Cliche Saturday

 

I've always known that washing dishes in your sink uses an extreme amount of water. We have a washing machine that can sense how much water it needs to wash a load. Here's a very interesting article that says using a dishwasher is a better choice.

 

Most people drastically underestimate how much water their taps put out. Energy Star-certified dishwashers must use less than 270 kWh per year and 3.5 gallons per cycle, but most kitchen faucets move one to two gallons a minute. In other words, running the tap for just four or five minutes can use more water than an entire dishwasher cycle. Older dishwashers do use more water, but it’s still probably less than you think; unless yours is more than 10 years old (and somehow still working), there’s a good chance that it’s more efficient than hand-washing a sink full of dishes. The exact amount of water and energy you can save depends on a number of factors, so whoever pays the utilities should probably look up the usage stats for your dishwasher and faucet to see what they’re working with. What they find might just be the push they need to finally spring for a new dishwasher.

Switching over to a fully-automated dishwashing lifestyle may take a load off your energy bills—not to mention your feet, back, and cuticles—but it won’t save the world. Certain items will always need a hand wash, and anyway, your shower and washing machine use more water than anything in the kitchen. Still, it’s an easy way to save water with basically zero drawbacks. I think they call that a “win-win.”

 

lifehacker.com/stop-hand-washing-your-dishes-1830493047

Here is one sun jar with the plain bluish white light from the LED in the lamp, and one sun jar with a reddish tinted color from the Gatorade bottle label.

 

They are pretty bright, and should be waterproof. And a LOT cheaper (and more fun!) than buying one.

 

(Tutorial from Lifehacker. See their "Create Your Own Sun Jar" tutorial.)

"What?" You asked.

 

Yes KOLO is synonymous with archival/presentation and most often associated with photography, scrapbooking and art projects. Their Essex Travel Book released this year seems like an odd addition to their product line-up but when you think about it, the whole idea of the Essex series is to bring the KOLO aesthetics and these associations from your archive to your everyday life. You don't carry a typical KOLO product everyday, but you can carry an Essex all the time and treat it as a process to create your final archive/project.

 

How does this lead to the KOLO-GTD association? If you've been a follower of Scription or lifehacker, you've probably seen my mind.Depositor and its subsequent version as a GTD index card cover. Well, months ago when I received a long awaited Essex in leather, I decided that I wouldn't want to put it into rough use as a notebook. So I employed the law of subtraction, took away the refills and elastic loops and made the cover my new GTD tool.

 

The medium size Essex is just right for the 6x4" index cards. Since the elastic enclosure is quite strong and I don't intend to walk around dangling this, even though the index cards are not secured inside any pocket, I feel safe enough.

 

The back side of the window pocket becomes very useful to hold a notepad as a temporary drop box too, how perfect! With a few more creative twist, you can secure the cards when enclosed, unfold the cover all the way to make an "A" stand so you can see your top index card in standing position, etc... I will leave this to you for fun. Don't forget to share here or at Koloist.com if you decide to GTD this way.

 

mind.Depositor GTD to-do Template - ruled with priority and checkbox

mind.Depositor GTD to-do Template - plain

Scription mind.Depositor index ruled in colors

Scription mind.Depositor index ruled in black and white

Enjoy!

 

More on Scription blog: moleskine.vox.com/library/post/getting-things-done-the-ko...

While I was on vacation, I cleaned up the den desk hiding as many wires I could under the desk.

 

Components include printer, G5 iMac, AirPort Extreme, Belkin TuneSync combo iPod dock and USB hub, Logitech joystick, DSL modem, UPS, backup HD.

HDR shot (courtesy HDR Camera+ for Android) of my Setup. At this point I LOVE this setup. So much more room than the fold up tables I had before. 1 27" Samsung LED LCD, 1 23" Samsung LCD (right), 1 22" Viewsonic LCD (left) all connected to THOR for 3 way Gaming, and 1 20" Viewsonic LCD (top) connected to ODIN (fileserver). Bought one by one over the course of about 5 years. 27" LCD was the most recent addition.

 

Bias Lighting Provided by 2 Ikea Dioder Multicolor LED Light Strip Sets

 

Desk is an Ikea Galant Corner Unit Right - Beech Veneer, with one extension on the right side, and 2 computer tower cradles mounted underneath.

 

Although it looks like the monitors sag and are mis-aligned, I compensate with the height of my chair, so from my view they are perfect. The slight sag is from the Monoprice brackets. The sag does not bother me at all and I highly recommend them due to their price.

 

Not shown is the Sumo Omni beanbag chair I have sitting on the other side of the room (in this picture I'm standing on it). Since adding my 27" LCD I have been using it a lot to watch movies in.

 

Lifehacker Username: Thor79

This was taken at the southwest corner of Broadway and 92nd Street; behind the woman is a PetCo pet-supply company.

 

Note: this photo was published in a Feb 17, 2010 Hot Mobile Phone offers blog with the same title as the caption I used on this Flickr page. It was also published in an Apr 20, 2010 LifeHacker blog, with the title"Organize Your Work Contacts by Company on Your Phone with a Simple Tweak." And it was published in a May 30, 2010 Technologeek blog, with the same title as the caption that I used on this Flickr page. It was also published in an undated (Jun 2010) Cheap Tattoo blog, with the same title as the caption that I used on this Flickr page. It was also published in an Aug 19, 2010 blog titled "Technology Abuse." And it was published in a Sep 1, 2010 blog titled "A Woman’s Perspective on Personal Self Defense."

 

Moving into 2011, the photo was published in a Mar 10, 2011 blog titled "Text Messaging with Google Voice? The Right Setting Depends Upon Your Particular Phone." And it was published in an Apr 9, 2011 blog titled "Las cuatro alternativas más usadas para enviar mensajes gratis a móviles." It was also published in a May 25, 2011 Getting a Tattoo Ideas, with the same caption and detailed notes that I had written on this Flickr page. And it was published in an Aug 30, 2011 Martial Arts Lovers blog, with the same caption that I used on this Flickr page.

