vote on a champion, below.
Jailbreak tools for iPhones/iPod touch
When the iPhone 3G and its 2.0 software was released, some of us thought that might be the end of jailbreaking, or opening up your device to third-party, non-approved applications (and, in some cases, mobile carriers). We thought wrong, as there were many apps worth jailbreaking for, and the process got much simpler with the Mac-based Pwnagetool and Winpwn for Windows. The greater issue is that Apple's been roundly criticized for rejecting any software that "replicates" its own apps, and is somewhat secretive about just why it kills and delays other apps, so jailbreaking will likely always have a home on Apple's multi-touch devices.
Canon Hacker's Development Kit
If you've ever been intrigued by time-lapse photography, motion-sensing shutters that can capture lightning, or being able to shoot videos of any serious length, you might not need to shell out for a semi-serious DSLR model—if you've got a Canon, that is. The CHDK lets you do all that and more, including record your photos in the very work-able RAW format, get way more on-screen information about your shots and their settings, and, as Adam put it, generally turn your point-and-shoot into a super-camera. The possibilities are vast, given the number of user-created scripts the CHDK can run. And, in true hacker fashion, you can even play a game or two on your LCD screen (while you pretend to be setting up that staged photo mom and dad want, perhaps).
Homemade Wi-Fi extenders
Sure, you could give Linksys (or Buffalo, or D-Link, or Apple, et al.) the extra cash for an extended, wider-range router than the standard box you've tucked away in the living room or office. But if you don't mind doing just a few minutes of DIY work, you can also create your own higher-powered antennas. We've covered a few ways of doing so, including tinfoil and paper parabolas, internal wiring replacements, and, for that steampunk feel, cooking strainer extenders. If you want to actually boost the power your router gives up, well, we're covering that farther down, but these are all relatively safe and damage-free ways to ensure a solid connection throughout your house.
XBOX Media Center (and its variants)
Ever since our boss bought a "classic," first-generation XBOX off eBay and turned it into a media center with the open-source XBOX Media Center, she's been using to organize all the media that makes it to her television, stereo, and other screens. In the meantime, XBMC has spawned a number of intriguing remixes and spin-offs, including Boxee, and now works on pretty much any platform that's got video cards and a hard drive—Windows, Mac, Linux, XBOX models, and even Apple TVs. If buying another whole system just to watch your downloaded videos and stream MP3s across the house sounds like overkill, use what you've got with XBMC.
The Hackintosh
A good number of folks are impressed with Apple's OS X operating system, yet can't bring themselves to pay the hefty premium for the hardware that Apple says is required for it. But since Steve Jobs & Co. made the switch to Intel processors, a community of hackers has been working to make Tiger/Leopard/et. al. run on gear you can assemble yourself, and, as Adam showed us, there's now a command-line-free way to install OS X on a "Hackintosh" PC. Checking out the benchmarks, you'll see there's not a lot, if any, performance loss in using unlicensed hardware, and the best part is you can have the case and your peripherals look however you want, and cost whatever you can afford.
Super-Router upgrades — DD-WRT and Tomato
As mentioned above, some home network routers just can't reach around all the walls in your house. And if you want to set up specific bandwidth rules—giving you, say, lots of room for World of Warcraft at night, but throttling your BitTorrents while you're actually working—you're usually out of luck. Unless, that is, you've loaded DD-WRT or Tomato on your router. We've walked through installations of bothsystems and toured a bit of what they can do. Plus, as many have attested, they can make a router more stable, freeing you from frequent oh-crap-hope-that-page-saves runs to re-plug your misbehaved little guy.
Homebrew Wii
It's hard to say, exactly, why Nintendo didn't include DVD playback capabilities on its Wii game system, given that its games are, well, DVDs. So it was only a matter of time before a few clever folks came up with a way of getting homebrew apps and DVD playback on the Wii, without anyone having to bust out a screwdriver or soldering iron. You can add a lot more to that Homebrew Wii channel, and, if you're cool with Nintendo absolutely disliking your doing so, play backed-up Wii games on it. While you're feeling geeky, you can put your Wiimotes to use in reverse by controlling your computer with them.
Update: Added after the initial post, due to popular demand/outcry. No intentional slight intended! In case you needed an example of Linux completely transforming seemingly outdated hardware into the new hotness, music monster Rockbox, and its games-focused counterpart iPod Linux. Rockbox is the glitzier of the pair, adding customized themes, CoverFlow-like shuffling and other current-generation features to your seemingly out-paced iPod, but iPod Linux gives you some serious freedom inside your tiny computer, and has a pretty nice roster of games. For a look around Rockbox, check out Adam's tour of the latest release.
