Monthly Archives: August 2009

Never Miss a Rebate with Gmail and the Trusted Trio [Rebates]

Posted on August 25, 2009
by

Mail-in rebates are wicked beasts, teasing and tempting you into making purchases, then slipping from your mind so easily. No more of that! With this combo of the trusted trio and Gmail’s plus-addressing, you’ll never miss another rebate.

Photo by LaCabeza Grande

Reader Evan Fredericks wrote that, thanks to our post about printing rebate forms immediately, he was able to get a rebate which was removed from the store’s website. While he was glad to save money, he also felt the need to improve on our suggestion, using the trusted trio and Gmail’s plus-addressing feature:

Printing a rebate days before I would actually be able to fill it out seemed like more of a hassle and like a bad combination with my paper-losing habit. Thus, I decided I would need a quick way to get a digital copy of rebate forms that would be easy to keep track of:

  • Create a filter for emails to johndoe+rebates@gmail.com (replacing “john.doe” with your own email address) that skips the inbox and labels messages with “rebate” and “hold” if you’re using the trusted trio. (Adding the “plus” address as a contact named “rebates” will allow for quicker sending.)
  • Before you purchase the item, open the rebate form. Most PDF readers that can open in a browser have an emailing feature (I use foxit); select this and your email client will open with the rebate form as an attachment. (Affixia can allow this to work with Gmail’s web client). Put johndoe+rebates@gmail.com as the recipient (or just start typing rebates until it pops up if you added it as a contact). Then put the item to be purchased as the subject.

That’s it! Now, when the item comes, you’ll have easy access to the rebate form. If you forget about the form when the item comes, you’ll be reminded when you do your routine checkup of your “hold”/”follow up” labels, or if you want to be super safe, you could add a step after emailing the form to create a to-do in whatever task-managing strategy you use.

Do you have a system in place to streamline rebates and avoid the high price of financial laziness? Do you prefer hard copies or straight-to-PDF printing? How do you keep track of what’s due to you after you send them out? Tell us all about it in the comments.






Leave a Reply ?

Requiring SSL For ASP.NET MVC Controllers

Posted on August 25, 2009
by

There are quite a few posts out there about switching to SSL when a user visits specific areas of a website but I figure the more the merrier so here’s yet another one.

My company is in the process of rolling out an ASP.NET MVC site for a client and specific actions and controllers need to have SSL running to ensure that no sensitive information gets out such as passwords and credit cards.  If a user visits the site using http:// I need to switch them to https:// in certain parts of the website.  Fortunately, ASP.NET MVC is quite extensible so it only took about 4-5 minutes to get a simple solution in place. 

The easiest way I know of to switch to SSL for specific controllers or actions is to create an ActionFilterAttribute that handles redirecting them to an https:// address.  Classes that derive from ActionFilterAttribute can be placed immediately above actions or even controllers in cases where the filter needs to apply to all actions in the controller.  For my situation I needed entire controllers to be SSL-enabled so I placed the attribute above the controller class name.

Here’s an example of the simple RequiresSSL attribute class: 

using System;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Mvc;

namespace Helpers
{
    public class RequiresSSL : ActionFilterAttribute
    {
        public override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext)
        {
            HttpRequestBase req = filterContext.HttpContext.Request;
            HttpResponseBase res = filterContext.HttpContext.Response;

            //Check if we're secure or not and if we're on the local box
            if (!req.IsSecureConnection && !req.IsLocal)
            {
                string url = req.Url.ToString().ToLower().Replace("http:", "https:");
                res.Redirect(url);
            }
            base.OnActionExecuting(filterContext);
        }
    }
}


A couple of people (thanks Jon and Phil) commented that the ToLower() call I had above could cause consequences with QueryString data.  I could take ToString() out but some people may type “HTTP” instead of “http” which would mess up the replace call.  For the current application I’m working on I only have integers being passed around on the QueryString so it didn’t affect me at all but it definitely could affect string data being passed.  The suggestion was to use the UriBuilder class and after thinking it through more I agree.  Here’s a different version of the RequiresSSL class that uses the UriBuilder class.

