Lifehacker, tips and downloads for getting things done

Enigma Desktop Customization Update Now Available

Reader Kaelri—famous for the beautiful and functional Enigma desktop—has packaged and released version 1.1 of the customization files. More »

11:12 AM

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By Gina Trapani

Comment by gokieks: As much as I think having 3 clocks telling the time is redundant and pretentious, the large analog clock looks... 4 Responses | Other threads

iwork

Apple to Take on Google Docs with iWork.com

10:25 AM

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iLife

Sting, Sarah McLachlan Teach You How to Play Instruments in GarageBand '09

The new release of GarageBand '09 includes "Learn to Play"—piano and guitar lessons from artists like Norah Jones, Sarah McLachlan, and Sting, Gizmodo reports from their live-blog of the Macworld keynote.

10:09 AM

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By Gina Trapani

Comment by katscanne: Unless I'm mistaken, Sting isn't known for playing any of those instruments... though I guess he has face recognition, and 2 Responses | Other threads

iPhoto

Does Facial Recognition Change Your Mind About iPhoto?

Our brothers in gadgetry are live-blogging the Macworld 2009 keynote, and report that iPhoto in iLife '09 will have facial recognition that automatically groups photos by who's in them. More »

09:42 AM

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Comment by ShravaniZavala: Google's picasaweb already has facial recognition, and it's awesome. ... 3 Responses | Other threads

Recycling

Get Money for Your Old Tech Gear from HP

Hewlett-Packard launches a new buyback program that will give you money in exchange for your old, working gadgets and gear—any brand of PC, monitor, printer, digital camera, or smartphone that still has some value. More »

09:12 AM

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Delicious

Bulk Edit Tags on Delicious

It's tucked away, but bookmarking site Del.icio.us now offers bulk tag editing (in, of course, beta) for group tagging/un-tagging and sharing/un-sharing. Helpful stuff, especially for pesky tag typos. Thanks Gergo!

08:00 AM

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By Kevin Purdy

Comment by hobbsy: I would love for Delicious to add the following improvement to their Firefox add-on: When you CTRL+D to get the pop-up... more » | Other threads

Featured Firefox Extension

Mr. Uptime (Finally) Updates for Firefox 3

Windows/Mac/Linux (Firefox): Mr. Uptime, friend to anyone who's ever waited for the Digg/Slashdot/Lifehacker Effect to abate before reaching a cool new web site, has recently updated to be Firefox 3 compatible. More »

07:00 AM

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Comment by ikballand: useless!!... 1 Responses | Other threads

Featured Windows Download

CrazyLittleFingers Rewards Your Toddler's Curiosity

Windows only: CrazyLittleFingers is a keyboard locking application. Unlike some of the previous keyboard lockers we've covered, CrazyLittleFingers corresponds the keystroke to a picture and sound related to the key. More »

06:30 AM

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By Jason Fitzpatrick

Comment by sixty4: So does this also keep my two year old off my keyboard, except when she can play this? She 5 Responses | Other threads

Windows

Exhaustive List of Free Microsoft Downloads

Tech evangelist and Microsoft consultant Blake Handler hosts an impressively completist list of free Windows programs offered by Microsoft, dug from the trenches of Del.icio.us tags. It's a handy bookmark for Control+F hunting. [via]

06:08 AM

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By Kevin Purdy

Comment by nickbeee: They might want to add the Sysinternals stuff as it now belongs to M$. Autoruns is my favorite. 2 Responses | Other threads

iTunes Store

iTunes Drops Most Copy Protection, Varies Prices

Update: Gizmodo confirms the announcement. The good news: CNET has sources saying the three largest music labels will allow Apple to offer music downloads free of copy-protection. And the bad news might not be that bad. More »

05:30 AM

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Comment by Adam Bourg: I don't get this amazon craze. Last time I wanted to download a song it kept prompting me to install... 6 Responses | Other threads

Featured Windows Download

Install-It Creates Auto-Starting Installer CDs for Any Applications

Windows only: Free app Install-It puts a small auto-starting application on any removable drive that makes installing applications a double-click affair. More »

05:00 AM

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By Kevin Purdy

Comment by jimforcy: The interface is cool but I wouldn't assume all PC's are going to have autorun enabled anymore. We are starting... 1 Responses | Other threads

Performance

Why Your Self-Handicapping Excuses Don't Work (And How to Fix Them)

The New York Times takes a revealing look at self-handicapping excuses—like "I barely slept the night before the test"—and why we create them, as well as the extremely unlikely chance that anyone else buys them. More »

04:00 AM

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By Kevin Purdy

Comment by Chris Porter: I have a big problem with self handicapping, and I do it for everything, if it's good or bad. Here's 2 Responses | Other threads

Featured Download

Flickr Gallery Plus Tweaks Flickr for Better Galleries

Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): The Flickr Gallery Plus Firefox extension or Greasemonkey script make browsing galleries faster and easier in Flickr.

