Lifehacker

Use Your Fears of Starting a New Project to Create a Checklist of the Tools You Need [Mind Hacks]

Thorin Klosowski — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 08:30:00 PST

Oftentimes when we start a new project or attempt to pick up a new skill, we get nervous about the idea and try to block out our anxiety. Peter Bregman over on the The Harvard Business Review suggests the opposite approach: acknowledge your fears and use them as a starting point for how to tackle the project.

The idea is that when you acknowledge your fears you can make the steps necessary to dive into a big project. Bregman suggests:

By recognizing that you don't have all the tools, information, skills, and support to see the project through, you're identifying your next, manageable step in getting started: rounding up the tools, information, skills, and support.

When you acknowledge these fears you can create a step-by-step plan to starting your big project because you can identify what you're missing. Instead of diving in right away and finding yourself in over your head, you'll have a list of what you need to succeed. Check out the full post on Harvard Business Review for a few more suggestions on getting your big project off the ground. Photo by liz west.

How to Start the Big Project you've Been Putting Off | Harvard Business Review

Burnout Is Real: How to Identify and Address Your Burnout Problem [Stress]

Adam Dachis — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 08:00:00 PST

Most demanding careers practically guarantee stress, but if you're feeling completely exhausted, unable to concentrate, or as though you're neglecting your own well-being, you may be suffering from burnout. It's a very real condition that's easy to ignore, but you can detect and fix the problem if you know what to do. Here's how.

We often use the term "burnout" as a vague label for an exhausting day or week of hard work, but actual burnout is quite a bit more serious. I experienced serious burnout at my first job out of college. I always knew something was wrong because of the long hours and high levels of stress, but I didn't really realize what it was doing to me until my parents came to visit, saw the disastrous state of my apartment, and made me aware of what I'd been trying to ignore. (I'm usually a very tidy person, so even a small mess indicates a problem.) After leaving that job I learned more about burnout, how my life was a perfect (and extreme) example, and what I needed to do to change it. Burnout can be bad, but it isn't insurmountable. You simply need to recognize the symptoms, identify the causes, and take action—both in the short and long term—to remedy the issues you uncover. In this post, we're going to look at how to do those three things.

How to Identify Burnout and Its Cause

Burnout isn't as simple as extreme exhaustion. When you're truly burnt out, there's very little you'll do that isn't necessary for survival. You won't find a regular vacation very refreshing. You not only lose interest in the work that burnt you out in the first place, but in nearly everything else that you do. Fun won't be fun, every little thing will bother you, and you'll be unhappy without fully understanding why. You'll feel this way on a regular basis, and you'll likely believe there isn't an alternative. Of course, many people describe the symptoms of burnout a little bit differently so I've compiled a list from a few sources (including my own experience) to provide a broad view of what burnout can look and feel like:

A generally negative attitude, often paired with the feeling that nothing is going to work out.
Inability to concentrate.
General apathy towards your work, chores, and other tasks.
Feelings of stagnation.
A lack of interest in social activities and being with others.
Difficulty with healthy habits like exercise, diet, and regular sleep.
Feeling like you're never doing enough.
Neglecting your own needs (and putting the needs of others ahead of your own).
Personal values and beliefs lose their importance.
Short temper.
Constant exhaustion.
Feelings of inefficacy.
Feelings of detachment from people and things you care about.
Frequent boredom.
Psychosomatic complaints, such as headaches, lingering colds, and other issues with a cause that's difficult to identify.
The denial of these feelings.

Sources: Tech Republic, Wikipedia, and Psychology Today.

Because you may not always be able to identify these issues in yourself, it helps to ask friends or family members that you trust for help. Not only can they provide a useful outside opinion, but they can often offer examples of why they believe you are burnt out. When you're having trouble seeing the problem yourself, these examples can help you realize it's really there. Chances are they will tell you that you're working so much that they never see you anymore. Especially honest friends and family members will tell you that you seem disconnected and aren't as fun to be around as you once were. Be prepared to hear that you're currently not at your best and why.

Once you've identified that you are burnt out, you need to figure out why. For the most people, this should be fairly simple because it will be the primary source of your frustration and will take up the majority of your time. When I was burnt out because of a previous job, I found that I rarely had the ability to concentrate on much else. Even when someone was talking to me, I'd often be thinking about problems at my job or worrying about work I needed to finish. I finally decided I needed to quit when a friend was telling me about an important issue in his life, he asked me what I thought, and my response was "I hate my job." I gave notice the following Monday. Jobs aren't the only source of burnout, however, but how you find that source is generally the same. Pay attention to what's consuming your thoughts and you should have your answer.

How to Undo the Effects of Burnout

Once you've identified and accepted that you're truly burnt out, you need to change it. It takes awhile for burnout to manifest and so it can take awhile to undo as well. You'll need to be ready to make serious changes and stick with them for awhile. The good news is that once you start making these changes, you should start to feel more motivated again. Often times change is the necessary catalyst to make you feel like things are going to get better. By taking these changes slowly and rolling them out over a long period of time (e.g. a year or more), you can keep yourself on track.

Cut Off the Source of the Burnout

Before you can make any changes, you have to figure out which ones are relevant. That will, for the most part, depend on the source of your burnout. Whatever is at the source, you need to cut it off. If your source of burnout is job-related, figure out what the problem is and do everything you can to change it. If you change isn't an option within your job, it may be time to quit. That's a scary prospect regardless of the current unemployment rate, so be sure to have enough savings in place to survive for at least a few months or have another job lined up.

When considering your next job, you'll want to concentrate on two things: a comfortable schedule and control. Your schedule is important because you don't want to be overworked. For many people, burnout originates from too many hours on the job and too little time for oneself. Also, having more control over your work is also relevant because you're coming from a situation where you had very little control over your own life. If you move into a job that provides more responsibility, it'll help you feel like things are getting back on track. This also means that you don't want to rule out jobs you wouldn't have considered previously. Apply for jobs that you think you're unqualified to get—because you might be surprised and actually get one of them—and also apply for a job or two that you think you're too qualified to want—because that kind of job might offer the flexibility and control you need. If you can afford to take a large chunk of time off (e.g. a month or more) before heading back to the working world, however, you should. While a vacation won't solve the problem, it will at least help you generate a little more energy before you take your next steps.

Not every source of burnout can be swapped for something better. If for whatever reason there is no way for you to cut off the source of burnout entirely, you need to get as much help as possible to lighten your load. Ask your friends and family to assist where they can so you have more personal time to figure out a long-term solution to your problem.

Be Unusual

Chances are you have a daily routine, and that's in part because you're unmotivated to do a whole lot beyond what you're used to doing every day when you're burnt out. Simply doing something completely out of the ordinary can make a huge difference. If you sit on your butt all day, go take a walk in the park. If you're constantly connecting with technology, try playing cards or board game. If you always wake up early, sleep in. If you like to sleep in, trying getting up early. Reversing your routine is a simple way to feel refreshed and it takes very little work.

Be Healthy

Your health is exceptionally important, but burnout makes it harder to maintain. It can be particularly difficult to overcome unhealthy behavior because the symptoms of burnout encourages you to overlook your own needs. When you have absolutely no emotional desire to exercise and eat better, the best thing you can do is as little as possible. It's easy to say no to 30 minutes of exercise that requires a gym, but it's much harder to procrastinate when your daily exercise only takes five to 15 minutes and you can do it at home. We've previously outlined many ways you can get a complete workout with nothing but your body, so just pick a few exercises you like and do them for a short amount of time during the day. So long as you do some kind of exercise each day, you'll be improving your health little by little. Also, just move around as often as you can. A sedentary lifestyle is harmful to your health, but it can be overcome with regular movement each day.

Getting on a better diet will take a little more willpower, as you'll have to forgo a lot of the unhealthy foods you've used to eke out a little bit of joy in your burnt out life. Just like with the exercise, take it easy and work your way up slowly. Consider everything you like to eat on a regular basis and isolate the top five healthiest choices on that list. Concentrate on eating those more often and be diligent about portion control. This won't involve any dramatic changes in your diet, but will refocus what you already eat so you're eating healthier. When you're feeling up to it, start cooking more often. When you make the food, you have greater control over what's going into your body.

Finally, sleep better (and more if you need to). Burnout's primary symptom is long-term exhaustion, so you need to improve the quality of your sleep if you want things to get better. I found technology to be helpful when diagnosing my sleep problems and figuring out a better routine. If your sleep problems are more specific, however, check out these common solutions.

Be Patient

As previously mentioned, undoing burnout takes time. While you may start to feel better quickly, overriding your previous descent into exhaustion is a long-term process and you can't expect to fix it all in a snap. As you work your way back to feeling better, more energized, and generally happier with your work and personal lives, set both long and short term goals to help you remember that this is a process. Seeing yourself achieve these goals over time will help you know that progress is being made even when it feels like nothing is happening at all. Burnout is difficult to overcome, but you'll get there if you're dedicated.

Images by Leremy (Shutterstock) and Roman Sigaev (Shutterstock).

