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Give your appliances that stainless-steel look
DIY site Curbly has the scoop on giving your kitchen appliances a stainless-steel overhaul: Do you feel the need for stainless but don't have the bucks to replace all your kitchen appliances? Thomas' Kitchen Art Inc. has come up with a relatively cheap alternative to achieve the look you desire: Liquid Stainless Steel. The brush-on "paint" is 100% stainless and automotive-grade.You can use a stainless laminate that will give much better results and is much more forgiving to apply to large flat surfaces like refrigerators. Cost is slightly higher, but it will wear much better since it's really stainless.
Clips: Gaming "Sitcom"
At nearly nine minutes this isn't for the faint-hearted, but anything that features creepy Pokemon references and bad period jokes is good by me. And no, it's not a real sitcom. These are all ex-Melbourne House dev staff, and it's shot on location at the IR Gurus offices, who are currently at work on Heatseeker for the Wii.Excelle:
Yes, it has been funny. Apparently, not for you, but for many other people.
While this video isn't my cup of tea, I'm glad people are making the effort.
Alpha Geek: CDs vs. Downloads
by Rick Broida The novelty of the 99-cent song has worn off. The ugly reality of Digital Rights Management (DRM) has settled in. The music-download revolution is over. It's time to go back to buying CDs. Is it? iTunes, Rhapsody, Yahoo, and a host of other online stores sell tracks for 99 cents apiece (often less if you buy an album's worth), while a CD still costs upwards of $16 at the mall F.Y.E. store.I'm back to CDs.
I was a huge fan of iTunes Music Store. Until I got a Sonos. Stream all of my music anywhere in my house.... It's a thing of beauty...
Except it (and anything not an iPod) will not play ITMS purchases. So to get my music onto the Sonos I had to burn CD's and re-rip them. Losing all sorts of quality in the process. Bah, screw that. CDs might cost a little more (or not, buy used, or rent if you're in the right country) but they have the versatility that DRMd music doesn't. (Not to mention better selection, and I don't have to worry so much about backing them up or making sure my software and hardware support them.)
Hey Tokyo, Buy An Expensive American PS3!
One of the best things about the PS3 is region-free—especially, living in Japan. I'm really happy Sony did that (and kinda annoyed Nintendo didn't). So what gives with this unbelievably expensive American PS3? From blog Tokyo Times: ...One optimistic Akihabara outlet has outrageously opted to try and sell an imported PS3 for the truly preposterous price of 128,000 yen (1,082 dollars) - just over double the price of an identical Japanese machine.I've been blindly assuming that the PS3 is region encoded for Japan BluRay disks, and have been putting aside buying one in Japan (My appreciation of Japanese movies is not what it one was.)
Is this true, or is there a way to watch Region 1 BluRay disks on a Japanese PS3?
Ask Lifehacker: Gmail or Thunderbird?
Dear Lifehacker, I'm a loyal Gmail user but I keep hearing good things about Thunderbird. Is it really the Firefox of email programs? Why should I use Thunderbird instead of - or in conjunction with - Gmail? Signed, Bird-curiousI use Thunderbird exclusively because 1) I don't have ubiquitous email access, and 2) I futz with attachemtns a lot, 3) Full time SSL, and 4) I can't stand outlook. Also I'm dealing with a number of email accounts which I like T-bird for better.
Thunderbird V2 is nice, though currently in Beta. It has the tagging that Gina complained about it lacking, as well as improved search. I don't use T-Bird's spam filtering because Spam Assassin worked much better, though I do have a few filters set up to catch anything it misses. (And make sure anything from my address book is white listed.)
While Firefox > Internet Explorer, Thunderbird is Outlook. But still very capable. As of version 1.5 there are very few obvious faults in it.
Linksys Gaming Router Scares Your Opponents: Tattooed, QoS, A/B/G/N
Call us wimps, but we'd hate to run into this router in a dark alley. This tattooed Wireless-N Router (WRT330N) is the first router designed especially for gamers. It has four Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports and one Gigabit WAN port. It uses a Network Optimizer to automatically prioritize latency-sensitive data—in other words, it'll analyze your network traffic and give gaming packets VIP status. Will it make you a better gamer? Hell no. Will it give you better network performance?*shrug* My Powerbook has always connected flawlessly to my network with my Linksys router. Something I cant say about my Windows computers, but I have heard other complaints, so I won't argue too much.
Sanx:
Anyone who's bought a Mac in the last several years or who has NAS would welcome a gigabit switch.
In fact I'll probably buy one of these as soon as I find it in stock somewhere. I've got 1+TB of DVD's on my network, and streaming them to my media center when a scheduled backup kicks in sucks. Not to mention high def media.
(Well, I'll buy it assuming they fixed the issues they had with their other routers not playing well with Bittorrent.)
Lost Planet Contest Finalists. Now Pick Winners!
We got tons of entries for out Lost Planet contest and have narrowed down the finalists to twenty. But, holy mackerel! We've seriously got the most talented and creative readership on the internet. Many thanks and much love to everyone who sent something in. Ok. Time to give away free stuff. Here's how we're gonna do it: All the finalists are after the jump, and Kotaku-land is going to help pic the winners. To do so, Kotakuites must list ten entries they think should win.You guys really busted your collective asses for some of these. Thanks.
In order of order:
2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 13, 14, 16, 17, 20
Use your My Pictures folder as a screensaver
Here's a novel idea for a screensaver from Parent Hacks: use your My Pictures folder (or wherever you store your digital photos on your machine) as the source for your screensaver. Here's how it works with Windows XP: Start Menu/Control Panel/DisplayFind the Screensaver tab, and choose "My Picture Slideshow."By default, this points to your My Pictures folder, but you can point it anywhere you want. I've had this on my 'puter for years.Screen Saver -> Blank
That way I know if my screen goes blank I've been spacing off and should get back to doing something.
Alternately if I'm not supposed to be doing anything I won't be distracted by what's on the screen.
World's Biggest Wii Advert
I'm not kidding. It's freakin' huge. Luke Plunkett Snapshot: Shibuya Scramble Crossing Wii Ad [Tokyomango, via Go Nintendo]Sorry. I was looking up the Death Note girl's skirt.
I walked by that daily for over am onth and just noticed it a week ago. Too damn big.