Extreme Tech has reviewed the latest release of the PC-BSD desktop operating system, code named da Vinci. It's written from the point of view of how simple it is to install and get going. It gets high marks for ease of installation and use, including adding and removing software.

Notable features of PC-BSD 1.4 are:

• Moving the FreeBSD base version to 6-STABLE
• Xorg 7.2
• KDE 3.5.7
• Compiz-Fusion 0.5.2
• Support for Flash7 in native BSD browsers (Firefox, Opera and Konq)
• Official NVIDIA drivers to simplify activating Hardware acceleration.

PC-BSD uses KDE 3.5 as its desktop, which may be a pro or con depending on your personal preference. While the review was a good one, overall though, I didn't come away with a compelling reason to chose PC-BSD over another OS. Your mileage may vary - if you're a PC-BSD fan, let us know why in comments.

An OS for the rest of us: PC-BSD [Extreme Tech]

We've mentioned a few work timers lately, such as the Title Bar Browser Timer, which lets you set how long you'd like to be able to websurf before getting a message telling you to get back to work, or Using a Digital Timer to stay on track and get things done.

But what if you want to track your worktime because you bill your clients by the hour, or need to know how long a job takes you? Then a time tracker may be what you need. The Freelance Switch came up with 6 timetracking tools today, including previously mentioned Cashboard. Several of them are freeware or offer free basic versions too.

6 Cool Tools to Track Your Time [Freelance Switch]

Internet security blogger Chris Soghoian has written up five Firefox extensions he recommends for safeguarding your personal details and privacy, including one called CustomizeGoogle, which intrigued me. This addon automatically sends your Gmail and Google calendar traffic using the more secure https protocol. It also blocks Google text and banner ads, as well as preventing Firefox from sending your cookie information, or information about the links you've clicked, back to the big G.

Five must-have security/privacy extensions for Firefox [CNET]

Via CNET - The rumoured Google phone may be announced as early as next week, according to a report in Fortune magazine.

Taiwanese handset maker HTC (who already have a touch screen phone on the market here in Australia) are mooted to be lining up a phone running a Google OS by the end of the year. The catch is? One of the industry analysts quoted in the article says the phones won't be for sale, but are demos which will be provided to developers as proof of concept. The rumour mill has it that Google will partner with a number of handset manufacturers rather than putting its own device on the market.

If the idea of lockin to one phone company, or of Apple's overzealous policing of third party apps on the iPhone (or hell, the fact that we won't have the iPhone here until some time next year!) has you looking around for iPhone alternatives, then like me you'll be keeping an eye on this one.

Yesterday, a Thomas Crampton YouTube interview with Ogilvy China’s Kaiser Kuo on Chinese web development got the blogosphere all atwitter, particularly his claim that Chinese P2P file sharing network Blin.cn achieves speeds up to 50 times faster than Bit Torrent.

Tech Crunch's Duncan Riley blogged about it here, saying:

"It’s interesting to consider the broader ramifications of what Kuo is saying. His general argument is that without the artificial market restrictions imposed on P2P networks in the United States by the RIAA and the MPAA, Chinese companies have been free to innovate and are now producing superior web technology in P2P sharing, and a whole range of related industries."

Today, the Torrent Freak blog weighed in and called out the tech behind Kuo's claims:

"First of all, if Kaiser Kuo’s claim is right this would mean that on average, BitTorrent users would use less than 2% of their available bandwidth when downloading. This is an absurd claim, because most people know that it’s fairly easy to max out your connection, even on a private tracker.

It gets even more hilarious if we look at the download speed Kaiser Kuo is bragging about. He tells us that it downloads 2.2% of a DVD quality episode of the TV-series “24″ in only 3 minutes. If we assume that he’s talking about the 700Mb DVD quality file, this means that he reached an average download speed of 88kB/s. I have no clue under what stone Kuo has been living, but 15.4Mb in 3 minutes is not going to impress many people."

It's quite a rant, the upshot seems to be don't hold your breath for a P2P superhighway anytime soon.

50x Faster Than BitTorrent? Dream On! [Torrent Freak]

Like a few geeks I know, I pricked up my ears when I first heard about Asus' Linux-based mini-laptop, the Eee PC.  The sub-1kg, 7 inch laptop is launching in North America in a few weeks, and is expected to sell for between $US300 and $400 depending on configuration. While the specs haven't been confirmed, if they follow those on the ASUS global website, the top end model will feature an 8GB solid-state drive, 1GB of RAM, a built-in webcam, and up to 3.5-hour battery life.

The CNET writeup points out that ASUS is trying to position the Eee PC as a web surfing 'gadget' rather than a fully fledged PC: "The emphasis is on a simplified interface that lets users access e-mail, send text messages, and share files."

