Thursday, March 13, 2008

Turn off your Macbook Pro faster by disabling safe sleep mode

11:02PM Sarah Stokely | As the amount of memory in Mac notebooks has grown, it takes longer to put them to sleep because OS X defaults to writing the entire contents of memory to disk before going to sleep. APC magazine Web Editor Dan Warne offers up two ideas for solving the slow-to-sleep problem: You can disable the safe sleep mode by opening the terminal and typing: sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0 And to get safe sleep mode back, change the “0″ to a “3″. Another option is to use freeware app Smartsleep, a preference pane which gives you the option of letting your notebook just sleep when the battery is close to fully charged, or if the battery level drops below a certain point it will switch to sleep and hibernate. As Dan says, if you usually work with your Macbook plugged into a powerpoint, this is ideal. How to turn off slow sleep/hibernate mode on a Macbook Pro [Dan Warne] More »

Get your credit card interest rate lowered

7:15PM Sarah Stokely | Most columnists writing about how to get out of credit card debt advocate asking your credit card company to reduce the interest rate you’re paying. Ever wondered how you’d go about actually making that request? CBCNews in the US approached 10 shoppers and asked them to ask for a reduction by following a simple script – and six of the 10 got a yes from their credit card company.The script was pretty simple: “I think I’ve been a good customer. I’d like to stay with you, but I really want you to lower the rate on my card. Can you help me?” If the operator said they couldn’t help, the callers were advised to ask for a supervisor, and repeat their request.Sounds like if you have the moxey, it might work. If you try it, let us know how you get on. Worst that can happen is you get a no, right? Skeptics surprised after negotiating lower credit card rate [CBCNews via Consumerist] More »

iPhone

5:03PM Sarah Stokely | The beta 2.0 firmware for the iPhone which was released with the SDK (software development kit) last Thursday has already been cracked, according to our pals over at Gizmodo. What a surprise! The creaters of the “Pwnage Package” claim the hacked firmware will allow you to install any app -   official or not – and even patches. Head over to Giz for the full goss. More »

Melbourne commuters can travel for free before 7am

4:47PM Sarah Stokely | The new Early Bird Metcard ticket will let Melbourne commuters travel free on Connex trains if they arrive before 7am. The new scheme starts on 31 March. The ticket is valid for travel between any 2 stations, not just travel into the CBD, but doesn’t cover your travel home in the afternoon. Connex said commuters travelling in zones 1 and 2 could save up to $47.20 a fortnight if they use the new scheme.For more info check out the Early Bird FAQ. The scheme, designed to reduce peak hour congestion, is being looked at by the NSW government and may be implemented in Sydney too – let’s hope sooner rather than later. More »

Avoid shopping traps to maximise your food budget

3:36PM Sarah Stokely | If you want to eat well while keeping within a budget, the Simple Dollar offers a few tips for making sure you shop well and don’t let any of your food purchases go to waste.Buying in bulk, getting fresh produce from farmer’s markets and cooking meals that work as leftovers are all good moves, but there are some traps to avoid too: Don’t buy ingredients that only work for one dish – especially if they’re perishable. Double check the value of sale items or coupons – home brand items may still be cheaper Make one big supermarket trip a month, supplemented by small shops at markets for fresh produce. This will force you to get creative and use what you have on hand. The goal is to use up all the food you buy, rather than throwing out wasted food  – which translates to wasted money. Makes sense. I’d add another tip – avoid shopping at supermarkets which like to prepackage foods into larger amounts than you really need. Coles is a big offender – it’s hard to buy smaller amounts of some meats and fruit and veg because they package them up in ‘family size’ containers.Got any tips for stretching your food budget further? Share in comments please.The Lazy Man’s Guide to Shopping on a Budget [The Simple Dollar] More »

Get tips from the Customer Service Avenger

2:49PM Sarah Stokely | The Consumerist has published a thought provoking interview with American “customer service avenger” Ron Burley about his book “Unscrewed: The Guide to Getting What You Paid For”. He says modern customer service attitudes treat the consumer as the enemy, so you need to be prepared for a battle. One tip which he mentioned which I know from personal experience works is that you should take your problem to sales, not customer service. Burley says you shouldn’t sit on hold for customer service for more than 5 minutes – it’s a waste of your time. Call the sales number – you can guarantee that line is answered fast, by people who want to help you. As a plus, it’s likely that even if the customer service line is outsourced to people outside the company (and country) the sales line is probably staffed by company employees who care more about resolving customer issues.Another point he makes is that you should make a judgement call about how long it will take to resolve the issue, and if it’s worth your time: “The quick thumbnail is figure out what you get paid per hour, double it, and that’s how much your free time is worth… If you get paid $30 an hour, your free time is worth $60 an hour. If you’re talking about a $100 dispute, you can pretty well figure out that if you have to spend more than 45 minutes resolving it, it isn’t worth your time.” He notes that some of the more over the top tactics he advocates (such as handing out flyers to customers tellin them how the company screwed you) can backfire if you’re too bombastic, citing a case in which a company boss refused to deal with him any more after he made his secretary cry (!). Got any tips for getting your way with customer service without reducing anyone to tears? Share in tips please. Interview with Ron Burley, Customer Service Avenger [Consumerist] More »

New Eee PC

2:27PM Sarah Stokely | We’re not sure when it’ll arrive in Australia, but David Flynn over at APC has written up the next gen of the ASUS Eee PC which was on show at CeBIT recently. For around $650, the new Eee will boast up to 12GB of flash memory, and they’re aiming for 8 hour battery life. The new 900 series will pack a 9 inch screen with 1024×600 resolution into the same tiny format as the current model. Nice. More »