Over at the CNET News blog, Steve Tobak poses a question that's probably occurred to anyone stuck on hold: Would you pay a little bit extra for tech and customer support if you knew it would be, well, better? Tobak bases his question on outsourced vs. U.S.-based support, but I'd say there are other factors I'd be willing to pay for—like reaching representatives who won't treat you like a total newbie, or being able to skip the serial number/account authorization step entirely. How about yourself? What kind of tech support annoyances would you pay a small bit more to avoid? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Flash application Pviewr offers a simple interface for generating sleek-looking slideshows from your Flickr or Picasa accounts, or from Flickr keyword searches. While both photo sharing sites have built-in slideshow functions, Pviewr seems to move a bit quicker, and offers helpful download links and presentation options that set it apart and could make it a helpful demonstration tool. For online slideshows using custom uploaded pictures, check out Slidez.

The New York Times' Shifting Careers blog offers up five time management tricks, including Inbox Zero and unnecessary meetings, and strikes upon a truth of effective scheduling: Knowing your time-wasting weaknesses and laying down a firm policy against them.... Read More »

Unless your friend happens to carry the exact mobile phone you're looking to buy, getting a hands-on demonstration isn't always easy. Provider stores are often stocked with non-functioning dummies, or lack the exact model you're eyeing. New web site TryPhone aims to help phone buyers go beyond looks and see how a phone operates when you, say, pull up recent calls or start typing a new text message. The site only carries four popular models at the moment—the iPhone, BlackBerry Pearl, Verizon Juke and Sprint Muziq—but claims it will be adding phones weekly. If you're wavering between two phones, TryPhone's interface preview could help make the decision.

Social money management webapp Wesabe has just added a mobile interface, eliminating the memory gap between purchases and spending records. Along with entering in purchases and withdrawals, Wesabe Mobile lets you see your recent transactions and balances from your cell phone, PDA or Blackberry—a helpful willpower tool for anyone trying to break a once-a-day Starbucks habit (or Tim Hortons, for you northerners). Those with SSL-enabled mobile browsers and an existing Wesabe account can head to m.wesabe.com.

So you've just un-boxed your new laptop, and you've been intrigued by all this talk of Gutsy and Werewolf and the like—but how do you know if a Linux installation will be a revelation or headache? Free Linux guide TuxMobil has more than 7,000 installation stories and guides, covering the tricks and tweaks necessary to get nearly any laptop, PDA or even cell phone up and running with an open source operating system. Between this site and Linux on Laptops, you should be able to find an open source operating system that works on any portable hardware, and save yourself some serious headaches digging through user forums and tech support sites.

Our buds over at Gizmodo have just posted a very interesting writeup of using Leopard's 'invisible backup' tool Time Machine to assist you in a hard drive swap/upgrade. It worked just fine for them, but it does void the warranty and they say there's a trick to it...
The Secret of the Time Machine-assisted Hard Drive Swap [Gizmodo]

We already told you that Dymock's had added downloadable audio books and ebooks to their website in November, and now it has launched its promised ebook reader, the iLiad.
iLiad is about the size of an A5 piece of paper, and weighs in at 389 grams. It has 128mb of memory available to be used, and you can add memory capacity in the form of compact flash or MMC card.You can also read from USB devices.
You can upload books to the iLiad from a computer wirelessly, via USB cable or from a memory card. You can make notes on docuements using its stylus.
It supports a range of formats - PDF, HTML, TXT, JPG, BMP, PNG  and PRC (Mobipocket - the format used for ebooks in the Dymocks store).
I haven't gotten to see an iLiad yet, but they've got them on display at the George Street store in Sydney. They're also selling them on their online store.
The SMH points out that the $899 iLiad failed to gain market share when it was launched in the US about a year ago. But probably the most high profile ebook reader currently on the market, Amazon's Kindle, is unlikely to be sold here.
Unlike  the Kindle, iLiad doesn't allow you to use 'always on' wireless to buy books on the go. The SMH story quoted Dymocks as saying iLiad's internet connectivity is mainly for uploading software updates.
And if the $900 pricetag doesn't phase you, you probably won't mind paying an extra $90 for the leather carry case either.

