Kolz Blog

The ProBargainHunter blog has dissected Amazon's discount URLs to find great deals on discounted items by department. The link to 75% off Camera and Photo products below should give you an idea of the layout:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/?node=502394&pct-off=75- You can specify a range for the discount like this: "&pct-off=50-70″. To sort the results by price add "&sort=price" at the end. If you want to list just the Amazon products (these would qualify for free shipping with Amazon Prime membership) then add "&emi=ATVPDKIKX0DER" at the end.

After you get to the Amazon page, you can narrow down your search by the categories in the sidebar to find exactly the kind of product you're looking for. The post also discusses a few other useful links and tools for finding good deals and popular items at Amazon, so if you're planning to do your holiday shopping on the super-cheap this month, you might want to check out ProBargainHunter's tips and maybe create a few custom links of your own. — Adam Pash

Filed under: Gaming, HDTV Ok, so the PlayStation 3 wasn't exactly the most flexible high def device out of the gate; despite Sony's claims, DVDs aren't upscaled, there's no component out, and from what we've heard, even though its HDMI 1.3 output technically supports 1080p/24 (for the uninitiated, that's 24fps to match a film master print), we understand it's not yet playable as such. (Note: we've yet to try 1080p/24, as we don't have any media mastered thusly.) However, this could change according to a translated Impress interview of Sony PS3 A/V developers. Obviously something is bound to be lost in translation, but if the text reads correctly then the PS3 will not only be getting better software SACD support, but it'll also get user-selectable internal YCrCb image processing (instead of RGB -- although we've yet to hear of component output plans), 1080p/24 support, and will finally allow for DVD upscaling as well. We have no idea exactly when this will happen (or why this wasn't made clearer to us US-dwelling videophiles) but apparently Kutaragi-san and the gang are on the case -- godspeed, PS3 team. [Thanks, David] Update: we printed the PS3 would be getting SACD support. Supposedly it's already got that, but future version will have better sound and dynamic range. So there! Read - Impress (new audio support) Read - Impress (new video support) Read - Beyond3D translation   Permalink | Email this | Comments

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Google Reader has updated their Feed actions drop-down menu with several super-handy actions that had been conspicuously missing in the first iteration of the new Google Reader, namely renaming of feeds and assigning feeds to a folder (all you could do for a while was unsubscribe). If you're a Google Reader user, you'd probably noticed it was previously a major pain in the ass to perform these actions; you were required to head to the Settings, find the specific feed among your hundreds of existing feeds, and only then could you rename or assign the feed to a folder. This is huge. Additionally, if you subscribe to a feed via the Google Reader bookmarklet or the Smart GR subscribe Greasemonkey script, you also have the option to immediately add the feed to a folder (a feature I swear existed when I started with GR that went conspicuously MIA for a while). Anyway, if you're a Google Reader user, organizing and customizing your reader just got a helluva lot easier. — Adam Pash

The collaborative DIY web site Instructables has a neat trick for adding a shutdown shortcut to your Windows desktop complete with the shutdown icon (or anywhere else, for that matter). In fact, the little how-to also shows you how to make shortcuts to restart, logoff, and shutdown your computer, as well. Our readers have sort of covered this territory for us already, but Instructables puts it all together in one neat step-by-step package. Again, since these are shortcuts, you can put them anywhere; for example, I like being able to restart/shutdown my computer from the Quicklaunch toolbar. — Adam Pash

You know what? You've got a set number of minutes to spend during your adventurous trip from cradle to grave, so you might as well spend 'em paying attention to the stuff that counts. This is the premise of chapter 2 of Lifehacker the book, which includes hacks for focusing on what's important and blocking out extraneous the distractions and interruptions. From the chapter intro:

Your attention is your most endangered resource. The technical props of modern work life--email, instant messaging, mobile devices, and constant internet connectivity--make limitless amounts of information always available at the press of a button. Every minute of every day advertisements, software notifications, ringing phones, blinking voice mail signals, and buzzing pagers vie for your attention. But there are a finite number of minutes, hours, and days in your life.

After the jump, a sneak preview of the attention-firewalling hacks included in chapter 2. What's that you say? You haven't heard of this Lifehacker book? Go ahead and pre-order your copy now at Amazon.

Google has pushed out some major updates to Google Spreadsheets, its web-based answer to Excel. Here's the word from Google Operating System blogger Ionut Alex. Chitu:

Now you can publish a spreadsheets in every imaginable format (HTML, PDF, XLS, ODS, CSV) or as a feed. What's great is that the file is automatically updated, so you'll be almost certain that someone gets the latest version. You can also publish all the sheets or only some of them. But the coolest thing you can do is to embed a spreadsheet into your blog or site.

