Soccer Fail

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Google's Apps suite for domain owners and businesses has finally received some star treatment with the launch of the Apps Marketplace. Which Google-friendly apps are free, worth the cost, and entirely useful? These 10 are definitely worth a look.

10. Box.net

Box.net is one of many online file storage sites, but from its launch, it's been focused on adding features that business and enterprise customers can use. Attached to your own web storage, Box.net's features shine through. The service has many webapp partners that can fax, print, secure, edit, and otherwise handle all kinds of documents, and Box.net itself can integrate into many enterprise software packages, set up conference calls and web conferences centered around documents, and otherwise link together the files you've stashed away and the people who work on them. [Apps Marketplace link] Price: free for Box.net business users, $15 per user per month for new users.

9. SurveyMonkey

It's an established tool that a lot of organizations are using to collect data on all kinds of topics. Better still, crafting a poll or questionnaire in SurveyMonkey will save you a good deal of time over crafting a spreadsheet and form in Google Docs and manipulating the results. If you needed more incentive, the "Basic" plan is free for groups looking to just do a little smart polling, and "Basic" covers a whole lot of data-swapping goodness. [Apps Marketplace link] Price: Free for basic version, $16.67 and up for advanced features.

8. SlideRocket

Google's own Presentation app is one of those "Hey, it works" tools, and if you needed to write something up in a pinch, it's there. SlideRocket, on the other hand, is a surprisingly full-featured presentation editor that doesn't require a Microsoft license and can be pulled up wherever you or your team have web access. Like the Aviary photo editor (below), installing SlideRocket in your Apps space puts everyone on the same page and centralizes where those presentations get stored. Alas, SlideRocket doesn't sing in every browser—it doesn't play well with Firefox in Snow Leopard, for instance—but when it works, it's pretty wow-inducing. [Apps Marketplace link] Price: 30-day free trial, $12 per user per month after that; Education and "lite" versions available.

7. Google Short Links

Why would you use Google's own link shortening service for your Apps account over popular, free options like bit.ly or is.gd? Primarily because the links you can provide clients and partners—like GlobexIndustries.com/B2B—are more stately, feel safer, and haven't already been snapped up on the major shortening servers. It also helps that you can make them far easier to remember than a random assortment of letters and numbers. It's free, too, and that's a pretty good selling point. [Apps Marketplace link] Price: Free.

6. Shared Contacts

It's unfortunate that Google's contacts manager doesn't make it easy for people and businesses to create and update common sets of contacts—perhaps they consider that the stuff of big enterprise packages. Their loss is Shared Contacts' gain. With the package installed, Apps domains can create new groups of contacts, set their read/write permissions, and have them show up for everybody in that group. It's not a one-click process, it would appear, but once Shared Contacts is installed, you'll likely never have to see or send email with "Phone #?" in the subject line. Apps Marketplace link] Price: free trial available, $50 per year after that.

5. Gbridge

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a great thing to have. Having it free, and connected through your Google Apps' chat service to your other computers and project partners, is way better. By hooking up Gbridge, on-the-go Apps users have access to shared files, backup through their own computers or those of others in their group, screen sharing and control for tech support or demonstration, and the kind of basic VPN access that can be oh so helpful. [Apps Marketplace link] Price: Free.

4. TripIt

Traveling is taxing enough on its own. Frantic text messages asking "When do u land?" and the like should be unnecessary. Implementing TripIt for your site or group will win you fans, because it's like having an employee whose only job is to organize trips and keep everybody in the loop. As an individual app, TripIt does a great job turning travel confirmation emails into organized, mapped, linked-up itineraries. Installed on Apps, it enables Ted to see when Lisa is leaving and arriving, tells Bob when to pick her up at the airport and provides directions, and lets everyone know if the flight is delayed. [Apps Marketplace link] Price: free.

3. ManyMoon or Zoho Projects

For very small businesses, personal sites, and less goal-oriented groups, the free, socially adept ManyMoon may fit the bill for your project management needs. Group task management, tagging, micro-blogging for teams, and time tracking come with the free price tag. For larger organizations and those with a real need for deadlines, nested goals and tasks, and constant contact, Zoho Projects is a more robust and agile solution, one that integrates well into Google's own app offerings—project deadlines and events, for instance, can be automatically added to team member's calendars. Zoho can also serve as a kind of "project intranet," providing wikis, shared file spaces, and even public web pages. [Apps Marketplace link: ManyMoon, Zoho Projects] Price: ManyMoon free; Zoho Projects free for one project, $12/month and up for unlimited users.

2. Aviary

At its own web site, Aviary hosts a very capable image editing suite that runs entirely inside a browser. Hooked into the files you're already hosting and using on your site or in your group, it gives everybody a kind of Photoshop lite to work with, and avoids the worries of losing that one version of a graphic your client liked better. [Apps Marketplace link] Price: free.

