Popular media center application and XBMC-spinoff Boxee has opened its alpha to all Mac and Linux users and is ramping up invites for the Windows private alpha, meaning that if you've been dying to try Boxee, you should be able to do so sooner than later. Apart from that, Boxee has also released an update supporting MTV Music, Joost, and BBC iPlayer (UK only), along with more bug fixes and improvements.

If you're excited that Windows 7 Beta will be available as a free download on Friday, Microsoft also detailed the minimum system requirements for Windows 7. According to PC World, the requirements are:

• 1GHz processor (32- or 64-bit)
• 1GB of main memory
• 16GB of available disk space
• Support for DX9 graphics with 128MB of memory (for the Aero interface)
• A DVD-R/W drive

Skype Lite, a pared-down version of the popular, cheap VoIP calling software, is expected to be made available on Android-powered phones today (i.e. the T-Mobile G1).

Skype Lite has been available in beta form for select LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, and Ericsson phones for a while now, letting users trade instant messages and place calls over cellular networks. But today's release on the Android Marketplace should bring the software up to release stage, according to PC World. It's somewhat odd that Skype Lite requires a cellular connection to make a cheaper international call, but those whose bills recognize "local calls" might save some cash.

If you're looking for a few spare bucks to finance your next tech purchase, cleaning out your hardly-touched-anymore video games is a no-brainer. But where are the best venues to trade in used games?

Forbes.com suggests there are three approaches to take—easy but low-return chains like GameStop, the take-a-shot nature of auctions or Half.com/Amazon selling, and the higher prices one might fetch at sites with less mainstream recognition like Goozex. Having only a handful of Wii games around, Lifehacker East is asking the more experienced thumb-battling veterans: Where have you gotten the best buck for your used titles? What did you do in the listing, or posting, to ensure a higher dollar? What's a good return to expect on a used video game?

Post your successes, lessons learned, and other game-swapping stories in the comments.Photo by iwantanimac.

If you're struggling with decreased performance on a Windows based machine, it's a simple fix to check to make sure your IDE drives aren't operating in a slower, ineffective transfer mode.

When fresh from the box—or your workbench— your computer should have had all it's IDE drives set in Direct Memory Access mode. This is a far speedier method of disk access than Programmed Input/Output mode. The technical side of the two modes is dense but let it suffice: DMA is a the fast and preferred method and PIO mode is the slower method Windows defaults to after having six redundancy checks fail. Things like power outages, doing a hard reset and other disk interruptions can cause these errors. Your Windows box may be operating in the slower transfer mode because mistakenly thinks that your system is unstable or that there is something wrong with your disks. The fix for your computer downshifting into PIO mode is simple. Go to your Control Panel, click on the System icon, open up your Device Manager and pull up the properties for your Primary and Secondary IDE channels. Under the Advanced settings tab you'll be able to set the Transfer Mode to "DMA if available". Reboot and you should be in business. MakeUseOf has a full step by step guide with screenshots if you'd like a visual reference.

gOS, the Ubuntu-derived Linux desktop that's focused squarely on Google products and other webapps, has updated with newer versions of its core products, including the Windows-app-running WINE, Firefox 3, and support for newer Google Gadgets.

If gOS is new to you, check out Adam's tour of its monstrous webapp powers. Along with some pretty refined theming and taskbar implementation of the standard Ubuntu look, gOS can run as a fully-fledged Linux system in itself.

gOS 3.1 is a free download, requires an x86-based computer with 256MB of RAM to run or install.

Times tech columnist David Pogue suggests that while buying gadgetry willy-nilly certainly isn't a great use of money right now, wise use of technology—internet streaming over cable, pay-as-you-go over cell plans, refurbished computers over new-smell models—can save you a good deal of cash. Check out his list of options, providers, and savings.

deviantART crafter giannisgx89 offers up an unofficial Vista (SP1) theme that puts Windows 7's basic look and feel on your desktop in a lightweight, non-intrusive way. Take a closer look below.

Like any unofficial theme, using the Windows 7 PDC Style theme will require unlocking your copy of Vista to allow unofficial themes, which we covered in our guide to using custom Windows visual styles.

giannisgx89's theme does a basic skinning job without requiring too many extra ShellStyle images. Those looking for the complete Windows 7 look can grab Windows 7 wallpapers and icons from user Mheltin, and follow Vishal Gupta's guide to iconizing the Vista taskbar (all linked from the page below).

