Happy Birthday Gmail – Five Years Old!

Gmail, the Google email service we’ve been writing about since, well, the very beginnings of Lifehacker, is five years old today. And, as you might expect, we’re planning to write a post or two later today about the significance of what Gmail has done to the web landscape, how we’re using Gmail now and want to use it in the future, and perhaps a little peek behind the curtains with the Gmail team in Mountain View, CA.

In the meantime, check out Wired’s retrospective piece, and Ars Technica’s own interview with Gmail’s product manager. What has Gmail changed about your web habits over the last five years? What do you remember about what you thought when you first heard about “Google Mail”? Share your fond/funny/still-hatin’ remembrances in the comments.

Turn a Vintage Radio into a Wi-Fi Internet Radio

If modern black-box electronics don’t go well with the more timeless decor of your home, perhaps it’s time to camouflage them. In this case, that means turning a vintage radio into a modern Wi-Fi model.

Instructables user Alinke converted the shell of a vintage radio into the housing for a modern net streaming box with some elbow grease and ingenuity. By modifying the existing faceplate of the radio to accept the screen and buttons of his Wi-Fi radio and painting the buttons to match the color of the faceplate, he created a nearly seamless appearance—save for the presence of the LCD screen, the radio looks original.

If you dig upgrading vintage tools for modern use, make sure to check out how to find vintage calendars for reuse, and how to repurpose an antique box into a charging station.

Hollywood Searches For Even More Wealth On The Web

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – After more than a decade of hype about the Internet being the next great stage for mass entertainment, it remains dominated by amateurs with most Hollywood stars watching from the wings.

Even as talent agencies like William Morris and television networks such as NBC push for more celebrities on websites and better quality programs, many actors and producers balk at Internet projects, saying they have meager revenue potential compared with TV and movies.

The future of Web entertainment is front and center in fractious labor contract talks between the Screen Actors Guild and Hollywood’s major studios that, after a nearly eight-month stalemate, begin again on Tuesday.

Among major sticking points is a demand by SAG, the largest U.S. actors union representing some 120,000 actors, for payments when members’ work goes online. Read more