 

using System;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Mvc;

namespace Helpers
{
    public class RequiresSSL : ActionFilterAttribute
    {
        public override void OnActionExecuting(ActionExecutingContext filterContext)
        {
            HttpRequestBase req = filterContext.HttpContext.Request;
            HttpResponseBase res = filterContext.HttpContext.Response;

            //Check if we're secure or not and if we're on the local box
            if (!req.IsSecureConnection && !req.IsLocal)
            {
                var builder = new UriBuilder(req.Url)
                {
                    Scheme = Uri.UriSchemeHttps,
                    Port = 443
                };
                res.Redirect(builder.Uri.ToString());
            }
            base.OnActionExecuting(filterContext);
        }
    }
}


The RequiresSSL attribute can then be placed above the appropriate action or controller: 

[HandleError]
[RequiresSSL]
public class AccountController : Controller
{
    ...
}


If you’re running IIS7 and want to get a test SSL certificate setup for testing purposes check out my good friend Rob Bagby’s excellent post on the subject.

Leave a Reply ?

On-line Backups: Flexible Enough for Home & the Office

Posted on August 25, 2009
by

Backups are a technology or process that everyone — everyone! — needs to consider. This article looks at some on-line backup options for Linux that can apply to the spectrum of home to enterprise-class users.

Leave a Reply ?

Highslide JS .NET v4.1.5

Posted on August 25, 2009
by

Though the version number only inched up 0.0.1 with this release, it brings quite a few new features; most of them in response to your requests. I can’t include every request, but I will continue to improve the control based on your feedback, so keep them coming.

Changes in v4.1.5 include:

  • Updated the base Highslide JS library to v4.1.5.
  • Updated the embedded CSS to the latest version bundled with Highslide JS. This fixes the issue with the transparent/blank bar during enlargement if a caption is set.
  • A few internal improvements that should make it work more reliably in some situations.

HighslideManager specific changes:

  • Added: Support for onmouseover triggering, through a new property called ExpandEvent. Options are Click and MouseOver.
  • Added: CenterEnlargements. When true, enlargements will be centered in the browser instead of centered over the thumbnail.
  • Added: MarginTop, MarginLeft, MarginBottom, and MarginRight, which mirror the functionality of Highslide’s similarly named settings. For more information, see the documentation for hs.marginLeft.
  • Added: AnchorPosition. This property allows you to specify which point on the enlargement will be anchored to the thumbnail. See hs.anchor for more information.
  • Added: ShowFullExpandButton. When the full size image is too large to display in the available browser viewport, an enlargement icon normally displays in the bottom right corner. Setting this property to false will cause that icon to have an opacity of 0, effectively hiding it.

HighslideImage specific changes:

  • Added: Disabled property. When set to true, no Highslide functionality will be attached to the image. Good for imperatively disabling thumbnails from code-behind.

As always, the control is freely available on the Highslide JS .NET project page.

###

Originally posted at Encosia. If you’re reading this elsewhere, come on over and see the original.

Highslide JS .NET v4.1.5

Leave a Reply ?

The Definitive Guide to Backing Up and Ditching Your Discs [Discs]

Posted on August 25, 2009
by

Whether you’re moving, short on cash, or running out of storage space, you’ve got plenty of reasons to ditch your physical media. Hard drives are cheap; here are our recommended methods of saving, selling, and trading your CDs, DVDs, and video games.

Photo by mutednarayan.

Audio CDs

Backing up: If you’ve only got a few CDs to digitize, either because you’re already on top of your backups or just want a few sacred albums, go ahead and use whatever music manager you’ve got. We’ve found some decent explanatory guides for iTunes, WinAmp, and Windows Media Player, all of which suggest you make sure you’ve got your format settings tweaked to your liking before you commit the time to swapping discs in and out. Photo by joelogon.

