Pinboard (lancejanders)
https://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/public/
recent bookmarks from lancejandersHow to Enjoy the New Web Speed Boost from Google DNS and OpenDNS [Google]2011-08-30T15:30:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/CjD8O7SBMbQ/google-dns-and-opendns-users-are-getting-a-web-speed-boost
lancejandersGoogle DNS in_brief News OpenDNS Top Web Web_Browsing Web_surfinghttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:5fd96cd5305a/Build an Attractive, Informative Mac Desktop with GeekTool [Customization]2011-08-26T15:00:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/ot58dmMBMIw/build-an-attractive-informative-mac-desktop-with-geektool
lancejandersCustomization Desktop Feature GeekTool Geektool_scripts Mac Scripts System_Monitoring Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:d68619856203/The Best Calendar App for iPhone [Iphone App Directory]2011-08-24T17:30:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/vQf-5o23GFc/the-best-calendar-app-for-iphone
lancejandersIphone_app_directory App_directory Calendars dates Downloads ios ipad iPhone iPhone_Apps iPhone_Downloads ipod_touch Organization tasks To-Do Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:04746aae2bd5/Hack Your Wii, Eat Well on a Budget, and Survive Your Less-than-Perfect Job [Video]2011-08-24T15:00:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/JJPxDcpowKA/hack-your-wii-eat-well-on-a-budget-and-survive-your-return-to-work
lancejandersThe_Show Android Announcements Budget Computer DIY Downloads Food Hacking Homebrew ios iPhone Jobs Lifehacker_Show Lifehacker_Video Saving_Money Summer_Series Top Wii wii_homebrewhttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:db772a8290f1/AdBlock Video Kills Ads in Hulu and Other Online Video Players [Video]2011-08-22T12:30:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/jn5patSfcpU/adblockvideo-blocks-ads-in-hulu-and-other-online-video-players
lancejandersDownload_of_the_Day Ad_blocking AdBlock adblock_plus Clips Firefox Firefox_Extensions Hulu Linux Mac_OS_X Streaming_Video Television Top TV Videos Windowshttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:65addc03c1fc/How I Got in Shape with the Help of Technology [Quantified Self]2011-08-16T15:00:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/DN0uMRRpvTA/how-i-got-in-shape-with-the-help-of-technology
lancejandersQuantified_Self Exercise Feature Fitness Gadgets Health Stuff_we_like Technology Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:50a8f73d0ca3/Cook Salmon Sous-Vide in Your Kitchen Sink for No-Fuss, Healthy Eats [Food]2011-08-15T16:00:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/Ec4PMyim2vU/cook-salmon-sous+vide-in-your-kitchen-sink-for-no+fuss-healthy-eats
lancejandersFood Cooking Immersion Kitchen Kitchen_hacks Salmon Sous_vide Sous-vide Top Waterhttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:bf90a157f366/How to Hack Your Wii for Homebrew in Five Minutes [Video]2011-08-12T19:00:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/IjwD_xw4dOU/how-to-hack-your-wii-for-homebrew-in-five-minutes
lancejandersHow_To DVD Games Hacks Homebrew Media Media_Center Media_Player Nintendo_Wii Top Wiihttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:0608a949d6d5/DIY Swiss Army-Style Folding Keychain Gives You More Room in Your Pockets [DIY]2011-08-08T19:30:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/MSo2zHaV-Fc/diy-swiss-army+style-folding-keychain-gives-you-more-room-in-your-pockets
lancejandersDIY Cars Household Keys Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:35f181bc0661/Whiskey Stones Chill Fine Beverages Without Diluting Them [Stuff We Like]2011-08-04T13:30:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/Hr7Q-xCkcoQ/whiskey-stones-chill-fine-liquors-without-diluting-them
lancejandersStuff_we_like Alcohol Beverages Cubes Drinks Food Soapstone Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:3007df1ac333/New Apple Products, Embedded Videos, and Switching ISPs [From The Tips Box]2011-08-02T00:00:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/o-n13RMUL6s/
lancejandersFrom_the_tips_box Republished Tips Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:4cc9844f35f1/Lifehacker Pack for Mac: Our List of the Best Free Mac Downloads [Downloads]2011-08-01T17:30:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/d9b5Li5NOFI/lifehacker-pack-for-mac-our-list-of-the-best-free-mac-downloads
lancejandersDownloads app_pack Backup Communication Feature Featured_Mac_Download Free Freeware Lifehacker_Pack Lifehacker_Pack_for_Mac_2011 Mac Mac_OS_X Media Open_Source Productivity Top Utilities Web_browsershttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:556af9d8d6b6/Make Your To-Dos Come to You with ReQall [Video]2011-07-29T15:00:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/C3XaXPBEW4I/make-your-to+dos-come-to-you-with-reqall
lancejandersOrganization Downloads Feature Featured_Download Organizer Personal_Assistant Productivity reQall To-Do_Manager To-Dos Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:5d84b9cb9b26/How to Migrate Your Facebook Account and Data to Google+ [Google+]2011-07-26T15:00:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/q42Pmr2XTSg/how-to-migrate-all-your-facebook-data-to-google%252B
lancejanders Account Settings, and scroll down to "Download Your Information". Hit the "learn more" link and hit he Download button. It will take awhile to gather your info, but you'll receive an email when it's done, and you can download a ZIP file full of your photos, videos, and profile information.
Strangely, when I did this, one of my two videos was missing from the "videos" folder in the ZIP file. However, I was still able to download that video from Facebook by installing the Video Download Helper extension for Firefox, navigating to the video you want to download, playing it, and clicking the arrow next to Download Helper's icon in the add-on bar.
Once you've wrangled all the videos you want to move to Google+, you'll just have to upload them one by one. Head into Google+, click on your profile, and go to "Videos". Hit the "Upload New Videos" link and re-upload your videos to your Google+ profile.
Update and View Both Networks at Once
Now that all your data's been migrated, you can enjoy using Google+ as your main social network. However, chances are you still have a few friends on Facebook you want to keep up with. The best way to do this is with the Start Google Plus extension for both Chrome and Firefox. Once you install it, you'll see a Facebook and Twitter icon in the upper right-hand corner, which you can click on to connect your other accounts. Once your Facebook account's been linked, every status update you make on Google+ will have the option of posting to Facebook as well, just by clicking on the Facebook icon. It'll take with it any links, pictures, or other data that the status contains.
Start Google Plus will also plug your Facebook feed into your Google+ feed, so you don't even need to check Facebook anymore. Just check your Google+ feed, and it'll show you all of Facebook's news feed as well, with links to comment if you so desire.
If you prefer to not use an extension, you can also update your status on both networks at once using Facebook's "Upload via Email" feature. Just head to Facebook's mobile page, copy your Upload via Email email address, and add it to its own "Facebook" circle on Google+. From now on, when you update your status on Google+, you can just include your Facebook circle to send that status to Facebook as well. This method isn't perfect, however: it'll only work with statuses of up to 50 characters, and it doesn't work with photos. However, it does work over mobile, which is nice, and without any extensions.
It's also worth mentioning the previously mentioned Google+Facebook extension. While it's a much easier way to update both statuses at once, it's been hit by a bit of controversy, which you can read more about over at our post and on this Reddit thread. The company has responded to accusations of malware injection, and it seems more accidental than something that was actually of malicious intent, but we still recommending you use this at your own risk. The "update by email" method is still the safest, but this is a possibility as well. With other extensions out there like Start Google Plus, there's really no reason to take the risk.
There isn't a foolproof, one-step way to migrate your data, but this should help make the process quite a bit easier for you Google+ fans out there. Got any of your own migration tips to share? Let us know in the comments.
