Lifehacker

February 23, 2005 8:56 AM

Lifehackeris a fairly new addition to the Gawker Media family of blogs, publishers of another personal favorite in the Gizmodo gadget blog. Lifehacker posts articles on how to do all sorts of things better/quicker/cooler/cheaper:

• How to make a "life poster" with Photoshop
• how to opt out of credit card junk mail
• free Hubble Space Telescope wallpaper images
• get thumbnail screenshots with your google search results using firefox
• How to cut vegetables (previously posted here)

In its three short weeks of life, Lifehacker has given me good tips at a shockingly high frequency. Of course, the whole thing comes full circle with their frequent Ask Metafilter Roundup posts.
posted by mcstayinskool (65 comments total)

Is there RSS?
posted by stbalbach at 9:01 AM on February 23, 2005

you bet-- I get each post as an RSS email in thunderbird. That's totally the way to go with this site...
posted by mcstayinskool at 9:03 AM on February 23, 2005

http://lifehacker.com/index.xml is the RSS URL
posted by mcstayinskool at 9:04 AM on February 23, 2005

Matt is no longer an industry observer. He's now a technologist.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 9:05 AM on February 23, 2005

Any friend of the MPAA is a friend of mine. Wait, no.
posted by leotrotsky at 9:06 AM on February 23, 2005

This is excellent. One of those sites that instantly gets a spot in my favorites list. Thanks.
posted by braun_richard at 9:08 AM on February 23, 2005

MPAA and Sony both suck, but so what?
It's not like I have to boycott getting tips from Lifehacker because I think their backers are evil. I don't think this is insidious on the scale of FoxNews or something. We're talking about How to Tie a Tie.
posted by mcstayinskool at 9:13 AM on February 23, 2005

Why do those sites not have comments? I read Engadget over Gizmodo simply because it has commenting (because other than that, they're virtually identical).
posted by smackfu at 9:15 AM on February 23, 2005

Ooooh — an unordered list in a front-page post. :)

I just discovered LifeHacker last night (indirectly via my AskMe question yesterday). There's some fun stuff, but boy those GREAT BIG Sony ads are annoying...

I bookmarked the site, too. Good stuff.
posted by jdroth at 9:15 AM on February 23, 2005

PepsiBlueFilter, and a big step down from Gawker/Wonkette.
posted by amberglow at 9:17 AM on February 23, 2005

Relax, mcstayinskool. I don't recall suggesting a boycott. I'm just carping. It's what we do here, no?
posted by leotrotsky at 9:20 AM on February 23, 2005

jdroth: maybe they will post a tip on how to block all of the sony ads... ;) actually, there's no chance whatsoever of that. FWIW, if you get the posts via an RSS feed you won't see the ads.

trotsky: yep. just carping back. it's what i do. i'm fully relaxed, thanks to all that caffeine I drank this morning...
posted by mcstayinskool at 9:25 AM on February 23, 2005

Those great big Sony ads are pulling in a cool $25,000 a month.
posted by simonw at 9:26 AM on February 23, 2005

Why is it that I suddenly feel a bit exposed by having some of AskMe's questions collected and posted via this new forum? It's not like any part of MeFi has ever been private, but having a new (and presumably widely-read) blog link to AskMe like this feels a bit odd...like I know that somebody's reading my mail. Hmm.

But yeah, cool site with a lot of potential.
posted by ChrisTN at 9:28 AM on February 23, 2005

Sony ads?

*hugs Firefox and Adblock extension*
posted by lyam at 9:28 AM on February 23, 2005

They really are good at hacking lol
posted by Dean Keaton at 9:28 AM on February 23, 2005

Needs more Sony logos. I mean, having them in the ads, and in the banner, and in the datestamps is fine, but what about all that horrid whitespace?
posted by sklero at 9:29 AM on February 23, 2005

This lifehacker, it vibrates?
posted by delmoi at 9:36 AM on February 23, 2005

It's nice-- I can go to red-hot-anal-sluts.com from work, but any URL containing "h#ck" is blocked.
Surely my employer isn't the only one who does this.
posted by trharlan at 9:47 AM on February 23, 2005

It seems the key to hacking life is to buy a lot of Sony products. I'm not sure that I care much for the way they feature Ask Metafilter, either. A commercial site that's making $25K a month should be offering up their own content instead of just linking to Ask Metafilter's. Every time I answer a question there, I'll feel like I'm not really helping someone so much as providing content for Nick Denton.
posted by MegoSteve at 9:49 AM on February 23, 2005

Yeah, what's bizarre to me here -- if anybody watched Charlie Rose interviewing Wonkette et all here -- is that this supposed gawker model is... working? I mean, Sony is actually paying $25 THOUSAND dollars for this placement? For fuck's sake.... wow.

on preview: I concur with Mego. I believe in hyperlinks and sharing information etcetera.. but if it were my site, I'd feel a bit expletive used by this commercialism of "my data"...
posted by cavalier at 9:52 AM on February 23, 2005

I never did understand the lack of comments on Gawker Media blogs either. Like smackfu, I'm leaning stronger towards sites with comments, not just for the endless snark, but because often time the comments are just as enlightening as the original post.

