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 Search engine exeLibrary demistifies the EXEs running in your Task Manager to help you get to the bottom of whether or not that cryptic process actually needs to be running (and whether or not it’s malware). Just search any process when you’re unclear of its purpose in exeLibrary, and it’ll give you a detailed description of what the process generally does in return, including how to remove it if it’s harmful (similar to previously mentioned TaskList). exeLibrary is a nice stop if you’re looking to trim down your running apps and Task Manager is full of processes that read like gibberish to you. exeLibrary [via gHacks]
City-wide free Wi-Fi has been talked about for a while, but here’s a twist – in San Francisco Cisco has teamed up with the city to provide free Wi-Fi on buses, to encourage people to leave their cars at home. Nice idea – any Australian pollies listening?
If razor burn and bumps are a common part of your daily shaving routine, DIY web site Instructables details how to avoid those nasty bumps when you shave. Remember which direction the grain of your hair went, and how you shaved along with it? Changeup. Now we’re going to go across. If you shaved down, shave to the side. If you shaved to the side, shave up or down. Absolutely don’t go against the grain. You’ll be smooth, but you’re dooming yourself to a week of ugly red dots, especially around the chin.
There’s no doubt that Linux—particularly Ubuntu—is a killer operating system full of excellent apps, but for about a million reasons, you’re stuck running Windows as your main operating system. We understand, these things happen. But what about all those killer Linux apps you’ve left behind when you decided to live the Windows life? Sure you could dual-boot or run Linux in the confines of a virtual machine window, but wouldn’t it be great if you could run those apps side-by-side with your Windows apps—like Linux users can do with WINE or OS X can do with Parallels or VMWare? You can, and today I’ll show you how to seamlessly run your favorite Linux applications directly in Windows with a free software called andLinux.
US-centric: TheJobBored blog posts a decent summary of the major changes to the U.S. tax code that may create new deductions and adjustments for you this year—or take some away. The post also links to an L.A. Times article it draws from, but which you may or may not be able to get to through a subscription firewall. Here are three items for which 2007 is the last year you can file for, so keep them in mind as you gather your receipts for the deadline—now less than two months away.
Windows only: Noiseware CE (Community Edition) isn’t a multi-tool editing suite for your digital photos—it only wants the bad ones. Specifically, Noiseware provides a set of filters that sweep through pictures with a lot of digital “noise” (think under-lit night-time shots) or artifacts (digital errors). The default filter will work for most photos, making them look crisper and cleaner, but you can also tell Noiseware to filter for night scenes, landscape shots, human portraits, and other variables. The free Community Edition doesn’t let you set custom slider settings for your tweaking, unfortunately, but it runs the same intelligent filters as its $30 and $50 “standard” and “professional” brethren. Noiseware CE is a free download for Windows systems only. Noiseware Community Edition [via FreewareGenius.com]
When it comes to drumming up new business or starting a conversation after a conference or chance encounter, “It was nice to meet you and …” just won’t cut it. The Freelance Switch blog posts advice from self-professed “follow up freak” Ilise Benun on how to get beyond generic niceties and find common ground to build a rapport on. The solid take-away: 1. Set the foundation for follow up while you’re talking. Follow up starts when the conversation starts. As you’re talking, be looking for something to say in your follow up. As soon as it hits you, make a note of it on the back of their card. You can find something in common — a topic of interest, whether personal or professional – or listen for what they may need help with. Then, in your follow up, you offer an idea, a contact or some other resource.
Ilise also suggests tackling this email as soon as possible, to keep yourself fresh in the new contacts’ mind. For a GTD-oriented, semi-automated solution, try an automated follow up solution. A Simple Follow Up Formula [Freelance Switch via Lifehacker AU]
An intrepid user at the Ubuntu Forums has detailed the installation and setup of BlueProximity, a free Linux app that turns a Bluetooth phone into a proximity-based security device for your computer. Yes, that’s exactly how it sounds: Your laptop locks itself down when you step a certain distance away, and opens again once you’re in range. Certainly useful in coffee shop and book store situations, but not a bad idea in a house with curious little fingers around, either. This kind of measure is more utility than security device, and the instructions require serious attention (forgetting to undo one step could hose your system), but it’s a nice privacy feature and seriously cool tweak at the same time. Howto: Use BlueProximity and your cellphone for security [Ubuntu Forums]
