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 Regular Lifehacker readers will be familiar with Mozo, the finance comparison service which we talked about when it launched back in October. Using Mozo’s personalised search tools, you can compare and shortlist products and check out reviews from thousands of real customers. If you’ve been giving your credit card a battering in the lead up to Christmas, you’ll especially like Mozo’s free Health Check service which shows you how to detox your debt by switching to a better value credit card for your personal financial situation. To celebrate the service, and because they’re nice guys who know Christmas does terrible things to a person’s wallet, Mozo is offering one Lifehacker reader the chance to get $500 paid off their credit card. To enter the contest, just log onto Mozo and take the credit card Heath Check. Then post the amount you would save by switching banks or cards as a comment back here on this post, along with a reason why you should be the winner in 25 words or less. Each entry will be individually judged and the most creative response will get the prize. There’s $500 on offer; what exactly are you waiting for? The competition closes December 16, so get cracking! Check out the full terms and conditions here.
Popular start page Netvibes adds several new features today, including new layout options on a per-tab basis that “think outside the grid” and more options for how it displays RSS feeds on-page (in a ticker, carousel, magazine-style or normal view). [via]
Windows only: Free application VirtualScreenMaximizer maximises any window to every available pixel on your multi-monitor setup. Rather than expanding windows across all monitors, the default Windows behaviour maximises windows only on the current monitor. With VirtualScreenMaximizer, just hit the customizable keyboard shortcut (which you set by right-clicking the system tray icon and selecting Config) to go truly fullscreen. You’d think the app would only work on multi-monitor setups, but it actually performs an interesting function even for single monitors: When you invoke the maximize shortcut, VSM maximises the app to the full size of the monitor, covering your Windows taskbar and hiding the window titlebar so all you see is the interior of the window. This is an app that performs one simple task, but if it’s something you’ve been looking for, it’s a great option. VirtualScreenMaximizer is freeware, Windows only, requires .NET 2.0. VirtualScreenMaximizer [via gHacks]
All platforms: Hot off the press, the second beta of Firefox 3.1 is now available for download. In addition to Private Browsing Mode, tab tearing, and the Tracemonkey Javascript engine turned on by default, the release notes list what else you get:This beta is now available in 54 languages – get your local version. Added functions to make it easy to clear recent history by time as well as remove all traces of a website. New support for web worker threads. Improvements to the Gecko layout engine, including speculative parsing for faster content rendering. Removed the new tab-switching behaviour based on feedback from users Support for new web technologies such as the <video> and <audio> elements, the W3C Geolocation API, JavaScript query selectors, CSS 2.1 and 3 properties, SVG transforms and offline applications.
The Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 is a free download for all platforms; if you decide to test it, be sure to back up your Mozilla profile (or maybe wait for the portable version release). Firefox 3.1 Beta 2 English/US download [Mozilla]
Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): Firefox extension Integrated Gmail creates collapsible groups in your Gmail account that integrate all of your favourite Google apps directly inside Gmail. That includes access to Google Reader, Calendar, Notebook, Maps, Groups, and Picasa. As if that wasn’t already good enough, Integrated Gmail can also embed custom pages and Google Gadgets. Granted, Google has started integrating gadgets into the Gmail sidebar if that’s up your alley, but if you want full access to different apps without leaving the comfort of Gmail, the Integrated Gmail extension does exactly that. Keep reading for a closer look at Integrated Gmail in action.
Globex Designs, the fine folks who are redesigning Google Products one at a time, are beta-testing their new Google Reader skin, GReader Redesigned. Donate a few bucks to help them iron out the GReader Redesigned wrinkles and you can get it now; the final version will be available for all to use for free in January.
Windows only: WinWorkBar is a free, lightweight application sidebar complete with flexible to-do list, notes, calendar, and more. It may not look like much, and its meager 600KB download size and 6MB footprint may not sound like much, but this little sidebar application packs a lot of punch. You can customise keyboard shortcuts to quickly perform any action (e.g., show/hide the sidebar or create a new note or task), assign tasks and notes to any day or range of days (complete with reminder alerts), create repeating tasks quickly and easily, and automatically toggle the application’s visibility so it’s only taking up space when you want it to be. WinWorkBar doesn’t do any fancy syncing (or anything all that fancy, really), but if all you’re looking for is a powerful yet lightweight and unobtrusive to-do list manager, calendar, and notes application, WinWorkBar fits the bill. WinWorkBar is free and open-source, Windows only. WinWorkBar [via Download Squad]
Adobe is in the process of building a time machine for web content designed to provide users with robust tools for analysing not only changes in web pages over time, but also for tracking actual data within web pages and comparing it with other data from around the web. MIT’s Technology Review has posted a demo video in which the app looks incredible, but don’t get too excited—Zoetrope isn’t available in download form yet. [via]
Windows only: The more robust versions of Windows XP and Vista have built-in tools for blocking programs from certain users accounts and password-protect apps on shared accounts. Uses of the “home” versions, however, or those looking for a non-system-hacking protection scheme, should check out Empathy. The free, no-install-needed app locks up any executable you point it at, but there’s a catch with the free, unregistered version—it only allows passwords of up to one character. To unlock the full-feature version, the developer asks that you send him an actual picture postcard (seriously) with your email address included. Once he receives it, he’ll send along your registration. That might be too much data-sharing for the trouble, but if you just want to make people have to run through every character on your keyboard to get at an app, the free version of Empathy can make do. Empathy is a free download for Windows systems only. Empathy [via gHacks]
Find a home for narrow, hard-to-store kitchen items like cutting boards, lids, and cookie sheets with a vertical file. A reader over at the organisation blog Unclutter wrote in with the following solution to storing the interchangeable plates on her counter-top grill: I used a vertical, metal file sorter placed on top of a metal, mesh shelf so I can store my Foreman grill underneath the plates. The file sorter that is holding the grill plates is coated in plastic so it won’t scratch the plates, which is vital!
Even if you don’t have a plastic coated vertical desk file handy, they are cheap and abundant at office supply stores. For other kitchen storage ideas, check out how to store lids in a drawer. Storing a George Foreman Grill [Unclutter]