 

Moving into 2012, the photo was published in a Jan 15, 2012 blog titled "I HAVE SOME A PROBLEM FOR TATTOO MACHINE AND POWER SUPPLY?" It was also published in a Jul 24, 2012 blog titled "Vocablet of the day: oblivion." And it was published in an Aug 8, 2012 blog titled "EASY WAYS TO MAKE DROP-OFF GREAT ON THE FIRST DAY OF PRESCHOOL."

 

Moving into 2013, the photo was published in a Mar 4, 2013 blog titled "Pulling Back The Curtain On Text Message Mobile Marketing." And it was published in a May 5, 2013 blog titled "Used Cellphones - Cheap Phones."

 

Moving into 2014, the photo was published in a Jan 6, 2014 blog titled "Different Ways Women Can Use Instant Messengers."

 

******************

Note: on Apr 20, 2010 I decided to make a couple minor editing changes. The primary objective was to reduce the extent of dark shadow (i.e., solid black color) in the woman's pants and jacket, so that you would be able to see some shades of color. There was also a bit of over-exposure ("hot spot") on the top left portion of her t-shirt...

******************

 

Looking back on some old photos from 40-50 years ago, I was struck by how visible the differences were between the culture of then, versus the culture of now. In some cases, it was evident from the things people wore, or carried, or did, back then which they no longer do today. But sometimes it was the opposite: things that didn't exist back in the 1960s and 1970s have become a pervasive part of today's culture.

 

A good example is the cellphone: 20 years ago, it simply didn't exist. Even ten years ago, it was a relatively uncommon sight, and was seen usually only on major streets of big cities. Today, of course, cell phones are everywhere, and everyone is using them in a variety of cultural contexts.

 

However, I don't think this is a permanent phenomenon; after all, if you think back to the early 1980s, you probably would have seen a lot of people carrying Sony Walkmans, or "boom-box" portable radios -- all of which have disappeared...

 

If Moore's Law (which basically says that computers double in power every 18 months) holds up for another decade, then we'll have computerized gadgets approximately 100 times smaller, faster, cheaper, and better -- which means far better integration of music, camera, messaging, and phone, but also the possibility of the devices being so tiny that they're embedded into our eyeglasses, our earrings, or a tattoo on our forehead.

 

So the point of this album is to provide a frame of reference -- so that we can (hopefully) look back 10-20 years from now, and say, "Wasn't it really weird that we behaved in such bizarre ways while we interacted with those primitive devices?"

Yep! This is my deskstop. Non techy at all. I work graveyard in a hotel here in Nob Hill area in San Francisco. It's a boring job specially when the clock strikes 12midnight.

 

Good thing, I have internet connection and our IT have not blocked my favorite sites like Lifehacker and Boingboing.net

 

As you can see from my deskstop, we're not allowed to download anything and save anything in our computer.

 

No games, no special applications either. I understand why but sometimes I wish they would let us put at least Photoshop.

 

They have blocked several websites as well including irongeek.com and meetup.

I like reading the irongeek.com because I study internet and network security but they blocked it too, actually just two days ago.

 

I'm a bit irritated so I decided to put the "Retards" on my deskstop. I believe some people are like that here in the hotel (specially those who blocked websites that are not a threat).

 

I'm am thankful though, they have not blocked Flickr.

My desktop (Loudambiance@Lifehacker) setup using Geektool and a wallpaper from Cozmicboy@Deviantart called Smokey Colors

 

The different sets of data on geektool are achieved with the following apps/commands.

(All scripts moved to Pastie for now because there seems to be problems with flickr mark up breaking scripts)

Scripts

 

Addendum:

If you want to have an Icon of the weather, goto weather.yahoo.com and enter your city and get the url for the page it gives. Create a shell entry in geektool, replacing my url with yours:

 

I would suggest setting the opacity down some for looks.

Screenshot of mine with weather icon enabled can be found here:

www.flickr.com/photos/9643419@N07/3406322136/

 

(notes)

All commands are meant to be one line

All the top scripts have been grep'ed to ignore top in the results.

Also, this top method, while being slower, does not require an intermediate file.

Same thing, different angle.

 

Here you can also see (barely) my floating bookshelf. I was running out of room on my real bookshelf so I had to get something else, but I wanted it to be simple and interesting. This qualified!

  

lifehacker.com/232262/diy-invisible-bookshelf

www.instructables.com/id/Invisible-Book-Shelf/

Apple 24" LED Cinema Screen and my work phone (iPhone 4), Moto360 and personal phone (LG G4) with a Slickwraps skin

I saw an article on lifehacker.com about terrariums and was inspired to create my own. I knew we had lots of moss in the back yard so the hardest part was cleaning out an old candle jar.

 

I took the lid off just to take the shot but this one will be a closed terrarium.

 

Here's the link to lifehacker: lifehacker.com/5404522/make-a-moss-terrarium-for-low+main...

I hope you'll find this one a little more original. It follows the same principles as the LiS style, but I tried to ratchet up the eye candy without sacrificing productivity.

 

The obvious centrepiece is the Samurize config, which I started ages ago after being inspired by this. It's very sci-fi, of course, but in the best sense: everything has a purpose. Those arcs are actually displaying the time and date, my CPU, RAM, battery and network usage, the space on my laptop, external drive and iPod, and iTunes' song progress.

 

That black strip on the left has a purpose, too. Care to guess?

 

You can see a few other Rainmeter widgets scattered throughout, including the fake border on the bottom. The track info is a CD Art Display skin stripped down to the bare necessities.

 

Finally, the icons on the right are an experimental auto-hidden Rocketdock layout. I'm still in the process of trying to make Rocketdock do something useful, so for the moment, consider it a visual placeholder.

 

- - - - - - -

 

Theme:

- CleanGlass VS. Requires patched uxtheme.dll - patcher here.

- Wallpaper: not publicly available, I'm afraid. I made it using Children of the Night by Digital Blasphemy, and a render that has since disappeared from the Internet.

 

Startups:

- Autohotkey.

- Launchy.

