Thursday, July 31, 2008
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CyberSearch 1.0 Adds Keyword Importing, Interface Tweaks
11:00PM Kevin Purdy | Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): Free Firefox extension CyberSearch, which Adam detailed earlier this month, has added a few new features that make the AwesomeBar-enhancing search tool much more convenient for avid Firefox users. The most noticeable upgrade is a keyword importer that will look through the search engines you’ve already assigned browser keywords to and bring them into CyberSearch, while avoiding duplicates already in the add-on. Also new are image icon previews for image searching, an icon to differentiate CyberSearch results from standard AwesomeBar returns, and many more tweaks. CyberSearch is a free extension for Firefox 3, and it requires, for the moment, a sign-up to download at Mozilla add-ons. Hit the link below for more details. CyberNotes Special: Introducing CyberSearch 1.0 [CyberNet] More »
Communicate
Create Easy-Response Polls Using Gmail Filters
10:40PM Kevin Purdy | The Digital Inspiration blog points out that combining Gmail’s filters, easy email (or mailto:) links, and the mass familiarity with email makes it easy to conduct your own polls amongst contact groups. Simply set up question responses with answers that match temporary + addresses, and you’ll get quick counts and individual data on your questions. Hit the link below for a complete walk-through. Yes, No, Maybe? Conduct Opinion Polls Over Email using Gmail [Digital Inspiration] More »
Fix
1Password Makes Secure Logins Easier on iPhones
10:03PM Kevin Purdy | iPhone/iPod touch only: Free application 1Password makes logging into secure sites much easier on the iPhone’s mobile Safari browser by creating a double-protected mini-database of your passwords. The app won’t auto-fill login forms in Safari, but provides its own mini-browser that plugs in your credentials into any site’s login form. Great for checking your bank accounts or secure work data, but the big drawback is lack of a keyboard inside the mini-browser—so no further typing once you’re in. Of course, you can just use 1Password as a memory-booster for your user/password combos, for which it works just fine. Users of 1Password’s Mac version can sync their passwords between versions with the $US35 upgrade. 1Password is a free download for iPhones and iPod touch devices only. 1Password [iTunes App Store] More »
Work
Does Compensation Kill Your Motivation?
9:00PM Gina Trapani | Research shows that classic career advice—”find a way to get paid to do what you love”—may be way off the mark. The Washington Post’s Shankar Vedantam reports that paychecks and pink slips aren’t good long-term motivators: Beliefs about the utility of rewards and punishments in motivating human behaviour are deeply ingrained, and most people don’t know that more than 100 research studies have shown that motivating people in this manner can have the unintentional effect of undermining their internal drives. Once you replace someone’s internal motivation to do something with an external reward or punishment, their inner drive reduces, these studies show. I’ve turned a hobby into a job and vice versa, and my internal truth-o-meter hit a high note reading this. More »
Communicate
8:06PM Angus Kidman | Hasbro’s decision to sue the developers of popular Facebook Scrabble clone Scrabulous has resulted in US users being blocked from playing the game. That’s potentially bad news for players everywhere: if you’re in the middle of a game with a Stateside friend, you’re effectively in lexical limbo. Fortunately, there’s a workaround. Quite appropriately, a Facebook group has been set up which shows how to evade the block, by using Firefox and the FoxyProxy extension to route all Scrabulous games through a proxy server. Follow the link for full instructions. [Easy to follow instructions for playing Scrabulous in the US or Canada]
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How to play Scrabulous with US players
8:06PM Angus Kidman | Hasbro’s decision to sue the developers of popular Facebook Scrabble clone Scrabulous has resulted in US users being blocked from playing the game. That’s potentially bad news for players everywhere: if you’re in the middle of a game with a Stateside friend, you’re effectively in lexical limbo. Fortunately, there’s a workaround. Quite appropriately, a Facebook group has been set up which shows how to evade the block, by using Firefox and the FoxyProxy extension to route all Scrabulous games through a proxy server. Follow the link for full instructions. [Easy to follow instructions for playing Scrabulous in the US or Canada]
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Communicate
5:32PM Angus Kidman | 3’s petition to be an official iPhone reseller seems to have fallen on deaf ears at Apple so far (nothing new there, frankly). Its latest move in the iPhone market is arguably more appealing, however: plans for customers who’ve bought a 3G iPhone from another carrier (Optus remains the best deal in that regard) and want better rates.If you do have a functioning iPhone and don’t mind the upfront costs, the starter kit plans are the best value we’ve seen in data terms, outstripping Optus’ improved Timeless plans. On a $49 cap, you get 1GB of data a month; on a $69 cap, that goes up to 2GB. There are some caveats: you need to sign up for 24 months, the usual warnings about avoiding 3 outside metropolitan areas apply, and we haven’t yet managed to confirm the call rates (though we suspect With Telstra also lowering its data prices today, the mobile data scene for iPhone users is looking rather more competitive than it did at launch. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: early adoption has its perils. (The 3 plans go on sale on August 4.)