StartNinja Silences Your Mac's Startup Sound with the Flip of a Switch [Annoyances]

Whitson Gordon — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 07:30:00 PST

We've discussed how to make your Mac boot up silently before, but it's a long, drawn out process. Free app StartNinja will silence your startup chime with just one click. embarrassing

It couldn't be any simpler to use. If you want your Mac to stop chiming when you boot it up, open StartNinja and set the switch to "off". If you want to turn the startup chime back on, switch it to "on". That's it. Pretty easy, huh?

StartNinja is a free download for Mac OS X Lion only. Note that it doesn't seem to work on iMacs, and it won't work if you have headphones or speakers plugged in—but it still solves the popular "oops, my laptop is making sounds in the middle of class" problem.

StartNinja | via Cult of Mac

AirBlue Sharing Transfers Files Between iPhones Over Bluetooth [Jailbreak]

Thorin Klosowski — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 07:00:00 PST

iOS (Jailbroken): If you've ever wanted to sent files across Bluetooth devices, AirBlue Sharing is a simple file sharing utility for jailbroken iPhones that allows you to transfer files between any any Bluetooth-capable devices.

You don't need to go through any complicated settings to get AirBlue Sharing working. With Bluetooth enabled, you can instantly start sharing notes, photos, videos, contacts, and everything else to any device with Bluetooth, including your computer, Android, or other jailbroken iPhones. It's an easy to use utility that makes transferring files quickly dead simple. It's a bit pricy at $4.99, but does exactly what it's supposed to do. You can find it by searching for AirBlue Sharing in the BigBoss repository.

Send Files From your iPhone to Any Device Via Bluetooth Using AirBlue for iOS 5 | Redmond Pie

Remove Finder from the Application Switcher in OS X [Mac Tips]

Thorin Klosowski — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 06:30:00 PST

One of the nice built-in features on Mac's is the quick application switcher (Command+Tab), but by default, Finder is always included on the list. It ends up making switching between apps a little more cumbersome, but blogger Josh Dzielak found a way to remove it permanently and cut down on your keystrokes.

Since the whole purpose of using the application switcher is to make for an efficient way to swap between apps, the fact Finder is always there can trip up your flow a bit. You will need to dig into Terminal to get rid of it, but it's not too difficult. Launch Terminal and type the following command:

sudo vi /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Info.plist

This opens the Finder's main file. You'll need to add some text to it after dict node:

< key > NSUIElement < /key >
< string > 1 < /string >

Save the file and Option+Right-Click on Finder and select "Relaunch Finder." You should now be able to swap between apps without Finder getting in the way. Hit up Josh Dzielak's post for screenshots and a full walkthrough.

Remove Finder from the Application Switcher in Mac OSX | Josh Dzielak

Button the Top Button of a Collared Shirt Before Hanging It to Keep the Collar Crisp [Clothes]

Thorin Klosowski — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 06:00:00 PST

Have you ever gone to put on a collared shirt only to find the collar has lost its form and sags awkwardly around your neck? Reddit user PTKIRL noticed that by storing his shirts with only the top button clasped, the collar stays crisp, no ironing required.

This is a handy tip to keep in mind when hanging up your clothes straight out of the dryer. If you only button the top button the collar can keep its normal shape and doesn't end up hanging to the sides. It's certainly not going to make a wrinkled shirt that has sat in the dryer for three days look good, but if you hang it right away with this method the collar stays straight and crisp.

No More Floppy Shirt Collar | Reddit

Crosswalk for iPhone Shares Your Installed Apps, Helps You Discover New Ones to Try [IPhone Downloads]

Alan Henry — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:30:00 PST

iOS: Crosswalk is part social network, part app discovery service. iPhone owners can join crosswalk to share the list of apps they have installed on their phones, get suggestions from the community for other apps they'd enjoy, and find out what other people have installed and discover new apps you may want to download.

Crosswalk has different "communities," like developer, gamer, designer, teacher, and blogger, where people who use their iOS devices for specific purposes share apps they think are specifically useful. At any time, you can browse what other users have on their phones (if they make it public) and see what other people are downloading and installing in real time. Crosswalk also gives you app suggestions based on what's trending, and what other users have installed. You can even click "check out my phone" on user profiles to browse a virtual version of their iPhones, complete with the apps on their home screens and the groups they have set up.

The service is currently in beta and free to join, and connects to your Facebook account when you sign up (in lieu of its own authentication system.) When you do connect, you'll see which of your Facebook friends already use Crosswalk, and you'll have the option to follow them. Do you use Crosswalk? Have you found it useful for app recommendations? Share your experiences in the comments below.

Crosswalk

Use an Aluminum Can for Perfectly Poached Eggs Every Time [Cooking Hacks]

Alan Henry — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 05:00:00 PST

Poaching an egg isn't terribly difficult on its own, but if you have trouble keeping your eggs in a neat little pouch when you crack them into your water, the secret may be twofold: first, make sure to swirl the water a bit before you crack the egg into your pot, second, grab an old aluminum can. Here's how it works.

Swirling water with a spoon is an old trick when it comes to poaching an egg—the swirling motion will help keep the egg together in the center as it cooks. Reader Mary writes in to point out that if you poach eggs often, or poach a lot of eggs in one sitting, save the next aluminum can you empty, rinse it out, and cut off both ends. Then, when you're ready to poach an egg, rub the inside with a little oil (just to make sure nothing sticks) and lower it into your hot water, right over the swirling center of the pot. Crack the egg into the can, and when the egg solidifies, pull the can up. Set a timer, let the egg cook, and pull it out with a mesh ladle when it's finished.

There are a lot of ways to poach a perfect egg, but this sounds like a helpful crutch for people just getting started, or who want to make sure every egg is perfect, every time. It may not be necessary, but it's useful. Do you have any egg poaching tips? Have you tried this method before? Let us know in the comments below.

Thanks to Mary for sending in the tip!

Photo by Danielle Scott.

ElectroDroid Is a Reference for All of Your DIY Electronics and Circuit Building Projects [Android Downloads]

Alan Henry — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 04:30:00 PST

Android: Last week, we discussed Circuit Playground for iOS, a comprehensive electronics reference manual. Android users can get in on the action with ElectroDroid, a collection of electronic reference information and tools available now in the Android App Market.

ElectroDroid offers a number of the same features as Circuit Playground, including resistor and inductor color-code decoders, resistance and reactance calculators, voltage dividers and voltage drop calculators, and more. You can begin prototyping your circuit in the tool and calculate whether or not the end result will look the way you like, and use the app's extensive reference guide to review the components you'll need, look up pin-out connectors, and more.

If you're an Android user and you spend time at a workbench doing any kind of maker work, or if you just want to get started with your own DIY wiring and electronics projects, it's worth downloading. The app is free and ad-supported, but if you want to support the developer and remove the ads, the "donate" version is $2.59 USD.

ElectroDroid | Android App Market via Hack a Day

Beat Creativity Blocks by Embracing Your Bad Ideas [Creativity]

Alan Henry — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 04:00:00 PST

Writer's block, or any other kind of creativity drain, can be discouraging and depressing, especially if coming up with ideas and new solutions to problems is what you do every day. Playwright and screenwriter Megan Cohen has a method to beat writer's block and reclaim her creativity: embrace your bad ideas and let them lead to good ones. Here's what she means.

She notes that when you feel like the well is running dry on good ideas, it's time to sit down and just start brainstorming. Brainstorming alone isn't enough though—after all, if you're short on ideas, brainstorming isn't going to turn up much. She suggests you break down those internal walls where you gauge each idea for worthiness before you write it down. Write down the awful ones and see where they take you:

To keep things interesting, you need bad ideas, with their chaos and swearing, their disrespect and vulnerability. But how do you lure them? What's the solution to good ideas?

Well… it's more ideas. If you don't have an idea you really like for, say, the premise of your TV spec script… then we have a lot to talk about over coffee, but also you should sit down and write 100 premises for your TV spec script. Yeah, 100. Like the famous number of Dalmatians minus one.

The "100 ideas" method is straight-up stolen from an anecdote where Judd Apatow tells someone to do it. He probably invented it, maybe? It legit works.

If can be difficult to embrace the ideas that you know won't work in their current form, but if you feel like the inkwell is dry, it's time to explore the bad ones and see where they lead you. Often, even the worst solutions to problems have in them a few nuggets that can be applied in a good way. What do you think? Have you often found diamonds in the rough of your brainstorming sessions? Let's hear it in the comments below.

Photo by marya.

Writer's Block: The Solution to Good Ideas | Megan Cohen, Playwright

Feed Notifier Monitors RSS Feeds in Real Time on Your Desktop [Windows Downloads]

David Galloway — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 16:00:00 PST

Windows: If you want to keep up with breaking news from a few sites Feed Notifier might be right up your alley. Instead of logging in and reading all feed updates as with Google Reader, Feed Notifier gives popups directly from your system tray as soon as a feed receives an update.