You can contact Whitson Gordon, the author of this post, at whitson@lifehacker.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.
]]>Google+ Data Facebook Feature migration Photos Social Social_Networking Social_Networks Top Videoshttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:9ffdd0ace5aa/The Essential Spotify Tools [Spotify]2011-07-15T02:00:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/XK_zg2-Ql8s/the-essential-spotify-tools
lancejandersspotify Essential_spotify_tools Roundup Spotify_tools Tools Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:0ff4021db1ad/The Google+ Cheatsheet Is a Quick Reference To Using Google+ [Cheatsheets]2011-07-13T15:30:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/1KXnkPPrK4U/the-google%252B-cheatsheet-is-a-quick-reference-to-using-google%252B
lancejanderscheatsheets cheat_sheet Google Google_plus Shortcuts Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:17a6a13d24c0/Make a Starbucks Frappuccino for $0.32 [Food Hacks]2011-07-11T14:30:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/yELVRqDc1Lw/make-your-own-starbucks-frappuccino-and-save-92
lancejandersFood_Hacks Coffee frappuccino Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:6690c7d493b2/How to Create an In-Case-of-Emergency Everything Document to Keep Your Loved Ones Informed if Worst Comes to Worst [Life Planning]2011-06-30T15:00:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/iEc30coDE_o/in-case-of-emergency-how-to-organize-your-important-records-in-a-master-information-kit
lancejanders Make a copy... to save it to your Google account (make sure your version of the document's sharing settings go back to the default "Private").
Update: Due to high traffic to the template, Google Docs is only showing it in list view, making it impossible to copy. This zipped file has downloadable versions in PDF, XLS, and ODS formats. You can still import these into your Google Docs account.
There are really only a few steps to setting this organizer up: gathering your records, securely sharing them, and keeping them updated. Follow along and you'll have your kit set up in no time—and a little extra peace of mind.
Step 1: Gather Your Vital Records to Keep in the Master Information Kit
The most important personal records: First, there are a few documents that you obviously should keep in a secured location (a fire safe or safe deposit box):
Social Security card
Birth certificate
Passport
Any other official, hard-to-replace documents
Scan these items so you can have a digital record of them as well. If you encrypt the digital files, e.g., with one of our favorite encryption tools TrueCrypt, and you can even upload them to Google Docs and share the files with your loved ones (make a note of them in the spreadsheet).
You'll also want to add to your emergency records kit:
Contact information: Both your contact information and your emergency contacts' info. This includes your nearest relatives, your will executor(s), and employers.
Will and medical directives: Add a copy of your will/living trust and medical letter of instructions (keep the originals with your legal representative). You can upload a PDF file to Google Docs for this purpose.
Insurance: Homeowners, auto, medical, life, disability, and other insurance agents/brokers contact info and policy numbers
Financial accounts: Bank, investment, and credit card/loan accounts information, including institution names, phone numbers, and account numbers
Health records: Immunization records, allergies, dietary restrictions, medications, medical/surgical treatments
Pet information: Description of each pet, vet contact information, and any important medical notes
Property: Car information, home purchase papers/deeds, and other home inventory items.
Again, adjust for your relevant information. Our Master Information Kit spreadsheet includes individual sheets for most of these pieces of information, so just make a copy of the sheet (File > Make a Copy) and start filling it out, in section at a time.
Step 2: Export Your Accounts Information
Account Passwords: For login information to important accounts, it's best not to store your logins in an online document like this. Instead you can export your logins from password managers like Keepass, LastPass, or 1Password to a CSV file and then encrypt it so it can be shared securely. Our spreadsheet template includes a sheet specifically for describing your method of storing these files—the location of your vital documents, and any passwords needed to locate them.
Step 3: Share Your Master Information Kit and Vital Documents
The Google Docs spreadsheet is easy to share. Once you've filled out your version of the spreadsheet, click on the Share button and you can email people who you want to be able to view or edit the document. (Think people who you'd also consider emergency contacts.)
For your encrypted files, like the logins mentioned above, you could upload them in Google Docs, store on an encrypted USB thumb drive, or use something like Dropbox. Give the recipients your encryption password but for security reasons, only let them write down a hint to the password. E.g., vacation spot 2010 + pet bday + myfavoritesinger'smiddlename. Also, if you use Dropbox, make sure you encrypt sensitive information first. An encrypted zip file seems an ideal solution.
Step 4. Regularly Update Your Everything Document
You'll need to update your files/master records book when you update your accounts.
Like setting up an emergency plan or a 72-hour emergency kit, this master information kit will need to be reevaluated regularly—consider doing so at least yearly (e.g., at tax time, when you're already looking at all your accounts) or, better yet, quarterly.
Set up a reminder on your calendar so you won't forget. When you get your reminder, don't wait—just quickly look over the items in your document and if anything has changed, update it. If not, you've only lost a couple of minutes of your day toward a very good end.
More Resources for Creating a Master Information Kit
If you're a Quicken user, for example, you may have access to Emergency Records Organizer built into the program, which can compile your emergency documents for you, based on the info you put in Quicken. It should be in the "Property & Debt" menu or you might find the program under your Quicken folder under Program Files.
Erik Dewey's free Big Book of Everything is a very thorough organizer for all your affairs, with placeholders for you to record your bank accounts, insurance policies, tax records, and more. The 44-page Big Book of Everything is available in PDF or Excel format.
There are also a few personal documents organizers in dead-tree version, like For the Record with the same purpose, in case you want pre-printed book.
Our emergency documents template (zip file) is a simplified version for the most essential information and with an eye towards sharing on Google Docs (or downloading and saving).
Whichever method you choose, having all your vital information in one easily accessible place can be comforting, for both you and your loved ones.
Do you have all your important information organized somewhere or tips for creating this "everything document"? Let us know in the comments.
You can follow or contact Melanie Pinola, the author of this post, on Twitter.
]]>Life_Planning Emergency Feature Google_Docs Personal_Finance Record_keeping Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:c2ef7089c806/MagicPrefs Gives Your MacBook Trackpad (and other Multitouch Peripherals) Custom Multitouch Gestures [Downloads]2011-06-24T22:00:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/Do50DHH70ZI/magicprefs-gives-your-magic-mouse-and-other-multitouch-peripherals-custom-multitouch-gestures
lancejandersDownloads Customization Input Mac Mac_OS_X Mac_OS_X_Featured_Download Mouse multitouch Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:d2f8964b2f43/Top 10 Ways to Power Up Your Home Theater PC [Video]2011-06-18T15:00:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/cwYfAQhrSBo/top-10-ways-to-power-up-your-home-theater-pc
lancejandersLifehacker_Top_10 Boxee Clips Feature Home_Theater Home_Theater_PC Media_Center Movies Remote_Control Streaming_Video Top TV_shows Video Video_Games Windows_Media_Center Xbmchttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:986200d6298a/How to Upgrade to iOS 5 Today, Without Any Developer Account [Video]2011-06-07T21:08:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/_EBZttIYSKQ/how-to-upgrade-to-ios-5-today-without-any-developer-account
lancejandersHow_To activation Apple Clips Hack ios_5 Security Top Videohttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:4adcfa43d633/How to Make Your Entire Home AirPlay-Compatible [Video]2011-05-18T15:00:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/mgiqTT7BcGE/how-to-make-your-entire-home-airplay+compatible
lancejanders iPod on your iPhone or iPad (on iPod touches, it's in Settings > Music). Once you do, you should see a new "Shared" tab pop up in your iPod app (you might need to hit "More" to see it). From there, you can navigate to your iTunes library and play any music or video from that library, including videos that weren't purchased on iTunes.
