Thursday, February 05, 2009

PhotoPerfect Tweaks Your Pictures with Presets [Downloads]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/OeYL-NuPMMU/photoperfect-tweaks-your-pictures-with-presets

Windows only: PhotoPerfect Express is a free, powerful image optimization tool that covers a wide range of photo enhancement scenarios, and can provide casual photographers with great results.

While nothing can compare to getting your hands dirty with a detailed photo editing application like Photoshop, the majority of casual digi-cam shooters won't need or want to invest that kind of time into snazzing up their snap shots. PhotoPerfect Express comes bundled with five pre-set photo enhancement methods—each of which can be further fine-tuned if you desire. There's batch processing options, especially handy if you realize after tweaking the first few photos in a series that you're seeing the same issues throughout the set. If you're having trouble deciding which optimization is yielding the most pleasing result, press the A key while tweaking to display the original next to all five optimization algorithms for easy comparison—a nice fix for those with photo-fixing self-doubt. PhotoPerfect Express is freeware, Windows only.



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Posted by Augustine at 9:57 AM

GCalTasks Gadget Tracks Time in Google Calendar [Downloads]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/jk76eZIEDJU/gcaltasks-gadget-tracks-time-in-google-calendar

Windows 7/Vista only: Sidebar gadget gCalTasks tracks your time with a couldn't-be-easier start/stop timer that saves your current task directly to Google Calendar.

Installing the gadget is easy—just double-click on the downloaded file to add it to your sidebar, and use the wrench icon to add in your Google account details (works with Apps too). Once you've authenticated you can choose which calendar you want to send your time tracking data too. (It's probably best to create a new one to keep from cluttering your regular schedule.) At this point you can start tracking your time by simply typing what you are working on and clicking Start; when you're done, hit Stop to save your data up to Google. At the end of the day you can check the Agenda view in Google Calendar to see a nice list of everything you worked on throughout the day.

The gadget has a few issues—most noticeably it's too wide to fit in the sidebar so you really have to use it on the desktop, but the bigger problem is the lack of automatic sync, requiring you to remember to use the Stop button to save. The benefits of being able to easily track what you are working on and save to the accessible-everywhere Google Calendar outweigh the problems—and make this worth a look for anybody looking to keep better tabs on their time.

gCalTasks is a free download for Windows 7 or Vista users. If you are looking for a hands-off, completely automated solution, take a look at previously mentioned Productivity Meter or Slife instead. Do you have a preferred solution for tracking your time? Share it i! n the co mments.



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Posted by Augustine at 9:57 AM

Free Disk Analyzer Finds the Largest Space-Wasting Files [Downloads]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/mM2ZmhpoGCU/free-disk-analyzer-finds-the-largest-space+wasting-files

Windows only: File space usage application Free Disk Analyzer quickly and easily finds the largest files that are wasting space on your drive.

Once installed, you can locate the largest files by selecting a drive on the left-hand side, and then choosing the Largest Files tab on the bottom, which sorts by file size regardless of the directory they are located so you can quickly identify files for deletion. The Largest Folders tab shows you a view that resembles the previously mentioned Windirstat (another app that's a whiz at visualizing your hard drive usage), with the option to drill down into folders. Hidden behind the options panel you will find some even better settings—the ability to filter by file type, or only analyze files larger than a specified size, making this a great utility for cleaning up your drive.

Free Disk Analyzer is a free download for Windows users only. For a similar utility with more eye-candy, take a look at previously mentioned DriveSpacio.



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Posted by Augustine at 9:56 AM

Windows 7 Gets Customized [Featured Desktop]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/w9HdmKtT5XA/windows-7-gets-customized

We've featured a desktop that makes XP look like Windows 7, but today we get a look at our first Windows 7 desktop customized to the hilt courtesy of reader SJRNWT.

The setup behind this tweaked Windows 7 desktop features a lot of familiar faces, including Rocketdock, Rainmeter, and some of the latest Enigma customizations. Ultimately the results of this customization don't actually look all that different from an XP or Vista transformation, but that's probably a good thing—it means that customization lovers won't need to expect many problems moving their favorite tweaks over to Windows 7.



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Posted by Augustine at 9:56 AM

Foxmarks Bookmark Syncing Available for Internet Explorer, Safari [Downloads]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/KTMSx5vosGw/foxmarks-bookmark-syncing-available-for-internet-explorer-safari

Windows/Mac: Foxmarks, our favorite way to keep Firefox bookmarks synced across computers, is now offered for Internet Explorer and Safari, giving anyone with multiple computers or browsers a pain-free way to keep it all together.

Foxmarks offers basically the same type of background bookmark-syncing awesomeness for IE and Safari as it does for Firefox, with a few key exceptions:


If you're still down to try out Foxmarks in its newest forms, head to the Foxmarks downloads page and grab your appropriate installer. I lack a Mac system, so I'll be stepping through an Internet Explorer setup below.

Double-click the installer, accept all the standard "Do you want ..." and "Allow ..." prompts, and you'll be asked to either create a Foxmarks account or sign in with the one you've got. After verification, you'll end up at this simple screen, familiar to Foxmarks veterans:

The default action, if you simply hit "Synchronize," is for Foxmarks to merge any favorites you've got on your system with anything backed up in your Foxmarks cloud. That's fine for newcomers, but I generally like to get rid of all of the pre-loaded MSN, Windows Live, and similar bookmarks, so let's hit "Change sync settings" and switch it up:


After that, Foxmarks gets going. Instead of installing an icon in Internet Explorer's bottom status bar, Foxmarks plants itself in your system tray. You'll see it pop up a notification when it's done grabbing or placing bookmarks to/from the servers. Right-clicking this icon gives you access to your Foxmarks settings, can open up your web-based bookmarks browser, and close down the Foxmarks process. It seems to run whether or not you've got IE up and running, which is somewhat memory insensitive, but also convenient for those who open and close their browser regularly.

The Foxmarks options are similar to what Firefox users have been used to: a quick-sync button, choices on how and when Foxmarks synchronizes, and, best of all, the same kind of computer-by-computer selective bookmark syncing, or "profiles."


And here's the advanced options, where you can change your encryption demands, force a server- or computer-wiping sync, and turn off that Foxmarks tray icon. Turning off the icon still lets you at the Foxmarks options from IE's "Tools" menu:


Here's a video tour of Foxmarks features, composed by Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal/All Things Digital. It's somewhat introductory-level, but covers a lot of ground (and here's his full, positive review of Foxmarks' functionality.

Safari users, be sure to tell us how Foxmarks is working for you. Does tri-browser Foxmarks open up a new realm of synchronized browsing? Waiting for just one more platform (noting that mobile access is, of course, already covered)? Give us your reviews in the comments.



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Posted by Augustine at 9:54 AM

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