Monday, October 05, 2009

Use TinEye to Find Source Images for Desktop Wallpaper [Image Search]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/_lXICTfLKhc/use-tineye-to-find-source-images-for-desktop-wallpaper

It turns out that TinEye, the image search engine, is good for more than simply finding carbon-copy matches of pictures. You can also use it to go from a screenshot of a desktop to the source image.

While reviewing the TinEye Firefox extension last week, we noted that results were rather precise in nature and that variations on an image were often excluded. While that is true to an extent, reader TheLostVikings pointed out a way he uses the database and that it wasn't quite as narrow in scope as we initially believed:

Note on the "surgically precise" comment. I routinely use TinEye to find the actual background image when people post pictures [of] their desktops (complete with open windows, taskbars, docks, etc) and tineye will usually be able to locate the original picture.

To test this approach out we fired up Firefox with the TinEye extension and headed over to the Lifehacker Desktop Show and Tell Pool. Chalk it up to luck or the popularity of the images people were using for their desktop background, but we were able to find 8 out of 10 of the source background images using TinEye.

The next time you see a capture of someone's desktop and you're dying to know where they got the cool background, give TinEye a shot at finding it for you. Thanks TheLostVikings!



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Posted by Augustine at 9:45 PM

NirLauncher is the Ultimate Flash Drive Toolkit [Downloads]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/fSs_pwSfsr4/nirlauncher-is-the-ultimate-flash-drive-toolkit

Windows only: Portable application NirLauncher bundles 100+ of the best NirSoft utilities into a single launcher window, and even allows you to add your own utilities to make a killer flash drive toolkit.

Once you've downloaded the zip file, you can extract the contents into a new folder on your desktop or flash drive, and then launch the NirLauncher.exe application from that folder, which will give you quick access to the 100+ NirSoft utilities included in the package.

It's important to note that because of the system-tweaking, hacking nature of the NirSoft utilities, they sometimes come through as a false positive on your anti-malware utility—but that doesn't mean that they are infected with a virus. Depending on the type of system protection that you have installed, you might have to remove the files from the quarantine folder in order to use all of the utilities.

Tweaking the Launcher

You can edit the included NirSoft.nlp file in a text editor to add or remove the utilities that you prefer—or you can even create a new .NLP file with your own customized settings. Just make sure to use relative paths to the executable files to make sure that they will be portable when you put it onto your flash drive.

The NirSoft blog even provides a launcher file for the suite of awesome, portable, system-tweaking tools from SysInternals—simply download the launcher file and extract all of the SysInternals applications into a folder, and then use the Launcher -> Add Software Package menu to add the entire grou! p into t he application. Once you've got them there, you can switch between the NirSoft and SysInternals groups with the F3 key, or through the Launcher menu.

NirLauncher is a free download for Windows only. What applications would you include in your own portable flash drive toolkit? Tell us in the comments. Thanks, Scott!

NirLauncher [NirSoft]


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Posted by Augustine at 9:44 PM

SpotOn Motion-Sensing LED Light Brightens Your Dark Corners [Stuff We Like]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/eftjUIpI344/spoton-motion+sensing-led-light-brightens-your-dark-corners

Whether you've got a dark closet with no electricity running to it or a freezer without a light, the Philips SpotOn LED motion-sensing portable light illuminates the dark corners of your place.

In fact, a freezer lacking a light is exactly how Joseph Stirt over at Cool Tools put the SpotOn to use:

[The missing light] wasn't enough of a pain to go through exchanging refrigerators, but for the past 15 or so years, it's been a minor annoyance, requiring me to turn on a kitchen light to see what's in there. Until I remembered these motion-sensing LED lights I'd already placed in about a dozen spots throughout my house. Who says I can't put one of those in the freezer compartment, such that the motion of opening the door turns on the light? So I did just that and darned if it doesn't work beautifully. Better 15 years late than never.

The SpotOn will set you back $17 on Amazon.



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Posted by Augustine at 9:44 PM

AVG 9 Antivirus Improves Performance, Adds Identity Theft Tool [Downloads]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/NrPpiLE9LKk/avg-9-antivirus-improves-performance-adds-identity-theft-tool

Windows only: One of our readers' favorite antivirus applications, AVG, has updated, claiming faster scan times (up to 50%), boot times (10-15%), and less memory usage. On top of that, it's added a new feature to assist with identity theft.

The identity theft feature, as reported by CNET, is only available in the U.S., and pairs the folks at AVG with a service called Identity Guard that integrates with your browser toolbar (Firefox and IE only); Identity Guard is there to help you avoid and handle identity theft.

Frankly, the Identity Guard addition doesn't seem like something to get all that excited about (who wants another browser toolbar, anyway?), but if nothing else, the performance boosts are worth the update for die-hard AVG fans.

AVG comes in both freeware and shareware versions, Windows only. Currently only the shareware version is ready for the update—apparently AVG delays the release of AVG Free to give their pay versions a little more time in the limelight. Unfortunately that means AVG Free users—which I suspect is most AVG users—will have to wait a bit longer to update to the faster version.



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Posted by Augustine at 9:44 PM

PhotoFilmStrip Creates Ken Burns-Style Video from Images [Downloads]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/yhCgSXDETwY/photofilmstrip-creates-ken-burns+style-video-from-images

Windows/Linux: Free, open-source application PhotoFilmStrip creates video from photographs quickly and easily, complete with effects, a soundtrack, and smooth zoom in/out effects (commonly referred to as the Ken Burns effect).

The cheesy cat video above demonstrates PhotoFilmStrip in action. Creating your video from still images with the app is a breeze. Just drag and drop pictures you want to use into the application, select the effects you want to use (if any), determine the settings for the pan and zoom Ken Burns effect, and, when you're done, add some background music and export the video to DVD, XviD, or one of the other supported formats. (It can even export in HD.)

PhotoFilmStrip is a free, open-source application for Windows and Linux only. (Mac users, iMovie actually comes with its own Ken Burns effect for still images.) As FreewareGenius points out, it doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles, but it handles what it does really well. If you give it a go, let's hear how you like it in the comments.



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Posted by Augustine at 9:43 PM

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