What format should you back up to? We can’t tell the future, nor do we know how much of an audiophile you are. The safest bet is to go with a lossless compression method, which doesn’t compress audio information for file size, and so has a better likelihood of being rescued and re-converted if a new format takes over from MP3. Both iTunes and Windows Media Player offer their own lossless formats to convert to in their settings.

The free, open-source alternative is to convert to FLAC, which, while popular among serious music fans and the open-source community, isn’t quite a readily-playable format on MP3 players and devices. You can convert audio CD tracks to FLAC, or most any other audio format, using the free VLC Media Player.

If you do decide to stick with MP3s for your conversion, aim for a higher bitrate—perhaps 256 kbit/s. Some notice audio "artifacts" on files compressed at 192 kbit/s and lower. On most modern hard drives, a library full of MP3s encoded at the 256 rate can readily be fit.

Selling and trading: Your best deals will depend on your collection, with rare or hard-to-find discs, of course, likely to fetch a better dollar. We’ve previously posted that disc-by-disc Amazon selling can be worth the effort, if you’ve got the time. In my own brick-and-mortar experiences, I found that one locally-owned record store (in a different town) wouldn’t bother giving me more than a cursory estimate for about 60 CDs, while another took the time to look for any gems with resale value and provided a final estimate. Photo by brewbooks.

I found the best deal at an FYE, because they can quickly scan CDs, match them against a national database of inventory, and offer you firm disc-by-disc prices. A Tina Turner hits collection owned by my wife, and Black Flag’s The First Four Years netted surprising double-digit returns, but don't kid yourself—audio CDs are not a product seeing growth, so you may have to swallow your pride and admit your Smashing Pumpkins collection isn't all that valuable these days. If you're offered mere pennies for a disc, you can, of course, always keep it, but there are alternatives.

Reader Richard wrote in to tell us about SwapACD, a service he’s found fairly reliable for trading out old, hardly-touched discs for unexplored music territory. Swaptree is another fair bet for all kinds of media.

If mailing out your old wares disc by disc isn't all that appealing, we propose a fun alternative—host an Old CD Party. Email a bunch of nearby friends whose tastes in music aren't completely appalling, buy some snacks and drinks, and invite everyone to spread their CD collections in personal piles on your floor, just like the baseball card trades of yore. Swap albums, negotiate two-for-one deals, and laugh about what a sullen, sappy, or seriously goofy person you used to be. It's a lot more fun than getting 50 cents for your Throwing Copper disc(s).

DVDs

Backing up: Adam really dislikes having DVD scratches and skips interrupt his “stories,” while I loathe looking at my DVD purchases and realizing that, on a per-view basis, they’ve cost me about $5 per hour. How many films does one really intend to watch over and over? Wouldn’t your copy of The Italian Job (the newer, Marky-Mark remake, of course) be put to better use as spare cash or a new DVD than as an entertainment center bench warmer? It may not be entirely, officially legal, but making a personal copy of a DVD for your viewing on any device is the mildest of infractions these days.

Adam so dislikes dealing with scratched optical media that he made two tools for converting them to digital goodness. His one-click DVD Rip tool for Windows uses the ever-popular DVD Shrink to make it stupid-simple to turn any DVD disc into standard DVD folders—VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS. Rather than make you dig through folders and thumbnail shots to find those ripped DVDs, he also patched together DVD Play to make browsing, playing, and editing the details of those ripped DVD folders much easier, using VLC for the actual playing work.

For any computer, we also recommend the powerful, popular, and reliable Handbrake, which offers a bevy of helpful presets for all your devices and screens. The VLC Player itself can also help you rip DVDs, while Mac users can still grab the last free copy of Mac the Ripper for a pretty easy solution. DVD spines photo by ToastyKen.