1. OffiSync

It's not for lack of trying, but Google's web-based Docs app can't do everything that Microsoft's desktop Office suite can pull. Whether it's revision tracking, macro recording, or database integration, you can skip the back-and-forth file swapping with the Apps version of OffiSync, a utility that does just what you might think. Save a file in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, and with OffiSync set up, it will save simultaneously to your Google Apps space. You get the feature-rich editing services of Office and the easy sharing and peace-of-mind storage of Google, all at once. [Apps Marketplace link] Price: free.

If you're a Google Apps user who's found something great in the Marketplace, or you're looking for something that's not there yet, we want to hear about it in the comments. Kevin Purdy0280913282033680875803311335662430046309015298723493839261510931870201070398987213699003415276568585

If you've run out of clever greeting card ideas, try a card you can plant into the ground. Craft blog Make and Takes demonstrates how to make "seed paper" and turn it into a plantable greeting card.

If you've ever made paper before, this process is not so different—you just need some paper scraps (preferably in pretty colors), a blender and some water. However, after blending the paper and water together, add some flower seeds to the mix before shaping it flat. Once it's dry, you can cut it into any shape you like and paste it on any paper or cardstock and make a greeting card.

The coolest part of this is not only is it a pretty, handmade card on it's own (when was the last time someone gave you a greeting card out of paper they made?), but the receiver of the card can actually plant it in the ground and get some real flowers out of the deal. It's quite clever, and sure to please anyone during the coming Spring holidays (Mother's Day, anyone?). Hit the link for the full instructions.

Bloomin' Handmade Greeting Cards You Can Plant [Make and Takes] Whitson Gordon0673252561807340533205755799543600383966143015062410462578131810177594302506454600889468897582261859093187020107039898721819915533332906021517183631400076274178

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“Reading this story requires you to willfully pay attention to the sentences and to tune out nearby conversations, the radio and other distractions. But if a fire alarm sounded, your attention would be involuntarily snatched away from the story to the blaring sound.

New research from Vanderbilt University reveals for the first time how our brains coordinate these two types of attention and why we may be temporarily blinded by surprises.

The research was published March 7, 2010, in Nature Neuroscience.

‘The simple example of having your reading interrupted by a fire alarm illustrates a fundamental aspect of attention: what ultimately reaches our awareness and guides our behavior depends on the interaction between goal-directed and stimulus-driven attention. For coherent behavior to emerge, you need these two forms of attention to be coordinated,” René Marois, associate professor of psychology and co-author of the new study, said. “We found a brain area, the inferior frontal junction, that may play a primary role in coordinating these two forms of attention.’

The researchers were also interested in what happens to us when our attention is captured by an unexpected event.”

Read more at Physorg.com (thanks, SuZi)

Apparently, there’s something at the Foreign Office called the Wykehamist fallacy - the erroneous belief that the people one deals with are decent, sophisticated chaps like oneself. Reading this and this, it strikes me that several of us bloggers (there are regrettably notable exceptions) are vulnerable to a similar error - we fail to see that our interlocuters are not like us.
I mean this in five ways:
1. We think beliefs are, or should be, rooted in principles. Others think they should be based upon tribal loyalties. This distinction leaps out from the reaction to Paul’s CiF piece. When he pointed out that neither Labour nor the Lib Dems live up to reasonable left-liberal principles, some commenters inferred, bizarrely, that he was a Tory.
2. We think that what we say needn’t be what we “really believe” - whatever this means. Sometimes, we play devil’s advocate, make modest proposals, engage in liberal irony or just float ideas. Other people think statements must always reveal their ego - and seem to expect me to give a toss about it.
3. We believe the worst crime a writer can commit is not to be wrong or offensive, but to be boring. To us, words are not meant to be bromides, but provocations to thought and argument. The point of writing is to start an argument; blogs are meant to be first words. To be a blogger is to be the antithesis of being the chairman of committees.
4. To us, silence is a sign not of thoughtfulness, but of dullness.  James Joyner has a point when he says that any intelligent blogger has written loads of things that people would hold against him; remember the Daily Heil‘s piece on Owen Barder? But we should turn this around. People who don’t  blog and so don't have a pixel trail of every fool thought are not smarter than those of us who have. Instead, they are too dull not to have an interesting idea every day, and too poker-up-the-arse wimpish to express themselves.
5. We kick against the tyranny of the majority. Sure, we have conventional opinions but we rarely express them because they are bland; it goes without saying that the Taliban and BNP are bastards, or that the Daily Heil prints lies. Instead, we choose to express views that are more interesting. In doing so, we risk appearing unconventional - not that this worries us.
Here, though, is the thing. I was thinking of calling this set of beliefs the Oxford fallacy - because such views are characteristic of a tutorial or high table or JCR discussion. This, though, would only invite the retort: if it’s the Oxford fallacy, how come politics is dominated by PPEists who seem to reject every one of these five principles? But that’s another story.

