Stanley Ling's Daily Inspiration

TubeRadio Turns YouTube Into Jukebox [Radio]

2009-11-09T05:43:00.000+08:00

YouTube's a quick source for hearing the occasional music track here and there. With TubeRadio, you can hunt down music on YouTube more efficiently, and even find entire albums, through a helpful search interface.

Unlike the hunt-and-peck searching you get when you use YouTube's own search for music that interests you, with TubeRadio you can easily select a whole album and listen to all the tracks. In our test we selected a half dozen albums and only a single song was missing from the entire playlist. Check out the video below to see TubeRadio in action:

Have a favorite site or tool for listening to music online? Let's hear about it in the comments.

Five Best Antivirus Applications [Hive Five]

2009-11-09T03:43:00.000+08:00

Computer viruses are increasingly sophisticated and pervasive. If you can't afford to run your computer without some sort of antivirus software installed, check out these five popular options to protect your PC.

Photo by Cushing Memorial Library and Archives, Texas A&M University Archives.

Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite antivirus application; now we're back with the five most popular apps to help you secure your PC and keep it running virus free.

Note: For each entry, we reviewed the lowest cost option available from the company in question. Most companies offer premium packages of varying cost and with varying additional bells and whistles, save for the always-free Micrsoft Security Essentials. For the purpose of this comparison, we stuck to the free/entry level options.

Avast! (Windows/Linux, Basic: Free, Premium $39.95 per year)

Having just celebrated its 21st birthday, Avast! is an old player in the antivirus market. Avast! has built up a solid following based on their philosophy of offering dependable and effective antivirus protection for free to home users. In addition to standard antivirus scanning, Avast! offers a variety of resident protection modules that cover different aspects of your computer like instant messaging, email, P2P applications, and more.

Microsoft Security Essentials (Windows, Free)

Microsoft Security Essentials is the newest addition to Microsoft's computer protection software. It replaces the Windows Live OneCare subscription service and Windows Defender by providing more comprehensive coverage than either of the two originally provided. Microsoft Security Essentials is free for all Windows users and provides protection against a variety of threats including viruses, malware, adware, and spyware.

Avira (Windows, Basic: Free, Premium: $30 per year)

Avira is another antivirus app available for free, although the free version of Avira doesn't offer as many bells as whistles as some of the other free offerings in today's Hive. Nonetheless, you still get dependable antivirus scanning and protection from malware and rootkits. In addition to the free antivirus software, Avira also offers a Linux Live CD recovery disc loaded with Avira and other free system recovery tools to help you get back on your feet if fighting the virus infection from within Windows just isn't cutting it.

ESET NOD32 Antivirus (Windows, $39.99 per year)

NOD32 has built a large based of users over the years by having a low number of false positives and a high rate of early detection thanks to their community-sourced ThreatSense detection system. As a fun bit of trivia, American users may know the application as "NOD" and pronounce the acronym as an actual word, but the name is actually an acronym that hails from the Eastern European origins of the application. From the Wikipedia entry on NOD32:

The acronym NOD stands for Nemocnica na Okraji Disk ("Hospital at the end of the disk"), a pun related to the Czechoslovakian medical drama series Nemocnica na okraji mesta (Hospital at the End of the City).

AVG (Windows, Basic: Free, Premium: $54.99 per year)

The free offering from AVG is one of the lightest, feature-wise, among the nominations in this Hive Five. That said, if you're looking for basic antivirus application that will scan your computer, keep and eye out for spyware, and keep you from visiting malware and virus laden websites (via their LinkScanner protection), AVG is a solid free offering.

Now that you've had a chance to look over the contender's in the Hive Five it's time to cast your vote in the poll below:

Can't believe your favorite didn't make it? Have a strong opinion about antivirus software? Let's hear it in the comments.

Wire Your House with Ethernet Cable [Weekend Project]

2009-11-09T01:43:00.000+08:00

You've ripped a movie on your laptop, and now want it on that fancy new home theater PC next to your TV. If you've got the time, wiring your house with Cat-5e cable could make transfer times a distant memory.

Instructables user Rogue Agent gets into the nuts, bolts, studs, and boxes needed to wire a house with omni-present cable in a fairly professional manner. The tutorial is based on setting up an actual cable switching box on a server-type rack. For those who just need to run cable from one room to another, the tips on finding, mounting, and securing cable through the walls, without your home looking like the scene of a sledgehammer party, are just as helpful.

Have you taken the dive into home cable networking? What guides, tutorials, or tips do you wish you'd known from the start? Tell us, and share the links, in the comments.

