elyse

No matter which browser you prefer, there’s a plethora of ways to customize the way you surf the Web. There are countless plugins, extensions, toolbars and more. Some of these are easy to install while others require a little more effort. We’ve put together a list of some of the best instructional resources for the most popular browsers today, including Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Opera and even the still wet behind the ears rookie, Google Chrome. - elyse

A few new habits can make the difference between staying on task, finding what you need, and getting things done--or having a tech meltdown. - elyse

In the dog days of summer when there's absolutely nothing new on television (except the Olympics), it's time to start watching the web—and you need the right tool to do just that. The free, cross-platform internet video player Miro can automatically download online video series via RSS feed or BitTorrent, play almost any format you throw at it, and keep track of what you've watched and what's new and queued up for you. More and more independent producers are putting out fabulous video content on the web, but keeping up with it by visiting your favorite video hosting web site or in your regular feed reader can be almost impossible—but setting up Miro is like getting TiVo for web video. Let's take a look at how to subscribe to free internet television with Miro. - elyse

Joodo is a next-generation p2p application for organizing and sharing your data between your network of friends and family.Joodo is a next-generation p2p app that helps you organize, search, and easily share your information with trusted friends. - elyse

Capture your memories. Tell your stories. Travel through time. Combine videos, photos, blogs and mp3 into rich, multimedia storylines. - elyse

Online reminders! - elyse

Think. Create. Animate - elyse

Usniff.com is a fast, easy to use, cool looking and free real-time torrent search engine that crawls 8 different torrent web pages (for now) to give you the best results for your search. - elyse

Tatango allows you to take your group mobile. Connect with your group anytime, anywhere through text messaging. - elyse

A lot of overlap with my faves, which is rare, which means Orli is really in tune with ordinary nutcases like me ;-) - Bora Zivkovic

nice list, i use top 12 and love it - Alexey

Nice set @Shey, ironic too as I have been a bit of a Red Stripe kick lately ;) - Nicholas Kreidberg

especially the colors colors colors one :-) Thanks for sharing - Richard Binhammer

@Nick Nice, I haven't had one in a while. @Richard My pleasure :) - Shey

One great example of how blogging can connect sports icons directly to fans. "I want to take a quick second to thank everyone for the support I received as I approached and eventually surpassed the Major League record for consecutive scoreless innings to start a career. I honestly didn’t think the record would be that big of a deal…it’s such an obscure record, and it had been held for so long that I honestly didn’t know that it was something that would be kept track of." - Louis Gray via Bookmarklet

Baseball ... right? - Charlie Anzman

I agree with Thomas' recommendations here. The one exception is the GPS. I really like that, but it, too, needs to be taken the next level with turn-by-turn directions. Battery life? Turn off the GPS and the 3G and you get better life. I'm also seeing that sometimes the battery just drains itself. I think it's due to some applications. Still trying to repeat that enough to be able to authoritatively write about it. - Robert Scoble

Seriously, if you're worried about 3G battery life in your car, you might want to invest in a $20 car charge adapter for your $199 (or $299) phone. - Ernie Oporto

I never turn3G off and no battery complaints here. I do uncheck the ask to join wifi option. Battery usually lasts all day. Sometimes I give it a little charge after getting home from work. - Bob Blunk

Lifehacker's most popular posts that have been published in the first half of 2008. - elyse

Lifehacker's most popular posts that have been published in the first half of 2008. - elyse

Instead of completely replacing Windows Explorer with an alternative file manager, you can pick and choose the extra features you want and add them piecemeal. - elyse

Instead of completely replacing Windows Explorer with an alternative file manager, you can pick and choose the extra features you want and add them piecemeal. - elyse

Windows only: Free application StExBar adds a toolbar full of useful shortcuts and commands to Windows Explorer. Even better, the add-on binds keyboard shortcuts with virtually every action it adds, so you can create a new folder by hitting Ctrl-Shift-N, open a command prompt in the current folder by pressing Ctrl-M, or copy a full file path with Ctrl-Shift-C. We just highlighted several free tools to power up Windows Explorer, but StExBar is a new offering you might want to add to your list. StExBar is freeware, Windows only. - elyse

Windows only: Free application StExBar adds a toolbar full of useful shortcuts and commands to Windows Explorer. Even better, the add-on binds keyboard shortcuts with virtually every action it adds, so you can create a new folder by hitting Ctrl-Shift-N, open a command prompt in the current folder by pressing Ctrl-M, or copy a full file path with Ctrl-Shift-C. We just highlighted several free tools to power up Windows Explorer, but StExBar is a new offering you might want to add to your list. StExBar is freeware, Windows only. - elyse

Windows only: Free application Snarl is a universal notification system for Windows inspired by the popular Mac OS X notifier Growl. We mentioned Snarl once before, but the young project has improved a lot since then, with extensions supporting Firefox, Pidgin, Outlook, Sunbird, and more. Out of the box Snarl has built-in support for battery warnings, system events, and timer and clock support (like hourly reminders)—along with several attractive themes. It needs support for a wider range of apps if it's ever going to do everything Growl does, but it's got a good start. Snarl is free and open source, Windows only. - elyse

Windows only: Free application Snarl is a universal notification system for Windows inspired by the popular Mac OS X notifier Growl. We mentioned Snarl once before, but the young project has improved a lot since then, with extensions supporting Firefox, Pidgin, Outlook, Sunbird, and more. Out of the box Snarl has built-in support for battery warnings, system events, and timer and clock support (like hourly reminders)—along with several attractive themes. It needs support for a wider range of apps if it's ever going to do everything Growl does, but it's got a good start. Snarl is free and open source, Windows only. - elyse

Windows only: Have you ever wanted to lock down a few files behind passwords, but don't want to jump into a full-featured encryption system with multiple keys, virtual drives and whatnot? Free encryption utility EncryptOnClick is a dead-simple utility that gets the job done. Open the program, choose a file or folder to secure, and type in your password. The files or folder will get an encrypted icon, and you'll be asked for the password to open them—and that's it, at least with the freeware version. The app uses 256-bit AES encryption, so for hiding stuff from the average snooper, it's a tight and light solution. EncryptOnClick is a free download for Windows systems only. - elyse

Windows only: Have you ever wanted to lock down a few files behind passwords, but don't want to jump into a full-featured encryption system with multiple keys, virtual drives and whatnot? Free encryption utility EncryptOnClick is a dead-simple utility that gets the job done. Open the program, choose a file or folder to secure, and type in your password. The files or folder will get an encrypted icon, and you'll be asked for the password to open them—and that's it, at least with the freeware version. The app uses 256-bit AES encryption, so for hiding stuff from the average snooper, it's a tight and light solution. EncryptOnClick is a free download for Windows systems only. - elyse

Wonderful PDF to Word Converter! The DOC files results are so good, it beats Adobe Acrobat PDF Professional! :D - elyse

Wonderful PDF to Word Converter! The DOC files results are so good, it beats Adobe Acrobat PDF Professional! :D - elyse