The Lifehacker Total Security Guide 
Spotify And Its Rivals: Subscription Music Services In Australia Compared 
The Stupid Things You Do On Facebook (And How To Fix Them) 
How To Kill Time Productively On Your Phone 
An Entire Overseas Trip On One Prepaid Travel Card 
Top 10 Pervasive Tech Myths That Are Only Wasting Your Time US-centric:Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): Search one site for a product and get comparison prices inline from several other merchants with the PriceAdvance Firefox extension. PriceAdvance works very similarly to previously mentioned extension Book Burro, but it works with products beyond books. Currently PriceAdvance supports sites like Amazon, Best Buy, Circtuit City, and Wal-Mart, and it’s likely to add more as it progresses. You can disable PriceAdvance when you’re not shopping through the status bar so that it’s only comparing prices when you want it to. Looks like it could be a good addition to your online power-shopper toolbox. PriceAdvance is free, works wherever Firefox does.
PriceAdvanceMotivational author Jack Canfield explains why you should plan and schedule your day’s tasks the night before: to avoid spending all day reacting instead of acting, and (this is interesting) to put your subconscious mind to work all night while you sleep on your plan. The second bit might be a bit too woo-woo for you, but specific intentions are undoubtedly a good way to stay on track in hectic times at work. [via Dumb Little Man]
One of the nicest things about IMAP in Gmail—which can download and upload messages to the server, versus POP’s download-only—is that you can drag and drop folders of messages into Gmail using any IMAP client. Over at the Draconis Software blog, reader Ryan had about 10,000 messages in Apple Mail he wanted to store in Gmail. He writes: It was simple: I merely added Gmail as an IMAP account to my Apple Mail client, then just dragged folder-by-folder all the messages important to me onto my Gmail account. It took a while to transfer all the messages (be sure to open the Activity window in Mail to see your progress), but once it was done, all my old messages were safely stored in Gmail and had their original dates! Perfect!
Unlike pre-IMAP methods of importing messages, like Ryan says, using IMAP will preserve the messages’ original dates. If you’re not using Apple Mail, check out how to turn Thunderbird into the ultimate Gmail IMAP client.
Switching to Gmail [Draconis Software Blog]Web search site Ask.com has added a new privacy feature to their search called AskEraser, which, when enabled, deletes your search activity from the Ask.com servers within hours while it remains turned on (as opposed to the standard 18-month hold time). That includes your search query, IP address, user ID, and session cookies, which should make up the bulk of data that could possibly identify you. For more information, check out the AskEraser FAQ, or if you’re looking for something similar for Google, try the third-party Googlonymous—though it’d be great to see something similar to AskEraser implemented directly in Google. To enable AskEraser, just click the link on the top of any search page.
Ask.com with AskEraserOne year ago, you learned how to take advantage of your camcorder and edit home videos.
UPDATE: Lifehacker US has advised that Microsoft has now withdrawn this offer. US-centric: Snag yourself a free copy of Windows Vista Ultimate, Office 2007, or Microsoft Money Plus before December 31st by participating in Microsoft’s Windows Feedback Program. Here’s the catch: you must agree to letting MS peer over your shoulder and watch how you use your computer for three months with automated feedback software, and answer survey questions about your computer use, so the ‘soft can help make their ‘ware better. Your privacy for software that retails for up to $400 might not sound like a good deal to some. But, if you opt for the survey feedback, you control how you answer the questions (though it’ll be more work than the automated program.) Update: Do’h! You must do BOTH the survey and the automated over-the-shoulder-peering ware to get the goods. Thanks, TheTick! AU – looks like this one is US-only, sorry guys.
Windows Feedback Program [via Download Squad]Video lovers can download DivX Pro, which includes the drag-and-drop DivX Converter and the high quality DivX Pro codec, free for a limited time (normally $20, Windows and Mac only). [via]
Windows only: Microsoft has just released their first service pack for Microsoft Office 2007, promising lots of bug fixes, performance enhancements, and improved security. You can grab a full list of improvements here (DOCX alert!), but the update claims to have tackled all of the top software problems as reported by the Dr. Watson bug reporting system in addition to more popular bugs like the Excel multiplication bug. This service pack will be pushed out through Windows Update in the next three to six months, but you can grab it online now directly from Microsoft.
The 2007 Microsoft Office Suite Service Pack 1 (SP1) [Microsoft via OfficeRocker]The somewhat controversial Google Maps Street View feature has added images for Dallas, Detroit, and 6 more cities, bringing the the current total of Street View cities to a whopping 23.
