Got a great idea for a new web site domain name but you’re not at a computer? Send a text message to Domain by Text with a message like IDEANAME lifehacker at 41411 and get an SMS back with the availability of that domain. [via]

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Mac OS X only: Free application Tune Instructor adds advanced ID3 tag editing for your iTunes library through a smart third-party utility. The iTunes helper boasts features like search and replace for your tags, or it can set ID3 tags from a filename or set filenames from ID3 tags. It can automatically search and embed album art or lyrics—though I ran into issues with German-language lyrics sometimes showing up rather than English. The application has a lot of potential, and works well overall. I did run into a few peculiarities when testing it, but overall it offers advanced, worthwhile ID3 editing beyond what iTunes offers by default. Tune Instructor is freeware, Mac OS X only.

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Professor James Mitchell modified Dave Seah’s popular compact calendar for students. The result is the Compact Academic Calendar Excel Template, which starts in September 2008 and goes till September 2009 and provides a small, paper way to block out long-term assignments and projects. The compact calendar template is a free download. [via]

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As students flock back to the library and the rest of us head back to the coffee shop for a warm drink and free Wi-Fi, the safety and security of our laptops—and all of the important and sensitive information they hold—are of the utmost importance. Let’s take a look at several free and cheap methods you can (and should) use to keep your laptop safe, secure, and out of the hands of thieves. We’ll also take a look at software that tracks and even snaps pictures of the thief in the event he did get away with your precious gear. Photo by presta.

Phase One: Lock and Key

They aren’t free, but an inexpensive laptop lock can do wonders for securing your laptop and deterring thieves. You can find a huge range of laptop locks on Amazon ranging from $12 to $40, and whether you know it or not almost all laptops support them. They’re relatively inexpensive, and for the price they’re an excellent deterrent. After all, if you were a thief scoping out two laptops—one with a lock and one without—which which would you go for?

Phase Two: Laptop Alarms and Security Cameras

You’ve got your laptop physically locked down, so you’re off to a great start. For phase two of your laptop security system, try setting up a software-based security system and alarm. Here’s how they work.

Say you get up from your seat for a minute but you want an added layer of protection on top of your laptop lock. Car alarm-like applications for your laptop let you walk away for a moment without breaking down your whole work area and packing up your laptop. The benefit of an alarm in a crowded library or coffee shop is that all eyes are on your laptop and the potential thief when it goes off. An alarm is a second phase deterrent if a potential thief still goes after your laptop despite your lock.

For Windows users, free application Laptop Alarm (original post) will sound an alarm whenever anyone unplugs the power cable, the mouse is moved or unplugged, or the laptop is shut down. It’s a very simple application that could use some improvements (especially compared to the Mac alternative below), but it’s not bad for what it does.

Mac users, try the nearly identical applications iAlertU or Lockdown (original post). (Lockdown is based on the open-source iAlertU.) You can arm and disarm both applications car-alarm style with your Apple Remote, and both use the motion detection system in any newer MacBook to set off the alarm if someone moves your laptop. The alarm also sounds with any movement of your mouse, keyboard activity, and more. Whenever the alarm is triggered, your MacBook’s iSight camera snaps a picture and can send it to any email address.

Alternately, you can also automatically upload iAlertU pics to your FTP server if you’d prefer that to email.

If your laptop has a webcam, turning it into a backed-up security camera while you’re away can also help if your laptop were to get stolen. On Windows, you can install and run a free tool like Yawcam (original post) to turn your webcam into a motion-sensing security camera that can back up pictures it snaps to an FTP server. Just switch on Yawcam whenever you step away from your computer.

On a Mac, you could try out Gawker, a killer open-source time-lapse application. You’d need to figure out a method for off-site backup with Gawker, but a method similar to backing up iAlertU pictures via FTP should do the trick. For more, check out my previous guide to using Gawker.

Phase Three: Retrieval

If worse comes to worst and your laptop is stolen, you’re still not without recourse. Several tools are available to help you not only track your laptop and the thief after your laptop has been stolen, but also to secure data on your computer after it’s been stolen.

