Hackszine.com: Hacks Series Archives

Archive: Hacks Series

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March 6, 2007

Call for Hacks: Windows Tips for Everyone

Img M634

Preston Gralla's latest article for PC World provides Windows tips and tricks for everyone, not just the early adopters of Vista:

Whether you've jumped to Vista or are sticking with XP, our tips will make your computing faster and safer--and even a little more stylish.

This is the kind of inclusive view we like to see in the world of Windows hacking.

Preston is the author Windows XP Hacks, across two editions, and is now hacking away at his next Windows Hacks book, which promises to be bigger, broader, and better, covering not only XP and Vista, but pretty much anything you can think of using within, or attaching to, those operating systems.

He can't complete such an immense task on his own, so he needs your help. If you have a great hack (or multiple hacks) you'd like to contribute to the book, let him know. Anything Windows related is game, including any Microsoft software or hardware, so click the Suggest a Hack link in the sidebar or drop him a line directly at preston [at] gralla [dot] com. If your hack is accepted, you'll get geek-cred bragging rights by becoming part of the O'Reilly Hacks community of contributors.

Preston's Windows Tips @ PC World:

February 27, 2007

Hacks Authors' Blogs: One Feed to Rule Them All

Hacks Authors' Feed

Ed note: In this guest post, veteran Hacks series author Paul Bausch takes on a challenge that's been on my todo list for a while, providing a solution that should be of immediate interest to all readers of this site and just might serve as a seed for future hacking around here.

I have a shelf full of O'Reilly Hacks books across a wide range of subjects. I contributed a couple in the Web Applications category, but I also have Hacks books about digital photography, hardware, scripting languages, gaming, and operating systems. The series has introduced me to a number of authors who are doing unusual things with technology in their particular area of expertise. I thought it would be interesting to follow each of these authors outside of the Hacks series by subscribing to their blogs, collectively. I figured it would be a good way to keep up with areas of technology that I'm not necessarily tuned into. I have a collection of blogs that I read to keep up with what's happening in Web Applications, but I don't have a sense of what's going on with gaming, for example.

So I went on a mission to gather the Hacks authors' blogs using the tools I know best: Web Applications. I started with an Amazon power query for books by O'Reilly with "Hacks" in the title via the Amazon API, and ended up with a list of 80 authors' full names. I plugged each name into Google by hand, adding the word "blog" (or if that didn't turn anything up, "hacks"). Then I visited the blog to make sure it was the Hacks author I was looking for, clicked the orange feed button in the Firefox address field to get the feed URL, and copied the URL to a text file. I ended up with a list of 40 feeds. (A 50% blogging rate among an arbitrary group isn't too shabby.)

I plugged the feeds into Google Reader, and renamed each feed the author's full name. Here's what the final list looks like (click for larger view):

Here's the list of feeds as OPML if you'd like to try it: Hacks Authors.

I've only been tuning into this list for a few days, but I'm already getting to know these authors in a new way. And I was right—I am finding out about developments in tech areas I don't normally tune into. I especially found Brian K. Jones's recent post about Fighting Specialization appropriate, something I wouldn't have seen otherwise.

Related:

February 12, 2007

Hacks Logo Mashups

Make:Hacks

Longtime readers of books in our Hacks series will have no doubt already noticed that the launch of Hackzine.com includes a redesign of our series logo:

Make:Hacks Logo I love the new look and its family resemblance to Make's typography, but before we'd made this connection official, I'd already had fun mashing up these two great brands into my own fantasy book, using the following ready-to-hand materials:

Printer's dummy book block (1): from a friend in Manufacturing
Cover flats for Hacks books (2): from a friend in Design
Make: stickers (2): from a friend in Sales/Marketing

I'd love to see more folks tinkering with our new logo, especially to associate it more closely to projects or areas that connect with our mission. A while back, I started a thread in the Make Flickr group for Make and Craft logo mashups, and I've just started one for Hacks in the Hacks group. If you've mashed up our logo, please let us see it by dropping it into the Hacks group and linking to it in the comments on that thread.

February 2, 2007

What's a Hack?

