What Are The Hourly Rates For IT Contractors? 
What Do You Do With Your Gadgets When You Move Overseas? 
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 Vista Service Pack 1 will officially be rolled out in mid-March, fixing reliability and performance issues in addition to many hardware incompatibility headaches, according to Wired.
We love options here at Lifehacker so were excited to see the announement that Dell would offer Linux on one of its high end laptops.The XPS M1330 will be offered with Ubuntu 7.10 in the US, UK and a couple of European countries, but when we checked with Dell locally, we were disappointed at what we heard: “We have not launched Ubuntu here – and have not yet announced a timeline.” Dell’s already got three Linux computers on the market overseas, hurry up! :)
Ebay’s plans to stop sellers from leaving negative feedback on buyers has stirred up some discontent among users of the online auction house. The move was made to try to shore up the falling number of active buyers using the site, but may be swinging the pendulum too far in the other direction, as Zara Baxter’s pointed out at PCA. It sounds like Ebay is breaking the reputation metric which used to help users decide who to trade with. What’s your take on it?
If budgeting was at the top of your 2008 resolutions, you’ve probably reached that one-month burnout point where you’re beginning to wonder if you can keep up the penny-pinching. Weblog Get Rich Slowly suggests several ways of coping with frugality burnout so you don’t fall of the thrift wagon. For example: Don’t try to do it all at once. Even frugality zealots don’t follow 100% of the things they write about. It’s important to choose a few ideas that work best for you, and to begin incorporating them into your life.
If you’re big on budgeting, share your tips for how you cope with frugality burnout without going on a spending binge in the comments. How to Cope with Frugality Burnout [Get Rich Slowly]
Mac OS X only: Free utility File List batch renames files on your Mac according to criteria you set up. Rename files using sequential numbers, prefixes or suffixes, or change to upper or lower case. File List supports advanced file naming specs that let you use conditional statements, too, like “if it’s a .TIFF file rename it to PHOTO.” Best of all File List can create file renaming “droplets” that you can pin to Finder’s toolbar for drag and drop easy reuse. File List is a free download for Mac OS X only. File List [Many Tricks via Macworld]
One year ago, you learned how to tag files and save searches in Windows Vista.
Despite obvious problems with full-fledged arguments in the workplace, productivity web site Behance suggests that a good fight can sometimes be just what a project needs. When you really care about an idea, you are likely to develop an opinion; when multiple people have a strong opinion, you’re bound to disagree – and clash. Your approach to managing the impassioned “fighting” that ensues is a critical factor in your ability to find the best solution. While some people shy away from confrontation, we have found that a healthy dose of tension helps ideas thrive.
Like the post says, arguments aren’t by default a bad thing; most of the time it means that you and your coworkers really care about the task at hand, and you’re often more likely to “triangulate” on better solutions when passionate people are involved. Tip: Fight Your Way to Breakthroughs [Behance]
Those nights you have no idea what to make for dinner with the random food in your pantry, instead of heading for the grocery store or the takeout menus, hit up RecipeMatcher.com. Enter the ingredients you’ve already got on hand and RecipeMatcher will suggest dishes that contain them, and even make printable grocery shopping lists with any items you might be missing. For similar services, Adam’s had success with Allrecipes and while RecipeMatcher also works for drinks, when you’re cracking open the liquor cabinet you could also check ExtraTasty. RecipeMatcher
Windows only: Freeware application BurnAware covers all of your most common burning tasks, from burning audio CDs and video DVDs to disk images (like ISO files) and regular data discs. That’s a good start, but BurnAware really impresses by supporting virtually every optical format, including Blu-Ray and HD DVDs. If you’ve been looking for a simple, all-in-one burning tool with a small footprint to replace expensive alternatives like Nero, BurnAware may be the ticket. BurnAware is freeware, Windows only. BurnAware Free Edition
