Filed under: Software, Productivity, Freeware

Auto-save has saved my bacon several times with Word and I really miss it in apps that don’t offer the feature (Apple’s Pages, for example). Now a third-party solution has popped up that supposedly offers autosaving in any application. EverSave runs in your menubar and allows you to save either at a particular interval or when you switch applications (or both). You can have it run for all applications or pick particular ones.

In my testing with Pages ’08 it worked just as advertised. I set the save interval for 45 seconds and as shortly after I opened a new Pages document it brought up the save dialog. I put in some text, waited a few seconds and then simulated a crash by force-quitting the application.

When I reopened the document, my text was there. Unfortunately, I’ve found that EverSave does not work quite as well with all applications. With TextMate, for instance, it insists on bringing up the save dialog box every time it saves, making it too annoying to be useful. Nonetheless, if you use iWork and miss auto-save, EverSave is a must-have.

EverSave is a free download (donations requested) from Tool Force Software.

[via Macworld]

Continue reading EverSave adds universal autosaving

TUAWEverSave adds universal autosaving originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative, Sedans/Saloons, Green, Ford

In the market for a fuel-sipping mid-size sedan? Now, and for a limited time only, buyers of the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid will be eligible for the $3,400 federal tax credit for hybrid vehicles. Late last year, Ford hit the magic 60,000 limit on individual hybrid sales that’s been imposed by the Feds, so the tax credit for all of the Blue Oval’s hybrid machines will be halved beginning on April 1st. Beginning in October, the credit will again be cut in half to $850 and the entire amount will be gone starting January 1st of 2010.

Tax credit or not, the 2010 Fusion Hybrid’s EPA rating of 41 mpg city and 36 mpg highway bests the Toyota Camry Hybrid by a whopping eight mpg in the city and two mpg on the highway. For what it’s worth, hybrid tax credits for Toyota (and Honda, for that matter) have already expired.

[Source: AutoblogGreen]

Continue reading 2010 Ford Fusion hybrid earns full $3,400 federal tax credit

2010 Ford Fusion hybrid earns full $3,400 federal tax credit originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, Lady Liberty and a bald eagle are great symbols of American freedom, but they’re also perfect covers for keeping tabs on your friends. Ajoka’s cigarette lighter video camera discreetly records 640 x 480 QVGA in AVI format at 30 frames per second and supports microSD up to 8GB. It’s got a lithium ion battery for 6 hours of filming and is charged via USB. Best of all, it’s still a working lighter — perfect for cheering up your favorite band’s love ballads and simultaneously bootlegging the performance. Your local spy shop can order these wholesale for $150 apiece.

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Misc. Gadgets

Cigarette lighter camera shows there’s nothing more patriotic than espionage originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Hirings/Firings/Layoffs, Aston Martin, Earnings/Financials, UK

Late last year, Aston Martin announced that it would reduce its ranks by some 600 workers to cope with a sales slide of 28% in 2008. Apparently, those cuts, which are now halfway completed, weren’t enough to stem the tide of red ink, as Bond’s favorite automaker has now said it will place its entire staff of assembly line workers on a work week that starts on Monday and ends on Wednesday. A total of 1,250 individuals now work at the Gaydon, Warwickshire plant, and almost half of those employees will be affected by the three-day work week.

Bentley, another famous British automaker, announced its own production cuts just yesterday. In response to the industry hardships faced by automakers in the U.K., the British government has promised £2.3 billion worth of aid, though we’re not yet sure how much will go to smaller companies like Aston Martin.

[Source: BBC]

Aston Martin plant down to three-day work week originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Downloads, Driving, Trailers

This relatively straightforward trailer shows off some of the moves and stunts you’ll be able pull off in Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box. The Ultimate Box will be a major step up from the original Burnout Paradise by featuring all-new vehicles and features. The game is expected to release for the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 later this year.

Download Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box Trailer (11 MB)

Burnout Paradise jumps into The Ultimate Box originally appeared on Big Download Blog on Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Biz, Downloads, Expansions, Action, Mirror’s Edge

People who have been waiting for the Time Trial DLC for Digital Illusions‘ recent first person action game Mirror’s Edge will have to wait a bit longer. Big Download has learned via a spokesperson for the game’s publisher Electronic Arts that the Time Trial level pack, originally scheduled to be released on Thursday, has been delayed.

According to the statement from the EA spokesperson we contacted, “To offer a completely smooth experience for players, DICE announced today that the DLC map pack for Mirror’s Edge on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC will be delayed until February. However, the free exclusive map for PlayStation 3 players will be available to download on January 29 as previously announced. ” PC owners of the game will still spend $10 to get the level pack when it is finally released.

