Comments on: Lifehacker

Lifehacker

mcstayinskool — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 08:56:40 -0800

Lifehacker is 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:

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.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 09:01:37 -0800

Is there RSS?

By: mcstayinskool

mcstayinskool — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 09:03:01 -0800

you bet-- I get each post as an RSS email in thunderbird. That's totally the way to go with this site...

By: mcstayinskool

mcstayinskool — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 09:04:02 -0800

http://lifehacker.com/index.xml is the RSS URL

By: DrJohnEvans

DrJohnEvans — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 09:05:51 -0800

Matt is no longer an industry observer. He's now a technologist.

By: leotrotsky

leotrotsky — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 09:06:51 -0800

Any friend of the MPAA is a friend of mine. Wait, no.

By: braun_richard

braun_richard — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 09:08:43 -0800

This is excellent. One of those sites that instantly gets a spot in my favorites list. Thanks.

By: mcstayinskool

mcstayinskool — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 09:13:36 -0800

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.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 09:15:21 -0800

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).

By: jdroth

jdroth — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 09:15:37 -0800

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.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 09:17:14 -0800

PepsiBlueFilter, and a big step down from Gawker/Wonkette.

By: leotrotsky

leotrotsky — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 09:20:10 -0800

Relax, mcstayinskool. I don't recall suggesting a boycott. I'm just carping. It's what we do here, no?

By: mcstayinskool

mcstayinskool — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 09:25:03 -0800

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...

By: simonw

simonw — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 09:26:27 -0800

Those great big Sony ads are pulling in a cool $25,000 a month.

By: ChrisTN

ChrisTN — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 09:28:01 -0800

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.

By: lyam

lyam — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 09:28:45 -0800

Sony ads? *hugs Firefox and Adblock extension*

By: Dean Keaton

Dean Keaton — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 09:28:58 -0800

They really are good at hacking lol

By: sklero

sklero — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 09:29:40 -0800

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?

By: delmoi

delmoi — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 09:36:10 -0800

This lifehacker, it vibrates?

By: trharlan

trharlan — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 09:47:47 -0800

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.

By: MegoSteve

MegoSteve — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 09:49:40 -0800

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.

By: cavalier

cavalier — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 09:52:43 -0800

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"...

By: Remy

Remy — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 09:55:19 -0800

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?

By: mr.marx

mr.marx — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 09:56:36 -0800

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,

By: Plutor

Plutor — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 10:00:53 -0800

mr.marx: I agree with that jargon hack. Hack on.

By: daveirl

daveirl — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 10:08:11 -0800

I find I've seen 90% of their 'hacks' already.

By: Vulpyne

Vulpyne — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 10:16:13 -0800

Who the hell would spend so long learning how to cut vegetables?

By: allan

allan — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 10:27:43 -0800

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?

By: lyam

lyam — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 10:36:49 -0800

The vegetable cutting tips are really quite handy. Cutting them correctly certainly improves the quality of the your meal.

By: adgnyc

adgnyc — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 10:37:11 -0800

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."

By: gsb

gsb — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 10:44:00 -0800

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?

By: Pigpen

Pigpen — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 10:45:35 -0800

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

By: xmutex

xmutex — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 10:59:39 -0800

Is that 1-888-5-OPTOUT thing legit?

By: mcstayinskool

mcstayinskool — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 11:03:49 -0800

The Federal Trade Commission says yes, OPTOUT is legit

By: eyeballkid

eyeballkid — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 11:06:14 -0800

also

By: catachresoid

catachresoid — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 11:13:16 -0800

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.

By: crunchland

crunchland — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 11:14:55 -0800

metafilter vs. whoring bloggers, round 2.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 11:20:53 -0800

By: Luther Blissett

Luther Blissett — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 11:52:08 -0800

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.

By: Optimus Chyme

Optimus Chyme — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 11:53:57 -0800

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.

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 11:55:48 -0800

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.

By: LunaticFringe

LunaticFringe — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 11:56:57 -0800

Is OPTOUT exclusively american? Can canadians opt out or is there the equivalent here?

By: COBRA!

COBRA! — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 11:59:17 -0800

I can go to red-hot-anal-sluts.com from work Please tell me you've verified this experimentally.

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 12:04:14 -0800

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"?

By: nequalsone

nequalsone — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 12:36:49 -0800

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!

By: Remy

Remy — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 12:45:54 -0800

Metafilter: Answering the phone to find out who is calling.

By: Arch Stanton

Arch Stanton — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 12:52:56 -0800

"technologist Matt Haughey" That has such a Steve Fossett-type connotation to it. Why not, "supernerd" or "gadget geek"?

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 12:54:31 -0800

On super postview: taking pictures of potential purposes -> taking pictures of potential purchases

By: dabitch

dabitch — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 13:09:43 -0800

MegoSteve took the words out of my mouth.

By: leotrotsky

leotrotsky — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 13:21:15 -0800

...or penitential porpoises

By: dong_resin

dong_resin — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 13:48:14 -0800

"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.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 14:12:13 -0800

So dong, why don't you have commenting on these site?

By: dong_resin

dong_resin — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 14:20:29 -0800

I believe that's in the works, actually, but I could be wrong.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 14:24:45 -0800

That would be great, because then e-mail as feedback isn't as crucial.

By: jalexei

jalexei — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 14:40:57 -0800

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.

By: gyc

gyc — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 14:45:00 -0800

What a misleading name for a site. None of the things on the site are hacks, except for the author of the site.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 15:48:07 -0800

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.

By: runkelfinker

runkelfinker — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 15:58:17 -0800

"My cameraphone Napsterizes any store"

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 16:22:00 -0800

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.

By: runkelfinker

runkelfinker — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 16:35:27 -0800

The real trouble is that learning to makes teh HTML isn't subsidised any more...

By: billsaysthis

billsaysthis — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 16:38:12 -0800

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.

By: fixedgear

fixedgear — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 16:43:37 -0800

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?

By: dong_resin

dong_resin — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 17:17:14 -0800

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.

By: pmurray63

pmurray63 — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 19:14:18 -0800

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.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Wed, 23 Feb 2005 19:33:01 -0800

They do tend to detect each other's signatures, which has fun results.

By: mediareport

mediareport — Thu, 24 Feb 2005 07:22:38 -0800

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.