Earlier today we handed out 10 gold stars to the best desktop and web apps of 2007; now it's time for some less conventional recognitions. Who had the Most Obnoxious Icon, Best Splash Screen, and Best Easter Egg of the Year? Find out after the jump, where we'll also hand out our Most Likely to Make You Downgrade and Most Likely to Turn Completely Evil honors. Then, add your own in the comments. Photo by milesgehm.Without further ado, Lifehacker's First Annual Software Superlatives.

Read More »

Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): The hideBad Firefox extension instantly saves and closes your current browsing session and opens your default homepage with the stroke of a key. Let's see, why might someone want to use this? Well, since the holidays are around the corner, let's say you're doing a little online shopping and that special someone walks in on you. Hit the shortcut, hide the session, and they'll never be the wiser. Now just replace shopping with porn surfing and special someone with anyone and we've probably painted a more realistic picture of how hideBad will likely be used. Restored sessions can be password protected, and on activation hideBad can also clear your history and other incriminating tidbits. Naughty! hideBad is free, works wherever Firefox does. Use in conjunction with Stealther and you've got the ultimate porn mode for Firefox.

Google says "Haere Mai" to New Zealand today with the launch of Google Maps NZ. The official Google blog said the company has offered 'basic mapping' to NZ for some time, but Maps is now offering a localised and customised site which includes full local business search capabilities, plus the Local Business Centre, so that any Kiwi business can get a free listing.
Good news for our Kiwi friends, and to those of us still longing to visit NZ. One day, I will make the Lord of the Rings pilgrimage! :)

Keyboard grottiness is something which most geeks need to deal with, especially if you're undisciplined (like me) and eat and drink while at the computer. The 43 Folders blog today talked about the so-crazy-it-just-might-work solution of putting your keyboard through the dishwasher. Because it should ideally be left for a few days to thoroughly dry out, it sounded like a good thing to try when you're about to head out for your Christmas holiday. So is it time to say goodbye to the Great Coffee Stain of 2007? I have to admit I'm tempted. My little "Quiet Key" could use a bath. Do you dare put your fave keyboard through the dishwasher?

The Great Keyboard Bath of 2007 [43 Folders]

The Cool Tools weblog features some neat-looking, refastenable cable ties for getting all those wires under your desk under control. The Millepede Cable Ties are basically reusable zip ties, and they sound strong! Cool Tools reader David Perry writes:

The holding strength is amazing. I use them for all my wiring harness applications, but I've also connected multiple ties (the larger burly ones) to fasten down car-top luggage.

Car-top luggage! I'm partial to velcro cable ties myself, but I wouldn't mind a package of these in my stocking. A set of 100 will set you back 25 bucks.

I often grumble about the amount of junk mail that pours through my letter box and wish I could nuke it like I do the spam that comes through my email inbox. The waste of paper is just obscene. I glare especially hard at junk mail delivery people when I see them shoving their junk mail into mail boxes with "no junk mail" stickers on them. I thought there was nothing to be done about junk mail - but I was wrong!
The Australian Catalogue Association has a code of conduct saying members and their deliverers will not deliver materials to addresses displaying a "No Advertising Material" sign. This appears to be a voluntary code of conduct, but there's a fairly long list of companies signed up to abide by it. The signees also agree not to litter or deliver when the mailbox is overflowing!
You can contact the Distribution Standards Board to add your address to the "do not deliver" list. They'll also provide you with a free reflective No Advertising Material sticker. Mail a stamped, self addressed envelope to:
DSB Sticker, PO Box 7735, St Kilda Rd, Melbourne Vic 8004.
Note that this won't stop all unsolicited mail - newspapers are exempted, along with political pamphlets.
The DSB also provides a hotline for consumers to report illegal or irresponsible distribution practices. It is 1800 676 136.
I am signing up today!
Thanks for the tip, Mary!