No doubt about it, that is cool. Seriously, who's going to pay for Office Live when they can get such an awesome web spreadsheet for free? Now we just have to wait for Google Docs to catch up in the feature department. — Rick Broida

Need a killer color theme for your web site, art project, or magazine pages? Head to Adobe Kuler, an interactive web-based app that whips up snazzy themes in a matter of seconds. Kuler (not sure if it rhymes with "color" or "cooler") lets you browse other users' themes or create your own using a drag-and-drop color wheel and/or numerical settings (RGB, CMYK, etc.). You can title, tag, save and publish your themes, and download them as Adobe Swatch Exchange files for use in Creative Suite 2 applications (like Photoshop). This is one slick tool, equal parts fun and practical. It's free for now (and in beta); hopefully Adobe will see fit to keep it that way. — Rick Broida

Windows only: Convert nearly any video format to nearly any other video format with the aptly named Any Video Converter. The program supports just about every video format known to man, including AVI, DivX, FLV, RM, and VOB. It also comes with output profiles for devices like the iPod and PSP, though you can easily create a custom profile with the audio and video specs of your choosing. AVC couldn't be much easier to use, and it supports batch conversions--always a nice perk. You'll definitely want to add this utility to your video arsenal (though don't overlook Videora Converter, arguably a better choice for converting videos for mobile devices). Any Video Converter is free for Windows. — Rick Broida

New web search interface Searchmash (which is apparently run by Google) offers web, images, video, blog and Wikipedia search results all on one dynamic page with modules that expand and collapse. At first Searchmash doesn't seem like much, but its results page offers some nifty features, like dynamically appending more results to the page, image and video thumbnails in collapsible modules, and showing/hiding result details. Plus, there are no ads! Reader Ben writes in with some insider info and more usage tips:

It seems that Google has set themselves up a sandbox at searchmash.com where they can test out new UI and search ideas without having any outward appearance of Google-ness. The intention was that the test users would be impartial if they didn't know it was really Google.

Some of the best advice I have heard in a while came to me via a book someone recommended I ...

Filed under: Desktops If there's any effect that NickNeg's OLPC has had on the global market for cheap computer hardware, it's that other companies are now trying to get a piece of the low-cost computer pie. At first, there was the (now defunct) AMD PIC, followed by the upstart underdog, the Intel Classmate PC, both of which kinda sorta tried to go head-to-head with the OLPC (among others). Now China's trying to get in the game too, and has just released a new 1600 yuan ($203) computer made by the Jiangsu Menglong Science and Technology Company. The Agence France Presse reports that the unnamed computer, which is powered by the 750MHz 64-bit homegrown Codson IIE chip, comes with a 40GB hard drive and 256MB of RAM. While you've got to BYO keyboard, mouse, and monitor for now, if these same Chinese brainiacs ever manage to swing a laptop out of this or any of the other ultra low-cost Chinese PCs like it, NickNeg may actually have some real competition on his hands. [Via Engadget Chinese]   Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Windows only: Freeware program Avi2Dvd converts AVI video files to ISO files you can burn to DVD, VCD, or SVCD. If you've ever tried to burn AVI files you've downloaded to DVDs, you probably know that there isn't much in the way of free, simple ways to do it. While Avi2Dvd isn't a one-click solution, it seems to work fairly well; that said, it's still in beta, so you probably shouldn't expect the world. Avi2Dvd is freeware, Windows only. For a bit more help on authoring DVDs, check out our previous call for help. — Adam Pash

Windows only: Arrange your furniture virtually with Furnish, a free program that lets you design rooms in 3D. For most people, it helps to visualize a room before placing the furniture. Furnish gives you the tools to create rooms based on actual dimensions, then design furniture pieces (or draw from an included library of them) and position them to your liking. Slick program, and fairly easy to use after you poke around the interface a bit. But it took forever to load on my relatively powerful PC. Furnish is free; it requires Windows. Thanks, Dustin! — Rick Broida

Web-based file cabinet DropBoks gives you 1GB of free storage for uploading and downloading files. Services like XDrive, 1 Click Share, Localhostr and countless others have blazed this trail already, but DropBoks scores points for simplicity. Just create an account, then select files to upload. The browser-based interface couldn't be easier to use. Of course, there are a couple catches: Individual files can't be larger than 50MB, and you can retrieve only one at a time.