Here's a larger look at the Windows 7 PDC Style, with an appropriate wallpaper and a few icon tweaks. Click to enlarge to a truly full-size view:

The theme page states that the Windows 7 PDC Style is only for 32-bit copies of Vista running Service Pack 1, but commenters at deviantART have noted that they got it running on 64-bit copies using the VistaGlazz tool cited in Jason's guide.

Digging this Windows 7-lite theme? Know of a better one? Drop your reviews and links in the comments. Thanks, Geek!

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced at CES today that Windows 7—the highly anticipated followup to Windows Vista—will be available as a free, public download on Friday, January 9. Windows 7 Beta has been out in the wild (i.e., BitTorrent) since December, but if you've been waiting for things to get a little more legit before you tried it out, you won't have to wait much longer. [via]

Personal finance weblog Get Rich Slowly highlights nine methods for mastering your money in 2009:

1. Track every penny you spend
2. Develop a budget
3. Optimize your accounts
4. Start an emergency fund
5. Get out of debt
6. Fund your retirement
7. Automate your finances
8. Earn extra money
9. Educate yourself

iPhone/iPod touch only: Cisco's popular meeting and collaboration tool WebEx has found a new home on the iPhone, and, frankly, it looks very impressive.

The free application lets you attend any WebEx meeting over 3G or Wi-Fi, including simultaneous conference calls, chat, and document sharing (you'll probably want to bust out your headset to use it all). We don't actually use WebEx here at Lifehacker HQ, so I wasn't able to put it through a full test, but if the video demonstration is any indication, it's a pretty impressive offering for the mobile worker. WebEx is a free download, iPhone and iPod touch only (though clearly two-way voice isn't really an option for the iPod touch).

Firefox only (Windows/Mac/Linux): Firefox extension Mouseless Browsing (MLB) adds numbers next to clickable elements on any page, allowing you to quickly navigate to any portion of the page from the comfort of your home row.

We've mentioned MLB once before, but the latest version adds support for dynamic webapps like Gmail, Google Reader, or Facebook. (Previously if a page was updated without reloading entirely, the new links were not identified by MLB. Now they are.) Aside from support for dynamic apps, MLB has seen several improvements since we first mentioned it. The core functionality remains the same, though: Just type the number of the element you want to jump to, hit enter, and MLB "clicks" on that element.

Of course, Firefox already comes packed full of great keyboard shortcuts out of the box, so if you're a true keyboard lover you should also check out our guide to mouseless Firefox. Mouseless Browsing is a free download, works wherever Firefox does.

Windows only: The VirusTotal Uploader adds an entry to your right-click Send To menu that automatically uploads a file to online virus scanner VirusTotal, which scans the file for viruses using 39 different antivirus applications.

If VirusTotal sounds familiar, it's probably because we recommended using it to find out if a file really has a virus. Of course the whole process of heading to the VirusTotal homepage, browsing for the file on your hard drive, then waiting for the upload to complete is a little tedious. With the VirusTotal Uploader, scanning that file with nearly 40 antivirus engines requires just two clicks (right-click the file in question, then select Send To -> VirusTotal).

If you're keen on the idea behind VirusTotal, you can also use it to scan email attachments before downloading them by simply forwarding the email to scan@virustotal.com. VirusTotal Uploader is a free download, Windows only.

Early this morning social networking site Facebook announced that 150 million people across the globe are actively using Facebook—half of them every day.

This includes people in every continent—even Antarctica. If Facebook were a country, it would be the eighth most populated in the world, just ahead of Japan, Russia and Nigeria.

We generally steer away from covering too much of the Facebook around here, namely because it's not always the most productive site on the web, but we'd still love to get a better idea of what kind of Facebook users our readers are (if they are at all), as well as what they're using it for. So we're curious:

Whether your a Facebook addict or not, it's become an undeniably integral part of many users' lives. Let's hear your Facebook thoughts in the comments.

If you liked the look of previously mentioned digital photo application Poladroid—which adds a retro flair to regular digital photos—but your Windows life prevented you from using the Mac-only app, you're in luck. Poladroid has made an alpha version of Poladroid for Windows available for download. Sure the idea of Polaroid-ing digital photos is a bit absurd, but considering that Poloaroid no longer makes actual Polaroids, it's nice to keep a little nostalgia alive. Thanks Moysauce!

