Monday, December 29, 2008
Work
Windows 7 Beta 1 Out In The Wild
11:30PM Kevin Purdy | What’s being called the “first and only beta” of Windows 7 has made it onto BitTorrent tracking sites, and one early review, with screenshots, is already out. Get a preview of both below. More »
Work
FireTorrent Adds BitTorrent Powers To Firefox
10:00PM Kevin Purdy | Windows/Mac/Linux (Firefox): FireTorrent’s alpha-level release aims at letting anyone using Firefox start downloading torrents from any source, no separate software required. For quick or one-shot downloads, it’s pretty darned convenient. The add-on, technically in the alpha stage and pseudo-invite-only (the link below gets past that requirement, however), doesn’t have any preferences to configure, and limits your upload speed to 15 kb/s, most likely to preserve Firefox’s basic browsing ability while you download. What it does do is simply convert any .torrent link you click on into a download, handled by Firefox just as if you were downloading a file directly. So if you want to grab something and imagine you’ll be done with the download by the time you’re out of your browser, FireTorrent fits the bill just fine. Configurable preferences are expected to arrive in the next release, according to the developer. FireTorrent is a free download, works anywhere Firefox does (but make sure you install the right version for your OS). FireTorrent [via Ubuntu Unleashed] More »
Organise
4:34PM Angus Kidman | Kick off your Lifehacker Monday by making sure you didn’t miss any of the biggest posts from last week (when you were doubtless otherwise occupied!):
BlackBerry Storm’s A Wet Blanket For Productivity-Minded Travellers“I know I have something of a bias against touch-screen phones, but even allowing for that, it has to be said: the BlackBerry Storm is not going to be any use to you at all if you hope to actually get some work done on the road.”
Top Ways To Lock Down Your Data“This past week proved that you can’t rely on something as simple as a web browser to keep your personal data and identity safe from harm. Critical flaws were found in the Internet Explorer and even Firefox web browsers, leaving users potentially vulnerable to spyware, viruses, and password-sniffing.”
FilePhile Transfers Any Size File Between Any Two Systems (Windows/Mac/Linux)“FilePhile is a peer-to-peer, multi-platform app for getting files of unlimited size between yourself and anyone else willing to give it a try.”
Australia-US Flying Getting More Competitive“It’s taken a while, but it looks like competition is finally hotting up on the Australia-US route.”
Help Clueless Relatives with Their Computer Problems“‘Can you take a look at my computer?’ is the dreaded question your clueless family member will ask when you’re home for the holidays.”
OpenOffice.org Portable 3.0 Ready For Your Thumb Drive (Windows)“OpenOffice.org 3, the latest version of the free, open-source office suite, has gotten a full thumb drive packaging by the PortableApps.com team.”
Learn PowerPoint 2007 In PowerPoint 2007 With Free Tutorial Decks“If you’re a PowerPoint novice, or just find the rearranged Ribbon in PowerPoint 2007 hard to come to grips with, then Microsoft’s series of “learn PowerPoint in PowerPoint” tutorial decks might come in handy.”
How to Live Freegan and Die Old“Marko Manriquez is the founder of The Freegan Kitchen, a site that promotes cooking found food. He’s been diving in dumpsters for food going on three years now.”
TrayProdder Adds Vista-Style Checkboxes And Selection To XP (Windows XP)“Free system utility TrayProdder adds of Windows Vista’s handier file-handling tools, checkbox selection and full-row highlighting, to Windows XP.”
BitMeter Monitors Your Bandwidth (Windows)“BitMeter is a small bandwidth-monitoring application packed with features to help you track and analyse your bandwidth usage.”
Manipulate Vector Images With Open Source Inkscape (Windows, Mac, Linux)“If you are looking for a free alternative to the Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape has a host of features that make it worth taking for a spin.”
Video MobileConverter Formats Flicks for Small Screen (Windows)“BitTorrent super-host The Pirate Bay claims its ViO MobileConverter tool reduces nearly any video’s size by 20 percent and converts it for mobile devices faster than anything else.”
GMDesk Puts Multiple Google Apps in One Window (All platforms with Adobe AIR)“GMDesk is a single-window frame that can hot-switch between Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, and other G-apps, but it could use a few tweaks to make it truly convenient.”