Happened upon a neat Google Docs feature I hadn't noticed before: the ability to upload a document via email. Very much like Flickr's upload photos by email feature, Google Docs provides you with a secret email address. Send a new message to that address and the text of the message or its attachment (Word, HTML and RTF supported) gets uploaded to Google Docs, with the email subject line as the title. Very handy, especially for files you're emailing to co-workers you'd like to back up online (just BCC your secret address.) Spreadsheets doesn't yet support this feature, but looks like that's coming soon. — Gina Trapani

Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari only: Preview search results, embedded images, YouTube videos and more just by mousing over them with the Cooliris Previews 2.0 browser extension. Previously limited to Google, eBay, Craigslist and a few other sites, Cooliris now works just about everywhere. Simply mouse over any link or thumbnail image, then point to the little Cooliris icon that appears next to it. In a second or two you'll see a pop-up window containing the page, image, or even video. This isn't just a screenshot, however; you can actually play the video or interact with the page, clicking links, filling out forms, etc. Best. Extension. Ever? It might just be. Cooliris changes the way you interact with the Web, and for the better. Cooliris Previews 2.0 is free for Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari browsers. — Rick Broida

That comment box on your favorite blog not quite big enough to type out your thoughts? Web designer Cameron Adams offers a bookmarklet that makes any web page text area resizable in Firefox and Internet Explorer. Just drag and drop that baby to your toolbar, and click it the next time you're typing into a web form that's just not spacious enough. Mouse over the corner of the text area and click and drag to resize. Handy! Thanks, Steve! — Gina Trapani

Faithful followers of the Getting Things Done productivity system (or those of us who aspire to be) shouldn't miss our buddy Merlin Mann's sit-down interview with none other than The David himself. Merlin's been releasing this "Productive Talk" podcast in small episodes over the last few weeks, but today he finally gave up the whole enchilada: 1 hour and 26 minutes of GTDeeeelicious Allen/Mann goodness. Topics include dealing with distraction, email-wrangling, GTD best practices and insight into the dark depths of the procrastinating human soul. There's a bigass MP3 file or a nicely chaptered AAC version available to download and listen to in traffic on your way home tonight. — Gina Trapani

Most search engines produce text-only results. Pagebull provides actual screenshots of your search results, making it much easier to find desirable destinations. By default, the results appear in a screen-spanning 3x4 grid, though you can also choose 2x6 and 4x3 (the latter ideal for widescreen monitors). To see the accompanying text results for a site, just mouse over the little "i" in the corner of the screenshot. To see an even larger screenshot, mouse over the magnifying glass. Nice, though a little slow. Admittedly, you can achieve similar results with Firefox, BetterSearch and Cooliris Previews, but Pagebull works in any browser and doesn't require anything to be installed. — Rick Broida

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Video Looks like all those rumors and conspiracy theories regarding a Wal-Mart download store actually counted for something this time around. Just in time for the holidays, Wal-Mart has announced its very own video download service, which will kick off in "beta" mode next week with an exclusive Superman Returns bundle. Buyers of the DVD will have an option to also obtain a portable, PC, or dual license for a movie download, priced at $1.97, $2.97, and $3.97 respectively. Users will be directed by a sticker on the DVD case to walmart.com/superman where they can enter a promo code and start the download -- which can be watched while the movie is downloading if they can't bring themselves to pop in the actual DVD. This is quite a different tact than other movie download services, such as iTunes, Amazon Unbox and Xbox Live, and it seems primarily designed to protect video sales cannibalization while leaving out much of the convenience of a traditional movie download service. Wal-Mart says it has more bundles planned for the beta launch, along with what is presumably a more traditional download service with more traditional pricing, though deets are slim at this point. What we do know is that the war for your holiday download dollar will be a bloody one this year.   Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Frustrated reader John writes:

There are some people in my office who insist on using cute stationery and some of it makes messages difficult to read. I really just want to read email on a white background with no distractions. Is there a way to disable stationery on incoming mail in Outlook?

Some Google-work turned up this registry hack, but it only prevents users from setting a default stationary choice, so that really doesn't help unless you have control over your coworker's computers. If anyone out there has had luck disabling stationary on incoming mail, help John out in the comments. — Adam Pash

Following in the footsteps of Orb and SlingPlayer, a new service called Phling lets you stream media from your PC to your mobile phone. Specifically, you can play your music and podcasts, view your photo library, and instantly copy newly snapped photos from phone to PC. Phling also boasts a wide range of community features, and even lets you stream songs from up to six friends' PCs. Unlike Orb, Phling provides an actual media-player app on your phone rather than just a browser-based connection to your PC. And unlike SlingPlayer, it requires no pricey hardware. So is it any good? You tell us. Phling currently supports only a handful of phones, and my Verizon Chocolate isn't one of them. If you own one of the compatible models and can give Phling a try, tell us how it phared! In the comments, of course. — Rick Broida