04:00 PM

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By Adam Pash

Comment by EthansDad: Can someone explain to me why anyone would use Flickr over Shutterfly, when the latter is free w unlimited photos?... 4 Responses | Other threads

Featured Mac Download

Picasa for Mac Beta Released, First Look

Google has officially released their popular photo management application Picasa for Macs, after years of offering Picasa as a free Windows download.

02:45 PM

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By Adam Pash

Comment by qrius: By the way, for those of you wondering why picasa is even necessary - for me, it's mainly one thing. Picasa... 14 Responses | Other threads

Hive Mind

Ask MetaFilter Roundup

02:44 PM

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Featured iPhone Download

Craigsphone Brings a Better Craigslist to Your iPhone

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.

02:00 PM

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By Adam Pash

Comment by Stev D: Love the app, but it has a HORRIBLE icon. 2 Responses | Other threads

Featured Firefox Extension

Tabhunter Adds Faster Tab Switching to Firefox

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.

01:00 PM

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By Adam Pash

Comment by jupiterthunder: I can't fathom having so many tabs open that this would ever become useful, even if I was a vehemently... 8 Responses | Other threads

Clever Uses

Coke Can Clean Your Toilet in a Pinch

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. More »

12:00 PM

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By Gina Trapani

Comment by Marina Martin: Can't speak to the Coke, but I once made a particularly disgusting toilet in the men's dorm room look sparkling 10 Responses | Other threads

Featured Windows Download

Disable Startup Stops Unwanted Apps from Creating Startup Entries

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.

11:00 AM

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By Adam Pash

Comment by Gigadafud: msconfig... 7 Responses | Other threads

Printables

Download and Print the 2009 Compact Calendar

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. More »

10:05 AM

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By Gina Trapani

Comment by Dustin L.: Wow. I've never seen 'R' used for Thursday before. That struck me as being very strange. Other than that, 5 Responses | Other threads

BitTorrent

"Downloading Is Wrong" Trojan Blocks Access to BitTorrent Sites

09:00 AM

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Announcements

Changing of the Guard

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. More »

08:46 AM

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By Gina Trapani

Comment by Adam Pash: Hey all, thanks for the congrats and encouragement. We're looking to make it a very smooth transition. I'll save the... 7 Responses | Other threads

Featured iPhone Download

Soonr Syncs Files from Desktops to iPhones

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. More »

08:15 AM

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By Kevin Purdy

Comment by zakharm: Is there anything out there that will wirelessly update my music library on my touch? 2 Responses | Other threads

TV

AntennaWeb Finds the Best Outdoor Antenna for Your House

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. More »

07:00 AM

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By Kevin Purdy

Comment by wjh31: step one: give us your name, address etc no... 7 Responses | Other threads

Featured Windows Download

Porta'Menu Launches Programs from your USB Drive

Windows only: Porta'Menu is a tiny (175k!) application launcher for your portable drives. It is extremely spartan, but effective. More »

06:30 AM

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By Jason Fitzpatrick

Comment by DeadPlayerWalking: I use a PortableApps fork called Geek.Menu. From the website: It has many enhanced features (a complete list is available 7 Responses | Other threads

Gmail Tip

Open Office Documents from Gmail Without Google Docs

A simple URL edit can open attached Office docs from Gmail in a sleek viewer, rather than the sometimes funky HTML option. More »

06:00 AM

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By Kevin Purdy

Comment by illtron: This sounds like a job for Better Gmail.... 3 Responses | Other threads

Featured Download

Super Ubuntu Rolls Multimedia and Helpful Extras into Ubuntu

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. More »

05:30 AM

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Comment by Yerzriknot: Is it REALLY that hard to type "sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras"?... 7 Responses | Other threads

Featured Windows Download

AeroPeek Puts Windows 7's Desktop Showing into XP/Vista

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. More »

05:00 AM

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By Kevin Purdy

Comment by Bryan: Useless!... 5 Responses | Other threads

iPhone

Check if Your Carrier Will Support an Unlocked iPhone 3G

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.

04:00 AM

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By Kevin Purdy

Comment by AlexJAnder: Here's a question... how can I buy an iPhone at WalMart prices ($197 for 8GB) if I already use AT&T?... 2 Responses | Other threads

Stuff we like

Take Accurate Photos with the White Balance Lens Cap

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. More »

05:00 PM

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By Jason Fitzpatrick

Comment by guyindasky: How about just using a coffee filter that you could easily hold up in front of the lens.... 6 Responses | Other threads

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