- Yod'm 3D 1.4.

- D-Color.

- Taskbar Shuffle.

- Start Killer.

 

Programs usually running:

- Rainmeter. Skin: Enigma, with inverted colors on Border.

- CD Art Display. I'm still on the lookout for an iTunes plugin for Rainmeter. For the moment, I've taken a CAD skin and made it blend right in with the rest of the Rainmeter layout. It wasn't hard, but I'd be happy to walk you through it.

- Samurize. Config: "Arcs".

- Rocketdock. Icons: "ecqlipse 2".

 

Questions welcome!

Just a shot of some light Firefox customizing I've done. This is my Fast Dial homepage.

 

Theme:

- NASA Night Launch

Extensions (visible):

- Fast Dial

- Tiny Menu

Icons:

- "ecqlipse 2" PNG

 

Update: Thankye again, Lifehacker.

 

For details on the non-Firefox eye candy in this shot, please see the previous posts in the "Wing" series:

 

Wing (Desktop 14)

Wing Final

Applications i heavily rely on:

 

- Firefox

- 1Passwd (password management)

- Adium

- ChaChing (bill management)

- Billable (invoice management)

- Airfoil (stream itunes to appletv, expresses, and other itunes)

- Microsoft Office

- Textmate

- Transmit

- Omni Outliner & Omni Graffle

- VMware Fusion

- MacPorts

 

Picture of Home Office (from other lifehacker pool) www.flickr.com/photos/mkosut/2583927058/in/pool-lifehacke...

Okay. I've finally got around to uploading and completing my new desktop for july. Wallpaper is "Sleeper" by evilbadz on deviant art.

 

Like? Dislike? Suggestions? Criticism? Questions? Please leave a comment below.

Our new workplace at the house. That is a 10' x 4' desk, inspired by Lifehacker. Wonderful!

My entry for the Lifehacker Desktop Show & Tell. My desktop strategy is to have a very clean visual style, but to also have as much functionality as possible at my fingertips (using native Windows widgets/toolbars whenever possible).

This image was an idea I had for a Flickr guessing game, when I saw the nice bubble on top of the open part of the case.

 

This image has been used in 9 articles, for a 'contact' card and a web site...

• www.gadling.com/2010/06/24/use-contact-lens-cases-to-tran...

• lifehacker.com/5606735/from-the-tips-box-closing-windows-...

• www.kontaktlinsen-magazin.ch/2010/12/ermuden-die-augen-wi...

(in German, English translation here)

• www.freecontactlensesguide.com/where-can-i-order-free-col...

• manlalakbay.quazen.com/shopping/eyeglasses-or-contacts/

• www.freecontactlensesguide.com/free-pair-of-air-optix/

• saunascape.com/2012/02/can-i-wear-my-contacts-or-eyeglass...

• ericrollandgolf.wordpress.com/contact-2/

• feliciafibro.com/2011/09/15/fibro-feelings-back-to-normal/

• www.hawk-a.com/exception_code/archives/52

(in Japanese, English translation here)

• eyecareprofessionalsgb.com/order-contact-lenses/

my new workspace in my new place...

 

Behind me, there are two designer chairs from one of the best industrial designers in our country; Niko Kralj so the clients (or my wife) can see what is going on and enjoying a cup of coffee...

 

For work, I have iMac i7, 27", couple of MacbookPros and alot of sketching material.

 

Desk is made from wood for kitchen counters and a couple of chromed legs.

 

I also do alot of work in User Interfaces and Typography, so micrometer and prints are pretty common on it.

 

Hope you like it...

 

Cheers

Passengers boarding an airplane from inside of the main cabin

 

Update: Featured photo in this blog post about what would make airlines better according to flyers on social media www.budgettravel.com/blog/7-things-airlines-should-do-bet...

 

And in another BudgetTravel post about a new airline passenger payment model www.budgettravel.com/blog/should-airlines-charge-passenge...

 

Featured photo in this post about how to get better seat on an airline flight www.moneytalksnews.com/2013/08/14/how-to-get-the-best-air...

 

Used in this blog post about why airplane seat are so small northjerseysmallbusinessforum.org/2013/12/23/are-these-se...

 

Featured photo in this post about FAA changes to rules about using electronic devices in flight www.thelawinlife.com/?p=176

 

As seen in this Smithsonian blog post about how passengers subconsciously prefer to sit on the left side of the aisle www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/on-airplanes-people-ten...

 

Used in this blog post about the dirty secrets of airplanes budgettravel.com/feature/airlines-dirtiest-secrets,33050/ which was republished in the Huffington Post www.huffingtonpost.com/budget-travel/airlines-dirtiest-se...

 

As seen in this blog post about business networking while traveling blog.refresh.io/post/93225166436/turn-travel-time-into-a-...

 

Used in this blog post about an in-flight networking app called wingman 640x480.com/?p=447

 

Featured in another blog post about Airline's dirty secrets www.budgettravel.com/feature/airlines-dirtiest-secrets,33...

 

As seen in this blog post about how to avoid getting sick on flights travel.iafrica.com/departurelounge/967961.html

 

Used in this blog post about aggressive seat-swapping passengers roadwarriorvoices.com/2015/04/13/how-to-handle-an-aggress...

 

As seen in this Australian news story about how airline are packing seats in closer in economy class www.news.com.au/travel/travel-advice/the-safety-risk-of-s...

 

Used in this CBS News story about airline customer ratings www.local12.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/The-air...

 

As seen in this story about EU privacy standards and sharing passenger info in Denmark www.thelocal.dk/20150519/denmark-plans-to-leapfrog-eu-on-...

 

Featured photo in this Mashable news story about how airline seats are getting slimmer, and the challenges posed by packing more passengers on existing airplanes mashable.com/2015/04/14/slim-seats-airplane/

 

Used in this Korean blog post about picking the perfect airplane seat ssrla.tistory.com/7

 

As seen in this blog post about securing your home by not mentioning your travel plans over social media (and thereby inviting intruders) www.bargainmoose.ca/5-frugal-ways-to-secure-your-home-fro...