Sadly, if you want to stream from non-iTunes sources, you're out of luck for now—Apple keeps pulling apps that let you do this from the App Store, and those developers have yet to put their apps in Cydia for jailbroken users.
Streaming to Android
If you'd like to stream music to music on your Android phone, a simple app called AirBubble will set it up as an AirPlay destination. Just install the app (you'll need to make sure "Unknown Sources" is checked under Android's Settings > Applications), start it up, and you'll see "AirBubble" show up as an AirPlay destination in iTunes, iOS, and other streaming devices. You can then stream that music right to your phone as you would to anything else. Sadly, it does not stream video at this time.
Streaming to XBMC, Boxee, and Plex
If you have a home theater PC running XBMC, Boxee, or Plex, you can use the AirPlayer Python script to use it as an AirPlay destination.. Installation is different on every system, so we won't go too deeply into it here. Check out this page for more detailed installation instructions for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. If you're running a Live XBMC installation like on our standalone XBMC media center, you'll want to follow these instructions to get AirPlay up and running. Note that AirPlayer only streams video; it won't work with music.
Turning Unsupported Devices into AirPlay Sources
iTunes and iOS will stream music and video just fine, but if you listen to music and watch videos using other apps or platforms, here's how to turn them into AirPlay sources.
Streaming from Other Apps in iOS
While the Music and Video apps in iOS will stream over AirPlay out of the box, apps like Safari or VLC won't. If you've jailbroken your iPhone or iPad, however, you can use previously mentioned AirVieoEnabler to enable AirPlay in other iOS apps. Just install the app from Cydia, restart your device, and you should see the AirPlay icon pop up in most other media playing apps.
Streaming from Android
One of our favorite Android media players, DoubleTwist, can actually stream music and video via AirPlay with its $5 AirSync add-on. Once you've installed doubleTwist and AirSync, open up doubleTwist's Settings and go to "AirTwist & AirPlay". Check the "AirTwist & AirPlay" box to enable it.
Now, whenever you play a song or video in doubleTwist, you'll see a small Wi-Fi icon next to the player controls. Tap this to pick from a list of AirPlay-compatible devices and stream the video to them.
Streaming from Other Apps on Your PC or Mac
If you want to stream audio from, say, a non-iTunes music player or your browser to an AirPort Express (or other AirPlay-enabled device), you have a few options. The best option is Airfoil, which is a $30 app for both Windows and Mac that will sync and stream audio from any source to AirPlay-compatible hardware. If you want to do that for free, previously mentioned RaopX will do the trick nicely on OS X, albeit with a bit of extra work and a significant audio delay. Sadly, there doesn't seem to be a good free option for Windows.
There are still a few holes in this strategy (like streaming video to Windows or streaming audio to XBMC), but overall it makes AirPlay much, much more versatile with just a few simple tools. Now, you can stream audio and video nearly anywhere in your house, all with just the click of a button. Got any of your own preferred methods for streaming media via AirPlay? Share them with us in the comments.
]]>Airplay Android Apple Feature Household ios ipad iPhone ipod_touch iTunes Lifehacker_Video Mac_OS_X Music streaming_music Streaming_Video Top Video Wi-Fi Windowshttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:a85fc1a95b2f/The Best Instant Messaging Application for Mac [App Directory]2011-05-16T18:00:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/v7yIAw6rwIE/the-best-instant-messaging-application-for-mac
lancejandersApp_directory adium Chat Downloads Im Instant_Messaging Mac_OS_X Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:4d907f3954c0/First Look at Google Music: Our Favorite Features in Google's Cloud Music Player [Video]2011-05-10T22:00:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/ZBNgeQRUA4E/first-look-at-google-music-our-favorite-features-in-googles-cloud-music-player
lancejandersScreenshot_Tour Android Clips Digital_Music Google google_music Lifehacker_Video Music streaming_music Top Webappshttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:9119fac97004/Don't buy a used car right now [Cotomer Sevis]2011-05-10T15:15:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/s__G7-ujR9M/dont-buy-a-used-car-right-now
lancejanderscotomer_sevis Feature servicey Top Used_Carshttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:21a877d4e347/How to Turn Your Computer Into the Ultimate Remote Access Media Server [Video]2011-05-02T16:00:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/kfpztDP8uF8/how-to-turn-your-computer-into-the-ultimate-remote-access-media-server
lancejanders Programs —> TightVNC —> Administration —> Install VNC Service.)
Once TightVNC is open, it will allow you to connect over VNC and log in as any user already set up in Windows. If you'd like a global password, however, you can enable that by choosing Start —> Programs —> TightVNC —> Administration —> Show Default Settings and entering a default password of your choice.
When you want to connect to your VNC server from another machine, you can do so by installing TightVNC, opening the TightVNC Viewer application, and entering the IP address of the machine to which you want to connect. (For information on other TightVNC features and how to use them, check out the TightVNC user guide).
Note: You can secure your VNC connection with Hamachi to encrypt your remote screen sharing session so prying eyes can't see what you're doing.
File Access with FTP, SFTP, and SSH
Next we need to add file sharing. First let's start with FTP. While you can enable FTP as a service in Windows, this has become increasingly more complex in Windows 7 and Vista so we're going to use a free tool called freeFTPd. Also, if you want to set up SSH to connect to your computer remotely over SSH and use SFTP (Secure FTP) for added security, the same site has a free SSH server called freeSSHd that you can download as well.
Download and install the server software you want, and choose to run freeSSHd/freeFTPd as a system service so you don't need to be logged in to access them.
Once these tools are installed, launch them and you'll be able to access them from your system tray. Right click the system tray icon and choose Settings.
In the Settings panel, you'll be presented with a lot of tabs but the one you want first is Users. Click it, and then click Add to add a user.
Enter a username and password for the user you want to add and tick the box next to Shell. If you're setting up freeSSHd and want to be able to use SFTP, be sure to tick the box beside SFTP. When you're done, click OK.
If you want to access your files over FTP or SFTP remotely, you'll need an application that supports those protocols. Our current favorite is Cyberduck. To connect to your server remotely via SSH, you'll need an SSH client. For Windows, we like PuTTY.
File Access with Windows File Sharing (SMB)
Of all the ways to remotely access your files, SMB is the easiest to set up. Chances are you actually enabled file sharing when you installed Windows. If not, here's how to do it (on Windows 7/Vista):
Locate the folder you want to share and right click on it. Choose Share With: Specific People
Choose Everyone from the drop-down menu and then click the Add button.
Unless you want read-only access, click Read and change it to Read/Write.
Click the Share button to enable sharing for that folder.
That's all you have to do to enable these basic sharing services on your Windows PC, but doing so will only allow you to access them from other computers on your local home network. If you want to be able to access your machines remotely when you're away from home, you'll need to forward ports on your router or set up a VPN (Virtual Private Network). We'll discuss this later in the Configuring Your Router section towards the end, but first we're going to look at the more exciting options you have for streaming and sharing your media files.
Mac OS X
Setting up any sort of remote access on Mac OS X is very easy and doesn't involve much more than ticking boxes. Here's what you need to do:
Open System Preferences (you'll find it in the Applications folder on your hard drive).
Under Internet & Wireless, choose Sharing.
On the left side you should see a list of services. First things first, tick the box next to Screen Sharing, then click Computer Settings and tick the box labeled VNC viewers may control screen with password and enter a password of your choice. When you're done, click OK and you'll be all set.
