annoyances
Work
Bypass Reduced Functionality Without Activating Windows
3:00AM Adam Pash | If you’ve installed Windows 7 (or Vista) but still don’t have a product key, you’ll eventually end up with an activation nag screen and “reduced functionality” until you get a proper key. Still not ready to buy? Temporarily bypass the problem instead. More »
Design
Scan Tailor Cleans Up Scanned Pages
5:30AM Lisa Hoover | Windows/Linux: Tired of fiddling with scanned pages to remove borders, correct alignment and otherwise prettify them before storing or emailing them? Then Scan Tailor could be right up your alley. More »
Travel
10:00AM Angus Kidman | It was only last Thursday that we were emphasising the fact that mistakes happen in online commerce, and Virgin Blue came up with a doozy on Friday, emailing everyone on its customer database and mistakenly telling them they’d been upgraded to Velocity Gold. More »
Virgin Blue Snafu Means No Free Gold Membership For You
10:00AM Angus Kidman | It was only last Thursday that we were emphasising the fact that mistakes happen in online commerce, and Virgin Blue came up with a doozy on Friday, emailing everyone on its customer database and mistakenly telling them they’d been upgraded to Velocity Gold. More »
Fix
Make A Lost Screw Finder From A Blank Media Spindle
3:30AM Sarah Rae Trover | Even folks with steady of hands can lose an important screw while assembling a project. To find your missing pieces, the DIY mavens at Make share how to turn a CD spindle into a vacuum attachment to round up lost parts. More »
Work
iTunes Preview Makes Direct Music Links Slightly Less Annoying
2:30AM Kevin Purdy | When you click a direct iTunes link in a browser, Apple has traditionally opened the music app automatically or asked you to download it at a blank landing page. That landing is now more soft and helpful, though missing song previews. More »
Communicate
8:30AM Angus Kidman | Back in June, the ACCC started cracking down on premium SMS providers (premium in this context usually means ‘overpriced’ and ‘waste of money’). Telstra and Optus are now doing their part by funding a service to check if premium SMS providers live up to their claims. More »
Optus And Telstra Checking Premium SMS Ads
8:30AM Angus Kidman | Back in June, the ACCC started cracking down on premium SMS providers (premium in this context usually means ‘overpriced’ and ‘waste of money’). Telstra and Optus are now doing their part by funding a service to check if premium SMS providers live up to their claims. More »
Fix
Put On A Duvet Cover Without Losing Your Mind
6:00AM Sarah Rae Trover | Duvet covers offer versatility to your down comforter, and although they’re easily removed for washing, putting them back on can be quite the conundrum. A user at video site Videojug offers a quick and simple trick. More »
Work
Cache My Work Restores Your Workspace After A Restart
4:00AM Adam Pash | Windows only: The biggest annoyance that comes with a reboot isn’t the time wasted rebooting — it’s the time wasted getting your workspace back up and running how you had it before you restarted. Free application Cache My Work fixes this problem. More »
Communicate
Gmail Prematurely Marking Some Messages As Read
1:10AM Kevin Purdy | Bloggers, Twitter users, and TechCrunch are reporting that certain Gmail accounts are marking incoming messages as “read” upon delivery, leaving inboxes apparently, falsely empty. More »
Work