 

Featured photo in this blog post about hidden fees by airlines for cancelations or rebooking tickets www.forbes.com/sites/annabahney/2015/06/30/the-hidden-fee...

 

Used in this blog post about a passenger who got fined after an altercation on their flight travel.iafrica.com/bulletinboard/998765.html

 

As seen in this listicle of pet peeves while flying www.charter-a.com/top-10-public-plane-journey-pet-peeves

 

Featured photo in this blog post about the cleanest airlines www.budgettravel.com/blog/budget-travel-tips-the-worlds-c...

 

Used in this chinese blog post meditating on the nature of luck lrandcom.com/luck

 

As seen in this Forbes blog post about how passengers are willing to pay fees for extra priveledges, such as baggage tracking and getting off the plane first www.forbes.com/sites/kateashford/2015/07/30/air-fees/

 

Used in this blog post testing which areas of an airplane carry the most germs www.techtimes.com/articles/82905/20150908/scientists-reve...

 

Featured photo in this USA Today post about whether obese passengers should pay more for airplane seating roadwarriorvoices.com/2015/09/10/poll-shows-people-want-o...

 

Used in this editorial about banning reclining seats in the coach class www.palisadeshudson.com/2015/09/banning-reclining-seats-i...

 

As seen in this op-ed about why it's time to applying on-demand economics a la Uber to air travel www.moneytalksnews.com/why-its-time-uber-ize-air-travel/

 

Used in this listicle of flying etiquette www.cheapflights.com/news/top-9-rules-of-airtiquette/.

 

Included in this HuffPost article about how to be a smarter airplane passenger, as an example of respecting personal space for your fellow travelers www.huffingtonpost.com/cheapflights/top-9-rules-of-airtiq...

 

As seen in this listicle about secrets of airplane travel la20s.com/10-travel-secrets-that-you-should-know-before-y...

 

Featured in this graduate students blog about how to travel for an academic convention www.gradpsychblog.org/a-comprehensive-list-of-student-tra...

 

Used in this humorous listicle about how to prepare for an uncomfortable flight www.cheapflights.com/news/most-uncomfortable-flight-ever/

 

As seen in this blog post about travel award nominees blogs.plos.org/thestudentblog/2016/07/08/ecrawards1/

 

Featured in this California Public Radio post about Memorial Day travel plans www.capradio.org/74485

 

Used in this clickbait slideshow about toilet humor true stories, as an example of someone who ran for the airplane bathroom shortly after seating on their flight www.suggest.com/lifestyle/1534822/bathroom-emergency-stor...

 

As seen in this Lifehacker post about how airlines pack in more seats on modern planes twocents.lifehacker.com/cheap-airline-tickets-aren-t-as-g...

 

TravelPulse featured this photo in their article about changes i American Airlines' boarding policy www.travelpulse.com/news/airlines/did-american-just-make-...

 

Used in this story about a passenger who wasn't allowed to bring their kid on a their flight www.littlethings.com/plane-ticket-guardian-angel/

 

As seen in this health article about why some passengers experience inner-ear pain when flying ic.steadyhealth.com/flying-and-ear-problems

 

Included in this list comparing air travel with RVs www.doityourselfrv.com/rv-beats-air-travel/

 

Used in this Chinese blog post about why it's so cold in airplane cabins technews.tw/2017/07/09/heres-the-real-reason-why-its-so-c...

 

Included in this listicle about aisle seat hacks www.naukad.com/10-secretos-debes-conocer-coger-proximo-av...

 

As seen in Business Insider's post about why you get sick on airplanes www.businessinsider.com/why-airplanes-make-you-sick-2017-10/ and their syndicated post on Yahoo News www.yahoo.com/news/why-sick-flight-164939860.html

 

Used in this story about the "Mile High club" intriper.com/todos-los-consejos-necesitas-saber-sexo-avio...

 

As seen in this article about sexual assault on airline flights newyorkminutemag.com/victims-of-in-flight-sexual-assault-...

 

Featured in this blog post about how to make airplane seating more efficient www.anoj.net/consumeronomics/how-do-we-make-airport-board...

 

Used in this listicle about the most germ infested places in airplanes www.onlyinyourstate.com/travel-tips/germiest-places-on-an...

 

As seen in this Australian blog post about flying pet peeves www.3ba.com.au/shows/alex-withers/latest-from-alex/76930-...

 

Used in this article about sexual assaults on airlines newyorkminutemag.com/victims-of-in-flight-sexual-assault-...

 

As seen in this blog post about the effects of flying on your health www.bitoeverything.com/is-flying-good-for-your-health-sho...

 

Included in this listicle of travel hacks news.shareably.net/60-airport-travel-hacks/

 

Featured in this FlyerTalk article about a flight grounded after a crew member was charged with a crime www.flyertalk.com/articles/american-airlines-pilot-linked...

 

As seen in this Fodor's Travel article about the best spots to sit of the airplane www.fodors.com/news/travel-tips/the-best-seats-on-the-pla...

 

DYK fact #7 in this blog post about the best plane seat for motion sickness? didyouknowfacts.com/10-facts-about-airplanes-that-may-soo...

 

Used in this Korean blog post about why travelers use Uber travelpost.kr/2016/01/05/uber-travel/

 

As seen in this Taiwanese article about picking window vs aisle seats technews.tw/2019/09/14/is-the-aisle-seat-better-than-the-...

 

Featured in this blog post about the most efficient ways to board an airplane yourmileagemayvary.net/2020/02/14/astrophysicists-may-hav...

 

Should You Cancel Your Flight Because of COVID-19?https://www.esquiremag.ph/life/health-and-fitness/travel-covid-19-coronavirus-a2099-20200303-lfrm

 

Used in this article about traveling to Mexico www.mexicanist.com/l/what-to-know-before-you-travel-to-me...

 

As seen in this blog post about what airlines are doing to fix "bumping" from flights globaledge.msu.edu/blog/post/55701/what-is--bumping--and-...

