Sunday, March 23, 2008

Get Higher-Resolution YouTube Videos with a URL Hack

YouTube announced in November that they would be testing out encoding videos at higher resolutions (and with higher-quality audio encoding). Now it appears that a small sampling of uploaded videos can already be seen at their higher resolutions, simply by adding a little tag to the end of the video's URL.
Get Higher-Resolution YouTube Videos with a URL Hack

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Read DOCX Files in Internet Explorer

Question: How do you quickly read a docx document on some computer that has no Microsoft Office Word 2007 and is neither connected to the Internet (online conversion is therefore ruled out).
Read DOCX Files in Internet Explorer"

Low-cost ways to conserve water at home

If you live in an area where water shortages are not an issue, consider yourself lucky. Nearly 450 million people in 29 countries face severe water shortages.
Low-cost ways to conserve water at home

Getting to Good Enough

Do you strive for perfection? Do you spend hours obsessing over the tiniest details of your life until they’re exactly right? Do you feel uncomfortable when everything in your life isn’t “just so”? Are you prepared for every eventuality, even the most unlikely?
Getting to Good Enough

Friday, March 21, 2008

Absurd Entries in the OED

All dictionaries have mistakes. Ghost words creep in, there are occasional misspellings, or perhaps the printer was hung over one day and misplaced some punctuation. In addition to these normal forms of human error there are others that are created by language, as it continues its inexorable change, rendering definitions and spellings obsolete. Furthermore, as the science of lexicography itself advances, certain things, such as etymologies, that made sense a hundred years ago, begin to look suspect in a modern light.
Absurd Entries in the OED

Adventures in Rechargeable Batteries

Every self-respecting geek loves gadgets. I'm no exception. And so many of my favorite gadgets have a voracious appetite for batteries. I don't know why all the other battery types fell so far out of favor, but between AA and AAA, I could probably power 95% of my household gadget needs.
Adventures in Rechargeable Batteries

Finished Installing Windows Vista SP1 ? Now Remove All The Junk Files

When you install Windows Vista Service Pack 1 on your computer, the SP1 installer will not remove the older versions of Vista files from the hard drive. This is because the older files may be required in case you decide to uninstall SP1 later from the system.
Finished Installing Windows Vista SP1 ? Now Remove All The Junk Files

A Near-Free, Great Alternative to Microsoft Office

If you and your colleagues use the Microsoft Office suite of productivity applications, you’re probably very familiar with how much the suite costs and perhaps the high cost of licensing the applications. Of course, there are completely free alternatives to the Office suite, such as the open source suite OpenOffice, but my favorite alternative falls just between costly Microsoft Office and free OpenOffice: Software 602’s PC Suite.
A Near-Free, Great Alternative to Microsoft Office

Thursday, March 20, 2008

How To Get People Addicted To You And Take Control

There is a special little secret ingredient which is responsible for getting people addicted to you, to love you, and to think of you as an irreplaceable person in their life. Right away you are thinking of how valuable it would be to have such power in romance, friendship and business.
How To Get People Addicted To You And Take Control

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Photography and The Law: Know Your Rights

Say you’re out for a photographic stroll, taking pictures of that cool old power plant on the edge of town. Suddenly seventy security guards swarm you and demand you hand over your camera.
Photography and The Law: Know Your Rights

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

10 Ways to Control Your Cravings

You can lose weight by overcoming your cravings now. Here are the latest tricks of the trade from researchers and experts.
10 Ways to Control Your Cravings

Bad Movie Physics: A Report Card

Space epics almost always play fast and loose with science, treating the laws of physics like suggestions. Sound in space, unprotected bodies splatting in vacuum, and alien planets that all look just like Calabasas. But some movies dismember Newton and Einstein with way more gusto than others.
Bad Movie Physics: A Report Card

4 Things You Should Never Say to the CEO

If a "nice guy" runs your company, you might be able to say whatever's on your mind in the boardroom and get away with it. But most successful CEOs aren't nice guys -- they're very serious people, often edgy to the point of mania.
4 Things You Should Never Say to the CEO

Monday, March 17, 2008

Rudd confirms HMAS Sydney find

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has confirmed searchers have found the wreck of HMAS Sydney off the West Australian coast, solving Australia's greatest naval mystery.
The Sydney sunk in November 1941 after a battle with the German raider the Kormoran, killing all 645 crew on board.
Rudd confirms HMAS Sydney find

Complete Set of Social Atlases, 2006

The Social Atlas complements the products that are made available on the ABS website by providing an at-a-glance view of the major characteristics of all Australian capital city areas, and (for the first time) selected regional centres, providing a visually informative alternative to traditional tables and statistical spreadsheets.
The Social Atlas' use of easy to read thematic maps of capital cities, featuring new analysis of 2006 Census data, makes data easier to interpret and provides the groundwork for a wide variety of stories on current and emerging issues. A wide range of topics are covered relating to: population, cultural diversity, work, housing, families, education and training and economic resources.
Complete Set of Social Atlases, 2006

Saturday, March 15, 2008

If you don’t exercise, at least stand up a lot!

A U.S. study has found that whether people exercise or not on a regular basis, simply standing up frequently throughout the day helps to increase the burning of fat and cholesterol within the body.
If you don’t exercise, at least stand up a lot!

Friday, March 14, 2008

Music 1000 albums

1000 albums to hear before you die...
Music 1000 albums

Thursday, March 13, 2008

File Sharing: Share Large Files Instantly with EatLime

Brilliant new file sharing web site EatLime expedites online file sharing by allowing your friends to begin downloading the file as soon as you start uploading it, meaning you don't have to wait for the file to finish uploading before they begin downloading.
File Sharing: Share Large Files Instantly with EatLime

Bad luck at the casino? Blame your brain

Ever wondered why the horse you back never wins a race, or why any shares you buy promptly fall in value? It's not bad luck, researchers say. It's bad brainwaves.
Bad luck at the casino? Blame your brain

Latest new entries - Oxford English Dictionary

On 13 March 2008 the New Edition was updated with revised entries in a series of discrete alphabetical ranges, as well the addition of new entries from across the alphabet. In some ranges, not every entry was revised, as editorial effort was concentrated on the most significant groups of related words. In addition, about 30 virus names were revised across the alphabet.
Latest new entries - Oxford English Dictionary