Update: Gizmodo confirms the announcement. The good news: CNET has sources saying the three largest music labels will allow Apple to offer music downloads free of copy-protection. And the bad news might not be that bad.

In exchange for the DRM-free tracks, Apple will reportedly allow labels to push three tiers of pricing. Older songs from the archives will likely get cheaper than 99 cents, songs that are newer and “midline” (i.e. not big hits) will inhabit the familiar 99 cent mark, and newer, bigger hits will fetch higher, unnamed dollar amounts.

If announced at the Macworld conference today—which our gadget-obsessed cousins at Gizmodo are, of course, covering live—there could also be over-the-air 3G downloads coming to iPhone owners, and DRM dropped from everything in the iTunes store on launch. As Greg Sandoval at CNET points out, though, that leaves a question mark on tracks already purchased through iTunes.

Will variable, DRM-free pricing make you a (new or returning) iTunes customer? Tell us your take in the comments.

• Source: Lifehacker

The New York Times takes a revealing look at self-handicapping excuses—like “I barely slept the night before the test”—and why we create them, as well as the extremely unlikely chance that anyone else buys them.

The short version of the research and studies cited is that we all do it, in varying amounts, to protect our fragile egos. It’s a two-way victory: If you ace a project, you did great despite your car having trouble, your cat dying, being sick, and not having hardly heard the initial presentation. If not, well, hey, you know why.

If you’re a regular self-handicapper, though, you can grow too attached to whatever you use without knowing it, whether it’s alcohol, rule-defying, sleep-deprivation, or whatever convenience you cling to. Those who study self-handicapping, though, offer a seemingly devious way to go at it another way and benefit—namely, get someone else to deliver your excuses:

In a recent study, James C. McElroy of Iowa State University and J. Michael Crant of Notre Dame had 246 adults evaluate the behavior of characters in several workplace anecdotes. The participants’ impressions of a character began to sour after the second time the person cited a handicap.

“What happens here is that if you do it often, observers attribute your performance to you, but begin to view it as part of your disposition, i.e., you’re a whiner,” Dr. McElroy wrote in an e-mail message. “But you can avoid this happening if someone else does the handicapping for you, and surprisingly enough, even if they do it often.”

Which cliched excuses and handicapping preambles do you wish you could banish, whether in yourself or co-workers? Let’s hear your take on pre-emptive defeat in the comments. Photo by pattista.

• Source: Lifehacker

The good news: CNET has sources saying the three largest music labels will allow Apple to offer music downloads free of copy-protection. And the bad news might not be that bad.

In exchange for the DRM-free tracks, Apple will reportedly allow labels to push three tiers of pricing. Older songs from the archives will likely get cheaper than 99 cents, songs that are newer and “midline” (i.e. not big hits) will inhabit the familiar 99 cent mark, and newer, bigger hits will fetch higher, unnamed dollar amounts.

If announced at the Macworld conference today—which our gadget-obsessed cousins at Gizmodo are, of course, covering live—there could also be over-the-air 3G downloads coming to iPhone owners, and DRM dropped from everything in the iTunes store on launch. As Greg Sandoval at CNET points out, though, that leaves a question mark on tracks already purchased through iTunes.

Will variable, DRM-free pricing make you a (new or returning) iTunes customer? Tell us your take in the comments.

• Source: Lifehacker

Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): The Tabhunter Firefox extension adds quick keyboard-based tab switching to Firefox—sort of like Launchy for Firefox tabs. Just invoke Tabhunter, start typing, and Tabhunter searches for a match through all your tabs.

Tabhunter searches only the titles of your open pages, but the search is very fast and works as advertised. You can invoke Tabhunter from the keyboard (Ctrl+Alt+T by default), start typing, and find the tab you want more quickly than you can likely switch over to your mouse and back.

Granted, Tabhunter is decidedly for keyboard shortcut lovers, but if you fall in that group and you regularly have a browser full o’ tabs, it’s a great extension. Tabhunter is a free download, works wherever Firefox does. If you’re not quite into the idea, I’ve always liked previously mentioned LastTab for boosting my tab-switching skills. Unfortunately it’s been buggy for me ever since Firefox 3, so Tabhunter is a welcome entry. Either way, your mileage may vary. Let’s hear what you prefer in the comments.

• Source: Lifehacker

iPhone/iPod touch only: If recession budgeting meant choosing an iPhone/iPod touch over a Kindle when the dust cleared this holiday season, you’re in luck: Stanza is a free and fantastic ebook reader for your iPhone.

