Flickr Now Lets You Turn Your Photos Into Canvases

Flickr Now Lets You Turn Your Photos Into Canvases

Flickr just announced a fun, new—albeit kind of pricey—program called Flickr Wall Art. All you have to do to turn your Flickr photos into a large canvas, photo mount, or book is select your preferences on the new Create portal. Two clicks—and at least $50—later, and your living room’s newest adornment is on the way.

This service is kind of a mixed bag. On one hand, Flickr Wall Art sounds like a really easy way to buy prints—"as little as two clicks," the company says. (Realistically, it takes about a dozen clicks for your first order.) Flickr also brags about using "museum-quality materials and professional printing." Photo mounts come on "Fujicolor Crystal Archive Paper with a lustre finish… mounted on a 1″ durable black mounting-board finished with wood-textured edges." Sounds luxurious!

It may be, but it’s not quite the best deal. Prices for an 11" x 14" canvas start at $64, and two clicks on a Google search will reveal that you can get the same thing at Canvas Pop for $43. Walmart will do it for $20. Without seeing the finished product, it’s hard to tell which service offers the best quality. But it’s probably safe to say that Flickr is not the cheapest choice if you’re looking to make some wall art out of your photos. Flickr also doesn’t say how big photos need to be for uploads, but when we tried one over 1000 pixels wide, it did not work.

Convenience is worth something, though. It’ll be interesting to see if Flickr turns Wall Art into an easy way for professional photographers to sell prints on the web. Until then, we’d encourage you to shop around. [Flickr via TechCrunch]

via Gizmodo
Flickr Now Lets You Turn Your Photos Into Canvases

Use the Ditto Command to Properly Merge Folders on Mac

Use the Ditto Command to Properly Merge Folders on Mac

Merging folders on a Mac is kind of a pain. When you do it, Finder tries to overwrite any file with the same name with the newer version. That means it’s easy to accidentally erase a whole folder. How-To Geek shows off a better way to merge folders using Terminal.

If you want to merge folders properly use the ditto command in Terminal. For example:

ditto ~/Desktop/Test ~/Downloads/Test

This will merge the Downloads/Test folder with the Desktop/Test folder, overwriting the contents of the destination folder with files from the source folder, while still keeping anything that’s different. You can also do this by option-clicking a folder and dragging and dropping it, but it doesn’t work as well. If you’ve been annoyed by Finder’s inconsistent merge options, ditto should do the trick.

How to Merge Folders on OS X Without Losing All Your Files (Seriously) | How-To Geek


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Use the Ditto Command to Properly Merge Folders on Mac

​Take Inventory of Your Closet and Clean it All at Once

​Take Inventory of Your Closet and Clean it All at Once

All of us need to go through our wardrobe and make some cuts once in a while. Apartment Therapy presents a good inventory and cleaning system to purge your closet effectively.

The process involves taking everything out of your closet and trying it on. Then, get help from a friend to use the one to ten scale rating system, detailed below:

Items that rate an "8" or above — say those articles that are in good shape, fit you well and make you feel good, get to stay. 5 to 8 ratings go in the maybe box. Anything lower (damaged items, items you haven’t worn in years or things that just don’t make you feel confident), goes directly into the donate box. Consider putting high rating clothes back by the "hanger trick."

We’ve mentioned the hanger trick before, and it’s a great way to keep your closet organized. As you go, keep a running inventory list of the things you decide to keep. This will help you quickly see what articles you need to replace or buy. You should also make a "dream list" as you go, so you have one list of what you have, and one list of what you need or want. Use these lists to go back through the maybe box and help you make final decisions.

How to Do a Closet Inventory (And Why You Should) | Apartment Therapy

Photo by Rubbermaid Products.


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​Take Inventory of Your Closet and Clean it All at Once

Organize Your Wrenches with Carabiners

Organize Your Wrenches with Carabiners

It’s tough keeping your tool chest organized, especially when you have loose wrenches rattling around in drawers. Grab a few carabiners and gain control of your tools.

Carabiners are readily available at any camping or sporting good store and come in a variety of sizes and colors. You can also find them in almost any hardware store or home center, typically in the check-out aisle.

Wrenching Tips | Hooniverse


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Organize Your Wrenches with Carabiners

Know the Tax Differences Between a Home Repair and Home Improvement

Know the Tax Differences Between a Home Repair and Home Improvement

We homeowners love all the tax breaks the IRS gives us. When we make improvements to our home, we can use those expenses to offset some taxes when selling. Home repairs, unlike improvements, aren’t deductible at time of sale though. Here’s a quick way to know which costs you can deduct.

