Australia is to get its third connection to the international internet backbone with the announcement of a $200 million fibre optic project by PIPE Networks, according to a report by Dan Warne at APC. The project will build an undersea cable between Australia and Guam, which will have a maximum speed of 1.92 terabytes per second.The pipeline is slated to be operational in 2009.The APC story quotes PIPE’s executive director as saying the new pipe will greatly increase Australia’s international data capacity and give ISPs another option apart from dealing with Telstra and Optus. He suggests the increased capacity and independence from legacy players Telstra and Optus could open the door to cheaper and unmetered broadband. We can but hope. More »
Windows only: Freeware, lightweight anti-spyware application ThreatFire monitors your computer for malware and blocks new threats in real time. There are a lot of freeware anti-spyware apps out there, but the difference between most of them and ThreatFire is the always-on, real-time protection—as opposed to on-demand scanning. The catch is, ThreatFire does not do on-demand scans in the free version. All that really means is that you can download one of the many other freeware options (like AVG Free and Ad-Aware, for example) for on-demand scans and run ThreatFire to cover any immediate threats in real-time. ThreatFire is freeware, Windows only. Everybody’s got their favorite anti-virus and anti-malware apps, so let’s hear yours in the comments.
ThreatFire [via FreewareGenius]Hot on the heels of the announcement that previously shareware newsreader apps FeedDemon (Windows) and NetNewsWire (Mac) have gone freeware, weblog Ode to Apple delves into NetNewsWire to detail how to get the most from the powerful desktop-based newsreader. The guide covers everything from smart lists (like iTunes Smart Playlists) to application preferences. If NetNewsWire’s new freeware status has motivated you to see what RSS life is like outside the world of Google Reader, Ode to Apple’s guide is a good place to get started tweaking your new reader. While you’re at it, don’t forget to download the keyboard shortcuts cheatsheet.
How to squeeze the best out of FREE NetNewsWire [Ode to Apple]If your hard drive vibrates against the inside of your PC’s case, it can make for one noisy computer. To quiet things down, Instructables user liknus added rubber “shocks” (so to speak) to the sides of the drive mount to absorb the vibration. For anyone who’s installed a hard drive before, this looks like an easy project. Noise Free HDD [Instructables via Make]
Microsoft has opened up its previously private beta release candidate version of Visa Service Pack 1 for public download. Vista Service Pack 1 RC Refresh is available here but note that it is still a beta, and you’ll need to uninstall any previous versions of SP1 before installing it. If you prefer to wait until the final version of SP1, Wired reports you’ll be waiting until sometime in February. More »
You may not want everything to be the same everywhere you’ve installed Firefox, but if you’ve settled on the perfect set of about:config tweaks, chances are you don’t want to go through the hassle of setting up the same set of preference tweaks every time you install Firefox. The MakeUseOf weblog delves into how to find and back up your Firefox preferences so that you’ll never have to duplicate the effort of building the perfect Firefox setup. Just find your Firefox profile folder and grab the prefs.js file. Anytime you re-install Firefox, just drag that file back into your new profile folder and voilà—your perfect setup is restored.
Quick Tip: Backup Firefox Preferences [MakeUseOf]Is Facebook about to lose its only useful feature? The addictive Facebook app Scrabulous is facing a legal challenge from the makers of Scrabble. Apparently the online rights to Scrabble belong to someone else entirely, whoops! More »
Mio has confirmed plans in Australia for in-car GPS units with online access to weather forecasts, search engine and other information via its Mio C-series in-car units, according to a report in PC Authority.
Mac OS X Leopard only: On the heels of our Leopard power tweaks feature earlier today, desktop utility LeopardMOD offers a graphical interface to several Terminal settings. Customise Finder, the Dock, Menu Bar, Dashboard, Safari, and more using LeopardMOD’s kinda ugly but serviceable tabbed interface. My favorite mods include turning off Dashboard, making the menu bar opaque, and displaying the full folder path in Finder windows. Check out all of LeopardMOD’s settings in the gallery below. LeopardMOD is a free download for Macs running Leopard only. galleryPost('leopardmod', 5, '');
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LeopardMOD 2.3 [MacUpdate via Download Squad]
There have been a few diet plans published for geeks over the years – we told you about a few of them previously, including the famous Hacker’s Diet. This latest one, The Geek Diet, is a 51 page ebook by Mark Faithfull, who describes himself as a typical geek who wanted to tackle his weight in a sensible and easy to manage way. He has clearly approached his subject with the scientific curiousity of a geek – in fact he says he got the idea for the Geek Diet from a Scientific American podcast. He’s sprinkled the book with quotes from various studies on eating, food and weight loss. I have to admire the honesty of a diet book which begins by quoting a UCLA study which found that 83% of people who go on diets end up weighing more than when they started. More »
