Monday, September 24, 2007
Friend People Who Might Not Know You Online
11:30PM Gina Trapani | Tech publisher extraordinaire Tim O’Reilly handles a tsunami of social network friend invitations on a daily basis and says he accepts the ones that actually explain who the initiator is: Most of these [friend requests], relying solely on the boilerplate invitation text, go right into the trash. “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.” Sure. Who are you? What do you do? Why should I care? (Even if I’ve met you, I might need my mind jogged, especially if you might have the same name as other people I know.) The art of the well-written social network invite is similar to the art of asking questions of someone who doesn’t know you: give ‘em a reason to answer (or friend) you. Social Networking Invitation Etiquette [O'Reilly Radar] More »
Just when we thought Gmail’s development …
11:05PM Gina Trapani | Just when we thought Gmail’s development is stagnating, rumour has it a “new version” is in the works. More »
Where Do You Sell Your Stuff Online?
11:00PM Gina Trapani | Finance blogger Cady describes how she made extra cash selling her unlistened-to CDs on Amazon Marketplace. The return isn’t stellar, but it’s still found money: Although I’m losing in double-digits percentage-wise on commission, fees and shipping, I’ve gained about $160 I didn’t have otherwise. Those discs were just sitting there, and I’d have had to put out quite a bit of effort without using Amazon to turn that stack of 28 CDs into $160. I wouldn’t have made $6 per disk at a yard sale. I’ve tried visiting local used CD shops and I get maybe a $1 a disk if I’m lucky. Amazon Marketplace, eBay, Craigslist—where’s your favourite place to sell your stuff and why? Let us know in the comments. How to Use the Amazon Marketplace for Fun and Profit [Get Rich Slowly] More »
Download Old Versions of Popular Applications
10:30PM Lifehacker US Edition | If the newest version of your freeware application doesn’t seem to work and the official web site does not archive older versions, OldApps.com might save the day. OldApps.com archives many previous releases of popular programs for such emergencies. The site is very much like the previously mentioned OldVersion, but it appears to include a slightly larger number of applications. For example, OldVersion doesn’t have old versions of Adium X but OldApps.com has many versions available. Definitely a handy resource to have bookmarked. OldApps.com More »Microsoft broadens XP options
4:32PM Sarah Stokely | Microsoft is making it easier for PC vendors to sell Windows machines with XP instead of Vista, according to a story from CNET. The program applies only to Windows Vista Business and Ultimate versions – although some PC makers (like Dell) have already reverted to offering an XP option, even for consumer PCs.
Pre-SP1, it seems like Vista users are between a rock and a hard place.
If you don’t want to give up on Vista yet, dual-booting is an option I’m considering at the moment. Or if hanging out for SP1 isn’t your style, here’s Microsoft’s own guide to rolling back to XP from Vista. More » 
On Exposé, 3DFlip and Switcher
3:47PM Sarah Stokely | Jeff Atwood’s Coding Horror blog gives an interesting roundup of Vista’s 3D UI tool, Flip3D, describes it as a knockoff of OSX’s Exposé feature, and recommends Switcher instead.
He takes a look at the new beta of Switcher 2.0.0 and says he sees a killer productivity app in there – the ability to perform an incremental filtering search on all open windows:
“Pressing Windows+Tab, then typing “Gmail” is the best thing ever as far as I’m concerned. No, I can’t search tab contents, but I can now match by any window title, which is good enough. The way I can begin typing and watch the windows dynamically fling themselves offscreen as they fall out of my filter in real time is a huge productivity boost. I cannot understate how significant this feature is. It redefines the way I deal with windows; I can type what I want instead of expending the mental effort to visually scan thumbnails of 20 different windows.”
Switcher requires Windows Vista and Aero, and can be downloaded here. The site also lists common shortcuts and has some nice screenshots of Switcher at work. It’s also give a nice pictoral roundup of features which I’ll pinch and show here:
On Exposé, 3DFlip and Switcher [Coding Horror] More » Blackberry launches application portal
3:40PM Sarah Stokely | RIM has today launched Built For BlackBerry, a repository of all the freeware, shareware and retailed applications for BlackBerry. Now if only I could get my hands on one! More » Update: Lifehacker redirection still broken
2:24PM Sarah Stokely | As I mentioned on Friday, Australian Lifehacker readers attempting to visit the Lifehacker US are currently unable to get there, due to a broken website redirection.
Currently, all of the Lifehacker related URLs (including us.lifehacker.com) are redirecting the AU site. This is *not* working as intended – usually you can hit the “US edition” button at the top of the Lifehacker AU site, or type us.lifehacker.com to travel to the US site. While Australian readers/RSS subscribers get *all* the US content plus additional local content, we understand that sometimes you want to go straight to the US site, and normally things are set up for you to do just that.
Unfortunately the fix for this is out of our hands – but we’ve alerted our friends over at Gawker who look after Lifehacker in the US, and they’re working on a fix.
Again, our apologies. It’s as frustrating to us as it is to you. More » 
Text2Go – convert text to speech for your iPod
12:53PM Sarah Stokely | Windows only – Melbourne-based Tumbywood Software has released Text2Go, a text to voice reader for the iPod.
Text2Go integrates with Internet Explorer and iTunes to convert text from the web to speech and transfer it to your iPod.
You can listen to the samples of the (Australian) voices on the website.
The downside is, it costs $25, but there is a 30 day free trial available to download here.
Text2Go’s creator Mark Gladding blogged about using his software to access free downloadable e-books to pass the time on long drives:
“My tip for surviving these road trips from hell is to load up your iPods and mp3 players with a collection of audio books. There is a wonderful collection of free eBooks available at Project Gutenberg and if you’re a science fiction fan, there’s the Baen Free Library. You can use Text2Go to convert these eBooks to speech and transfer them to your iPod.”
He includes links to some of the children’s books that are available to download, as well as some of the English Lit classics.
Thanks for the tip, Mark. More » Get directions with a phonecall in Australia
12:20PM Sarah Stokely | Reader Chris saw our recent post about the US-centric Dial DIR-ECT-IONS service, which lets you call a premium phone number to ask for driving directions, which are sent to you via SMS.
Chris points out that Sensis’ 1234 premium directory service also offers driving directions charged at $1.40 per call.
If you’re like me, you don’t depart for a drive to a new location without a Google Maps printout of the directions. But I can see that if you had to change your route on the road, you might opt for the premium phone line route…
Most, if not all, mobile networks offer a ‘1234′ equivalent to their customers.
And finally – while not to do with getting directions, it’s worth remembering that for plain old directory assistance, Telstra still offers free directory assistance on its 1223 number.
Thanks for the tip, Chris. More » 