With the push towards "flexible workplaces" employers seem to be cottoning on to the fact that people have different body clocks and work rhythms, so they hit their peak productivity times at different points of the day. If you can adjust your work cycles to accommodate this, you can see some great results, says the New York Times Shifting Careers blog:

"Find your rhythm and schedule around it...Meeting people for lunch always derails me, yet for a while, I regularly met people for lunch. Then I got smart and instituted a fairly strong no lunch policy. Friends and colleagues teased me at first when I announced this. But they soon got used to my new approach, warming up to the idea of afternoon coffees. This works for me right now, but I’m sure I’ll find a new way of working six months from now. I’ll then tinker with my schedule again. Observe your schedule and notice the patterns you follow on your productive days. Then build a schedule around those patterns."

This ties in with another tip she makes: avoid unnecessary meetings. I've had lunch meetings away from my home office every day this week and it really cut into my productive work time. Worse, by the time I was back at my desk I was well and truly into my mid-afternoon brain slump. I'll be more strict with my scheduling from now on!

5 Time-Management Tricks [New York Times, via Web Worker Daily]

Almost all of the software and services we recommend here at Lifehacker are free, but sometimes something's SO good you fork over cash for it. The question is, which apps and services made you open your wallet in 2007? I bought Leopard, Windows Vista, TextExpander, a Mozy account, Parallels Desktop (AND VMWare Fusion) and UltraMon (at readers' recommendation), plus a few others I'm sure I'm forgetting. What about you? Give up the goods in the comments. (Here's last year's thread on this.)

Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): Store and manage music with all those extra gigabytes in your Gmail account with previously mentioned Gmail File Space extension, now known simply as Gspace. Just install the extension, upload some music, and then enter Player mode. From there you can create playlists from the music you've uploaded and play them in the embedded flash player. It's a bit of a hassle setting Flash to play files from Gmail (you have to change your Global Flash settings), but if you jump through the hoops it's pretty cool to be able to store music and build playlists from your Gmail account.

DIY web site Instructables thinks your thumbs are too precious to sit in the path of your clumsy hammer, detailing how to repurpose an old mouse pad as a nail holder. It's a pretty simple idea (in essence, the mouse pad just holds the nail for you, though I think I'd double over the mouse pad to ensure a better hold of the nail), but if you aren't a wiz with the hammer, it might save you a black and blue fingernail or two.

Windows only: Smartly schedule system shutdowns with Poweroff, a small free Windows utility. Similar to previously mentioned WinOFF, (but with a few different features), you can set your computer to shut down after a process ends or at a specific time. Additionally, you can shut down or wake on LAN a remote computer with Poweroff, great if you want to get to the home computer while you're away for the holidays but don't want it killing your electric bill the whole time. Poweroff is a free download for Windows XP.

Web site ShortcutGuide is an illustrated, interactive keyboard shortcut guide for discovering and learning shortcuts in anything from Windows to Gmail. The guide highlights all keys that have shortcut significance, and when you hover your mouse over a shortcut key, it displays what the shortcut does. If you're rocking a Dvorak keyboard layout, ShortcutGuide even rearranges the keyboard layout appropriately. If you're not into traditional shortcut cheatsheets, this interactive guide is certainly worth a bookmark.

When it comes to new technology, 2007's destined to be remembered as "The Year of the iPhone"—but a whole lot more went on in the past 12 months besides Apple's much-hyped gadget launch. From significant upgrades to apps we already know and love, to major operating system releases, to a few new tools that help us get things done (or at least point toward the future), '07 was a good year in software and productivity. Over the last 12 months we've literally reviewed thousands of new releases, features, and upgrades here at Lifehacker. Today we've boiled them all down to a bird's eye view: our top 10 best new and improved desktop and web applications of 2007. Get the list after the jump and vote on your pick of the year.

Read More »

Turns out we should stick to making blog posts instead of t-shirts, so we're closing up shop and EVERYTHING MUST GO, including the productively lazy Lifehacker t-shirt. Get one for the holidays now at the low low price of $17.99, while supplies of these destined-to-be collector's items still last, ya big nerd.

Writer Steve Pavlina says that even if you work 9 to 5 for a company, think of yourself as self-employed—and make career moves from that perspective.