Tabberwocky Super Charges Your Firefox Tabs [Downloads]

2009-11-08T23:43:00.000+08:00

Firefox only: If you love tabbed browsing in Firefox but want more control over the appearance and functionality of the tabs, you'll definitely want to check out Tabberwocky to super charge your tabbed browsing.

Tabberwocky is a tiny Firefox extension that gives you dozens of ways to enhance tabbed browsing. You can alter the size of the tabs, show download progress on the individual tabs, and for those of you with screen real estate to spare you can even have multiple rows of tabs. Unread tabs can be highlighted and you can alter the opening and closing behavior of the tabs. If you find yourself frequently closing a tab you meant to keep open, Tabberwocky allows you to lock tabs to prevent closure and move the location of the close button to minimize errant clicks.

Tabberwocky is free and works wherever Firefox does. Have some tab-related tricks or extensions you want to share? Let's hear about it in the comments.

Cheapism Helps You Find the Cheapest "Best Buys" [Frugality]

2009-11-08T21:43:00.000+08:00

Thanks to the research power the internet bestows upon you, it's easy to find the best of class and the most expensive in any given category. What if you want the best of the cheapest picks? Cheapism can help.

The premise of Cheapism is this: You don't want the absolute best and premium priced item, you just want the best value among the cheaper options.

When you visit Cheapism you can browse their top picks for categories, read product reviews for products with budget-friendly prices, and read up on what to look for in economical products in the category you're researching. The latter might be the most valuable part of the site, the guides are quite detailed and offer lots of great information on shopping in the zone above cheaper-than-dirt and below ultra-premium—they even provide a scale for each product category showing where the common price divisions fall for that particular product.

Check out the link below to explore product reviews on everything from printers to coffee makers. Have a favorite site for finding great deals and comparison shopping? Let's hear about it in the comments.

Mod Your Lantern-Style Flashlights To Use A Rechargeable Battery [DIY]

2009-11-08T19:43:00.000+08:00

Big, bulky lantern-style flashlights are super easy to find when the power goes out, but the $7 batteries they require can be draining on the pocketbook. This small modification lets them work with a rechargeable battery to ease the cost.

Lantern style flashlights are a handy thing to have around the home, and stashed away in your camping gear. They're easy to find and can light up a tent like no-one's business, but their inability to be charged back up when the battery has been drained seems ridiculously cumbersome in an age where 90% of our gadgets and gizmos are rechargeable.

Jake over at DIY weblog The Steampunk Workshop has devised a way around this frustration. He utilized the power from a 4Ah-6 volt rechargeable lead acid battery found at his local Home Depot. With a discarded wall-wart, a few slight alterations, and some soldering, the original case holds it's new rechargeable power supply and should pay for itself in 2-3 uses.

Moo0 DiskCleaner Removes Unwanted Files [Downloads]

2009-11-08T17:44:00.001+08:00

Windows only: System cleaning utility Moo0 DiskCleaner's dead-simple interface makes short work of clearing out all those unwanted temporary files, cookies, browser history, and MRU lists.

Once you've installed and launched the application, just check the boxes for everything you'd like to clean up and click the Clean Now! button. There's not a whole lot of other functionality, other than the ability to change the application skin, and set it to clean automatically when your system starts up. Still, if you're looking for an extremely simple tool to handle your system cleaning, it might be the right choice for you.

Moo0 DiskCleaner is free for Windows systems only. Readers should probably note that the well-known and popular CCleaner application is not only a lot more powerful, but also has an option to clean at startup buried in the Options menu.

Saving On Office Furniture Costs

2009-11-08T16:27:00.000+08:00

By Marie Jensen

Do you own a small to medium business? Or maybe you are planning to start one? Given the current state of the economy, you are probably constantly looking for ways to streamline your expenses, so that the savings can be used for other, higher priority business needs. If you are planning or renovating your office, why not buy used office furniture?

Used does not automatically mean lower quality. Used office furniture is inspected and refurbished before it is put up for sale. Some furniture companies offer consultation services for free or for a minimal fee, so that they can work with your office plan to recommend products to fit it. They will even customize their stock to match your needs.

Another thing on quality is that, with the current economy, many offices find themselves with surplus inventory. Naturally, they are eager to liquidate this, which is why it is not very difficult to find almost new used office furniture for sale online at a fraction of what you could have paid for brand new ones.

Office cubicles figure in many offices today, instead of individual office rooms. These are partially enclosed workspaces, separated from each other by a partition, and open to one side for access. There are many refurbished cubicles for sale online, a good choice, since they can have a variety of configurations to fit most office layouts.

