The hipster PDA by Merlin Mann of 43folders.com fame dates back to September 2004.  It has served many people very effectively but of course there is always room for improvement.

In August of 2006 Techlife’s column was about PocketMod.  PocketMod is a single sheet of paper created easily online and printed on a single sheet of paper.  It’s unique feature is the wealth of modules the author created. 

Techlife reader Matt, recently has been commenting on how he uses the PocketMod and how he plans on using it.  I thought it was interesting and others might find it useful.  Feel free to join the discussion.

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Well…Santa Claus is done with presents for 2006.  But no rest for the weary, he’s right back to collecting presents for 2007.  You didn’t get a Wii or  Playstation 3?  Or even an X-box 360?  Never fear, Santa’s got your back.  If you could just lend him a hand.

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Snow Line, another in our Friends of Line Rider series is a game built on the Line Rider engine.  If you liked Lemmings (bonus browser friendly game!) and Line Rider then you will like this puzzle based game.  I got to level 5 before I realized I needed to get this column written.  How far did you get?

Snow Line Help Santa Claus collect the presents.

Play this free game now!!

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Do you need to let off a little steam? Maybe kick someone’s “armageddon”? Today, TechLife brings you the five minute diversion known as Stick Arena.

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Can you really play a multi-CD game at work? I don’t think so.

Stick Arena is a flash-based game requiring an internet connected machine and the ability to use your keyboard and mouse in concert. The arrow keys move your “Stick Figure” while the mouse is your action button to swing a baseball bat or fire a shotgun. Rated “T” for teens due to mild violence. (more…)

TechLife could not resist adding to the Friends of Line Rider series, with this holiday installment.  Warm up some hot chocolate and get  in the holiday spirit.  Ski Battle takes place in a winter wonderland, complete with snowmen, reindeer, ski lodges, and even holiday music.  It also expands on the classic Line Rider palatte with a color palette.

Our friend Joanne at Rocketboom is really into Line Rider and pointed us to this link.

Watch her in Line Rider.  Thanks Rocketboom.

 

I know we are in the middle of a series of How to’s for installing True Combat: Elite, but everyone needs a break from the hard work of installing one game, so they might play simple time wasting games.  Don’t say you weren’t warned, this is the first in TechLife’s series of “Friends of Line Rider”.

Line Rider is the original.  What is it?  A simple Flash game (works in any browser with Flash) that let’s you create a track for your rider.  You draw a line, and let gravity take over. Of course just like any addiction, some people have created some great Line Rider creations.   Get inspired with the video below of a great ride.  What can you create?  Let us know.

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Getting your computer ready for a software install can often make the process a lot less painless.  And I am all about making things a bit easier.

I visited the Windows Installation Guide for True Combat: Elite.  As I mentioned I am not a real gamer, but I know enough that if your machine isn’t powerful, you can’t run the games.  So looked over the “Preparation” section carefully.

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As we jump in with two feet today, I felt it would be cool to use another immersive metaphor, first person shooter (FPS) games and this one is FREE!  For those unfamiliar, this a game where your on-screen view matches the perspective your character is seeing the world.  An example:

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A trailer for a free video game.  Gotta love the dedication.

You hear a noise above you, you actually need to make your character look up to see it, from the first person view.  The shooter part should be pretty self explanatory.

So I found a really neat game, True Combat: Elite, a free FPS based on another free game called Wolfenstein – Enemy Territory (both downloadable at the True Combat site). 

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Dwight “The Elf” Schrute

One of TechLife’s loyal readers is my uncle on my dad’s side.  Every year he and my aunt have a holiday party at their home. I’m sure all the readers have the same party they probably attend.  You are instructed to bring a gift no more than $15 (your limit may vary), which you then likely put in a big pile and some game is played where you end up with a set of matching dog sweaters, and of course you don’t own a dog.

