Readers offer their best tips for getting the quickest browsing experience out of bookmarks, checking out local businesses using Google Maps, and setting up family wish lists for holidays and birthdays.
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About the Tips Box: Every day we receive boatloads of great reader tips in our inbox, but for various reasons—maybe they're a bit too niche, maybe we couldn't find a good way to present it, or maybe we just couldn't fit it in—the tip didn't make the front page. From the Tips Box is where we round up some of our favorites for your buffet-style consumption. Got a tip of your own to share? Add it in the comments, share it here, or email it to tips at lifehacker.com.
Use IP Addresses in Bookmarks for Fast Browsing
rovert.haegenschlatt shows us another way to shave a few milliseconds off our page loading time:
Use Google Maps to Find Popular Local Businesses
soldstatic lets us know how to find local businesses in other communities:
Use Wiki Software to Organize Holiday Wish Lists
dongola7 shares his family's holiday wish list method:
Use Bubble Wrapped Mailers as a Laptop Sleeve
Stan sends along some instructions for a super cheap laptop sleeve:
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Don't like the gallery layout? Click here to view everything on one page.
About the Tips Box: Every day we receive boatloads of great reader tips in our inbox, but for various reasons—maybe they're a bit too niche, maybe we couldn't find a good way to present it, or maybe we just couldn't fit it in—the tip didn't make the front page. From the Tips Box is where we round up some of our favorites for your buffet-style consumption. Got a tip of your own to share? Add it in the comments, share it here, or email it to tips at lifehacker.com.
Use IP Addresses in Bookmarks for Fast Browsing
rovert.haegenschlatt shows us another way to shave a few milliseconds off our page loading time:
When I bookmark commonly accessed websites such as Google, instead of typing the web address into the bookmark, I type in the IP address instead. This way, I can get around DNS and makes my surfing a bit faster.
To find the IP address of a specific site, you can use the ping command in your OS's command line program (i.e. ping google.com). You can also do it in the address bar of your browser if it supports custom search engines. Also note that this only works for the domain itself - maps.google.com's IP address will just take you to google.com, for example - also, some sites (like Lifehacker) just plain don't work for some reason or another (at least when I tried it this morning). Pretty useful for some bookmarks, though.
Use Google Maps to Find Popular Local Businesses
soldstatic lets us know how to find local businesses in other communities:
There's a google maps labs tool that puts a * in your search bar and searches for it. Kind of stupid, but what IS cool is that if you go to a residential neighborhood and search for *, you're likely to see some peoples' home based small businesses pop up. In Lenexa, KS my own small DJ biz popped up, but also a lady that does flowers who I'm going to contact about doing flowers for my own wedding.
Local small and home based businesses usually cost less than the big names, and you usually get more too. I'm all about bang for the buck, and this is a neat idea to find some other small businesses you may not have known you needed.
keep in mind, neighborhoods are NOT equal. Certain areas likely won't have very many reputable businesses, small or big.
Local small and home based businesses usually cost less than the big names, and you usually get more too. I'm all about bang for the buck, and this is a neat idea to find some other small businesses you may not have known you needed.
keep in mind, neighborhoods are NOT equal. Certain areas likely won't have very many reputable businesses, small or big.
Use Wiki Software to Organize Holiday Wish Lists
dongola7 shares his family's holiday wish list method:
We're now using a mediawiki installation to host all of the wish lists for my family.
Over the holidays, I set up an individual wish list for each of my family members and seeded the lists with their e-mailed Christmas lists (that way they would have a good starting point). Each wish list belongs to the "Wish List" category, making it easy to quickly find all of the pages.
For the holidays, each family member kept their wish list up-to-date. The rest of us used the discussion pages to list what we had bought or discuss future gift ideas. The owner of the list knew not to look at the discussion until _after_ the holidays.
This kept us organized and worked very well. We'll be using the same system year-round for birthdays and other minor holidays.
Over the holidays, I set up an individual wish list for each of my family members and seeded the lists with their e-mailed Christmas lists (that way they would have a good starting point). Each wish list belongs to the "Wish List" category, making it easy to quickly find all of the pages.
For the holidays, each family member kept their wish list up-to-date. The rest of us used the discussion pages to list what we had bought or discuss future gift ideas. The owner of the list knew not to look at the discussion until _after_ the holidays.
This kept us organized and worked very well. We'll be using the same system year-round for birthdays and other minor holidays.
Use Bubble Wrapped Mailers as a Laptop Sleeve
Stan sends along some instructions for a super cheap laptop sleeve:
I needed a laptop sleeve for my iBook, but didn't feel like waiting days for a glorified computer glove. Using a bubble-mailer is a cheap replacement if you plan on carrying your laptop in a schoolbag.
The bubble mailer itself is a sufficient sleeve for the duties of a backpack. I wouldn't want to drop-test it, but so far have no complaints. I also added a simple Apple logo to the front using transparent printer sheets. If you don't already own these, it might be cost-prohibitive (at least in the sense of using a bubble-mailer to protect a laptop.) I bought my pack in the clearance section of Staples. My Mac is an iBook, so I picked a representative apple. Choose yours accordingly.
The last modification was the strip of Velcro. The section at the opening comes with a plastic strip protecting the sticky side. Over time the plastic strip begins to peel away and defaults to melding with the other side, turning your sleeve into a ready-to-mail package. I don't want to mail my laptop, so I put Velcro on to replace the glue strip.
That's it! I've been using it for a couple weeks so far and it's working great. I hear the occasional bubble pop once in a while, but for a total cost of three dollars it's worth it.
Be sure to check out Stan's original blog post (linked above) for more tips on the sleeve, including putting stylish logos on the front.The bubble mailer itself is a sufficient sleeve for the duties of a backpack. I wouldn't want to drop-test it, but so far have no complaints. I also added a simple Apple logo to the front using transparent printer sheets. If you don't already own these, it might be cost-prohibitive (at least in the sense of using a bubble-mailer to protect a laptop.) I bought my pack in the clearance section of Staples. My Mac is an iBook, so I picked a representative apple. Choose yours accordingly.
The last modification was the strip of Velcro. The section at the opening comes with a plastic strip protecting the sticky side. Over time the plastic strip begins to peel away and defaults to melding with the other side, turning your sleeve into a ready-to-mail package. I don't want to mail my laptop, so I put Velcro on to replace the glue strip.
That's it! I've been using it for a couple weeks so far and it's working great. I hear the occasional bubble pop once in a while, but for a total cost of three dollars it's worth it.