GlimmerBlocker Blocks Ads System-Wide (Mac)“Free, open-source application GlimmerBlocker adds a new preference pane to your System Preferences that brings system-wide ad blocking to your Mac.”
MediaPortal 1.0 Released, Brings Open-Source DVR to Windows (Windows)“Open-source application XBMC has received all of the attention in the media centre arena lately, but it still can’t replace your TiVo.”
More »
Last Week’s Best Posts
4:34PM Angus Kidman | Kick off your Lifehacker Monday by making sure you didn’t miss any of the biggest posts from last week (when you were doubtless otherwise occupied!):
BlackBerry Storm’s A Wet Blanket For Productivity-Minded Travellers“I know I have something of a bias against touch-screen phones, but even allowing for that, it has to be said: the BlackBerry Storm is not going to be any use to you at all if you hope to actually get some work done on the road.”
Top Ways To Lock Down Your Data“This past week proved that you can’t rely on something as simple as a web browser to keep your personal data and identity safe from harm. Critical flaws were found in the Internet Explorer and even Firefox web browsers, leaving users potentially vulnerable to spyware, viruses, and password-sniffing.”
FilePhile Transfers Any Size File Between Any Two Systems (Windows/Mac/Linux)“FilePhile is a peer-to-peer, multi-platform app for getting files of unlimited size between yourself and anyone else willing to give it a try.”
Australia-US Flying Getting More Competitive“It’s taken a while, but it looks like competition is finally hotting up on the Australia-US route.”
Help Clueless Relatives with Their Computer Problems“‘Can you take a look at my computer?’ is the dreaded question your clueless family member will ask when you’re home for the holidays.”
OpenOffice.org Portable 3.0 Ready For Your Thumb Drive (Windows)“OpenOffice.org 3, the latest version of the free, open-source office suite, has gotten a full thumb drive packaging by the PortableApps.com team.”
Learn PowerPoint 2007 In PowerPoint 2007 With Free Tutorial Decks“If you’re a PowerPoint novice, or just find the rearranged Ribbon in PowerPoint 2007 hard to come to grips with, then Microsoft’s series of “learn PowerPoint in PowerPoint” tutorial decks might come in handy.”
How to Live Freegan and Die Old“Marko Manriquez is the founder of The Freegan Kitchen, a site that promotes cooking found food. He’s been diving in dumpsters for food going on three years now.”
TrayProdder Adds Vista-Style Checkboxes And Selection To XP (Windows XP)“Free system utility TrayProdder adds of Windows Vista’s handier file-handling tools, checkbox selection and full-row highlighting, to Windows XP.”
BitMeter Monitors Your Bandwidth (Windows)“BitMeter is a small bandwidth-monitoring application packed with features to help you track and analyse your bandwidth usage.”
Manipulate Vector Images With Open Source Inkscape (Windows, Mac, Linux)“If you are looking for a free alternative to the Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape has a host of features that make it worth taking for a spin.”
Video MobileConverter Formats Flicks for Small Screen (Windows)“BitTorrent super-host The Pirate Bay claims its ViO MobileConverter tool reduces nearly any video’s size by 20 percent and converts it for mobile devices faster than anything else.”
GMDesk Puts Multiple Google Apps in One Window (All platforms with Adobe AIR)“GMDesk is a single-window frame that can hot-switch between Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, and other G-apps, but it could use a few tweaks to make it truly convenient.”
GlimmerBlocker Blocks Ads System-Wide (Mac)“Free, open-source application GlimmerBlocker adds a new preference pane to your System Preferences that brings system-wide ad blocking to your Mac.”
MediaPortal 1.0 Released, Brings Open-Source DVR to Windows (Windows)“Open-source application XBMC has received all of the attention in the media centre arena lately, but it still can’t replace your TiVo.”
More »
Money
4:00PM Angus Kidman | Plans to introduce a means test for the federal government $5,000 baby bonus appear to have caused some confusion and panic, but the limit isn’t necessarily as harsh as you might believe. As The Australian reports, while there is an income limit of $150,000, that’s based on the first six months of post-birth income. During that period, many dual-income couples effectively become single-income, so they will still qualify. The bigger change is arguably the move to spreading the payments over a six-month period rather than offering a lump-sum figure.
