Life Clerks

Wired’s How-To Wiki dives into home automation, offering advice for beginning “smart house” hackers looking to take their homes to the future. The article focuses on the X10 standard for automation, covering the devices and software you can use to save energy and look cool by automating devices in your home. We’ve highlighted a few fun ways you can put a little X10 automation to good use, like the Emergency Party Button and the remote controlled deadbolt, but Wired’s post covers the nuts and bolts of getting started. If you’ve traveled the home automation road, share your experience in the comments.

Original post by Adam Pash

Do-it-yourselfer Kipkay doesn’t have a backlit keyboard, so he repurposed the pointless Scroll Lock LED on an old school keyboard to light up all the keys instead. The end result does indeed make typing in the dark possible, but it doesn’t look anywhere near as cool as a commercial backlit keyboard. In fact, in the stark light of day you will probably be embarrassed about the keyboard’s light antennae, which you turn on by hitting the Scroll Lock key. Still, this is a nifty mod if only for the innovative concept. Hit the jump to watch how he did it.

Original post by Gina Trapani

All platforms running Thunderbird: Thunderbird extension Zindus syncs your Google contacts with Thunderbird’s address book. Just install the extension, give it your Gmail username and password (it supports both @gmail and Google Apps domains), and hit the Sync Now button to synchronize names, email addresses, phone numbers, IM handles, and more. Zindus does its best to handle any conflicts and walk you through resolutions, but you can also sync the contacts to a separate list if you just want to give it a try. The free, cross-platform Zindus is a fantastic solution for Thunderbird users jealous of Address Book’s recent Google Contact Sync update.

Original post by Adam Pash

Mozilla product manager Alex Polvi’s state of Firefox 3-compatible add-ons report points out that while top extensions like Gmail Manager, Forecast Fox, and Foxmarks are now Firefox 3-ready, testers are still waiting on a few biggies, like Greasemonkey, Tab Mix Plus, FoxyTunes, and Google Browser Sync. Tell us the extension that has you waiting on Firefox 3 in the comments.

Original post by Gina Trapani

Development on the Xbox Media Center Mac port continues apace, with the new beta 3 which dropped today. Grab the update to get more fixes and additions from the Linux version, and see how XBMC turns your Mac into a better media center.

Original post by Gina Trapani

Development on the Xbox Media Center Mac port continues apace, with the new beta 3 which dropped today. Grab the update to get more fixes and additions from the Linux version, and see how XBMC turns your Mac into a better media center.

Original post by Gina Trapani

Got some downtime at the office but don’t feel comfortable pulling out a paperback to get some reading in on-the-job? Web site Read at Work serves up public domain works in PowerPoint-looking chunks. The site boasts a convincing Flash application that runs in fullscreen and looks exactly like a Windows XP installation. (You have to try it to truly appreciate it.) Granted, reading an entire book in this fashion is far from ideal, but if you’re desperate, it’s a fun—albeit weird—way to get your fix.

Original post by Adam Pash

There as many applications and methods for copying music from an iPod to your computer as there are iPod models themselves, which makes finding a sure-fire, free solution a matter of tedious trial and error. To save you the work, today we’re rounding up the best tools and techniques for getting music off any model iPod onto nearly any computer—for free. Whether you’re a Windows user looking to yank tunes from an iPhone, a Mac fan backing up an iPod classic, or a Linux enthusiast trying to get into your new Nano, we’ve got you covered. Follow along for a detailed look at the best ways to transfer songs from your iPod to your computer, no matter what hardware or operating system you’re rocking.

iPhone and iPod touch

While it used to be as simple as enabling disk use on old school iPods to get to the music files stored there, it’s not that easy with the iPhone and iPod touch models. Luckily, intrepid hackers have found a way on each platform. Here are our picks for the best ways to get at your music from your touchscreen iPod and iPhone.