Of course the other option is “Secret Santa” a common office game, as overly dramatized on NBC’s Emmy Winner, “The Office”.   One thing the first few seconds of the episode highlight is the organization of “The Elf”, a key ingredient to running the best gift exchange.  Of course Dwight, as usual takes it over board, but hopefully you can learn from his blunders.  Read on, TechLifers the fun awaits, we are going transform you into TechElfs.  And ask you to join a TechLife experiment!

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Love the LifePoster  
Click. Click. Click.  Snapping digital photos has never been easier.  Sharing them is getting pretty boring these days, with all the websites allowing a hum-drum interface that is basically the same.  TechLife is always looking for new ways to spice up photo sharing, and today we have great entry, in the free Postcard Viewer!

People love their digital cameras.  They love them as low-end phones, high-end DSLRs, and handy point and click models.  Readers of TechLife also love our Picasa LifePoster article.   It still gets comments.  I think people enjoy finding unique ways to use their digital photos other than printing them out one at a time.  This article is considered “graduate level” and assumes the reader has read the previous LifePoster article and the first Picasa article from TechLife. 

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MacGyver’s Notebook
To any origami master, a crisp, single sheet of paper can be turned into a beautiful creation with just a few folds.  The Japanese art of taking a simple object and turning it into something beautiful is just that, artistic.  In TechLife, “the useful” is much more my area of expertise.  Television’s poster-child of usability was MacGyver, who seemingly every week used duct tape and a paperclip to defeat the bad guys.  One utility item MacGyver always carried was his Swiss Army knife, a multi-utility tool about the size of a cigarette lighter.

While there doesn’t appear to be a revival of the television show, the idea of a utility tool in all areas of life is always appealing.  I have a special treat for you today, something I call MacGyver’s notebook, also known as a PocketMod.

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Live is Better

While some people think live albums are just a sales ploy, most fans would much rather see their favorite band performing live than listen to a studio album.  Seeing all the members working together to create beautiful music onstage is part of the whole experience.

In the past “your band” could play together on stage, but when writing lyrics or tracking things like album sales, it was tough to keep everyone playing the same song at the same time.  Even worse while things like MySpace.com made creating a band editable site easier, creating a community was pretty difficult.  So our word for the day is collaboration, specifically online collaboration.    

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Good Karma

We all have had the experience (I hope), you do something nice for someone and you feel good inside.  Good Karma.  That is what makes this article special, it’s full of good karma.  I have two software toys that I want to give you as gifts, and here’s some even better karma, they are free.  With names like Electric Sheep and Stellarium TechLife readers are in for a treat.  

More after the jump…

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Happy 1 year Birthday Life Poster
The holidayà-?s are over. (sigh) The gifts have been opened. (sigh) You have mountains of digital photos (with your new camera) from Thanksgiving through New Yearà-?s totaling 100 shots? 1000 shots? 5000 shots? (sigh)

Not a problem if you recall TechLifeà-?s November 2005 article about Picasa; an easy to use and free of charge tool to organize digital images. While Picasa is great for digital organization, it also has a few hidden tricks; one of them is a Life Poster. A Life Poster is a collection of photos grouped together in a single image. Usually they focus around a specific subject. The best part is they are easy to make, and Picasa makes them even easier.

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Photo Logic
Your phone is ringing; it’s your editor. They just got a call from Oprah, she loves the advance copy of your book and wants you on the show. They just need a few things. Your editor says not to worry; they will send Oprah over the packet of information. Your editor then asks for the book’s last few digital images, a headshot, and maybe some family shots. “Can we get them all in 30 minutes?” Are they kidding? How will you find it all? More after the jump (more…)

The recent explosion of email to techlife [at] dkworldwide dot com has been great. Thank you. I try to answer all the emails I get, and some are just interesting enough to get published.

Food for Katrina

Dear TechLife,
My son recently inquired about how to make the donated canned food for the Katrina victims taste good. I tried to explain that canned food is non-perishable, which was promptly replied to with, “you mean non-edible?” I decided to look online for good recipes to cook for him and there were a lot of sites, but I couldn’t find exactly what I needed. Any suggestions?
Hungrily yours,
Katie D.

More after the jump (more…)