Muddle over baby bonus eligibility [The Australian] More »
Baby Bonus Means Test: Will You Be Cut Off?
4:00PM Angus Kidman | Plans to introduce a means test for the federal government $5,000 baby bonus appear to have caused some confusion and panic, but the limit isn’t necessarily as harsh as you might believe. As The Australian reports, while there is an income limit of $150,000, that’s based on the first six months of post-birth income. During that period, many dual-income couples effectively become single-income, so they will still qualify. The bigger change is arguably the move to spreading the payments over a six-month period rather than offering a lump-sum figure.
Muddle over baby bonus eligibility [The Australian] More »
Travel
2:52PM Angus Kidman | At Lifehacker, the adage “you get what you pay for” isn’t one that gets endorsed too often, since in the software world there are so many counter-examples, from Firefox to Gmail to Openoffice.org. However, when it comes to luggage there’s rather more truth to the statement. More »
The Perils Of Cheap Luggage
2:52PM Angus Kidman | At Lifehacker, the adage “you get what you pay for” isn’t one that gets endorsed too often, since in the software world there are so many counter-examples, from Firefox to Gmail to Openoffice.org. However, when it comes to luggage there’s rather more truth to the statement. More »
Work
Limit Your Input To Increase Productivity
2:30PM Jason Fitzpatrick | Chris over at the productivity blog The Art of Non-Comformity wants you to say no. Frequently. So frequently in fact that the quality of the things you say yes to rises exponentially. Chris advocates radical exclusion as a solution for overwhelming demands and new inputs. Rather than stretch yourself thin saying yes to everything and ultimately failing to deliver you should focus on the commitments and projects you really want to make something of: I may or may not have a good excuse for why I failed to honour the commitment, but one thing’s for sure: if I make a habit of it, I will soon lose the trust of the person who had relied on me. To prevent this from happening, I sometimes practice the fine art of radical exclusion. This is where I deliberately ignore or decline any number of inputs, messages, or requests for my attention in order to focus on what I decide is more important. By using his limited reserve to energy and attention to tend to the things most important, the quality of the time he spends on things in turn rises and creates a superior widget—whatever that widget may be: a product, a design, time spent with family. Having spent most of my caffeine-fuelled 20s taking on mountains of projects, I found I too have embraced his notion of radical exclusion. How do you deal with tactfully declining some commitments and negotiating others to be more manageable? Photo by Dave Parker. The Art of Radical Exclusion More »
Money
Plan For Your Wants To Make Budgeting Enjoyable
1:00PM Jason Fitzpatrick | Budgeting, while necessary, is viewed by most as a form of denial. A budget after all tells you what you have and where it is going. Budgeting for your wants is just as important. Phil from the financial blog Wisebread has this to say: More »
Communicate
12:00PM Angus Kidman | No matter how much of a tech fetishist you are, chances are there’s a few board games kicking around your place if you’ve had Christmas in a household with kids in it. The BBC News Magazine offers an interesting perspective on why board games are valuable, ranging from the obvious (Monopoly builds patience) to the less-frequently discussed (building diplomacy skills). Time to break out the Cluedo, methinks.
Collect life lessons as you pass go [BBC News Magazine]
More »
Why Board Games Are Good For You
12:00PM Angus Kidman | No matter how much of a tech fetishist you are, chances are there’s a few board games kicking around your place if you’ve had Christmas in a household with kids in it. The BBC News Magazine offers an interesting perspective on why board games are valuable, ranging from the obvious (Monopoly builds patience) to the less-frequently discussed (building diplomacy skills). Time to break out the Cluedo, methinks.
Collect life lessons as you pass go [BBC News Magazine]
More »
Money
10:03AM Angus Kidman | Christmas-season gadget bargain hunters got a rude shock if they headed to technology price comparison site (and Lifehacker favourite) staticICE, which went offline over the break after outgrowing its hosting capacity. However, there’s now a note on the site promising a relaunch on Monday December 29.
More »
staticICE Due For Relaunch Today
10:03AM Angus Kidman | Christmas-season gadget bargain hunters got a rude shock if they headed to technology price comparison site (and Lifehacker favourite) staticICE, which went offline over the break after outgrowing its hosting capacity. However, there’s now a note on the site promising a relaunch on Monday December 29.
More »
Organise
