It would have been self indulgent to call this post “xkcd is a lifehacker” but.. turns out that Randall Munroe, the creator of the excellent webcomic xkcd is, well, a lifehacker. :) He’s blogged about the same 9V battery hack which we blogged about overnight, and put the hack through its paces.
There was some speculation on reddit that it was a hoax of some kind, so as a good sciencer (like a scientist, but we don’t get the lab coats) who really didn’t want to get started on the morning chores, I decided to try it myself with a new 9V I had sitting around.
Testing the 9V battery hack [xkcd -the blag of the webcomic] More »
ZDNet Australia has posted a TechRepublic guide for IT professionals seeking better service from their service providers. It blends some common sense relationship management advice with some guidelines on how best to envisage and communicate your need to your service provider.
The clearer you are to the service provider about what you are expecting, the smaller the chance that you’ll be unpleasantly surprised. When explaining your expectations, try to be as specific as possible. Frederick Brooks, in his classic The Mythical Man-Month, said that project milestones should be “defined with knife edge sharpness.” Think about the Ws: What do you want, when do you want it, where…, etc. Make your expectations quantifiable if you can. That way, there’s less question about whether the service provider fulfilled the job.
10 ways to get better customer service [via ZDNet] More »
If you’ve ever had a fear that allowing your family online meant risking them coming in contact with Internet nasties, then you’ll want to grab a copy of some freeware which was announced by IT Minister Senator Helen Coonan yesterday.
The Federal Government is spending $189 million on its NetAlert – Protecting Australian Families Online program, so make sure you get your money’s worth by downloading the free internet content filter here. More »
If you, like me, are a big fan of ‘on demand’ TV viewing – whether it’s of the downloaded variety, online TV like Joost, or Foxtel’s iQ, then you’re probably quite interested in recent developments here in Australia.
We’ve all seen the news about Channel 7 bringing TiVO to Australia in 2008, and that the free to air broadcasters have finally decided to stop throwing up fences and allow PVR manufacturers to have access to the Electronic Program Guides we need to be able to program and control the recording of TV shows.
We’ve taken a couple of decent steps in the right direction recently. More »
As a big fan of our national broadcaster, I’ve always been vaguely disappointed by the ABC’s online presence. It just didn’t seem to offer any reason to go there. I’m happy to say that this is no longer the case. The ABC has added some very slick and useful features to its website, which should make the ABC a very popular source of online news, particularly for the tech-savvy. Let’s have a look at some of the new features of ABC news online. More »
It will come as a shock, I know, but a new study has painted social networking website Facebook as a $5 billion waste of time.
In the spirit of ‘what not to do’, and just because it was an amusing read, I’d also point you to ZDNet’s Five tips for stealthy Facebooking which includes gems like:
5. Watch those status updates Yes, it’s incredibly tempting to change your status as soon as you think of a witty way to incorporate that often restrictive “is”. But keep in mind that status updates can be received as an RSS feed. Should your boss be a subscriber, there could be trouble. Observe.
8:24am Ella is considering pulling a sickie after last night. 9:05am Ella is late for work. 10:52am Ella is sooo hungover this morning blarg…jagermeister FTW!! 1:08pm Ella is struggling cuz work is boooring. 4:32pm Ella is on the home stretch…can’t wait to get out of this office.
4:45pm Ella is unemployed.
Cheers for that Ella. More »
Linux users: Not only can desktop decorator Compiz Fusion add eye candy to your system that leaves Windows and Mac users drooling on their keyboards, it can seriously boost your productivity. As Compiz Fusion creeps closer to its first official release, its effects are well ahead of anything found in commercial operating systems. Let’s take a look. More »
The San Francisco Chronicle cites a Lifehacker reader in its story about DoMyStuff.com, a web hiring hall for odd jobs. More »
Last week’s Skype outage was apparently caused by a massive user reconnect after a Windows Update forced millions of computers to restart.
Editor’s note: it was as though millions of computers suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced. [/obi wan] More »
Windows/Mac: The free, open source DVD ripping application HandBrake has released an update (0.9.0) promising a better interface, improved picture quality, faster ripping and improved stability. Despite the back-end improvements, probably the most notable difference is the huge new slate of presets supporting the iPhone, Apple TV, PSP and of course iPod-compatible rips (which were always there). HandBrake still doesn’t unprotect DVDs (you have to do that yourself), but it’s still one of the most simple and most free tools for the job, and it works on both Windows and Mac.
HandBrake