Mac OS X only: The popular VoIP application Skype has released a killer new beta for Macs, adding new features like screen sharing and Skype Access, a great new Wi-Fi access tool.

NOTE: There appears to be a hiccup in Skype's web site right now, so you may have trouble following the links below or downloading until they're fixed.

Skype Access

Skype knows that a big hurdle keeping its users from enjoying Skype everywhere is the cost of Wi-Fi access on the go. With Skype Access, you get to pay for access by-the-minute at any of 100,000 Boingo Wi-Fi spots for around $0.19 per minute. Under some circumstances you'd still be better off paying for full access, but it's an interesting direction. Boingo is the only Wi-Fi provider currently supported, though it seems very likely that Skype would be happy to integrate with more providers in the future.

Screen Sharing

The next big thing from the new Skype beta is screen sharing—that is, sharing what you see on your monitor with the person you're chatting with or vice versa. OS X has had screen sharing built into iChat since the release of Leopard, but if you never use iChat but spend a lot of time with Skype, this could be a great new feature.

Although screen sharing is currently only available for Skype 2.8 beta for the Mac, Mac users can still share their screens with Windows and Linux users running Skype.

Other New Features

Apart from Skype Access and screen sharing, the new Skype offers a lot more handy functionality and features, including:

• Improved chat management: you can sort chats in the drawer and set priorities to chats
• Quick Add: it’s now much easier to add people to chats
• Mood message chat: see mood message updates from your friends as chat messages
• Large profile pictures: just like Skype 4.0 Beta 2 for Windows, you can now use images of up to 256 x 256 pixels
• Hidden avatars in incoming contact requests: a small minority of Skype users have profile pictures which others may find unpleasant, and so they’re now hidden by default in contact requests
• Add notes to contacts: you can add notes to a contact in their profile window – handy for keeping track of who’s who.

If you're a dedicated Skyper, let's hear how you like the new features in the comments.

According to researchers at Oxford University, playing the popular, classic puzzle game Tetris after a traumatic experience could significantly reduce emotional scars. Apparently Tetris—which requires serious brain power on your part—blocks your brain from storing those bad memories. The catch: It needs to be played immediately following the traumatic event, so break out your old Game Boys and stick 'em in your emergency kit. Photo by Micah Taylor. [via]

This year might have made you sick of hearing/thinking/worrying about money (just maybe?), but tax season still looms ahead. Luckily, one software maker is offering free answers to tax questions throughout January.

Actual human experts affiliated with Intuit's TurboTax software and online services—which Gina previously threw into a faceoff against a human accountant—will call back anyone leaving a single question on the FreeTaxQuestion.com site, supposedly within 24 hours, with answers or at least guidance.

TurboTax's callers will only answer questions on federal taxes, not state—specifically Forms 1040 (personal) and 1065, 1120, or 1120S (business). And there's a limit of one question callback per person for the offer period, which expires Jan. 31. Still, if you've got most of your taxes covered yourself this year, but have one niggling uncertainty, let TurboTax take a crack at it, and the most you'll have to endure is probably a semi-soft product push.

Where do you turn for your single-serve tax questions, other than the big, big book of actual code? Tell us your go-to resource below.

A lone flame against a dark backdrop makes a great scene, but, on most automatic cameras, a washed-out or drab picture. Digital Photography School has sound advice on capturing fire in a frame.

For instance, if you're practicing or shooting with a candle flame, don't focus on the flame itself, but on the end of the wick:

The flame itself will not be in super-clear focus as it is producing the light while being a three dimensional object, meaning the intensity and points to focus on it will be varied. If your camera has spot metering, use it and take a reading off the flame itself. This may produce a fairly dark image, so experiment with overexposing a little by slowing down the shutter speed.

Many of the principles of shooting fireworks apply, but DPS' post goes into detail about getting tricky/nifty shots, like the fire trail pictured above. Drop links to your own successful flame shots in the comments below. Photo by Gaetan Lee.

Windows only: Downloadr is a small application that allows you to completely back up the photos from your Flickr account.

You can grab everything in one bulk swoop or use a series of filters to drill down to just the photos you want to grab. It automatically grabs the highest quality image and preserves the EXIF and IPTC data. In addition to searching grabbing images from your own account, you can search creative commons works on Flickr and use Downloadr as a tool for bulk grabbing them also. For another Flickr tool check out Flickr Backup. Downloadr is freeware, Windows only.