The free application comes pre-loaded with several sources for downloading free or public domain books (including the entire Project Gutenberg library), so you can easily download books like The Art of War, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, or Walden in just a few seconds without spending a dime.

However, if you want to get new books, Stanza also comes with a bookstore with which you can purchase popular new titles as well. Prices range from $8 to $15 based on the books I browsed. The reader itself is fully customizable, so if you don’t like the standard black text on white background look, you can just as easily pick something that suits you. Stanza is a free download for the iPhone or iPod touch.

If you can’t imagine reading from your iPhone or iPod touch in public, consider turning your iPhone into a Moleskine book so it still appears to onlookers like you’re reading dead-tree style.

• Source: Lifehacker

Firefox with Greasemonkey: The Gmail Unread Message Count in Favicon Greasemonkey user script displays your unread message count on the Gmail site favicon.

If you’re not familiar with the concept of the favicon, it’s the small icon that appears next to the address bar or in the tab and helps identify which sites are open in which tab (like the little ‘lh’ that Lifehacker uses as its favicon). With this script installed, the favicon gets even more useful by showing your unread count in addition to identifying which tab holds your Gmail account. The unread number glows brighter with each new message you receive, and it maxes out at 10. The improved favicon is a perfect compliment to the previously mentioned FaviconizeTab extension, which strips all the text from tabs so all you’re left with is the favicon, but I also wouldn’t be surprised to see this incorporated in Better Gmail sometime in the future (it’s very similar to the already included Show Inbox Count First script).

It’s a simple little script, but it’s a brilliant tweak. Gmail Unread Message Count in Favicon is a free download, requires Firefox and the Greasemonkey extension.

• Source: Lifehacker

In 2008, power users tested a parade of new webapps and software bearing the “beta” disclaimer. Take a look at the beta releases that knocked your socks off the most this past year.

Firefox 3
Prior to its Guinness World Record-setting launch in June, in true open-source fashion Mozilla rapidly iterated Firefox 3 beta releases and brave testers ate ‘em up, excited by the Firefox 3’s promising new features.

Windows 7
While not officially out in beta form until yesterday, the Windows 7 Preview release made the rounds on file-sharing networks across the internet. Due out in 2009, here are the top 10 things to look forward to in Windows 7.

Ubuntu “Hardy Heron” and “Intrepid Ibex”
New Ubuntu releases always score high on the interest-o-meter for free software advocates, and the beta releases of version 8.04 “Hardy Heron” and 8.10 “Intrepid Ibex” were no different.

Google Chrome
Just this month it officially graduated out of beta, but when the Google Chrome beta launched in September it added renewed interest and heightened competition in the ongoing browser wars. See our Power User’s Guide to Google Chrome.

PwnageTool
Jailbreaking your iPhone and iPod touch to run non-Apple-approved apps was one of your favorite activities of 2008, so when one of the easy tools to do that—PwnageTool—updated to support Apple’s new iPhone software, you rushed to get the download. These days PwnageTool is on version 2.2 and supports the most recent iPhone software version; Windows users want to grab QuickPwn to do their jailbreak.

DropBox
The private, invite-only beta release of DropBox generated the longest comment thread here on Lifehacker all year—made of readers begging for an invite. Nowadays, invites are no longer necessary for the public file storage service. See how Adam uses DropBox as the ultimate password syncer.

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1
Mozilla and Google aren’t the only companies working on a new browser. This little organization called Microsoft still holds the majority marketshare of browser usage, and the next iteration of Internet Explorer— IE 8 Beta 1—is a preview of what the rest of the world will be using on to browser the web next year.

XBMC Atlantis
Though it graduated from beta this past November, the public beta of XBMC Atlantis’ promise to bring the favorite open-source media player to all hardware got lots of interest and attention.

Ubiquity Firefox Extension Prototype
One of the most interesting bits of browser innovation we saw this year, the Ubiquity prototype adds key commands and webapp integration that makes you go “ok, we’re living in the future.” See the Ubiquity video demonstration to get a preview.

BumpTop Beta
BumpTop, the eye-popping new desktop interface for Windows turns heads in its amazing demonstration video, as a user moves, piles, fans, and lassos digital files the way you would paper documents on a physical desktop. You’ve still got to sign up to get an invite into the BumpTop beta to try it out yourself.

What were the most exciting beta releases of 2008?
( surveys)

• Source: Lifehacker

If you need a logo but you’re lacking the design chops to whip one up, score a free one at LogoInstant.

