14 November 2024
[ambient] A Soft Murmur … Ambient background noise generator to relax with.
2 May 2024
[pdf] iLovePDF … Great collection of userful PDF tools.
8 July 2021
[web] Photopea … Amazing online photo editor – a free alternative to Photoshop that works in the browser.
22 January 2020
[web] Tiny Helpers … Huge collection of useful single-purpose websites handling tasks from web designers.
7 May 2018
[space] Akin’s Laws of Spacecraft Design … ’34. (Roosevelt’s Law of Task Planning) Do what you can, where you are, with what you have.’
4 May 2018
[lifehacks] The Littlest Lifehack … small life improving hacks from Ask Metafilter. ‘You don’t actually need to peel your kiwis at all.’
18 June 2010
[useful] The British Isles … useful chart explaining what the United Kingdom, Great Britain and the British Isles actually are.
16 March 2010
[hhgttg] The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy On Towels … ‘A towel… is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch hiker can have.’ — Dougas Adams
25 January 2010
[useful] Add a “Gmail This” Bookmarklet to Your Browser … if you use Gmail you probably want to use this bookmarklet to quickly send links via email. I use it everyday – it’s a great timesaver.
19 December 2009
[amazon] Amazon Buying Tricks … some useful tips from Martin Lewis … ‘While Amazon lists free delivery on some products, you have to select the ‘super saver’ delivery box at the check out. If not, the default delivery option is expensive 1-2 days first-class.’
2 September 2009
[gmail] Send mail from another address without “on behalf of” …. useful tip for Gmail users to send e-mail from another SMTP server with a custom e-mail address.
21 June 2009
7 May 2009
[windows] Windows Tip: Left Click The Device Removal Notification Icon … another simple Windows tip I can’t believe I’ve never realised. Left Click! Left Click!!! :) ‘…according to the traditional rules for notification icons (and the device removal icon was written back in Windows 95, when the traditional rules were operative), left clicking gives you the simple menu and right clicking gives you the advanced menu. This customer was so accustomed to right-clicking on notification icons that the idea of left-clicking never even occurred to him.’
5 May 2009
[funny] Let’s Say You’ve Gone Back In Time … useful document for all time travellers …‘Insulin can be extracted from the pancreas of dogs and pigs by tying a string around the pancreatic duct. Inject this extract and it will act as a miraculous treatment. Forget Banting and Best. Take the credit.’
10 October 2008
[gmail] How to Embed Images into a Gmail … useful tip and I always forget how to do it! … ‘Drag your mouse across the image so the whole image gets selected or highlighted (it would turn dark to indicate that it is successfully highlighted/selected). don’t miss that part. then while it is selected/highlighted, right-click your mouse over it, then from the menu which appears, choose COPY. (It works in Firefox too. You just have to make sure you “COPY” NOT “COPY IMAGE”.)’
27 September 2008
[useful] A Checklist for Landing a 747 Jet … ‘Turn on the autobrakes when the plane starts descending.’ [via Kottke]
19 September 2008
[life] Make the Switch … useful FAQ on energy-efficient lightbulbs … ‘With an old-style 100W bulb, you’re effectively switching on a 20W light source and an 80W electric heater.’
19 June 2008
[windows] How to Make Windows Vista Less Annoying … many useful tips from Lifehacker. ‘How many times have you been right in the middle of something when Windows prompted you to reboot for updates? Or worse… you were right in the middle of something, stepped away for a bit, and come back to find your computer has restarted itself because Windows Update decided to…’
4 June 2008
[google] Simply Google: ‘…is a roundup of every Google search and service out there on one convenient page.’ [via Grayblog]
29 April 2008
[windows] Superior Alternatives to Crappy Windows Software … ‘We’re still so traumatized about RealPlayer’s repeated takeover of our PC back in 2004 we’re seeing a special doctor that’s killing that part of our memory.’
28 February 2008
[windows] Find As You Type for Internet Explorer — great little utility that adds Firefox’s powerful and simple way of finding text in a web document to Microsoft’s web browser.
4 November 2007
[torrents] Completetorrent — use Google Custom Search to find torrents across large number of BitTorrent sites.
