GeekSugar

Geek Tip: Sort Any List With the Alphabetizer

GeekSugar — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 14:25:45 -0800

Remember the good ol' days when you needed to manually go through a list to put it in alphabetical order? Thanks to modern technology and programs like Word and Excel, we can instantly alphabetize our work without having to rehearse our ABCs. If you are working online and you need to quickly alphabetize something, check out Alphabetizer, a site where you can input your data and it will quickly sort your list. Discussed on lifehacker, this simple app also provides options to strip HTML from lists, remove duplicates, and ignore words like "a" or "an." Print or copy your list for later. One thing to note is that the Alphabetizer is case sensitive, so make sure everything is either capitalized or in lower case.

Mark Your Territory With Marquee Alphabet Lights

GeekSugar — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 05:48:11 -0700

I really do love the vintage alphabet blocks I found last year, which would go perfectly in a little geek-in-training nursery. But since I'm not planning to add to my family anytime soon, I wanted to find a more grown-up, flashier alternative for my apartment. So when I stumbled upon these letters, I realized the missing component was - lights!

Now I'm totally craving these Marquee Alphabet Lights. The only downside? They are $178 dollars each! But after a little thought, I figure these alphabet letters wouldn't be too hard to DIY with a little planning and elbow grease. See how I would do it myself when you read more.

There are a ton of vintage tin alphabet letters available for much cheaper on sites like Etsy and eBay, so why not pick up a full set for the amount of one letter from Urban Outfitters? Then, all you have to do is drill a few holes with a drill bit, and fashion it with some white Christmas or decorative lights, and voila! You're good to go to hang it on your wall, or post up your letters on your mantel.

Race You to the Checkout! Vintage Alphabet Geek Blocks

GeekSugar — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 15:00:54 -0700

It's a show of selflessness that I'm posting these vintage Geek Alphabet Blocks from Three Potato Four (the purveyors of those gorgeous vintage typewriters we drooled over together) because I'm dying for them.

They're just four vintage blocks put together, but they're spelling out a word near and dear to my heart.

They'd rep hard in my house and match their surroundings - the antique, weathered blocks don't look like the child's toy they once were, so no kids are required to own these, buuuut . . . just think how adorable these would look in your geeky baby nursery!

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Ikea Customers Outraged About Font Change

GeekSugar — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:00:00 -0700

My favorite Swedish furniture retail chain Ikea (did you pick up your back to school items?) has just changed its well known futura font to verdana. But why the sudden typeface change? An Ikea spokeswoman said that the change allows Ikea to use the same font in all countries and with many alphabets therefore making it "more efficient and cost-effective." With customers noticing the change in the new 2010 catalog, thousands took to Twitter to air their frustrations with many saying that they feel betrayed because Ikea is emulating other big box corporations which have ugly, basic fonts.

To keep reading, and to see the font differences closer up, just read more.

What's interesting to note is that Verdana was never intended to be used in print, as Microsoft created it as an easily readable font for the web. What do you think? Do you think Ikea's integrity as a design company is being questioned with this new font change? Do you like the change? Personally, Ikea in Verdana is going to take some getting used to - Futura just suits Ikea and its style. Oh, and if you want to check out the 2010 catalog, you can access it in its entirety online here.

Spring Clean Your CD and LP Collections: Organize!

GeekSugar — Mon, 04 May 2009 11:00:18 -0700

Remember when I told you that vinyl was coming back in a big way? I meant it. So whether you are a budding record collector or already have a massive collection of your own, get organized by filing your LPs by genre or alphabetizing them this Spring with these CD and LP Dividers ($15-$45) from Suck UK.

When you're playing DJ to your pals, there's nothing worse than hearing the bare crackle of your record player while you're searching for the next great track to play. Get it together, man. Hey, and I'm not saying CDs are totally out. If you're still hanging onto all those discs and jewel cases, you can get yourself some dividers for those, too. I know, it's hard to let go of the past, but, thankfully, you aren't alone.

Website of the Day: Fontifier

GeekSugar — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:00:25 -0700

I know there is a small but devoted group of font lovers on geek (you know who you are), and if you're not a font-lover yet, then I may have the website to turn you into one! I've featured places to find fonts before, but have you ever wanted something really custom, something really you?! How about literally you? How about. . . your own handwriting as a font?!

Fontifier takes a handwriting sample from you (you write each letter of the alphabet into their template), which you then scan in and upload. After that, you can see a preview of your handwriting font and if you want it, it'll cost you just 9 bones. Hopefully, you have nicer handwriting than mine; I got serifs where serifs should not be.

Source

Geek Tip: Drag and Drop in Google Reader

GeekSugar — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:35:15 -0700

Sometimes the best geek tips aren't something huge and revolutionary - sometimes they're "duh" things that you either forget you can do, or they're so simple you feel like you should have known but just never learned for some reason.

My "duh" geek tip is being able to use drag and drop in Google Reader to organize your feeds. I've been using the "Manage My Subscription" button ever since I've been a Reader user, and manually going to arrange and organize my feeds. I just found that you can simply drag the feed name in the right margin and drop them into new folders, and out of alphabetical order (which is the default) into whichever order you want.

Do you have any "duh" geek tips?

Geek Tip: Make a Phone Directory of Your Facebook Friends

GeekSugar — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 11:00:45 -0800

If my recent Facebook stories have freaked you out and you'd rather part ways with the not-so-private, social-networking site, here's a way that will keep you connected to your friends away from the site.

Discussed on Lifehacker, this little tidbit from Digital Inspiration is a great way to get instant access to your friends phone numbers.

Just sign into your Facebook account and visit Facebook phonebook. You'll see all your friends which have their phone numbers visible in alphabetical order.

Print for future reference or use the online version for easy access!

Source

Download a Free MacWorld Guide for Your iPod

GeekSugar — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 09:06:17 -0800

Headed to MacWorld this week? Mogopop.com is offering two great member-published iPod guides for the Macworld Conference & Expo. annual event, which will be held at the Moscone Center in my stomping ground, San Francisco, starting today. Both guides are free and available to download to iPods. They offer a comprehensive portable guide to this major annual event for Macintosh fans, users, developers and enthusiasts.

The Hess Memorial Macworld Events List: Created and managed by writer, consultant and Mogopop member Ilene Hoffman, the List offers a near-complete list of Macworld parties, special events, press conferences, book signings and more. While The List has been available for over 10 years on the Web, supported by sponsors and contributions from users, this is the first year it is available for download to iPods.

The Unofficial iPod Guide to Macworld '07: Published by Mogopop member xgamerx, includes an alphabetical list of exhibitors with booth numbers, local restaurant listings, an Apple "rumor guide," and predictions for the show and the coming year.

SugarLive! I'll be in the chat room at 9 a.m. on Tuesday when Steve Jobs makes his announcement about new Apple products. See you there!