Next we need to enable file sharing of some kind. Regardless of how you'd like to share your files, you need to tick the File Sharing checkbox and click the Options button. This will bring up a panel that will let you choose different ways to share your files. By default, AFP (Apple Filing Protocol) will be enabled. You can also enable FTP, which is the most compatible way to access your files from practically any computer (but not necessarily the most secure) and SMB (Server Message Block, which is more compatible with Windows and Linux than AFP). SMB needs to be enabled on a per-user basis, so make sure you tick the box beside your username—and any other users you want to have access—before clicking the Done button to save your preferences.
If you'd like a more secure way to access your computer and files than FTP provides, you can tick the box beside Remote Login to enable SSH. This will let you access your computer through the command line using SSH, which will provide you with remote control over just about everything, and also let you access your files using SFTP (Secure FTP).
Lastly, if you'd like to enable any additional sharing services you should do so now. Be sure to note what they are as you'll need to forward the ports on your router for those services later.
The instructions above apply to Mac OS X 10.6 and may differ between major versions of the oprating system. For example, Screen Sharing is only available in 10.5 and above. In the past, enabling VNC was handled under the Apple Remote Desktop section. In addition to checking the Apple Remote Desktop checkbox, you also needed to click the Access Privileges button, check the "VNC viewers may control screen with password," and enter your VNC password. If you're using an older version of Mac OS X (such as 10.4), please use these instructions to enable VNC instead.
That's all you have to do to enable these basic sharing services on your Mac, but doing so will only allow you to access them from other computers on your local home network. If you want to be able to access your machines remotely when you're away from home, you'll need to forward ports on your router or set up a VPN (Virtual Private Network). We'll discuss this later in the Configuring Your Router section towards the end, but first we're going to look at the more exciting options you have for streaming and sharing your media files.
Linux
If you're running Linux, chances are you already know how to set up all these basic file sharing services. Setup also differs between the different flavors of Linux. For these reasons, we're not going to provide detailed steps for Linux in this post. If you're new to Linux and do need some help, however, be sure to check out our night school lessons on getting started with Linux (in particular, the installing apps lesson).
BONUS! You can disable sleep on your media server if you'd like, but if you want to conserve some power and let it turn off once in a while you can set it up to wake on LAN. How do you do this? Check out our Wake on LAN How-to.
Streaming and Sharing Media
UPDATE: Libox is apparently shutting down. We didn't realize this because it still functions. SO, if you don't already have a Libox account you should skip to the alternatives section where you'll find information about Opera Unite, which does many of the same things as Libox (along with some additional features).
There are many, many ways to access your media remotely, but Libox is a free tool that's compatible with just about everything from desktop computers to iDevices to just about anything with a web browser. Also, to repeat, it's free. Installing it will not only let you stream your videos, music, and photos to your devices, but you can use Libox to remotely share media with your friends as well. Here's how to set it up:
Visit Libox.com to sign up for an account and download the Libox server software.
Install Libox on your home media server.
Launch Libox and click the Add Media button in the app to start adding your music, photos, and videos. Give Libox some time to do its thing and soon you'll start to see your media popping up in the Libox application.
If you want to access your media from other machines, you can do so easily by installing the Libox desktop application and running it on your local machine. When you sign in, all of your media will be available. Alternatively, you can just visit Libox.com on your computer or mobile device. If you have an iDevice, you can pick up Libox for iOS. It's a universal app and will run on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
Alternatives for All Platforms
Libox isn't the only way to remotely view and share your media. While it's pretty great—especially for a free app—there are some alternatives you may want to explore. For example, Opera Unite is a feature of the Opera web browser and an easy way to share your media. It handles your photos, music, and video. You can even share your webcam and host a web server. While Libox is great, a lot of people prefer Opera Unite for its additional features and an extension of the browser they already love. Both are worth checking out.
For some additional options for all platforms, be sure to check out our guide to the best tools for streaming media to your gadgets and the AirPlay-alternative guide to streaming your media.
Alternatives for Mac OS X
While AirVideo has long been our favorite desktop-to-iOS video streaming option, StreamToMe has become my top choice for a couple of reasons. First, it allows you to stream your media to Macs as well as iOS devices (and Mac to Mac streaming costs you nothing). Second, you're able to stream audio as well as video. While it has the occasional hiccup you'll find with just about any media streaming application, it works phenomenally well regardless of your connection speed. If you're Apple-centric, you'll want to consider using StreamToMe instead of Libox.
Configuring Your Router
If you've made it this far, you've managed to set up your home media server for local access. If you want to access it remotely, however, you're going to need to either set up a virtual private network (VPN) or set up port forwarding on your router. Setting up a VPN is more secure but also a much more in-depth process. It's also a bit slower so you're at a disadvantage when serving up large amounts of data, so you may want to set it up but also forward some ports for certain things. If you do want to set up VPN, check out this guide for help with the entire process. If you (also) want to forward ports on your router, here's what you need to do:
First things first, you need to visit your router's admin page. The address of this page will depend on your router. For example, Linksys routers house their admin page at 192.168.1.1, whereas D-Link routers use 192.168.0.1. Apple AirPort routers have no web interface and need to be configured from the AirPort Utility application. Consult your router's manual if you don't know its IP address. There are plenty of other ways to locate this information, such as checking your network information in your OS' relevant control panel or running ipconfig (Windows) or ifconfig (Mac/Linux), so feel free to locate your router's local IP address however you'd like.
Once you've found the IP address, enter it into your web browser (e.g. http://192.168.1.1). This will load the admin page. Your router may have a default username and/or password set (often it's admin) so enter that if needed (and check your manual if you don't know it).
Now that you have access to your router's admin page, you need to locate the port forwarding section. Router manufacturers like to hide these settings in varying places and sometimes those places are kind of strange. Linksys, for example, often places it in Applications and Gaming (and lists it as Port Range Forward). In custom firmware DD-WRT, it's under NAT/QoS. You can often find out where these settings live by searching for the name of your router and port forwarding if you don't want to dig through the user manual for the information. Once you know where your router's port forwarding section is, click it.
If you've made it this far, you're in luck. The next steps are easier to explain as setting up port forwarding is pretty much the same on most routers. Usually you'll see an Application field where you can type a name of the service you're configuring. For example, if you're setting up FTP you'll type in FTP (and perhaps the name of the server, if you want to be sure you remember which server it is).
Next, enter the port you want to forward. In the case of FTP it's 21. In the case of SFTP/SSH, it's 22. (We'll go over all the ports later.) Some routers will ask for the starting and ending ports. If you're forwarding both 21 and 22 your starting port can be 21 and your ending port 22. If you're only forwarding one port, these numbers should be the same.
Next you need to set the protocol. By default Both will be selected (meaning both TCP and UDP), but you generally do not need to open the port over UDP in most cases. Unless you're explicitly running FTP over UDP, you can set the protocol to TCP. With SSH, you may want to open it on both as there are some cases where SSH will use UDP. If you always want to cover your bases, Both is a good choice. It just means you may be opening ports unnecessarily.
In the IP Address field, enter the IP address of your home media server. You can find this by running ipconfig (Windows) or ifconfig (Mac/Linux) or in your network settings. Whatever it is, it'll almost always have the first three numbers as your router's IP (e.g. 192.168.1.x). This is the IP address you want to use because it belongs to the computer to which you want these ports to forward.
Some routers won't just ask for a port range or single port to forward, but rather a Port from and a Port to. When this is the case, the Port from means the the port you'll use when connecting to your home server remotely. In other words, it's the port that's open to the world on your router. Port to, on the other hand, refers to the port on your server. Why is there this distinction? Let's say you have to computers and you want to be able to remotely connect to them via VNC. VNC, by default, uses port 5900. If you open port 5900 and forward it to one computer, the other computer can't also use that port. What you do in this case is use port 5900 for the first computer (which means the Port from is 5900 and the Port to is 5900 as well) and some other unused port, like 5901, for the second computer (which means that the Port from is 5901 and Port from is still 5900).