 

Used in this list of Engineering jokes donpettygrove.blogspot.com/2021/03/25-best-engineering-jo...

 

Included in this blog post about things flight attendants look for when passengers board 12tomatoes.com/flight-attendants-greeting/

and why you shouldn't change seats 12tomatoes.com/reason-not-to-change-seats-airplane/

and what the most efficient way to board a plane would be 12tomatoes.com/best-way-to-board-airplane/

 

Used in this list about common travel mistakes www.simplemost.com/travel-myths-debunked/

 

As seen in this blog post about airplane etiquette takeoffwithme.com/airplane-etiquette/

 

Featured in this Business Insider blog post about airplane boarding methods featured on Mythbusters www.businessinsider.com/mythbusters-airlines-boarding-pla...

 

As seen in this Business Insider listicle about how to fly like a gentleman www.businessinsider.com/7-rules-for-flying-like-a-modern-... and this blog post about how to meet influential people while flying www.businessinsider.com/how-to-use-air-travel-to-meet-inf...

 

Detail: Enigma 2.6

Detail: Rainmeter 1.1

 

- - - - - - -

 

Before we released Rainmeter 1.0 with Enigma 2.5 in August, we had always planned to follow it up with a small update - a patch, you could say - after gathering some community feedback. And feedback we have gathered. The response to 1.0 was delightfully overwhelming, and although I naturally have less time for pet projects than I did over the summer, I've put my other desktop work on hold to help the Rainmeter developers meet the demand and broaden Rainmeter's capabilities.

 

As with everything else I touch, these "small updates" have grown faster than anyone expected. So, while you shouldn't expect something quite as dramatic as the last go-around, I think Rainmeter 1.1 will make a nice early Christmas present for anyone with an interest. :)

 

1.1's feature list has grown at a feverish pace over the last two months, so I'm sure I'm forgetting a few. But here are some highlights:

 

- RainBrowser. Joining RainConfigure and RainThemes, this new addon helps you manage your entire Rainmeter library. We have added a complete metadata section to every single skin, which means you can now find detailed descriptions and setup instructions in a clean, user-friendly GUI. You can even sort your skins by tags, which you can add and edit from inside the app. RainBrowser also lets you change the settings on your active skins more precisely than the context menu. (In keeping with Rainmeter's light profile, all three apps are still completely removable.)

- Skins may now include local fonts, so you can use them in Rainmeter without going all the way to installing them in Windows.

- The mouse changes when hovering over buttons and links, making them easier to find and harder to click by accident.

- Images now scale automatically when resized.

- The WebParser plugin has seen some important bandwidth improvements. The plugin defaults to a ten-minute update rate, and it doesn't re-download a page unless it's been modified since the last update.

 

The real meat of this update is probably more exciting for customizers and developers than for the average user, so I won't be offended if your eyes glaze over this next section:

 

- Dynamic Variables. We have removed nearly all restrictions on how and where Measure values can be used.

- Meter Styles. You can now define blank sections that other meters can refer to as templates. This is a powerful new tool that eliminates mass amounts of redundant code and makes it easy to adjust meter properties throughout a skin, or even multiple skins, in conjunction with...

- Inclusions. Any skin can now include sections from external files, including measures, styles, and most importantly, variables. Thanks to these, Enigma now stores your personal settings - like Google login data, weather code, etc. - in a one convenient Variables file.

 

Naturally, I've made many additions and revisions to Enigma along the way. The package is now closely integrated with Rainmeter's new features, in an attempt to provide the smoothest, most intuitive user experience we can manage.

 

- Several new skins, of course. The oft-requested Google Calendar reader is here, along with a suite of skins monitoring network activity and WiFi signal, the moon phase, world clocks, and Winamp/Foobar variants for the Music skins. As befits the name of the program, I've also added a skin that measures the probability of rain. :)

- You can now middle-click to refresh skins or cycle their variants.

- The unwieldly and intimidating Home skin has been vastly downsized into a sleek launcher with access to your skins, themes, settings and support forum. You can open it from any setup by double-clicking the sidebar or the taskbar.

- The instructions have been expanded into a 13-page PDF manual with plenty of links and troubleshooting options.

- Colors can now be customized directly from the config tool, so the "Alt" variants are no longer necessary. (In other words, I literally got rid of half the code.)

- Taskbar skins now use a common stylesheet file, which can easily be replaced or edited - adding a whole new dimension of customizability to the suite. Even though this is still a bit limited, I'm really excited about the possibilities, and I'd love to reach a point where other developers can distribute their own "Enigma styles" and the user can plug them in without any further setup. :)

- The whole Weather skin fiasco is coming to an end - we've finally settled on Yahoo! Weather. One of the upsides here is that YW uses the same set of location codes as Weather.com, so your old settings are now usable again.

- All images, settings, etc. have been moved to a separate Resources folder, so you're free to move, reorganize and rename any skin without worrying about breaking it.

- I have (very grudgingly) added a new Theme to the default set - you can now make your desktop match the preview setup in one click.

 

We're looking to unleash this armada of new features upon the world by November 1st, so keep an eye out. :)

 

- - - - - - -

 

Questions, comments, concerns? As always, this is your opportunity to give us your last-minute input.

 

- - - - - - -

 

Wallpaper: The Opal Lake.

Also check out my Firefox show and tell

Background: Norway 102 by ~lonelywolf2 from deviantart.com

 

Fences application to hide and group all my icons. Double click on the screen and they are ready to use.

 

The Rainmeter system monitor and configuration tool for Windows

 

The Pragmatic 3.0 Rainmeter skin for the clock top right the desktop.

 

The Illustro Rainmeter skin for the weather bottom left desktop.

 

The Elegance Rainmeter skin for the google search bottom right. desktop Transparency set to 80%.

Update: The complete "Enigma" suite is now available.

 

- - - - - - -

 

I went back and tweaked my Firefox setup just a bit more, after hearing some good ideas in the comments of the last one.

