Using a key to gouge expletives on another's vehicle is a sign of trust and friendship.

A new version of the quick-firing Linux keyboard launcher GNOME Do landed last week, bringing with it a “theme” that acts as a whole new desktop interface. Let’s check out how it works.

If you’re just getting started with GNOME Do, head to the release page and check out how to download the latest version for your distribution. Using the Docky “theme” requires a 3D compositing manager like Compiz Fusion, or GNOME’s built-in 3D effects.

After installing GNOME Do, launch it from your applications menu or with a gnome-do terminal command. Click the options arrow in the upper-right of the main window, and set your keyboard shortcut (Windows key + Space is the default) and choose the “Docky” theme. You’ll get a strip across the bottom of your screen, re-sizable by dragging on the edges with a mouse, and still functional as your main GNOME Do window for searches and action shortcuts.

When it first launches, GNOME Do fills your dock bar with recently frequently accessed items, book-ended by a GNOME Do options button on the far left and a functional trash can on the right end:

That calendar item is actually a link to a Google Calendar event I created in GNOME Do, and as seen above, Docky knows what tools to offer for it.

Removing these items is a quick right-click option, or a drag onto the desktop if you want to preserve the shortcut. Left alone, Docky will keep your dock, whatever size you’ve made it, filled with items you’ve recently accessed, but you can pin any file, folder or shortcut to the dock and keep it there:

When you’ve got apps with multiple windows and documents open, Docky takes the Windows 7 approach, giving you access to each window and document. You can also see at a glance how many windows are open for each app by checking the little LED-like blips under each icon:

The real reason the GNOME Do team incorporated Docky wasn’t to start a needless competition with AWN for dominance of the desktop’s bottom edge, though. Docky integrates directly with what you get done in GNOME Do’s launcher. So, let’s say you find yourself repeatedly tapping in the shortcut to create a new Remember the Milk task, check a certain Google Calendar, IM a frequent contact through Pidgin, or any of the other plugin-powered abilities of GNOME Do; the launcher transforms Docky into a standard, contextual launcher reminiscent of Quicksilver for Macs:

If you want to keep a search, shortcut, or just about anything you can pull up in the launcher window handy, hit the little “+” sign in the lower-left when it’s pulled up, and it’s pinned to your Docky bar, with smart right-click contexts kept in tact:

There’s not much more to show in screenshots, because Docky, like GNOME Do, is all about figuring out a system that works for you, using a wide array of wide-open tools. I’ll say here, however, that Docky doesn’t offer the customized looks, responses, or effects of a dock like AWN, but it’s seriously fast, and, at least in my Ubuntu 8.10 experience, less crash-prone than AWN and its many Python-powered dock applets.

Read more on Docky’s features at its wiki page. Have you been checking out Docky or the latest GNOME Do? What do you like, and what still needs improvement? Publish your reviews in the comments.

Web site Printable Checklist is a stripped down checklist creator that makes building quick, printer-friendly custom checklists a breeze.

To start off, I should point out that I created Printable Checklist a couple of nights ago after I got annoyed with my terrible handwriting. Printable Checklist is nothing special. It’s a single page that uses a little HTML and JavaScript to build simple printable checklists. So what’s the point?

I, like many Lifehacker readers, prefer simple pen and paper for most of my to-do list management. I love web-based to-do managers, but if I’m being honest, most of my daily to-dos are written down on a fresh piece of paper when I start the day. I also have horrible handwriting and am unskilled at creating checklists that look and feel like something you’d actually want to consult. With Printable Checklist, I can quickly create and print out clean and simple disposable checklists that I can consult throughout the day, and I still get the satisfaction of checking off a large box whenever I complete a to-do. It’s also perfect for creating a quick paper checklist for someone else without requiring them to suffer through your horrible handwriting.

The site doesn’t require any registration, but the downside to that is that the checklists are also very much disposable. If you wanted to save a checklist, I’d recommend printing your checklist as a PDF (on Windows, previously mentioned PDFCreator is a popular choice for this). I’ve given the site cursory tests on Firefox, IE7, and Safari, and so far all seems to work. If you give it a try, let’s hear what you think in the comments.

Today Gmail will begin rolling out a new feature to improve your email labeling workflow and mitigate folder-vs.-label confusion with two new drop-down menus: Move to and Labels. Even better: Keyboard shortcuts and autocomplete are baked in.

We're not seeing the updates in our accounts yet, but the new features are pretty simple. If you want to label an email, just click the Labels drop-down or hit 'L' on your keyboard and start typing; Gmail will autocomplete the label as you type. The Move to menu works the same but uses 'V' as the quick keyboard shortcut. When you apply a new label via the Move to menu, Gmail will apply the new label and automatically archive the email—mimicking folder behavior while still sticking with Gmail's label structure.


You've been able to access Gmail's More actions menu for quite some time using the period ('.') shortcut, but the label and move to shortcuts are a godsend for keyboard lovers and folder lovers alike. The Better Gmail extension has always included the very cool Gmail Macros script, which itself added new labels by pressing 'L' and then autocompleting labels, so this functionality will be easy to adopt for Gmail Macros users. (Though autocomplete for navigating to a new label from the keyboard with the 'G' shortcut would be nice, Google. Update: Looks like I spoke too soon!)

Is your account enabled yet? Let's hear how you like the changes in the comments.

@captaincrazy yes, but i prefer them to be cooked. How is it that IHOP can’t properly cook a pancake?

Windows only: Skype 4.0 is officially out, and it features all the really big video windows and Outlook and problem-reporting tools from last year's betas. It also beefs up Skype's handling of bandwidth.

The biggest jump noticeable, at least for users of the official 3.8 version, is the window real estate given to video chat and IM chats, and the general overhaul given to the app's skin and look. Skype's standard two-pane video chat has been traded in for a picture-in-picture layout, but that can be changed by dragging out your own video thumbnail.

Skype also touts a new audio engine and network manager, Silk, that uses half the bandwidth to provide audio and tries to save it from stuttering when Skype notices your connection slowing down in the background. The video engine purportedly does the same type of save-the-call moves when your bandwidth drops off.

Skype 4.0 is a free download for Windows systems only. Skype hounds, are you noticing better audio quality and fewer glitch-outs? Liking the new look of video chat? Tell us in the comments. Screenshot from Skype.

Next time you're shopping for a big-ticket item, or even a very-small-ticket afterthought, break down what you're paying in smaller numbers. Because, researchers suggest, your brain probably can't do it by itself.

Anyone who's ever thought about why car dealers price everything to end in a string of nines knows that the brain can pull tricks on your wallet. Ohio State University researchers found, however, that test subjects were led astray by seemingly first-grade differences in price description. In a study model that rewarded subjects for deserting the person they were teamed up with, the offers with more numbers won out more than the same exact amount put more plainly:

When the reward for cooperation was increased to 300 cents from 3 cents, the researchers found, the level of cooperation went up. But when the reward went from 3 cents to $3, it did not.

You'd have to hit the link to get a full read on the study. The long and short of it is, though, that "people tend to overestimate differences between small quantities and underestimate differences between large ones."

That's food for thought the next time you're looking through a value menu, or pricing out a flat-panel TV.

It would seem a few months have passed since my last substantive post, so here we are again….

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has been at work for an hour already doing a deployment. What are *you* doing?