Patent experts, including an ex-Apple patent attorney, think the Cupertino company may have trouble shutting down a rival computer company selling a low-cost Mac clone.
Archive for April 15th, 2008
McCain’s Gas-Tax Holiday: Smart Politics, Stupid Policy
Posted in April 15th, 2008
Sen. John McCain’s proposal to suspend the federal gas tax will save you about $28. But it will cost the government $9 billion and probably drive up fuel costs.
Remotely Declutter with Flickr [Flickr Tip]
Posted in April 15th, 2008
The Unclutterer blog has advice for parents whose adult kids moved across the country but left stuff behind: do a virtual clutter-clearing using a photo-sharing service like Flickr.
Photograph all of your child’s items as you place them into boxes. Then, upload all of the images to a Flickr account and send your child the URL. Your child can go through the pictures online and decide the fate of the stuff. I suggest that there only be two options for the stuff: “Send to me” and “Don’t send to me.” Let your child know that you will make the decision to donate, sell, or trash the things in the “don’t send to me” pile.
On Flickr it would be really easy to sort the items, too—your kid can just tag ‘em “send” or “trash.” Now to get Mom hip to the Flickr…
No-NSFW Warns You of Not-Safe-for-Work Links [Featured Firefox Extension]
Posted in April 15th, 2008
Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): Avoid inadvertently stumbling onto a Not-Safe-for-Work (NSFW) web site on-the-job with the No-NSFW Firefox extension. The extension works by checking all outbound links from a web page against a user-submitted database of NSFW links and web sites. If someone has flagged a page as NSFW, you’ll see a NSFW icon in the bottom right of your browser. Safe-for-Work sites display SFW, and sites that have have not been rated by users appear as Unrated. In my tests the extension is still looking for some users to do the legwork, but it’s a smart and simple idea that could help you avoid drawing the wrong kind of attention at work. Thanks Pratham!
Buy Yourself Six Months to Get Taxes Done [Tax Time]
Posted in April 15th, 2008
Happy tax day, Americans! (Ugh.) If you haven’t prepared your income tax return, all is not lost—you can file this form to get a six month extension, and take care of it when more accountants are less booked. See also what happened when we pit a human accountant versus TurboTax on our very own return.
Make Skype Calls from Your PSP [How To]
Posted in April 15th, 2008
If you liked the idea of making VoIP calls on your iPod touch or iPhone, but all you’ve got in your go-bag is a Sony PSP, DIY web site Instructables steps through how to run the popular VoIP application Skype on your PSP. This PSP hack feature isn’t new by any means, but the Instructable is detailed and easy to follow along with. We don’t have a PSP to test this at Lifehacker HQ, so if you’ve setup Skype calling on your PSP, share your experience in the comments.
Filter Job Listing by Salary at Indeed [Job Search]
Posted in April 15th, 2008
Previously mentioned job search engine Indeed adds new search criteria for all listings: salary. Enter the position you’re interested in with a yearly salary requirement—like web developer $70,000—and Indeed returns listings that match. Most job listings don’t mention salary, so Indeed estimates the pay for each by using similar postings that do. Not a perfect system, but still a nice way to avoid wasting time on jobs that are completely out of your payscale. See also how you can compare salaries for a position in a given zip code with Indeed.
Gibraltar to cull some of its monkeys (Reuters)
Posted in April 15th, 2008
Reuters - A pack of at least 25 of Gibraltar’s
famous monkeys are being culled because they are a nuisance and
a threat to health in some of the Rock’s tourist areas.
View Invisible Windows with Unhider [Featured Windows Download]
Posted in April 15th, 2008
Windows only: Freeware application Unhider re-displays invisible applications in the wake of a system error—like a Windows Explorer crash—after which some of your application windows remain hidden. If you’ve been using Windows for any amount of time, you’ve probably experienced a situation similar to this. Rather than begrudgingly quitting the application you’re unable to access and losing the work you’ve done, fire up Unhider and it’ll make your window visible again. It’s not an app you’re likely to use everyday, but you’ll be glad you have it when the time comes. Unhider is freeware, Windows only.