Geek News and Musings

Remember the Milk for Launchy Adds Tasks in a Flash [Lifehacker Code]

Windows only: Remember the Milk for Launchy adds tasks to RTM in a flash, complete with due dates, tags, and even notes.

This script is based on the excellent email reminders script submitted by Lifehacker reader Ryan, but modified to submit tasks to Remember the Milk using their syntax for additional fields—which we previously used to email reminders to a specific list.

Remember the Milk for Launchy

Updated: 04/03/2009
License: This script is licensed under the GNU Public License.

Features

Once you’ve walked through the setup instructions, you can add tasks to RTM by simply typing rtm into Launchy, hitting the Tab key, type the task name, and hit enter to send the task to your Remember the Milk inbox.

The fun doesn't stop there, however, as you can continue to hit the Tab key to add more fields—if you want to add a due date to your task you could hit the Tab key again after typing the task name, and then use the normal RTM date syntax. For example, the following would add "Finish the Script!" with a due date of next Friday:

rtm -> TAB -> Finish the Script! -> TAB -> next friday

The parameters must be added in order, but if you want to simply skip a parameter you can hit the Tab key again. The full list of parameters in order:

1. Task Name
2. Due Date
3. List Name
4. Priority
5. Tags
6. Notes

For a final example, adding a task to your Followup list with a priority of 1 would be:

rtm -> TAB -> Do Some Task -> TAB -> TAB -> Followup -> 1

Getting used to the order might take a bit, but once you’ve got the hang of it you won’t want to add tasks any other way.

Installing the Script

The installation process is a little complicated and geeky, but we’ll try and walk you through it as easily as possible.

Once you've downloaded and extracted the file, you'll need to make a few edits—open it up and change the following two lines to use your Gmail account information. Note that you'll need to save your password into the file, which could be a security concern—but you are encrypting your data, right?

Flds.Item(schema & "sendusername") = "EMAILADDRESS"
Flds.Item(schema & "sendpassword") = "PASSWORD"

Then find these lines, and replace the first one with your Remember the Milk Inbox email address (found in the RTM settings), and the second one with your email address (presumably your Gmail account).

With iMsg
.To = “REMEMBER-THE-MILK-EMAIL”
.From = "Me <EMAILADDRESS>"

The next step is to open up Launchy's options panel, go down to the Runner plugin and add a new custom command—I used "rtm" as the name, the full path to the script in the Program field, and then the critical trick: pass in multiple arguments to the script by using the following in the Arguments field:

“$$” “$$” “$$” “$$” “$$” “$$” “$$”

When finished, the window should look something like this:

At this point you should be able to use the script to add items to Launchy in a flash.

Release History:

• Version 0.1: Initial Release

VLC Updates, Small Improvements All Around [Downloads]

VLC, our favorite open-source media player (and the most popular among readers) has pushed out an update to version 0.9.9—improving a few features, fixing bugs, and coming dangerously close to a full-fledged 1.0 release.

The major fixes include:

• fullscreen behaviour on Windows with multiple screens,
• workaround bug with libxml2 >=2.7.3,
• video performance on Intel-based Macs,
• various decoders updates on Windows.

So either hit up the the VLC homepage and grab the latest or check for updates on your current install for the latest and greatest.

AppLocker Prevents Listed Applications From Running [Downloads]

Windows only: If you need to prevent an application from running accidentally or would like to disable an application you can’t uninstall, AppLocker provides a simple interface to do so.

Whether you’d like to prevent Internet Explorer from running because you can’t uninstall it to get rid of it or because you’d like to disable web browsing on a computer used by a young child, AppLocker allows you to create a black list of applications that cannot be launched. The program isn’t as robust as making a separate user account and setting security policies but for a simple fix to keep a group of applications from being launched it’s more than adequate. AppLocker is freeware, Windows only.

