Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Who Owns That Website?!

Ever wonder who owns a website?

Stop wondering.

http://whois.domaintools.com/

Your IP Address - Fast

Occasionally, you will need your IP address for networking or software-related purposes. The true IT in you knows to dig through the command prompt window, but that feels like it takes forever.

It doesn't have to...

http://whatismyip.com

Done.

Take your office on the road

This post is productivity oriented in that it links to an article, Rolling Your Own Online Office, that shows you how to keep all of your information handy when you are on the road. The best feature of the article is that it addresses all sorts of project/workplace needs and gives links to freeware for each and every application. Need IM, flowcharting or documents on the road? If so, Josh Catone provides an all-in-one resource center with links for getting things done (GTD). If you find a tool that is particularly useful, please leave a comment below so that others can benefit from your experience.

Friday, June 08, 2007

Forget about Forgetting: Hello to File Syncing

It is a fact that your computer will have issues and lose data when you need it the very most. Saying good bye to that data (countless hours of laboring) is never an easy thing to do. It is much easier to say hello to file syncing.


Unison is one example: http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/ (caution - this program is for people who enjoy command line, Linux style operations)

Syncback Freeware is another: http://www.2brightsparks.com/assets/software/SyncBack_Setup.zip The Syncback downloads page is here and the free version of the software is located at the bottom of the page.

Cheers!

Lookslikematt

Lookslikematt! Another POV

Hi!

My name is Matthew Kapfhammer - a recent AiP Media Arts and Animation grad now working at as an Animation Director/Motion Capture Coordinator at a small visual effects studio in Cranberry Township, PA. I spend most of my time working with teams of artists in production, practicing 3d character animation/rigging set-ups and learning/teaching/testing software.

This has forced me to learn new technology and use it efficiently on a daily basis. In turn, I share this information with my team, so they can do their work faster and create continually higher quality content. At least half of what I've learned during my experiences at school and "on the job" are applicable to any field in which people work in teams and have access to computers.

It is with great, geeky joy I announce that I will be joining the ranks here at Tech Tips & Lifehacks as a contributer. Look for a lot of graphics, productivity and management oriented posts from me.

Cheers!

Lookslikematt

Friday, June 01, 2007

Learn Linux with Ubuntu Studio

For those in technical fields who want to learn Linux, I am recommending Ubuntu Studio. It is a Linux GUI distribution that includes tools for audio and visual creativity. I think there are lots of good reasons to learn Linux. Chief among them is the fact that most web servers run on Linux technologies and applications seem to be shifting towards web-based solutions. Another reason is that companies and countries are switching to Linux to avoid the onerous licensing costs associated with keeping Microsoft installations legal.

Here are three "learn Linux" resources to help you get started:

  1. Take free Linux classes on Moodle and study with others.
  2. Get answers to your Linux questions on Just Linux
  3. Here's a Linux site for beginners