Windows users should check out the free application LaptopLock. Here’s how to use Laptop Lock to report your computer missing, remotely delete or secure files, run programs, and even send a message to the thief.

Similarly, the cross-platform Adeona is an open source application designed to help you track a stolen laptop by gathering information like IP addresses and access point information (like the name of the hotspot the laptop is connected to). As an added bonus for Mac users, Adeona can also snap photos with your iSight whenever it tracks the thief’s location and upload that photo as well—a killer option for getting several pictures of the thief and possibly some information to determine where he/she is using your laptop.

With tracking tools like Adeona or LaptopLock, you’re not guaranteed pinpoint accuracy by any means, but it is a start. Adeona does not geolocate IP addresses itself, either, but you can plug the addresses or wireless networks the application sends to you into web-based tools like Wigle or the GeoIP demo to see what you can find. If you’re using LaptopLock on a Windows computer, the LaptopLock service can do the IP mapping itself.

More Security Options Worth Considering

Since the sensitive information your computer holds is ultimately more important than your laptop itself, do yourself a huge favor by encrypting your hard drive. We’ve already walked you through how to encrypt your drive with TrueCrypt, a free and cross-platform encryption tool that protects your data in case of theft, so that’s the perfect starting point.

If you’ve set up remote services on your computer—like SSH, VNC, or even an FTP server—you might want to consider using the DynDNS web service as a LoJack, to connects to your computer no matter where it’s located and backup or delete sensitive files if it is stolen.

As a bonus tip, consider installing tracking software on your USB devices—like iPods or thumb drives—with previously mentioned application iHound. iHound works similarly to the laptop tracking and recovery tools mentioned above, but it places an enticing passwords.txt file on your USB drive’s root directory that uploads information like IP addresses when the thief opens that file.

The Upshot

None of these methods are foolproof. A thief could cut your lock, run off with your laptop even with an alarm sounding, and format your hard drive immediately. As a rule of thumb, however, a lot of would-be thieves either don’t necessarily know how to do some of these things or simply don’t take the effort. Similarly, tracking and retrieval tools aren’t a sure thing. IP address mapping is inexact at best, and it’s often very difficult to use an IP address to identify anyone anyway.

Every bit counts, though, even if it only means the difference between the thief making off with your laptop or your entire identity. If you’ve got your own methods for setting up a laptop security system—even if it just entails carrying it with you at all times—let’s hear about it in the comments.

Adam Pash is a senior editor for Lifehacker who dreams of the day his laptop can return to him like an AT-5000 Auto-Dialer (but with better wheels). His special feature Hack Attack appears every Tuesday on Lifehacker. Subscribe to the Hack Attack RSS feed to get new installments in your newsreader.

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Google’s made their new beta web browser Chrome available for download (Windows only). We’ll publish our full review post-haste; in the meantime, go check it out yourself.

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If you’re looking to save money on ink but don’t feel like dealing with the hassle of manually refilling your ink, Amazon’s new Ink & Toner Finder tool makes it easy to quickly find a cheap off-brand printer refill made for your printer. Just give the tool your printer brand, series, and model number, and it returns all ink cartridges that will work with your printer. It’s a very simple tool, but if you’re never sure which off-brands support your printer, it’s a quick way to get the results you’re looking for and save a few bucks (choosing off-brand with my printer, for example, saves roughly $8). While you’re at it, check out more smart and easy ways to reduce printing costs, like using previously mentioned GreenPrint to remove unnecessary pages from your print job.

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Now that you’ve seen what Google’s new beta web browser Chrome can do, do any of its features inspire lust? Or is Chrome yet another minimalist browser that will never live up to the high bar established players have already set? If you’re a Mac or Linux user without access to Chrome—or heck, just a power user interested in Chrome’s take on web surfing, tell us what features had you saying, “I wish I had that in my browser.”