The Tech ARP web site nabbed a draft "Technical Guarantee Program" from Microsoft that implies anyone buying a PC from major vendors after July can receive a Windows 7 upgrade for free.

Microsoft wouldn't confirm, but didn't truly deny, the implied upgrade program when Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley asked. And an official release date, isn't set for Windows 7, though Foley hears third quarter 2009, and Microsoft will only officially say early 2010. So new PC buyers might want to hold off if they're geeked for a fixed-up Vista—depending on one's faith in Microsoft ship dates, of course.

If you're looking for one particular, recognizable YouTube video amidst a galaxy of copycats and look-alikes, Wibe7.tv offers a vast wall of thumbnails that pop up the clip, no visit to YouTube required.

It's very similar to (and inspired by) the previously mentioned, just-the-pics-ma'am Flickr searcher Compfight. Once you've searched, the results can be sorted by relevance, views, user ratings, or date published. It looks like you only get one page of results, so if the clip is buried deep inside YouTube, only search term refinement will dig it up here.

All told, it looks like a powerful and quick way to gun through YouTube videos to find what you're looking for.

Lifehacker's go-to food writer Mark Bittman offers a list of stale, uninspired (and expensive) pantry items you might think about tossing for fresher cooking this year, and what to replace them with. For example:

OUT Bottled lemon juice.

IN Lemons. Try buying six at a time, then experiment; I never put lemon on something and regret it. (Scramble a couple of eggs in chicken stock, then finish with a lot of lemon, black pepper and dill; call this egg-lemon soup, or avgolemono.) Don’t forget the zest: you can grate it and add it to many pan sauces, or hummus and other purées. And don’t worry about reamers, squeezers or any of that junk; squeeze from one hand into the other and let your fingers filter out the pips.

All of Bittman's suggestions revolve around the idea of keeping only the true pantry essentials hanging around, and using the inexpensive tools of a home cook (oil, vinegar, onions, garlic, and, most often, your hands) to fill their place. Those in colder climates, of course, can't always depend on a wealth of fresh stuff all year round, but most of the fresher replacements for overpriced kitchen stockers are available to anyone.

In general, though, it's a good time to run through and toss the spices and boxes that you can't remember buying; if you re-stock all at once, it's easier to remember when you next need to freshen up. Photo by box of lettuce.

Introduced yesterday at Macworld: the Tune Blocker, a USB cable that switches between regular USB connection and a power-only, non-iTunes-launching mode. We're wondering if there's a DIY solution for similar results.

Not because we begrudge Tune Blocker's maker, Matias, any cash or credit—it's certainly a long-overdue niche to get filled—but, at $24.95 for a 3-foot cable, it's just not a feasible purchase for everyone, especially anyone with multiple iTunes transfer cords hanging around.

So! Let's hear your own solution for powering an iPod by USB without having to tell iTunes to go away, stop bothering you, and please don't sync to a different library. There are, of course, options to manually stop iTunes from launching or auto-syncing when your iPod is connected to your computer (pictured at right, from the iPod's "home page" in iTunes), but what about a solution that doesn't require any options-setting, and works on any computer?

Whether it's a hardware hack, another USB cable that does the job cheaper, or some kind of shadowy ninja app to be placed on the iPod itself, let's hear how you can or would get around iTunes' pushiness in the comments.

iPhone or iPod touch only: The already-good Pandora music recommendation engine app for the iPhone has gotten better with version 2.0, which adds Cover Flow view, artist and song info, and bookmark previews.

Take a look at some screenshots.

You'll need to sign into your free Pandora account to get started and see your stations. Make a new recommendation-driven station based on an artist; check out the suggest-as-you-tap search drop-down.

Once a song starts playing, you can give it the thumbs up or thumbs down (which informs Pandora's future recommendations), or tap the up arrow to get more options, like...

The ability to bookmark the song or artist, buy the track from iTunes, or share your station via email.

Turn your device to get into Cover Flow view, which works just like native iTunes (though I noticed a little flickering in the background album covers in my test).

Tap on the top right button to get artist details (shown here) and song details (shown below).

When you're wondering why Pandora included a recommendation in your station, the song info will tell you.

The Pandora 2.0 app is a free download for the iPhone or iPod touch only.

