What Does the IPv6 Transition Mean to Me?You may have heard that we're running out of IP addresses and we need to switch to a new system called IPv6, but you don't understand any of it. What does this all mean for the internet and you?
What Does the IPv6 Transition Mean to Me?You may have heard that we're running out of IP addresses and we need to switch to a new system called IPv6, but you don't understand any of it. What does this all mean for the internet and you?
Windows: The Windows+L shortcut is a handy for quickly password-protecting your machine, but if you want to lock it while keeping an eye on your desktop, ClearLock will lock your desktop with a transparent layer so you can see what's going on.
Whether you've got rambunctious kids, immature friends or household pets that like to use your keyboard as a bed, locking your computer is always a good idea. Unfortunately, Windows' built-in locking method prevents you from seeing your desktop, meaning you can't keep an eye on your BitTorrent downloads, watch your movie, or enjoy the iTunes visualizer when your computer's locked. ClearLock fixes that by locking your computer transparently, so you can see your desktop, but not click on anything until you enter your password.
Just fire up the app, turn down your volume (it's startup sound is a bit obnoxious), and type in your password. Now, whenever you launch the app, it'll lock your screen. The password window will go away after a few seconds and you'll have a fully visible, but locked computer. Hit the link to check it out.
Update: As many of you have pointed out, the software does have one quirk where it doesn't lock multiple monitors at once. So if you're rocking a dual monitor setup, this may not be the easiest way to go.
ClearLock is a free download for Windows only.
There's no need to pay the electric company to charge your small electronics when you've got a portable solar charger on hand. Learn how to turn some cheap solar panels and a Tupperware container into a solar charging station.Instructables user Joshua Zimmerman shares a simple tutorial on turning a set of inexpensive solar panels, a Tupperware container, and some basic electronic parts into a simple solar charger. His tutorial demonstrates how to set up the panels to charge a set of AA batteries but you could easily adapt it to trickle charge your phone or MP3 player instead.
Hit up the link below for detailed instructions and additional photos.
Read more: $4 Solar Battery Charger [Instructables via Unpluggd]
Nobody likes staring at a boring desktop when they fire up their computer every morning. Keep your wallpaper fresh with the five most popular sites Lifehacker readers use to satisfy their wallpaper needs.
Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite wallpaper site. We quickly learned that—while not everyone has a strong opinion about Linux distributions or encryption software—everyone has a favorite wallpaper site; readers logged nearly 500 votes for their favorite wallpaper sites. Now we're back to share the five most popular sites used by Lifehacker readers to dress up their monitors with fresh wallpaper.
VladStudio
Vlad Studio features the work of Russian wallpaper artist Vlad Gerasimov. He cranks out hundreds of great wallpapers, ranging from holiday themes to abstract art. Vlad Studio has wallpaper in a wide range of sizes suited for everything from your mobile phone to a multi-monitor setup. Mobile wallpaper and desktop resolutions at 1600x1200 and below are available for free. Images larger than that are available only to registered users. If you want access to the larger resolutions, now is a great time to pick up a subscription. Vlad is running a Christmas-special where the $30 lifetime membership is available for $20.
4Chan Wallpapers/General/
4Chan is an image-based forum where anyone can anonymously post and share images and comments. It's divided into sub-boards devoted to all sorts of topics like Anime, video games, etc., but has gained notoriety for some of its more unsavory sub-boards. The /Wallpaper/ board, nonetheless, is bustling and updated nearly 24/7 with images from around the web. Since the 4Chan boards are a bit kludgy to use if you're not trying to comment and just looking for images, a variety of scrapers have sprung up to help you pick through all the images in /Wallpaper/. You can visit 4Chan directly at the link above or you can use services like Nik.Botand 4Walled to browse through the wallpapers available through 4Chan. Be strongly forewarned, however: although the /Wallpaper/ forum is much tamer than other areas of 4Chan, you'll still find a large number of Maxim-level NSFW wallpaper images and the occasional Playboy-level NSFW images when you're browsing. If you're not prepared to explain some really awkward internet memes to your boss, you'd better save 4Chan /Wallpaper/ for home.