14 August 2007
[lifehacks] Jerry Seinfeld’s productivity secret — Lifehacker on Seinfeldian Chains … ‘He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker. He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. “After a few days you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain.” “Don’t break the chain.” He said again for emphasis.’
28 July 2007
[lifehacks] Top 10 Clipboard Tricks — some useful tips from Lifehacker … ‘One of the greatest features the point and click interface brought to personal computers is the clipboard – that invisible, temporary shelf you use more times per day than Google. If you think the clipboard is only about Ctrl+C, you’re missing out…’
18 June 2007
[tip] Windows Tip: Copy Error Messages Text To The Clipboard — I can’t believe I’ve been using Windows for 17 years and never realised you can do this! 
24 March 2007
[lifehacks] Make Microsoft Word less annoying — useful tips from Lifehacker … ‘Microsoft Word can drive you nuts. It piles on features few people need, plagues you with annoying auto-corrections and just generally acts like a pain in the ass. No more. It’s time to take back the word processor…’
21 December 2006
[media] VLC Version 0.8.6 — New release of the swiss-army knife of Media Players – it will play anything.
18 December 2006
[itunes] iTunes Power Tips — some useful ideas from Lifehacker … ‘Want to separate your speed metal collection from your spouse’s Broadway tunes fetish? How about your, ahem, grownup movies from your regular collection? Used to be that you had to maintain separate playlists, or log onto the same machine under different usernames to do so. But with iTunes 7, just hold down the Shift key (Option on the Mac) when you launch iTunes to create or choose a separate iTunes library.’
11 December 2006
[time] Accurate Time — website which tells you how accurate the time is on your computer … [via Linkbunnies.org]
3 September 2006
[storage] Box.net/Lite — useful website for storing files up to 10MB for downloading or displaying on your site.
30 April 2006
[web] cl1p.net — a useful internet clipboard. I’ve found it great for quickly moving bits of text and small files between two computers especially if they are on different networks or there is a firewall in the way.
28 November 2005
[microsoft] Use Excel? A couple of good blogs from Experts: Daily Dose of Excel and Andrew’s Excel Tips.
11 October 2005
[im] Meebo.com — firewall-bursting instant messenging from a website for AIM, MSN, Yahoo and GTalk. [via Waxy’s Links]
26 September 2005
[tech] Skyfex Remote Assistant — useful remote desktop viewer for supporting Windows desktops over Broadband connections and behind firewalls. [via Yoz]
6 September 2005
[web] Dropload — useful website I use regularly to drop large files for collection by others avoiding delivery by email.
16 August 2005
[trains] Accessible UK Train Timetables … ‘This is an accessible version of the National Rail Enquiries train timetable site, giving access to the information on that site no matter what browser you are using, with no requirement for cookies, JavaScript and iframes. It works by screenscraping the information on the official site…’ [via del.icio.us/blogjam]
10 August 2005
[useful] Say No To 0870 — list of cheaper alternative phone numbers for the extortionate 0870 / 0871 / 0845 numbers.
28 March 2005
[unix] All The Quickies — long list of useful UNIX tips. [via delicious/unix]
18 January 2005
[support] Blow the Dust out of the Connector — some useful advice for people who do Tech Support from Raymond Chen. ‘…Say “Okay, sometimes the connection gets a little dusty and the connection gets weak. Could you unplug the connector, blow into it to get the dust out, then plug it back in?” They will then crawl under the desk, find that they forgot to plug it in (or plugged it into the wrong port), blow out the dust, plug it in, and reply, “Um, yeah, that fixed it, thanks.”‘
30 October 2004
[useful] Google Cheat Sheet — I learned a couple of new tricks from this … ‘~auto loan – loan info for both the word auto and its synonyms: truck, car, etc.’
9 March 2004
11 June 2002
[football] Japanese Phase of the Day from Channel 4 News …
- Cho ya by! — Sacre Bleu!
- Za Mar Miro! — Gotcha!
19 April 2000
[web] DigiGuide is a great web application which allows you to download TV schedules for UK TV programmes and view them off-line.