Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Fix
Cold? Allergy? Both?
11:15PM Kevin Purdy | Unsure whether those untimely sneezes and coughs are a cold, allergy, or maybe a bit of both? The New York Times offers a few helpful tips on knowing the difference, including the timing, itchiness, and where the congestion crops up. More »
Organise
SpiderOak Offers 2GB of Free, Cross-Platform Backup
11:04PM Kevin Purdy | Windows/Mac/Linux (All platforms): Online backup utility SpiderOak is notable for its true cross-platform availability, but it also offers (like Mozy) 2 GB of non-expiring free storage space and the ability to run in the background, making persistent backups as you change the contents of any folders you want to watch. The creators boast of a compression algorithm that speeds up both uploads and restoration, and unlimited bandwidth for paying customers, but its real value comes in its simple interface and set-and-forget nature. For any user—but especially Linux newcomers—who doesn’t quite feel comfortable setting up their own automated backups, SpiderOak is a viable option. SpiderOak is free to download and create a 2 GB account; each 10 GB increment after that costs about $US5/month. SpiderOak [via Simple Help] More »
Communicate
7:06PM Angus Kidman | Twittervision shows real-time posts from Twitter users around the world on a Google Maps interface, providing odd insights from all corners of the globe. You can get added to the site by following ‘twittervision’ on Twitter itself, and use simple location codes to change where your tweet appears. We haven’t managed to think of a productive use for this yet, but it’s an interesting way of identifying new Twitter users who might be worth following. (Thanks Clinton!) [Twittervision]
More »
Twittervision shows tweets on world map
7:06PM Angus Kidman | Twittervision shows real-time posts from Twitter users around the world on a Google Maps interface, providing odd insights from all corners of the globe. You can get added to the site by following ‘twittervision’ on Twitter itself, and use simple location codes to change where your tweet appears. We haven’t managed to think of a productive use for this yet, but it’s an interesting way of identifying new Twitter users who might be worth following. (Thanks Clinton!) [Twittervision]
More »
Communicate
6:48PM Angus Kidman | Vodafone has confirmed its official stance that its iPhone plans don’t allow data charges to be offset against monthly cap payments, but the carrier is yet to indicate how this policy fits in with its published terms and conditions, or what will happen to customers who signed up for iPhone service after being assured by salespeople that they could include data charges as part of their cap. Click after the jump for Vodafone’s statement and what it doesn’t yet explain.
More »
Vodafone iPhone plans: Data not included in caps, but no-one’s sure why not
6:48PM Angus Kidman | Vodafone has confirmed its official stance that its iPhone plans don’t allow data charges to be offset against monthly cap payments, but the carrier is yet to indicate how this policy fits in with its published terms and conditions, or what will happen to customers who signed up for iPhone service after being assured by salespeople that they could include data charges as part of their cap. Click after the jump for Vodafone’s statement and what it doesn’t yet explain.
More »
Design
6:15PM Angus Kidman | By default, PowerPoint uses its ’snap to grid’ feature to make sure objects line up neatly. That’s great for beginners, but irritating if you want to move items more precisely for a particular effect. It seems obvious that you should be able to turn this behaviour off, but in the allegedly more intuitive Ribbon interface, you could waste a lot of time looking.A post on the official PowerPoint blog admits as much: “It’s never been really easy to find, but it only got harder in Office 2007.” More practically, it also details how to temporarily move items independently of the grid, as well as how to switch it off snap-to-grid permanently in both Office 2003 and 2007. Microsoft has promised to make this more obvious in a future release, but at least this helps fix the problem if you encounter it.Quick Try This: Smooth sailing [The PowerPoint Team Blog]
More »
Switching off snap-to-grid in PowerPoint
6:15PM Angus Kidman | By default, PowerPoint uses its ’snap to grid’ feature to make sure objects line up neatly. That’s great for beginners, but irritating if you want to move items more precisely for a particular effect. It seems obvious that you should be able to turn this behaviour off, but in the allegedly more intuitive Ribbon interface, you could waste a lot of time looking.A post on the official PowerPoint blog admits as much: “It’s never been really easy to find, but it only got harder in Office 2007.” More practically, it also details how to temporarily move items independently of the grid, as well as how to switch it off snap-to-grid permanently in both Office 2003 and 2007. Microsoft has promised to make this more obvious in a future release, but at least this helps fix the problem if you encounter it.Quick Try This: Smooth sailing [The PowerPoint Team Blog]
More »
Organise
Get yourself a discount cross-cut shredder
5:51PM Angus Kidman | Regular Lifehacker AU poster Citizen Dee points out that Officeworks is currently selling a cross-cut shredder for the discount price of $59. Obviously no stranger to the joys of a shredder, Dee makes a good case for them: As we all know, cross-cut creates more shreds which makes the output “finer” in a packing/composting sense but is also harder to reconstruct for the security conscious. I just got one and have spent the last ten minutes giddily shredding everything in sight (dangerous considering I haven’t done my tax yet). Tip for buyers — they also sell oil for them which is going to be needed as a regular maintenance going by the sound of the motor (it’s probably cheap for a reason). au, organise, shredder, security, More »
Communicate
5:41PM Angus Kidman | It’s hardly news that the bucketloads of applications (rather than 3G) are the biggest selling point for iPhone 2.0, but now we’ve got the official numbers. According to Apple, 10 million applications were downloaded from the store in its first three days of operation. To find the best programs amidst the sea of options out there (which includes, scarily, nine versions of the card game blackjack), check out our guide to the best free applications in the App Store.
