Windows only: Microsoft USB Flash Drive Manager is a desktop utility that backs up and restores data from USB storage devices. Select files or entire drives to back up with the Flash Drive Manager. If you use the same flash drive for a variety of purposes and need to rotate the data on it frequently, the USB Flash Manager can create backup profiles to expedite swapping the drive data. The USB Flash Drive Manager is a free download for Windows XP only.

Link-shortening services like TinyURL have become nearly ubiquitous in space-restricted places like email, Twitter, and mobile sites—which is why it's odd it's taken so long for a similar service to offer traffic tracking, thumbnail caching, or other advanced services. Free URL shrinker Bit.ly jumps into that void with a slick set of features. The site remembers the last 15 links you shortened on your landing site, and it stores a thumbnail graphic of each link on its own space. Obsessive traffic-watchers can see how many have clicked through their links, where they found them, and compile all that data from simple XML or JSON feeds. There's a handy bookmarklet for quick Bit.ly conversion, and the developers are working on geo-locating features for the near future. All in all, a viable link-snipping service for web workers and info geeks.

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The How-To Geek offers a quick guide to creating a shortcut that Outlook users and inbox addicts might find helpful/irresistible—a keyboard switch to pull up your Outlook screen, whether it's open, closed, or minimized. The trick is creating or copying a standard Outlook shortcut, and adding a /recycle switch to the end of the "Target" field, forcing Windows to switch to an open window if one's available. The trick makes Outlook easier to keep minimised, and super-convenient to pull up for a quick email check, if that's your style. Got another shortcut that makes good use of the /recycle option? Share it in the comments.

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Editor: Project manager and writer Scott Berkun knows how to get things done when you've got a team of people, a to-do list, and a deadline. Today he offers an excerpt from the updated edition of his best-selling book The Art of Project Management (our review), entitled Making Things Happen.
Prioritisation is always more emotional than intellectual, despite what people say. Just like dieting to lose weight or budgeting to save money, eliminating things you want, but don't need, requires being disciplined, committed, and focused. Saying "exercise is important" is one thing, but ranking it against other important things is entirely different. Many people chicken out of this process. They hedge, delay and deny the tough choices, and the result is that they set up projects to fail. No tough choices means no progress. In the abstract, the word important means nothing.

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Although news of Vodafone's iPhone pricing has been leaking all over the Web - Nick at Gizmodo AU has the scoop - we're going to hold off on analysing those deals until Vodafone decides to make all the details properly public. In the meantime, Danny Gorog at APC has analysed how much data an iPhone user will really consume, and suggests that 100MB a month is actually ample. While I suspect his estimate is a tad on the low side, especially for multimedia users, it's some good food for thought for potential iPhone buyers not already wedded to a carrier.
Vodafone puts iPhone pricing online, then pulls it down [Gizmodo AU]
How much data do you need for iPhone 3G? [APC]

While it added a handful of shows to iTunes recently, the ABC has a much wider selection of programming available on its ABC Shop Download site, which launched today. $2.95 gets you a seven day rental on a whole bunch of titles (there's 250 hours of programming on offer), and there's a handful of free taster episodes available as well. For now, the service is Windows-only, though ABC executives have said Macs will be supported in a future release.  [ABC Shop Download]

Motorola has (somewhat belatedly) added support for BlackBerry Connect to its MOTO Q phones in Australia, meaning that if your company runs a BlackBerry Enterprise Server, you can in principle access it without committing to the whole BlackBerry hardware experience. BlackBerry Connect hasn't exactly set the world on fire - it seems that most people who go BlackBerry go the whole package - but it's always better to have a choice of phones to use than to be stuck with a single provider. You can download the software package on the regional Motorola site.

Having been the first carrier to reveal its full Australian iPhone pricing plans , Optus is now sending out email advice on the best way to score one of the coveted 3G phones when they go on sale on Friday. Its suggestions in a nutshell? People who have paid the $100 pre-registration fee will get priority when queueing, and be allowed into stores two hours before general opening; there's allegedlty a "limited" number of phones that aren't allocated in each store, so your best option might be to head to the nearest local store and try your luck. If there's no more phones in stock, you'll be able to place orders, though there's no word on a delivery timeframe. And don't try cheating by ordering online or by phone: no iPhones will be sold that way until a later date.

Got what you think is a sure-fire idea for a movie but don't know how to get it sold? Idea sharing forum Make'n Movies offers the ability to post your script concepts and have them critiqued and rated by others. While part of us can't help thinking this is just a series of copyright violations waiting to happen, if you're overflowing with script ideas, it might be worth a try. The site is free to use but requires registration. [Make'n Movies]

Windows only: Google Labs has just launched Lively, the latest in a long line of attempts to make 3D avatars an appealing part of social networking. Embedding a Lively 'room' in your own site allows people to chat and interact using their own avatar. Of course, concentrating on the visual aspects of social networking isn't necessarily going to make them a more useful productivity tool, but if you find current systems lacking in design panache, Lively might be worth a spin. Lively is freeware for Windows XP and Vista only, requires a Google account. We found sign-in to be troublesome to say the least; if you've had a positive experience with Lively, share it in the comments. [Lively via Official Google Blog]

Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): Firefox extension Panic provides a simple keyboard shortcut to instantly close all of your current tabs while opening a new, more appropriate one. So let's say you're at a workplace that supports reading Lifehacker (you are boosting your productivity, after all). You could set Lifehacker as your panic URL, then start looking for your boss's birthday present on Amazon. (You are so nice!) When your boss turns the corner, just hit the customisable keyboard shortcut to close your active windows and fire up your panic URL. Of course, Panic's boss key would work just as well for less noble purposes, and it works fast. Panic is free, works wherever Firefox does. For other Panic alternatives, check out previously mentioned apps like the Magic Boss Key, Windows Hidie, and workFriendly.