You can get a refurbished version of practically all the office furniture will need. Aside from cubicles, these can be filing cabinets, office tables, office chairs, desks and bookcases. If you are running a small clinic or nursing home, you can also find used furniture specially designed for patient rooms and waiting rooms online.

The cost of office cubicles being what it is, you can take down even further if you buy in bulk. Bulk purchases usually merit a discount, so you need to know if you can do this, given the kind of items that you need and the quantity. You should also find out if the furniture company offers free services such as shipping or installation.

Buying used office furniture also helps the environment. You are not contributing to the drain in our natural resources, and this can even be a selling for you with your customers. Depending on the industry that your business caters to, you may have a significant number of customers who are sensitive to green issues and will surely appreciate this simple effort.

You need not sacrifice quality when cutting down on operating costs such as the purchase and maintenance of office inventory. Buying used office furniture is now more practical and easier than ever, and the quality you get is comparable to that of the brand new version. The cost savings is obvious, and goes a long way in helping you establish or run your business.

About the Author:

If you find yourself wishing to buy office cubicles for your company and wish to save money there are options. Look into using used office furniture to cut on costs.

How to Get a Private Pilot's License

2009-11-08T16:26:00.000+08:00

By Bruce Hogan

Congratulations on your decision to obtain your private pilot?s license. Now the big decision has been made just where do you begin? First, there are several prepatory steps to take even before you begin training. If you go about planning this endeavor, you will find reaching your goal of becoming a private pilot goes much more smoothly and efficiently. Following are some steps to guide you through your progress into becoming a private pilot.

Step #1 You must be able to speak fluent English. If this is not your first language then start by taking some English courses. Without it, you will not qualify for training to become a private pilot.

Step #2 Don?t set your heart on learning to fly unless you are of 16 years of age or older. If you are not then do not give up your dream, there are still some other prepatory things to put in place if you are soon going to becoming of age.

Step#3 Find out exactly what the current medical requirements for your country are in regards to obtaining your pilots license. It would be most unfortunate if you left this until the end of your lessons then found out you do not qualify medically.

Step#4 Do some research. You need to locate flying schools in your area or an area where you could attend. If there are several then it means more research by comparison. If you only have a couple then your choices are limited. It does not matter even if there is only one though as all flying schools must follow the same government rules and regulations for pilots. The only minor differences you will find in the schools are perhaps the extras they offer. If these are important to you then part of your decision may be based on this. From a cost point of view they are all pretty well in the same price range, although there may be some price fluctuation if they are several schools as they will be competing within themselves. It is also a good idea to plan to spend a little more money than what the tuition costs. You may want to purchase extra flying time for example.

Step #5 Be prepared to adopt some good study methods and homework application. Before you even get into the air, you will be facing up to five weeks ground training. It is this knowledge that is going to give you the ability to get up in the air and keep you safe. You want to know it well. Once you have completed your training you will need to write a 100 question of multiple-choice test. This is the FAA test and without passing this, you will not be able to proceed with your training.

Step #6 Now it really gets exciting you are ready to complete about 40 hours of practical flight experience where you will be accompanied by a qualified instructor.

Step#7 You will have to complete a solo flight. Your instructor will be present but you will be in control. This is the preparatory work for your final exam.

Step #8 The final step is before you, which is your final exam. Here a FAA certified examiner will give you the tests. He will accompany you on a flight to determine your flying abilities and will ask you several questions.

Once you have successfully achieved all that we have covered here, you will be a licensed private pilot. Naturally, these pointers are the basics and consist of a lot more detail, but it gives you an overall view of what you are facing on your road to becoming a private pilot.

About the Author:

Announcing: The complete private pilot helicopter training 2 DVD system. This is the certified flight training helicopter program that will get you to the skies quickly.

Do You Have Job Security?

2009-11-08T16:24:00.000+08:00

By Michael Angier

"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature nor do the children of man as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing." -Helen Keller

The headlines these days tell of companies laying off workers. In their attempts to down-size, right-size and correct, some people are losing their jobs.

And it's not just the dot-coms. Major manufacturers, airlines and retailers are cutting divisions, closing inefficient or unprofitable plants and laying off workers.

Some economists see this as a trend toward to recession.

I see it differently.

In the nineties, we saw the leaning out of American companies. And we did experience a recession. But while we got more efficient and prepared the way for one of the biggest booms in history, Japan was trying to keep everyone employed. They didn't enjoy the abundant nineties.

We may very well see a slowdown in the economy, but I don't think we'll see a a full recession. What looks like insecurity may very create even better security than we had before.

What about you? Do you have job security?

If you're counting on a company or an institution to take care of you, I recommend you rethink your position.

No one owes you a job. Companies are not in business only to provide for their employees. They exist to fulfill a mission and to make a profit.