More annoying: The Gawker blogs all tend to have at least one post a week with a "What do you think about x and y? Let us know" close and it's cumbersome to figure out where the hell you're supposed to email them.

Of course, Lifehacker did link to me yesterday, so...guess I shouldn't complain too much.

Now where's my Sony monies?
posted by Remy at 9:55 AM on February 23, 2005

Dear Bloggers,
please stop referring to your average tips on whatever as "hacks". It's really annoying.
Thanks.

btw, Engadget is far better than Gizmodo,
posted by mr.marx at 9:56 AM on February 23, 2005

mr.marx: I agree with that jargon hack. Hack on.
posted by Plutor at 10:00 AM on February 23, 2005

I find I've seen 90% of their 'hacks' already.
posted by daveirl at 10:08 AM on February 23, 2005

Who the hell would spend so long learning how to cut vegetables?
posted by Vulpyne at 10:16 AM on February 23, 2005

Wow, delmoi. Nothing like a random act of annoyance to brighten some one's day. I hope you get a hangnail.

For future reference, does anyone know how to undo that cute little joke that *doesn't* involve closing the entire browser window, losing the contents of the 11 other open tabs?
posted by allan at 10:27 AM on February 23, 2005

The vegetable cutting tips are really quite handy. Cutting them correctly certainly improves the quality of the your meal.
posted by lyam at 10:36 AM on February 23, 2005

Kind of cool. But, by the site's definition, putting on a pair of galoshes would be considered a "hack" for keeping your feet and shoes dry on a rainy day. Oh, for the simpler days of "Hacks from Heloise."
posted by adgnyc at 10:37 AM on February 23, 2005

I thought a hack was a bad journalist, with banner headlines like "alien babies killed my mutant kittens." And so on.

Oh, and a big old arrrgrgrrgrggrghh! Using computer jargon in one's life *will* lead to the next step in our evolution... yeah?
posted by gsb at 10:44 AM on February 23, 2005

For future reference, does anyone know how to undo that cute little joke that *doesn't* involve closing the entire browser window, losing the contents of the 11 other open tabs?

In Firefox: Right click, h, Enter
posted by Pigpen at 10:45 AM on February 23, 2005

Is that 1-888-5-OPTOUT thing legit?
posted by xmutex at 10:59 AM on February 23, 2005

The Federal Trade Commission says yes, OPTOUT is legit
posted by mcstayinskool at 11:03 AM on February 23, 2005

also
posted by eyeballkid at 11:06 AM on February 23, 2005

In Firefox: Right click, h, Enter

Or, go to
Tools>Options>Web Features>Advanced
and turn off Move or resize existing windows. Useful if you don't want to see any shaking ever again.
posted by catachresoid at 11:13 AM on February 23, 2005

metafilter vs. whoring bloggers, round 2.
posted by crunchland at 11:14 AM on February 23, 2005

For future reference, does anyone know how to undo that cute little joke that *doesn't* involve closing the entire browser window, losing the contents of the 11 other open tabs?

ctrl+tab to open that tab, ctrl+f4 to close the tab.
posted by delmoi at 11:20 AM on February 23, 2005

If not for the dull roar of bitching over Lifehacker's sponsorship deals, I wouldn't have even known Sony was advertising there. I haven't seen any of the ads.

With the existence of Adblock + Firefox, net advertising has been relegated to a tax on laziness and surfing at work.

In fact, to make you even more ludicrously lazy, the plugin is right here. If you can't bear to click on that, you deserve to have your desktop replaced with a Sony banner. Sheesh.
posted by Luther Blissett at 11:52 AM on February 23, 2005

The "editor," Gina, does not respond to email, by the way. I'm betting she just collects HACKS from her readership and uses them without credit to collect more sweet, sweet Sony money.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 11:53 AM on February 23, 2005

Luther: I didn't notice either (FF + Adblock), but on second glance, it's still scattered around, even with Adblock. The date byline for each post says Sony on it, and the middle column of links (next to the "WELCOME!" column) is all Sony products.

However, opening the page in IE just pretty much made my jaw drop. I often forget how the internet looks to people who use IE.
posted by Bugbread at 11:55 AM on February 23, 2005

Is OPTOUT exclusively american? Can canadians opt out or is there the equivalent here?
posted by LunaticFringe at 11:56 AM on February 23, 2005

I can go to red-hot-anal-sluts.com from work

Please tell me you've verified this experimentally.
posted by COBRA! at 11:59 AM on February 23, 2005

Scanning down to the "technologist Matt Haughey" hack: taking pictures of potential purposes? That's a "lifehack"? (Bile aimed at lifehack.com, not Matt) C'mon, that's pretty much common sense. What's next, "Answering the phone to find out who is calling"? "Use a mnemonic device to remember a name or a phone number"? "Lace shoes loosely so you can take them off or put them on without untying or tying the laces"?
posted by Bugbread at 12:04 PM on February 23, 2005

hmmm... most of these "hacks" involve buying a product that does the thing you want to do. want to record voice with your ipod? buy an ipod voice recorder from this dealer. this is a hack, those are product placements.