The worst part about this program is that you have enter each feed manually. That's a pain in the ass if you want to follow multiple feeds, but you can get around it with Yahoo Pipes or Chimpfeedr.

I used this program all day today to monitor tech news updates and it seemed to work better than checking Google Reader several times a day as I usually do. Given that it's a free download, if you routinely use RSS feeds you may want to check it out and see if it fits into your routine.

Feed Notifier 2.5 | via GHacks

Eat Cheetos with Chopsticks to Keep Hands Clean [Clever Uses]

David Galloway — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 15:00:00 PST

Webcomic Wondermark offers a brilliant way to eat Cheetos without getting "orange crap" on your fingers—use chopsticks! Brilliant in its simplicity!

601: The Discovery that Changed the World | Wondermark via How To Life Guide

"I'm looking for a new hobby. Ideally something that doesn't cost too much, is indoors, and requires little space. Any suggestions?" [Ask The Commenters Roundup]

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 14:00:00 PST

Repurpose an Unused Drawer into a Portable Drawer [Ikea Hacks]

David Galloway — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 13:00:00 PST

Maybe you have an old piece-of-shit chest of drawers that is falling apart or you found an abandoned drawer along the highway. Either way with a couple of 2x3 wood slats, glue, and woodstain you can turn that landfill-bait into a portable drawer that can be used anywhere in your home.

Budget furniture modification blog Ikea Hackers offers this repurpose hack using a drawer from the IkeaMOPPE mini chest of drawers that are not available in the US. Fortunately this hack can work with just about any kind of drawer. Simply cut an angle into the 2x3 slats so you can screw them together into a handle which you attach to the drawer and stain/paint the whole thing to match. You can see the full process if necessary with photos at the source link below?

What would you do with a portable drawer? It depends on where it's attached. If you clip the drawer to your dining room table it might hold placemats, cloth napkins, serving utensils, etc. Attached to a kids playtable it might have washable markers, toy cars, or other kid needs. On your workbench? Add your frequently used tools.

Portable drawer …. a box of second growth ... | Ikea Hackers

KeyboardClean Tool Locks Your Mac Keyboard While Cleaning Spills and Crumbs [Mac Downloads]

David Galloway — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 12:00:00 PST

Mac: I find that the moments I want to clean my keyboard (or just spilled coffee on it) are not premeditated times when my computer is actually off. Usually I decide to clean my keyboard when I have 12 open tabs, a half written blog post, etc. and don't want to power down just to do a 30 second keyboard cleaning. Enter KeyboardClean Tool.

If you have a USB wired keyboard you can just unplug the thing while cleaning, but those of us who use wireless keyboards usually must take the batteries out to turn the keyboard off, which I never do. The free tiny app KeyboardClean Tool locks down your keyboard until you click on the app's button with your mouse. This ensures you can clean you keyboard while on without accidentally deleting half your work.

For Windows users check out Kid-Key-Lock, a similar program we covered a few years ago that can also lock down your mouse with your keyboard.

KeyboardClean was created by the same developer as Better Touch Tool a great little app that adds tons of gestures to your mouse.

KeyboardClean Tool | Boastr.net via Apartment Therapy

Build a Secret Closet Door for $200 or Less [Video]

David Galloway — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 11:00:00 PST

Even if you have nothing to hide secret rooms, can safes, and the like are fun projects that can help you protect your valuables when not at home. YouTube user luvguns61 is a high school teacher who transformed a standard coat closet into a hidden room with a two-way mirror.

Instead of using expensive hidden hinges, the author created a new door with plywood and planks. He left enough room on the front to add thin shelves for CD storage and collection storage. He added hidden casters to the bottom to bear the weight of the shelf and also had to add hidden hinges to move the side crown moulding to allow the door to open.

This isn't the fanciest hidden room I've ever seen, but it is one of the first ones that I believe I have the skill and budget to build myself. The $200 the author spent on the door also included a circular saw needed for the project.

If you're interested in having a hidden closet to store your valuables, keep weapons out of the hands of children (if so use additional locks on the weapons), or just act as a mini panic room this project should be within the means of most Lifehacker readers.

How to Build a Secret Door and Safe Room | YouTube

Five Best Movie Recommendation Services [Hive Five]

Alan Henry — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 08:00:00 PST

Whether you're planning a dinner and a movie with a special someone for Valentine's Day, or you just like to read up on what's worth seeing before you spend your hard earned cash on a theater experience, you have plenty of options to read up on what's new in theaters or what's worth seeing before you go. Here's a look at five of the best movie recommendation and review services, based on your nominations.

Earlier in the week we asked you for your favorite movie recommendation service, and you certainly responded. Sadly we can't look at all of them, but here are the top five nominees.

Photo by Ondřej Lipár.

Criticker

Criticker doesn't just match you up with movies that you would like, it also matches you up with other movie lovers who enjoy the same types of movies that you do. If you're a movie buff or a self-described movie critic, Criticker gives you a platform to share your thoughts, rate movies, and comment on other people's ratings. The service is only as good as the movies you rate though, so as soon as you sign up, your best bet is to start rating movies right away so the site can get an idea of what you'd enjoy watching. When it does know what you like, though, it makes some great predictions. Best of all, the algorithm that it uses to determine whether you'd like a movie, the "Taste Compatibility Index," is dynamic, learns from your changing tastes, and can help you determine whether you'd like a new blockbuster before you spend money on it.

Jinni

Jinni, often described as "Pandora for movies," works best when you search for the types of movies, genres, moods, even performers that you like, and you'll see a list of movies that Jinni thinks will fit the bill, thanks to its aptly-named "Movie Genome Project." Even if you search for "date night," Jinni can suggest some titles for you that are perfect for the atmosphere that both of you will enjoy. Then you can further customize the search by limiting the results to types of films, dates released, genres, and more. If you have an account, you can save your searches, along with any preferences and favorites you have, so Jinni can hone your recommendations even further. Plus, hook Jinni up with your Netflix, Hulu, iTunes, Amazon Video, or Blockbuster account to make use of its suggestions.

Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes is the quintessential movie review site. For a lot of people, a "rotten" rating is enough to make them not want to see a movie at all, much less spend money on it in the theaters. Rotten Tomatoes does an excellent job of aggregating movie reviews from all over the web, including the voices of professional movie critics, newspapers reviews, bloggers, and forum and movie fan buzz around the web. The site is a great way to quickly see how well received (or poorly received) a new film that's just landed in the theater has been. You can have your say as well—after registering for an account, you can rate movies on your own and contribute to the community. Think of Rotten Tomatoes as an essential research tool to use to decide if a movie worth seeing—even if it doesn't use your tastes or watch history to help you decide.

ChickFlix

With the tagline "movie reviews by industry chicks," ChickFlix aims to give you a female perspective on the movie industry's latest releases. Operated by three women who started the site by debating what exactly a "chick flick" really is, the blog has grown into an amazing source for movie reviews and perspectives that you won't find represented in newspaper reviews or on other movie review sites. Keep in mind though that ChickFlix doesn't aim to rate movies, or give you detailed background into why movie A is better than movie B, or why you'll like movie C because you liked movie D. Instead, you'll find interesting and engaging movie reviews, information on films that you may like that you may not have heard of, and great suggestions for films that you may not otherwise have investigated.

Metacritic

Metacritic rates just about everything, and movies are no exception. Similar to Rotten Tomatoes, the site is largely sentiment-driven and scores are an aggregate based on reviews from elsewhere on the web, prominent voices, independent reviews, authors, bloggers, commenters, and members of the community who are invited to sign up and rate their own movies and experiences. The process of building a metascore is unique and complex enough that there's a whole page about it, and to this day Metacritic rankings—which fluctuate based on the sentiment of the web—are used to communicate the overall worth of a movie, video game, book, or album, even if that media has been out for years. Again, Metacritic is a research tool, much like Rotten Tomatoes—even though Metacritic covers a much wider series of topics, it's not going to help you decide whether you'd like a film based on other films you like, but it will help you determine whether the overall reception of a movie has been positive or negative, and why.

Now that you've seen the top five, it's time to vote for the overall winner.

Honorable mentions this week go out to the venerable IMDB, which not as many of you nominated as we expected, but is still a great go-to site for information on past movies, actor bios, upcoming projects and productions that your favorite performers are in, trailers, and news. Also worth mentioning is MovieLens, a site that does a really good job of suggesting movies to you that you'd like based on movies you already know you enjoyed or disliked.

Did your favorite not get enough nominations to make the list? Have something to say about one of the contenders we missed? Sound off in the comments below.

Use Sugru to Fix a Leaky Hose [Sugru]

David Galloway — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 07:00:00 PST

It is frustrating to find a leak in a water hose. Depending on the size of the leak, you could be wasting up to a hundred dollars worth of water during the average year. Fortunately you can use a sachet of Sugru to repair just about any type of hose leak.

