Fiercely independent Australian broadband website Whirlpool’s role as an industry watchdog is now in doubt with the news that it’s been sold to Ninemsn.
Whirlpool was a trusted community resource for years, providing not only news about the broadband and mobile networks in Australia, but also providing a very active community forum for people to get technical help and share their experiences of different telcos.
In a press statement, site founder Simon Wright said “Whirlpool has gone further than I ever imagined. It’s been great to see it become what it is today — the premier resource on broadband and technology-based discussion in Australia. Now, as it moves into its next phase, I’m looking forward to seeing ninemsn apply their proven track record to the Whirlpool concept.”
Google Docs is getting offline access baked in with Google Gears starting with a small number of users today, the Official Google Docs blog reports. We’re not seeing it yet (are you?), but when we all do, it’ll work the same way Gears works with Google Reader. Hit the play button above for a charmingly cheesy demonstration. (Bonus points to anyone who catches the Office Space reference in the video clip.) Bringing the cloud with you [Official Google Docs Blog]
Readers are submitting their best life hack for a chance to win an autographed copy of our new book, Upgrade Your Life. Here’s our latest winner. Reader David says that staring at the glowing box all day long is hard on his peepers, so he takes matters into his own hands. He writes in:
Web site IdentiFight searches popular web applications for accounts linked to an email address you specify. The main purpose of IdentiFight is to show you what information is available online to anyone who has your email address, then to help you cut the connection between your address and that info when possible. Keep in mind that you’ll need to submit your email address to IdentiFight to run the search, and there’s always the possibility that IdentiFight is doing some malicious email harvesting itself, but from all appearances, the creator seems genuine. As always, submit your email with caution. If you do give it a try, share what you found—and whether or not you were surprised with the results—in the comments. IdentiFight [via HubLog]
US-centric :Ever drive by a house for sale and wonder what the price is? Find out on the spot using voice transcription service Jott and real estate valuation search engine Zillow. You’ll need to register at Jott (it’s free), and to set up a Zillow link within your Jott account. Once that’s done, you can call Jott on your cell phone and speak the address of the home to get back a text message or email with the “Zestimate,” Zillow’s valuation. Hit the play button on the link to hear how Jott and Zillow work together to help you hunt for real estate. Jott Zillow Link
Web site LegalTorrents is a BitTorrent search engine designed to distribute Creative Commons-licensed content. Each torrent submitted to LegalTorrents is reviewed by moderators for the proper licensing and then posted to the site. Additionally, LegalTorrents hosts a high-speed seed for each torrent, guaranteeing that you should always be able to get fairly high-speed transfers; in my tests the downloads were indeed very fast (downloading over 400 KB/s). As is the case with many Creative Commons distribution sites, LegalTorrent’s biggest hurdle is populating the site with content people want—but as more artists embrace BitTorrent as a distribution platform, LegalTorrents might be worth keeping an eye on (and may help you avoid getting caught downloading copyrighted material). Then again, if you don’t feel like sticking to sites like LegalTorrents, there are other ways to protect your downloading privacy.
Since the dawn of time, geeks have been playing harmless pranks on their beloved (but unsuspecting) associates, and it’s up to all of us to carry the torch forward. On the eve of April Fools’ Day, when you’ve got local network access to your coworkers’ and family systems, cubicles just crying out to be filled with packing peanuts, and webapps that can do all sorts of things automatically, there’s no better time to baffle, confuse, perplex, and just plain mess with your loved ones and associates. Hit the jump for our top 10 favourite harmless geek pranks.
Gina will be on G4′s Attack of the Show today in a live interview talking about Lifehacker and our new book, airing at 4 p.m. Pacific. Look for the clip here tomorrow!
The Digital Inspiration blog has a timely step-by-step tutorial on creating a “slipstreamed” Vista installation DVD that has all the fixes and tweaks from Service Pack 1 included. The guide utilises the previously mentioned vLite tool, and requires a Vista installation CD—but you create the new DVD from inside your existing Vista install, so don’t get too format-happy before reading through. For a similar method of creating an updated XP installation CD, check out RyanVM’s Update Pack. Slipstream Windows Vista with SP1 & Create a Bootable Vista SP1 DVD [Digital Inspiration]
The Anywired blog posts a good guide to using Ubuntu (and most any Linux distribution) productively, through both built-in but under-appreciated features and free software. We’ve covered a few of the suggestions before, including Compiz Fusion tools, a super-charged Gedit, and app launcher GNOME-Do, but Anywired points out the newest features and offers a few GTD-minded suggestions along the way. As is often noted, however, some tips are Ubuntu-specific, but most can be implemented in any Linux distro. Have your own must-have apps for cranking widgets, open-source style? Let’s hear it in the comments. Full-throttle Productivity and Web-Work With Ubuntu [via LH Australia]
