The Online Tech Tips Blog digs into Vista’s Start Search box—which earned an honorable mention in our recent Hive Five app launcher roundup—and details how to make it even more convenient by adding quick searching of Wikipedia, Google, or nearly any other site with a search interface. We’ve shown you how to perform super-quick “I’m feeling lucky” searches from Start Search, but this tutorial digs into opening up a whole results page. If your Vista lacks a Group Policy Editor, the How-To Geek has a registry-editing solution that should work just as well. Add Wikipedia, Google to Vista start menu instant search [Online Tech Tips]
If you’ve set up IMAP access to Gmail in Outlook, you may have noticed that using flags in Outlook and stars in Gmail creates a duplicate set of tasks in your sidebar. The How-To Geek shows you how to fix that distraction, using a little creative filtering. The trick can be extended to multiple email accounts, and whether you bring Gmail into your All Mail folder or not. Hit the link for the Geek’s helpful run-through. Prevent Outlook with Gmail IMAP from Showing Duplicate Tasks in the To-Do Bar [The How-To Geek]
Looking to grab more work from a client you’ve done freelance work for? The FreelanceSwitch blog suggests asking them to set aside 10 minutes to discuss what aspects of their business you could contribute to, beyond the scope of what you’ve already done. Blogger Yuwanda Black says: I recently snagged more work from one client by finding out that he had a lot of blogging work he needed done. These weren’t for any of his clients, but for his own sites. But, he just didn’t have time to do them and meet client deadlines as well (a lot of internet entrepreneur have this problem, including yours truly).
How have our freelancing readers converted one-shot jobs into long-term clients? Let’s hear your advice, or situations to avoid, in the comments. Photo by Andyrob. How to Get More Work from Existing Clients [FreelanceSwitch]
Yahoo unveils a “sneak peek” of a new product that aims to bridge the gap between your web browser and desktop—BrowserPlus, a desktop utility that enables richer browser interaction, like drag and drop file uploads. The BrowserPlus utility is available for Windows and Mac at the moment and works with Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer 7. There are only three demo applications that use BrowserPlus: a Flickr drap-and-drop image uploader, an IRC chat client, and for the web monkeys, a JSON inspector. In short, BrowserPlus is more proof-of-concept than anything else. But, with Google ramping up Gears, Firefox 3 building in offline webapp support, and Yahoo busting out BrowserPlus, looks like your web browser and your desktop are going to be more than just friends in the coming months. The BrowserPlus sneak preview is a free download for Mac and Windows. BrowserPlus Sneak Preview [Yahoo via CNET]
Mac OS X only: Earlier today we reported that Mac OS’s latest update to 10.5.3 included Google contact syncing to Address Book—if you’ve connected an iPhone or iPod touch to your Mac, that is. If you don’t have an iPhone or iPod touch and unlocking this useful bit of functionality isn’t worth paying hundreds of dollars for the device, a simple system tweak can turn it on for you.
Talking to a bank call centre is even less fun than root canal work, so I think National Australia Bank might be onto something with its trial of a completely automated online chat support service. Simon Sharwood at the Smart Call podcast chatted with NAB’s head of direct channels Tim Cullen, and Cullen revealed that the bank has been trialling computer-based chat support. The IM agent has a growing knowledge base of common queries, but can hand over to a human support agent if it can’t work out what’s going on. More »
Mobile phones might be ubiquitous, but that doesn’t mean they’re equally well-designed for everyone. If you’re short-sighted, seeing small buttons may be impossible; if you have limited muscular control, then a touch screen’s a non-starter. Nokia Australia has just published an accessibility guide for its phone range, which includes some useful tips on picking the right phone model for your needs and setting it up for accessibility (in amongst the inevitable self-serving corporate gumpf and cheesy photography). While it’s Nokia-specific, the guidelines are potentially useful whatever phone you end up buying.
Gmail users with Firefox and Greasemonkey: If you often use the CC or BCC field in Gmail but you’re sick of clicking on the “Add CC” and “Add BCC” link to do so, we’ve got a pair of user scripts for you. Bypass the click step automatically by installing the:
An engineers’ strike means that Qantas services are likely to be disrupted on Thursday May 29 and Friday May 30, leading to delays and various other hassles, especially for commuters in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Flight disruptions are often an unavoidable fact of life, but there’s some useful strategies you can adopt to minimise the hassle.
Microsoft Australia is currently running one of those “visit our site and we’ll give money to charity” promotions, promising to donate $1 to the Smith Family for every viewer (up to a $100,000 ceiling) of a site which promotes Office 2007 (and is also a sneaky way to get people to install Silverlight, Microsoft’s Flash wannabe). I can’t help thinking Microsoft would convince more people to use 2007 if the cursed Ribbon got dumped, but still, why not direct some more of Bill’s money towards a worthy cause? (Handy tip: don’t try this on a slow connection, on my Next G link it was beyond painful.)