The only true boss of your work is you. Any external boss is just a customer of your personal services business. Maybe you'll do a great deal of business with a single customer, but you're always free to fire a customer you don't like. Saying "I quit" to your boss is essentially the same as saying to a customer, "I'm sorry, but apparently our business is unable to serve you. Perhaps I can recommend a competitor who may be better equipped to meet your needs."

As a former employee and current freelancer, I can attest to what a huge shift in perspective self-employment really requires—making that perceptual leap sooner would've been great for my career as an employee back then. Are you "self-employed" at your job? Tell us about it in the comments.

Microsoft Office Online lists its top templates and downloads of 2007, which includes fax cover sheets, resume templates, clip art, and a personal monthly budget spreadsheet, as well as software like the free (read-only) PowerPoint Viewer and Save as PDF add-in. Personally I've grabbed that "Professional design" fax cover sheet a few times myself this year. All the templates, clip art and downloads are free and work with MS Office (though some may work in OpenOffice.org and other Office-compatible programs as well).

Windows only: Cut through the legalese to the meat of software End User License Agreements (EULA) with freeware application, EULAlyzer. To use it, just run the program whenever you're installing a new software, point it at the licence agreement, and EULAlyzer will analyse and flag the most questionable sections of the agreement. No one really wants (or honestly has the time) to read through every EULA they come across, but quickly popping a EULA into this app could save you the trouble of pop-up ads and other third-party spyware and malware you may not realise you're about to install. We've mentioned this freeware, Windows-only app once before, but having just set up a new Windows partition and installed lots of software, I figured it was worth another look.

This time of year gives people great excuses to do silly things—spend far too much time shopping, go crazy decorating in red, and make and drink ancient cocktails. If you relish tackling that last tradition, Wired has a great guide to making all the classic concoctions, like eggnog, mulled wine, and Tom and Jerries, with variations and preparation tricks for each. As a bonus, you'll learn the drinks' origins and have at least one holiday party conversation starter locked down. For more drink recipes, check out the drink databases ExtraTasty and Webtender. Photo by decor8.

Windows only: Eager to check out all the new hotness in the Firefox 3 beta but don't want to scuff up your perfect Firefox 2 setup? Web log Digital Inspiration points to an elegant solution:

1. Download the Firefox 3 Portable edition.
2. Extract this Firefox 3 installer to some new folder like C:\Firefox3
3. Close your Firefox 2 browser and run the FirefoxPortable.exe file available in the above folder. That's it.

This worked perfectly for me, but it's probably a good idea to back up your Firefox 2 user profile, in case you accidentally open them both or something goes awry. For tips on doing that and more, check out Gina's guide to managing multiple profiles.

Windows/Mac/Linux (Firefox): Those of us a bit too fond of keeping multiple Firefox tabs open know it can be hard to find the right window when their titles get smooshed into unreadable snippets. Firefox extension ChromaTabs assigns permanent colours to individual sites' tabs, helping users distinguish between them. New in version 2.0 is a choice of generating colours based on either the extension's own methods or basing the colours on the sites' favicons—so Mozilla sites, for instance, get a hue based on the red dinosaur icon. For those who would rather track how long a tab has been open, check out similar tab-colouring extension Aging Tabs. ChromaTabs is free and works wherever Firefox 2.0 and up does.

If you've come to know and love your OpenOffice.org platform, new online office suite Ulteo might just pull you away from Google Docs or Zoho, or even the upcoming Microsoft Office Live. Ulteo uses Java to re-create nearly the... Read More »

If you use a free fax-to-email service or just get loads of PDF attachments from, say, HR each week, you probably put off printing each one the moment it arrives. A good friend of tech blog The How-To Geek offers up a customisable Virtual Basic script solution for Outlook that moves PDFs from a certain source into a "Batch Print" folder and lets you run a macro to print the attachments and then delete the messages. Those using something other than Acrobat to open PDFs, such as Sumatra or FoxIt Reader might have to change a line or two in the script, but it's otherwise a simple paste-and-save Outlook tweak.

US-centric: Free web site TrackThePack offers an interface to simultaneously keep tabs on FedEx, DHL, and UPS packages. It sounds similar to previously mentioned PackTrack, but TrackThePack keeps your packages on its own page rather than moving you to... Read More »