Windows/Mac only: Free, open-source application Cabos is a peer-to-peer file sharing application with an emphasis on minimalism. That means that unlike other popular P2P apps that run on the Gnutella network like LimeWire or previously mentioned FrostWire, Cabos is completely stripped down and bloat free. Granted, you've probably moved on to downloading files with BitTorrent for most of your file-sharing needs, but for the occasional one-off download, an old-school peer-to-peer app like Cabos is always nice to have in the toolbox.

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Windows only: Donationware application Iconoid reduces screen clutter and gives you more control over your desktop icons' appearance and arrangement. With Iconoid installed, you can automatically hide your desktop icons and taskbar with a click of a button. Choose a custom background colour for your icons' titles, or make it transparent with Iconoid. If you're not using Windows' built-in icon "Auto Arrange" but you do have your icons placed just so, Iconoid can save your icons' positions for easy restoration. Iconoid is a free download (donations requested) for Windows only.

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Writer Kevin Kelly is making a list of technologists who have dropped out of certain kinds of tech completely—like email, mobile phones, or the web. He's got two so far, and the best quote comes from Donald Knuth, author of The Art of Computer Programming, who hasn't used email since 1990. Knuth says, "Email is a wonderful thing for people whose role in life is to be on top of things. But not for me; my role is to be on the bottom of things." He asks readers to send him postal mail instead. [via]

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Windows only: Freeware application Pictomio is an advanced photo and video viewer with an emphasis on supplementing your image viewing experience with a strong dose of eye candy. When you first run Pictomio you'll notice a couple of things: First, it's a beautiful image viewer, packed with several ways to view, organise, browse, and edit your metadata (it's not, however, an image editor). The slideshows are attractive and the application focuses on bringing a good deal of 3D goodies to your image viewing experience. Second, because of Pictomio's impressive graphics, it requires a fairly decent graphics card if you want to get the most from it. As noted in the FreewareGenius post, the video functionality is more of an afterthought, but Pictomio is clearly first and foremost an impressive image viewer. Pictomio is freeware, Windows only.

Firefox only: Our favourite bookmark syncing Firefox extension, Foxmarks, can now sync select sets of bookmarks to certain computers you set up, like at home or at the office. To get started with selective syncing in Foxmarks, log onto My Foxmarks with your usual login, and in the Tools menu, choose "Manage Sync Profiles." Assign bookmarks to your sync profiles—like family bookmarks to the Home profile and office links to the Work profile. Then, on each computer you use Foxmarks on, make sure you've got the latest version 2.1.0.12 installed in Firefox. In the settings dialog, on the Profiles tab, choose which profile that browser instance should sync. While Foxmarks doesn't sync anything else of your Firefox user profile other than bookmarks—the way Google Sync used to, and Mozilla Weave does—this is still a really useful feature for compartmentalising your bookmarks and making sure sensitive or personal links only show up on the computers you want them on.

Millions of homes have an Xbox 360 sitting in the living room, but if you're only using your 360 to game, you're missing out. With some free tools and a little elbow grease, that compact, networked PC sitting under your television can offer a whole lot of useful media functionality. The fact is, your 360 is capable of so much more than just gaming. Let's take a look at a few ways you can get more from your Xbox 360. (We covered some of this territory in our recent guide to what to do with your new cheap Xbox 360, but there's plenty of extra goodness to be had.

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If a timeline is the best way to display the data you have on hand, turn to interactive web application Timetoast. Once you create your timeline, viewers can click on date points to see what is significant about the event. From there they can expand the entry to see pictures and additional information. Timetoast is free to register and use. Here are a few more ways you can make a timeline of events.

Linux only: The latest release of Ubuntu Tweak, a custom-configuring app we've posted about before, makes it even easier to quickly set up an Ubuntu system with the options, looks, and now software you really want. The app's 0.3.2 release includes a compendium of third-party software—such as the Avant Window Navigator, Google Gadgets, GNOME Do, and more—you can easily add to your system and keep updated. Ubuntu Tweak uses a custom repository feed to keep all these apps up to date, so it might get a bit messy with a future upgrade. Still, for helping out newcomers to Ubuntu—or OpenSUSE, Fedora, or other GNOME-based distros—it's seriously helpful. Ubuntu Tweak is a free download for GNOME-based Linux systems only.

Windows only: Portable application NFReader is a no-frills feed reader that fits on your thumb drive. Even though it eschews a wide feature set in favour of a tiny footprint and minimalist interface, NFReader has the basics covered. Import your subscription list via OPML files or manually add feeds in the reader. View individual articles in either basic text or HTML format. If you're looking for an absolutely spartan feedreader without any clutter or feature bloat, NFReader's for you. NFReader is a free download for Windows only.

Windows 2000/XP/2003 only: Free file recovery utility Partition Drive and Mount could be a real panic-reducer for anyone realizing too late that they really needed that file or folder from a just-removed partition. The app scans your hard drive and finds every hint of partitions it can, whether one disappeared during resizing or just stopped showing up. You can then mount the missing section as a drive letter and grab data from the partition, or save an image of the partition elsewhere for backup or recovery. The only restriction on this freeware is a data transfer limit of 512 Kb/s, which is pretty swift for regular home users. Partition Find and Mount is a free download for Windows XP/200x systems only.