The basic principle of David Allen's productivity system, Getting Things Done, is that you've got to get nagging tasks, thoughts, and worries off your mind before you can get anything done. In homage to The David, chapter 1 of Lifehacker the book discusses a few geekier ways for capturing all the "stuff" that's chewing up your brain's cycles. From the intro:

Whether it's remembering that you're due to make a dental appointment, or stowing away that tidbit of information you found online for next week's presentation, the only way to deal with all the stuff in your head is to get it off your mind and into a system that can help you recall it at the right time. This chapter explores various capture systems that offload distractions, pop-up thoughts, and to-do lists to your computer for easy recall, timely reminders, and, ultimately, a clear head.

After the jump, check out the hacks included in chapter 1 with related links. Want it all laid out, printed up and bound all pretty? Pre-order your copy of Lifehacker the book now. Hack 1: Email your future self (Easy, web) "Every day you've got a lot on your mind and a lot to do. As a result, it can be nearly impossible to remember mundane recurring tasks--like when it's time to change the oil or go to the dentist--or even important yearly events, like friends' and family birthdays." Related posts:

• Tickle yourself with Yahoo! Calendar
• Ask the Readers: Short term reminders?
• Email your future self with FutureMail

Hack 2: Manage a todo.txt File at the Command Line (Advanced, command line) "A plain text file is a simple and effective way to keep track of your to-do list. But you don't want to fire up a full-fledged text editor like Notepad every time you update or add to your todo.txt file. Bypass the time-consuming point-and-click graphical user interface (GUI), and use keyboard commands to search, sort, add, and update todo.txt at the command line." Related posts:

• Todo.txt in action
• Geek to Live: Reader-written todo.txt manager

Hack 3: Develop Your (Digital) Photographic Memory (Easy, email-enabled cameraphone) "A ubiquitous capture device can change the way you remember (and forget) things for good. With a photo-sharing service like Flickr (http://flickr.com), you can capture and file away your digital photographic memory in the internet cloud from wherever you are." Related posts:

• Develop your (digital) photographic memory
• Flickr Advanced User Guide

Hack 4: Install Your Personal Wikipedia (Advanced, Windows) "The collaboratively edited Wikipedia is a vast, searchable repository of information, constantly written and re-written by its readers. Don't you wish you or your group could have your own editable encyclopedia of brain dumps and documentation like Wikipedia? You can." Related posts:

• Set up your personal Wikipedia
• How to contribute to Wikipedia

Hack 5: Keep an Instiki Wiki Hyperlinked Notebook (Medium, Windows/Mac) "Install a server and wiki software on your home computer using Instiki, a package that's perfect for beginners. An alternative to MediaWiki, Instiki is easy to install and to use." Related post:

• How to host a personal wiki on your home computer

Hack 6: Take Great Notes (Easy) "Taking effective notes is a critical skill that moves your projects, your career, and your education forward. This hack covers three practical note-taking methods, as well as how to make your own custom notepaper." Related posts:

• Take great notes
• Take study-worthy lecture notes
• Make your own personalized notepaper
• Make your own PDF notepaper

More Lifehacker chapter sneak previews coming up in the next few weeks. — Gina Trapani

Not satisfied with your Zune's measly 30GB hard drive? The folks at iPodMods have detailed instructions on replacing it with a 40GB, 60GB, or even 80GB drive. This "repair guide" includes detailed photos of each step of the Zune's dissection (though not its reassembly), with a special section devoted to replacing the hard drive. According to iPodMods, you can swap in one of Toshiba's Zero Insertion Force drives--which they just happen to sell. Looks like fairly easy surgery, though you may wonder about spending $240 on an 80GB drive when the Zune itself costs $250. Of course, bragging rights don't come cheap. — Rick Broida