i did do the optout from preapproved credit cards deal though!
posted by nequalsone at 12:36 PM on February 23, 2005

Metafilter: Answering the phone to find out who is calling.
posted by Remy at 12:45 PM on February 23, 2005

"technologist Matt Haughey"

That has such a Steve Fossett-type connotation to it. Why not, "supernerd" or "gadget geek"?
posted by Arch Stanton at 12:52 PM on February 23, 2005

On super postview:

taking pictures of potential purposes -> taking pictures of potential purchases
posted by Bugbread at 12:54 PM on February 23, 2005

MegoSteve took the words out of my mouth.
posted by dabitch at 1:09 PM on February 23, 2005

...or penitential porpoises
posted by leotrotsky at 1:21 PM on February 23, 2005

"The "editor," Gina, does not respond to email, by the way. I'm betting she just collects HACKS from her readership and uses them without credit to collect more sweet, sweet Sony money."

We get a ridiculous amount of mail doing those sites, a lot of it is useless piss, and if Gina is using the mail client on the Gawker server (as I often have to do) then you can have mail "eaten" before it is ever even seen.

Or maybe you're a mindless dickhead and Gina is ignoring you... but the odds are against her doing that intentionally, particularly in the starting months.
posted by dong_resin at 1:48 PM on February 23, 2005

So dong, why don't you have commenting on these site?
posted by smackfu at 2:12 PM on February 23, 2005

I believe that's in the works, actually, but I could be wrong.
posted by dong_resin at 2:20 PM on February 23, 2005

That would be great, because then e-mail as feedback isn't as crucial.
posted by smackfu at 2:24 PM on February 23, 2005

FWIW, a quick skim and I picked up a number of tidbits that I'm really happy to have stumbled upon. I like it, ads be damned.
posted by jalexei at 2:40 PM on February 23, 2005

What a misleading name for a site. None of the things on the site are hacks, except for the author of the site.
posted by gyc at 2:45 PM on February 23, 2005

None of the things on the site are hacks, except for the author of the site.

Ouch.

I like the site, and not just because I'm mentioned in every third post, but because I think there's a niche for making a site that regular folks that use computers a little, but want to hear what the superusers are doing. The problem is we're all superusers here.

Half of the stuff on lifehacks I've heard about already, or it's so lame that I don't care, but all of it would impress my brother, who just barely set up his first cable modem and ethernet line and would like to do all these things.

The other half of the things on the site are completely new to me, or things I never thought about using in a certain way. Just last week I was looking for a voice recorder to capture my ramblings while I drive places by myself. Sometimes I have hours of driving and think of lots of cool ideas, but can't record them easily. So I search and searched for a cheap digital voice recorder that had files I could convert to mp3 somehow, but I couldn't find anything that fit, but today she mentioned the iTalk ipod recorder and it all clicked. Duh, for $39 I get exactly what I want, and for a low price.
posted by mathowie at 3:48 PM on February 23, 2005

“My cameraphone Napsterizes any store”
posted by runkelfinker at 3:58 PM on February 23, 2005

The problem is we're all superusers here.

Not any more, we ain't. How do I makes teh HTML? questions, which pop up with worrying regularity on MeTa, lead me to think the geek gene pool is a more than a little adulterated 'round the filters these days.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:22 PM on February 23, 2005

The real trouble is that learning to makes teh HTML isn't subsidised any more...
posted by runkelfinker at 4:35 PM on February 23, 2005

Or maybe you're a mindless dickhead and Gina is ignoring you

Wow, Dong, you really know how to do customer service I see. Plus you mention of mail being eaten shows a technology company in such a positive light. Webmail is so complicated and poorly understood after all. Seriously, you have a lower user number than me so one would expect you to have developed just a teeny bit thicker crust over the epidermis by now.
posted by billsaysthis at 4:38 PM on February 23, 2005

Dear Bloggers,
please stop referring to your average tips on whatever as "hacks". It's really annoying.
Thanks.

Then could we please, please, please stop writing 'small form factor' when we mean "small?" Pretty please?
posted by fixedgear at 4:43 PM on February 23, 2005

Billy-- Gawker has had many public server issues, so I'm not spilling too many beans by pointing that out. It's also in the process of migrating, so all will soon be well. The pains of growth.

Optimus Chyme was painting Gina in a falsely inattentive light, and I'm comfortable pointing that out and calling him a dickhead while doing it.
posted by dong_resin at 5:17 PM on February 23, 2005

It’s always a good idea to double or triple-down on virus and spyware protection to be sure.

Spyware removers, sure. But I always thought that running multiple anti-virus programs was a very bad idea.
posted by pmurray63 at 7:14 PM on February 23, 2005

They do tend to detect each other's signatures, which has fun results.
posted by smackfu at 7:33 PM on February 23, 2005

I mean, Sony is actually paying $25 THOUSAND dollars for this placement? For fuck's sake.... wow.

Per month, yet. That's hilarious. But kinda intriguing, too. Looks like there's a new generation of business folks ready to drink the Internet Kool-aid. How quickly they forget.

Saddle up, everyone, here come the free massages again.
posted by mediareport at 7:22 AM on February 24, 2005