Lastly, tick the box next to Enable to, of course, enable the port forwarding rule you've just created. This seems like an obvious step, but it's a very easy step to miss.
That's the process for enabling port forwarding, and you'll need to add new port forwarding rules for each port you want to forward. Of course, you need to actually know the ports you want to forward in order to forward them. To save you some time, here are the ports for the services we discussed (and a few extras you might need):
FTP: 21 (TCP)
SSH/SFTP: 22 (TCP, but UDP on rare occasions), and sometimes 115 for SFTP (TCP)
HTTP (for hosting a web server): 80 (TCP)
SMB: 139
Printer Sharing (LPR and LPD): 515 (TCP)
AFP: 548 (TCP)
RTSP (Streaming Servers): 554 (TCP and UDP)
NFS: 2049 (TCP and UDP)
VNC: 5900 (TCP)
Once you've got your port forwarding rules defined for all the ports you want to use, save everything. Depending on your router it may need to reboot, but once it's done you should be good to go.
There are tons of awesome things to add to a media server and there's no way to cover them all in this post. If you've got some suggestions for other things you think belong in an ultimate remote access server, share 'em in the comments.
You can follow Adam Dachis, the author of this post, on Twitter and Facebook. If you'd like to contact him, Twitter is the most effective means of doing so.
]]>Home_server Android Audio Downloads Feature File_Sharing Home_Networks How_To ipad iPhone ipod_touch Linux Mac_OS_X Music Networking Photos remote_access Remote_Computing Remote_Control Smartphone Streaming_Media streaming_music Streaming_Video Top Video Windowshttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:5820d9ca07ae/The Cheapskate's Guide to Getting Free Dropbox Space [Free]2011-04-27T22:30:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/96N7iV6h4oU/the-cheapskates-guide-to-getting-free-dropbox-space
lancejandersFree dropbox File_Syncing How_To Online_storage Storage synchronization Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:2b725ade8c5b/Jog.fm Suggests the Best Music for Your Workout Based on Your Performance [Webapp]2011-04-26T17:30:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/wsKmvowMLBE/jogfm-suggests-the-best-music-for-your-workout-based-on-your-performance
lancejanderswebapp Biking Exercise Fitness Health Running Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:91923e2ca991/The Best Mac Apps Exclusive to the Mac App Store [Video]2011-04-14T16:00:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/EUM_5--Aei4/the-best-mac-apps-exclusive-to-the-mac-app-store
lancejandersFeature app_store digital_painting Downloads Google_Calendar Google_Voice Illustration Mac Mac_app_store Mac_OS_X Media_Streaming Microapp Music screen_capture Text_Expansion Top Utilities Video video_streaming VoIPhttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:4ccbb0a43d0d/Run Your Home Network Like a Coffee Shop for Easier Guest Access and Family-Friendly Browsing [Wi-Fi]2011-04-12T16:00:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/VIBeoRU_E-Y/run-your-home-network-like-a-coffee-shop
lancejandersWi-Fi Bandwidth Children Feature filtering Hotspot Kids Router Run_your_own_hotspot Top web_monitoring Wi-fi_networkhttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:31a4937db64a/How to Set Up a Fully Automated App and Settings Backup on Your Jailbroken iDevice [Ios]2011-04-11T16:00:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/bCpZpdMRfEE/how-to-set-up-a-fully-automated-app-and-settings-backup-on-your-jailbroken-idevice
lancejandersios Automation Backup Cloud_Storage Downloads dropbox Feature How_To ipad iPhone ipod_touch Mobile Smartphone Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:a8d1bab40396/Rip, Watch and Organize Everything: The Ultimate Media Guide [How To]2011-04-05T14:00:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/yXQE5qy4fXk/rip-watch-and-organize-everything-the-ultimate-media-guide
lancejandersHow_To Audio BluRay CDs Discs DLNA DVDs Guide Guides Media media_servers Movies Music Nas Republished Ripping Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:de5356b4510d/How to Turn Google Reader into a Customizable Read-It-Later Service [Reading]2011-03-28T16:00:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/ouXNML_skOM/how-to-turn-google-reader-into-a-customizable-read+it+later-service
lancejandersReading Android Customization Feature Google_Reader instapaper ios Mobile Read_it_Later Top Web_Browsinghttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:7d6234261606/Moki.tv Is an All-Encompassing Directory of Streaming Movies and TV on the Web [Video]2011-03-18T15:00:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/NTagXkABuwc/mokitv-is-an-all+encompassing-directory-of-streaming-movies-and-tv-on-the-web
lancejandersStreaming_Television Movies Search_engines Streaming_Video Television Top TV Videohttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:c4f66993385d/Turn a Pair of $30 Headphones into a $300 Pair [DIY]2011-03-18T13:30:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/k7Vwdx_kUuY/turn-a-pair-of-30-headphones-into-a-300-pair
lancejandersDIY Headphones Music Saving_Money Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:89fa019bc5df/How to Replace Your Wallet with Your Phone [Digitizing]2011-03-15T16:00:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/zYCJUZai9ao/replace-your-wallet-with-your-phone
lancejandersDigitizing Android Contacts Feature iPhone Money Passwords Phone Photos Receipts Smartphone Top Wallethttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:cdfaccf61f51/This Is All About XBMC [Companion Piece]2011-02-23T21:01:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/mNfQfMMK3fE/this-is-all-about-xbmc
lancejandersCompanion_Piece Roundup Today Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:a0a417af6e5a/How to Secure and Encrypt Your Web Browsing on Public Networks (with Hamachi and Privoxy) [How To]2011-02-17T17:20:00+00:00
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/vip/~3/sefs18iAa2o/how-to-secure-and-encrypt-your-web-browsing-on-public-networks-with-hamachi-and-privoxy
lancejanders Join an existing network, and then enter the Network ID and password you set up on the first machine.
Note: You can also create and manage your networks by signing into LogMeIn. For our purposes it's not necessary, but it is a great way to further manage Hamachi.
You can rinse and repeat this on every machine you want to do this with, for up to 16 clients (that's the limit for Hamachi's free-for-non-commercial-use version). Now that you're set up with Hamachi, it's time to install Privoxy on your always-on home machine.
Step 2: Install and Set Up Privoxy
Privoxy is a free, open source web proxy that we're going to install to your always-on home machine. So download Privoxy from Sourceforge for your system and install. Privoxy is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, so you should be able to find a download to fit your needs. For my example, I'm using Windows, which you can easily install by running through a regular old installer. Things may run slightly different on other systems, but it should be the same basic setup. If you need help, check Privoxy's installation page.
After you've installed Privoxy, launch the application. (If you're running a firewall, you may need to give it access to open a port.) In Windows, Privoxy loads as a blank window. Don't worry, that doesn't mean it isn't working. In fact, you can close this window; Privoxy will still be running in your system tray.
Now it's time to configure Privoxy to shuttle traffic through your Hamachi setup, so right-click Privoxy in the system tray and select Edit > Main Configuration. Notepad will open with a text file called config.txt; this is Privoxy's main configuration file. Press Ctrl+f and search for listen-address 127.0.0.1:8118. Comment out that code by entering # in front of it, then paste listen-address followed by the IP address created by Hamachi. You can see, for example, that my proxy is set to listen-address 5.xxx.xxx.xx:8118. Save config.txt and restart Privoxy.
Step 3: Set Up Your Web Browser to Use Your New Secure Proxy
Now you just need to set your browser to use the secure Hamachi+Privoxy proxy you've set up so far. This last step varies by browser, but I'll walk through setting it up on Chrome or Firefox.
