Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Work
Programmer’s Notepad 2 Helps You Code Wrangle
11:30PM Jason Fitzpatrick | Windows only: Programmer’s Notepad is a free Notepad replacement with features aimed towards those who spend their days dealing with code. On top of the basic functionality afforded by Notepad, Programmer’s Notepad has code outlining, docking toolbars, tags, interactive error finding—clicking on an output error will jump you to the section of code that generated it—, quick search, syntax highlighting, and a user customizable interface which can be exported via xml files. Programmer’s Notepad is freeware, Windows only. Programmer’s Notepad 2 More »
Fix
Winsize2 Remembers Your Preferred Window Sizes
11:00PM Kevin Purdy | Windows only: Free, open-source utility Winsize2 sets up a single keyboard combination to remember, and change, the preferred size and positioning of your Windows applications. In other words, if you hate how your browser opens up to seemingly random sizes, or full-screen instead of windowed, have Winsize2 running and hit Ctrl+Alt+Z (or, on some systems, with Y as the final key). That locks down the apps’ size and place, and hitting the combination again will over-write that preference if you like another position better. You can get specific with the numbers and delete troublesome entries from the system tray icon, which uses 2.5MB of physical memory on my Vista system. It’s a nice, no-frills solution to a common Windows annoyance, and written in AutoHotKey—which means coders can tweak it how they’d like, and users of some anti-virus software might have to confirm that it’s fine to run. Winsize2 is a free download for Windows systems only. Winsize2 [via gHacks] More »
Organise
Flash Drive Reminder Prevents Leaving Your Thumb Drive Behind
10:00PM Kevin Purdy | USB Drives (for Windows systems): If you’re the type who brings their USB flash-memory drive everywhere you go, yet often has to backtrack all the places you’ve been to find it, Flash Drive Reminder is definitely worth the download. The tiny app, and its auto-starting accompanying file, sit on your drive and activate whenever you’ve plugged it into a Windows system. You’ll get a pop-up screen asking you to keep the Reminder app running during your session, and it takes up very little memory. When you go to log off or shut down your session, the reminder pops back up, reminding you to yank out your drive. That’s about it, though there is a “quiet” version that doesn’t present the pop-up window when you first plug in. Flash Drive Reminder is a free download, works on any USB drive (but only activates on Windows systems). If you’ve got a better system for remembering your drive, software or physical, let’s hear it in the comments. Flash Drive Reminder [via Windows Guides] More »
Fix
Battle Of The Hardware-Boosting Hacks
9:00PM Kevin Purdy | When like-minded hackers come together to unleash the true power of seemingly simple gear, it’s truly a beautiful thing. We’ve featured a good number of how-tos and hacks over the years that make expensive upgrades unnecessary and unleash seriously cool features in your gear, and 2008 was no exception. In the last year, our iPhones and iPod touches got jailbroken all over again, our wireless routers were graced with a new super-charged firmware, our Canon digi-cams gained pro-level powers, and we learned that our Nintendo Wiis were even neater than we’d thought. Today, however, we wanted to take a long view on the best hacks that unlock the best features in our standard hardware. Take a look at our gallery of gear-boosters. More »
Communicate
4:30PM Angus Kidman | Amidst the continuing debate about plans to try and censor and filter Australian Internet access, the No Internet Censorship for Australia blog makes a useful point: if implemented as planned, the proposals would actually make it harder to track down people accessing questionable material. Drawing on the example of how Wikipedia editing recently got blocked in the UK because one article contained a questionable image, the blog points out that forcing people through proxy IP addresses makes them much harder to identify:
The process of dutiful law enforcement now has an extra-complicated step where the ISP needs to be contacted and instead of identifying an IP address, attempt to match up the user IP addresses access through the filter to the offensive site – likely matching time and date stamps on both systems and calculating time differences and the like. The law enforcement procedure is more drawn out, more prone to error (including “technicalities” that see actual offenders walk free) and ISPs are given another serving of the increasing public pressure for them to actively participate as enforcers of what is done with the service they provide.
If you find the planned implementation of a so-called “clean feed” questionable, don’t forget there’s a series of protest marches this Saturday.
Law Enforcement Disempowerment Not Just Rhetoric [No Internet Censorship for Australia]
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Clean Feed Filter Would Make Law Enforcement Harder
4:30PM Angus Kidman | Amidst the continuing debate about plans to try and censor and filter Australian Internet access, the No Internet Censorship for Australia blog makes a useful point: if implemented as planned, the proposals would actually make it harder to track down people accessing questionable material. Drawing on the example of how Wikipedia editing recently got blocked in the UK because one article contained a questionable image, the blog points out that forcing people through proxy IP addresses makes them much harder to identify:
The process of dutiful law enforcement now has an extra-complicated step where the ISP needs to be contacted and instead of identifying an IP address, attempt to match up the user IP addresses access through the filter to the offensive site – likely matching time and date stamps on both systems and calculating time differences and the like. The law enforcement procedure is more drawn out, more prone to error (including “technicalities” that see actual offenders walk free) and ISPs are given another serving of the increasing public pressure for them to actively participate as enforcers of what is done with the service they provide.
