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The Stupid Things You Do On Facebook (And How To Fix Them) Mac OS X only: The latest beta 3 release of Yahoo Messenger for Mac adds voice and voicemail capabilities a la Skype. Using Yahoo Messenger, computer to computer voice calls are free, and you can purchase a PhoneOut and/or PhoneIn account to call land line or cell phones, or receive calls on your computer, or even set up call forwarding to land lines or mobile phones. (Rates start at 1 cent/minute in the U.S.) You can also send SMS messages with Yahoo Messenger, and get free voicemail; Yahoo Messenger delivers voicemail as an email attachment to the address you specify. Skype’s had all these features for Mac and PC for some time now, so Yahoo’s pretty late to the game—but it’s still good to have options. Mac Version – Yahoo! Messenger [via Macworld]
A team at Microsoft is looking at the iPhone Software Developer’s Kit with an eye toward Mac Office functionality, according to Fortune. Sounds like Word docs might soon be viewable without web-based converters. [via]
Windows only: Sweeping through your system and deleting unnecessary files feels great—until you realise you’ve just permanently wiped your master contact spreadsheet. Avoid that kind of over-zealous deletion with fsLock, a free Windows tray utility that prevents a list of files from being deleted, moved, renamed, modified, or otherwise touched. The utility has to be running to work, of course, and it used about 8K of memory on my Vista laptop, but I couldn’t mess with my chosen files inside Windows. It’s not a privacy or security tool, as you can get to the files through another OS or before booting, but it keeps your files safe from the casual destruction of “Select All->Delete.” fsLock is a free download for Windows systems only.
Inspired by a relative’s spending of nearly $70 on Suze Orman’s “Ultimate Protection Porftfolio,” J.D. at the Get Rich Slowly blog compiled a lower-cost DIY version that accomplishes the same goal: serving as a base-level, must-do box to ensure financial health and long-term security. Among the items he suggests keeping inside:A standard expanding/accordian file Will and trust forms/primers Emergency information sheets, such as those available free on the net.
Windows Mobile/Pocket PC only: Get access to all of your Windows Mobile or Pocket PC device’s files with Mocha FTP Server, a (newly) free utility. Simply load and run the software on your mobile device, point a browser or FTP client on a networked computer to the address it provides, and you can do what you want with pictures, music, and other files. You can get pretty fancy if you want, setting up multiple users with different rights, time-outs, and more. Mocha FTP Server is a free download for Windows Mobile and Pocket PC devices; once you hit the registration screen, enter “freeware” for a licence name and “111425″ for a code. Mocha FTP Server [via Download Squad]
Fed up with your bank’s hidden fees and customer service? Before you make the often time-consuming switch to another institution, consider checking out BankSwitcher. The web app (in beta, of course) asks you to grab the financial data from your old bank in the popular Quicken or Microsoft Money formats, then upload it to BankSwitcher. The site generates a list of everything you’d want to do to keep your same set-up—automatic payments, transfers, bill pays, and the like—at your new financial digs. The site repeatedly assures users that it keeps secure servers and doesn’t commit unnecessary information like passwords or account numbers to the hard drive, erasing them from memory after the list is generated. If that’s good enough for you, it could help you get up and running with a new bank and saving yourself money and headaches. Thanks, Keith! BankSwitcher
