Seems like some Aussies who didn’t want to wait for the first official local Android phone and decided to import them or buy them via eBay have had a few nasty surprises. David Neiger at APC reports that some imported G1 Android phones consistently try to contact T-Mobile in the US, resulting in some hefty SMS bills for unwary customers. As Neiger points out, phone importing is rife with these kinds of risks, especially with carrier-locked models.
BILL EXPLOSION: Google Android silently phones home [APC]Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): The Tabhunter Firefox extension adds quick keyboard-based tab switching to Firefox—sort of like Launchy for Firefox tabs. Just invoke Tabhunter, start typing, and Tabhunter searches for a match through all your tabs. Tabhunter searches only the titles of your open pages, but the search is very fast and works as advertised. You can invoke Tabhunter from the keyboard (Ctrl+Alt+T by default), start typing, and find the tab you want more quickly than you can likely switch over to your mouse and back. Granted, Tabhunter is decidedly for keyboard shortcut lovers, but if you fall in that group and you regularly have a browser full o’ tabs, it’s a great extension. Tabhunter is a free download, works wherever Firefox does. If you’re not quite into the idea, I’ve always liked previously mentioned LastTab for boosting my tab-switching skills. Unfortunately it’s been buggy for me ever since Firefox 3, so Tabhunter is a welcome entry. Either way, your mileage may vary. Let’s hear what you prefer in the comments.
Tabhunter [Firefox Add-ons via Mozilla Links]When your toilet’s got rings and lime scale stains and you’ve got no cleaning gear on hand, grab a can of Coke out of the fridge. According to wikiHow, you can pour Coke into a dirty toilet and the carbonic, citric, and phosphoric acids in it will break down stains, especially if you can leave it overnight to do the work. (Soda water will work too, without all the sugary residue.) Be warned though: this technique won’t save you from the dreaded brushing of the bowl itself. How to Clean a Toilet With Coke [wikiHow]
Windows only: Free application Disable Startup keeps just any old app from adding itself to your list of startup applications, keeping your boot time snappy and RAM happy. At its core, Disable Startup is a startup manager similar to the built-in Windows System Configuration Utility. It does the trick if you just want to use it for that, but it’s really nothing special strictly as a startup manager. If you’re willing to run Disable Startup in your system tray (which will cost you about 4MB), it’ll closely monitor your startup applications for new additions. The app gives you the option to disable all new startup entries, warn you when new startup apps are added, or allow any new additions. Likewise, Disable Startup can prevent new software installations from changing your IE start page. It may not be worth the added system tray app for some, but if you install a lot of software that ends up sneaking entry after entry into your list of startup apps, this simple utility is perfect. Disable Startup is a free download, Windows only.
Disable Startup [via Life Rocks 2.0]BitTorrent weblog TorrentFreak reports on a new piece of malware with a strange bent: If it infects your computer, this trojan will prevent you from accessing popular BitTorrent sites The Pirate Bay and Mininova. It does so by modifying the hosts file on your computer. If by chance you’ve been affected, check out the TorrentFreak post for more details.
It’s a new year and we’ve got some new changes happening around here: Mr. Adam Pash will take over as lead editor of Lifehacker’s parent US site on January 16th. (Angus Kidman will continue to run Lifehacker AU.) After a wild and woolly four years at the helm, I’m stepping down from the site lead position to work on Some New Stuff on a day-to-day basis in 2009. To be clear, my decision has nothing to do with the big bad economy or any kind of scandalous company blow-up—it’s just time for me to move onto new projects. It’s tough letting go of something I love so dearly, but it’s easier knowing it will be in very capable hands.
No one knows the ins and outs of this site and its community as well as Adam, who’s been posting away at my side for over three years now. Adam has authored some of the most popular articles that have appeared on these pages, and he’s always had a keen sense of what makes a cool and exciting project or time-saving trick. I can’t wait to see where he takes things this year and beyond. As for me, well, you haven’t seen the last of me yet. I’ll be contributing a weekly feature and some fun new coding projects to the site starting in February. Freed up from the grind of daily news editing, I’ll be able to dedicate more time and research into these posts and projects, so I promise they’ll be good.
I’ll be around publishing posts, passing torches, dabbing tears, and tying up loose ends until January 15th. Prepare yourself for an even mushier goodbye post in two weeks. Photo by Nenyaki.
iPhone/iPod touch only: Free online sharing service Soonr has launched an iPhone/desktop app combo that gives you 500MB of space to keep your Windows or Mac documents synced to your device. After signing up at Soonr’s site, installing the desktop software from an emailed link, and installing the free iPhone app, you’re pretty much on your way. Soonr’s “Desktop Agent” software lets you choose what folders or types of files get synchronised to your device and how much bandwidth gets used doing it. Soonr’s app lets you preview Microsoft Office, PDF, text, and image files, and even lets you print to networked printers if your iPhone/touch is connected to a Wi-Fi network. Check out screenshots of Soonr’s desktop application (on Windows XP) and iPhone capabilities below:
