Gmail just got pretty. Introducing Helvetimail.

First there was Jon Hicks’ Helvetireader, then Ad Taylor’s Helvetical, then Jose Frichter’s Helvetwitter and now, Frichter has done it again with a gorgeous revamp of Gmail called Helvetimail.

Jose deserves as much credit as he can get for this, so rather than give full instructions here as to how to install, visit his site for the instructions. What I will say however, is that if you want to take things a step further, check out ZenHabits’ take on a minimalist Gmail.

Toastmasters: Some useful tips for Table Topics on this site

The PREP Method to Respond to a Table Topics Question

January 12, 2009
There are many ways to respond to a table topics question. The simplest method is the PREP.
An impromptu speech is similar to a prepared speech. It has a beginning, a body and a closing.
Start by greeting the President, district officers,  table topic masters, toastmasters and distinguished guests.
Then repeat the question.
Then apply the PREP outline.
PREP stands for Point, Reason, Example, and Point.
  • Point - state your point of view about the question. Do you agree or disagree?
  • Reason - give a reason for your view
  • Example - give one or two examples as evidence to support your view (no more the three)
  • Point - restate your point of view
After each toastmasters meeting, collect all the questions from the table topic master and practice all the questions at home.

Vegemite's stupid and clueless linking policy - Boing Boing

You may access and display pages of the Site on a computer or a monitor, and print out for your personal use any whole page or pages of this Site. All other use, copying or reproduction of any part of this Site is prohibited (save to the extent permitted by law). Without limiting the foregoing, no part of this Site may be reproduced on any other internet site, and you are not authorised to redistribute or sell the material or reverse engineer, disassemble, or otherwise convert it to any other form that people can use. You are also prohibited from linking the Site to another website in any way whatsoever. [emphasis added]

Fantastic stupidity from Kraft Foods. This makes me glad that this Australian icon is no longer owned by Australians.

Another reason to dislike my Sony Vaio - disabled virtualisation

It's not looking good for Sony Vaio owners who were looking to get their hands on a hot, fresh release of Windows 7 - Sony has disabled hardware virtualization in their laptop range, thus rendering Windows XP Mode in Windows 7, and many other Virtual Machine Based products, such as VMware and Virtualbox pretty much useless.

Laptop Repair Help » Service manuals for Sony Vaio laptops and notebooks

Today I found a great source with service manuals for Sony Vaio VGN series laptops and notebooks. Links to the service manuals were posted on one of the Russian forums (comment 13). Not sure for how long these service manuals will be available for downloads but they are the time of wringing this post. Some files are large and it might take some time to download them, so be patient.