in brief
Google's 2008 Year-End Zeitgeist Rounds Up Your Searches [Google]
Google shares the top searches for 2008 in their annual Google Zeitgeist, offering such gems as: Fastest Rising Global search: Sarah Palin; Most Popular "What is..." search: What is love?; Social Netw ....... read more
Wed,
10 Dec 2008
Google Chrome to Leave Beta Soon [Google Chrome]
According to a TechCrunch interview with Google's vice president Marissa Mayer, Chrome will leave beta soon—though, frankly, the all-important "when" is conspicuously absent from the post. But I ....... read more
Wed,
10 Dec 2008
Latest Firefox, Chrome Builds in Dead Heat for JavaScript Speed [Browsers]
CNET put the just-released Firefox 3.1 beta 2 and its speedy TraceMonkey JavaScript engine up against the most recent developer build of Google Chrome. The results from a SunSpider test were Firefox e ....... read more
Wed,
10 Dec 2008
Spam Already on the Rebound [Spam]
After enjoying a roughly 66% decline in worldwide spam following the early November shut-down of a Northern California hosting company, net security firms are already seeing a 60 percent gain toward t ....... read more
Wed,
10 Dec 2008
Multitouch Gestures Added to the Latest Firefox 3.1 Beta [Beta Beat]
One under-the-radar feature that came along for the ride with the recently released Firefox 3.1 Beta was multi-touch support for the latest generation of MacBooks. If you've got a new MacBook, the lat ....... read more
Wed,
10 Dec 2008
Evernote Teams Up with Eye-Fi for Wireless Photo Uploads [Evernote]
Previously highlighted Eye-Fi—the SD card that wirelessly uploads images to your computer or the internet—has teamed up with popular note-taking application Evernote, allowing users to upl ....... read more
Wed,
10 Dec 2008
Gizmodo Explains Hard Drives Inside-Out [Hard Drives]
Not quite sure how your hard drive actually pulls data from a super-spinning disk? Confused about SATA, ATA, eSATA and the like? Sister site Gizmodo has a great Giz Explains post delving into the nuts ....... read more
Thu,
11 Dec 2008
Social Media Netiquette [Social Networking]
Social media maven (and Lifehacker alumnus) Tamar Weinberg has written up "The Ultimate Social Media Etiquette Handbook" over at her Techipedia blog, and, based on the breadth of advice and coverage o ....... read more
Thu,
11 Dec 2008
Redesigned Skin Graduates from Better Gmail 2 Extension [Better Gmail]
Hey, Gmail Redesigned fans! Your favorite skin is no longer included in the latest version of the Better Gmail 2 Firefox extension—to get it, download and install the official Google Redesigned ....... read more
Wed,
10 Dec 2008
Windows 7 Beats Vista in Benchmark Test [Windows 7]
ZDNet's Hardware 2.0 blogger stacks an early beta build of Windows 7 against 32-bit Vista (and an SP1 upgrade) on the same hardware. In three out of four tests, even a non-optimized Windows 7 trumps V ....... read more
Fri,
12 Dec 2008
Create Paper Cases for Photo CDs from Picasa Albums [Paper]
Paper Case, the previously mentioned bookmarklet that creates fold-able, track-listed cases for CDs and DVDs, can now create stylish contact-sheet-style cases for photo CDs from Picasa Web Albums. Che ....... read more
Fri,
12 Dec 2008
Skype 4 Beta 3 Adds Outlook Support, Bandwidth Manager [Skype]
Skype has released a third beta of Skype 4 for Windows, which keeps the focus on large-screen video chat and adds a few new (and returning) tools. Namely, support for Outlook contact importing, abuse ....... read more
Fri,
12 Dec 2008
TwitterGadget Adds Twitter to Gmail [Gmail]
The Gmail Twitter Gadget lets you tweet your heart out from directly inside Gmail, complete with saucy emoticons. Thanks Wyn!
....... read more
Thu,
11 Dec 2008
Bopaboo Claims to Let You "Legally" Sell MP3s [MP3s]
New MP3 market site Bopaboo says it has a legal means of letting owners of non-restricted MP3s sell them, for prices starting at 25 cents a track, to other users. The site's founder says users are pro ....... read more
Thu,
11 Dec 2008
Apple Releases Firmware Updates for Notebooks [Apple]
Apple releases a slew of firmware updates for MacBooks and MacBook Pro notebooks purchased after the October '08 launch, which include fixes and stability improvements. You can get 'em through Softwa ....... read more
Wed,
10 Dec 2008
Skype for Windows Mobile 2.5 Beta Includes Quality and Stability Improvements [Skype]
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 ....... read more
Tue,
09 Dec 2008
Hive Five Winner for Best Media Center Application: XBMC [Hive Five Followup]
Popular cross-platform media center XBMC emerged victorious from this weekend's hard-fought Hive Five Best Media Center Applications with a commanding 43% of the vote. XBMC spinoff Boxee secured the s ....... read more
Tue,
09 Dec 2008
Lifehacker on CNBC Tonight! [Announcements]
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 ....... read more
Tue,
09 Dec 2008
Blue Badge Updated, Enables Aero Peek [Windows 7 Preview]
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 availa ....... read more
Tue,
09 Dec 2008
Get moving on your health spending account [Money]
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 yea ....... read more
Tue,
09 Dec 2008