On Chrome
Install the Proxy Switchy extension. Once installed, it should automatically open a new tab with its options. (If it doesn't, right-click the Proxy Switchy icon in your toolbar and select Options.)
Enter a profile name—something like Privoxy.
In the HTTP Proxy box under Manual Configuration, enter the Hamachi VPN IP address to the computer where you set up your proxy. Set the port to 8118. (Remember that you need Hamachi running on both computers when you want to use this proxy, and you can get the IP of any other computer on your Hamachi network by right-clicking the computer name and selecting Copy address.)
Click Save and you're done.
Whenever you want to browse using your secure proxy—whenever you hit your coffee shop, for example—just click the Proxy Switchy icon in Chrome, then select your Privoxy connection.
On Firefox
Open your Firefox preferences, then click on the Advanced tab. Click the Network tab, then the Settings button next to "Configure how Firefox connects to the Internet".
Click Manual proxy configuration, then enter the IP address of your Hamachi-powered proxy server and 8118 as your port. (In my case, for example, I'd right click "Windows" in Hamachi and copy the address for the Windows computer.)
Click OK.
Make Sure It's Working
To test that Privoxy is working, you can simply point your browser to http://config.privoxy.org/. If it is, you'll see a message like "This is Privoxy 3.0.17 on Windows (5.xxx.xxx.xx), port 8118, enabled." If not, you'll see a page that reads "Privoxy is not being used". Also, if you're on a public Wi-Fi connection and you navigate to something like WhatIsMyIP.com with your proxy turned off, you should see a different IP when you reload the page with your proxy turned on. (Essentially, when turned on, your home's public IP address should be showing.)
And that's all there is to it. This may sound a touch geeky or complicated, but it's an extremely useful thing to have set up, and it's actually really easy to set up and use. And remember, even though your proxy is running over an HTTP connection, Hamachi is encrypting everything that runs between your computers, so it's still a secure option. Also keep in mind: This is far from the only way to accomplish this task. You could, for example, set up an SSH SOCKS proxy to encrypt your browsing. I like this method because it's relatively simple to set up, and so far, it's worked like a charm for me. If you've got your own favorite alternative, let's hear about it in the comments.
You can contact Adam Pash, the author of this post, at tips+adam@lifehacker.com. You can also follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
]]>How_To Encryption Feature Hack_Attack Hamachi Privoxy Proxy Security Top Wi-Fihttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:750d140b8c50/How to Install Spotify on Your iPhone in the US (Or, How to Install Any Geo-Locked App through iTunes) [Video]2011-02-10T19:30:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/#!5754665/how-to-install-spotify-on-your-iphone-in-the-us-or-how-to-install-any-geo+locked-app-through-itunes
lancejandersProxy apps ios ipad iPhone ipod_touch iTunes spotify Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:b290f3ddff62/Set Up Google's Two-Step Verification Now for Seriously Enhanced Security for Your Google Account [Google]2011-02-10T16:30:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/#!5756977/set-up-googles-two+step-verification-now-for-seriously-enhanced-security-for-your-google-account
lancejanders Security, click the Using 2-step verification link (you can bookmark that link if you like).
Now walk through Google's two-step verification setup guide. It's pretty simple: Essentially you have to add a new phone that you want to use for your two-step verification, confirm that it is indeed your phone (you do this in different ways depending on what method you're using. Using the Google Authenticator app for Android or for iPhone, for example, you verify by scanning a QR code and then testing the verification code it generates. Just follow along with the wizard for whatever method you're using.
Once you've set up your phone, you can also add a backup—a trusted number you can also access if, for example, you lose your phone—so you can still access your account. You can even print off a few backup codes to carry in your wallet or somewhere safe.
Using Two-Step Verification
The process for logging into your Google account from a new browser will now look something like this:
You visit a Google sign-in page, like this one.
You enter your username and password, like always.
You're now prompted to enter a code, which is tied only to a phone number you provide. You can receive this code on your phone using one of the Google Authenticator apps available for Android, iPhone, and BlackBerry, via SMS, or through a voice call (or, I suppose, using one of your printed backup codes).
You enter the code, optionally checking the box to Remember verification for this computer for 30 days, click Verify, and you're in.
It's fairly simple, but it does add a little bit of hassle to your login. Personally, I think the added security is well worth it.
The other thing you'll need to get used to involves logging into your Google account from third-party applications—like, say, a desktop email client. Since those clients don't support Google's two-step verification, you actually have to create single-use passwords first time you log into any new third-party application that needs to access your Google account. You'll only need to generate the new password for each application once—unless you decide to revoke access to that device. Here's how it works:
Point your browser to this page (I'd actually recommend bookmarking it, but you can also find the link on your Account settings page under Security > Authorizing applications & sites. Here you'll see all the webapps that you've allowed access to your Google account via Oauth (which uses the verification process above); below you'll see the Application-specific passwords section, which is where you generate new passwords for devices that can't support the two-step verification. To do so:
Type in the name of the device or application that you want to generate a single-use password for.
Click Generate password.
Google will return a new 16-digit (plus four spaces) password for you to use on that device. Once you hide it, you have no way to retrieve it again (a good thing).
Unlike the two-step process for logging into your Google account on the web, you only have to enter an application-specific password once; it remains active with that single-use password indefinitely. You can, however, revoke any password/device/application from accessing your Google account at any time—which I've done for the password I generated in the screenshot above. (Hands off my Google account!) From the device configuration page, you can also clear your phone info and all printable codes, should you lose your phone or misplace a printed code.
Two-step verification has been available for a while now to Google Apps users—specifically for the paid Google Apps accounts. This update makes it available to all users of Google's free products, including free Google/Gmail accounts and free Google Apps accounts.
Been using Google's two-step verification on your Google Apps account before this? Share your tips in the comments. Otherwise, let's hear if you're planning to use the new two-step verification with your Google account.