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you’re viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

Now that you’ve told us the features that you love, what’s holding you back from moving to Chrome full-time? At this early point in the game my first answer is extensions. What about you? Tell us what you love the most—and miss the most—in Google Chrome.

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Google’s Picasa is seeing updates on both the web- and desktop-based versions of the popular photo management application. The biggest new feature is coming to Picasa Web Albums in the form of people tagging, a Facebook-style tool that lets you tag faces in your photos by name and then view pictures of that person by simply searching. The difference between this and Facebook is that Google identifies all of the faces in your pictures automatically and groups together the faces that it thinks are the same, making people tagging extremely quick and easy to do. According to technology web site CNET, Google will also be releasing a new beta version of Picasa for the desktop today, the main improvements to which include a movie maker and online synchronization of every edit of a photo. The download isn’t showing up for me yet, but people tagging is live, so give it a try and let’s hear what you think in the comments.

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It’s hard to believe, but there was a time in the not-so-distant past that if you wanted to share a file or install a new application, you had to get the files to your computer through some sort of physical medium like a floppy disk or CD. Today, we download countless files from the internet without giving a thought to the floppy disks of yesteryear. But with all that downloading, it can be difficult to keep track of and manage all of your downloads in an orderly fashion. That’s why for this week’s Hive Five, we want you to tell us about your favorite download management application—whether it’s the default download tool built into your browser or a completely separate add-on. Keep reading for voting details and to nominate the download manager you count on.

The Hive Five nomination round takes place in the comments, where you post your favorite tool for the job. We get hundreds of comments, so to make your nomination clear, please include it at the top of your comment like so: VOTE: Download Manager Goes Here. If you don’t follow this format, we may not count your vote. To prevent tampering with the results, votes from first-time commenters may not be counted. After you’ve made your nomination, let us know what makes it stand out from the competition.

About the Hive Five: The Hive Five feature series asks readers to answer the most frequently asked question we get—”Which tool is the best?” Once a week we’ll put out a call for contenders looking for the best solution to a certain problem, then YOU tell us your favorite tools to get the job done. Every Thursday, we’ll report back with the top five recommendations and give you a chance to vote on which is best. For an example, check out last week’s Hive Five Best Password Managers.

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New beta web browser Google Chrome officially hit the streets just a few minutes ago, and we’ve rolled up our sleeves and taken a quick look at everything the newest browser on the block has to offer. Keep reading for a detailed screenshot tour of the exciting new Google Chrome browser.

The image associated with this post is best viewed using a browser.
Similar to Speed Dial in Opera (or the copycat Firefox extension), Google Chrome offers shortcuts for users whenever a new tab is opened. These shortcuts include your most frequently visited sites, site searches you often use, recent bookmarks, and even recently closed tabs (in case you want to reopen a tab). It may not seem completely accurate at first, but in time it could turn out to be a killer start page.

Chrome automatically watches search boxes you use. Next time you want to search that site, rather than opening the page and finding the search box, you can use the omni-bar to search that site quickly and easily. For example, after one search at Amazon, I could make a second search from Chrome simply by heading to the omni-bar, pressing “a” and then Tab to autocomplete the Amazon search. Doing that enables the Amazon search from the location bar (which you can see from the light blue box), so all you have to do is enter your Amazon search terms and hit Enter.

Like almost every browser these days, Google Chrome has added a “porn mode” called Incognito mode. When browsing in Incognito, none of your activity will be recorded on your computer. That means no history, no files saved in the cache, no cookies, and no evidence you’ve been naughty. (Firefox users, check out previously mentioned Stealther.)

All tabs are rearrangable just like in Firefox, but you can also very easily break out a tab from the tab window it’s currently held in. Dragging and dropping is easy and satisfying.

The Google Chrome Task Manager gives you an overview of the currently running tabs and plug-ins just like the Windows Task Manager. You can kill any running process at any time from this window. The quickest way to open Task Manager in Chrome: Shift+Esc.