 

Most significantly, I ditched Tiny Menu for Personal Menu, which basically does the same thing and more. The icon isn't quite as pretty as TM's globe button, but that's a small price to pay for the following:

 

- Hidden bookmarks toolbar. PM auto-hides the topmost toolbar; you can press Alt to toggle it. I simply moved my bookmarks into the menu bar; they're now easy to access, which is the whole point of the bookmarks toolbar, but I don't have to look at them. It's nice to have the chrome reduced to a single bar.

 

- Removed status bar. Again, courtesy of PM.

 

- Removed search bar. On Nabeel's suggestion, I re-added all of my search engines as bookmarklets. To search Google, for example, I just type "g [search text]"; for Wikipedia, "w [search text]". It'll take some getting used to, but it's already working pretty well, and it's definitely worth excising the extra bar, especially if I can get them working in Ubiquity.

 

As for the Rainmeter bar on the bottom of the screen: I guess I should have known people would be almost more interested in that than the Firefox stuff. I've put together a big ZIP file that contains 1) the "Enigma" and "Arcs" Samurize configs, 2) the latest "Enigma" theme in Rainmeter, with both sidebar and mock-taskbar widgets, and 3) my custom styles for CD Art Display. I'll upload that for you and post it here tomorrow afternoon.

 

Cheers, and questions welcome.

Chronodex July - December 2013 Weekly Diary Free Download Released

 

Chronodex friends here you go! The July to December 2013 version is released, feel free to download and plan ahead your visual scheduling for the rest of the year.

 

Here are some of the places you can interact with other Chronodex users:

 

Chronodex

Chronodex Facebook Page

Chronodex Flickr Group

The Fountain Pen Network thread about Chronodex

Lifehacker's cover of Chronodex

 

Yes Chronodex is kind of weird, it looks a bit too complicated, it is not like any other traditional scheduling tools, but it is inspirational and free style. I made it so as to break the rules of scheduling, most diaries/schedule books have rigid grids and timeline which limit the available space for you to write notes related to your schedule, you can use any space on the paper to link your time specific entries thus free from the traditional constraints.

  

Look at our beautiful cross harbour tunnel, it is a 'grid', it is 'rigid' but it works in mass transportation because it provides a system and create order. It is dull too, especially in times of traffic jam and rainy days. What you have to dissect is that there is a difference between mass order and personal creativity. Chronodex is for your personal creativity in what seems to be a rigid time system, it is for you to exploit/explore the space nobody ever made constraints of.

  

I've also made Chronodex a free download to share in 2011 when my father was too old and too sick lying on bed struggling, questioning himself feeling useless. We had no way to help, prayers from all of you mysteriously helped somehow IMHO, but the thing is, I wanted to prove that everything is connected, he was not and never useless, if people appreciate Chronodex, it was because of him I existed and being educated by him into a person with inquisitive mind. He should be proud of himself, even though there was no way I could convey this to him during his deterioriation. Today on the Star Ferry lower deck, I saw a grandfather holding his grandson's T-shirt looking over the harbour an European tall ship cruising by, the light tug, the togetherness and a sense of exploration made me sob inside, recalling my own exploration with Dad and his brief time with my own kid.

  

Tonight, Mom told me her encounter with Dad on his 140th day of passing which happens to be my little brother's birthday. A cicada was standing weakly on the floor where Dad used to stay often, she picked it up with both hands and prayed the Great Compassion Mantra (大悲咒), bringing it to the window seam and left it there. Minutes later, it flew away energetically full of life. The scene reminds us of the Chao Shao-an (趙少昂)'s painting which my Dad loved so much and had been on our living room wall for the longest time, AND it is Lychee season now. Can you see all the connections and emotions?

  

The stuffs we hold dear of, always leave impressions for people close and around us, these things are proves of our existence painted over with emotions and mysterious connections.

  

So this coming week, like the last, I will be out of my home town heading Shanghai for a week of intensive preparation of a new store launch. Love the travel, hate the separation, enjoying everything in between.

  

Meanwhile, Traveler's Notebook fans in Hong Kong had a great time in the Star Ferry ride, after-party and small meet-ups. I hope to do it more often, feel free to drop by our Facebook group. Now, follow me for a 15 seconds tranquil journey across the lovely Victoria Harbour.

 

More on Scription blog: scription.typepad.com/blog/2013/06/chronodex-july-decembe...

A rather battered but reliable Samsung GS4, iPad Mini and my notebook

The amazing magnetic bead wall. Four sheets of joist panning were screwed into the studs, and then we surrounded the new magnet wall with some trim painted black.

 

We glued magnets to the bottom of many plastic screw-top containers, then popped them onto the wall. This freed up a tremendous amount of workspace!

 

All lifehacker fans should appreciate the usage of magnets. Give them a whirl for your next project!

 

beadedbird.etsy.com

A screenshot of my super productivity inducing desktop.

London

 

Tired tour guide?

 

Photo used by bridgeviewseamer.weebly.com/warner.html.

 

Photo used by www.moneytalksnews.com/why-americans-are-working-playing-....

 

Photo used by lifehacker.com/use-the-rule-of-threes-to-find-out-if-you-....

 

When I saw the post at lifehacker, I was sure to upload a Photo to the flickr pool. This set-up looks rather boring, but it has a story to it. I came with a suggestion to my parents to fix the game-room, more space, something to work with.

 

So to save costs and money we bought this desk at Ikea. The result is a big working space and my desktop computer hovering above the ground.

First things

 

First, we have a big house and in that we have a game-room. At this room I have my own computer and my own desk to work at. My old desk was too small to work with and I had no space for my equipment.

 

Next to that it was very hard to clean the place up. We had these two old small desktops and dust everywhere.

 

I’m a multimedia designer, a gamer and next to that I really love gadgets. For that you need space, allot of space.

 

This big white table is great for working, I can work with my laptop or even put a sketchbook next to me and not to worry about the space. It’s an cheap and ideal solution that still works very well.

 

The PC solution is also great, because it hovers above the ground. This simple and easy solution makes sure the PC makes less noise and catches less dust.