GetPersonas.com Adds Instant-Preview Themes to Firefox [Themes]

Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): Firefox launched its Personas theming extension nearly a year ago, but now there’s a big, search-able repository that instantly applies those themes for previewing. Check out what GetPersonas.com offers and how it works.

As we previously noted, skinning Firefox for a new look doesn’t exactly add much productivity to your browsing day, but if you’re going to seek out that complete desktop theme feel, GetPersonas makes it seriously simple. As in, mouse over a theme to have it instantly drawn onto your Firefox window, or click it once to have it applied to your browser chrome.

You’ll need to install the Personas extension from GetPersonas to get started window-shopping and installing themes. Once you do, you’ll get a bemused little fox face in the lower-left corner of your browser. The menu that pops up from clicking the Personas fox automatically updates with the newest and most popular themes, but also remembers the last few themes you grabbed from GetPersonas. As for the site itself, it’s arranged and ordered a lot like Mozilla’s other add-on offerings:

The Mozilla team’s also offered up their own screencast detailing how GetPersonas works:

If nothing else, this easy-peasy Firefox theming should make for some interesting future entries into our Lifehacker Desktop Show and Tell Group. And we’re certainly hoping so, since many of the most popular themes don’t exactly make bookmark toolbar links easy to read.

Share you favorite Personas theme links, or totally expected criticism of how much time this could waste, in the comments.

OpenDNS Protects Against the Conficker Worm [OpenDNS]

Yesterday we offered up a guide to protecting your Windows PC from the Conficker worm, set to start doing … something today. Free net service OpenDNS is another option for anyone concerned about today’s not-so-funny happening.

Why? OpenDNS has been tracking the Conficker worm and blocking the sites it keeps reaching out to for its nefarious further instructions. As OpenDNS’ David Ulevitch puts it:

The latest variant of Conficker is now churning through 50,000 domains per day in an attempt to thwart blocking attempts. Consider this: at any given time we have filters that hold well over 1,000,000 domains (when you combine our phishing and domain tagging filters). 50,000 domains a day isn’t going to rock the boat.

In other words, even if Conficker has made it onto your PC, or a PC somewhere in your house/office, OpenDNS will likely stop the worm from contacting the site that would tell it what to do.

If you’re still using your Road Runner/Comcast/Verizon DNS pre-sets on your home router, consider that OpenDNS can also speed up your surfing by allowing keyboard shortcuts from any system, work as a parental filter, and prevent you from seeing so many of those “no such site, but here’s a whole bunch of ads!” parking pages. It’s free to use and set up; here’s a detailed guide for home networks.

April Fools: YouTube Flails, Amazon Cloud Computing In A Blimp, 3D Chrome Browsing, Google Masters A.I.

Wow. April Fools Is In full swing.

The Guardian goes all Twitter, ditching the printed version and the website. “Experts say any story can be told in 140 characters.”

Amazon launches a brand new cloud computing service called Floating Amazon Cloud Environment, or FACE. “The FACE uses durable, unmanned helium-filled blimps with a capacity of 65,536 small EC2 instances, or a proportionate number of larger instances. The top of each blimp is coated in polycrystalline solar cells which supply approximately 40% of the power needed by the servers and the on-board navigation, communication, and defense systems. “The government will have absolutely no chance of acting against them, because they will be too busy trying to decide which Federal Air Regulation (FAR) was violated, not to mention scheduling news conferences. “

Meanwhile, Google masters artificial intelligence in a post and description that’s way too geeky for me.

But they’ve created the world’s first Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity (CADIE), which is a computer that’s come alive and is making changes at Google. “Earlier today, for instance, CADIE deduced from a quick scan of the visual segment of the social web a set of online design principles from which she derived this intriguing homepage.”

Another early project for Cadie: making a 3D version of Google Chrome, since “81% of households had red/blue 3D glasses lying around.”

Last and certainly least, and there’s no gentle way of putting this, YouTube just flails with upside down video viewing.

Gmail now has AutoPilot.