You can contact Adam Pash, the author of this post, at tips+adam@lifehacker.com. You can also follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
]]>Google Android BlackBerry Email Gmail Google_Account iPhone Passwords Security Top Two-step_verificationhttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:bc8b88ce3641/What Hardware Do I Need for a Personal Media Server? [Ask Lifehacker]2011-02-10T12:00:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/#!5756230/ask-lifehacker-what-hardware-do-i-need-for-a-personal-media-server
lancejandersAsk_Lifehacker Home_server Networking Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:b967542a56b2/Basics of Photoshop: Color Correction, Touch Ups, and Enhancements [Video]2011-02-09T02:00:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/#!5753621/basics-of-photoshop-color-correction-photo-retouching-and-enhancing
lancejandersNight_School color_correction Design Digital_Photography Education Image_Editing image_manipulation Images Learning Lifehacker_night_school Photography Photoshop Teach_Yourself Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:c1e3dcb902be/How to Jailbreak Your iOS 4.2.1 Device [Video]2011-02-08T19:00:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/#!5754463/how-to-jailbreak-your-ios-421-device
lancejandersJailbreak Apple Freedom ios ipad iPhone ipod_touch jailbreaking Mac_OS_X Top Windowshttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:b3d5a4c80dcf/Seven More Easy Ways to Integrate Your Google Apps [Google]2011-02-08T17:00:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/#!5754930/seven-more-easy-ways-to-integrate-your-google-apps
lancejandersGoogle Calendar Chrome docs Feature Gmail Google_Apps Google_Docs Google_Voice inbox Inboxes Labs Search Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:3444a91fc8f0/What We Use: Whitson Gordon's Favorite Gear and Productivity Tips [What We Use]2011-02-04T12:30:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/5751285/what-we-use-whitson-gordons-favorite-gear-and-productivity-tips
lancejandersWhat_We_Use Android Chrome Hardware ipad Laptops Linux Mac_OS_X mobile_apps Monitor Office Productivity Software Top Workspacehttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:a14cd85d6e91/The Mac Text Expansion Faceoff [Face Off]2011-02-03T20:10:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/5749631/the-mac-text-expansion-face-off
lancejandersface_off Downloads Featured_Mac_Download Mac Mac_OS_X Macro Text_Expansion Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:066b023b25a0/What We Use: Adam Dachis' Favorite Gear and Productivity Tips [What We Use]2011-02-03T13:00:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/5750448/what-we-use-adam-dachis-favorite-gear-and-productivity-tips
lancejandersWhat_We_Use Android Camcorder Camera Chrome Desk Hardware Laptop Monitor Office Productivity Software Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:058b286ca1e3/What We Use: Adam Pash's Favorite Gear and Productivity Tips [Video]2011-02-02T17:45:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/5749988/what-we-use-adam-pashs-favorite-gear-and-productivity-tips
lancejandersWhat_We_Use Android Camcorder Camera Chrome Desk Hardware Laptop Monitor Office Productivity Software Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:3436493f5071/The Best, Most Affordable Alternatives to Mozy for Unlimited Backups [Online Backup]2011-02-02T16:05:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/5749845/the-best-alternatives-to-mozy-for-big-or-unlimited-backups
lancejandersonline_backup Cloud-based_backup Comparisons Lifehacker_showdown Mozy offsite_backup Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:c77e337cd8d0/The Geek's Guide to Rebooting Your Kitchen [Video]2011-02-01T17:00:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/5748309/the-geeks-guide-to-rebooting-your-kitchen
lancejandersOrganization Clips Cooking Efficiency Feature Kitchen Lifehacker_Video Saving_Money saving_time Top Video_Demonstrationhttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:77119228bb08/What We Use: Jason Fitzpatrick's Favorite Gear and Productivity Tips [What We Use]2011-02-01T13:00:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/5748447/what-we-use-jason-fitzpatricks-favorite-gear-and-productivity-tips
lancejandersWhat_We_Use Android Browsers Chrome Desktops Hardware ipad Laptops Monitors Mouse Productivity Software Top Webapps Xbmchttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:c953612d5b6c/Sync Your Desktop Between Computers Using Dropbox [Syncing]2011-01-27T17:30:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/5744929/sync-your-desktop-between-computers-using-dropbox
lancejandersSyncing Cloud cloud_computing Desktops dropbox File_Syncing synchronization Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:36b790b0b371/Everything You Need to Know About the Verizon iPhone and Making the Switch [Explainer]2011-01-25T17:00:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/5742825/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-verizon-iphone-and-making-the-switch
lancejandersExplainer Android Apple At&t Cellphones Contacts coverage Feature iPhone Smartphones Switch Top Verizonhttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:e0d17e487d51/How to Create a Portable Hackintosh on a USB Thumb Drive [Hackintosh]2011-01-21T01:00:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/5739259/how-to-create-a-portable-hackintosh-on-a-usb-thumb-drive
lancejandersHackintosh How_To Mac_OS_X Portable Republished Thumb_Drives Top USB_drivehttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:0e84ad634214/What Google Voice Number Porting Actually Means for Your Cellphone [Explainer]2011-01-20T14:00:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/5738669/what-google-voice-number-porting-means-for-you
lancejandersExplainer Cellphones Google Google_Voice number phone_number Phones Portable Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:ddb5a9f2660a/Top 10 Clever Uses for the Cloud [Lifehacker Top 10]2011-01-15T17:00:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/5734265/top-10-clever-uses-for-the-cloud
lancejandersLifehacker_Top_10 BitTorrent Cloud Diet Feature Google Health NetBooks Open_Source Printing Search Social_Networking Top webapphttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:37249b033f29/How to Create (and Stick to) a Realistic Budget with Mint [Budgeting]2011-01-05T17:00:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/5725282/how-to-create-and-stick-to-a-realistic-budget-with-mint
lancejanders Email & Alerts, you can set email and SMS alerts to let you know when your balance is low, when you're over budget, when you have a bill coming up, and more. These'll help keep you on track with your budgets even if you don't have time to review it that week, or if you make a large purchase that throws your budget (or account balance) out of whack and you need to attend to it. It's a small feature, and certainly no replacement for regular budget review, but it's nice to have around for the more pressing situations.
You can also send yourself weekly or monthly summary emails that let you know the status of your account and your budgets. As with most things, this can be annoying for some people. However, if you're particularly bad at reviewing your budget (or haven't gotten into the habit yet), they can be a nice weekly or monthly reminder to do so.
Set Goals
The last thing you may want to turn on that'll help your budget keeping is Mint's Goals feature. If you're saving up for something—whether it's a car, a vacation, or just in case of an emergency, Mint can help you save up for it. It's pretty good at figuring out some of the math for you—for example, it can tell you how much you'll need to put away each month to pay for it by the the time you want it—but it can also track what your end goal should be. For example, if you're trying to get out of debt, it can take into account the credit card debt and car loans, for example, already present in your account. If you're saving for a car, it can keep an eye on the blue book value of that car so it knows how much you'll need by the end.
Mint will not only track how much you need to be saving, but also give you recommendations on achieving that goal faster, which is pretty handy. If your goal is a new home, for example, it'll give you advice on improving your credit, shopping for homeowner's insurance, and other related subjects. To set up a goal, just head to the Goals tab and follow the instructions. Again, don't try to work on too many goals at once—if you keep your efforts focused, you're much more likely to achieve them.
Budgeting your money used to be a tedious, time-consuming process, even with the help of technology. With something as easy as Mint, though, there's no excuse not to make a real resolution this year to keep better track of your spending. Got any of your own budgeting tips, Mint-related or not? Share them with us in the comments.
]]>Budgeting Budget Feature Financial Mint Money Personal_Finance Resolutions_2011 Saving_Money Top Trackinghttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:3e17559920b8/Make Your Own Consolidated Loyalty Card Without External Services [Wallet Hacks]2010-12-28T13:30:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/5719587/make-your-own-consolidated-loyalty-card-on-your-computer
lancejandersWallet_Hacks Clutter Organization photo_editing Scanners Time_Savers Top Wallethttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:86ad6a6c32f3/Set Up and Get to Know Your New Camera [Merrychristmahanukwanzaakkah]2010-12-25T12:00:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/5717451/how-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-new-camera
lancejandersMerrychristmahanukwanzaakkah Cameras Digital_Photography Feature Gifts Holidays How_To Photography Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:e4980b1a1154/How Do I Put Together a Tech Survival Kit? [Ask Lifehacker]2010-12-20T20:00:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/5715138/how-do-i-put-together-a-tech-survival-kit
lancejandersAsk_Lifehacker always_be_prepared Backup Cables Chargers Flash_Drives Organization Survival_Kit Thumb_Drives Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:01f28d2a656f/How to Sync iTunes Across All Your Computers with Dropbox [How To]2010-12-20T14:00:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/5715126/how-to-sync-itunes-across-all-your-computers-with-dropbox
lancejanders Sharing and checking the box next to Remote Apple Events. By default this will enable the option for all users, but you can opt to enable it for only your user.
You need to do this for all of your machines because every machine will be receiving a remote event every time iTunes opens on any of them. Because this needs to work not only locally but remotely as well, you can't just use local IP addresses. This isn't a big deal if you only have a desktop and a laptop as you can just set your router to forward port 3031—the port used for Remote Apple Events—to your desktop. If you have multiple machines you'll have to get a little creative with your network setup by either remapping ports or using a VPN to avoid the problem altogether. Alternatively, if you don't want to go through that trouble, you can instead write an extra AppleScript on one desktop machine and use an Apple Remote Event to run that instead. That extra AppleScript can use the methods described in the next section to quit any running copies of iTunes.
