Okay, so Windows shortcuts are common knowledge, but there some that everyone just might not know. Such As:

Copy: CTRL+C
Cut: CTRL+X
Delete an item without sending it to the recycle bin: SHIFT+DEL
Paste: CTRL+V
Select all: CTRL+A
Start menu: CTRL+ESC (or the Windows key)
Switch between open programs: ALT+TAB

Any good ones you think I left out? Put them in the comments- I’d love to hear from you.

Windows XP keyboard shortcuts that everyone should know [Via Lifehacker]

Google Blogoscoped is offering a simple way to search Google with their new green bars design.

Simply copy and paste this link into your browser address bar when you’re on Google.com, reload the page, and then search for something. The result should now appear as in the screenshot above.

Now when you search. you’ll see a new sidebar with mysterious green bars. It has been suggestion that this is how many results there are in comparison to other parts of the engine (as in web vs. images), which is completely plausible.

See Google’s Redesign Experiment [Google Blogoscoped via Lifehacker]

Here’s my question for all of you: What ever happened to practical flash drives?

Imation has come out with a Carabiner Flash Drive. Available in multiple colors and up to a 2GB size, the Imation Clip Flash Drive is more or less a carabiner with a flash drive in it. I find this very impractical because you flip it open to get the USB connector, which would make it very bulky sticking in a front USB slot. Imation also claims it’s very durable, but judging by the looks, I disagree.

Props to Imation for coming up with a new idea in flash drives, but I think there are some improvements that need to be made. (My apologies for being so brutal – it’s been a long day)

Imation – USB Clip Flash Drive [Imation via Engadget]

I’ve got a jammed packed day for today, so I’m not going to post tomorrow. But be sure to come back on Monday Tuesday (Monday’s not looking to good either)for fresh tech content.

Now, on to today’s post. Everyone knows that you can import songs into iTunes off of CD. In fact, almost all of the songs in my library I’ve imported off of CD. If you have many CD’s (about 10 or more), importing can be a very tedious process. But there is a way to speed up this process, right within iTunes. Here’s what you do:

1. In iTunes, go to Edit >> Preferences >> Advanced >> Importing.
2. The first option in the menu is "On CD insert:". Click the drop-down box and select "Import Songs and Eject".
3. Click "OK" to exit preferences.

And just like that, iTunes will (when a CD is inserted) automatically import the CD, and Eject it when done. So the only thing left for you to do is put in the CD’s. This is great for multi-tasking, if say you want to finish homework and import CDs, you just do your homework and when the CD tray ejects, swap the CD’s.

[Thanks, Alex]

I can’t how many times I’ve scratched up CD’s – it happens. A lot of the time this happens to CD’s I’ve burned. In that case, I just burn a new one. But I do have a CD to a program that is scratched to the point that is will not read. I could buy a CD resurfacer for around $15-$20, but I’m cheap. Instead for $5, you can buy a can of Brasso and a some paper towels and have the same effect.

“First gather the following materials.

- Paper towel (softer is better)
- Polishing cloth (eyeglasses cloth will do fine)
- CD scratched beyond playability (Easy to find)
- Can of Brasso Metal Polish.

Take some of the brasso and pour it onto the CD. Please be careful with the Brasso, and only perform this in a well ventilated area…. Use the paper towel pieces to polish the CD. Polishing is ideal in straight strokes from the center of the disk to the outside so you polish perpendicular to the tracks on the disc.”

Granted in most situations, a normal person would just go buy a new CD, but this is cooler. Plus, you may not be able to replace certain CD’s, such as the Bat out of Hell Gold Edition by Meat Loaf.

Re-surfacing CDs so they work again [Instructables]

A lot of car manufacturers are now making their factory stereo compatible with the iPod. They have a cable that runs to the glove compartment where you can plug your iPod in (Apple has a list of the manufacturer’s). But what if you own a car that doesn’t have this option. Well, you could get a new head unit, or get an iPod interface adapter.

Many companies make a wide variety of adapters that allow you to listen you your car stereo through the CD changer input. There are two types: An iPod interface or an Auxiliary interface adapter. The iPod one allows you to listen and control your iPod through the CD changer controls via the dock connector. However, the auxiliary input version only allows you to listen. This can be just what you need if you have a non-iPod mp3 player. Prices range from $9 to $199.

iPod & Portable to Factory Radio Interface Adapters [Crutchfield]

iTunes allows you to backup your music library. Although the whole process may seem very complex, the Smart Playlist feature in iTunes can make it a whole lot easier.

“A few weeks ago there was a tip floating around various blogs I monitor about using iTunes to backup your music library. It’s a very efficient method because iTunes will automatically burn the backup across multiple CDs or DVDs. I decided to do my own version of the tip, including a handy way to do subsequent backups, without having to manually track what you’ve already archived.”

With iTunes and this tutorial, you can create a live update of what’s in your library. So whenever you’re ready to backup, you don’t have to dig through stuff you’ve already backed-up.

Using iTunes to backup your music [one digital life via Digg]

In the good ol’ days, you would sit on the “can” while reading the newspaper. Since most of us (me included) get our news in the computer I figure this makes sense. Introducing the Apple iWipe (no, this is not an Apple product, but instead a cool mod). It the carcass of an old Macintosh SE with a toilet paper roll inside.

“One of my co-workers was giving away and old Atari 800XL and Macintosh SE case. He had been planning to do a mini-ITX project, but had never gotten around to it. Always wanting an excuse to tinker with something, I decided to take them off of his hands.

Well, as soon as I saw the Mac SE case, I realized that this one had the most potential. So this weekend, I bought a few things at Home Depot and got started making my Apple-powered, wireless, portable toilet paper dispenser — the iWipe.”

All you need is $15 of hardware from your favorite home-improvement store (Home Depot is my personal preference), and a couple hours of time and Viola, you have an iWipe.

My Apple iWipe [sMoRTy71 via Instructables]

P.S. - Okay, I promise, no more posts dealing with toilets (at least not for a while ).

Have you ever been out of town, using a computer with limited programs? Gmail, once again, is here to help. Gmail’s preview-
in-HTML feature is way helpful when you are limited to a machine without certain programs.

“Next time you find yourself in an Internet cafe or hotel lobby that does not let you install programs, remember that Gmail will let you preview all sorts of files that may otherwise be inaccessible to you on such a computer, like bus and train schedules only available as a PDF.

If your computer or ‘net kiosk doesn’t have a PDF reader installed, just email yourself a copy of the file and view it using Gmail. This should save you some headaches and let you be on your way to your next destination.”

This trick also works for files you need to view often because You can consult the times without the hassle of opening up an additional application.

Travel tip: Use Gmail as a file viewer [Lifehacker]

One thing Apple has done to the iPod and iTunes is limit your iPod to the one computer (obviously for piracy reasons). This bothers me because sometimes I want to listen to my iPod without headphones on a different computer. But not anymore. Pod Player from iPod Soft allows you to connect your iPod to a computer (other than your default) and play the music on it through it’s speakers.

“Pod Player is a freeware application to be used with your iPod. It allows you to play music from your iPod while it is connected to your PC. When launched, it will look for an attached iPod and when it finds one it will read the music database on the iPod. You will then be able to views your songs in a similar way as in iTunes (by artist, genre, album, playlist, etc). You can now also extract songs from it.”

Pod Player is currently a Windows-only freeware application and requires Visual Basic runtimes before installation.

Pod Player [iPodSoft via WireCatcher]