Thanks to everyone for reading, suggesting sites, and requesting hacks. We're thrilled and inspired to see the support, enthusiasm, and curiosity we've received in the short period of time we've been running Hackszine.

Though most readers get what we're up to, we've also seen a vocal minority who seem to think (or hope) we're offering something we're not, so I'd like to take a moment to reiterate the purpose of this site, with a finer point on what you can expect to see us post and what sort of requests you should assume we'll ignore without comment.

The professed goal of the Hacks series in general, and now of Hackszine in particular, has always been to reclaim the term "hacking" for the good guys--innovators who explore and experiment, unearth shortcuts, create useful tools, and come up with fun things to try on their own. As mentioned in my welcome post, "to hack something is to make it work the way it should -- for you."

In that spirit, this reader request is the sort of thing we love to receive and are happy to respond to. By contrast, this one is not:

I just need to Hack a single Yahoo ID's password. Either by providing a link (url) to the victim or by any means. I don't have physical contact with the victim's computer. But I am able to provide any kind of webpage url to the victim.

In fact, if your request uses the word "victim" at all, that should probably be a red flag. We're not going to help you hijack your ex's Friendster account, delete your enemy's MySpace page, spy on your teacher's email, or any other such dirty deeds. These aren't "hacks" in the sense we're promoting the term.

So, before you click that Request a Hack link in the sidebar, ask yourself if what you're about to request is the sort of thing you'd like someone doing to you. If the answer is "no," don't bother going any further. But if you're looking for ways to get the most out of your own things, life, or world, we're here to help.

February 1, 2007

Life Hacking News: Mann to Stikkit

Merlin Mann

In life hacking news, I just learned that Merlin Mann (life hacking pioneer and one-person productivity guru behind 43 Folders) is now an adviser for Values of n (founded by former Hacks series editor Rael Dornfest), the company behind the impressive new Stikkit productivity app. I'm looking forward to seeing some great results from this collaboration between two of my favorite life hackers. If you haven't tried out Stikkit yet, do so now. It's a great life hack in itself, which is just getting better and better as it develops, but will also likely be the source of great productivity hacks in the future (note: some power users are already hacking it).

As a bit of an aside, there's a hack to be found in the links from the Values of n announcement too, a hack in which I have some personal involvement in the telling. Though Merlin was kind enough to leave my name out of his 43 Folders podcast on "the perfect apostrophe," I am, in fact, the "very nice man whose life [he] temporarily ruined." While he overstates the damage done by just a tad, his depiction of me as "a character out a 30s screwball comedy" is uncanny:

The link to Merlin's hilarious podcast isn't simply gratuitous or intended to feed my own vanity. If you listen carefully, you'll find a valuable life hack in there, a perhaps more nuanced and intereresting way to "not sweat the small stuff" or, more accurately, to recognize the right stuff to sweat and just get it done. Beyond my obvious involvement as a character in his story, it resonated with me on a number of other levels as well, which I explained in a bit more detail a while back on my personal blog (note: this link, unlike the previous links, is indeed intentionally gratuitous).

January 29, 2007

Welcome to Hackszine

Hack the Way You Think Welcome to Hackszine.com, the new online counterpart to O'Reilly Media's Hacks series of books.

We've developed this site to promote the philosophy of Hacks as a way to gain control of the devices and systems in our lives. To hack something is to make it work the way it should -- for you. This site will bring you the best hacks we uncover in the wilds of the Internet, while at the same time delivering fresh, original content developed by our pool of Hacks authors and contributors.

As you'll likely notice in the site's design, the Hacks series is now published by the same team responsible for Make magazine, headed by Dale Dougherty, the publisher of Make and the original creator of our Hacks series. In many ways, we see Hacks as the technological or mental counterpart to the physical DIY space addressed by Make, and our vision is to grow the Hackszine site and its community in the way we have successfully connected "makers" with Makezine and Make magazine.

Let us know what you think. We'd love to hear from you. Have a hack? Use the "Submit a Hack" link in the sidebar. We're also interested in hearing about the kind of hacks that'd work for you. If you have a specific itch that needs scratching, just click "Request a Hack" and tell us about it.

