Windows only: Freeware application Secunia Personal Software Inspector is sort of like Windows Update for your installed software, monitoring your installed apps and notifying you of available security updates. When you run your first scan after installing Secunia, you'll be presented with a list of insecure apps that have available updates, "end-of-life" apps that are no longer being supported by the developer, and patched apps that have the latest security updates. Keep in mind that Secunia is not an anti-virus software, but more of a preventative tool for ensuring that your software is secure as it can be. For a less security-focused angle, check out mass-update apps File Hippo Update Checker or UpdateStar. Secunia PSI is freeware, Windows only.

The Geek Tonic weblog points out a lesser-known Netflix feature that allows you to put your account on hold for up to 90 days, during which you won't be charged for your subscription and you can continue managing your queue. The account hold feature is a great way to save a few bucks when you're about to head on an extended vacation or you know you'll be too busy to really use you account. It's also a good way to decide whether or not you're getting your 15 bucks' worth in the first place if you've considered canceling your account.

All platforms: Productivity template designer Dave Seah is at it again with an updated Concrete Goals Tracker printable form. Designed to answer the question, "When is something worth doing?", you fill in your desired results next to numerical totals, then rate your tasks by number. Add up your totals for each day of the week to see how efficient you've been with your time. Using the Concrete Goals Tracker requires some serious time-logging, but if you feel like you're losing hours spinning your wheels on unimportant tasks, this is the tool for you. Available as an editable PDF or Excel spreadsheet, the Concrete Goals Tracker is a free download for all platforms. (See also Dave's 2008 compact calendar form.)

Mac OS X only: Free application iTunesFS turns your iTunes library and iPod—including playlists—into browsable filesystems in the Finder. That means that you can use iTunesFS to do things like export full playlists, similarly to what iTunes Export does for Windows users. iTunesFS requires that you've installed previously mentioned MacFUSE, then just run the app whenever you want to browse and copy songs, albums, or playlists from your iTunes library or iPod (be sure you've enabled disk use). For a similar MacFUSE tool that works just with iPods, check out previously mentioned iPodDisk.

Lifehacker editor alum D. Keith Robinson hasn't written for us in some time, but he's still keeping things simple and productive. Today he wrote up his personal keys to getting stuff done: capturing ideas, keeping piles under control, focusing on the task at hand, and an empty inbox. Our hearts burst with pride! Check out Keith's post on de-cluttering your digital space from '06.

US-centric: Google Maps mashup WhatsOpen pinpoints local businesses just like any other local search, then goes one step further by indicating which stores are currently open and which aren't. It's a simple concept, but if you're actually using local search to find somewhere to grab a cup of coffee or get something to eat, it's a really useful idea. Currently the search needs a little refining, and the public beta is California only (sign up for the full beta for US, EU, and China support), but this is one feature I'd kill to see integrated into Google Maps proper.

UPDATE - a couple of people pointed out that the video link wasn't working anymore, but it seems to have been reposted here.

Back in October, David Allen gave a talk on Getting Things Done at Google, called "GTD and the Two Keys to Sustaining a Healthy Life and Workstyle," and now the video clip's available on YouTube. While this is definitely a worthy watch for GTD followers (or those who aspire to be), if you don't have a spare 45 minutes, the two keys are:

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Weblog Ask the PC Guide's video demonstration above delves into some of the finer points of what it takes to master Gmail. The demo illustrates usage of labels, filters, a few keyboard shortcuts, and vacation autoresponders. It's not a bad intro to advanced Gmail usage, but if you really want to kick Gmail up a notch, grab Better Gmail 2 and supercharge your Gmail Lifehacker-style.

Mac OS X only: New task manager Things, now in alpha testing, is a promising new option for Mac users looking to get organised on the desktop. Structurally, Things categorises tasks in a very Getting THINGS Done way (get it?), with an inbox, projects, and "next" (or Next Actions) view, as well as support for contacts to whom you may delegate tasks and tags (which you can use for context.) After the jump, check out some screenshots of the alpha version of Things.