Exclusive: No Mirror’s Edge DLC on Thursday; delayed until February originally appeared on Big Download Blog on Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We can’t say with any level of certainty why Toshiba chose to announce its new Camileo after CES and before CeBIT, but whatever the reason, we’re sure it’s a good one. Introduced today over in Germany are three new camcorders, all of which boast simple controls for the technologically challenged and easy uploading to YouTube. The whole lot captures in gorgeous 1080p, and they all feature a handy HDMI output for showing off clips as soon as you snag them. The higher-end Camileo P30 arrives with 128MB of internal storage, an SD card slot, a 3-inch LCD monitor and a 5x optical zoom; the H20 steps down to a 2.5-inch display, while the S10 remains mostly mysterious. As for the bits that matter most, the S10 and P30 will be available early next month for €149 ($197) / €199 ($263), respectively, while the H20 can be snapped up now for €249 ($329).

[Via Stuff]

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Toshiba readies three 1080p Camileo camcorders for Europe originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Culture, Action

Even though sales of the last Tomb Raider game fell below Eidos’s expectations, there’s apparently enough interest in the movie series to launch a third film starring Lara Croft. The Hollywood Reporter states that Warner Bros. are looking to do a complete reboot of the movie franchise much as they did with the Christopher Nolan Batman films.

Paramount was previously in charge of the movie license which brought forth two films (Lara Croft Tomb Raider and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life) both of which starred Angeline Jolie in a horrible British accent. The two films brought in solid box-office numbers even with mostly bad reviews from critics. Warner Bros. got the Tomb Raider movie rights thanks to their increased financial stake in publisher Eidos.

At the moment there’s no specifics on what new direction the Lara Croft movies could go, much less who would handle the double pistols (rumors that actress Megan Fox jhas been approached for the role are just that, rumors). Perhaps Rhona Mitra, who began her career as a Lara Croft model for Eidos, could finally get the role (she can currently be seen in Underworld: Rise of the Lycans).

Tomb Raider movie reboot coming? originally appeared on Big Download Blog on Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: iLife, Terminal Tips

After using iPhoto ’09 for a couple days, I have come to love the new features, in particular the Places feature. However, one thing that annoyed me is that you cannot use the Multi-Touch feature on newer MacBooks to manipulate the maps (zooming in/out, etc.).

However, thanks to a Tweet-tip from Steven Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith), there is a way to enable this functionality. To add Multi-Touch maps to places in iPhoto ’09, just open Terminal.app (/Applications/Utilities) and type (or copy/paste) the following statement and press enter:

defaults write com.apple.iphoto MapScrollWheel -bool YES

When you restart iPhoto, you will notice that you are now able to scroll in/out of the Places maps with ease. If it turns out that you don’t want the scrolling feature, just retype the statement, replacing “YES” with “NO.”

Thanks for the tip, Steven!

Continue reading iLife Tip: Enable Multi-Touch maps in iPhoto ’09

TUAWiLife Tip: Enable Multi-Touch maps in iPhoto ’09 originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Culture, Nintendo DS

Last fall, controversy about Fisher-Price’s Little Mommy Cuddle ‘n Coo doll rocked the local news circuit, when the doll was discovered to utter some kind of gibberish that sounded kind of like “Islam is the Light” if you were listening hard enough for things to be outraged about.

The odd sound sample has been found once again by a concerned parent, this time in Crave’s Nintendo DS game Baby Pals, previously known only for being kind of creepy-looking. In a fairly hilarious coincidence, Rachel Jones of Indiana found the offending utterance first in the doll, then later in a copy of Baby Pals she had purchased for her daughter. Baby Pals came out in October 2007, a year before the row about the doll.

“Not just my daughters’ toys, but we have a son too,” Jones told Terre Haute’s WTHI News 10. “Now I feel like I need to listen to all of his little toys to make sure they’re not saying it.” Check out the news footage after the break, and watch as the virtual baby intones the phrase in question over and over again while being bathed. Of course, the ability of fake babies to exert absolute influence on real children through nonsensical endorsements of religion is well-known. Everybody knows that.

If you listen to what is supposedly the original MP3 (provided by Fisher-Price, link goes straight to .mp3), it sounds much more like nonsense and less like some random attempt at indoctrination. We’ve contacted Crave to try to find out where it got the sample and hopefully solve this quirky mystery.

Continue reading Is Islam the light for DS Baby Pals?

Is Islam the light for DS Baby Pals? originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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