But the writer adds what I suspect a few  Linux geeks will be thinking: "Add in your favorite Webware, and it's possible you might not even need a full-fledged laptop."

I haven't yet been able to find out *which* flavour of Linux it's running, or when we'll see them in Australia, but I'm looking forward to checking it out. (Photo: Asus) 

 Asus officially announces Eee PC [CNET]

US-centric: We've already told you how to use your Zune as a portable hard drive so your Zune can double as an external drive, but if you've tried the hack and had some trouble dragging files to your Zune,... Read More »

It's sometimes hard to believe we've come this far, but a good portion of workers now rely on the internet to keep up with their daily grind—which means that when the internet goes down, your work can come to a screeching halt. All of the information you count on pulling from Gmail, all of your quick research lookups on Wikipedia—they're all out the window. For weblog Web Worker Daily, a downed internet connection means an opportunity to do a tonne of work:

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Windows only: Popular freeware image viewer, editor, and processor IrfanView receives a significant update with several new features, most notably a new Paint plug-in that adds callout arrows and other simple drawing tools to IrfanView. We're not talking Photoshop here, but we are talking the same lightning-fast image viewing, robust keyboard shortcuts, screenshot capabilities, and tiny memory footprint that make IrfanView so popular. And, like a certain beloved browser, IrfanView has tonnes of plug-ins designed to extend the functionality of the application if you're looking for more from it. IrfanView is freeware, Windows only. Thanks Jack!

Gmail users: If you regularly compose emails to a set group of multiple recipients, it's time you gave Gmail's contact groups a go. To create a new group, click the Contacts link in the sidebar and then the Groups tab. Click the Create Group link and enter in every address you want in your group and give the group a name. Next time you need to compose an email to the group, just start typing the group name. Gmail adds the group to your autocomplete list, so you can add countless contacts to your email with just a few keystrokes. This isn't a new feature by any means, but it's hard not to appreciate a good grouping implementation when you need to regularly communicate with a set group of contacts.

Seamlessly download BitTorrent files using previously mentioned browser-based BitTorrent client BitLet with the new BitLet Bookmarklet. After dragging the bookmarklet to your browser toolbar, just head to your favourite BitTorrent site (most popular trackers are supported), search for a torrent, and then click the BitLet Bookmarklet. Direct BitLet download links will appear next to each download link, and clicking them will open the BitLet applet and automatically start your download. Granted, BitLet isn't really for regular BitTorrent use, as desktop clients like uTorrent are lightweight and much more feature-rich, but it's a very handy tool for those times you can't use or install your favourite client.

Most desktop software and web sites are built to grab your attention in one way or another, and the constant temptations are tough to resist. While modern computing offers amazing and infinite opportunities, there are times when we need to do heads-down, focused work like programming, writing or number-crunching. If the 28 overlapping windows, 38 open tabs and stacks of button-studded toolbars are keeping you from zeroing in on your important work, it's time to arm yourself with some attention protective devices. After the jump, get our top 10 desktop distraction blockers. Hilarious image by Asher Sarlin.

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Firefox user Jimmy R. demonstrates how to set up and use three of his favourite video quick searches for quickly downloading YouTube and Stage6 videos and looking up video information on IMDB.

Google launches Docs Mobile, a slimmed-down view of Google Docs and Spreadsheets for your handheld. At the top of the narrow page is a search box, followed by a list of recent documents with links to view (but not edit) spreadsheets and documents (presentations are not viewable.) You can also navigate folders, and move between rows and columns or to a particular cell in spreadsheet view.

Wired's How To wiki takes on Usenet, the old school network of newsgroups rich with download gold but steep in the learning curve department, which most of us internet Johnny-come-lately's never use.

The main advantage of Usenet is speed. P2P networks like BitTorrent and Kazaa depend on peers for download speed and reliability. Usenet, on the other hand, depends largely on the speed of your connection. There's no slow peer connection to choke your downloads. Combine those advantages with the fact that Usenet files are generally posted by trusted members, and thus less likely to contain malicious code and you begin to see why its popularity is growing.

Music streaming web site Ezmo might not be the first kid on the online music vault block, but a web-accessible interface and Last.FM integration could make it a workplace-friendly alternative to webapps like Anywhere.FM. The site offers programs for desktop uploading, but I wanted to go the "manual" route—and saw Firefox crash once or twice because of it. Ezmo accepted MP3 and M4A files, but ignored an Ogg Vorbis audio file I tried to put up, even though it supposedly accepts that and Windows Media files as well. The site's interface might not have that iTunes-friendly look that Anywhere.FM boasts, but it is dead simple. For now, the site offers supposedly unlimited storage space, sharing with up to 10 friends and audio at the standard MP3 fidelity rate. To put yourself in control of your streaming music, check out our guide to streaming music to any PC with Orb. Thanks, Lhdaland!