Mac OS X—Senuti (beta)

Free Mac utility Senuti could always copy music from regular iPods to your Mac, and a new beta version now supports the iPhone and iPod touch. Be sure to download the beta release (as of writing, the latest beta is 0.50.2b7) and install on your Mac. Fire up Senuti to get a complete list of songs on the iPhone or iPod touch connected to your Mac. Senuti will put a blue dot next to songs that already exist in that Mac’s iTunes library. Select the songs you want and hit the Transfer button to copy them to your computer. (Original post)

Windows—Jailbreak + SSH

Unfortunately, there are no free graphical applications for Windows like Senuti for Mac that can reach into your touch-based iPod’s guts and move music around. But it’s not that hard to get your files, if you’re willing to jailbreak your device and do a little file-swapping. Here’s how to do it.

1. Jailbreak your iPhone/touch: Your editors have found the 45-second ZiPhone method pretty reliable, but your mileage can vary. However you jailbreak your device, make sure it has “BSD Subsystem” and “OpenSSH” packages installed through the Installer.app utility.
2. Get an SFTP application:Unless you want to hack around command-line-style with PuttY or Cygwin, you’ll find it easier to get around using an FTP program. Filezilla is a free, easy-to-use option, but any client that supports SSH transfer will do.
3. Get into your iPhone/touch: Make sure your iPhone/touch has a wifi connection to the same network as your computer, and that its Autolock setting (Settings->General->Autolock) is temporarily set to “Never” to prevent dropped connections. Find its IP address (Settings->Wifi, then select the checked network), and in your FTP program, put that address in as the Host, and set a username of “root” and a password of “alpine,” assuming you’ve upgraded your firmware at least once (it’s “dottie” if not). Choose to connect through port 22 for an SSH connection, and you should get in. You may get a warning related to a “host key,” but choose “Yes” or “OK,” and check “Always trust this host” or a similar catch-all, if offered.
4. Transfer the files: I found my iPod touch’s music nested deep inside the file structure, at /private/var/mobile/Media/iTunes_Control/Music/. You’ll probably find your music there too. Copy all the folders named F01, F02 and so onto your computer. The files have non-sensical names, but they’re really your tunes, and iTunes (and even Windows itself) knows it:
   
   Once you’ve got your files, you can give them back sensible names in iTunes by importing them, then heading to Edit->Preferences->Advanced->”Keep iTunes Music folder organized.” Now you’ve got your iPod’s whole music library, organized and ready to use wherever.

Linux

As with Windows, there’s no single app that gets you to your music, but you can jailbreak your iPhone/touch in Linux and open it up for wireless access to apps like Amarok or gtkpod for transfers and organization. Head to our guide to Syncing your Iphone wirelessly in Linux for a detailed tutorial on doing just that.

All other iPods

Whether you’ve got a Shuffle, Nano, Classic, Photo, Video, or something more old-school, your route to music recovery is decidedly easier than with those fancy-dancy touch models. Here’s the best ways to get at your files:

Windows—YamiPod

YamiPod works on all three major platforms, but it really comes in handy in Windows. It recently added support for new-model Nano and iPod classic, and boasts a host of great features, including search, preview-play of files, duplicate remover, and more. Better still, it’s a small stand-alone program that can run from a USB stick, so helping friends and co-workers recover their music is a snap. (Original post)

Mac OS X—Senuti

For non-touch Apple music players, Senuti is still your best bet. The uber-useful blue dots that indicate a song is already in your collection, a slick interface, full Leopard support—it’s great, free software.

Linux

If you simply need to grab the music files off an iPod, gtkpod is the tool of choice. It grabs play counts and playlists, ratings and cover art, and can replicate the iPods entire database on your hard drive. The creators are working on support for the very latest models, but Photo, Video, Nano, and older makes should all function just fine. It’s also worth mentioning that the three most well-known Linux music organizers—Amarok, Rhythmbox and Banshee—can move unprotected music on and off most iPods with relative ease.