If you find the planned implementation of a so-called “clean feed” questionable, don’t forget there’s a series of protest marches this Saturday.
Law Enforcement Disempowerment Not Just Rhetoric [No Internet Censorship for Australia]
More »
Work
3:00PM Angus Kidman | After a year of working hard, it’s always good to take a Christmas break, but it seems many IT workers will be taking a longer break than usual this year. Jennifer Foreshew at Australian IT reports that contract workers are likely to be on “enforced” breaks, as companies tighten their budgets and hiring rates drop. Are you a tech type who’s finding work slow to arrive this season, or are you welcoming the chance for a longer break? Share your experience in the comments.
Slow Xmas for techies [Australian IT]
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Why Techies Have To Take Longer Holidays This Year
3:00PM Angus Kidman | After a year of working hard, it’s always good to take a Christmas break, but it seems many IT workers will be taking a longer break than usual this year. Jennifer Foreshew at Australian IT reports that contract workers are likely to be on “enforced” breaks, as companies tighten their budgets and hiring rates drop. Are you a tech type who’s finding work slow to arrive this season, or are you welcoming the chance for a longer break? Share your experience in the comments.
Slow Xmas for techies [Australian IT]
More »
Communicate
1:30PM Angus Kidman | Decoder reports that as of Wednesday, 3 customers will be able to upgrade their handsets via a self-service web ordering portal, rather than having to trudge to the nearest store or spend time trying to get through to the call centre. This sounds like a good decision, though it’s a pity there’s so many restrictions listed, including no ability to change mobile broadband plans and limitations on the more technologically interesting choices like BlackBerry and Skype handset upgrades.
3mobile Australia to launch self service handset upgrades [Decoder]
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3 Plans For Internet Handset And Plan Upgrades
1:30PM Angus Kidman | Decoder reports that as of Wednesday, 3 customers will be able to upgrade their handsets via a self-service web ordering portal, rather than having to trudge to the nearest store or spend time trying to get through to the call centre. This sounds like a good decision, though it’s a pity there’s so many restrictions listed, including no ability to change mobile broadband plans and limitations on the more technologically interesting choices like BlackBerry and Skype handset upgrades.
3mobile Australia to launch self service handset upgrades [Decoder]
More »
Money
12:00PM Angus Kidman | It’s no surprise that eBay is trying to stimulate pre-Christmas trade with one of its customary specials, but this one’s a tad unusual: no insertion fees charged if you list items at a fixed price from December 9 to December 13. That removes the possibility of making an unexpected killing, but it also drops the risk factor, and you’ll know exactly how much you stand to make if the goods do sell.
eBay
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eBay Christmas Deal: No Insertion Fees For Five Days
12:00PM Angus Kidman | It’s no surprise that eBay is trying to stimulate pre-Christmas trade with one of its customary specials, but this one’s a tad unusual: no insertion fees charged if you list items at a fixed price from December 9 to December 13. That removes the possibility of making an unexpected killing, but it also drops the risk factor, and you’ll know exactly how much you stand to make if the goods do sell.
eBay
More »
Communicate
10:30AM Angus Kidman | This week’s launch of the BlackBerry Bold on 3 means that you can now buy BlackBerry’s latest business device from all four main carriers. Over at APC, David Flynn examines the plans available from each carrier and advises on which provide the best deals. His broad conclusion? As ever, it’s Telstra for reach and Vodafone for overall value. Annoyingly, if (like me) you already own a Bold, there’s rather less choice, since virtually no-one offers a walk-up plan. Time to brush up on my negotiating skills, methinks.
Best BlackBerry Bold deal: 3, Optus, Telstra and Vodafone plans compared [APC]
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Finding The Best BlackBerry Bold Deal
10:30AM Angus Kidman | This week’s launch of the BlackBerry Bold on 3 means that you can now buy BlackBerry’s latest business device from all four main carriers. Over at APC, David Flynn examines the plans available from each carrier and advises on which provide the best deals. His broad conclusion? As ever, it’s Telstra for reach and Vodafone for overall value. Annoyingly, if (like me) you already own a Bold, there’s rather less choice, since virtually no-one offers a walk-up plan. Time to brush up on my negotiating skills, methinks.
Best BlackBerry Bold deal: 3, Optus, Telstra and Vodafone plans compared [APC]
More »
Organise