Selling and trading: As with CDs, DVDs see a drastic reduction in value once they leave their plastic wrap, but videos are even more generally low-priced than their audio brethren. As with CDs, though, there are specialized trading sites, SwapTree and SwapADVD among them, that might net you a bit more cash for your cinema.

If you’re not up for individual listing on Amazon, checking for no-seller-fee periods on eBay, or becoming an enlightened Craigslist seller, I've found the best bet is selling in a garage sale, open flea market, or other face-to-face opportunity. Price your discs accordingly—hit up Amazon, find the price for used discs, and go down from there. Friends of mine have had the same kind of "Wait, really?" success trading in DVDs at FYE and similar big-box chains that take them, but the best deals I've seen involve bulk offers for boxes of DVDs. It's a guaranteed sale, the discount usually isn't that much, and, hey, you've already got the essential movie moments backed up to digital files.

Video games

Backing up: If you own a PS3 or Xbox 360, there's no easy way to back up your games for later second-chance playing—at least no easy method that we (or our brethren blogs) have come across. For the Nintendo Wii, however, Jason recently posted a guide to copying and playing Wii games with an external hard disk that’s not all that difficult to pull off. Photo by NMGilen.

If you’re a PC gamer, some of your older games can likely be copied whole cloth onto blank discs, and any of our Hive Five CD and DVD burning tools can get the job done. Some can’t, or won’t work on installation, because of proprietary copy protection systems. In general, though, most games rely on a serial number to authenticate a game, so keep those backed up somewhere you can’t lose them, like a code-named email to yourself, or on paper you won’t likely lose.

Selling and trading: For older games of yesteryear, along with today’s hot items, Nintari is a good place to test the pricing waters, though you’ll have to negotiate your trade or cash deal on your own. Alternately, Goozex uses a point-based system to facilitate the buying, selling, or swapping of games. Game rental service GameFly will buy certain used games and return monthly rental credit.

In bigger cities, a Craigslist post may be worth the effort (mainly connected to spam replies) for rare, well-reviewed, or or relatively new games. Lifehacker readers reported hit-and-miss success at chains like GameStop when we asked for the best trade-in deals, but noted that more in-store credit will be offered than cash—and it's a rare gamer who quits cold turkey. Or so we've heard. Other web stops to check out include TradeGamesNow and SwitchPlanet, recommended by commenters jharris0221 and jadn.

What tools and techniques have you used to free yourself of unnecessary plastic platters? Where have you found the best deals, and what was the easiest backup method you found? Tell us your tips in the comments.




Leave a Reply ?

Icon-Only PermaTabs Collection Streamlines Your Minimal Gmail, Google Reader Tabs [Tip Testers]

Posted on August 24, 2009
by

Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): Last week we showed you how to set up space-saving, permanent Gmail and Google Reader tabs in Firefox, a process requiring four Firefox extensions to get up and running. Now it’s a touch easier.

Our industrious Gina Trapani put Mozilla’s previously mentioned Collections feature to good use to pull together all of the necessary extensions for one quick and easy install. So just head over to the Icon-only PermaTabs collection, install the necessary extensions (they’re all really solid extensions in their own right, so you won’t necessarily only be installing them for this purpose), and head back to our original post if you need help setting it up from there.






Leave a Reply ?

Yahoo Upgrades Mail, Messenger, and Search [Yahoo]

Posted on August 24, 2009
by

Yahoo Mail users are getting 25MB attachment limits and easier photo uploading, a new Messenger beta allows for full-screen video chat and social network link-ins, and searchers will get refinement and analytic results as part of Yahoo’s big Monday announcements.

The big thing that everyone will find use for is an increase in Yahoo Mail’s attachment size limits from 10 to 25MB. Multiple photos and images can now be selected for upload, and rotated and previewed before they’re sent. Yahoo’s also allowing Mail users to hook in third-party applications like Flickr, PayPal, Picnik, Xoopit, and ZumoDrive, and adding a consistent header to all its applications. These features, available in “New Yahoo! Mail,” should be rolling out to all users shortly.

