Upstream: default syslinux config change.
Add touchpad support.

The touchpad settings definitely need to be tuned. I think there's
even gesture support.
Add some useful utilities: wget, curl, unzip.
Add OpenVPN.

This definitely needs to be configured extensively so that
VPN connections are as easy to bring up and down as wifi
networks.

There might be DNS leaks, which need to be plugged ASAP. Maybe
you could also do some sort of filtering to ensure there are no
leaks.

It would also be useful to show my VPN's status in the status bar.
Default pacman.conf

Look into the package signing options.
Enable multilib repository.

I'm going to need this for skype as well as steam and wine.

I'm surprised that the Beginner's Guide no longer mentions
multilib.
Install Skype.

Your friends and family use this a lot, despite the privacy
concerns and lack of interoperability with multi-IM clients
without actually running Skype.
Install alsautils.

Because it would be nice to have sound and such.

This is actually only needed to unmute audio in alsamixer.

Sound should be controlled by the laptop buttons.

I'm getting odd behavior with the microphone, and there's some
odd static even when I'm not playing any sound.
Install flashplugin.

I think this is no longer updated.

Chromium supports a special pepper flash plugin, but this is
easier for now.

For youtube, Hulu, etc.