Step Two: Use AppleScript to Quit Copies of iTunes
To quit iTunes remote, you don't need more than a few lines of AppleScript. Open up AppleScript and enter the following, replacing YOUR-IP with the IP address of the machine you want to target:
tell application "iTunes" of machine "eppc://YOUR-IP"
quit
end tell
Run the script to test it. You may have to enter and save your username and password the first time, but after you do that the script should succeed in quitting iTunes remotely. If you have more than one machine, you'll need to simply repeat the statement for as many machines as you've got. Just make sure the IP addresses are correct for each machine. If you're quitting iTunes on a local machine, you can simply use the Bonjour name (e.g.: Joannas-iMac.local).
Once your script is quitting an open copies of iTunes on other computers, save it as an AppleScript application. Note: you'll need to repeat this process for every machine, creating a unique AppleScript and save it as an AppleScript application. This is because each computer needs to tell all the other computers to quit iTunes but leave its own running. If you copy that script to one of the other computers, it will leave iTunes running on the computer the script came from rather than leaving its own copy running. While the concept is pretty simple, it can be difficult to articulate, so if you're confused don't worry. If you don't understand why this is necessary but follow the instructions anyway, you should be just fine.
Step Three: Download and Configure Do Something When
First things first, download Do Something When and install it. Once it's installed, open up System Preferences and click DSW (which stands for Do Something When). If you're running Mac OS X 10.6 (or higher) in 64-bit mode, System Preferences will need to restart in 32-bit mode to load DSW. Let it do this and then System Preferences should display the Do Something When interface. If you look down at the bottom part of the window, you'll see some options.
The first option is Rule Name and that's the first thing you need to fill out. You can set it to whatever you want, but I've named mine "Quit Inactive iTunes." In the "When" drop down, select the Choose an Application... option and select iTunes. Right beside this selection will be a few options. You can choose to do something when iTunes launches or quits. You want to choose Launches.
The next line is the What line. From the first drop-down, choose Open. From the second drop-down, choose Select an Application or Document. This will provide you with a file browsing window and you'll want to navigate to the AppleScript application you created in the previous step. Select the one for the computer you're currently configuring and choose Open. Lastly, click the Save button to save your rule.
At this point you're all done with this machine, although if Do Something When isn't already running you'll want to tell it to run by pressing the button at the top of the window. Now you'll need to repeat this process for each computer syncing your iTunes music and you'll be done!
And that's that! We've played at iTunes syncing in the past, but this is by far the best method we've come up with, and the perks—like syncing your iDevice with any of your computers like they're the same machine—are pretty nice. We're open to improvements and suggestions, though, so if you've got any, let's hear it in the comments.
You can contact Adam Dachis, the author of this post, at adachis@lifehacker.com. You can also follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
]]>How_To Autohotkey dropbox Feature iTunes Mac_OS_X Music Sync Syncing Top Windowshttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:9dc7aa4861dc/The Best Remote Apps for Your iPhone [Ios]2010-12-09T17:00:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/5709968/the-best-remote-apps-for-your-iphone
lancejandersios Downloads Feature ipad iPhone ipod_touch Mobile_app_pack Remotes Top Vnchttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:d81f019c6070/Know Your Rights as a Renter When Things Go Wrong [Law]2010-12-08T14:00:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/5709072/know-your-rights-as-a-renter-when-things-go-wrong
lancejandersLaw Apartments Fb Legal Rent Renting Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:8a3a069bd87b/Why You Should Use Google Apps with a Personal Domain Instead of Your Gmail Account [Video]2010-12-07T17:00:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/5708219/why-you-should-use-google-apps-with-your-personal-domain-for-your-google-life
lancejandersEmail Data data_portability Domain_Names Google_Apps Opinion Privacy Rants Server Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:7e764ddcd7eb/Upgrade Your Car This Weekend [Weekendhacker]2010-12-04T02:00:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/5705822/upgrade-your-car-this-weekend
lancejandersWeekendhacker Automobiles Car Car_Hacks Cars DIY DIY_Creations Driving Safety Top Winterizehttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:ba78fe1bb8ea/Build or Buy: How to Get the Best Boxee Box for Your Money [DIY]2010-11-30T17:00:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/5702309/build-or-buy-how-to-get-the-best-boxee-box-for-your-money
lancejandersDIY Boxee boxee_box Feature Htpc Hulu Hulu_plus Media_Center NetFlix Remote Streaming_Television Streaming_Video Television Top TVhttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:9c1cd0a47972/The AirPlay-Alternative Guide to Streaming Your Media [Streaming Media]2010-11-29T17:00:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/5700741/the-airplay+alternative-guide-to-streaming-your-media
lancejandersStreaming_Media Airplay Apple Feature Htpc ios ipad iPhone ipod_touch Media_Center streaming_audio streaming_music Streaming_Video Top Xbmchttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:7774fb37ccb4/50 Free Apps We're Most Thankful For [Downloads]2010-11-25T15:00:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/5698593/50-free-apps-were-most-thankful-for
lancejandersDownloads Feature Free Free_Software Thanksgiving Top Webappshttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:2a3a2ccc55e2/The Most Helpful Ways to Use Google Voice that You're Not Using [Video]2010-11-23T17:00:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/5697196/the-most-helpful-ways-to-use-google-voice-that-youre-not-using
lancejandersClever_Uses Android Cellphones Clips Emergency_contact Feature Free Gmail Google_Voice iPhone land_line Phones Top transcription Voicemail VoIPhttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:645fb6480d64/How to Enable and Use Find My iPhone for Free on iPhone 3GS and Other Pre-2010 Devices [How To]2010-11-22T20:30:00+00:00
http://lifehacker.com/5696311/how-to-enable-and-use-find-my-iphone-for-free-on-iphone-3gs-and-other-pre+2010-devices
lancejanders Mail, Contacts, Calendars > and add a MobileMe account. Log into MobileMe using your Apple ID and password, and when it's connected, turn on Find My iPhone.
Now launch the Find My iPhone app, again log in with your Apple ID, and you should be set up.
Repeat Those Steps on Your Pre-2010 iOS Device
Once you've activated Find My iPhone on a newer iOS device, just repeat the steps above on a pre-2010 iOS device and it should work like a charm. I tested the process by turning on Find My iPhone on an iPad, then enabling it on an iPhone 3G.
To verify that everything's working, just point your browser to Find My iPhone and make sure both devices are in your device list.
It Continues to Work Even After You Kill the Connection on the New Device
Since some of you may be using someone else's latest generation iOS device to gain access to Find My iPhone, I then deleted my MobileMe account from the iPad and verified that my iPhone 3G continued to work with Find My iPhone.
So if you are borrowing someone else's iOS device to activate Find My iPhone on your older device, you should be able to safely delete your MobileMe account from their device but continue using Find My iPhone on yours. That means you can always log into MobileMe and the Find My iPhone dashboard, track your phone, display a message or play a sound, lock the phone with a PIN, or remotely wipe it, all for free. Handy.
Update: Reader Casey writes in and notes: "You can only make three MobileMe accounts per device. I tried setting up several people's in my office who have 3GS phones, and it cut me off after the third one. I removed the other MobileMe accounts after enabling their older devices, and the 3Gs continued to work. Even after doing so, it says I maxed out the number of accounts I could create on that phone.
]]>How_To find_my_iphone ios_4.2 ipad iPhone ipod_touch Tophttps://pinboard.in/u:lancejanders/b:8a716ce11ef7/