October 26, 2006

How to Write a Hack for O'Reilly

Hacks Series
[Ed note: this was originally posted on the O'Reilly Network on August 30, 2005.]

As lead editor for O’Reilly’s Hacks series, I field proposals for Hacks books on a daily basis. I also usually have several books in various stages of acquisition, writing, or production, all of which of course have authors and (this being Hacks) numerous contributors. Beyond the questions about which topical areas we’re looking to publish on, the questions that come up most often are usually variations on the theme of what makes a hack and how one should be written.

I’ve long wanted to write something for current and prospective authors, contributors, and other O’Reilly editors (to share with their authors) that explains exactly what we mean by “a nonobvious solution to an interesting problem.” But, of course, I haven’t had the time to do so, so I often go through various rounds of trying to explain something that, when it comes right down to it, you really need to just grok. Unfortunately, after a few attempts to put a fine point on the term hack (as used by O’Reilly), I often end up resorting to a description that’s not much better than Justice Stewart’s infamous definition of obscenity: namely, “I know it when I see it.”

Today, I was discussing a new project with Paul Bausch, who has established himself as a model author for the series (including Amazon Hacks, ~~the forthcoming~~ Yahoo! Hacks, ~~an as-yet-unannounced third Hacks title~~, Flickr Hacks, and Google Hacks, Third Edition), and I learned that he’d quietly drafted his own take on this theme. Paul’s an author who groks the Hacks format with little need for supervision or guidance, so I was particularly interested in his perspective. He didn’t disappoint, so I asked him to share his sage advice with the world. Thankfully, he agreed. Read full story

October 25, 2006

Foreword to Wireless Hacks, Second Edition

More than just a foreword to Wireless Hacks, Second Edition (by Rob Flickenger and Roger Weeks) Glenn Fleishman's praise of the book reads like paean to the maker/hacker spirit in general:

Wireless Hacks feels more like a device constructed by the love child of The Professor from Gilligan's Island and Mr. Spock: it beeps, it twitters, there are coconut shreds, and then, surprisingly, it produces a glass of tea out of thin air or transports several people to geosynchronous orbit. ... Wireless Hacks isn't about breaking technology to serve your needs. Rather, it's about bending it. So much of today's wireless networking hardware, software, and firmware has been carefully tailored to suit what the manufacturer or service provider feels you are entitled to do with it. But we own the tech and, for unlicensed networks, we own the airwaves. Wireless Hacks stands up, raises its hand, and says, "Excuse me, I don't buy into your world view."

Fleishman concludes that the book "could as easily been titled It's My Equipment, Dammit," which we like to think is true of all Hacks books and every issue of MAKE.

October 24, 2006

Foreword to Greasemonkey Hacks

In his foreword to Mark Pilgrim's Greasemonkey Hacks , Aaron Boodman (creator and lead developer of Greasemonkey), speaks of the pride he takes in the association of the word hacks with his creation:

It has been occasionally noted that Greasemonkey is a hacker's tool. I take some pride in that, since I come from a family of relentless hackers.

He continues with a touching account of his own family of hackers, going all the way back to the need to hack that's been so central to the evolution of our species (humans, that is, not just hackers, which, contrary to popular opinion, does not constitute a separate species).

Finally, he ends with a sort of call to arms that Greasemonkey promises:

The next time you find yourself frustrated by a broken website, you won't have to live with it. You'll have the tools and knowledge to fix it yourself.

I'd like to think this spirit is central to all Hacks books and to every issue of MAKE (and, dare I say it, the evolution of our species).

September 17, 2006

Marriage Proposal Hacks

Looks like the Hacks series is bringing people together in more personal ways that I'd ever expected. I worked on PayPal Hacks, but I passed the book off before Dave Neilsen worked this bit into the acknowledgments:

I'd like to thank ... Erika, my inspiration, who makes me smile every day. Erika, I feel so lucky to have found you. With you, every day is beautiful and new. Nothing would make me happier than to spend the rest of my life with you...Erika Anderson, will you marry me?

Rael blogs the update here: she accepted!

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