Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Biz
11:30PM Tamar Weinberg | Two years ago, Lifehacker alum Keith Robinson gave tips on how to start a business blog. More »
Home security via SMS
6:19PM Sarah Stokely | Techdirt has turned up a NZ security company which can forward security camera footage of your house to your mobile phone if your alarm gets tripped. Sounds like a nice use of security and mobile phone tech, but the Techdirt report says that a lack of MMS-enabled phones means not a lot of people are using the service. More » Homework
6:05PM Sarah Stokely | Fed up with working for the Man? Check out the StartupNation Top 100 Home-based Businesses for some ideas of how to become an entrepreneur from your own home. Categories include Yummiest (?) and Slacker-Friendly. Canine couture anyone?
[via Web Worker Daily] More » Tips for overcoming shyness
5:47PM Sarah Stokely | Zen Habits has a nice writeup today of tips for overcoming your shyness and learnign how to make it easier to interact with people when you meet them. A lot of them are quite basic (introduce yourself, ask questions, show interest in others) but there were a couple of really good ones. Resist the temptation to show off was a good one, but this was my favourite:
Be Generous. I’m not talking about buying drinks or
a meal, but rather being generous in your opinion. It is all too easy
to judge someone who says the wrong thing or acts a little differently
from what we expect. However we have all had days when we make a
terrible first impression by making an off joke or just saying the
wrong thing because of nerves or a simple slip of the tongue. If you
reserve judgement and spend time making that person comfortable you
will not only spread some good karma around but will earn their eternal
gratitude.
It’s so easy to say something dumb when you’re nervous or not sure what to say to someone, so the above advice really rang true.So do you have any tips for making it easier to meet people or strike up conversations? Leave them in comments please!
Eight Essential Tips for Overcoming Shyness and Making a Good Impression [Zen Habits] More » Dymocks launches audio and ebook sales
5:26PM Sarah Stokely | Dymocks has added audio and downloadable ebooks to its online book store. You can access around 13,000 audio books or choose from around 120,000 downloadable ebooks through its website or through new touch screen kiosks at its main Sydney store.13,000 audible and 120,000 readable titles which can be accessed
through the company’s Web site or new touch screen kiosks at its George Street, Sydney store.Dymocks is selling audio books in partnership with Audible.com – the
introductory offer is 50% off of the gold monthly membership plan -
which works out to $7.49 per month for the first three months.The ebooks are downloadable in 3 formats - Microsoft Reader, Mobipocket Reader and Adobe Reader. the full specs appear here. They’re offering an introductory special off their ebooks until 31 December. Prices don’t seem that much lower than you’d pay for the hard copy. For example the website lists its current bestseller – Minette Walters’ The Chameleons Shadow for sale through its online store at $24.95, or in ebook format for $20.76.Computerworld wrote up the new service and went into some detail about the backend and how it all works.It’s great to see a local player innovating in the online delivery of books, but I have to admit that if the ebook is only $4 cheaper than the hardcopy, I think I’d opt for the hard copy. What do you think?
More » CNET Australia launches new music service
5:06PM Sarah Stokely | CNET has branched out from tech news and reviews to launch its own online music service, the snappily titled CNET.com.au Music Centre. So far the site offers over 90,000 free downloads and streams from over 17,000 indy artists.The site will feature music reviews by CNET music editors, and will also allow site users to rate artists and songs.While its music service is dominated by independent artists at the moment, the IT Journo website reported that CNET is negotiating with recording labels to feature
professional artists from 2008. The network is also planning to launch two TV sites early in 2008, TV.com and CNET TV. More » Speed up White Pages searches
4:45PM Sarah Stokely | Reader Jason has written in with a tip for taking some of the pain out of using the White Pages online. Did you know there was a text-only version? I didn’t! Jason writes:
I’m always frustrated by how long the Australian White Pages site takes to load – it’s a big page, with complex layout and plenty of graphics and ads. I find it can take upwards of a minute sometimes, even on my 512k connection, so I tend to give in and go for the dead tree edition instead. But if you look towards the bottom
of the page, there’s a link to a text only version that loads in a snap.
Now if they could just fix the gawdawful search engine they’re using so that when I enter a full and correct business name I don’t get pages and pages of incorrect results, I’d be happy! :)So do you use or avoid the White Pages? If you have any tips for getting better results from the White Pages, or would like to share your alternatives, please leave them in comments.Thanks for the tip, Jase!
More » 
Disable and Enable the Screensaver in One Click
11:00AM Gina Trapani | Windows only: Sick of your Windows screensaver coming on in the middle of watching a video or referring to what’s on-screen? Tech site the How-To Geek set up a shortcut to temporarily disable the screensaver (without having to click your way to its settings by hand) using a small utility called FlipSS. Mac users, you can get this same functionality with Caffeine. Create Shortcut Icon to Disable / Enable the Screensaver [the How-To Geek] More »