More »
App Store scores 10 million downloads
5:41PM Angus Kidman | It’s hardly news that the bucketloads of applications (rather than 3G) are the biggest selling point for iPhone 2.0, but now we’ve got the official numbers. According to Apple, 10 million applications were downloaded from the store in its first three days of operation. To find the best programs amidst the sea of options out there (which includes, scarily, nine versions of the card game blackjack), check out our guide to the best free applications in the App Store.
More »
Fix
12:01PM Angus Kidman | While Outlook tries to make intelligent guesses when formatting phone numbers in its contact lists, often it ends up making the problem worse. Type in an Australian mobile phone number into the mobile field on a contact and Outlook will almost invariably try to separate out the initial (04) as an area code. Fortunately, there’s a pretty simple fix: enter the number with spaces — 0400 000 000 — and Outlook will leave it alone. If you keep having problems, check under the Phone and Modem options section in Control Panel to make sure it isn’t set to the US or some other unhelpful location with different formatting requirements. (The alternative is to enter numbers in international format with an initial +61 and no leading zero, useful if you also synch your contacts to your phone but a bit of a pain if nearly all your contacts are using Aussie numbers.)
More »
Stop Outlook from mangling your mobile numbers
12:01PM Angus Kidman | While Outlook tries to make intelligent guesses when formatting phone numbers in its contact lists, often it ends up making the problem worse. Type in an Australian mobile phone number into the mobile field on a contact and Outlook will almost invariably try to separate out the initial (04) as an area code. Fortunately, there’s a pretty simple fix: enter the number with spaces — 0400 000 000 — and Outlook will leave it alone. If you keep having problems, check under the Phone and Modem options section in Control Panel to make sure it isn’t set to the US or some other unhelpful location with different formatting requirements. (The alternative is to enter numbers in international format with an initial +61 and no leading zero, useful if you also synch your contacts to your phone but a bit of a pain if nearly all your contacts are using Aussie numbers.)
More »
Communicate
11:51AM Angus Kidman | Vodafone still doesn’t seem any closer to deciding just how its iPhone data plans work in practice. A Vodafone representative has promised to contact Lifehacker with the definitive answer to whether data can be counted against the main monthly cap, but so far I’ve heard nothing. Readers have reported varying experiences, ranging from being told anyone can use their cap for data, only personal users can use the cap or that the entire idea is impossible. I’ll update again when Vodafone makes up its mind.
More »
Vodafone iPhone plans: confusion still reigns
11:51AM Angus Kidman | Vodafone still doesn’t seem any closer to deciding just how its iPhone data plans work in practice. A Vodafone representative has promised to contact Lifehacker with the definitive answer to whether data can be counted against the main monthly cap, but so far I’ve heard nothing. Readers have reported varying experiences, ranging from being told anyone can use their cap for data, only personal users can use the cap or that the entire idea is impossible. I’ll update again when Vodafone makes up its mind.
More »
Organise
11:48AM Angus Kidman | For the next few days, I’m going to be in Tokyo, so the usual run of Australian-focused organising ideas may be supplemented with a few Japanese-inspired tips and techniques. I doubt I’ll match the expertise of Lifehacker’s resident Japanese expert Lisa Katayama, but with luck some useful ideas will show up. The Japanese already get points for having accurate electronic indicator boards in all their trains, something train companies the world over would do well to emulate. And coincidentally, this week also sees the launch of Lifehacker Japan, a Japanese-language version of Lifehacker.
More »
Lifehacker gets a Tokyo flavour
11:48AM Angus Kidman | For the next few days, I’m going to be in Tokyo, so the usual run of Australian-focused organising ideas may be supplemented with a few Japanese-inspired tips and techniques. I doubt I’ll match the expertise of Lifehacker’s resident Japanese expert Lisa Katayama, but with luck some useful ideas will show up. The Japanese already get points for having accurate electronic indicator boards in all their trains, something train companies the world over would do well to emulate. And coincidentally, this week also sees the launch of Lifehacker Japan, a Japanese-language version of Lifehacker.
More » 