Over at Don’t Mess with Taxes, they explain the differences:

For work on a personal piece of real estate to have any tax value, it must add to the property’s value or prolong its life. These are classified as home improvements.

You and I likely will argue that a working kitchen faucet does indeed add value to our homes, but the Internal Revenue Service is unpersuaded in this area.

Instead, the federal tax man says general upkeep tasks like my faucet repair simply keep or return a home to its original good condition, rather than qualify as tax-reducing improvements to the residence.

Tax-saving capital improvements have to last for more than one year and add value to your home, prolong its life, or adapt it to new uses.

We’d like to deduct everything we think adds value to our home, but the IRS disagrees. You’ll need to consult a tax advisor to know for sure, but this is a good rule of thumb to help understand the difference.

Tax differences between home repairs & home improvements | Don’t Mess With Taxes

Photo by Karin Dalziel.


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Know the Tax Differences Between a Home Repair and Home Improvement

MyNoise Customizes Background Noise to Your Hearing

MyNoise Customizes Background Noise to Your Hearing

iOS/Web: Not everyone likes a quiet workspace. Some of us prefer to have a little background noise. We’ve covered many online noise generators in the past, but MyNoise is different: it calibrates background noise based on your hearing range and listening devices.

Each of us hears slightly differently, so myNoise lets you configure the app after going through a quick hearing test. Once you tell it the smallest threshold you can hear in each range, it remembers the settings. The iPhone app lets you configure the sound levels based on location like a noisy plane or a busy coffee shop.

I’ve tested it for a few weeks and I like that my headphones at my desktop block out more sound than my portable earbuds. I’ve even used it at night to help me fall asleep along with my SleepPhones. Check it out at the link below.

myNoise noise machines | myNoise.net


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MyNoise Customizes Background Noise to Your Hearing

SOMEBODY, PLEASE, TELL ME WHAT THIS SAYS

Wrecky minion Lauren sent in today’s cookie cake with a single, desperate plea:

"Tell me what this means!!"

And while I agree that it appears to be some kind of secret hieroglyphic code – no doubt used to communicate government secrets to fondant sympathizers – I honestly have no clue what it says.

So help me out, peeps:

My best guess?

Carrots seize (seas) the G3 checkpoint.

(Aha! Maybe someone is calling the Carrot Jockeys to action?)

 

And while you’re at it, can somebody PLEASE tell me what this is?

Because all I see is a bleeding rain cloud. Or maybe a bleeding frozen brain. Oh! Oh! Could it be Frozen/ Walking Dead cross-over? DARE TO DREAM, PEOPLE.

 

Thanks to Lauren & Anonymous for finding either awesomely clever cake puzzles, or the world’s most fiendish decorator trolls. (That bleeding thing is almost $34. THIRTY FOUR DOLLARS!)

*****

Thank you for using our Amazon links to shop! USA, UK, Canada.


via Cake Wrecks
SOMEBODY, PLEASE, TELL ME WHAT THIS SAYS

Smartphones Turn These Masks Into Incredible Animated Halloween Costumes

Smartphones Turn These Masks Into Incredible Animated Halloween Costumes

Proving that sometimes all it takes is a popular YouTube video to kickstart a successful business, Mark Rober, the guy who made the gaping hole in your gut costume using two iPads a few years ago, is back with even more easy but impressive costume ideas. And that includes a line of Halloween masks that come to life with nothing but a smartphone running a free app.

Last year the Digital Dudz line was improved with shirts featuring built-in velcro pockets that made it easy to insert a smartphone to bring the tee’s design to life. This year the pockets have been re-engineered to accept today’s larger more full-figured smartphones like the iPhone 6 Plus, and Marvel has given the thumbs up for a couple of Iron Man and Captain America designs that comic book fans are sure to go nuts over.

But it’s the addition of a line of rubber Halloween masks with animated features courtesy of your smartphone that should have the masses scrapping their stupid half-finished bent iPhone costumes.

Smartphones Turn These Masks Into Incredible Animated Halloween Costumes

Ranging in price from $45 to $60 with a free accompanying app, the masks are a relatively inexpensive way to get yourself a decent Halloween getup before October 31 rolls around. You can even wear them with t-shirts and jeans because people will be too transfixed on the masks’ awesome animated features—like roaming eyeballs, beating brains, or cyborg upgrades—to care what else you’ve got on. They’re perfect for grownups who still have a soft spot for Halloween, but don’t want people to know they just threw a costume together at the last minute. [Digital Dudz]

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Smartphones Turn These Masks Into Incredible Animated Halloween Costumes