And as Stephen Covey says, "No profit, no mission."

Sure, good companies try to take care of their people as best they can. It's smart today to offer benefits and incentives to attract and keep good people. But they don't owe anyone a job.

I'm not a big believer in unions who perpetuate the myth that workers will be "taken care of." Collective bargaining organizations that seek only to get more money for the same efforts will not succeed.

I'm not saying there isn't a place for unions, I AM saying that many of them have shortchanged their members by threatening strikes and negotiating to keep jobs that are no longer needed and get higher pay for the same or even less production.

I think any kind of tenure is bad for business and ultimately bad for employees.

It might seem unfair that someone with 14 years' seniority gets passed over for someone with only 5 years' experience. But perhaps the senior worker doesn't really have 14 years' experience. Perhaps the senior worker has only 1 year's experience-14 times over.

True security lies in our ability to provide real value to the marketplace. And it's up to us to learn and train ourselves to change with the needs of the market and our employers.

I've always liked the story of two boyhood friends who both started out working for the railroad. Twenty years later, one of them became the president while the other stayed in pretty much the same job (a laborer) he had when they started.

The laborer was once asked why he had not advanced and his friend had become so successful.

The laborer's answer was interesting. He relied, "Years ago I went to work for seventy-five cents an hour. My friend went to work for the railroad."

We don't work for $10 or $20 or even $100 an hour. We work for the value of the results we produce-whether we're working for ourselves or someone else.

If you want more security, become more valuable to the marketplace. Learn what you need to learn, develop the skills you need to develop and become the person you want to become.

That's the way to have job security.

About the Author:

Michael Angier is founder and CIO (Chief Inspiration Officer) of SuccessNet--a support network helping people and businesses grow and prosper. Get their free Resource Book ($27 value) of products, services and tools for running your business more effectively. And most of the over 150 resources are FREE to access and use. http://SuccessNetResources.com http://SuccessNet.org

Animal Chiropractic Care and Pet Nutrition go Hand in Hand

2009-11-08T16:18:00.000+08:00

By Louisa Resendes

My cat's name is pumpkin. Once you realize how much better your pets could and should be eating it almost makes you cry and they're doing animal chiropractic for animal joint pain and they offer nutritional advice and amazing products. He's a valuable member of the family and an awesome cat.

Since I've always been an animal lover it bothered me enormously that he didn't want anything to do with me much. He still ignored me even though I strive to make sure he lived his life free from pet pain. I decided to do some online research and I found a really great site for advice about pet care. They obviously cared deeply about all sorts of animals including cats. It really is amazing what they're doing over at avafrick.com. She's kind of like the pet whisperer or something like that.

I sent them an email about Pumpkin's cat problem and this is what they told me to do. They also had some very specific advice about the kind of nutrition Pumpkin would require going forward in his life's stages. It was a very rewarding visit to this website which turned out to be an animal lover's paradise. I was supposed to walk up to the cat once a day, give it a little scratch on its back (where it can't reach itself) and walk away. That's all, nothing else.

I was told to do this twice a day; once in the morning and then in the evening. Eventually the cat was supposed to come to me looking for more. And guess what! I can't get rid of him. Now he always wants to come for a scratch. They suggested also that feeling around for abnormalities on his body while giving it a scratch was a good way to determine if he could use some pet chiropractic care.

A friend of mine once told me that dogs have masters and cats have staff. I'm sort of inclined to believe that. Pumpkin really does expect a lot from me. He knows that he can have his itchy back scratched by me and I've noticed that now that he knows that he simply has this expectation that I, his slave, will accommodate him. Personally I am thrilled that my investment of time and effort into Pumpkin is paying off finally with dividends and I owe it all to Ava Frick.

About the Author:

Around the globe Ava Frick is well-known for animal pain relief.Do yourself and your pet a treat and visit her today.

Hydroponic Gardening Techniques for Indoor Planting

2009-11-08T16:00:00.000+08:00

By Karen Ellis

Hydroponic gardening techniques have been studied for a long time and are currently used by various growers. There are now many different soilless techniques that can be utilized to grow a range of different flowers in just about any environment.

A hydroponic system requires several components to provide the environment needed by growing plants. The most important aspects are the grow lamps, the irrigation or watering method, choice of grow medium, and making sure the environment such as temperature and humidity is consistently within a suitable range.

There are several options to consider when designing a hydroponic system, it is vital that all the choices you make are compatible with the herbs you intend to grow.

One of the most critical parts of any soilless method is the medium. Hydroponics means using just water as a grow medium as opposed to soil, however some methods use inert substances as cultivation mediums.

All hydroponics uses special nutrient rich concentrations to feed plants. Some techniques suspend a flowers root structure in water while others deliver via inert substances such as expanded clay, coir, vermiculite, sand, and brick shards.

The watering system used is very important and all plants have an ideal schedule for when to provide them with nutrients and water. Static solution culture and continuous flow solution culture are two categories of indoor watering techniques. Other systems for watering include aeroponic, ebb and flow, passive sub-irrigation, and deep water culture.

Lighting is an important part of every hydroponic technique and can influence plant yield and quality. The most common kinds of lights used for indoor gardening are fluorescent lights, LED lights, high pressure sodium lamps, and metal halide lights. These lights can be used together to achieve the best results.

Beyond providing your flowers with the minerals they need and light they require it is also critical to make sure that the room stays stable for them. An appropriate environment means that air is circulated, stable gas levels, good temperature, and no disease.

About the Author:

Go to the authors site for the most recent information on hydroponic systems and indoor cultivation irrigation systems

Slacker Radio Brings Streaming, Customizable Tunes to Android [Downloads]

2009-11-08T15:44:00.001+08:00

Android: Slacker Radio, the customizable internet radio service that's previously landed on iPhones, offers an Android app that offers the same on-the-go streaming tunes, but with the big bonus of background music playing.

The app apparently arrives customized on the new Droid and Droid Eris phones taking their bow today, but works the same on any Android device. The "Lite" free version intersperses visual and audio ads into your stream, and allows you a limited number of "Skips" per stream. There's a whole host of categories to listen to your music in, with a good variety across years and genres. We don't see an option to customize your stream and determine how many favorite artists get mixed into it, or ban certain artists, as with the iPhone/iPod app, but it seems you can do that from Slacker's web radio site. The audio streaming seemed consistent and of good audio quality, on Wi-Fi and 3G.

Slacker Radio is a free download for Android, as well as iPhones and BlackBerry devices.

Remains of the Day: $30 a Month for TV from iTunes Edition [For What It's Worth]

2009-11-08T13:44:00.001+08:00

uTorrent 2.0 wants to eliminate the need for network throttling (without hurting your download speeds), social games (Farmville, anyone?) are shady, the Google Wave Federation Protocol is ready for adventurous developers, and Apple wants iTunes to replace your cable bill.

uTorrent 2.0 To Eliminate The Need For ISP Throttling
And, ideally, it won't slow down your downloads. [TorrentFreak]
Scamville: The Social Gaming Ecosystem Of Hell
You know all those Facebook applications/games that end up littering your newsfeed? Brace yourself, because they're also kind of shady. [TechCrunch]
WaveSandbox.com: Federate This
The Google Wave Federation Protocol is now ready for adventurous developers to try it out on their own servers. [Google Wave Developer Blog]
Apple's iTunes Pitch: TV for $30 a Month
It doesn't sound like this will be happening in the next couple of weeks or anything like that, but Apple wants TV networks to turn it into a television provider for $30/month. [AllThingsD]

DeadCellZones Shows Real-World Carrier Coverage in Your Area [Cell Phones]

2009-11-08T11:43:00.000+08:00

Sure, when you go to a carrier's website you can see a map of their coverage and it usually looks pretty awesome. What about in the real world? DeadCellZones catalogs user-reported dead zones to show you real-world coverage.

Plug in a zip code, city, or street address into DeadCellZones and it scours the 100,000+ entry database of user-submitted dead zones. You can filter the results by viewing all carriers, individual major carriers like AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon, or you can—less helpfully—see a generic "other" category for smaller carriers.

You can zoom in and click on individual dead zones and check for additional information like whether or not the zone is inside, outside, and other details. DeadCellZones is a free service and requires no login or registration to use or submit dead zone reports.

For another 3rd-party opinion look at previously reviewed GotReception to check coverage in your area. Have a favorite resource for digging up the dirt on cellphone companies, coverage, and equipment? Let's hear about it in the comments.

Turn a Sunny Window into a Hydroponic Garden [Gardening]

2009-11-08T09:43:00.000+08:00

Just because you don't have a backyard garden doesn't mean you can't enjoy fresh greens. Put together a hydroponic system in a sunny spot based on the designs of WindowFarms.org, and you'll have fresh greens all year long.

WindowFarms is an initiative devoted to turning urban windows into useful micro-farming space. They've put together a detailed PDF to help budding window farmers get started, including charts to help you select and build the right number of hydroponic pods, what kind of pumps to use, and how to link your pods together.