Filed under: Portable Audio, Wireless Japan's Princeton Technology is set to release an iPod accessory for those not satisfied with the current crop of Bluetooth headphones, with its cleverly-named named "Wireless Headphone Adapter" providing a bring-your-own-phones alternative. You'll still have to find a way to deal with the headphones' existing wires, of course, but instead of stretching all the way to the iPod in your pocket (in this case it is strictly iPod-only), they'll now only have to find their way to the 3.5-millimeter jack on the remote in your other pocket. Those who prefer to wear their gadgets proudly can also make use of the remote's handy clip, although we suspect it'll attract a bit more attention than a shuffe if you wear it on your lapel. Look for the bundle to be available in Japan next month in your choice of white, sliver, or black for 12,800 Yen ($110), with the remote and adapter also available individually for 7,800 ($67). [Via Impress]   Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Storage We've seen the first wave of Blu-ray burners receive their appropriate testing, and while most were deemed satisfactory, all demanded a mighty (and most likely unworthy) pricetag for such sluggish write speeds. Plextor's PX-B900A sports the same ultraslow 2x write speeds for both single and dual-layer BD-R / BD-RE discs, but offered decent burning speeds for the "other formats." PC World was most impressed with this particular drive's ease of installation -- something other drives haven't exactly provided -- and the fleshed-out bundle of software that comes packed in. Reviewers were thoroughly pleased with the inclusion of Blu-ray movie playback software, as well as the video editing / authoring and packet writing programs. While they were none too pleased with the $999 price, they did feel that the cost was somewhat more justified thanks to the smattering of great software that came along with it, and crowned it "a solid value" if you just can't wait another day to pick up an internal Blu-ray burner.   Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Since this weblog started in november 2004 I have written on very different subjects. From new software to random thoughts. But also some links and articles on how to start with GTD. What it is, how you could implement it and where potential pitfalls might be. Today I want to share those posts with you again. It was a little trip down memorylane for me and it sure brought back some memories now and then. I hope you enjoy this list and it can be of any help for you. We start with the oldest post and work to the present day. No specific order in priority or context, just in time!

1. What IS Getting Things Done?
2. Using GTD, what’s the lesson?
3. Showdown 1: Using Evernote
4. First thing tomorrow in the office: uncheck Outlook options
5. Showdown 2: Using OnFolio
6. The loop in collecting, processing and organizing
7. How to print the DIY planner in Europe
8. Overorganization, some thoughts
9. 10 Steps To Better Meetings
10. Online GTD Discussiongroups, a comparison
11. 8 Steps to a succesfull and empty Inbox after your vacation
12. The difference between GTD at home and at work
13. Backpack and GTD
14. The connection between GTD and Tai Chi (one of my favorites!)
15. 6 types of email and how to deal with it
16. Using Backpack and GTD, continued
17. The 5 reasons why The Weekly Review is difficult
18. I heart Weekly Review!
19. Three questions to ponder about
20. Mindmanager, an excellent GTD tool? Win free licenses!
21. GyroQ lets you work through your interruptions (contest included!)

Thanks to Manny Hernandez for the initial idea!

Filed under: Gaming It's starting to look like the greatest enemy to PS3 "security" is the PS3 itself. Thanks to that handy OS named Linux, which conveniently comes prepped for the console, we're already seeing some pretty nifty things being done with the PS3, and now it's being put to good use to siphon data off of those nifty Blu-ray discs. So far nothing more than a straight transfer has been achieved, but it appears the PS3 game file structure is similar to that of the PSP. We're not sure how well on the way this puts us towards the ability to create "backup" discs of PS3 games, but at least it's a start. Oh, and a quick note to the Xbox 360 fanboys: Madden '07 barely uses 7GB of that expansive storage medium of Sony's, so we wouldn't worry about missing out on content with your dual-layer DVDs just yet. [Thanks, Tam]   Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Windows only: Freeware program Undelete Plus lets you recover your deleted files on your Windows box.

Undelete Plus scans your hard drive for all those files that have been deleted in Windows but haven't been overwritten on your hard drive. We've covered this territory before, but Undelete Plus has a better interface and tools than previously mentioned Restoration, making it easy to sort your results by filetype and set up filters to help narrow things down significantly. Alternatively, Undelete Plus also lets you wipe out files that are still available but that you want to be gone forever, kind of like the Windows File Shredder. Share your favorite file recovery method in the comments. — Adam Pash

Email: the little toy that best practices forgot...until ITSecurity got a hold of it and hacked it 99 different ways. Here's the premise:

So why is it that when it comes to emails, there are no accepted standards? Even though 6 billion emails are sent every day, almost no one agrees about simple things like email etiquette, how to organize a note, or whether emails are considered private or not.

Tips range from Etiquette to Privacy to Productivity; there's a lot of common sense on this lengthy list. We've written up about email quite a bit here at Lifehacker, and this is certainly a nice add. — Wendy Boswell

Wouldn't you like to experience a little more "mental fitness" in your life? I think the answer to that is probably pretty obvious. There are ten thought exercises you can practice every day to strengthen your mental fitness; these include:

• Think about the future
• Create a five-year vision
• Think about your goals
• Commit to excellence
• Focus on results

Nothing really groundshakingly new here; however, these are all good reminders of better thought practices that certainly are to our benefit. Anything missing from this list? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. — Wendy Boswell