Social Wallpapering
Social Wallpapering borrows the vote up/down model used by many social aggregators (Reddit, Digg, etc.) and applies it to desktop wallpaper. Users vote up their favorite, vote down their least favorites, and upload their own images to be ranked by other users. You can browse by rank, category, view random images, and sort by screen size to help you drill down through the huge collection to find the wallpaper you want. Prefer to grab everything and sort it out later? Social Wallpaper makes their entire wallpaper collection available for download via BitTorrent. If you're looking for a site where you can not only find fresh wallpaper but participate in helping your fellow wallpaper lovers find the best images, Social Wallpapering is a solid choice.
Interfacelift
Interfacelift is an enormous repository of wallpaper images. Thanks to the button-based layout at the top of the screen, you can easily drill down through wallpapers using factors like rating, number of comments, screen type, and so on. Once you select your screen type—widescreen, full screen, dual monitors, etc.—you can pick from available resolutions so you never end up clicking on an image and finding out it's not available in the resolution you want. Every search result gives you information about the image plus a drop down menu for size selection and a quick download. Interfacelift has recently added a feature called "The Loupe" which allows users to vote on incoming submissions to accelerate the process of new materials being added to the database.
DeviantART Wallpaper
If you've visited your fair share of wallpaper sites and gotten tired of the endless stream of glowing line-art and video-game wallpapers, then you'll enjoy browsing the wallpaper archives of DeviantART—a subdivision of the artist-centric site. You'll find everything at DeviantART from the more common glow-lines variety of abstract wallpaper to quirky paintings, photographs, and computer-rendered images. Most of the users at DeviantART are prolific contributors, so if you find a wallpaper you really like, make sure to check out the user's gallery to see if they have any other gems to share. DeviantART doesn't have the advanced wallpaper-oriented search features that many of the other wallpaper sites have, but you can still search by image size and sort by popularity.
NEW YORK (AP) — A daily newspaper designed by News Corp. exclusively forApple's (News 
- Alert) iPad is available for $40 annually, comparable to what some big–city publishers charge monthly to deliver their print editions.
The digital newspaper, called The Daily, debuted Wednesday in Apple Inc.'s App Store. News Corp (News - Alert). CEO Rupert Murdoch unveiled it in New York after weeks of anticipation.
The Daily is the latest example of how media companies are trying to mine the iPad's popularity for new streams of revenue. Last month, a company backed by The New York Times Co., The Washington Post Co. and USA Today publisher Gannett Co. launched Ongo, a website that, for $7 a month, pulls together stories from various outlets in one place and lays them out in a clean, ad–free format.
Newspaper publishers are especially desperate because the print advertising revenue they have traditionally relied upon has been falling for the past four years.
News Corp. hasn't been as hard hit as many publishers, mostly because it can fall back on revenue coming from its ownership of the Fox television network and the 20th Century Fox movie studio. News Corp. also owns The Wall Street Journal, one of the few newspapers able to sell a large number of digital subscriptions.
The Daily will cost 99 cents per week, substantially less than the Journal's iPad subscription rate of $3.99 per week. The Daily is also available for $39.99 annually — about the same as what the San Francisco Chronicle charges a month for home delivery and less than The New York Times' monthly rate of about $47 in the New York City area.
Home delivery prices have risen sharply in the past few years as publishers have asked their subscribers to help offset the drop in advertising. The higher prices have contributed to circulation decreases as more readers get their news for free from the Web.
Murdoch says The Daily can afford a low price because it won't have to pay for printing presses or fuel to deliver editions. It will rely on reporters in New York and Los Angeles, as well as freelancers, to produce up to 100 pages of coverage focused on news, sports, gossip, opinion and entertainment.
The Daily will be the first newspaper whose subscriptions will be billed directly through Apple's iTunes store. The Journal, by contrast, has been allowed to charge users of its iPad app through its own billing system. Apple typically keeps 30 percent of the revenue from sales made in its app stores.
The iPad's rising popularity presents The Daily with a vast audience to target. Nearly 15 million iPads were sold in just nine months last year and research firmGartner (News - Alert) Inc. expects 55 million tablets to be shipped this year. Most of those tablets will likely be iPads.
- Alert) Inc. expects 55 million tablets to be shipped this year. Most of those tablets will likely be iPads.Newspaper analyst Ken Doctor believes less than 1 percent of iPad owners are likely to subscribe to The Daily, making it difficult for the digital newspaper to make money. He said The Daily's financial success will hinge on how much advertising revenue it can bring in, much like print editions.