Google Brain Search uses CADIE technology to index your brain.

Google Australia introduces the gBall, which will change Australian rules football as we know it.

There is also a featured YouTube video of a panda by the user ‘cadiesingularity’ with a profile stating “Cadie - the world’s first Cognitive Auto-Heuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity”.

When browsing Street View in Google Maps, a panda is shown in the bottom right map instead of the yellow person usually shown.

CADIE even has its own blog on Blogger.

There is also a “CADIE’s recommended places for humans” link in Google Maps, which leads to the “Panda Mapplet” and includes several marked locations with “CADIE’s” commentary. Under Redmond WA a link is listed which will rick roll the viewer.

Meanwhile, Identi.ca has acquired Twitter. A Twitter executive was quoted afterwards saying: “I was worried we were going to have to make a business out of that whole Twitter thing! I’m really glad it’s someone else’s problem now.”

Google is apparently also building a new $100 laptop together with Alienware (Dell). It will have a built-in brain wave reading chip, with sensors that need to be applied onto the user’s skull.

Scientists at CERN have found the cell that basically triggered the Big Bang.

The Pirate Bay sells out to Warner Bros.

There’s a new social network for your nose, a friendspace for your fragrance, a place to share your opinions on perfumes and vote for your favorite smells. They call it smellr and it’s online now.

Opera has moved on from Mouse Gestures and comes out of the closet with Face Gestures.

The entire Internet is being rebooted.

Expedia is offering flights to Mars from $99. In related news, Hotels.com offers rooms on the Moon.

Add a bit of shine to your website with Laminatr.

This new Landmark jQuery plugin will alter the face of the internet.

Yahoo debuts Ideological Search.

Social Media Use Decreases Customer Satisfaction.

This brand new mobile phone works as either a coin-operated or credit/debit card mobile.

BBC’s Top Gear show comes to Hulu.

Woopra takes its Web Analytics suite up a notch and launches a webcam spy-feature for websites.

Woot is selling crap.

Reddit now looks competely like Digg (good one).

Wired: Twitter plans to make money. I’m gonna order that TW-900.

TweetDoubler gives you twice the bird.

Topify got sued by Fedex. “Fedex claims they have a registered patent for delivering faster and better email notifications and they claim we have infringed it.”

Fark now has its own social network. It looks vaguely familiar.

SocialBlade cracked Digg’s algorithm.

Epistolary Aardvark for Offline Access! “Until now, Aardvark could only be used via instant messenger or email to get answers to your questions within minutes. Through Aair Mail, you’ll be able to send questions via regular postal mail, just like you’d send a letter to a friend.”

Seacom has wired the entire African continent, which now has the fastest internet connection in the world.

AXECollegeHumor

LiveJournal has a Friends Page redesign project.

Microsoft added support for automatic mood detection in Windows Live Messenger. “We’re happy to announce that due to the great breakthroughs from Microsoft Research, we have an alpha version working that monitors your real-time physiological state and translates that into a mood (happy, sad, anxious, etc), such that you would never have to enter an emoticon again.”

Web celebrities (including Michael Arrington) are spotted dancing together, and they got the video to prove it.

The BDFL, having shepherded Python development for 20 years, officially announces his retirement, effective immediately. Following a unanimous vote, his replacement is named (Barry Warsaw).

Google is rumored to be acquiring Palm.

Ford, GM announce the Android Car. It looks cool.

More as they come in. Let us know what you’re finding out there in the comments.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

Pod to Mac Transfers iPhone, iPod Music to Your Mac [Downloads]

Mac OS X only: Free application Pod to Mac—sibling application of previously mentioned Pod to PC—copies any music or video file from your iPhone or iPod to your Mac.

The app is dead simple to use: Just plug in your iPhone, iPod touch, or any other incarnation of iPod, browse through your library or individual playlists, and select and transfer whatever media you want to import to your iTunes library. Pod to Mac can search your device if you’re looking for a specific track, or you can just click Select All and download every track wholesale.