Instructables user Brennn10 offers the following instructions for fixing leaks: Make sure there is no water in the interior of the hose and use a cloth or your t-shirt to make sure the area around the leak is both dry and clean. Next, remove your Sugru and roll it in your hands for a minute or so and form it into the shape of a snake. Wrap the snake horizontally around the leak—ideally the ends should overlap to ensure a strong bond. Now you just flatten down the Sugru and wait 24 hours for it to cure.

After 24 hours turn on the hose and check to make sure the Sugru patch fixed the leak. For other ways Sugru can make your life better, check out all Lifehacker posts about Sugru.

How to Repair a Leaky Hose with Sugru | Instructables

This Week's Top Downloads [Download Roundup]

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:00:00 PST

PaperKarma Stops Junk Mail with a Snap of a Photo (iOS/Android/WP7) iOS/Android/WP7: Nobody likes junk mail, but if you're too lazy to go through and unsubscribe to everything individually, PaperKarma is a new app that only requires you to take a picture of the offending mail to remove yourself from the junk mail database.
Software Data Cable Connects and Transfers Data to Your Android Phone, No Cables Required (Android) If you've ever forgotten a USB cable and need a way to transfer data to your Android phone from your PC (or vice versa), Software Data Cable is a free app for Android that turns your phone into a networked storage device you can browse from your computer, no cables attached.
Elpis is a Lightweight Desktop Client for Pandora (Windows) Sure the default web client for Pandora is nice, but some of us want to have a desktop version to not take up a tab and memory in our browser of choice. The open source desktop client Elpis does a good job of keeping the essential functions of Pandora active while not using as many resources.
Black SMS Encrypts and Decrypts Your Text Messages (iOS) Anyone can pick up your phone and read your text messages. It's also not that difficult for someone to install spy software or for the U.S. government to acquire your messages from your carrier. If you want to keep your text messages private, Black SMS is an app that provides a very simple method for doing so. You simply type in the message, set a password, and send it over to iMessage. The recipient can then use their copy of Black SMS to decrypt the message using the password you set by simply pasting the message into the app and entering the password.
Market Unlocker Makes Location Restricted Market and Amazon Apps Available to Users in Any Country (Android) If you live outside of the United States, you know how difficult it can be to get some of the hottest new apps that are inexplicably US-only, and you know the pain of not being able to use the Amazon App Store at all. Market Unlocker is an Android app for rooted devices that makes your phone look to the Android Market and to the Amazon App Store like a US-based Verizon Wireless phone, so you can browse, buy, and download apps to your heart's content.
Chrome for Android Brings Bookmark Sync and Incognito Browsing to Android (Android) If you've got an Android device running Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0), you can now download the beta version of Google's Chrome browser from the Android Market, complete with many of the things we love about Chrome-like bookmark syncing and Incognito mode-but on your mobile device.
Todo.txt Touch for Android Adds Home Screen Widget, Tap to Call Support (Android) Todo.txt, our favorite plain text to-do list manager, has updated its touch-centric Android app to include a home screen widget, recognition for phone numbers and email addresses, and a few other fixes that make it easier to use.
PomodoroPro for iPhone Keeps You On-Task and Productive (iOS) One of the first things you'll need if you want to try the Pomodoro productivity technique is a timer that will count down during the periods you're supposed to be working and alert you when it's time to take a break. PomodoroPro for iOS is a good-looking and elegant Pomodoro timer for the iPhone that will keep you on track and keep you motivated to continue.
Dashlane Securely Manages Passwords, Form info, and Even Purchases For You (and We've Got Invites) (Windows/Mac) There are plenty of services that promise to keep your passwords safe, secure, and synchronized across devices behind a single master password that you can remember, but Dashlane is a new service that does that, audits those passwords for strength, saves your form information for quick entry on new web sites, and even keeps track of the purchases you make with that information so you can see it all in one view-one that's only available to you, not even DashLane employees.
MeetingCalc for iPhone Shows You How Expensive Those Boring Meetings Really Are (iOS) If your office is plagued by lengthy meetings that drag on while everyone has to have their say, MeetingCalc is the mobile app for you. Start the timer, set the hourly rate of everyone in the room combined, and the app will keep a running log of how much the meeting is costing the company in terms of everyone's salary as the minutes tick past.

Use a Pillowcase to Dry Lettuce Without a Salad Spinner [Video]

David Galloway — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:00:00 PST

We want our salad greens to be freshly washed, but we also don't want them to be wet. Most people use a salad spinner to dry their greens after washing, but if you don't have one you can get the same effect by putting your wet lettuce into a clean pillowcase and spinning it around like a centrifuge.

Culinary site Chow.com also recounts that if you have a plastic shopping/produce bag you can add the wet lettuce to that along with a few paper towels and then spin for the same effect.

Do you use any life hacks to make salad prep easier? If so we'd love to hear about it in the comments below.

CHOW Tip: How to Dry Salad Without a Salad Spinner | CHOW

Make a Cup of Ginger Tea to Help with Nausea, Sore Throat, and Motion Sickness [Team]

David Galloway — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 15:00:00 PST

Ginger rhizome is well known to help with upset stomachs—even today many people go for commercial ginger ale when nauseous. To make a more concentrated brew, cut up the ginger rhizome and boil with water to make a spicy tea that can offers even more benefits.

Photography weblog Snap Shots and Tips recommends this simple family recipe for ginger tea: Wash and peel an entire ginger rhizome and cut the peeled rhizome into small slices. Add those to a pan along with 2 or 3 cups of water and bring to a boil. When the water reaches a pale yellow color it is ready. Pour it into a mug and add a teaspoon of honey or brown sugar.

This tea will have a spicy ginger flavor that I find very comforting. Give it a try next time there's a rumbly in your tumbly.

The Power of Ginger Root Tea | Snap Shots and Tips

Freeze Raw Bacon to Avoid Spoilage [Food Hacks]

David Galloway — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 14:00:00 PST

Sure, most of us can plow through a pack of bacon in just a few breakfasts, but there are always times when you go out of town for the weekend or just get busy and you've had to throw out spoiled bacon. What a waste! If you know this could happen to you or if you just stock up on six months worth of bacon at a sale consider flash freezing the raw bacon so you only use what you need.

Progressive culinary weblog Food Renegade advises this easy method of freezing raw bacon: Place a sheet of wax paper or aluminum foil on a baking sheet then lay out bacon slices. You can keep adding sheets of wax paper/aluminum foil and bacon just make sure there is always a barrier between layers of bacon. Put the baking sheet in your freezer for a few hours and then place your now-frozen slices of bacon in a freezer bag and return the bag to the freezer for future use.

Now you can just remove a slice or two of bacon whenever needed for a recipe and not have to worry about the rest of it spoiling. Bacon slices are thin enough that you should be able to microwave them for one minute and then cook as normal.

How to Easily Store Bacon | Food Renegade

Flapcast Organizes and Streams Podcasts in Your Browser [Webapps]

David Galloway — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 13:00:00 PST

I listen to a lot of podcasts—they're a convenient way to absorb information while driving, working out, or doing tasks that don't require your complete concentration. Flapcast is a webapp that keeps your preferred podcasts in the cloud you can listen to from any computer.

I use BeyondPodwith my Android phone to keep my two or three preferred podcasts ready, but there are several others I like to listen to occasionally. I don't want to automatically download these, but it's nice to have them available by going to Flapcast.

The webapp also has a social component that you can friend other uses and see what podcasts they subscribe to. I couldn't rate that since the webapp is pretty new and I didn't see anyone I know that already has a profile there, but I'm sure it works as advertised. The search function lists a few podcasts, but I wasn't able to find old favorites like The Survival Podcast or Paul Wheaton's Permaculture Podcast via Flapcast's search. You can still add these podcasts manually via their OPML file in iTunes but that's a pain for those of us who don't like using iTunes in the first place.

It would also be nice if the webapp could somehow remember your place in a podcast episode when you navigate away, but since it doesn't actually download the podcast there's no way to bookmark the stream.

These few flaws aside, Flapcast seems to work well and is good for listening to podcasts while at your computer if you're not a fan of iTunes. If you want to explore the social side of Flapcast, feel free to add me as a friend by searching for my name.

Flapcast | via Make Use Of

DIY Scratch-Off Valentines [Video]

David Galloway — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 12:00:00 PST

Scratching off lottery tickets can be fun every once in a while, and Instructables user hellobrit shows in the video above that it's simple to bring a scratch off message to your valentine this year.

Making scratch-off paint is easy; just mix 2 parts acrylic paint to 1 part dish soap. Go ahead and print out the card or get the Polaroid photo you want to cover ready. Tape off portions of the card that don't need the paint or just use a stencil to make sure your scratch-off paint is only applied where you want. Let the paint dry, and you'll probably need to add a second coat to completely cover your message or photo.

This method makes for a cute valentine—if you need a creative way to say ‘I Love You' consider giving it a try.

Scratch-Off Photo Valentine | Instructables

Save Money and Get a Better Drink with the Secret Short Cappuccino at Starbucks [Coffee]

David Galloway — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:00:00 PST

According to news weblog Slate, Starbucks can serve you a better, stronger cappuccino that costs less money; the baristas all know about it, but it's not on any menu. We're talking about the Starbucks short cappuccino, and if you're going to visit the Seattle-based coffee megacorporation you may want to give it a try.

In Europe and in barista competitions a cappuccino is defined as a 4-6 oz beverage but the smallest cappuccino on the menu at Starbucks is the 12 oz "Tall". The 8oz "short" cappuccino from Starbucks is 8 oz but has the same amount of espresso as the tall, meaning that your coffee to milk ratio is much higher. The reason why smaller cappuccinos are regarded as superior is that most coffee experts maintain that it is impossible to properly froth the microfoam in larger quantities. Slate states that

a 20-ounce cappuccino is any oxymoron...I can confirm that [the short cappuccino] is a better drink than the buckets of warm milk—topped with a veneer of froth—that the coffee chain advertises on its menus.

Why is the short cappuccino not on the menu? Starbucks, like most retail coffeeshops, must maintain a fine line with pricing; if the price is too high you drive customers away, but if you price it too low the margins don't allow sufficient profit. Keeping the short off the menus raises the bar for the minimum drink size to tall which keeps the jump from the smallest beverage to the largest only around a dollar in price difference.

So if you just want more coffee in your cappuccino or prefer to spend as little as possible at Starbucks there are a few reasons to give the short cappuccino a try. Photo by Marco Arment

Starbucks Economics: Solving the mystery of the elusive "short" cappuccino | Slate

Top 10 Downloads That Enhance Windows' Built-In Tools [Video]

Whitson Gordon — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 08:00:00 PST

Windows has a ton of great utilities, and while we can't live without some of them, there's a special place in our heart for programs that merely improve Windows, rather than adding new software. Here are our top 10 apps that take Windows' built-in tools and make them better.

10. MenuUninstaller

Unless you make regular trips through Add/Remove Programs uninstalling programs by the bunch, chances are you run into unwanted programs when you're browsing the Start Menu, or sifting through your Program Files. Instead of going all the way to Add/Remove programs to uninstall something, MenuUninstaller puts an Uninstall option right in your context menu. Just right-click on a shortcut or app, hit Uninstall, and it'll uninstall it for you. It usually works pretty well. However, if you want something a little more powerful, you can always go with another app uninstaller altogether—like Revo Uninstaller, which can uninstall every trace of a program just by clicking on its window.

9. MiniBin

If you like to keep a clean desktop—and who doesn't—that Recycle Bin icon might drive you mad, sitting in the corner. Even if it doesn't, you might not like how it handles deletions, and MiniBin can fix that. MiniBin moves your Recycle Bin to your system tray, and tweak how the Recycle Bin works. You can double-click on the system tray icon to empty the bin, and even get rid of the prompt or system progress display that comes with that operation, not to mention turn off the sounds. It even has a CPU optimization option for older computers.

8. XnView Shell Extension

If Windows Explorer's preview pane isn't your cup of tea, you can still get quick previews of images with something like the XnView Shell Extension. Not only will it show you a thumbnail of an image when you right-click on it in Windows Explorer, it'll also add context menu options for converting the image, setting it as your wallpaper, and more. If that clutters up your context menu a bit too much, you could also try FastPreview, which only adds the thumbnail feature.

7. OpenWith Enhanced

When Windows doesn't know how to open a certain file type, it does its best to offer you possible programs that will—but it can't recommend you anything beyond the programs you already have. OpenWith Enhanced adds a few extra features to Windows' Open With menu, like the ability to recommend other programs from the net. It'll also tell you which programs are more likely to open that file than others, so you can make a more informed decision, and even head to their download page right from the Open With menu. You can also clean up the "Open With" portion of the context menu for any file type, which is handy.

6. Jumplist Extender

Jumplists are still one of Windows 7's best underhyped features, and if you work them into your routine, they can be quite the productivity booster. However, you're pretty much stuck with whatever options the jumplists give you. Jumplist Extender lets you create new jumplist item for any program. You can tell the new item to make a keystroke, run a command from the command line, or even run an AutoHotkey command (so, basically, you can tell it to do anything). It makes jumplists even more useful, and lets you tweak them to fit how you use them in your workflow.

5. Process Manager

While Process Manager aims to be an easy way to kill programs from the right-click menu, it can do so much more than that. Process Manager adds more options to the system menu of any given application, letting you kill it, hide it, minimize it to the system tray, make it transparent, and more. You can even kill all y our running apps or hide all your running apps, if the boss is walking by and you need to get rid of all those Reddit tabs. It's just a few more ways to manage the mass of windows that build up during the day. Of course, if you need something a little beefier for managing tasks, you can always turn to a 3rd-party task manager, too.

4. QTTabBar (and Other Explorer Add-Ons)

Windows Explorer leaves a lot to be desired, and while you could always install a completely new file browser, there are also a few great Explorer add-ons out there that beef up your existing tools. QTTabBar is one of the best, adding tabs to the top of the window, in addition to other useful options like copying the path of a folder, custom keyboard shortcuts, and more. If that isn't your thing, you can try Better Explorer, which adds a ribbon-like interface to Explorer in an effort to emulate Windows 8's upcoming version of Explorer. And, if all you want is a few small tweaks, CustomExplorerToolbar adds and removes buttons from Windows Explorer's toolbar for you.

3. Bins

Mac OS X's "Stacks" feature is still one of our favorite features of the OS X dock, and Bins brings this functionality to Windows 7, letting you pin nearly anything to the taskbar. Pinning a bin means that clicking that icon opens up a "stack" of other icons, which is great for keeping your taskbar organized. It also lets you pin files and folders to your taskbar, which is a feature annoyingly missing from Windows. If you don't like Bins, 7stacks and StandaloneStack are both great alternatives for getting a stacks feature in Windows, and Taskbar Items Pinner will give you the pin-documents-to-the-taskbar feature.

2. Fences

If you use the desktop to hold files but need a bit more organization than it offers, Fences is for you. Fences lets you sort different types of icons into different boxes on your desktop, toggle visibility of all your icons, or even auto-detect which kinds of icons should go where. It's one of the best ways to design and create an organized desktop, and is one of the first installations I make on any Windows PC.

1. Teracopy

You may not realize it, but Windows' default method for copying files is pretty slow, not to mention kind of unreliable. It doesn't tell you what was successfully copied and what wasn't, it doesn't let you pause and resume transfers, and it doesn't optimize the process to make it go as fast as possible—all of which Teracopy does beautifully. It's the best way to transfer files on a Windows machine, and best of all, it plugs itself right into Windows Explorer. All you need to do is install it, and all future file copies will go through Teracopy's speedier, more advanced copying process. Install it, forget it, make your life simpler.

Bonus Item: ShellExView

After installing your favorite tweaks from this list, it's likely that your context menu has grown to a monstrous size. That's fine if you use a lot of the options within, but if you don't use a lot of the context menu's features, you can trim it down with something like ShellExView. We thought it irresponsible to not at least give it a mention considering we talk about so many context menu additions in this post, so here it is as a bonus tool. We also recommend checking out this guide to cleaning up your Windows context menu from our friends over at the How-To Geek, which details lots of ways—from ShellExView to tweaking the registry itself—to trim down the context menu to your liking.

As we said, great utilities abound on Windows, but there's something about a program that enhances Windows' existing features that's particularly enticing. Obviously, there are a ton of other great ones out there—from the somewhat niche like MediaTab to completely separate programs like 7-Zip. If you have a favorite Windows enhancer we didn't mention, be sure to share it with us in the comments.

Store Spaghetti in Pringles Cans [Clever Uses]

David Galloway — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 07:00:00 PST

If you buy spaghetti, linguine, or other long pastas in bulk it can be difficult to find a good way to store the excess once you open the large package. Tall thin Pringles brand potato chip cans excel at this use.

Life hacking weblog How To Life Guide recommends using the processed potato chip can to keep a lid on your excess pasta. Rinse out an empty can and allow it to dry. Be careful not to let water sit in the can—the interior of the can has a thin aluminum coating which should repel water and allow you to quickly rinse out potato chip crumbs, but leaving water inside the can for more than a minute is inviting the water to find a leak and compromise the rest of the cardboard tube.

Do you have any other clever containers for bulk pasta or do you just use a gallon-sized freezer bag? Let us know in the comments below.

11 Storage and Container Pro Tips | How To Life Guide via Reddit

Hack Your Gadgets and Void Your Warranties This Weekend [Weekendhacker]

Adam Dachis — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:00:00 PST

There's nothing inherently wrong with a product you buy off the shelf, but there's definitely something awesome about hacking it to make it better. This weekend, throw your warranties aside and bring something new to the things you already own.

Hack Your Computers

Your computers are prime targets for a few great upgrades. For starters, you can boost your speed by overclocking your processor. This is even useful with low-powered processors like the Intel Atom. You can overclock your video card, too.

If you're working with PC hardware, you can turn it into a hackintosh. (Although possible with a laptop, you probably want to avoid hackintoshing it. Netbooks, on the other hand, tend to work a bit better.)