The Windows 7 beta offers a speedier startup than its predecessor: for me the beta boots to a fully functional desktop in under 30 seconds, faster than the preview or Vista.

On the same exact computer, where I'm triple-booting Vista, XP, and now the Windows 7 beta (build 7000), I ran a set of startup tests to pit the beta against the rest, using my previous measurements. Here's what I found.

The hardware: My test system has an Intel Core 2 Duo processor running at 3.16GHz with 4GB of RAM. Windows XP, Vista, and the Windows 7 beta build 7000 are all installed on the same, physical SATA hard drive (partitioned, of course).

The test: Since I'm triple-booting the three operating systems, I used a simple handheld timer to get my numbers, starting at the "Choose your operating system" screen (which comes after the BIOS startup) and ending at a fully functional desktop in my first set of tests, then the user login screen in my second. I timed each OS startup three times and averaged the results to account for my fat fingers.

Test Set 1: From Boot Choice to Fully-loaded User Desktop

For this test set, I created a non-Administrator user account with nothing in startup, and set Windows to automatically log into it on boot. These numbers start at the OS boot choice screen, and end at a fully-functional, user desktop. This isn't a true test of how long a desktop would render in real-world usage, because most people DO have programs in their startup. But these tests are to compare Windows version performance, not third-party software. That all said, the numbers:

Here you can see that for the first time, Windows is offering a sub-30 second start time on pretty standard modern hardware, for the first time in at least a long time (if ever, I don't have a copy of Windows 95 or 3.1 to test). Of course, Microsoft claims that Vista boots in under 30 seconds already, but that's not the case on my tower; and only 23% of you say that your system boots in under 30 seconds. It should go without saying that this has a whole lot to do with exactly how beefy your hardware is.

Test Set 2: From Boot Choice to User Login Screen

This test measures the amount of time from the boot OS choice screen to the user login prompt only, hence the shorter times.

The Results

As you can see, the Windows 7 beta took 4 seconds off the time it takes to render a usable desktop as compared to the Win7 Preview, which adds up to a 12-second difference from Windows XP. The beta shaved 3 seconds off the boot time to login prompt as compared to the preview build.

I can hear the comments already—"are we really talking about THREE SECONDS?" Yes, neither of these are earth-shattering improvements, but they are clear and consistent speed boosts, and hopefully they're a sign that things will get even faster since Windows 7 is still in beta.

Anyone out there move over to the Windows 7 beta full-time? What are your impressions? Post 'em up in the comments.

A few weeks ago, Stephanie wanted to know what Lifehacker readers thought were the most reliable and affordable web hosts out there. Here are the top vote-getters.

After over 200 comment threads, lots of spam and offerings that got a single vote, the top six web hosting companies mentioned include:

• DreamHost
• Blue Host
• NearlyFreeSpeech.NET
• 1&1
• GoDaddy
• HostGator
• A Small Orange

We haven't tried each of these hosts on our own, so take the recommendations with a grain of salt. Here's the entire list of mentions from readers. Thanks to intern Asian Angel for tallying the votes.

Any track bought prior to today from iTunes' store can upgrade to a 256-kbps, DRM-free version for 30 cents. Once in your library, it's also a right-click to convert to MP3. [via]

Update: According to Apple's press release, entire albums can also be upgraded for 30 percent of the album cost (usually $3.00).

Energy-use tracking site WattzOn isn't the only site to measures personal energy consumption, but it offers seriously slick charts and data to suggest ways you might save cash, and the environment while you're at it.

You don't have to sign up at WattzOn's site to get a readout and nifty/revealing numbers, but snagging and confirming an account lets you save your data for later comparison—with friends, WattzOn users, or estimated users around the world and historical use. Either way, arriving at the page shows a bunch of gray boxes at the top, which you'll click through to fill in.

Some categories—like "Government"—don't offer you too much input or customization other than educated guesses. Living in New York state, for example, is all I get to say about how many watts the government(s) spend on my person. But others let you get specific on how and why you live, such as the food tab:

The unique thing about WattzOn, for those who want to get really specific about reasonably paring down their life, is the "Stuff" tab. You'll make a series of average estimates about the things you own and the power they draw, but you can add anything from a tag-organized section—pictured below at left—and draw from other WattzOn users' power use indicators, rather than having to Google your clothes dryer.