CRACKED Staff09325827956717578348

Feuer_Frei!!!09325827956717578348

Muff so soft shampoo

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“Octopuses make for discerning TV viewers: it seems they prefer high-definition to traditional cathode ray images (CRT). What’s more, the first study using video to trick octopuses, finds that they may be the Jekyll and Hydes of the oceans: aggressive one day, shrinking violets the next.

“People have been trying for over a decade to get proper behavioural responses from octopuses and other cephalopods using videos,” says Roger Hanlon, an octopus researcher at the Marine Resources Center, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, who was not involved in the study. “But this is the first time anyone has managed it.”

Gloomy octopuses (Octopus tetricus) reacted to films shown on liquid crystal high definition television (HDTV) as if they were seeing the real thing, according to a new study by Renata Pronk at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, and colleagues. “They lunge forwards to attack crabs and back off from other octopuses, much as they do in the wild,” says Hanlon.

Surprisingly, an octopus that was bold, aggressive and exploratory on one day was just as likely to be shy, submissive and stationary the next. “This suggests that the gloomy octopus does not have personality,” writes Pronk in the new study.”

Read more at New Scientist

“JERUSALEM — There are pasted-on half pages, numerous cross-outs and insertions in meticulous penmanship and an open acknowledgment that some of the mathematics was beyond even him. Albert Einstein personally rewrote the laws of physics in a sparsely furnished central Berlin apartment nearly a century ago and the resulting manuscript, profoundly human and surprisingly moving to examine, has been put on display here for the first time.

Each of the 46 pages, labored over between November 1915 and their publication in May 1916, has its own case, each lighted dimly in a room that has been darkened to protect the paper. There on Page 1 is the now familiar title in German: “The Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity.”

The display of the work, which forced a redefinition of gravity, predicted the existence of black holes and illuminated how galaxies are formed, is at the center of the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Out of concern for the life of the documents, it will be up only for the next three weeks.”

Read more at the NY Times

Here at The Big Questions, we try to stand up for clear thinking and shame its enemies. This week, the enemies included Paul Krugman (writing on unemployment), the President of the United States (expounding on rising insurance premiums), a Washington Post columnist who seemed to forget that political reforms are supposed to serve a purpose, and that perpetual offender, the Conventional Wisdom, in its judgments about anti-gay agendas and fiscal responsibility.

Unless Krugman or someone like him offers an irresistible target tomorrow, I’ll see you next on Monday. Thanks for visiting.

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I’m a marketing manager at a British private boarding school. Fees start low and increase during a pupil’s education regardless of the fact that costs remain pretty constant before inflation. I want to reflect this “flat” cost and reward loyalty – but how can I without an ugly hike at reception class? Fairfeea The answer to this [...]Tim Harford

A New York Times columnist called it “devilish”. Jeff Atwood, a blogger, called it “about as close to pure, distilled evil in a business plan as I’ve ever seen”. Another online commenter called it an “evil hack of the human mind”. It’s Swoopo, or as The Register put it, “eBay’s (more) evil twin”. The remainder of [...]Tim Harford

Readers offer their best tips for defrosting meat in the microwave, shipping items with just a paper bag, and remembering sensitive numbers like Social Security or bank PINs.

Don't like the gallery layout? Click here to view everything on one page.

About the Tips Box: Every day we receive boatloads of great reader tips in our inbox, but for various reasons—maybe they're a bit too niche, maybe we couldn't find a good way to present it, or maybe we just couldn't fit it in—the tip didn't make the front page. From the Tips Box is where we round up some of our favorites for your buffet-style consumption. Got a tip of your own to share? Add it in the comments, share it here, or email it to tips at lifehacker.com.

Defrost Meat in the Microwave without Cooking It

Gary-the-Banana shows us how to defrost meat in the microwave correctly:

Fast, safe defrosting of meat and poultry without the unevenness and overcooking straight microwave nuking:

1) Put frozen cut in a sandwich bag or Ziploc bag, and seal.
2) Place in large bowl of water.
3) Nuke the whole thing for a minute or two.
4) Change out the water and repeat if necessary.

Keeping the water below boiling stops your meat from cooking, and acts as a heat-sink for the areas that get hottest most quickly. The result is a well defrosted piece of meat, without any cooked parts.

