Gmail Right Click Menu Speeds Up Navigation [Featured Greasemonkey User Script]
Friday, June 06, 2008
Wikia Search Offers User-Edited Results [Search Engines]
Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/305332860/wikia-search-offers-user+edited-results
For example, in a search for "Lifehacker," the Lifehacker Wikipedia page came up first and the actual web site second, so ranking Lifehacker.com high moved it up to the first position. Then clicking annotate (which loaded the Lifehacker.com front page in a separate frame), and selecting "Tech tricks, tips and downloads for getting things done" added that text to the result itself. The obvious problem here is the very real possibility of spammers and evil SEO-types running amok. Only time will tell if the Wikipedia approach will actually make for better or worse search results.
Wikia Search [via PC World]
Five Best Antivirus Applications [Hive Five]
Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/305424126/five-best-antivirus-applications
The internet is a glorious and exciting world, but unless you're properly protected with a good antivirus application, it can also be a dangerous one. We've come a long way since the days of Norton, with handfuls of excellent freeware software that can keep your computer safe from malware just as well as their bloated, more expensive counterparts. On Tuesday we asked you to share your favorite antivirus application, and today we're rounding up the five most popular answers. Hit the jump for an overview of the five best antivirus applications and to cast your ballot for the best antivirus app of the group.
AVG Anti-Virus (Freeware and Shareware)
The lightweight AVG Free provides protection against the various nasties floating around the internet. Like many of the options in the Hive Five, AVG provides freeware (with limitations) and commercial versions of their software, but most users find AVG Free is all they need—though many users prefer versions prior to the most recent 8.0 release. NOD32 (Shareware)
NOD32 is best known for its speed and small system footprint, but users also swear by NOD32 as a comprehensive and bulletproof solution. At $40/year for a home license, it's not free, but NOD32 die-hards claim the pricetag is well worth it. Avast Antivirus (Freeware and Shareware)
Available in both freeware (Home) and shareware (Professional) flavors, Avast Antivirus is the happy home of many an AVG-switcher. Avast is slightly heavier on system resources, but users argue its excellent protection more than makes up for the increased footprint. The freeware version will cost you an email address to get a free registration code from their website. Avira AntiVir (Freeware and Shareware)
According to many of its users, Avira is the go-to freeware app for detecting viruses and other malware that other antivirus apps miss. Like several of its peers, Avira is available in both freeware (Personal) and shareware (Premium) versions, and most people find the freeware alternative plenty to suit their needs. One downside to Avira on install is pop-up ads enabled by default (adware, anyone?), but you can disable the ads with a couple of clicks. Kaspersky Anti-Virus (Shareware)
Fans of shareware antivirus app Kaspersky point out its consistently strong ratings in malware protection as well worth the $60 license. Kaspersky also boasts an extremely quick response time to new viruses, earning it a special place in the hearts and system trays of its users. Now that you've seen the best, it's time to vote:
Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.
This week's honorable mention goes out to ClamWin, the only open-source option featured in the bunch.
If you've got more to share, whether your antivirus-app of choice made the list or not, let's hear more about your favorite in the comments. If you give a new antivirus app after reading through some of your other options, you may want to check out the harmless EICAR virus test to see what your new antivirus tool looks like when it catches a new virus.
Adam Pash is a senior editor for Lifehacker who loves a good antivirus app. His special feature Hive Five appears every Thursday on Lifehacker. Subscribe to the Hive Five RSS feed to get new installments in your newsreader.
Find Locally-Grown Vegetables Online [Food]
Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/305525793/find-locally+grown-vegetables-online
These web sites differ from the earlier generation of produce-delivery ones for two reasons: they all deliver products from local farms to nearby customers (whereas in the past it was rare to find an online organic produce delivery service that didn't rely solely on a wholesaler). Second, these new sites all allow users to easily customize their standing-order box weekly.