While upgrading to a solid-state drive (SSD) isn't always going to void your warranty, it will if you remove your MacBook's optical drive to add it. (It's also one of the best upgrades for an older computer, anyway.)

If you're dealing with older machinery, there are plenty of ways to repurpose the computer for pretty much any room in the house. One of my favorites is turning an old laptop or netbook into a touchscreen tablet. Another favorite is turning it into a network-attached storage device and an internet PVR.

Hack Your Smartphones

The two most obvious smartphone hacks are rooting (for Android) and jailbreaking (for iPhone), but what do you do after that? For starters, check out some of our favorite Android apps that require root access and our favorite jailbreak apps and tweaks for iOS 5. For those of you on an iDevice, jailbroken or not, you'll also want to check out how you can get the most out of Notification Center for some specific tips and apps to add more functionality. Personally, my favorite thing to do with either platform is turn your device into a retro game arcade.

But what about the actual hardware? There are plenty of ways to modify your smartphone or even your regular cellphone, plus accessories you can make yourself. Our favorite is this binder clip car mount. iPhone owners have tons of customization options such as a carbon fiber, metal, or wooden back plate. You can even design a custom glass panel if you want.

Hack Your Other Stuff

Computers and smartphones are easy to categorize, but some of the greatest warranty-voiding hacks come in the form of more niche (or at least less-popular and more specific) stuff. Here are some of our favorites:

For more options, check out our Top 10 Warranty Voiding Hacks. Have a great weekend!

Remains of the Day: FCC Trying to Fill in Mobile Data Gaps [For What It's Worth]

Jeremy Hoag — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:00:00 PST

The FCC releases a map of mobile data dead zones, Anonymous isn't sure if it brought down CIA.gov, and Google hands back the MPAA's Hotfile subpoena. Photo remixed from Pavel Ignatov (Shutterstock)

FCC Map: Large Areas Lack Mobile Broadband: Blackout areas throughout the Western states, Appalachia, and Alaska will be eligible for $300 million in contracts to "complete our nation's wired and wireless infrastructure." [ComputerWorld]
Anonymous Says They've Killed the CIA's Website (Updated): While a Twitter account claiming affiliation with Anonymous took credit for today's downtime, core members remain silent. [Gizmodo]
MPAA Demands Hotfile Data from Google, Search Engine Refuses: Claiming that Hotfile's growth stems directly from promoting "digital theft," The MPAA needs the site's traffic statistics to seek a summary judgement next week. [TorrentFreak]
Google, Microsoft and Apple Letters Aim to Keep Regulators at Bay: All three companies have been blogging and publishing letters to standards agencies to dispel any impression that ongoing patent battles are a bid to monopolize computing markets. [Macworld]
Goodbye White MacBook, Apple Takes the MacBook Air into Education with New Five-Pack, Mobile Lab Programs: The new programs include an education exclusive 13" Air with the internals of the 11" consumer models, available in packs of 5, 10 or 20 at $999 each. [9to5 Mac]
Yahoo's New Visualization Beautifully Shows What's Happening on the Web: The site visualizes how Yahoo! uses combined demographics like age, interests and gender to target homepage content to different users. [Mashable]

KUM Pencut Is a Travel Pair of Scissors (That Won't Destroy Your Bag) [Stuff We Like]

Whitson Gordon — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:30:00 PST

Scissors are one of those things that you only seem to need when you don't have any around—like when you're travelling, or in your car. The KUM Pencut is a pair of scissors in a pen-sized sheath, so you can have them on hand without risking a hole in your backpack (or worse).

We wouldn't recommend trying to get these through airport security, of course, but they can be pretty handy when you're out of the house and need to cut the tag off those new pants, save your unraveling sweater, and so on. They fold up into a sheath designed to look like a pen, that snaps on so they won't break free while bouncing around in your backpack. Of course, as safe as they are, they're only as safe as the person using them. Remember: cut away from yourself. Hit the link below to see more, or head over to JetPens to buy your own pair. The KUM Pencut retails for $15.

KUM Pencut | via Cool Tools

Zamzar Converts Images, Documents, and Other Files Directly Over Email [File Conversion]

Whitson Gordon — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:00:00 PST

We've long been fans of online file conversion service Zamzar, but today they released a new feature that lets you convert files over email, so you can convert files no matter where you are.

The new service is super easy to use. Just take a file of a type supported by Zamzar, add it as an attachment in an email, and send it to format@zamzar.com, where format is the format you want to convert to. So, if you were converting a PNG file to JPG, you'd attach your PNG in an email to jpg@zamzar.com. This works with images, documents, music, ebooks, and even videos.

Unfortunately, unless you have a paid account on Zamzar, you only have a 1MB limit for files sent over email. It's still more than enough for a basic image or document conversion, though, and it's great for use on smartphones. If someone sends you an iWork file, for example, and you can't open it on your Android phone, just forward the email to doc@zamzar.com and you'll get an Office-compatible file that you can open anywhere. Check out their FAQ for more information about the new service.

Convert Files by Email | Zamzar Blog

Daily App Deals: Get Easy Calendar for iOS for Only 99¢ in Today's App Deals [Deals]

Doug Shipley — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:30:00 PST

The Daily App Deals post is a round-up of the best app discounts of the day, as well as some notable mentions for ones that are on sale.

The Best

Easy Calendar (iTunes) Previously $1.99, now 99¢. Easy Calendar for iOS is an alternative calendar app that aims to make creating new events easier with only three taps and editing your events with two taps. Easy Calendar integrates with native iPhone calendar events and will sync with MobileMe, Outlook, Google, and other CalDav calendars. Get it for 99¢. (via Apps-aholic)

Free

iOS

Speed Freak | iTunes via Apps-aholic | Previously 99¢
Love-Mosaic | iTunes via LogicBuy | Previously 99¢
QuickMark - QR Code Reader | iTunes via LogicBuy | Previously $1.99
Instant110 | iTunes via LogicBuy | Previously $1.99
World Atlas for iPad | iTunes via LogicBuy | Previously $1.99
Interactive Painting Board - Fantastic Doodle World for Kids! | iTunes via LogicBuy | Previously $1.99
Quick Movie Camera HD | iTunes via Apps-aholic | Previously $1.99
SoundZen HD | iTunes via Apps-aholic | Previously 99¢

Windows

Flip PPT Standard 3.2 Presentation Publication Software download | Giveaway of the Day via LogicBuy | Previously $99.00

The Rest

iOS

TextGrabber + Translator | iTunes via Apps-aholic | Previously $1.99, now 99¢
Topping Pro | iTunes via Apps-aholic | Previously $1.99, now 99¢
Solar Walk - 3D Solar System model | iTunes via Apps-aholic | Previously $2.99, now $1.99
Awesome Calendar - +ToDos, Notes, sync with Google Calendar | iTunes via Apps-aholic | Previously $2.99, now $1.99
Star Walk - 5 Stars Astronomy Guide | iTunes via Apps-aholic | Previously $2.99, now $1.99
Password Safe - iPassSafe+ | iTunes via Apps-aholic | Previously $5.99, now $1.99

Android

Kids ABC Phonics - Kindle Fire Edition | Amazon Appstore via Apps-aholic | Previously $3.99, now 99¢
Songwriter's Pad - Songwriting App with Rhyme Dictionary for Kindle Fire | Amazon Appstore via Apps-aholic | Previously $9.99, now $4.99
Motion To Go | Amazon Appstore via Apps-aholic | Previously $1.99, now 99¢
WeatherGeek Pro | Amazon Appstore via LogicBuy | Previously $2.99, now $1.99

Windows

Webroot SecureAnywhere AntiVirus 2012 | Webroot via LogicBuy | Previously $39.95, now $29.95

Pimp Your Facebook: How to Create a Badass Timeline Banner [Video]

Whitson Gordon — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:00:00 PST

Facebook's new, awesome Timeline feature is rolling out to everyone, and a few early adopters have discovered a neat trick where you cut your profile picture out from your cover photo, for a very cool picture-in-picture effect. Here's how to do it.

There are two main methods to this trick: one for those that have Photoshop (which we found via our friends at Gizmodo), and one for those that don't. Here's how they both work.

If You Have Photoshop

If you have a copy of Photoshop, your life has been made easy by design team Ausgetrock.net, who have put together a template and Photoshop action that makes sizing up your photo a cinch. All you need is a big photo with your desired profile picture in the bottom left area—or an overlay that you can add to the bottom left corner of a picture to represent yourself. To put it all together, open up the Photoshop template (which looks like a Facebook profile page), paste in your picture so that it aligns correctly with the way it'll look on your profile, then run the Photoshop action to create two images: one that you'll upload as your profile picture, and one that you'll upload as your cover photo. Photoshop will have cropped them each correctly so the final product looks like one, big image. See the video above to see how it's done.

If You Don't Have Photoshop

Update: If you use free image editor the GIMP, reader Aaron118 has shared an XCF template that should make creating your Timeline banner dead simple. For all other image editors, though, you can use the manual method below.

