None of this will be new to power Gmailers, but Wired offers a nice howto on getting the most out of Gmail.

PR guy Steve Rubel uses his Gmail account to interact with all his favourite social networking apps (like Twitter and Facebook.) Using email settings and some feed trickery, Rubel doesn't have to go to those sites to get or post updates—it all happens in his inbox. The other day we posted about Fuser, the single inbox for your social networking messages, but Rubel's method uses the inbox you're already in every day to manage your online presence.
Turn Gmail (or any E-mail Account) Into a Social Network Hub

In an attempt to catch up to Google, Microsoft will be rolling out improvements to their Live.com web search engine over the coming weeks.

I've been saving this one for "unproductivity Friday" but I've been squeeing about it for a couple of days now.... We're finally getting the game which will put Nintendo's Wii to the use which all Star Wars nerds have been dreaming off since the console came out... Lightsaber duelling.
I dont' buy a lot of games, and I certainly don't buy games "sight unseen" but I'll be making an exception for this one. :)

LucasArts unleashes the Force on the Wii

Sure we love our Tab Mix Plus, but there's a ton of tabbed browsing features baked right into Firefox that don't necessitate the extra baggage of an extension. Power web surfers need close control of the dozens of tabs they chew through in a day. From extensive keyboard shortcuts to configuration tweaks to mouse manipulation, today we've got our top 10 favourite Firefox extension-free tabbed browsing tips.

Less than two years after their beta release, Yahoo Mail has begun rolling out of beta after releasing an onslaught of innovative feature improvements along the way. On the other hand, a whopping three years into their beta release, Gmail remains one of the most popular but stagnant web-based beta email apps around—and most of Gmail's innovation since its release has come in the form of third-party hacks and extensions. The short of it: Google makes a great beta, but with Gmail they've been much too slow to actually take the application to the next level. Let's take a look at some of Yahoo Mail's killer out-of-the-box features in comparison to what Gmail is offering.

We've all been caught in the tsunami of Halo 3 hype, and it continues to flood us with no floaties in sight. If it's not clothing, it's a branded beverage, or a racing car, or even fancy toys. One would think with this diverse range of stuff that Microsoft's marketing department simply went berko one day and slapped the words 'Halo 3' onto anything they could sell.

Well, it's good to know this is not necessarily true. This Reuters story detailing Microsoft's Halo 3 marketing bonanza mentions a few oddities that never saw the ink of the giant branding machine.
Items that did not make the cut were a "Halo"-themed lottery ticket, lingerie modeled after a female hologram character and toy guns based the game's weapons.Lingerie? It may not have sold well, but I wouldn't have ruled it out entirely...

"Halo" no longer just a game for Microsoft

newVideoPlayer("danceTeaser_gawker.flv", 475, 376);On September 26th at the Berwaldhallen concert hall in Stockholm Sweden, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra will play an interepretation of Martin O´Donnells and Michael Salvatoris's Halo music, the rock band The Backyard Babies will play Halo-inspired music, a Swedish film director's Halo machinima film will be shown, and dancers from the Royal Swedish Ballet will perform a Halo interpretive dance, with Master Chief dancing along. As you can see in the video, a lot of work has gone into making sure old MC can keep up with the ballet company, and put in context the video isn't nearly as disturbing as if I had just dropped it in your laps and said, "Here, he dances". In retrospect, I probably should have done just that. Oh well, hindsight and all that. For more details on the Halo Concert event, visit HaloConcert.com.

Windows/Mac/Linux (Firefox): Map addresses, get directions, manage locations, and preview Google Earth KML files in your sidebar with Firefox extension Mini Map Sidebar. When you're browsing the web and you stumble onto an address you'd like mapped, just pull up the Mini Map Sidebar by clicking the status bar icon, then just drag and drop the address into the sidebar drop box. If you do a lot of mapping with either Google Maps or Yahoo Maps (it works with both), this is a nice little extension. Mini Map Sidebar is a free download, works wherever Firefox does.
Mini Map Sidebar

You thought your rig with Vista, XP and Linux was badass? Try installing 145 operating systems on one PC.

Linux users: You can embed a screensaver as the destop background with two terminal commands. Tech blogger Prashanth Ellina demonstrates how you can create a "video wallpaper" by temporarily removing the nautilus desktop and replacing it with an xscreensaver. An embedded screensaver is light on memory usage, but won't play nice with Compiz Fusion.

Modifying a special user page on Wikipedia can make your browsing session more informative with dynamic tooltips that preload relevant bits when you mouse over article links. There's no bookmarklet, extension or third party web site required: simply add some code to your monobook.js (a special Wikipedia user page you must be logged in to access), and voila! You've got killer tooltips wherever you log in to browse the 'pedia. Thanks, JackHynes!
Tools/Navigation Popups

The Pixar love-in continues here at Lifehacker AU with our second giveaway - tickets to see the Pixar: 20 years of animation exhibition at ACMI (the Australian Centre for the Moving Image) in Melbourne.
The exhibition, made up of artwork and digital media borrowed from the Pixar Animation Studios archives, originated at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and makes its only Australian appearance at ACMI.
The exhibition features over 500 sketches, paintings, sculptures and storyboards revealing how Pixar's characters and worlds are brought to life. In addition to these one-of-a-kind works by artists and sculptors, the exhibition includes spectacular immersive environments and interactive experiences developed by Pixar to extend the magic of their films. ACMI has more information on the exhibition here.
We have five double passes to giveway to the exhibition, which runs until Sunday, 14 October. So if you live in Melbourne (or you'll be visiting Melbourne between now and then, and promise you'll go to the exhibition while you're in town!), then submit your best tip to be in a chance to win a double pass!
We'll be giving the free passes to readers who submit the top five tips on anything to do with digital video, photo or animation. Could be a tip on editing, could be a tip on taking good photos - it's up to you how high or low tech you go.
To enter, leave your best tips here in the comments section. If you have multiple tips, leave multiple comments - go mad!
Entries close at 7.59am AEST next Friday - the 21st of September. See here for the official terms and conditions.

And thanks to our friends at ACMI for donating the prizes! :)

Keep your pockets lined with the AARP's guide to avoiding money traps. Not just for the 50+ set, these tips can be applied broadly to all working folk. The AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) simplifies commonly misunderstand financial concepts like the 401K match, variable annuities, investment fees and home equity.
AU - some of this is US-centric, like the 401K stuff, but there are other more general pieces of advice suitable for Aussies too. Avoid These Money Traps