in brief

"Downloading Is Wrong" Trojan Blocks Access to BitTorrent Sites [BitTorrent]

BitTorrent weblog TorrentFreak reports on a new piece of malware with a strange bent: If it infects your computer, this trojan will prevent you from accessing popular BitTorrent sites The Pirate Bay and Mininova. It does so by modifying the hosts file on your computer.

Check if Your Carrier Will Support an Unlocked iPhone 3G [IPhone]

Wondering if your cell carrier can support your jailbroken iPhone 3G after unlocking it?

Turn on Half-Star Ratings in iTunes [ITunes]

All-things-Apple weblog TUAW points out a simple Terminal trick to enable half-star ratings in iTunes for finer grained control over your iTunes rating system.

Dropbox Updates Its Web Interface, Adds Drag and Drop [File Synchronization]

The free, cross-platform application Dropbox—which readers voted the best file syncing tool available—has updated its web interface, adding new and improved navigation and drag-and-drop support for all the files and folders in your Dropbox.

Paid Apps, OS Update Coming Soon to Android [Android]

Two big updates coming to the Android/G1 phone—the previously mentioned "Cupcake" update will arrive for G1 phones "in the future," and paid apps will hit the Android marketplace in the first quarter of 2009. [via]

Craft a Tiny Chair from Champagne Cork Holders [New Year's]

Got a typical night of champagne-and-cheering lined up? Impress your hung-over friends tomorrow (or weary co-workers Friday) with a chair made from champagne corks and wire.

Picasa for Macs Might Launch at Macworld 2009 [Picasa]

Citing a supposed inside source, the Googling Google blog says it's plausible that a free Mac OS X version of Picasa, one of our favorite photo organizers, could drop next week.

Hear Your Cell Better by Covering the Mouthpiece [Cellphones]

Wired's How-To Wiki gets advice from a neuroscientist on how to hear your cellphone better in a loud crowd, whether indoors or outside. By covering the mouthpiece, you'll eliminate hearing the noise around you pitched back at you through the speaker, and your brain will have a clearer shot at singling out the voice on the line.

Playing Board Games Boosts Important Skills [Mind Hacks]

The BBC Magazine suggests that board game players, young and old, benefit from the social, mental, and patience-building aspects of sitting down to play them. If you've still got relatives hanging around from the holidays, why not turn off the screens and take a spin past Park Place? [via]

How Much You're Really Paying for Text Messages [Text Messaging]

The New York Times details a dirty little secret the phone companies really don't want you to know—the text messages they charge you for each month cost basically nothing to send.

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