Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Automatic Save Folder Remembers Your Download Preferences

11:30PM Jason Fitzpatrick | Firefox extension Automatic Save Folder allows you to assign filters to your downloads, so that the save as dialogue always points in the right direction. After installing Automatic Save Folder you can begin assigning rules based on domains and file types. You can set up a rule for instance, so that every time you save a file from www.yourworkplace.com/auditing/docs/ all the documents related to audits for your place of employment will be saved in yourdocuments/workplace/audits. The filter can also be applied to file types, and you can designate a catch-all folder for the files you haven’t applied filters to. Automatic Save Folder is free and works where ever Firefox does. Automatic Folder Save [via Download Squad] More »

Ubuntu Distributor Wants To Overhaul Linux Desktop Notifications

10:00PM Kevin Purdy | Canonical, the parent company behind the popular Ubuntu Linux system, wants to implement a new (and vaguely Mac-ish) method of user notification in Ubuntu’s next release. You can check out a demonstration of the new notifications in action at Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth’s blog post. As noted by Ars, the goal is to provide a more user-friendly experience for anyone jumping onto Linux, and give the desktop’s pings and blips a uniform look and feel, as opposed to the multitude of notification apps and tools that use the free D-Bus protocol in a variety of ways. That’s potentially a really good thing for dedicated Ubuntu users. But, as Ars Technica points out, it also means generally forcing users into using a 3D compositing system like Compiz, which often means (at least for NVIDIA video cards) enabling non-open-source drivers. As always, things can easily change between now and Ubuntu 9.04 (due out April 2009), but it’s an intriguing discussion going on. Notifications, indicators and alerts [Mark Shuttleworth] More »

Internet Explorer Backup Zips Up All Your IE Settings

9:00PM Kevin Purdy | Windows only: If you never want to have to tweak Internet Explorer’s settings again—and there are many, many settings—Backrex Internet Explorer Backup has you covered. The small, step-by-step backup program grabs everything from Internet Explorer 6 or 7, including cookies, add-ons, auto-complete entries, connection settings, and, of course, your favourites .You back it all up to a zip file that’s compressed and, if you’d like, password-protected, and can restore settings in the same click-by-click fashion. The app doesn’t support the Internet Explorer 8 betas from what I can tell, but that may be on the way. BackRex Internet Explorer is a free download for Windows systems only. BackRex Internet Explorer Backup [via gHacks] More »

Clive James On The Horrors Of Wrapping

3:00PM Angus Kidman | If the prospect of wrapping all those gifts fills you with horror, check out Clive James’ ruminations on the annual present-wrapping frenzy in his household. You’ll still have to wrap the presents afterwards, but at least you’ll get a laugh. It’s A Wrap [BBC News] More »

Free Public Transport In Melbourne For Christmas

1:30PM Angus Kidman | Melbourne residents have no excuse not to use public transport over the next couple of days, with fare-free travel on trains, trams and buses on December 24 and 25. I couldn’t find any similar offers in the other capitals, but if you’ve spotted a cheap means of Christmas transport, share it in the comments. Photo by Yarra Trams More »

Cheap Christmas Tags From A Biscuit Box

12:00PM Angus Kidman | Sarah at IKEA Hacker manufactured some last-minute gift tags by slicing up a festive-looking biscuit box. You could perform a similar trick with any suitable packaging, though there’s part of me that thinks the prevalence of $2 shops with stick-on tags makes it kind of unnecessary even for cheapskates. Last minute Christmas hacks [IKEA Hacker] More »

Win That BRAVIA Z Series LCD TV Worth $3,399

12:00PM Kym Weathersten | Don’t forget that BRAVIA Z Series LCD TV is still up for grabs, for creative and non-creative Kotaku readers alike. To win the Sony tele, or one of five $100 retail vouchers, simply click through to our absolutely gripping site survey and take a few minutes to tell us about yourself. [Survey] [Terms and Conditions] More »

FeedMyTorrents Offers TV Torrent Feeds Without Duplicates

11:50AM Adam Pash | Web site FeedMyTorrents publishes RSS feeds of torrents for popular TV shows. Just subscribe to your favourite show and let your BitTorrent client automatically download new episodes as soon as they’re available. FeedMyTorrents isn’t the only web site of this kind—perhaps the most notable alternative being tvRSS—but it’s a good deal more simple to understand and use than tvRSS. Where tvRSS has an undeniably larger collection of shows, FeedMyTorrents is strict about a duplication-free feed, meaning you don’t have to tweak the feed or weed out downloads you don’t want. Just pick the show you want to subscribe to, set it up in your BitTorrent client of choice, and you’ll always have the latest and greatest episodes of your favourite shows as soon as they’re available. Thanks Jason! FeedMyTorrents work, file sharing More »

Don’t Get Stuck In A Christmas Mobile Activation Queue

9:00AM Angus Kidman | A reminder note from Telstra this morning points out that its phone activation lines (for prepaid mobiles ) are normally chock-a-block between 6am and 9am on Christmas morning, so if you’re giving someone a phone, be prepared to put in some waiting time that morning. (The same doubtless applies to other carriers.) Telstra also estimates that 41 million text messages will be sent on its network on Christmas day, so it seems not all of us are ignoring new communication options at Christmas. More »