LogoInstant is a design service that cranks out a new logo every day. The logos are completely free for both personal and commercial use and come in a layered Adobe Photoshop source file so you can edit the name or make more advanced changes. For more logo resources, check out LogoYes a flash based logo creator.

• Source: Lifehacker

We asked our editors and contributors to create a blue-sky wishlist for all things productivity and software in 2009. Read on for their responses, and to contribute your own do-wants for the new year.

We asked our respondents to be realistic—more “Gmail gets better RSS features” than Brain-Reading Omega Organizer—but also think in broader terms about what would help them get more things done, or just live their lives a bit easier. Here’s what they had to say:
Photo by le.

Gina Trapani
Editor

Stronger filters and easier ways to hear from people and about things
I care about, like:

• Facebook friend prioritization based on communication frequency,
  auto-prioritizing mentions of stuff I like (like “triathlon” or “Mad
  Men”).
• Auto-email smarts—make that important message from the boss or my
  Mom jump out because I’ve established that this is a VIP-to-me without
  manually setting up a filter.
• Better contact unification and management all around, so I know that
  Kevin Purdy on Facebook is this guy who emailed me is this guy on
  Twitter is this guy in my Mac’s Address Book is this guy who’s in this
  photo.

More cloud computing and data storage, but also more privacy and
security around it, like:

• A faster, better way for Google to verify your identity and restore
  revoked account access (so fewer Google Account lockouts with delayed
  restoration).
• Easier ways to identify what info I want to share with whom (like my location).
• A personal data-sharing audit: like a credit report, a list of what
  apps/services/etc are requesting and getting private details about me
  and how often.

Random feature requests:

• (Of course!) Copy and paste on the iPhone, and better homescreen
  customization on the iPhone, a la Android.
• Android on more (and better) handsets.
• Extensions in Chrome (that’s coming!).
• GrandCentral to come out of invite-only beta.
• Windows 7 to right all the wrongs that Vista incurred on Windows users.

Kevin Purdy
Associate Editor

• Extensions in Chrome—if only for better tab control, Foxmarks, and the (thankfully) inevitable Remember the Milk add-on.
• A few Linux (or Ubuntu-specific) fixes, like better dual-monitor support when using graphics accelerators, a less-buggy Avant Window Navigator, consistent font rendering and notifications, and improved Office 2007 support in WINE/CrossOver. (But, really, that’s it!)
• More and better Android-based handsets on different carriers—or, hey, just port over Lenovo’s O-phone to the U.S., por favor.
• A seamless app for creating passwords using a scheme (like Gina’s system), storing and encrypting them, and then pasting them into any on-screen app—basically, the security-plus version of Texter.
• A serious revolution in battery power and recharging efficiencies—even if it’s only a laptop revolution. The blog-from-anywhere fantasy really falls apart after the first dozen times you have to do the Coffee Shop Outlet Stalk.

Jason Fitzpatrick
Weekend Editor

“I want more data portability and interoperability. I don’t want to
have to upload things multiple times to different sites. I don’t want
to check multiple inboxes. I don’t want to have three voicemail boxes.
I don’t want to feel like I’m constantly handling and rehandling data,
contacts, etc. …. For an over
stretched professional it’s just too big of a pain in the ass to try
out something new (that may end up being very helpful and
revolutionize your workflow) if it means hours or days of wrangling
data from one system to another and so on … Unless my mom can set up a unified inbox without
calling me and eventually having me come over and help her do it, I
don’t consider it a practical solution

On a related note… I love seeing things emerge like GPS enabled
to-do lists that remind you when you’re in physical proximity to the
task at hand and so forth. I want to see that pushed further and
further. I want a personal digital assistant that makes suggestions. I
want to feel like the real power of modern computers, the cloud, and
the enormous amount of data out there is being harnessed.
car shopping, etc.”

Wendy Boswell
Lifehacker Alumnus, About.com Web Search Guide

“I would love to see an application developed that’s similar to OpenID, except for job search engines and job search sites. My husband is currently looking for a new position (sys admin, any takers? Bueller? Bueller?) and it’s extremely tiresome to fill out forms over and over. Sure, Roboform works in some cases, but for the most part it doesn’t.

I’d also love for Google to include more clustering in their search results, much like Clusty or Ask.com. This would definitely cut down on the spammy results that seem to be more and more prevalent, and would certainly be more effective than the latest Google “innovation” of voting results up or down.”