The guide also covers how to make a nutrient solution and what kinds of plants are suitable for window-based hydroponic systems—herbs, cherry tomatoes, peppers, okra, and strawberries do well in hydroponic setups. A nice touch is the large vendor list at the end of the PDF that includes the name of the items, links to find them online or at least see an example of them, and sources in your local environment for each component.

Have experience with urban or hydroponic farming? Let's hear about it in the comments.

Maggwire Offers Hundreds of Magazines for Free Online Reading [Magazines]

2009-11-08T07:43:00.000+08:00

If you missed out on the free periodical fun with the now-defunct Mygazines, you can get your fill of free magazine reading online with Maggwire.

Unlike Mygazines, which ran into trouble by being the host of hundreds of magazines, Maggwire decides to take the road that involves fewer legal beatings by serving as a nice index to legitimate web presence of hundreds of magazines. Frankly this seems like a much better situation to be in, since it was novel, but not exactly efficient, to read scanned magazines online in the method employed by Mygazines.

While browsing Maggwire you can see article summaries, ratings, and whether or not anyone has commented on the article. When it comes time to actually read the article, you'll be sent to the actual publisher's website. Maggwire makes it easy to quickly find interesting articles from major publishers and magazines without the hassle of visiting individual sites—which many of us never quite get around to doing.

Check out Maggwire at the link below and if you have a favorite way for keeping an eye on your reading list of magazines, let's hear it in the comments.

CompareMyDocs Helps You Compare Document Revisions [Productivity]

2009-11-08T05:43:00.000+08:00

Free web service CompareMyDocs is an easy-to-use tool that compares up to seven revisions of a Word document or rich text file to help you put together a final draft based on revisions you choose.

After choosing the documents you want to compare, CompareMyDocs will choose one and highlight areas that have been changed in other versions of the document. You can accept or reject those changes by hovering over and clicking one of the buttons that pops up. The app also has a very basic text editor built-in, so you can add, delete, or do minor formatting on text within the document. After you're happy with all the changes, you can save the final version as a document for further work in your desktop word processor.

At the moment, the web app is a bit basic—which is a problem if you have more complicated documents. If, for example, it contains things like tables, images, or footnotes, they may be lost or reformatted in in the process. However, for simpler documents, the program is an easy, intuitive way to edit your way through a mass of revisions, and an interesting alternative to Word's built-in revision tracking.

CompareMyDocs is a free web service.

Top 10 Clever Fixes for Your Broken Stuff [Clever Uses]

2009-11-08T03:43:00.000+08:00

Buying a replacement at Target isn't always the necessary solution when your stuff goes on the fritz. Fix common problems or altogether broken gear with these clever repair methods.

Photo by jeremyfoo.

10. Stripped screw holes

I've moved a wall-mounted magnetic knife block between four different homes in the last three years, and now its screws just spin endlessly in place. This weekend, I'll be gluing a golf tee inside the holes, then re-mounting that sucker on the kitchen wall. It's a trick that will only work with screws that are, of course, at least close to a golf tee's width, but it's a handy one for those of us who put a bit too much push into our drills. (Original post)

9. Booze-addled brains

A night out for drinks resulting in a rough morning is nobody's fault but your own, though persuasive friends and the weekend can be a volatile combination. Get a good night's sleep if you can, drink plenty of water, but while the night is still happening, try a booze-conscious diet. Not entirely easy to pull off, and it lends a less care-free attitude to the night, but it's far less inconvenient than waking up feeling like a truck tire. The next morning, try a little ginseng, and considering take up Lifehacker readers on their best hangover cures. Photo by cutglassdecanter.

8. Shattered light bulbs

If it was a completely clean break between glass and metal socket, you could simply kill a circuit breaker and twist out a light bulb with pliers. But how often does anything ever break clean? If you've got a bulb to pull out with glass still hanging, or you can't get at your circuit box, try a potato cut in half to embed the sharp bulb and socket in, then simply turn it left to unscrew the bulb. Now you're ready to replace the bulb, and you've got a reason to have hash browns with your next breakfast—using the non-bulb-removing potato half, of course. (Original post)

7. Constantly loose glasses

The screw that holds your glasses tight against your head? It's gone the way of seemingly everything on expensive and hard to fix items. When you finally get a miniature screwdriver and restore your snug fit, grab some clear nail polish and dab it over the top of the screws. It's enough of a bond to keep the screws from coming loose again, but you could still get them out if you needed to. (Original post)

6. Splinter-stuffed hands

A simple tweezer session might free your hands of wood slivers, but sometimes they're just too tiny, or too many, to try and remove with micro-surgery. If you're fiending for a fix, try applying some glue to the afflicted skin, then peel it off to take the splinters with it. That's one of the more powerful splinter fixes, but you might be able to get away with a banana peel or bath and pumice stone to pull out those ugly little remainders of your latest wood project. Photo by furryscaly.

