Linux.conf.au in Hobart is less than two months away, so it’s good news that the conference wiki is now up and running. If Hobart locals could add information on dining, entertainment and public transport, offshore visitors like me would really appreciate it! Linux.conf.au Wiki
In troubled economic times, being organised with your finances is more crucial than ever — and there’s plenty of sites that can lend a helping hand. Here’s some Lifehacker favourites worth considering. More »
Mac OS X only: If you’ve been waiting patiently for the popular BitTorrent application, uTorrent, to find its way to your Mac, your wait is finally over: uTorrent for the Mac is officially available. We’ve been waiting for the Mac release for a while now, and leaks of the beta had already made their rounds on BitTorrent sites (how apropos), but the official release (Intel Macs only at the moment) of the most popular BitTorrent client is finally here. The download is still in beta, and the developers acknowledge that it “may contain serious bugs,” but it still looks and feels great.
A brief addendum to my recent list of things that should be fixed in the next Outlook: the error message above. While this appears to suggest that there’s no way of removing a buggy Outlook add-in short of hacking the registry, the actual solution is far simpler: run Outlook as Administrator and the message disappears. How hard would it be to display ‘You need Administrator privileges to change this setting’ instead? (OK, I know, it would remind everyone that being logged in as administrator is actually meaningless under Vista, but that would still be preferable. And I’ve now remembered the same message also appears elsewhere in Office, so it’s ripe for removal.) More »
Trying to keep track of what’s being said about you, your company or your favourite band on Twitter? TwiTip has a useful rundown on how to use Tweetbeep, an automatic notification service for Twitter references (and links to your domain), to keep track of the whispers. For my money, hourly alerts would probably be a bit risky, especially if you pick a dangerously broad term like ‘Google’.
Tweetbeep for Beginners: Get Custom Twitter Alerts in Your Email [TwiTip]The US Black Friday post-Thanksgiving discount sale frenzy isn’t a tradition generally replicated in Australia, but Apple has apparently decided to make an exception. A teaser on its site promises a “one-day-only Christmas shopping event” on Friday November 28. There’s no indication of what (if any) discounts will be on offer, but since Apple is notorious for never allowing anyone except its own online store to cut prices on its products, it might be worth checking it if there is an iSomething on your wish list. Apple Store [via OzBargain]
There’s nothing more infuriating (or expensive) than a mobile phone that doesn’t stand up to the most everyday of activities, like being smashed by a hammer, dropped in a beer bath or strapped to a rocket. If you’ve ever found yourself in this situation, Sonim has a sturdy solution to your woes. Engineered for sports enthusiasts and those who work in harsh environments, the military-spec, Bluetooth and Push-to-talk enabled XP1 is shockproof, waterproof, dustproof, extreme temperature-proof and, considering the 3-year unconditional warranty, moron-proof. Despite having been on the overseas market for over a year, the indestructible mobile remains the only one of its kind in Australia and is available at Crazy John’s for $549 outright. The device is hardly pretty, but it is something to consider for any adrenaline junkie, drunk, klutz, brickie or astronaut on the lookout for the ultimate in non-breakable mobiles, this Christmas. [Christmas Gift Guide]
Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): Experimental Firefox extension TooManyTabs organizes extra browser tabs in Firefox, allowing you to store over 50 extra tabs in a special row for quick access at a later time. That may not sound terribly exciting by itself, but what if I told you that every tab you push to the TooManyTabs row frees up memory by turning the tabs you shelve into idle tabs? According to the developers, any time you move a tab onto a TooManyTabs row (which you do by hovering over the tab and clicking the yellow up arrow that replaces the favicon), that tab is removed from your memory. Any time you want it back, just click the tab in the TMT row. TooManyTabs can also restore up to 20 recently closed tabs (versus Tab Mix Plus’s 10), helps you visualise your tabs by marking them in different colours, and lets you pin favourite sites to TooManyTabs for quick opening. If you’re used to browsing sessions overflowing with extra tabs that devour your memory, this one is worth a try. TooManyTabs is in experimental mode, which means you’ll need to register and log-in with Mozilla to install it.
TooManyTabs [Firefox Add-ons]Fedora has just released version 10 of the popular Linux distribution. It’s only been six months since Fedora 9 hit servers, but the new release boasts all sorts of new features and improvements, including the addition of OpenOffice 3.0, new virtualisation features, internet connection sharing, faster booting, and a new security tool. Hit the Fedora 10 release notes for a full rundown of what you can expect. We tend to focus more on Ubuntu Linux, which has caught the attention of a lot of Linux users, but Fedora’s breakneck updates and new look and features since version 9 look great. Keep reading for a quick look at Fedora 10 in action.
Macworld runs down the cheapest iPhone dictionary applications; sadly, the one free option doesn’t get the best review (though it’s unsurprisingly the most popular). What’s your favourite iPhone dictionary application? Let us know.