Cross-platform

If you’re a dual-booter, virtualizer, or use your iPod at different home and work systems, you might want to check out two apps that run on Windows, Mac, or Linux, for better integration and matching features:

• Songbird: This open-source library organizer from Mozilla, creators of the Firefox browser and Thunderbird email client, is looking pretty slick these days. Its latest versoin supports every iPod (except the iPhone/touch, of course), can replicate your iTunes database, and copying files from iPod to disk is a drag-and-drop affair (Original post).
• Floola: As Adam detailed in his self-sustaining iPod feature, Floola not only works as a nifty iTunes replacement, but can actually run right off your device’s storage drive, making it great for spreading your music to friends, co-workers and the person putting you up on vacation.
• YamiPod: As noted above, this slick iPod-copying app works on Windows, Mac, and Linux, and easily runs from a USB stick.

How do you copy music from your iPod to your computer? Got a simpler method of liberating songs from an iPod touch or iPhone? Let’s hear about it in the comments.

Kevin Purdy, associate editor at Lifehacker, has been meaning to clean The Magnetic Fields off his iPod for some time now. His weekly feature, Open Sourcery, appears Fridays on Lifehacker.

Original post by Kevin Purdy

Webapp MyFolia organizes and tracks your garden’s progress using all the current “Web 2.0″ tools out there—tags, a wiki, Google maps, and social networking. Sign up for an account at MyFolia to:

• Track your gardening progress - list your current plants with planting dates, track your seed stashes and note down your wish list plants.
• Share your garden with others and check out what other gardeners are growing near you.
• See who else is growing the same things you are - see their photos, read their journal entries and even leave them a comment or two!
• Join a gardening group (or start your own!) about any gardening topic under the sun.

Even if you’re not a gardener yourself, you can check out other people’s flowers and vegetables by just surfing the tags at MyFolia. Do you keep a gardening journal? How do you do it? Tell us about your Getting Gardening Done system in the comments.

Original post by Gina Trapani

Miss anything good this month on Lifehacker? Have a recap:

• Turn Your Point-and-Shoot into a Super-Camera
  “If you’re using a consumer grade point-and-shoot Canon digital camera, you’ve got hardware in hand that can support advanced features way beyond what shipped in the box.”
• Get Vista’s Best Features in XP
  “Despite the fact that most of you prefer XP to Vista and would rather Microsoft extended XP’s shelf-life, several new and improved features available in Vista would be great to have in XP.”
• Top 10 Things You Forgot Your Mac Can Do
  “Macs may be more expensive, and Mac users more elitist (ahem), but blind Apple loyalty aside, there are a number of neat features bundled into your Mac that make it super useful and fun.”
• Top 10 Firefox 3 Features
  “The newest version of our favorite open source web browser, Mozilla Firefox 3, offers dozens of new features and fixes, but only a handful will make the most dramatic difference in your everyday browsing.”
• Best Text Editors
  “From managing our to-do lists and writing code to jotting ideas and keeping a grocery list, nothing beats a solid plain text editor.”
• Learn to Play an Instrument Online
  “Chances are at one point or another, you’ve either purchased an instrument or considered doing so with the intention of learning to play it; most of us, however, never get around the learning part.”
• Best Online File Sharing Services
  “Whether you’re trying to share megabytes worth of music with a friend or send an important document to a coworker, nothing outshines a fast, easy-to-use file-sharing service.”
• Slipstream Service Pack 3 into Your Windows XP Installation CD
  “Next time you wipe your PC’s hard drive clean and reinstall Windows with that old installation disc, you don’t want to connect your fresh, unpatched and vulnerable system to the internet only to download 176 new updates from Microsoft.”
• XBMC Turns Your Mac into the Ultimate Media Center
  “You don’t have to mod your classic Xbox to run the best free media center application around anymore: Dedicated developers have ported the Xbox Media Center (XBMC) software to the Mac, and its killer features will convince you to abandon Front Row forever.”

Original post by Lifehacker