mike the mountain

Productivity: 10 things your IT department won't tell you

The Wall Street Journal talks to 3 IT experts to find out what risky computing they try to keep you from engaging in, then asks 3 productivity mavens (including our very own Gina Trapani) how to get around the blocks. The list offers a nice point-counterpoint of why your IT department considers something a risk, how you can bypass their roadblocks and do it anyway, and–perhaps more importantly–how to get around it in a manner that won't completely freak out your IT department. (I'm not saying it won't just a little.) For more, see how else you can survive IT lockdown.

List of 50 best movie robots of all time, with video

Xeni Jardin:

The guys at Times Online (UK) have compiled a list of the 50 coolest movie robots, measured with the following factors in mind:

Plausibility (meaning how likely it would be that, with advances on currently existing technology, such a device could be built)

Coolness (just how well designed, shiny or generally well-appointed the robot appeared to be)

Dangerousness (scoring not only on built-in weaponry, but the robot’s eagerness to use it) Related Links

Comedy Value (how effective the robot is at providing light relief in the film in which it appears)

Link to list, which includes lots of video clips — this is a fun, obsessively assembled homage. (thanks, Mikey)

Reader comment: Mark Christian says,

Heya. If you feed that link into Chime.TV, you can watch all the video clips in one go. Link.

Linux Tip: Smooth out your fonts in Ubuntu

Ubuntu Feisty users: Improve the look of your fonts in 2 minutes flat by installing a few packages. The font change is very noticeable in Firefox and the terminal. If you want to get technical about it, the process detailed in the Ubuntu Forums improves Feisty’s subpixel rendering. After you complete the steps, you will need to restart your open apps in order to see the difference. The lorem ipsum screenshot, shows the impressive result.

Email: Merlin Mann presents on "Inbox Zero"

King of the empty inbox Merlin Mann did an hour-long presentation on dealing with the daily onslaught of email for Google employees this week, and the video’s now available to the rest of us. Hit the play button to see Merlin’s full presentation (slides available here) which is based on his excellent Inbox Zero series at 43 Folders. His system inspired most of the empty inbox proclamations here on Lifehacker, so this is your chance to hear it from the horse’s mouth. Thanks to Merlin and everyone at Google for making this one available to the public.

MP3 Mixtapes: Balkan hotsteppaz, hardcore klezmer, Roma rap, Raï

Xeni Jardin:

(1) A Belgian DJ named Typsy Gypsy (half of the Balkan Hot Stepsoundsystem duo) has uploaded a srsly kickazz 2-part mixtape set featuring a wide array of Balkan, Gypsy, Raï, and Klezmer beats — all over 150 bpm — that will make you go hopa.

Link to the referring blog (‘T Nieuwe Werck), which posts direct MP3 links and a detailed tracklist so you can go out and buy some of this great stuff after you’ve tasted it.

A quick exploration of Typsy Gypsy’s MySpace page leads to two even more recent mixtape uploads, which are part of a regular podcast transmission: check out “Balkan Bangers,” July 26, 2007, Link to part 1, Link to part 2. Check out the Beastie Boys mix on that myspace page, too.

Subscribe to the podcast here: iTunes Link.

(2) In a similar vein, here’s a mix set featuring “Sinti- and Roma (/ -inspired) tunes, ranging from Paris to Bucharest and several places in between.” Link.

(3) While you’re at it, here’s another sweet download — flowing Spanish-language rap over dance beats: Link.

(Balkan stuff via Blentwell / all of it thanks Brendan!)

Update: Schobbejak of the T Nieuwe Werck blog where we found this stuff says:

Thank you for your post on boingboing.net. The Typsy Gypsy mix is one great mix! And you can also tell people that there will be another typsy gypsy release soon!

When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth

I just finished reading Cory Doctorow‘s Locus Award-winning novelette When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth, which has been made freely available for all of us to read at Baen’s Universe.

It’s the first story I’ve read in ages that I read completely without stopping, and the first full-length story that I think I’ve ever read in its entirety online. Cory is one of the very few authors who inspire me as well as entertain me, because he tells great stories like this one.

Trailers from Hell: directors muse on schlocky movie faves

Xeni Jardin:

The idea behind the recently launched “Trailers from Hell” website is simple and fun. Each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, there’s a new video segment in which a renowned movie director comments over one of their favorite b-movie / exploitation / grindhouse flick trailers. Lots of personal memories, inspiration revelations — it’s like having a beer with a filmmaker whose work you dig, and fessing up about crappy movies you’re both ashamed to admit loving.

One of this week’s uploads is Mick “Masters of Horror” Garris waxing poetic about “The Vampire Lovers”: Link.

What’s extra cool here is the fact that each trailer is offered both with and without commentary. Great picks, and the commentaries I’ve watched are most watchable.

For instance, John Landis pointing out people he went to high school with who appear in “The T.A.M.I. Show,” the musical variety epic filmed in “Electronovision” in 1964: Link.

Or Joe Dante on the sciencesploitation crapsterpiece “Incredible Petrified World”: Link. (“You gotta hand it to [Jerry Warren] — he made Ed Wood look like Bernardo Bertolucci, but he got these things made and people paid to see ‘em!”).

The commentaries feel authentic. You can’t really fake this stuff, so there’s a lot for fringe movie buffs to enjoy.

The only criticisms I have about the project are nitpicky UI issues — I can’t subscribe to an RSS feed (opt-in email updates, but that’s kinda lame); the website has a big-ass noisy Flash intro at the front gate; audience comments would be nice; and I wish the content were available on some of the web video networks I get most of my daily video pickins from.

Still, I’m totally bookmarking it and planning to come back regularly. Here’s hoping they’ll make these very good goods a little easier to access as time goes on. (Thanks, Elizabeth Stanley!)

How To: Hide files inside of JPEG images

Blogger Jimmy R. demonstrates how you can embed hidden files into an innocent-looking JPEG image using the free 7-Zip and the Windows command line. See more on the art of file hiding inside files in our previously posted feature, Hide data in files with easy steganography tools.

101 Simple Meals

Most guys who complain about not being able to cook imply that they don’t have enough time to make the magic happen, resorting to PB&J or, time-permiting, pan-fried PB&J. This new list of 101 simple recipes from the Times should side-suto those excuses; Each recipe is simple enough to be written up in a couple of sentences.

28 New Joe’s Special, from San Francisco: Brown ground meat with minced garlic and chopped onion. When just about cooked, add chopped spinach and cook, stirring, until wilted. At the last minute, stir in two eggs, along with grated Parmesan and salt and pepper.

29 Chop prosciutto and crisp it in a skillet with olive oil; add chopped not-too-ripe figs. Serve over greens dressed with oil and vinegar; top all with crumbled blue cheese.

30 Quesadilla: Use a combination of cheeses, like Fontina mixed with grated pecorino. Put on half of a large flour tortilla with pickled jalapenos, chopped onion, shallot or scallion, chopped tomatoes and grated radish. Fold tortilla over and brown on both sides in butter or oil, until cheese is melted.

Print this out before it goes behind the paywall and get cooking.

Summer Express [NYTimes]