Friday, July 11, 2008
Fix
Defrost Outlook Fixes Outlook 2007’s Post-SP1 Freezing Bug
10:46PM Kevin Purdy | Windows only: If installing Service Pack 1 for Outlook 2007 has caused your personal data manager to freeze and stall, Defrost Outlook is definitely worth the small download. The plugin, developed by one programmer’s study of post-SP1 problems, fixes at least one lockup-causing issue with receiving HTML-formatted meetings and appointments by slightly re-formatting them. There are, of course, other bugs that cause freezes, and the author aims to incorporate them in future releases. For now, though, this app can’t hurt to try. Defrost Outlook is a free download for Windows systems only. Defrost Outlook [via gHacks] More »
Fix
Turn Vista Home Premium into Ultimate with Free Software
10:16PM Kevin Purdy | The Mysticgeek blog at the How-To Geek’s site has a clever series of posts up that use free software tools to give Windows Vista Home Premium—the version that most often ships with standard laptops—the same kind of super-user powers you get with a copy of Ultimate. Mysticgeek uses FileHamster to replicate Ultimate’s “Shadow Copy” function, installing a DreamScene power toy to get moving backgrounds, and DriveIMage XML to create sturdy backups (as Gina once detailed). Hit the link below for the FileHamster tutelage; and check out part 1 and part 2 for the other tweaks. What other tweaks do you use to add Ultimate-like features to your copy of Vista? Share them in the comments. Turn Vista Home Premium into Ultimate – (Part 3) Shadow-Copy [Mysticgeek | The How-To Geek] More »
Communicate
4:56PM Angus Kidman | While dozens more are bound to emerge in the next few weeks, Australian banks appear to have been the first local organisations to get onto the iPhone 2.0 bandwagon. ANZ has rolled out a specialised version of its site for the iPhone, which should be auto-detected if you access the site via the phone. The feature set is currently limited to contact and branch location features; ANZ has promised balance checking and transfers in a future release. You can access the regular Internet banking features on the phone using the standard site via iPhone Safari, though how well that would work on the smaller screen is debatable.A more specialised application is the Commonwealth Bank’s CommSec share trading application, which has been customised to use the touchscreen interface. We’ve not tested either yet; if you’ve got good or bad experiences to share, let us know in the comments.
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Local banks dive into iPhone applications
4:56PM Angus Kidman | While dozens more are bound to emerge in the next few weeks, Australian banks appear to have been the first local organisations to get onto the iPhone 2.0 bandwagon. ANZ has rolled out a specialised version of its site for the iPhone, which should be auto-detected if you access the site via the phone. The feature set is currently limited to contact and branch location features; ANZ has promised balance checking and transfers in a future release. You can access the regular Internet banking features on the phone using the standard site via iPhone Safari, though how well that would work on the smaller screen is debatable.A more specialised application is the Commonwealth Bank’s CommSec share trading application, which has been customised to use the touchscreen interface. We’ve not tested either yet; if you’ve got good or bad experiences to share, let us know in the comments.
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Organise
4:35PM Angus Kidman | While Gmail users might favour the sort-nothing-and-search-when-you-need-it approach, there’s still a lot to be said for moving mail into folders, especially if it’s from a mailing list or other regular source. But how many folders should you have to ensure you’re not overwhelmed by unread mail in loads of locations? In a post discussing ways of controlling email overflow, Microsoft blogger Doug offers his suggestion:
Set up a few folders to automatically send system emails to: status reports, system issues. Set up a few folders for key projects, key emails from your managers, personal emails, FYI’s. But limit yourself. Say, no more than 12.
Personally, I have a lot more folders than that — more like 40 — though probably 10 or so of those are archival and could be collapsed without my really caring. What do you think the optimal number of email folders is? Share your thoughts in the comments.Dear Brother: This is how I tamed my email [Inside Office Online]
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How many email folders do you need?
4:35PM Angus Kidman | While Gmail users might favour the sort-nothing-and-search-when-you-need-it approach, there’s still a lot to be said for moving mail into folders, especially if it’s from a mailing list or other regular source. But how many folders should you have to ensure you’re not overwhelmed by unread mail in loads of locations? In a post discussing ways of controlling email overflow, Microsoft blogger Doug offers his suggestion:
Set up a few folders to automatically send system emails to: status reports, system issues. Set up a few folders for key projects, key emails from your managers, personal emails, FYI’s. But limit yourself. Say, no more than 12.
