Here at Lifehacker we’re big fans of the ABC’s iView on demand service, but as we noted when it launched, it can quickly chew through your download cap unless you’re an iiNet customer and get unmetered access. Three months after it first rolled out, Andrew Colley at Australian IT reports there’s still no signs of anyone joining iiNet on the ABC-for-all bandwagon, and the ABC itself believes that the download issue is a factor in how successful the service can ultimately be. Would a download-free experience make you a keener user of iView? Stream your thoughts in the comments.
Download caps hold back ABC’s iView [AustralianIT]Windows only: Mount more than one Gmail account as a remote disk drive with free utility Gmail Drive Config. It works with Gmail Drive, which we’ve covered in the past. Yes, it’s all very experimental, I did encounter some annoyances, and Google could probably make it all go poof with a few keystrokes from some command line prompt in Mountain View. Rest assured, you’ll always be able to access any files added via mounted drives through Gmail proper. But I got two accounts set up and working as network storage in just a few minutes. Here’s how.
The multi-room music system from Sonos has added iPhone support with the new Sonos Controller, available as a free download from the App Store. The app looks great, and it’s a great move by Sonos, but if you don’t have $1000+ to spend on a Sonos system, we’ve already shown you how to turn your iPhone into a multi-room wireless music remote on the cheap.
Windows only: Free application Hitman Pro scans your system for malware using not one, not two, but eight different anti-malware applications. Essentially, Hitman Pro is a helper utility that runs up to eight different cleaning tools when you tell it to. Some are favourites we all know and love, like Ad-Aware and Spybot S&D, while others are a bit more obscure. The idea behind Hitman Pro is that you’ve got a one-stop shop for killing off any malware that hits your system—regardless of whether it’s spyware, adware, or some nasty virus. As the MakeUseOf post points out, scanning your system with each app can be a time-consuming process, so it’s best to use when your computer is idle. If Hitman Pro seems like overkill, check out our five best antivirus applications and five best Windows maintenance tools for some great alternatives. Hitman Pro [via MakeUseOf]
Microsoft’s Professional Developers Conference continues to roll out exciting new announcements; this time, Microsoft announces the next version of Microsoft Office will include a web component that will allow users to create, view, edit, and collaborate on Office documents over the web. With robust online editing already available with Google Docs, Zoho, and a handful of other tools, the question is: Is it too late for Microsoft Office to head to the web? Keep reading for a quick screenshot tour of the “Office Web Applications.”
Web application MeetInBetweenUs takes the guess work out of locating a good place for two distance parties to meet. For a trial run I used it to see where Gina and I would meet between San Diego, CA and Kalamazoo, MI. We’ve covered two prior Google Maps midway point mashups, Mezzoman and Meetways. Interestingly, given that all three are working off the same Google Maps data, MeetInBetweenUs provided a slightly different meeting place as a middle ground between us. I’m not going to complain since the MeetInBetweenUs query put us meeting about 30 miles closer to me at Patrick Dugan’s Coffee House, which according to their web site promises “velvety smooth cappuccinos.” I’m in! Both Mezzoman and Meetways supplied the same four results when queried with “coffee” as a search term. MeetInBetweenUs lacks a query-based search for potential locations, but has a host of defaults like food, coffee shop, golf course, bar, hotel, etc. While you can’t search for specific terms, searching for coffee shop in MeetInBetweenUs yielded more plentiful results than the other two meetup mashups. (And despite the US name, it manages reasonably with Australian addresses, albeit without the restaurant references.)
MeetInBetweenUs [via Waxy]Our gadget-obsesses siblings at Gizmodo got a chance to walk through Windows 7 at the Professional Developers Conference, highlighting a heaping serving of nice new features. Keep reading for a quick rundown of the new features (be sure to check their post for the full tour complete with screenshots and video), then let us know if the new Windows is enough to wash the bad taste of Vista from your mouth.
The new Amazon Windowshop multimedia marketplace does fancy 3D browsing of the popular online commerce site. Aside from the eye candy, features also include multimedia previews of any item, like movie trailers, song clips, and audiobook previews. It’s not much for searching, but if you’ve got a hankering for some window shopping, it’s surprisingly fun.
Weblog Google Operating System rounds up eight different Gmail modes worth a shot next time you have trouble accessing Gmail. That includes everything from Safe mode—which runs Gmail without any Labs features—to Basic or iPhone mode.
Microsoft plans to unveil a pre-release version of Windows 7 at a conference tomorrow, and released a privacy statement for the preview that reveals all kinds of features in the future OS. Short list: Multiple releases, including an “Ultimate” version; a local Driver Protection database for hardware problems; better support for internet printing; and a vague “People Near Me” service that lets users share unnamed apps with others on a network. [via Ghacks]
