#6 Parked Car Locator -- Before you leave your vehicle parked in a large, crowded parking lot (amusement park, airport, sports arena, etc.), use the camera on your cell phone to take a photo of the location number (e.g, Lot 7, Row 16). Not only will this record the approximate location but the photo will provide a visual landmark as a reminder.
#7 Traffic Hack -- There’s no need to get on I-405 before you discover that the highway department has decided to perform improvements during rush hour. Now you can have real-time traffic and construction updates delivered as an RSS feed. John Resig offers a hack using Yahoo! Traffic Conditions for Apple’s Dashboard Widget. Just enter the zip code and radius in Resig’s form and you’ll have a URL ready to plug into your RSS reader.
#8 One Pod to Control Them All – Tired of having to have a separate remote for the TV/DVD/VCR/Cable box/Tivo…? Phillip Torrone explains how to turn your iPod in to a Universal Infrared Remote Control.
#9 Pen Returner -- When someone at the office asks for a pen, hand them an uncapped cheap pen (bic or similar), and keep the cap. The fact that the pen has to be recapped is usually enough to remind people to return it, if they're just forgetful, and to make it almost worthless to "souvenir collectors." (HT: 43F Wiki)
#10 Gmail accounts -- I’m a sucker for both email and free stuff. So I’ve always been a fan of free email accounts. Unfortunately, most of them (Hotmail, Yahoo) are worth less than what you pay for them. When Gmail first came out I figured it was more of the same. I was dead wrong. Gmail is simply the best free email service ever offered. The only downside is that it’s currently by invite only. Fortunately, I have 50 invites that I can give away to the first takers.
#11 Amazon Link Hack – When linking to a book I often use Amazon as the reference link. Unfortunately, that often means having to use a 114 character monstrosity like this:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596004478/qid%3D1049157816/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/104-2773718-4336742
Fortunately, such a link can be simplified. Begin by cutting all but the first string of numbers after the “ASIN”:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596004478/
You can also cut it further by replacing “exec/obidos” with “o”, as in:
http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0596004478
That brings it down from 114 characters to a more manageble 35.
(Source: Amazon Hacks)
#12 – Beta Testing -- YSR Labs is currently testing the online personal information manager Backback. The free version looks intriguing, though rather limited. (The Basic plan ($5) seems too basic but it’s too earlier to tell if it is worth upgrading to the $9 a month plan.) Still, it might just be an online supplement to the Hipster PDA.
See also: YSR #1
Have a useful recommendation for making life more pleasant? Send them to me at jpcarter[at]evangelicaloutpost.com.
1
#9 Pen Returner -- When someone at the office asks for a pen, hand them an uncapped cheap pen (bic or similar), and keep the cap. The fact that the pen has to be recapped is usually enough to remind people to return it, if they're just forgetful, and to make it almost worthless to "souvenir collectors." (HT: 43F Wiki)
Interesting. I don't usually mind if people keep the pens I loan/give to them. After all, I can just borrow one from someone else. I guess it helps to realize that every"thing" we have is already essentially being borrowed for this short breath of life that we have.
(I'm not using Montblanc pens though - maybe that's the difference). :)
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A friend of mine related to me the story about how a friend of his, a devotee of drinking establishments in Manhattan, used a voice recorder to remind him of where his car was parked. (In Manhattan those who park on the street often have to park their cars 2-3 blocks away from their apartment.)
He thought he'd record the location of the car, and if he got too drunk, he'd walk home and the next day his trusty dictaphone would remember for him.
However, the morning after the first night he tried this method, all the voice recorder would tell him is "Bleah bleah rowl bleah..."
True story.
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If Gmail is all that you say it is and is an improvement over hotmail (horrible), yahoo (tolerable to an extent) then I would love to have an account!
posted on 05.04.2005 9:44 AM5
If you're looking for a Gmail account, the following link distributes invites that people have donated:
http://isnoop.net/gmail/
You can also donate your invites (if you already have an account) by sending them to gmail@isnoop.net.
posted on 05.04.2005 11:35 AM7
The thing I don't like about g-mail is that I have to turn off the popup blocker in my browser. Anyone else have the same issue?
posted on 05.04.2005 12:41 PM