Personally, I have a lot more folders than that — more like 40 — though probably 10 or so of those are archival and could be collapsed without my really caring. What do you think the optimal number of email folders is? Share your thoughts in the comments.Dear Brother: This is how I tamed my email [Inside Office Online]
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Communicate
12:57PM Angus Kidman | On the face of it, Vodafone’s iPhone plans don’t look particularly cheap and doesn’t offer any free Wi-Fi hotspots, but it turns out that there’s a catch you may be able to use to get a lot more data. Futurist Mark Pesce, an existing Vodafone customer, realised that his current cap plan could be spent on data as well as voice and text. While this isn’t mentioned anywhere in Vodafone’s explanations of its iPhone plans on its site, Pesce asked for the full printed terms and conditions in store, and it turns out that this also applies to the iPhone: you can spend your cap on data for 12 cents a megabyte (with a 50 cent minimum each time).So if you’re not planning on making heaps of calls, you can spend your cap value on data instead, and potentially get several gigabytes without spending anything extra. If you want to do this, insist on seeing the printed terms and conditions in store and get them acknowledged by the salesperson, to save any possible billing arguments later. If you try this at a Vodafone store, let us know how it works for you in the comments. (Thanks Mark!)
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How to get free iPhone data on a Vodafone plan
12:57PM Angus Kidman | On the face of it, Vodafone’s iPhone plans don’t look particularly cheap and doesn’t offer any free Wi-Fi hotspots, but it turns out that there’s a catch you may be able to use to get a lot more data. Futurist Mark Pesce, an existing Vodafone customer, realised that his current cap plan could be spent on data as well as voice and text. While this isn’t mentioned anywhere in Vodafone’s explanations of its iPhone plans on its site, Pesce asked for the full printed terms and conditions in store, and it turns out that this also applies to the iPhone: you can spend your cap on data for 12 cents a megabyte (with a 50 cent minimum each time).So if you’re not planning on making heaps of calls, you can spend your cap value on data instead, and potentially get several gigabytes without spending anything extra. If you want to do this, insist on seeing the printed terms and conditions in store and get them acknowledged by the salesperson, to save any possible billing arguments later. If you try this at a Vodafone store, let us know how it works for you in the comments. (Thanks Mark!)
More »
Organise
MyMobiler Controls Windows Mobile From Your Desktop
9:00AM Lifehacker US Edition | Windows only: The My Mobiler desktop application controls your Windows Mobile device through its Active Sync connection. We’ve already covered the GetPDAScreen program, which allows you to see your mobile device remotely and capture the screen, but My Mobiler adds so many more features. What you see in the desktop application is real time and you can interact with your mobile device using the mouse and keyboard as through you were holding the phone in your hand. It has screenshot and video capture capabilities as well as the ability to cut and paste between the phone and desktop environment. The MyMobiler desktop interface even has the ability to emulate the physical keys on the phone which lets you fully interact with the device. My Mobiler is a free download for Windows only. Thanks, joelena and fellow savvy readers! My Mobiler [mtux] More »
Communicate
8:31AM Angus Kidman | As last telco off the rank to release its full iPhone pricing, you’d think Telstra might have had a few surprises up its sleeve. Unfortunately, it’s no surprise that its deals turn out to be the worst value of the lot, reflecting its commitment to charging a premium for access to its Next G network. Click after the jump for our analysis of the available Telstra options.
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iPhone pricing: Choosing the best Telstra plan
8:31AM Angus Kidman | As last telco off the rank to release its full iPhone pricing, you’d think Telstra might have had a few surprises up its sleeve. Unfortunately, it’s no surprise that its deals turn out to be the worst value of the lot, reflecting its commitment to charging a premium for access to its Next G network. Click after the jump for our analysis of the available Telstra options.
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Communicate
iPhone 2.0 Better than Jailbreaking Except…
7:58AM Adam Pash | Adventurous iPhone users willing to jailbreak their device have had third-party applications for almost a year now—so now that the App Store’s open, you may be thinking: So what? Truth is, the iPhone 2.0 software update and its App Store offerings actually are something to talk about. The 2.0 software update has introduced better applications, better app management, and tons of otherexcellent features worth the upgrade, but they still haven’t made jailbreaking obsolete. Here are some ways iPhone 2.0 one-ups jailbreaking, and then the stuff jailbreaking offers that we’re still waiting on from Apple. More »
Work
The Most Unproductive ‘Productivity’ iPhone App
7:45AM Gina Trapani | Has to be Hold On!, a button which times how long you can, um, hold it down, to “improve your concentration skills.” Screenshot, App Store link. [via] More »
Design