That means you can select the particular size box for your household, and choose to say, only get grapefruits, strawberries, and avocados grown within 500 miles of your home. I've gotten a weekly box of local veggies for almost a year now, and while it forces you to learn what to do with an armful of fresh shard faster than you ever planned, it's also made me cook and eat at home more, and reduced grocery store trips a whole lot. Are you a local veggie delivery type? Got any tips and tricks for dealing with the box? Let us know in the comments.
Gmail Gets 13 Experimental New Features Tonight [Exclusive Sneak Preview]
Starting at 6PM Pacific Time tonight, Google will start rolling out Gmail Labs, an experimental area of new Gmail features that will be familiar and very welcome to users of the Better Gmail Firefox extension. Once your Gmail account is Labs-enabled, you'll get a Labs tab in the Settings area of your account where you can enable 13 new experimental Gmail features, including signature tweaks, mouse gestures, keyboard shortcuts, and even a game. After the jump, get an exclusive sneak preview at the new Gmail Labs experimental features, with screenshots.
First, let's get right to the good stuff. Take a gander at the 13 new experimental features Gmail Labs adds:
The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.
The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.
The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.
Better Gmail and Better Gmail 2 users will be familiar (and hopefully very happy) with Fixed Font, Signature Tweaks, Custom Keyboard Shortcuts, and Hide Unread Counts. Google says it will start its user rollout in about an hour or so, which will continue over a span of the next few days or weeks. I've just gotten my account enabled here at the Google campus, so as I play with each feature, I'll add more screenshots to this post.
Update: Here are some more details and screenshots of the Gmail Labs features in action.
Superstars
Now you can flag, star, and otherwise mark messages using up to 12 different colored and shaped icons. When you enable Superstars, you get a new section in the General settings area, which looks like this.
Click on the star button on a message repeatedly to cycle through all the Superstar choices. Looks like Superstars is more a visual indicator than anything; you can't search by all the messages superstarred the check, for example.
Quick Links
Basically a souped-up version of the Gmail Saved Searches Greasemonkey user script, Quick Links adds a module to the Gmail sidebar where you can store links to searches, views, and even individual messages. Go to the view you want—like all messages that have PDF file attachments using the has:attachment PDF Gmail search—then click "Add Quick Link" to save what's essentially a Gmail view or message bookmark there. Email Addict
The Email Addict feature adds a "Take a Break" link to the top of your Gmail inbox, that looks like this:
When you click it, you get 14 minutes off from dealing with email:
Snakey
Ok people, Snakey is a straight-up time-waster, meant to give you something to do while you're procrastinating responding to email. The Snakey developer told me that he originally put it together for users to play while they waited for their inbox to load, but then thought it would be better to not make users wait at all—and give them the choice to play. As you can see from the screenshot, I suck (my high score is only 30 after 3 games!) and I hear that it's not easy to break 150 (but I'm sure you will try.)The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.
Custom Keyboard Shortcuts
Just as you'd expect from the name, the custom keyboard shortcuts feature lets you map Gmail actions to the keys of your choice. While this isn't quite as cool as Gmail Macros, it's nice for folks who want to archive their messages via keyboard, but have something against the Y key (for example.) Click on the thumbnail on the right to pop up the full list of available key mappings and actions. Random Signature
Add a random quote to your email pulled from an RSS feed by enabling Random Signature. By default, Random Signature uses a feed from BrainyQuote.com, but you can set it to the feed of your choice in the signature settings.
The Gmail team announced the new Gmail Labs at a press event at the Googleplex today which I attended with several other tech bloggers and reporters. After the announcement, Keith Coleman (the Gmail product manager who we interviewed a few months back), took us on a tour of the Gmail "pod" or workspace. The best part? On a whiteboard where developers got to brainstorm feature ideas, they had taped a printout of Lifehacker readers' Gmail features wishlist. Not kidding. When I get home tonight, I will post photographic evidence.
You can read more about the press event with the Gmail team at the Googleplex today over at Techcrunch.
Update: Google's put up the Gmail Labs Help page, which links to the Gmail Labs Google Group.
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