Doing it manually takes a bit of trial and error. Essentially, you need to take one large photo and crop it correctly so that you end up with an 851x314 cover photo and a 125x125 profile picture. Because Facebook requires your profile picture to be at least 180x180, though, even though it resizes it to 125x125, we're going to create our image accordingly (that is, a 180x180 profile picture, and a 1225x452 cover photo). That way, everything stays high quality and it lines up correctly. Here's what you need to do:

Find an image for your cover/profile picture hybrid. Make sure it's big. The bigger, the better, as it'll give you much more room to work. It needs to be at least 1225x508, but the more space you can give yourself on the sides, the better—especially if you're trying to line up a specific portion of the picture as your profile pic (like we did in the above Spider-Man example). If your image is too small, you may not get things to align correctly and you'll be out of luck.
Find a square portion of the image that you want to be your profile picture. In the example at the top of this post, I used Spider-Man's face. Resize the entire image so that that square is 180x180 pixels, if necessary.
Crop out that 180x180 square and save it as your profile picture. Once it's saved, hit Undo so you go back to a view of the full image. That square should still be selected, so don't unselect it yet. We need it to judge which portion of the full image is our cover photo.
Grab the left edge of that 180x180 square, and drag it to the left 80 pixels, so that the square becomes a 220x180 selection. Then, grab the bottom edge and drag it up 56 pixels, so your selection becomes a small 220x124 rectangle. At no point in this step should you have moved the selection—just drag the edges.
Grab the right edge of that selection and drag it out until the selection is 1225 pixels wide, then grab the top edge and drag it up until it's 452 pixels tall. Crop the photo there, and save that new image as your cover photo.
Upload each of those images to Facebook in their respective spots—cover photo and profile picture—and let your freinds' jealousy start flowing.

If you did everything correctly, you should get something like the image at the top of this post, where everything aligns to form one big, cool, picture-in-picture effect. If not, go back and try again. This method can take a bit of trial and error sometimes before you get it working. You may also find (as I did, with the Spider-Man image) that the image isn't wide or tall enough to fit the dimensions you need. In some photos, like the Spider-Man one, you can use the clone stamp tool to extend the edge of the photo outwards, or do some fancy photo editing to get things to fit. If not, you'll have to find a new cover photo, sadly. Again: the bigger your source image, the better. Try it out for yourself, and if you get some pretty cool results, share them with us in the comments below!

This Week’s Most Popular Posts: February 4-10 [Highlights]

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:30:00 PST

This week we calibrated our computer monitors for a better picture, sped up our computers, made the most of our trips to Costco, and more. Here's a look back.

Bake an Egg in an Avocado for a Fast and Healthy Breakfast Treat

Avocados are amazing things-they're delicious on their own, but they also have a lot of healthy fats, dietary fibers, and vitamins, and despite their high caloric value, they're remarkably easy to prepare. More »

Upgrade and Speed Up Your Computer This Weekend

It's a sad fact of life that over time, all of our computers get a little bit slower. Before you start shelling out for a new machine, take some time this weekend to perform some maintenance tasks, upgrade a single piece of hardware, or even overclock your machine for a little speed boost. More »

Get Up to 4.5GB of Extra Space on Dropbox for Uploading Photos and Videos

You can never have too much Dropbox space, and now for a special beta period you can grab some additional free space while Dropbox is testing their automatic photo and video uploading feature. More »

What to Buy at Costco Versus Your Grocery Store

Buying in bulk at Costco can save your family lots of money-depending on what you buy. To find out exactly which items are the best deals at the wholesale club, personal finance blog Squawkfox did a shopping experiment comparing unit prices on fresh, frozen, and packaged goods between a local... More »

The iPad's Split Keyboard Has a Few Hidden Buttons that Make Typing Easier

You've no doubt seen the split keyboard that iOS 5 brought to the iPad, but it turns out it has a few hidden buttons on the edges. Here's how they work. More »

Top 10 Ways to Travel Smarter, Safer, and Cheaper

A vacation can range anywhere from a dream to a nightmare. While some of that depends on circumstance, there's plenty you can do to make your travel easier, more efficient, and more fun. More »

Five Best Ways to Stream Live TV

Whether you're looking for a way to catch the big game this weekend when you're away from your living room, or you just like to catch live television when you're trapped somewhere without either cable or a television, you have plenty of options to help you catch a broadcast on your mobile phone or... More »

These Are the Five Repeating Home Maintenance Tasks You Probably Forget To Do

Whether you're renting or you own a home, it's easy to let repeated tasks of home maintenance slip your mind. Over on Apartment Therapy they've outlined the five repeating home maintenance tasks most people forget and a simple way to remind yourself to do them.
The tasks you're probably forgetting... More »

What Are Some Tasty, Healthy Alternatives to Soda?

I've decided it's finally time to get rid of my twice-a-day soda habit, but the problem is, I really like soda. What are the healthy alternatives that can still match my cravings?
Sincerely,
Mr. More »

Gather These Twenty-Five Documents You Need Before You Die

Do your loved ones a favor and organize these important documents so in case something happens to you they can easily make financial decisions and act on your behalf. More »

Google Cloud Print: It's Actually Awesome, and Here's How to Set It Up

Google Cloud Print is an under-appreciated service that can send print jobs from virtually anywhere to a connected printer in any other location. Normally that involves tedious configuration on your network, but Cloud Print can do it in just a few minutes. More »

How I Improved My Life with a PS3 Controller

Picture this: After hours of web browsing, your body is contorted in various unnatural positions over time. Your legs up on the table, or you're lying on the bed sideways with the laptop rotated sideways as well. More »

How Do I Calibrate My Computer's Monitor for the Best Picture?

Dear Lifehacker,
I never feel like the colors look quite right on my monitor. I've seen your guide to calibrating an HDTV, but what about my computer's monitor? More »

Turns Out Being Drunk and Sleepy Can Do Wonders for Your Creativity [Creativity]

Adam Pash — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:00:00 PST

Common sense (and your irrational compulsion to, you know, keep your job) says drinking at work—or working when you're groggy—are bad news. But as Wired's Jonah Lehrer points out, recent studies reveal that being sleeping and/or drunk is great for creativity. Here's why:

When you're solving problems, your brain is built to shine a spotlight on what it considers relevant, ignoring ideas and connections that aren't likely solutions to your problem. This is a good thing, since without that focus your mind would be flooded with loads of irrelevant information when attempting to solve a simple task, and for what Lehrer calls standard analytic problems, that kind of focus is essential. When it comes to creative problem solving, however, your brain does better without that focus.

To demonstrate, researches presented two groups—one of which consisted of patients with severe attention deficits caused by damage to their prefrontal lobes—with puzzles. When presented with the more creatively challenging problem, the patients suffering from attention deficits performed significantly better:

In this case, only 43 percent of normal subjects were able to solve the problem. The patients who couldn't pay attention, however, had an 82 percent success rate. What accounts for this bizarre result? Why does brain damage dramatically improve performance on a hard creative task? ...The patients with a severe cognitive deficit... can't restrict their search. They are forced by their brain injury to consider a much wider range of possible answers. And this is why they're nearly twice as likely to have a breakthrough.

A second, similar study presented creative and analytic problems to groggy students, and a third did the same with drunk students. Like the patients with pre-frontal lobe damage, the tired and drunk students consistently performed better on creative problems. Lehrer sums it up nicely

The stupor of alcohol, like the haze of the early morning, makes it harder for us to ignore those unlikely thoughts and remote associations that are such important elements of the imagination. So the next time you are in need of insight, avoid caffeine and concentration. Don't chain yourself to your desk. Instead, set the alarm a few minutes early and wallow in your groggy thoughts. And if that doesn't work, chug a beer.

Photo by star5112.

Why Being Sleepy and Drunk Is Great for Creativity | Wired

Make a Mirrored Popup Flash Bouncer for Your Camera Out of a Snack Box [DIY]

Adam Dachis — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:30:00 PST

We've offered up a number of DIY products to make your flash photography look a bit better, but Flickr user synthetic_meat managed to find another one in a box of candy. He refolded that box, which had a silver lining, to create a mirrored popup flash bouncer for his camera:

I recently had some delectable snacks "Schaumküsse". They were in a nice cardboard box with a mirrored silver lining (haha!).
This gave me an idea - I had to use it as a lighting accessory! After a bit of cutting, scoring and folding, and a few paper clips, I came up with this foldable lightscoop-clone. It bounces the popup flash onto the ceiling or, if the camera is held in portrait orientation, the wall.

This DIY trick, which you can see in its various stages in the image above, is modeled after a product called the Lightscoop and these instructions. Basically, all you need to do is have a reflective surface facing the flash at a 45 degree angle. This will bounce the light to the ceiling (or to the wall) and you'll get a flash-based image that's far more appealing than the washed out pictures a flash affords you when pointed head-on.