Keith Robinson
Lifehacker Alumnus, Creative Director at Blue Flavor

“I’ve never been one to rely on technology for my productivity. I’m not into finding the next, best GTD application, for example. Most of my productivity comes from good, old-fashioned elbow grease. I find a little hard work and discipline every day more helpful than any Gmail trick, to-do application or keyboard short cut. Having said all of that, I’m really looking forward to seeing software, like Cultured Code’s Things, work really well on my iPhone. I’m spending more and more time away from my laptop (aka my Back Up Brain) and I need my mobile device of choice to carry more of the weight. I’ve got high hopes for 2009 being a year where mobile software (iPhone- and productivity-specific or not) really comes into its own.”

The How-To Geek
Contributor, blogger

• Gmail authentication of Paypal’s email servers would reduce spam/phishing.
• An Android Phone from Verizon.
• Global shortcut keys for Digsby.
• Remember the Milk integration with Outlook.

Jared Goralnick
Contributor, “Productivity Evangelist,” creator of AwayFind

“In 2009, I’d love to see more anti-technology technology: applications that don’t add a supposed “layer of convenience” on top of my existing tools, but actually pull a layer out from the middle, simplifying rather than offering flexibility or functionality. For instance, I don’t want more information about my Twitter or email, I want fewer places to not only check but interact with (preferably relevant) incoming messages.

Much as I enjoy software that adds nuance to my workflow, I’d love to see more tools that take little nurturing but manage to decrease the amount of time I spend overall, much like a pill that you take every day, recognizing its essential value without working too hard to get it.”

Jason Womack
Contributor, performance trainer, consultant

“Do you know how sometimes people sit in meetings and don’t give their full attention to the discussion topics? The ‘Killer Productivity App’ of 2009 would be less a gadget, and more a mindset—a mantra, really:

‘I’m easily capturing next actions and multi-step projects as they appear.’

Any tool or system that I see work – that is a tool or system that people actually work – must incorporate that focus. So, going into the next 12 months, I personally am going to be working over time to manage my words…to promise AND deliver, every time.”

Your take

That’s what our own stable of productivity and software thinkers came up with for their 2009 wishlists. What do you really want to see in the new year? Is it a specific app or gadget, a system that could use a reboot, or something that’s just not there? Tell us about it in the comments, and we’ll round up the best responses for a future post.

• Source: Lifehacker

Reader ST discovered that aging data backup CDs he had burned had become unreadable, so now he uses QuickPar to make recovering data on disc with bad sectors possible. Here’s how he does it.

ST writes:

I have some discs burnt years ago and recently I found them not 100% readable. I’m buying more reliable discs now but I realize even with better media as times goes by the data will become more precious and inevitably…damaged (due to the physics nature of optical media). So from now on when I compose a disc to nearly full, instead of wasting the spare space I use freeware QuickPar to generate recovery volumes and burn them together.

As Usenet mavens know, QuickPar creates “parity volumes” which can verify and recover information for a file or a group of files. If some files are damaged or missing but the needed information is contained in the parity volume, QuickPar may be able to reconstruct the originals from the damaged files and the PAR volumes.

ST explains how to use QuickPar.

Drag the about-to-burn files to QuickPar, adjust the redundancy level so the “recovery data size” matches the spare space on disc (I always drag files to the burning tool first to see how much space left), then press Create.

After a while it will generate bunch of files with extension .PAR2.

Then drag them to the burning tool. Together with original files they should fit on one disc perfectly.

From there, you’re good to go burn your disc. Then, in case you need recovery, your PAR files will come in handy. ST continues:

One day when “bad sectors” occur I’ll use the free IsoBuster (or any other bad disc saver like Badcopy) to extract the most from my disc, with of course some files missing and some files partially missing.

I only hope not all PAR2 files are missing. Then here comes QuickPar again: double click on any .PAR2 file, the QuickPar will open and start to scan every file it finds, hopefully and very likely (if the disc is not heavily damaged), it will repair your precious data!

Tip 1: QuickPar only accepts files but not folders. But here’s a small hack: open windows search and search * in your desired folder then drag the result files to QuickPar
Tip 2: You can choose to only protect VIF (Very Important Files) instead of the whole disc with QuickPar
Tip 3: This method is Windows only, but the idea is universal so I believe Linux users have better solutions.
Tip 4: This is very useful when you back up a lot of movies.

Congratulations, ST! You just won yourself a signed copy of our latest book, Upgrade Your Life. Tell us your best time saver of 2008 to win your own.

• Source: Lifehacker