Messenger actually has a whole new app out, one that allows for full-screen video chat and a side-panel Updates view that shows what your contacts have been up to on Flickr, Twitter, and other web spaces. The beta, for Windows only, is a free download.

Finally, certain Yahoo searchers will get results that offer both filtering by topic/subject, and contextual follow-ups when you search one term after another. As Yahoo explains it, if you search for “cat” and then “jaguar,” its engine should know that, based on the “cat” search, your “jaguar” is much more likely a creature than a luxury vehicle.

Tell us what you like and don’t about Yahoo’s bushel of new changes in the comments.






Leave a Reply ?

Make Firefox Faster by Vacuuming Your Database [Firefox Tip]

Posted on August 24, 2009
by

Firefox tip: Firefox 3.0's Awesome Bar added all kinds of features to the 'fox, but unfortunately it's also created some performance issues—for example, by upping the default history time, leading to larger, fragmented databases. This quick hack speeds things up.

All-things-Firefox weblog Mozilla Links previously detailed how to defragment SQLite databases with a vacuum command, but the whole process was a bit clumsy, and it required a restart. Now they’ve updated the technique with a simple bit of code you can run inside Firefox’s Error Console that requires no restart.

  • Open the Error Console: Tools menu/Error Console
  • In the Code text box paste this (it’s a single line): 
     Components.classes["@mozilla.org/browser/nav-history-service;1"].getService(Components.interfaces.nsPIPlacesDatabase).DBConnection.executeSimpleSQL("VACUUM");
  • Press Evaluate. All the UI will freeze for a few seconds while databases are VACUUMed

Once the process is complete, you should notice a big improvement in performance, especially when using the Awesome Bar to search for a web site. While you’re tweaking away, you may also want to take a look at how you can speed up Firefox by limiting your history size.






Leave a Reply ?

From the Tips Box: Tire Patches, Itch Relief, and Underwear Firestarters [From The Tips Box]

Posted on August 24, 2009
by

Lifehacker readers teach us how to patch our bike tires in a pinch, how we can relieve itching with meat tenderizer, and that burning bras could save our lives.

Don’t like the gallery layout? Click here to view everything on one page.

Fix a Bike Tire without a Repair Kit

Vigleik shared a way to fix a flat bike tire in a pinch:

My friend and I went biking in the mountains, and his tire went flat.. it was a three hours walk back to civilization. No repair kit or spare tube in reach. Just a strap on my buddy’s sunglasses. I tied lots of knots around and besides the hole in the tube, put it back in the tire and we were on our bikes in no time. Completely air tight for two hours!

dizzytired followed up with another way:

A friend of mine got a flat on his mountain bike once and also without tube, patch kit or anything, yanked the tube out and stuffed the tire with leaves from the side of the trail. Rode on it for another hour, no problems. Although he never said anything about the mess afterward.

Use Underwear as a Firestarter in the Wild

Photo by midorisyu

Terry points out that undies are a great survival tool:

On starting a fire – I read somewhere that many hunters found frozen to death have matches in their pocket. The problem is that they couldn’t get any wood burning (usually because it’s too wet). The point being that [it] isn’t getting a spark that’s difficult, it’s getting the spark to ignite your fuel. The solution? Burn your underwear. They say it goes up fast, and burns hot enough and long enough to ignite even wet tinder.

Print PDFs Straight to Dropbox to Save Time

Sara’s got a clever way of saving a step when she needs to stick something into Dropbox:

I have just set up this combination of Mac’s Print to PDF function and Dropbox. I thought of this because I always seem to be saving PDFs to the web receipts folder (Order confirmations, boarding passes etc.). I’ve been using Dropbox, and thought I should be able to print a PDF to my Dropbox instantly. And it is real easy to set up:

  • Make an Automator script that just uses the Copy Finder Items and select Dropbox (or an underlying folder) as the destination.
  • Save this script in the folder Library/PDF-Services. Whatever you name it will be the option in the menu.

