Lifehacker: 88 Tech Tricks to Turbocharge Your Day

Reviewed by Dr. Eric Flescher

Author: Gina Trapani Publisher: Wiley http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470050659.html Released: December 2006 Pages: 336 $25 USD, $30 CND, £16 GBP ISBN: 978-0-470-05065-1 Novice/Intermediate/Advanced

There is an 2008 version – http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470238364.html   Strengths: Each hack has a difficulty level , which platform(s) it works with and the cost (many free). Interesting set of 88 tech tricks and tips. Covers all platforms and free and commercial software. Great to find what you need to use right now and to use a resource in the near future as you continue to look through the pages in this book.   Weaknesses: Black and white. You have to go through all of the chapters and hacks and see ones you like for example that can be used for Macintosh. Would have been nice if the content outlines the level, platform and cost there instead of having to "hack" through each of the 80 tasks to get an idea of the ones wanted. This way you have to thumb through all of them and the titles which is not all that bad as many are an interesting read even if you may not want to use some of them now but possibly ideas for later. Some of the hacks like the ones that deal with Firefox might be a little dated, as there are new extensions and new development coming out all the time but as at least these hacks will start you in the right directions or give you optional paths you never thought of.

 

Introduction

 

A brief review of some page in this book at first did not thrill me. The author is an independent web programmer and a writer (for Wired, Time, New York Times). She is also the editor of Lifehacker.com, a software and productivity weblog. She describes a “Lifehacker “ as one who “uses technology to discover and design new ways to get thing done.” So in other words, will this book help me and you with your creative problem solving and get more done with less effort.

 

As I looked more closely at some of the tech tips, I became more interested. Browsing in earnest, I was interested to know whether some of the hacks would be worthwhile for me and are those that I could use now and possibly a later. I took a closer look at these 88 tech tricks to see if they could “turbocharge “ some ideas for me and my Macintosh but also whether there were interesting ideas that could be used across some of the cross platform Hacks. Okay Lifehacker - make my day. What can you show me? And I dove into the tenth chapter of the book.

 

Each hack has a difficulty rating level (difficulty level, use of platform(s) and displays the cost of each (most free or commercial). I then did a quick look at the different chapters. These included from one to ten. Chapter 1, “free up mental ram”, had information about making a hack for an “instant wiki”. This one was very helpful as I have heard of “wikis” but this hack gave me more food for thought and possibly creating ideas for the future.

 

Sometimes the hacks had additional tasks to try with various website software, in this case, Flickr but this one included information on tagging your photos. Some of the hacks like those in Chapter 2, “firewall your attention, ” mentioned “splitting desktops” which was intriguing.

 

There are hacks for MP3 players, computers, tasking and more. Chapter 3, “automate repetitive tasks” downloading movies while hack 19 “defrag PC” which was one of the hacks for just PC. Chapter 4 “streamline common tasks,” has a hack for disabling desktop via remote control home computer (hack 36).

In Chapter 5 XP, Vista and OS X “get your data to go,” optimizing your desktop, running a home server and even backing up your iPod had some ideas for eventual if not immediate usage.

 

In Chapter 6m “control your email”, the best hack for me is the Hack 46 “decreasing your email response time”, but otherwise I did not find this chapter that helpful. Chapter 7, “organize your stuff”, has 13 Firefox-recommended extensions you might want to use, while Chapter 8, “kick start your productivity” was not much to liking but people who need more help might find these ideas helpful mapping your time using a spreadsheet.

 

Chapter 9, “master the web”, had some good ideas. Like many, I found out about Firefox and pretty must ditched Internet Explorer a few years ago. Hack 71 (for Firefox extensions) has some worthwhile ones to look for and utilize. However, if you have Firefox you also need to know that more extensions are coming out all the time, some that surpass these extensions. Meanwhile, Hack 68 “subscribe to website with RSS”, was helpful. Hack 74 (using) “multiple sites tab browsers” is well done. If you have not used multi-tab homepage for your browser this is certainly a definite looksee. Chapter 10, ”tune your computer”, has many that are PC and windows-based.

 

Conclusion

 

The hacks are a interesting and easy read. I was hoping that the index would list all Mac or OS X so I could narrow my search more quickly. No such luck however. I am not really sure why such an index is missing. I will definitely try several of these hacks right away or have a good in-depth look. I’ll also keep thumbing through for those hacks that I think may be useful. For $25, this book might be useful no matter whether you have PC (Windows, Vista) and / or Mac (no Linux). Your purchase might also depend upon your main intent and use your computer. But chances there are some new ideas that will be gained, others you will tweak and tinker with and other mini-ideas that also will be helpful.