Skip to Content

Submit your nominations for the Luxist Awards' Best in Decor
AOL Tech

mute posts

Filed under: Developer, Internet, Productivity

Kill IRC repetition with the xkcd ROBOT9000

Don't speakIf you're an IRC user, then you know the only thing more annoying than seeing the same comment repeated in rapid succession by four different people is seeing it repeated in rapid succession by 24 different people. The more members there are in an IRC channel, the more likely it is that someone just joining will ask a question that was asked moments before their arrival. Add to that the number of people "LOL"ing "+1"ing each other and the signal-to noise ratio quickly becomes deafening.

In an attempt to stop the madness, Randall Munroe (of xkcd fame) and his friend zigdon have coded a rather awesome little bot and named it ROBOT9000. It's designed -- get this -- to mute the messaging ability of anyone who says anything that's already been said in the channel within the past two years (boy, those xkcd guys mean business.).

Randall and zig are still tweaking the code but you can snag the initial version if you want to try it out in your own channel. They've also set up an IRC testing channel if you want to just play around with the bot. Just don't say "hi all" when you log in. You've been warned.

Filed under: E-mail, Productivity, Web services, Google

Gmail Mute: Ignore "the thread that won't die"

Gmail MuteAmong the new Gmail features we told you about last week was another that we managed to miss out on last week, but which could surpass them all in glory: Mute! "If you're subscribed to a mailing list," says Google's help page, "you've no doubt been subjected to the 'thread that just won't die!' If you're part of a long message conversation that isn't relevant, you can 'mute' the conversation to keep all future additions out of your inbox." To mute a conversation, just strike the m key. Gmail is also smart enough to put the message in your Inbox if it's addressed directly to you, but archive the rest. You can also search for muted conversations with the keyword is:muted. Little features like this are why, despite inroads made by Microsoft and Yahoo!, Gmail is still king. You can find more information about the new Mute feature in the Gmail Help Center.

[Via BLADAM via Lifehacker]

Filed under: Audio, Internet, Utilities, Windows, Freeware

FlashMute: Kill obnoxious browser sounds

FlashMuteIn my opinion, one of the worst web design faux pas is sound that starts playing automatically, perhaps surpassed only by music that can't be turned off without navigating away from the page. I'm amazed that it has taken so long for someone to make an app for dealing with this problem, but thankful that they have in the form of FlashMute. It's a free Windows app that will let you mute individual Flash movies or, alternatively, all sound coming from your web browser. FlashMute is a tiny app (a 234k download) that is operated by clicking on its icon in the system tray or pressing Ctrl+Alt+M which, to quote the FlashMute web site, "serves as a panic-button if a loud Flash movie jumps up on you," and it supports Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Netscape, and Mozilla.

[Via Lifehacker]

Featured Time Waster

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

View more Time Wasters

Featured Galleries

Defective by Design, London: Protest Pictures
Livescribe Store
Microsoft Security Essentials
Chromium Pre-Alpha on CrunchBang Linux
Safari 4 Beta
10 Firefox themes that don't suck
IE8 RC1
Download Squad at the Crunchies After-Party
Download Squad at the Crunchies
WordPress 2.7
Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals
Windows 7 Hands On
Comodo Internet Security
Android First-look: Amazon.com MP3 Store
Android First-look: Twitroid
Google Reader Android
Android Hands-On
Twine 1.0
Photoshop Express Beta
Mozilla Birthday Cake
Palm stuff

 


Follow us on Twitter!

Flickr Pool

www.flickr.com

More Tech Coverage

AOL Radio