Now when you print this script will be one of the options.

Relieve Mosquito Bite Itching with Meat Tenderizer

Photo by Dano

This weekend MacGyver taught us a few ways to relive itchy bug bites with uncommon materials. Now reader dafairlie shares another way of curing that frustrating mosquito bite itch:

My wife is a pediatrician and to [relieve] itchiness from insect bites she always recommends meat tenderizer instead of any other over-the-counter medicine.

The explanation goes something like this:

Insect bites itch because their saliva (an anti-coagulant) causes an allergic reaction on the “victim”. The meat tenderizer breaks down protein in order to soften the meat, but the insect’s saliva is also a protein. So, if you break down the saliva protein, the itch will stop.

Identify Unused Junk with a Two Box System

Photo by allygirl520

Andrew shares his way of identifying which ol’ junk should be tossed out:

When I read your article about 30 Day Lists it reminded me of my own system of how I keep junk down in the house. I have a box, all these miscellaneous things I cannot find a place for go in that box, the rubix cube, presents from grandma, etc. I have another box along side of it, if I use something from the first box, it moves into box number two. About twice a year, anything that has not made it into box two is thrown out, and the cycle repeats. Just saw it as an interesting method for all the other organizers out there.

Better Butter Stays Fresh Twice as Long

Photo by iLoveButter

Sandwich found a great way to keep butter fresh longer (and we love the name of the recipe!):

There’s an easy way to get butter that goes twice as far, stays spreadable when refrigerated, and is healthier for you: Better Butter! My mother taught me this (and made sure we grew up on it), but a quick Google search shows that we’re not the only ones who know about it – from USA Weekend:

Better Butter

  • 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup canola oil or olive oil

Put butter and oil in a blender or food processor and blend until thoroughly combined. This “Better Butter” will be the consistency of yogurt or thick cream. Spoon it into a bowl, or mold. Cover and put in the refrigerator to firm. Makes 1 cup.

Variations: Add herbs or fresh crushed (not powdered) garlic.

“Better Butter” has half the saturated fat of regular butter and, unlike most margarines, negligible amounts of hazardous trans-fatty acids. Another advantage: It spreads well at refrigerator temperature.

Per teaspoon: 37 calories, 5mg cholesterol, 4g fat (1g saturated fat when made with canola oil, 2g when made with olive oil).

I have to say though that adding canola oil is more seemly than olive oil… unless you like your butter to have a greenish hue, Sam I Am. :)

Also, you don’t have to waste a perfectly clean blender for this… just soften the stick of butter on a warmish surface, like on top of the fridge, in the sun, etc, whip it up until it’s liquidy, and then gently whip in the canola/olive oil.






Leave a Reply ?

Read Your Résumé from the Bottom Up to Reduce Errors [Resume]

Posted on August 24, 2009
by

Getting a job in this tight economy necessitates making a great first impression, which leaves little-to-no room for typos and other résumé mistakes. The Washington Post details some ways to help outline your credentials more accurately.

Photo by kafka4prez.

While most of their suggestions aren’t revolutionary (see: printing out your résumé), one of their tips seems like an interesting way to help avoid glaring errors. According to the post, prospective employees should review their résumés from the bottom up. The writer contends that this backwards approach will more fully ensure that you don’t skip over sections, as opposed to reading from the top down, which may lead to skimming more readily than working your way up.

The article also offers some embarrassing résumé gaffes to watch for. Hit up the full link to check them out, then let us know what you do to ensure that your résumé appears spotless in the comments. And remember to ditch these six words from the fold when creating yours.






Leave a Reply ?
WP Like Button Plugin by Free WordPress Templates