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lifehack.org » Essential List and Resources on Firefox Extensions

lifehack.org » Essential List and Resources on Firefox Extensions

Forum’s Favicon

faviconThe favicon I used for the original bhamcrew forums (left) needs to be implemented on the new forums.  I (obviously) grabbed the original favicon.ico file and am placing it in the images directory on the forums: /public_html/bhamcrew/images/favicon.ico.

After that, I changed the headerinclude template in the Admin CP:

Admin CP -> Templates & Style -> Templates -> *Theme Name* -> Ungrouped Templates -> headerinclude

I added the following line:

<link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/x-icon" href="{$mybb->settings['bburl']}/images/favicon.ico" />

So far, this has only been done on the Afresh Ocean theme’s headerinclude template.  I’ll roll the changes out to all the other themes as soon as I can.

Remember the Milk

homers_brainI have a terrible memory.  When I have more than one thing to do, especially if I don’t want to do those things, I’m apt to forget at least one of them.  I have been searching for ways to solve my to-do list related memory problems for as long as I can remember.

Ever since the PDA was introduced, portable electronics have offered tantalizing hopes of overcoming this problem for me.  To-do lists would finally be always available, always updated, and always reminding me of the things I’d forgotten.  The device itself was too expensive too lose or forget.  The software was (usually) more than adequate for its task.  The problem was accessibility.  Typing or writing the to-do list on the device itself was cumbersome.  The only option was to write the list on some other computer and sync to the device.  The problem was remembering to fill out the list when I was on the other computer, and then remembering to sync the two.  This problem was far too attractive as an excuse for me: “Oh, sorry, I forgot that task because I forgot to write it onto my list!”  I need software that won’t give me the opportunity to forget.

rtm-1

Remember the Milk's home page

milk

So far, Remember the Milk is that software. It really is more accurate to call it a service, actually.  On the surface, Remember the Milk lets you create lists of things to do and the display them on their website.  This is no different than hundreds of other to-do list managers, software or web-based.  However, it really starts to shine when you realize all the other places you’ll be able to use your list.  Currently I see my list on my Google home page, on my iPhone with the RTM (Remember The Milk) app, on my Google Calendar, on my iPhone with the iPhone Calendar app, and in my email inbox (RTM sends me a daily reminder email which includes the to-do list items due today).

Reminders can be setup to be received via email, SMS, or practically any instant messenger client you’d want.  Lists can be organized any way you want.  Tags are available, categories can be used, notes can be added to each task.  Any of the places you can view your tasks also allows you to add tasks as well.  Collaboration is a breeze, and RTM gives you special email addresses to which others (like, my wife!) can send new tasks which will auto-magically show up in my list!  RTM really bends over backwards to allow you to work with to-do lists the way you want to, instead of forcing you to work the way it wants to.

rtm-2

Some of the places you can use the service

All of this is (mostly) free.  They have a ‘pro’ upgrade which makes syncing with PDAs easier, offers better tech-support, but mostly just makes you feel better for supporting the developers.  The primary website and any google tie-ins don’t require a pro account, but the iPhone app is free for only 14 days before you need to upgrade to a pro account.  After using RTM on the web, through RTM’s site, as well as Google’s, I happily paid the $25 annual subscription to upgrade to pro.

rtm-3

Some more marketing from RTM's site

The view from my iPhone

The view from my iPhone

I do have a few complaints.  Mostly they are nit-picky task-creation-process problems.  When I create a task, I’d like a list to be shown of all previous tags I have used.  Instead I have to remember them.  This causes multiple tags to be created that really should all be the same.  For example, Shopping, Grocery-Shopping, and Groceries would all have been tagged ‘Groceries’ if I’d have seen the list.  The same for locations.  RTM, with the iPhone, will check the GPS and show you a list of tasks identified as ‘near’ your current location (this is so cool!).  However, when creating tasks, typing in a location that I haven’t used before doesn’t work.  RTM wants the locations of tasks to have been created before hand.  Why can’t the website prompt me to create a new location if the location I just typed doesn’t exist yet?  This is an annoyance. As I said: nit-picky.

I would recommend this software/service/website to any that have to-do list addictions and memory deficiencies.  It has helped me immensely.  I also really like the iPhone app and anticipate it getting much, much more useful after the 3.0 iPhone update hits: I’d really like it if the tasks could sound an alarm when their due-date approaches.

El Grande

OhGeeTee considers his next move as Dull tries not to attract attention to the fact that he's winning!

OhGeeTee and Dull consider their next move.

Great game.  I’d never played it before, but I was impressed.  It played quickly, we learned it quickly, yet the strategy was pretty deep.

El Kabong looks on as Techno Viking contemplates the board.

El Kabong looks on as Techno Viking contemplates the board.

The game accomodates five players and we had a full game. Myself, El Kabong, Techno Viking, Dull, and OhGeeTee participated. It went about 2 hours and that was with all but one of us learning it for the first time. Dull won, with myself coming in a close second.