When you first install it, Chrome will offer to import bookmarks, passwords, and other settings from Firefox. I’m assuming that if my default browser were Internet Explorer that Chrome would import from IE.

If you’re keen on Google Chrome but not hot on Google search, you can actually change your default search engine if you like.

One of the first things you’ll notice when navigating to different URLs is that Google Chrome highlights the root domain in every URL, presumably—among other things—as a sort of anti-phishing feature. If you’re looking for this feature in your current installation of Firefox, check out the previously mentioned Location2 extension.

Password saving in Chrome looks and acts very similarly to the new password handling in Firefox 3.

Turn any webapp that you keep open all day long (like Gmail, for example) into a separate application through the tab drop-down menu next to the “omni-bar.” When you create a new application in this way, it prompts you to create shortcuts on your computer through a Google Gears prompt. The resulting webapp has its own shortcut, its own item in the taskbar, and an even more consolidated browser window—lacking a location bar, search box, or any of the traditional browser tools. It’s sort of like having Prism built into Firefox.

Web developers will be happy to see the Google Chrome inspector, a relatively full-featured DOM inspector and resources tool very similar to what developers get in Safari.

Bookmarking in Chrome is also almost exactly like bookmarking in Firefox 3 with the new star icon (it’s just on the other side of the location bar).

The options in Google Chrome are, as you can see, extremely limited at the moment—just like much of Google Chrome.

Downloads don’t break out into another window, but instead show up in the taskbar at the bottom of the browser. Considering how much care Chrome gives to space saving, the download bar is enormous and a bit ungainly.

What do you think about the new browser offering from the big G? Think you’ll give it the old college try? Let’s hear you thoughts in the comments.

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The defendant in a much-watched file-sharing case was dealt a serious blow this week when a judge ruled he tampered with evidence in the case. After first getting notice from the Recording Industry Association of America, Jeffrey Howell, according to Ars Technica,

… uninstalled KaZaA and deleted everything in the shared folder, reformatted his hard drive, downloaded and used a file-wiping program, and then nuked all the KaZaA logs on his PC.

Something to keep in mind if you ever find yourself unlucky enough to get caught. For more on the RIAA’s take-down tactics and defenses against them, check out out this Ask the Law Geek post.

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Read almost any blog or forum dedicated to the free, open-source operating system Linux and its diaspora of distributions, and you might assume that the users are almost exclusively haters of Microsoft or, occasionally, Apple. A system crash or price concerns might have led to a few “switches,” but the truth must go much broader and deeper. So we ask our open-source switchers (and dual-booters): What made you pick up that first installation CD and give Linux a go? Was it an experiment with some older hardware? A killer app or idea you saw in action? The principals of open source? Or were you truly escaping from a restrictive system, like Mark Pilgrim? Post your story in the comments below, and we’ll review them for a future post.

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NBC’s Today Show web site rounds up tricks for talking anyone into anything, whether you’re negotiating over price, persuading your spouse, or influencing co-workers. A lot of the tips are more about simple manipulation, but the price negotiation tip offered a solid rule-of-thumb:

If you are the buyer, offer the salesperson 15 percent to 20 percent less than what you can really afford. For instance, if you absolutely can’t spend more than $6,000 on a used car advertised at $7,000, try offering $5,100 (15 percent less than $6,000).

Of course you’ll need to get comfortable with haggling to apply this rule, but if the seller is using the same rule in reverse for pricing the item (which the author also suggests), you almost have to haggle if you’re going to get a reasonable price. Photo by jenn_jenn.

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Over at PC World, I (Adam) have written up 12 sly tech tricks for beefing up your tech arsenal, from password cracking to inconspicuously reading on the job. Got a favorite trick of your own? Let’s hear about it in the comments.

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If you’re a GCal lover with the niggling complaint here and there, the Official Gmail Blog highlights several small but worthwhile improvements to the popular web-based calendar. Updates include better meeting request follow-ups and more flexible reminder schedules among a few other nice updates.

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