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3 launches BYO iPhone plans
5:32PM Angus Kidman | 3’s petition to be an official iPhone reseller seems to have fallen on deaf ears at Apple so far (nothing new there, frankly). Its latest move in the iPhone market is arguably more appealing, however: plans for customers who’ve bought a 3G iPhone from another carrier (Optus remains the best deal in that regard) and want better rates.If you do have a functioning iPhone and don’t mind the upfront costs, the starter kit plans are the best value we’ve seen in data terms, outstripping Optus’ improved Timeless plans. On a $49 cap, you get 1GB of data a month; on a $69 cap, that goes up to 2GB. There are some caveats: you need to sign up for 24 months, the usual warnings about avoiding 3 outside metropolitan areas apply, and we haven’t yet managed to confirm the call rates (though we suspect With Telstra also lowering its data prices today, the mobile data scene for iPhone users is looking rather more competitive than it did at launch. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: early adoption has its perils. (The 3 plans go on sale on August 4.)
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Communicate
5:10PM Angus Kidman | Telstra’s Next G wireless broadband coverage has always been more extensive than any of its 3G competitors, but that’s come at a price: a ridiculously high price, as it happens. Now Telstra has dropped the pricing on its Next G data packs, making them moderately better value.The $10 mobile data pack now includes 150MB of data (up from 20MB), and the $29 mobile data pack includes 300MB (up from 80MB). Excess data now costs 50 cents per MB on the $10 plan, or 25 cents per MB on the $29 plan (it was previously $1 on both plans). Those plans apply to all Next G phones, including the iPhone if you happen to have ignored the warnings and signed up with Telstra for the phone.That still makes Next G much more expensive than its rivals. For instance, $39 a month with Vodafone gets you 6GB on a USB modem, while 3 this week launched a plan offering 6GB for $39. So shop around, think carefully before you commit, and share your thoughts on this price change in the comments.
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Telstra cuts rates on Next G data plans
5:10PM Angus Kidman | Telstra’s Next G wireless broadband coverage has always been more extensive than any of its 3G competitors, but that’s come at a price: a ridiculously high price, as it happens. Now Telstra has dropped the pricing on its Next G data packs, making them moderately better value.The $10 mobile data pack now includes 150MB of data (up from 20MB), and the $29 mobile data pack includes 300MB (up from 80MB). Excess data now costs 50 cents per MB on the $10 plan, or 25 cents per MB on the $29 plan (it was previously $1 on both plans). Those plans apply to all Next G phones, including the iPhone if you happen to have ignored the warnings and signed up with Telstra for the phone.That still makes Next G much more expensive than its rivals. For instance, $39 a month with Vodafone gets you 6GB on a USB modem, while 3 this week launched a plan offering 6GB for $39. So shop around, think carefully before you commit, and share your thoughts on this price change in the comments.
More »
Organise
11:30AM Angus Kidman | Google is starting to more actively promote a feature it’s had for quite a while: customising its search results based on a best guess at where you’re located and your recent search history. A search customisation message will appear at the top right of the results page, pointing out the assumptions Google has made about what you’re looking for. As a posting on the company blog notes:
This new feature doesn’t change anything at all about how you search on Google and the results you get; it just gives you more of a behind-the-scenes look at how we customise your search experience.
The feature hasn’t appeared universally yet, and it may be a while before we see it in Australia, given that visitors from Australian IP addresses are already redirected to the google.com.au domain. Do you prefer your search results customised, or do you want to control the process yourself? Share your thoughts in the comments. [The Official Google Blog]
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Google fesses up when it customises your search results
11:30AM Angus Kidman | Google is starting to more actively promote a feature it’s had for quite a while: customising its search results based on a best guess at where you’re located and your recent search history. A search customisation message will appear at the top right of the results page, pointing out the assumptions Google has made about what you’re looking for. As a posting on the company blog notes:
This new feature doesn’t change anything at all about how you search on Google and the results you get; it just gives you more of a behind-the-scenes look at how we customise your search experience.
The feature hasn’t appeared universally yet, and it may be a while before we see it in Australia, given that visitors from Australian IP addresses are already redirected to the google.com.au domain. Do you prefer your search results customised, or do you want to control the process yourself? Share your thoughts in the comments. [The Official Google Blog]
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Fix
9:14AM Angus Kidman | Banks offering security software is not exactly a new development, but Westpac’s arrangement has an interesting twist: customers can download a free copy of PC Tools’ anti-malware, firewall and privacy protection packages. There doesn’t seem to be any validation process to confirm if you’re a Westpac customer or not, so in effect anyone can get a free copy of these programs. If you’re looking for other free security software options, check out our five top antivirus packages.[Westpac via OzBargain]
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Westpac gives away free security software
9:14AM Angus Kidman | Banks offering security software is not exactly a new development, but Westpac’s arrangement has an interesting twist: customers can download a free copy of PC Tools’ anti-malware, firewall and privacy protection packages. There doesn’t seem to be any validation process to confirm if you’re a Westpac customer or not, so in effect anyone can get a free copy of these programs. If you’re looking for other free security software options, check out our five top antivirus packages.[Westpac via OzBargain]
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