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The iPhone certainly didn't invent the mobile browser, but it does seem to be the mobile device that's bringing mobile browsing to the mainstream. The benefits of mobile browsing are obvious: You can access the web from practically anywhere and at any time—assuming you carry your phone with you wherever you go. Mobile browsing has always had a couple of obstacles, though, namely that carriers' data plans have often been very expensive and most (pre-iPhone) mobile browsers have traditionally been unwieldy. Again, those obstacles are slowly breaking down, so now that many of you are sporting shiny new post-holiday phones, we're wondering:

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When it comes to the Google search box, you already know the tricks: like searching for exact phrases in quotes like "so say we all" or searching a single site using site:lifehacker.com gmail. But there are many more oblique, clever, and lesser-known search recipes and operators that work from that unassuming little text box. Dozens of Google search guides detail the tips you already know, but today we're skipping the obvious and highlighting our favorite obscure Google web search tricks.

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Productivity blogger Merlin Mann recaps his January "Fresh Starts and Modest Changes" podcasts and posts in an attempt to make New Year's resolution season less unrealistic and more doable.

The point, as ever, is that change is not to be found in the play-acting and sense of personal revolution that the resolution -- good-natured as its intention may be -- demands of us. The real cipher is to just get into the habit of noticing the small things that might bring about outsized improvements in our lives.

Photo-project site Photojojo offers a simple guide to creating a cheap fisheye lens—the kind that give great skateboarding and sports shots their all-encompassing look—for a digital SLR camera. The only ingredients are a pair of far-sighted glasses (the thicker the lenses, the better) and black electrical tape. You won't have an easily swap-able attachment or a professional wide-angle lens, but you capture some pretty unique angles, as shown in the related Flickr set. Point-and-shoot enthusiasts can get similar results with an $11 wide angle lens.

Web-alerts.com, a free web service that forwards RSS updates to your mobile phone by SMS message, offers a helpful way to stay on top of important-but-infrequently-updated web sites. Type in a site's URL or feed address, then your mobile phone number, and you're on your way to mobile updates. You can also preview your feed messages and have only updates with certain keywords sent along. We've previously highlighted a similar RSS-to-SMS solution that utilized Gmail and a feed-by-email service, but Web-alerts.com seems to do the same thing without the go-between.

If you've got both a weight loss goal for the new year, don't spend money (or gift cards) and time obsessing over the latest and greatest diet book. That's according to the New York Times' personal health columnist, who offers a helpful reminder that if you cut your calorie intake below your maintenance level, you will slowly but surely lose weight:

My advice here is to save your money, toss out (or donate to a soup kitchen) the leftover high-calorie holiday fare, gradually reduce your portion sizes and return to your exercise routine (or adopt one if you spent too much of '07 on your sofa).

It can seem like almost everything you look at on the web has an RSS feed to subscribe to—until you find the web site that's both vitally important and entirely feed-less. Enter Dapper, a free, advanced web app that walks users through a process of creating a feed for sites, or even just portions of sites, that lack one. We've previously mentioned tools like FeedYes that promise a similar function, but Dapper offers a lot more customisation, letting you choose which sections of a site should be delivered to your reader, a custom iCalendar or iGoogle page, and many more options. Combine Dapper with a tool like Yahoo Pipes, and you've got a direct line to any update on the web.

A few months ago, 43 Folders writer Matt Wood realized he was running five blogs, two Flickr accounts, a del.icio.us page, and a regular stream of Twittr, IM, and email messages. This year, he's resolved to trim his online "commitments," and he offers a few tips on how anyone can do the same. Wood recommends casting a hard, cold gaze at your online activities for the sake of prioritizing, one login at a time:

Take baby steps - Chances are there's one online outlet that you know you just don't have the heart to maintain anymore, be it a blog, Twitter, Facebook, whatever. Drop one of them, then see if any other candidates fall to the bottom by attrition.

We're thrilled to announce a new member of the family this morning: our sister site io9 is everything and anything you want to know about science fiction, futurism, space, comics, hackers, science, and all manner of geeky culture. Edited by my friend Annalee Newitz (who is my personal guru of all things Battlestar Galactica), io9's promising beginning already includes an Incredible Hulk video clip, several robots and Star Trek posts. Our productivity levels just took a dive.

AU - one of the commenters pointed out there's some nudity on the io9 front page, so consider this link NSFW. :)

If you could look back on a week, a month or even a year's worth of how you felt, how you slept, and your caffeine and alcohol intake, what would it say about you? Morale-O-Meter, a free embeddable web app, provides a space to log those morale indicators, graph them, and compare the results with friends, or even embed them in a blog or web site. The site can send daily email reminders to those who tend to fall off the daily entry wagon, and 43 Things users can use their existing login to start their own graphs. If looking back at your results makes you realize your job is wreaking havoc on your life, consider trying a few ways to deal with burnout without quitting.