Yak Shaving Razor #113

Yak Shaving -- [MIT AI Lab, after 2000: orig. probably from a Ren & Stimpy episode.] Any seemingly pointless activity which is actually necessary to solve a problem which solves a problem which, several levels of recursion later, solves the real problem you're working on.

Library Hack -- The LibraryLookup Bookmarklet Generator lets you generate a bookmarklet for requesting a library book based on the Amazon page you're currently viewing. You just need to know your library's URL and which system your own city uses (which the site makes simple by providing preview links to see which style your system seems to follow). (HT: 43 Folders)

Firefox Hack -- As you type a web site address into Firefox's location bar, by default a dropdown with suggestions based on your history expands, and you can use the down arrow key to select one. For more aggressive URL auto-completion, head on into Firefox's about:config area and set the browser.urlbar.autoFill value to true. The result takes away the arrow key step for the first hit.
(HT: Lifehacker)

HowTo -- Stop junk mail, email and phone calls

Google School -- Google launches
Docs Mobile, a slimmed-down view of Google Docs and Spreadsheets for your handheld. At the top of the narrow page is a search box, followed by a list of recent documents with links to view (but not edit) spreadsheets and documents (presentations are not viewable.) You can also navigate folders, and move between rows and columns or to a particular cell in spreadsheet view. (HT: Lifehacker)

Download of the Week -- SharpKeys is a Registry hack that is used to make certain keys on a keyboard act like other keys. For example, if you accidentally hit Caps Lock often, you could use this utility to map Caps Lock to a Shift key or even turn it off completely. The official release includes support for up to 104 mappings, an extensive list of available keys, and a "Type Key" option to help when managing mappings. (HT: Lifehacker)

See also: The Yak Shaving Razor Archives

Have a useful recommendation for making life more pleasant? Send them to me at jpcarter[at]evangelicaloutpost.com.