Our guide to copying music from your iPhone or iPod to your computer for free featured one other app that could do iPhone-to-Mac transfers, but that application (Senuti) has since gone shareware—making Pod to Mac the best free solution that we're aware of. It's fast, it's easy, and from our tests, it works like a charm.

Pod to Mac is a free download, Mac OS X only. For a very similar app for Windows made by the same folks, give previously mentioned Pod to PC a try.

South Korea prepares to nuke its technological competitiveness with a three-strikes copyright rule
Joe sez, “South Korea is arguably one of the world’s most internet-connected countries. Regrettably, the corrupt dinosaurs in the Korean National Assembly have just passed a bill in-committee to use a “three strikes” law against ISP connections there. The law awaits approval by the legislature. New Zealand recently defeated similarly-worded ISP laws. A brief prediction from someone who lives in Korea. Korea is like a high-tech ocean miles-wide and one-inch deep. Once the implications are understood, look for this law to collapse under its own bureaucratic deadweight, or to otherwise morph into the usual scofflaw behavior. Consider the following:”

1. Currently, under Korea’s copyright law, there are broad classroom exemptions for educational use of material, without compensation to rightsholders. (Chapter 2, Section 4, Subsection 2, Article 25 ) Look for universities and other public schools to become hotbeds of exemption challenges.

2. PC Bangs (internet cafes) might try to put each other out of business using the new laws. This could result in some cafes using advanced black-box anonymizing services to protect themselves and their customers (not necessarily a bad thing).

3. Korean “netizens” might otherwise protest the new system by seeding government BBS and official websites with infringing links and material, and then use the reporting process to overwhelm the system.

4. This proposed law will push internet services into greater black-market criminal activity. Pirated software can be found everywhere, including software commonly-used by government employees. 99% of Korean software is Windows-based. Korea uses active-X controls for practically everything, meaning the entire country is already prone to security problems.

5. Additionally, the use of the internet for organizing civil protest in Korea has been highly effective: the recent Mad-cow Disease protests (while factually incorrect) reached hysterical proportions, delaying implementation of the US-Korea Free-Trade Agreement. Korea still has national security laws against criticizing the government. Online K-blogger Minerva was arrested because he brought to light the Korean government’s economic manipulations. With an unstable currency and an undercurrent of restlessness among its populace, the government has been greatly embarrassed. Look for this law to be the perfect tool for Korea to once-again shoot itself in the foot.

Three Strikes, Movie Copyright and The Mad Cow Coming Home to Roost (Thanks, Joe!)

Digsby Available in New Portable Version [Downloads]

Instant messaging client Digsby, winner of the Best System Tray Applications Hive Five and all-around Lifehacker reader favorite, is now available as a convenient portable application.

The initial release of a portable version of Digsby couldn’t handle updates without breaking. Those bugs have been ironed out, though, and now the portable version updates right alongside the desktop version without a hitch. The author’s site is in German, and for some reason switching over to the English translation makes the download link vanish. The link below is a direct link to the download to save you the hassle of navigating the site; if you want to visit site before downloading the file, follow this link. Digsby Portable is freeware, Windows only.

Primitive File Size Chart Quickly Locates Your Drive-Hogging Files [Downloads]

Windows only: If you’re looking to quickly get a snapshot of which folders and files are eating up your disk space, Primitive File Size Chart can help.

We’ve covered other tools that help you see where your disk space is going, like the very visual WinDirStat, but it’s tough to beat the portable application Primitive File Size Chart for speed. You point it at a disk or directory, tell it how many files and folders you want listed, and it takes care of the rest. Results were returned within seconds even when scanning a packed 1TB disk. Primitive File Size Chart doesn’t have any fancy bells or whistles but it will give you the path, file name, and size of your largest files making short work out of assessing what is filling up your disks. Primitive File Size Chart is freeware, Windows only.

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