Ken Sharp has written an excellent how-to guide for building a DVR from an old PC and mostly all free programs. This is not for the faint of hearts. You need to be patient and tie all the hardware and software together to pull this off. Cheper than a commercial DVR, but a fun project to take on.
Free TiVo: Build a Better DVR out of an Old PC [makezine]
A list of pros for dating a Nerd or Geek. For all the heartbroken or mistreated women out there, give this a read. You might just find a diamond in the rough.
Why Geeks & Nerds Are Worth It [craiglist]
Stu Nicholls, has created an excellent example of an elegant photo album using nothing but some CSS, one page html with un-ordered pictures and titles. See the demo here. Its an excellent lesson. Stu's "The CSS playground" also contains quite a few other demos.
How to Create a Photographic Gallery using CSS [webreference]
So there's many of these in the market, but this one caught my eye for its simplistic and compact design. Works on solar power (no need of intense sun) simple daylight would do. But no sun = no rainbows. For US$28.00 you too can have a rainbow in your abode.
Rainbow Maker [Chiasso.com]
Yet another tool to sort your mail. Brushed metal stainless steel mail organizer with 'Good' & 'Bad' letterings. Elegant desgin I must say. No idea how much mail it will hold, but give it a try if you haven't already tried many others and failed, like me.
Good/Bad - mail organizer set [illico design]
Record your voice through a cup onto another one. Play it back and step into Edison's shoes. A real retro gadget for US$65.00 for that person who has everything.
Gakken Cup Phonograph Kit in Edison-style [Audiocubes]
OK this applies to all those MacGyver's or MacGyver wannabies out there. Check out this little tutorial on how to make fire with the bottom of an alumnium drink can, choclate bar, and tinder. Also at the bottom of the page not the link to making an alchohol backpacking stove from a Pepsi can.
Fire with a can of Coke & choclate bar [Tracker Trail]
Now you can feel less guilty letting down that annoying and/or clingy person from last nights party. Instead of 867-5309 use an e-mail addy in the format anyname@papernapkin.com. Any email there will be responded with "actually, I didn't want to talk to you again after all". Ouch! Lets hope you don't run into that person again. Just don't pass this to me when I stop to say Hi.
Paper Napkin [lifehacker]
Juicy Studio has a readability index for your website. Type in the URL and it gives you a scale. It uses Gunning-Fog, Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kincaid grade level indices. Check it out!
Readability Test [lifehacker]
Firefox extension Aardvark lets you customize any web page layout. Select a section, erase it, isolate it, colorize it, see the source code of a particular section. Makes printing a web page without those annoying graphics or ads a breeze. Try out their demo before installing on your firefox.
Aardvark [lifehacker]
GreenZap online payment service is set to launch this summer. GreenZap has some big plans for their debut. They state that they are here to take on Paypal, and lead the way for electronic payments. They will be accepted by eBay, Yahoo! Auctions, and many other online entities. Signing up for GreenZap is free, and if you sign up now, when you log in to your account on their June 15, 2005 launch date - you will find $25 deposited for your use. Eat your heart out Paypal!
GreenZap
Linux Journal writes a good rundown on tweakable about:config settings to finetune firefox on your PC / Mac. Do this at your own risk. I take no responsibilities.
Ten Mysteries of about:config [Linux Journal]
You need a quick current month calendar, the meeting starts in 5 minutes. What do you do? Insert the formula in Excel and you are good to go.
Make a calendar in Excel [Slacker Manager]
Photographer Todd Ogasawara writes on how to create panoramic photos by merging them with photo-stitching software like PhotoStich or ImageAssembler.
Get the Big Picture with Little Camera Phone [O'Reilly]
MozBackup software backs up your Firefox web browser and Thunderbird email client settings - bookmarks, saved passwords, email filters and contacts - for easy restoration. Yet another reason to switch to Firefox & Thunderbird.
MozBackup
The Rasterbator creates huge rasterized (dotted) images from any picture on several sheets of regular-sized paper for assembly into a giant poster.
Choose your image, crop and resize if necessary, and the Rasterbator will create a multi-page PDF file. Try the Rasterbator online or download a copy of the Windows software.
The Rasterbator [lifehacker]
You can have the recepient or yourself, of this gift make a functional lamp out of the packaging material itself. "Lamp components come neatly packed into a postal tube. Surprise a friend with a unique gift: first you write the address on the tube, then choose the nicest stamps, and hop! On reception, no two lamps are the same! Different stamps, addresses, the lamp becomes a unique object." So I wonder what happens if the tube gets bent / cracked in the mail? Does the esteemed post master general buy you a new lamp?
Post-it-Lamp
Dear reader, what do you think? would you shell out the dough, risk getting lipgloss over your phone or music player? risk getting lipgloss in your ear canal? OK, so the pink factor might appeal to some of you, setting that aside, is this practical? I wonder who makes the lipgloss in that case.
Koss earphones with LipGloss
So if you haven't heard, there's a new nifty little trick going around called 'Bookmarklet'. There's even a site out there that churns out the little javascript for you. What is it? Well, its simply creating a bookmark for quick and easy searching for terms, addresses, or anything that a search engine allows you to do, with one click. Here's my sample of a bookmarklet that lets you pull up the map of an address from google maps! (check out their newly release satellite pictures too). Just drag the above link to your toolbar and you are all set.
Bookmarklets Tool
So if you are a freeware junkie and absoulutely hate to have to shell out decent money for worthwhile software, yes you!, you know who you are, then CleanSoftware will make your life a little easier. "CleanSoftware.org is a resource to help Windows users find the best free daily-use software, free from nasties: adware, spyware, harmful/intrusive components, and threats to privacy. You might want to bookmark our What's New page, updated during changes." Oh Shame on you for mooching and not supporting the livelihood of our developer community!
CleanSoftware.org
SeatGuru gives you the down and dirty on seat arrangements by Airline and flight make & model. Tells you the best, worst, and stinkiest ones. They have it down to a science. Choose the airline you are flying in, then choose the flight make and model. Voila! If you are a picky traveler like your's truly, this will be of great help, if only the prime seats aren't reserved for gold members. SeatGuru, next up, tell me which seat will let me sit next to that model-esque woman on my next trip!
SeatGuru.com
A quick primer on tips and care points for your dishwasher. Dishwasher Care has them nice spelled out.
Dishwasher Care