 

The gray box thingie (no idea what the English word is...) is something I learned at an internship. I’m a chaotic person who wants to work in a mess. I had a supervisor that forced me to work with such an thing the entire internship. The result was that I always had an clean and tidy desk and if I looked for a piece of paper it was right there.

 

Here is the before and after pic:

 

www.flickr.com/photos/rbstijl/3762467511/

 

Edit:

 

For the people who want to know what Ikea desk this is:

It's the Galant serie.. PQR 15288 0824 (i recently found a sticker with those properties...)

  

Spent a few hours last night putting together a series of Rainmeter, CDArtDisplay, and Launchy skins to hash out a theme based on the Flip Clock config I previously did.

 

I will release the configs as soon as I get permission from all of the authors that I have liberally borrowed from. I will then upload the suite to my website (www.architectrio.com/projectvirus.html). As shown by the second screenshot all of these skins are standalone, so they should blend in nicely with any other config you're using.

 

Stuff you can download without me uploading them:

 

Wallpaper, cleverly named "Green Grass and Blue Sky"

Alduin Visual Style

Iconize Windows Taskbar with EnhanceMyXP

Remove Start Button with StartKiller

 

Special thanks to some Lifehacker group members who have motivated me to design and put up some new stuff - although they don't know it since I only secretly admired their work and didn't comment on their uploads:

 

Ihefrie

KGShark

Zach Denton

dangerous ape

elmedico27

  

The car wash foam makes me giggle.

 

Seen here...

immigration.change.org/blog/view/car_wash_employees_revol...

 

and here...

torontoist.com/cruzetowin/best-detailing.php

 

and here...

www.bargainmoose.ca/fathers-day-gift-ideas-on-a-frugal-bu...

 

and here...

www.mysocalledmoney.com/2013/07/02/the-secrets-of-a-home-...

 

and here…

www.lifehacker.com.au/2013/12/the-future-of-car-hacking/

 

Note: this photo was published as part of the illustrations for a June 2009 Mahalo blog page about John Hodgman at www-dot-mahalo-dot-com-slash-john-hodgman.

 

Moving into 2010, the photo was published in a Jan 27, 2010 blog titled "Financial Infidelity: Cheating On Your Partner With Dollars." It was also published in a Jun 13, 2010 Polish blog titled "Mac lepszy do gier niż PC?" And it was published in an Oct 7, 2010 blog titled "What Are Signs of a Cheating Partner?" It was also published in a Dec 15, 2010 blog titled " If Macs are for… "

 

Moving into 2011, the photo was published in a Jun 16, 2011 blog titled "Planhacker: Australian Prepaid 3G Broadband Deals June 2011." It was also published in a Sep 9, 2011 blog titled "Setup File Sharing for Mac OS X to Windows 7."

 

Moving into 2012, the photo was published in a Feb 22, 2012 blog titled "Question by islandgirl06 How to regain trust after you cheated on your wife?"

 

Moving into 2013, the photo was published in a feb 14, 2013 blog titled "しかもだんだん似てくるらしい。."

 

*******************

 

I know these are repetitious, and I may eventually decide to delete a couple of them from this Flickr album ... but I was intrigued by this Mac/PC couple, and very much enjoyed watching how they arranged themselves -- facing in opposite directions -- in this little protected clump of trees in Riverside Park...

 

*************************

 

OK, so it's not Justin Long and John Hodgman doing their funny bit to compare the features of Macs versus Windows-based computers ... but it's still a little amusing to see something like this, out in the middle of a peaceful park environment...

 

You have to wonder what else this couple argues about, besides their laptop of choice: politics, religion, Yankees-vs-Red Sox?

 

*******************

I've strolled through Riverside Park on several previous occasions (click here to see a collection of approximately seven other Flickr albums of my Riverside Park photos) -- but even though the sign at the 96th Street entrance is always the same, and the pathway is always the same, the people and the individual vignettes are always different.

 

Sometimes it's simply a function of the weather: people dress differently, act differently, and engaged in different activities in early spring than they do in summer or late fall. But much of it simply has to do with the incredible variety of people who take advantage of the opportunity to relax, read a book, jog, or picnic with their families.

 

So ... this just happens to be what it looked like in Riverside Park on the last day of May, in 2009.

UPDATE: Starlight Rainmeter Package A more comprehensive package containing my modified Launchy and CD Art Display skins, among other things, is coming. I just need permission from the original authors first.

 

UPDATE: I just posted a preview of my latest Rainmeter project - Halo HUD. Starlight Rainmeter Package coming momentarily...

 

UPDATE: I just added TweetScan to the list of Rainmeter configs below. Eurostile font included with it. Enjoy!

 

UPDATE: Thanks for the feature Lifehacker! If you want to read more about my methodology, check out my last desktop Faded and Desaturated

 

I call this one Starlight.

 

Changes:

Basically, I moved some things around and out of the way, as well as giving it a little more style and visual flare. The taskbar auto-hides at the bottom. I know it doesn't "pop" like a lot of other minimalistic desktops, but that's the point.

 

Like I said before, Twitter Rainmeter config is incoming. I haven't been able to work on my desktop configuration until recently, thus the delay. Expect it before the week is out, along with a preview of another huge Rainmeter project I've been working on. Trust me, it will be Legendary. ;)

 

As usual...

  

Font:

Eurostile LT Extended

 

Programs Used:

CD Art Display

Desktop Coral

Launchy

MiniLyrics

Rainmeter

RocketDock

Samurize

 

CD Art Display Skin:

Faded

 

Launchy Skin:

MinimaLaunchy

 

RocketDock Icons:

ecqlipse 2 and various matching sets

 

Rainmeter Configs:

TweetScan

10-Foot HUD

Enigma 2.1

 

Samurize Configs:

Arcs Original (also included with Enigma 2.1)

 

Wallpaper:

The Orion Nebula

 

Windows Vista x64 Theme:

Vista Ultimate Grey

(Added to the group Macro Mondays for the theme: "Jimmy Buffet Lyrics")

 

I dont know jack about Jimmy. Like most other MM-ers, I googled him and he's sung about every possible trivial act/noun/verb catalogued by Man, so this was a pretty open ended theme, IMO. Good luck filtering, mods!

