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Lifehacker features (and craving more)
Merlin Mann | Sep 15 2005
Our pals over at Lifehacker have a new section of Features where they’re posting longer how-tos and tutorials on all manner of cool stuff. Don’t miss How to set up a personal home web server, How to control your home computer from anywhere, and Professional E-mail Tips. These are all very well done and super-useful. Permit me to extend two enthusiastic horns of rock toward the Lifehacker domain to celebrate this august move. The crew there is composed of some very smart cookies, and it’s really cool to see them spreading their wings and being encouraged to augment their link blogging with excellent original content. This is good. Just because no one’s asked me yet, I’ll volunteer a stray factoid: the sites like 43F that I ever visit more than occasionally have some things in common: a) they have an original voice and a point of view, b) the authors make an effort to create and share new content and ideas—or at least present old ones in a new or contextual way. I’m not against link blogs, mind you—done well and with excellent annotation, they can be a very enjoyable way to catch up on new-ish stuff. But when the echo starts exceeding the signal, things get much less interesting for me. Hint: if your last five days of blogging looks a lot like this, you need to start digging up some new leads. I would really encourage people who are blogging on productivity, life hacks (or whatever else you call this stuff) to give a little more of themselves when they have something good to share. God knows I’m not inventing anything new here (“Hey, look! Buddhism!”—Merlin Mann, 9/2005), but I would love to see more tutorials, commentaries, and think-pieces that delve deeper than a link to the fastest way to put on your hat. There’s room for all of it, though, right? Right. Gotta love the Interweb. You have the interest, time, and enthusiasm to blog, so keep that good stuff coming, gang. You know you have it in you. 7 Comments
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 You mean people actually write...Submitted by Kuz (not verified) on September 15, 2005 - 9:18am.
You mean people actually write original content? I thought it magically appeared. Next thing you know, you’re going to tell me my ham sandwich came from an actual pig that lived on a farm that they had to kill instead of from the Eckrich factory. »
Wow, after that kind of...Submitted by Gina (not verified) on September 15, 2005 - 9:42am.
Wow, after that kind of compliment my head was almost too big to fit into this textarea. I’ve been enjoying your recent posts too Merlin, esp the recent To-do list ones. Thanks for the nice plug. »
Proffessional Email? Bah.... wake me when...Submitted by thunt (not verified) on September 15, 2005 - 12:00pm.
Proffessional Email? Bah…. wake me when you’re sending Encrypted email…. that’s proffessional. anything else is just, insecure. http://e4e5.org/secure_email.php »
Case in point thunt! Write up...Submitted by Gordon (not verified) on September 15, 2005 - 9:28pm.
Case in point thunt! Write up how I can EASILY start sending encrypted email and I’ll use it. Right now it seems a lot of hassle, am I wrong? Share your knowledge! Me? Well today I’m offering a fascinating snippet of news that is only applicable to those in the UK, in their mid-thirties (probably) and with a sweet tooth.. ;-) »
Sending encrypted mail is easy. Persuading...Submitted by Andy Jones (not verified) on September 16, 2005 - 12:42am.
Sending encrypted mail is easy. Persuading anyone you want to mail that it’s a good idea - now +that’s+ difficult. »
 Wow. A snarky derail with...Submitted by Merlin Mann on September 16, 2005 - 2:15am.
Wow. A snarky derail with spelling errors and a self-link? Classy way to roll, thunt. »
Sorry Merlin, I just gotta...Submitted by thunt (not verified) on September 16, 2005 - 5:13am.
Sorry Merlin, I just gotta roll this way, ever since I read that article about how english is understandable, even if a few letters are off….. Spelling just doesn’t seem to crack my top ten list anymore… As for Gordon’s comment: “Write up how I can EASILY start sending encrypted email and I’ll use it.” I already have, and I am delighted to link it to you once more. learn more about encrypted email: http://e4e5.org/secure_email.php Not only can you set up encrypted email easilly, you can now do so with entirely open source components, from the Thunderbird Reader, to the Enigmail Plugin, to the GNUpg encryption system. I strongly suggest that you encrypt your email in the future, as the alternative is to send it over the internet using plain text. At least you can gladly celebrate that I didn’t use any foul language in my comment. I should get some points for that at least. And as for the self-link, self promotion issue, I’m happy to self promote as my webpages include no advertisements and I do not profit off them. How many in this digital age can say the same? »
About Merlin MannBio Merlin Mann is an independent writer, speaker, and broadcaster. He’s best known for being the guy who started the website you’re reading right now. He lives in San Francisco, does lots of public speaking, and helps make cool things like You Look Nice Today. Also? He looks like this, answers questions, and has something like a life. Merlin’s favorite thing he’s written recently is a short essay called, “Better.” |
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