5. Shiny but scratched gadget bezels

Gadgets with shiny chrome finishes look great out of the box. A few days of actual use, however, can give you that Why I Can't Have Nice Things feeling. Smooth out your iPhone or any other gadget with a polished chrome-like finish by brushing the bezel evenly with a rough sponge. It's a bug that becomes a feature on your newly-unique phone. (Original post)

4. Failing hard drive

When your computer suddenly fails to boot up or starts randomly deciding it can't find certain files, the first thing you'll do is hope for, or confirm, a recent backup. If it looks like mechanical failure is the cause, and you need just a bit more data off that drive before it's gone for good, try sticking it in the freezer until it's good and cold, then let it reach room temperature again and give it another try. This passed-around tech geek tip works, as a last resort, because when worn-out mechanical parts fail to connect and align properly, contracting them with cold, then allowing them to expand again, can sometimes restore things to barely-working order just long enough to give you a little more time before the funeral. (Original post)

3. Wet cellphones and other gadgets

If cellular companies were nice, they'd realize that running water, beverages, and rain are a part of everyday life. As it is, most cellphones these days have paper inside that change color when a little liquid completely voids your warranty. If your cellphone is on the fritz after an unxpected bath, we've recommended a bowl of rice, a bit of kitty litter, and, for certain phones in certain dire situations, even rubbing alcohol. They can't save your soaked gadget every single time, but when they do, you'll feel like celebrating—just keep the phone away from the table next time. (Original post)

2. Cables run amok

The cables may still work, but they make your workspace look and feel like an utter mess. We've often featured our IKEA-assisted de-tangling technique, but for those unable to locate one of those custom wire baskets, or facing a serious amount of cord length, reader Seandavid010 has illustrated the conversion of rain gutters into cord catchers, using cheap hardware bits and a little time with a cordless screwdriver or drill. Paint the gutters any color you'd like to match your walls or desk, and buy just the right amount to fit your needs.

1. Ugly, in-your-face web ads and annoyances

Pop-up ads, jittery Flash come-ons, auto-playing sound—they don't mean the whole web is broken, just a small, ugly part of it. Using Firefox and its strongest add-ons and settings, you can mostly eliminate the most unpleasant aspects of the web and regain some measure of control over what you see.

What's the cheapest fix you've found for a seemingly impossible problem? Share your uncommon methods in the comments.

Save Money on a New Furnace with a Purchase Checklist [Home Improvement]

2009-11-08T01:43:00.000+08:00

The government's $1500 tax credit makes it a great time to update a lackluster heating system. Make sure to get the $1500 and then some by using this step-by-step guide upgrading your furnace. Photo by iowa spirit walker.

If you're contemplating getting new heating and cooling units to take advantage of the $1500 tax credit, don't inadvertently erase the savings by paying too much during the whole process of acquiring and installing your new unit.

Over at FreeMoneyFinance, a finance and frugality-centered blog, they recently purchased a new furnace and air conditioner. They detailed the process and broke it down into individual steps such as getting referrals, getting estimates in writing, and additional tips for dealing with heating and cooling companies. By taking their step-by-step process you'll have a ready made template for making sure you don't forget critical steps like calling back after you get all your estimates to do a little over the phone negotiation. Check out the full article for additional information about saving money on your new furnace.

Have some advice on purchasing heating and cooling units? Let's hear about it in the comments.

Create an Awesome Command Line Calculator [Terminal Tip]

2009-11-07T23:43:00.000+08:00

When you spend as much time at the terminal as I do, having a calculator at your fingertips can be a really useful feature, and the Command-Line Fu web site tells us how to create one easily.

To create the calculator, you can just enter this function on the command line to test out how it works, or add it into your ~/.bashrc file to make sure that it's always available after restarting the terminal.

calc(){ awk "BEGIN{ print $* }" ;}

To use it, you can simply type calc followed by the calculation you want to solve, making sure to use quotes around the calculation if there are spaces or special characters the shell can't handle. For instance, if you entered calc 3*99/7+18 at the prompt, you'd get 60.4286 as the answer. For more complex calculations, you can use parenthesis, but make sure to put quotes around it, like this:

calc "((3+(2^3)) * 34^2 / 9)-75.89"

It's an extremely useful tip for those of us that live at the terminal. It should work on any OS running the bash shell, including Linux, Mac OS X, or even Windows with Cygwin installed.