 

Jimmy Buffet (along with Cheeseburger in Paradise) inspired me to dig up a photo I took last week when I stopped by this quasi-swanky burger joint, "Umami Burgers" in LA. My buddy ordered the "SoCal Burger" with oven dried tomato, house made processed cheese, and caramelized onions.

 

ORIGINAL PIC UNCROPPED

 

www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/10/hollywood-boulevard-eas...

lifehacker.com/5307218/summer-eats/gallery/?selectedImage=2

blogs.villagevoice.com/forkintheroad/archives/2010/03/rea...

www.redmonk.com/jgovernor/2010/03/22/defining-cloud-is-si...

losangeles.grubstreet.com/2010/05/is_umami_unseating_las_...

www.theurbangrocer.com/2010/05/17/umami-burger/

www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/04/los-angeles-greatest-cu...

www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/28/chowhounds-top-10-resta...

testserver5.excela.com/gallery/

Long ago, I promised to post a guide for deciphering this Samurize config, which appeared in my previous desktops, Wing (Desktop 14) and Wing Final. So here it is, at long last.

 

You can now download the config, called "Arcs," as part of the Enigma package.

 

Wallpaper: Eos by ¢elusive.

June '18. I've added a Dell 21" monitor in portrait mode for easier viewing of my work calendar

UPDATE: MANY THANKS TO LIFEHACKER FOR ANOTHER FEATURE

 

One side note: I uploaded another desktop shot in my Photostream regarding the widened notes and readers.

 

YAY FOR MY BUSY SCHEDULE =[

 

I like the idea of hoopz23's Black + White. Where the reader are placed like that... Except that I decided to make four readers.

 

Using:

-Rainmeter - Enigma 2.0 (modified) and Black Uber Simplicity (modified)

-VLC - Hulk Vs. Wolverine

-Launchy - Minimalism (modified)

-CD Art Display - CleanClear (modified)

-Standalone Stack (modified - to remove the Open Folder icon)

 

Yay! That's all there is to it. Hope ya'll like it.

 

Question, comments are all welcome.

Having been rather busy the last few months I've been unable to work on the development of new Rainmeter desktop screens, so seeing as I finally had the time, this is what I came up with. The 'Order in Chaos' title is my attempt at summarizing the juxtaposition between the violent waves of the wallpaper image as compared to the clean and calming Rainmeter skins in the center of the screen.

  

For those who might want to replicate my theme, below are all elements that I used in the process:

- Drizzle by ~fadeoffset for time and date

- Flat & Blurry by ~satyajit00 for HDD and weather

- Alli Anew by ~FionnT for the RSS feed (seems he updated the old skin and deleted the one I used - if you really want the old version, I'll be happy to share)

- Pop Menu by ~filipbaotic for the subtle left-side launcher panel that folds out when clicked

- Omnimo UI for the subtle battery indicator (of course not needed if you're on a desktop PC)

- Glatt wallpaper by ~AidenDrew

 

Update

Thank you to the Lifehacker blog for featuring my theme online! I was wondering why it suddenly had so many views on Flickr >. >'

I decided that GeekTool is too awesome to be wasted on someone who gets really bored of wallpapers really quickly, like myself, so I wanted to make something that I could use with a bunch of different backgrounds.

 

All I have to do is load up a new wallpaper, pick a couple nice colors from the palette and recolor the fonts to make it fit.

 

Background: InterfaceLift (I think, it's been awhile)

 

Weather geeklet: GtWthr.com

 

Font: Helvetica Neue for most, Secret Code for fixed-width

Snow Leopard 10.6.8

 

Made Using -:

1. Geek Tool

2. Mirage

3.CandyBar

4.Shades of Grey Snow Leopard Theme

5.Token Icons - Dark Set download Here

Well, I may be just a little slow in uploading this desktop (*whistles innocently* - you mean it's not September anymore?) but better late than never. It's not like I've had this set-up since June or anything... No major changes, just fiddling with the colours, fonts and wallpapers.

 

Like? Dislike? Thoughts? Comments?

 

As usual, want to know anything - just ask (it will make me get off my ass and find out the info)

I'm an IT person in NYC, and this is what I normally bring with me to and from work. :)

 

1. Coach leather messenger bag

2. Acer Chromebook C720

3. LG Nexus 5

4. Google Glass

5. Oakley Sunglass case

6 Philips Micro USB adapter

7. Oakley Glass cleaning kit

8 7" Amazon HDX tablet

9. Poweradd Pilot E2 12000mAh External battery

10. StormTrooper USB Flashdrive

11. Proair inhaler

12. TUL Pen / marker

13. Etymotic ER-4P In-Ear headphones

Finally got weather working again (using the same scripts as in previous wallpapers) and a weather forecast using the python weather script (modified) from Thomas Upton (here: www.thomasupton.com/blog/?p=202)

 

the rest of the scripts are the same as in previous desktops

Since the previous photo of these series (www.flickr.com/photos/mlazarevski/8495086843/in/set-72157...) was featured on many web sites, such as "LifeHacker", "Business Insider", etc... I've decided to publish another spontaneous photo of the same girl, talking on the phone. Feel free to use it, as long as you specify the author and not make commercial use of the photo.

 

Girl talking on her cell phone near the triumphal arch located on Pella Square in Skopje, Macedonia.

 

lifehacker.com/write-notes-before-making-a-phone-call-to-...

 

www.businessinsider.com/ask-co-workers-how-much-theyre-ma...

 

www.lisajohnsonfitness.com/phones-in-the-gym/

 

www.businessinsider.com/court-phone-location-records-ruli...

 

menknowpause.fooyoh.com/menknowpause_lifestyle_living/857...

This is yet again ANOTHER Updated version of my Windows XP machine. This time I changed the Wallpaper, thanks to theworldisasheep (http://flickr.com/photos/32901002@N03/

) Hover over to see the link to the wallpaper among other information about skins used in the Rainmeter Display