Foldable recycled mirror popup flash bouncer | Flickr via @nchan

How the TSA's Newly-Expanded Expedited Travel Program Works (and If You Should Sign Up) [Air Travel]

Adam Dachis — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:00:00 PST

The U.S. Transport Safety Administration (TSA) has been testing a program called TSA Pre✓™ that allows you to supply the TSA with a handful of personal details in exchange for skipping the long lines at security checkpoints. Depending on how you feel about the TSA, this may sound really great or really terrible. Now that the program is expanding the many more airports, we're taking a look at how the program works and whether or not it's worth your time.

Photo by Zern (Shutterstock).

What You Get

The PreCheck program works by embedding a code in your boarding pass. The TSA agent checking that pass scans it, finds out that you're special, and may refer you to an expedited line. You also could by exempt from removing your shoes, items from your carry-on, your jacket, and your belt. The language on the TSA's "How It Works" page (see the image on the right) doesn't appear to guarantee any of these benefits. In fact, the page reminds you that "no individual will be guaranteed expedited screening" and that you're still subject to the "random and unpredictable security measures throughout the airport." The bottom line is that you might get these benefits, but they're not making any promises.

How to Sign Up

Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and US Airways are the current participating airlines in the PreCheck program, and they are inviting frequent fliers to join. If you haven't received an invitation, you can still sign up by joining the CBP Trusted Traveler program. Either way, the process is a little cumbersome:

Sign up for a CBP Global Online Enrollment System account.
Register with one of the PreCheck eligible programs to get a PASS ID number.
Enter that PASS ID number when booking a flight with one of the participating airlines.
Go to the airport and check in at one of the approved checkpoints (scroll down to the bottom of the page for the list).

What's particularly annoying is that you won't know if you were even approved for the PreCheck program until you actually get to one of these security checkpoints. You're not notified online, but at the airport when it's time to fly. This means that the first time around you can't count on any of the time savings you'd get from an expedited security check. To be fair, you can never really count on it because the TSA doesn't guarantee an expedited check to approved members of the program anyway.

Should You Participate In This Program?

No—at least not right now. To be fair to the PreCheck program, it's in its early phases and, despite the wider rollout currently underway, it has quite a ways to go. Even though it'll be available at more airports and, likely, additional airlines in the near future, the program doesn't really offer that much in exchange for your information. While this might be a better way to travel in the future, for now we suggest letting the PreCheck program grow up a little bit before jumping on board.

Ask and Answer Questions About Exercising [Help Yourself]

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:30:00 PST

Every day we're on the lookout for ways to make your work easier and your life better, but Lifehacker readers are smart, insightful folks with all kinds of expertise to share, and we want to give everyone regular access to that exceptional hive mind. Help Yourself is a daily thread where readers can ask and answer questions about tech, productivity, life hacks, and whatever else you need help with.

We're over a month into the new year, and many of you that promised yourself 2012 would be the year you would get healthy and start exercising are probably starting to wonder if you are going to indeed make good on your promise. It's easy for someone to proclaim they are going to start exercising, but to actually keep exercising and stay committed to it? It's very difficult.

If you are finding yourself tempted to "stray away" from your exercise routine and return to your old habits, then you will benefit from today's Help Yourself. What questions do you have in regards to exercising? Are you curious to know how often you should exercise? Or perhaps you are wondering what types of exercises are best for you. Alternatively, if you have found that certain exercise routines have yielded proven results, feel free to share your advice in the comments below. Ask and answer questions about exercising in the comments.

Build a Beautiful Shelving Unit and Desk Out of Pipes [Weekend Project]

Melanie Pinola — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:00:00 PST

This impressive, large shelving unit with built-in desk is something you can make yourself out of plumbing pipes and pine planks for about $200. Morgan Satterfield of The Brick House offers step-by-step directions for creating this massive storage unit.

The unit measures 8'8" by roughly 7'6" and 11 1/4" deep. Basically, you spray-paint three different lengths of pipes, stain the wood, and thread the pipes through holes you drill in the wood, securing the pipes to the wall.

For a materials list and more details about this cool industrial-looking unit, hit up the link below.

Shelving Unit | The Brick House via Remodelista

The Best Web Browser for Linux [Linux App Directory]

Whitson Gordon — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:30:00 PST

Linux users have a lot of choice when it comes to web browsers, but Google Chrome still wins out over all the others, for its extensibility, great syncing features, and usability.

Note: We know a lot of you Linux users value open source, so we think it's worth noting that Chrome is technically closed source. The Chromium project, however, is the open source basis for Chrome, and it's very similar. It merely lacks a few of Chrome's closed-source features (like its Flash plugin or the built-in PDF reader). You can download Chromium for Linux here, and see the full list of differences between Chrome and Chromium here.

Google Chrome

Platform: Windows/Mac/Linux
Price: Free
Download Page

Tabbed browsing with pinnable tabs and regular tabs that are easy to reorganize or drag off into separate windows.
Supports extensions that add new features to your browser, both from the Chrome Web Store and elsewhere.
Sync passwords, bookmarks, preferences, themes, autofill information, and extensions between Chrome installations through your Google account.
Fast page rendering and JavaScript engine.
Chrome "Omnibar" that lets you type in URLs and search terms in the same box.
Automatically creates custom search engines and lets you create your own.
Automatically recognizes web content that's not in your native language and offers to translate it for you.
"Incognito Mode" for private browsing and other things.
Choose from a variety of themes, or make your own.
Each tab and plug-in is isolated, so tabs and plug-ins will only crash individually instead of bringing down the entire browser.
Plenty of privacy preferences to keep Chrome from tracking what you do (which it does).
An automatic update system that downloads and installs updates without you having to do anything.
Safe browsing helps warn and protect you from phishing attacks and malicious web sites.
URL-based settings pages so you can send people links to settings pages or just enter them in yourself, manually.

Chrome is the power user's browser, and it's easy to see why. Chrome's biggest strength over other browsers lies in its usability. Chrome has really put a lot of thought into its UI, making it minimalist but powerful, smooth, and easy to use. It also has an incredible library of extensions, not to mention it can sync everything—including extensions—to your Chrome installations on other computers. Its rapid release cycle is also great, so whenever a new feature is ready for Chrome, you'll get it right away—no need to wait until the "next big version" that could be months away. It's constantly improving and giving you more ways to make your workflow easier.

Chrome started off as a great lightweight browser, but over time has grown very resource-hungry, the very thing that made so many people leave Firefox. It also has a tendency to be unstable sometimes, crashing certain tabs or plug-ins for unknown reasons. It also has a lot of little annoyances, like its handling of SSL certificates, that make you scratch your head a little (and then pound your fists repeatedly).

Chrome's biggest downside, however, is its lack of customizability. It has a lot of incredible extensions, no doubt about that, but when it comes to the browser itself, it's far, far behind something like Firefox. The interface is great, but you can't really change anything, so you're stuck with what Google gives you. In addition, there are a lot of more advanced options seemingly missing—like the ability to automatically focus a new tab—that you need to install new extensions to fix. Even disregarding Firefox's super powerful about:config and customizable userChrome.css, Chrome could stand to have more options.

Chrome's most obvious competition is, Firefox, which is still the default browser on many Linux distributions. Firefox kills Chrome in customizability but has fallen behind in other areas. Almost all Firefox's extensions still require a restart of the browser to install, and it still can't sync them between installations, which seems ludicrous in this day and age. It also still carries the same memory leak and resource hogging issues that have plagued it for years, though users with more powerful computers may not notice (and we're seeing these go away with every new version). Still, Firefox's customizability is hard to beat. You can move toolbar items pretty much anywhere you want, tweak even the smallest features in about:config, and fix every pixel of its UI with userChrome.css. And, if I know Linux users (and I think I do), that's something that's a pretty big draw.

Opera, while not one of the most popular browsers, has a very dedicated following and it's easy to see why. Its extension libraries aren't quite as vast, but it's pretty customizable, and has a lot of cool, well-integrated tab management features, BitTorrent support, blinding speed, and a turbo mode that's perfect for slow internet connections. If Firefox and Chrome aren't doing it for you, Opera's a breath of fresh air.

Lastly, Linux has a ton of other smaller browsers, like Epiphany, which is a lightweight, straightforward browser for GNOME; Konqueror, which integrates very nicely with the KDE desktop and is pretty customizable; and Midori, which has a nice little library of extensions that let you tweak how you use it (though it's nowhere near the level of Firefox and Chrome). If you're looking for something a bit simpler and a bit less bloated than the more popular browsers, check out one of these, as they're likely to suit you better. I find they're great as secondary browsers for logging into alternate accounts, testing out web pages to see if my main browser is acting up, and so on. Don't expect the level of customization and extensibility you get from the others, but if you don't want life-changing extensions like LastPass, then you may not care.

Obviously, there are a ton of smaller browsers for Linux that we didn't touch on, but the audience for them is pretty small with browsers like Chrome, Firefox and Opera taking over the power user market with their heaps of features. Got a favorite we didn't mention, though? Share it with us in the comments.

Lifehacker's App Directory is a new and growing directory of recommendations for the best applications and tools in a number of given categories.