Remains of the Day: iPhone Carrier Unlocking Edition [For What It's Worth]

2009-11-07T21:43:00.000+08:00

Unlock your iPhone for non-AT&T carriers, take a look at 60 Minutes' film industry propaganda, and try out Firefox 3.6 beta without losing your stable 3.5 installation.

blacksn0w is live
Blackra1n jailbreaks your iPhone 3.1.2 on Windows or Mac, and now there's blacksn0w, a tool to unlock your 3.1.2 iPhone 3G or 3GS for other carriers with ease. [via Gizmodo]
60 Minutes Puts Forth Laughable, Factually Incorrect MPAA Propaganda On Movie Piracy
Remember how VCRs destroyed the film industry? Oh wait. [Techdirt]
Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition 3.6 Beta 1
Want to try out Firefox 3.6 beta but don't want to lose your stable Firefox 3.5 installation? Grab the portable release. [PortableApps]
X11 Chrome Reportedly Outperforms Windows and Mac Versions
Apparently Linux may actually be the fastest OS for the Chrome browser—which kind of makes sense, since Chrome OS will be based on a Linux kernel. [Slashdot]

Auto-Sealing Insulated Mug Keeps Your Drink Toasty, Won't Spill [Stuff We Like]

2009-11-07T19:44:00.001+08:00

We love a good insulated travel mug, especially when the mercury starts to drop. This auto-sealing mug from Contigo keeps our warm beverage close by and ensures you don't spill it on your lap when driving or your keyboard while working.

From weblog Cool Tools:

Far and away the best travel mug I've used is the Contigo Autoseal Stainless Steel Mug. The Autoseal mechanism is the most leak-proof design I've found; it seals automatically when you're not actively drinking from it, so there's no worry about knocking it over with the top open. This is the only mug I'll use around my computers now.

The lid on Contigo's mug is fairly open and easy to clean, and the entire thing is dishwasher safe.

The dishwasher-safe point is a nice one, since all of this editor's stainless steel insulated mugs are apparently not. If you spend much time driving with your morning cup of wake-up, the $20 price tag at Amazon seems like a pretty good buy. That said, if you've got a favorite insulated mug style you're partial to, let's hear about it in the comments.

Cache My Work Restores Your Workspace After a Restart [Downloads]

2009-11-07T17:44:00.001+08:00

Windows only: The biggest annoyance that comes with a reboot isn't the time wasted rebooting—it's the time wasted getting your workspace back up and running how you had it before you restarted. Free application Cache My Work fixes this problem.

Once installed, you can set up Cache My Work to monitor all "cacheable programs". (It's really just a checklist of all the open applications you're running.) Check all the apps you want it to monitor—including Explorer windows—and once you do actually restart, Cache My Work will attempt to restore your apps to where you left them—or as close as it can get to that point. Really it's just going to relaunch those saved applications; those with some sort of session restore capabilities (like Firefox, for example), should be back to where they were. Others will just be reopened.

Either way, it seems like a good app to have running every time Patch Tuesday rolls around. Cache My Work is a free, open-source application, Windows only. If what you really want is to restore a set group of applications you always use to do certain types of work, check out our previous guide to creating quick launch workspaces.

Majorca Flights Are Affordable For You

2009-11-07T16:29:00.000+08:00

By Tim R Harvey

As the cold winter months settle in, many of us begin to dream about destinations full of sunlight, beaches, and clean ocean waters. If you live in Europe and have a long weekend to spare, you should be able to easily realize your dream. The Spanish island of Majorca is a perfect place for a quick holiday get away. It is located about one hundred and seventy five miles off the coastal city of Valencia, and is easily accessible by airplane and ferry. Interested in Majorca flights? Then pay close attention to what we're going to tell you...

Palma is a great place for vacationers who want to visit the sites and learn the history of this place. Gothic cathedrals, beautiful beaches, and even grand nightlife is among some of the things that can be enjoyed while in Palma. You will need to book your flight before you start on the site seeings. Majorca flights can usually be found at great rates.

Use British Airways to fly to London and, from there, anywhere in Europe. Ryanair is known for having good deals to London as well. For travel to Cardiff, Birmingham, East Midlands or Manchester, you can fly BMI.

Most regional capitals like Manchester, Birmingham, and Edinburgh will also have direct flights during peak tourist season, but in the off-season you'll have to fly to London first. These flights often cost less than two hundred dollars per person.

Other European cites also offer great flights to Majorca. Most of the time you'll have to layover in Madrid from a few hours, but even then, the flight isn't very long.

As Majorca is located convenient to airline hubs all over Europe, Majorca flights can ultimately take you wherever you wish to travel. Once you reach one of the hubs, their entire network is at your disposal and your travel possibilities are nearly endless.

About the Author:

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