Thursday, October 29, 2009

From the Tips Box: Windows 7 Screencasting, Quicksilver, and Recipes [From The Tips Box]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/mC3B4nX0lWk/

Readers offer their best tips for screencasting in Windows 7, using Quicksilver to launch applications in VMware, and organizing your personal recipes using a blog.

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About the Tips Box: Every day we receive boatloads of great reader tips in our inbox, but for various reasons—maybe they're a bit too niche, maybe we couldn't find a good way to present it, or maybe we just couldn't fit it in—the tip didn't make the front page. From the Tips Box is where we round up some of our favorites for your buffet-style consumption. Got a tip of your own to share? Add it in the comments or email it to tips at lifehacker.com.

Built-In Screencasting in Windows 7

Mark shows us a nice built-in feature of Windows 7:

I found if you just type "PSR" in the run box, the problem solution recorder pops up. It looks similar to the sound recorder, and when you press record, it captures key actions and saves them as an MHT in a zip file (I assume MHT is Media HyperText Markup Language, because it is all in one file).


Launching Windows Applications in VMware with Quicksilver

Photo by Ben Becker .

Joe shares a convenient tip on how to further Quicksilver's usefulness:

If you add

~/Documents/Virtual Machines/[name of the vm].vmwarevm/Applications

to the Quicksilver catalog you can index! all of the apps in your VMWare virtual machine and use Quicksilver from within the PC Virtual Machine or even launch PC apps from your Mac desktop even when the VM is not powered on (it will start VMware automatically)... Its faster than using the start menu!


Quick Log Off and Hibernate

David tells us how he closes down his computer quickly (without shutting down completely):

I came up with a very simple solution to a problem I've had, and I thought it might be something others would like to do as well. I've been looking for a way to easily log off of my account _and_ hibernate my Vista system in one step (I have work acct and a home acct, and I'd like to be able to hibernate at the end of the work day, but not still be logged on to my work acct...) I wrote (of all things) a two line batch file:

shutdown /l
shutdown /h

I named it LogoffHib.bat and saved it to a convenient place, then made a shortcut to it on my desktop, complete with Ctrl+Alt+End shortcut key, and Boom! I've searched for something like this for ages and never found anything, but I thought someone else in a similar situation might like it too.


Use a Blog to Keep Up with Recipes

Photo by Jennifer Dickert .

Sara-Elizabeth shares her favorite tool for recipe logging:

I know you've had lots of people suggesting ways to keep up with recipes, but I'd like to add my two cents. Borrowing on the idea of saving the recipes in Delicious, I then created a Blogspot account and pos! ted the individual recipes as entries (with photos uploaded to my personal web space and source noted). I can quickly find recipes based on certain criteria and I'm even able to link within recipes to other
recipes needed for the whole project.


Use Wax or Crayons to Keep Wood From Splitting

Photo by Chris Metcalf.

Stephen shares another way to keep wood from splitting:

Surprised that no one has mentioned wax, even a crayon, get it onto the nail and the nail drives about five times easier and much less chance of splitting, to boot.

And absolutely put wax onto a long screw that you're running into hard wood — you'll be amazed at the difference. Soap works also, wax is better IMO.





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How Motorola Stopped Sucking [Motorola]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/fv35tVv-ekM/how-motorola-stopped-sucking

So, uh, how did this company make this phone? A happy accident, it turns out.

Right after taking the cursed reins of Motorola, then-incoming CEO Sanjay Jha had a short town hall meeting and was accosted by a Moto engineer working on Android, Rick Osterloh, as he came off the stage. "By the end of that week, Mr. Osterloh was sitting on the corporate jet, flying with Mr. Jha back to California" to talk up Android, according to the NY Times' account.

Jha lopped off Moto's entire Symbian division in weeks, and when Windows Mobile hit delays, punted it entirely. Most impressively, I think, when it came time to pick out the brains of their new phones, Jha rejected a chip that his division had made when he was at Qualcomm, prior to Motorola, in favor of the TI OMAP chip that's in the Droid.

Funny thing about the Droid, while its aesthetic is dominated by a strict functionalism, it was actually even harder-edged before—Verizon asked Motorola to make it rounder and add the softer touch back so it didn't appeal solely to dudes. (Um, good job with that?) I'm just happy for Motorola that they weren't crushed into oblivion by the weight of their own ineptitude and might actually mount a real comeback. There's more to the story over at the Times: [NYT]




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HTC Hero Among First To Get Android 2.0 Update [Android 2.0]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/cXNAD0dxjRc/htc-hero-among-first-to-get-android-20-update

According to HTC's Twitter feed, the no-longer-tragically-flawed HTC Hero is getting a sprucing up with an update to Android 2.0. Will the OS actually shine through this time, or is HTC's Sense UI gonna continue running the show? [Twitter]




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ROPID the adorable humanoid can jump 3-inches into the air, sweep you off your feet

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/28/ropid-the-adorable-humanoid-can-jump-3-inches-into-the-air-swee/

It's been a while since we've seen a humanoid robot this size do anything very new or interesting -- mostly they seem busy with their slow-mo dance moves -- but the new ROPID bot by Tomotaka Takahashi, the man behind Panasonic's Evolta bots, not only has a few new tricks up its plastic sleeves, but has personality to spare. The bot can rotate its upper torso, which seems to help immensely in keeping it balanced while jumping, running and skipping around. It's still the tried-and-true "bent knees" method of balance, but ROPID is "rapid" enough to make it look almost lifelike. The movements are expressive enough, but with some slightly articulated hands and a moving mouth, ROPID ups the adorable-ness factor over some of its nuts and bolts counterparts. ROPID can also respond to a few voice commands and speaks as well. Takahashi designed and built the bot himself, which makes us wonder what we've been doing with our lives that's so-very-important for the past couple of decades. Video of ROPID in action is after the break.

[Via Plastic Pals]

Continue reading ROPID the adorable humanoid can jump 3-inches into the air, sweep you off your feet

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ROPID the adorable humanoid can jump 3-inches into the air, sweep you off your feet originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Apple's Fourth Manhattan Store Almost Ready [Apple]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/PxVRkgdbheA/apples-fourth-manhattan-store-almost-ready

After a year of construction, the store on Broadway and 67th looks just about ready. The design remains under wraps (despite obsessive RC helicopter action), but is expected to borrow elements from stores in Fifth Ave and Sydney, Australia [CNET]




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