Use Just a Paper Bag for Packaging and Mailing

Photo by Anna-Stina Axelsson.

davecort tells us an efficient way to ship things without boxes:

When you sell something online and need to ship it, a plain brown grocery bag makes a fantastic mailer. It's lightweight, heavy duty, and it can easily be folded and taped around items of many different sizes with little if any cutting. All you need is a few strips of packing tape to seal it up and pin down any flaps, and you're good to go. It works best if the item is pretty rugged to begin with (like a hardcover book) or if it's already in its own box, although I have had success wrapping an item in bubble wrap and then sealing it in a bag. Happy shipping!

Secretly Store Sensitive Numbers in Your Phone's Address Book

Photo by Honou.

Grant Forrest lets us know a secret way to store easy-to-forget numbers:

If you can't remember numbers you need, such as your Social Security Number or bank PIN, it can be useful to store them in your phone as pseudo-contacts. Memorize a small portion of them (for instance, for your SSN, the last four digits), then put the rest as the 'phone number' of a bogus contact whose name reflects it use— like Sophie N. for your Social, or anything that clues you in without giving it away. Add some phoney numbers on the end to make it add up to 7 digits, and you've got a fallback in case you forget. Never store the full number, though!

Disable New History Features in Opera 10.5

drezha shows us how to turn off some of Opera's new features in Windows:

To disable the new "history" features in Opera 10.50 that cant be turned off in the settings menu, you need to browse to the %appdata%\Opera\Opera folder and edit the search_field_history.dat file with Notepad to remove search history and the typed_history.xml file to remove the typed history file. Make them both read only and they wont be saved again.

Whitson Gordon1583544054889064534805227952249820973149122543693238839405381495072406723858803409318702010703989872

This week we took a look at the best jobs in America, made the most from our point-and-shoot cameras, improvised an impressive laptop bag from a hoodie, and more.

• Remains of the Day: The Best Jobs in America Edition
  An infographic look at the best jobs in America.
• Get the Most from Your Point-and-Shoot Camera
  Just because you've got a relatively inexpensive point-and-shoot camera and not a $1500+ DSLR rig doesn't mean you can't take awesome photos. Here's a look at how you can elevate your regular old point-and-shoot shots to greatness.
• Can I Play HTML5 YouTube Videos in Firefox Right Now?
  Dear Lifehacker, I've read about how HTML5 will change the way I use the web, but it seems like the biggest example of HTML5 in action is on sites like YouTube—which don't support my favorite browser, Firefox.
• Restore a Scratched-Up iPhone with Sandpaper
  iPhones are scratch-resistant, but life throws some tough stuff at our phones. One MacRumors user, owning a phone that looks pretty beat, demonstrates the full process of restoring his phone with sandpaper and a new LCD kit.
• Turn a Hoodie into an Improvised Laptop Bag
  If you like getting the most use out of your possessions as possible, this guide will help you turn a hooded sweatshirt into a laptop bag, baby carrier, and more.
• Five Best VPN Tools
  VPN software lets you join private networks as though you're sitting at a local computer on that network, giving you access to shared folders and tons more handy stuff.
• Staying Motivated at Work with a Status Board
  Panic is a software company that makes useful tools like my personal favorite, Transmit for the Mac. They've also made a beautiful project status display that keeps their team on top of what they're working on and keeps everyone motivated.
• Save Water-Damaged Books, Docs, and Photos by Putting Them in the Freezer
  Next time you drop a book in the bath or end up with an otherwise water-damaged periodical, document, or photograph, reader pearce.kilgour recommends a simple solution:
• Twice-Monthly Half Mortgage Payments Might Save You Money
  Some financial planners advise making two half payments on your mortgage each month instead of one full sum. The idea is that homeowners will save thousands of dollars over the years in interest payments.
• How to Make Your Personal QR Code
  Ever since I installed a barcode-scanning app on my phone, I see QR codes everywhere—so naturally I wanted one of my own. If you're a barcode-scanning fool, the QR code to the left links to my personal web site.

Adam Pash1225436932388394053806618789095057307504

Chrome is a terrific browser on its own, but FastestChrome makes it even better. It adds extra search options to the Omnibar, creates "endless scrolling" for multi-page articles, fixes text-only URLs, and tunes up other Chrome features.

FastestChrome gives search a big boost, adding other search engines, displaying related articles from Wikipedia, and even showing related results from Amazon at the top of your Google results page. Highlight text on a page, and a customizable bubble pops up to let you search that string of text in Google, Delicious, and even Twitter. FastestChrome also turns text URLs into links, making navigation a lot quicker.

Options are easily turned on and off by clicking the extension's settings button in your toolbar. Once you've checked out FasterChrome, have a look at 18 other extensions we think are worth downloading (and, hey, maybe 13 more?).

Have a favorite Chrome extension of your own? Tell us about it in the comments.

FastestChrome [Google Chrome Extensions] Lisa Hoover176557836125176549610207841128087951493906158369777010480565122543693238839405380821329324427166777007009473944766714994

Man marries his anime pillow.

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