Your choice
Now that you've refreshed your memory on all the weekend-filling projects we've featured here, we want to hear which one truly made your life better, or at least got you excited to be tweaking settings again. Vote for your favorite, or share your own favorite hardware-freeing hack in the comments.
For years now, the gaping hole in Google's online suite of applications has been a to-do list manager, but not anymore: today Gmail Labs adds a lightweight Tasks module to your email account. The killer feature? You can add a Gmail message to your task list in one click or keystroke. To get started, enable Tasks in the Gmail Labs section of your Settings area, and a Tasks link will appear below your Contacts link. Click on that to make a Task list appear on the bottom right of your screen (like chat), and there you can create multiple lists and switch between them, indent items, mark them as complete, drag and drop to reorder items, and view or clear completed items. To turn an email into a task, from the More Actions drop-down, choose "Add to Tasks." There are also copious keyboard shortcuts.
The Googlers explain:
1. Manage your email workflow better by converting emails into tasks: "More Actions > Add to Tasks"
2. ENTER creates a new task, TAB and SHIFT-TAB indent and un-indent, CTRL-UP and CTRL-DOWN let you reorder from the keyboard, and SHIFT-ENTER toggles back and forth between the detailed view for a task and the main view
3. After turning Tasks on, turn on Keyboard shortcuts in "Settings > General" and then use "SHIFT-T" to create tasks from your emails - even faster than using the More Actions menu
You can also pop out the Tasks module into its own window, like you can with chat. If you select a particular item, click on the gray arrow pointing to the right to edit the task's details, add a note and/or a due date, or remove the related email message, as shown.
The new Tasks module is huge news for GTD'ers who love Gmail, and while it's an experimental feature that's pretty lightweight, at first blush Tasks is looking very nicely done. Is Labs' Tasks feature looking good enough to lure you away from your current online to-do manager? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Over the past year, we've featured gobs of great desktops submitted by our readers to the Lifehacker Desktop Show and Tell group on Flickr. In the process, we've seen beautiful desktop transformations that have ranged in difficulty from a few simple tweaks to extreme desktop makeovers that transcend operating systems. Let's take a look back at the most popular reader-submitted desktops of 2008 and bask in the glow of their customizing prowess.
NOTE: Click the image for larger pictures of each desktop and the original description, complete with more details on how each desktop was accomplished.
The Two-Faced Mac-like Windows desktop may look very much like a Mac, but looks can be deceiving. What you're actually looking at is an artfully tweaked installation of Windows XP.
This All About the Icons desktop demonstrates that you don't need to run a fancy launcher and eat up system resources to create an attractive, dock-like set of launchable icons.
Who Needs Icons serves as a counterpoint to the All About the Icons desktop above, illustrating that a minimal desktop clear of cluttering desktop icons can be a beautiful thing.
Windows Vista with a Live Thumbnail Slider offers live previews of minimized applications in an attractive sidebar along with an embedded to-do list pinned to another sidebar.
Since this is all about popularity, let's hear more about the desktop you like best in the comments.
Music recommendation engine Last.fm has done some number-crunching and published their Best of 2008 lists, the most-listened-to artists, albums, and tracks of this year, representing music that was released in 2008, along with the total number of scrobbles for each. As Ars Technica points out, Last.fm is a UK-based outfit so the lists reflect that. [via]
Popular start page Netvibes adds several new features today, including new layout options on a per-tab basis that "think outside the grid" and more options for how it displays RSS feeds on-page (in a ticker, carousel, magazine-style or normal view). [via]
Windows only: Free application VirtualScreenMaximizer maximizes any window to every available pixel on your multi-monitor setup. Rather than expanding windows across all monitors, the default Windows behavior maximizes windows only on the current monitor. With VirtualScreenMaximizer, just hit the customizable keyboard shortcut (which you set by right-clicking the system tray icon and selecting Config) to go truly fullscreen. You'd think the app would only work on multi-monitor setups, but it actually performs an interesting function even for single monitors: When you invoke the maximize shortcut, VSM maximizes the app to the full size of the monitor, covering your Windows taskbar and hiding the window titlebar so all you see is the interior of the window. This is an app that performs one simple task, but if it's something you've been looking for, it's a great option. VirtualScreenMaximizer is freeware, Windows only, requires .NET 2.0.
You received this email because you are subscribed to the real_time feed for http://feeds.gawker.com/lifehacker/full. To change your subscription settings, please log into RSSFWD.
No comments:
Post a Comment