When you're done setting yourself up, you can see how much power you draw against historical figures, the average person, other WattzOn users (who, statistically speaking, more than likely fall on the greener-than-most side), and visualize your own usage in lightbulbs, oil barrels, or other indicators:

Yes, this is definitely a step into sincere green-ish geek-ery, but it's worth thinking about another reason you'd want to detail your energy usage. Namely, cash, and where better to spend it. If you consume less energy or oil each month, you're getting by with partially smaller bills. And if you lower your overall energy usage, you're holistically taking down costs that, well, you can just hope come back around in some small way.

WattzOn is free to use, requires a sign-up for data saving.

Windows only: Reader Kaelri—famous for the beautiful and functional Enigma desktop—has packaged and released version 1.1 of the customization files.

What's changed? Kaelri explains:

I've added:

• RSS reader.
• Gmail notifier.
• Calendar by ~limpet.
• System/battery graphics using ecqlipse 2 icons.
• Tray clock replacement.
• Quick-edit button for Notes.
• Application launcher. Useless to anyone with Launchy or StandaloneStack, but it's pretty, and way too much fun to play with. (You can see what it looks like in the deviantArt screenshot.)
• Assorted doodads and revisions.
• Fixed the Location bug plaguing Enigma and HUD.Vision.

The Enigma 1.1 ZIP archive includes config files for Samurize and Rainmeter, fonts, a Windows theme, and more. Unzip it to get the full installation instructions. Nice work, Kaelri! The Enigma 1.1 customization package is a free download for Windows only.

Apple's moving iWork onto the web with iWork.com, a web-based version of their desktop office suite which will offer "transparent integration" into the desktop app.

The new release of GarageBand '09 includes "Learn to Play"—piano and guitar lessons from artists like Norah Jones, Sarah McLachlan, and Sting, Gizmodo reports from their live-blog of the Macworld keynote.

Our brothers in gadgetry are live-blogging the Macworld 2009 keynote, and report that iPhoto in iLife '09 will have facial recognition that automatically groups photos by who's in them.

Yesterday Mac users here said they prefer the all-new Picasa for Mac over iPhoto. But do the new iPhoto features—like facial recognition, Facebook, and Flickr integration, and geo-tagging—change your mind?

Keep reading about new stuff getting unveiled at Macworld over at Gizmodo's liveblog.

Hewlett-Packard launches a new buyback program that will give you money in exchange for your old, working gadgets and gear—any brand of PC, monitor, printer, digital camera, or smartphone that still has some value.

HP's Buyback program offers a quote web site where you enter what you've got and find out how much they'll pay you for it. CNET reports:

If you find the quote worth your time, mail them your stuff (at your expense) and HP will mail you a check. Alternatively, you can opt for a "Premium Service" in which FedEx picks up the item or items at your house. The cost of that service is taken out of your final check from HP.

If your old stuff isn't worth any cash, you can still mail it to HP for recycling if it's an HP or Compaq brand item. Photo by Extra Ketchup.

HP's Buyback program offers a quote web site where you enter what you've got and find out how much they'll pay you for it. CNET reports:

If you find the quote worth your time, mail them your stuff (at your expense) and HP will mail you a check. Alternatively, you can opt for a "Premium Service" in which FedEx picks up the item or items at your house. The cost of that service is taken out of your final check from HP.

If your old stuff isn't worth any cash, you can still mail it to HP for recycling if it's an HP or Compaq brand item. Photo by Extra Ketchup.

It's tucked away, but bookmarking site Del.icio.us now offers bulk tag editing (in, of course, beta) for group tagging/un-tagging and sharing/un-sharing. Helpful stuff, especially for pesky tag typos. Thanks Gergo!

Windows/Mac/Linux (Firefox): Mr. Uptime, friend to anyone who's ever waited for the Digg/Slashdot/Lifehacker Effect to abate before reaching a cool new web site, has recently updated to be Firefox 3 compatible.

Not much seems entirely new with Mr. Uptime, available both at its Mozilla home and official page, but that's probably a good thing. As we noted when we last checked it out, the Firefox add-on can also monitor sites and alert you when specific text appears or disappears from a site, making it more than just a monitor of web hosting power. But next time a big, time-sensitive promotional give-away happens and you can't grab it in the first few tries, you'll be glad Mr. Uptime also does its basic function so well.

Mr. Uptime is a free download, works wherever Firefox does. Thanks, ScaryMike!