Here's an overview of some of last week's most interesting news and articles: Sniffing and tracking wearable tech and smartphones Researchers at Context Information Security have demonstrated ho...
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Sunday, May 31, 2015
The Most Likely Reason Your Rice Turned Out Mushy (And How to Avoid It)
Rice is notoriously difficult to cook perfectly, even for those with some cooking experience. When it comes to cooking rice on the stove-top, this video reveals that the secret to avoiding mushy rice might be in the way you figure out the water to rice ratios.
If a type of rice calls for a 1:1 ratio of water to rice—one cup to one cup—you’d think that doubling the recipe would just mean you use two cups of each. This video, from the America’s Test Kitchen YouTube channel, suggests that rice-to-water ratios can’t be scaled up proportionally, however, and that it may be why you’re getting mushy rice every time you cook a big batch. What they found with their testing was that evaporation doesn’t double when you double the quantity of rice you’re cooking—it stays the same. So when you double a recipe, you have to account for that evaporation when cook it. Of course, you could always just spring for a nice rice cooker too.
Science: The Secrets of Cooking Rice - The Cause of Recipe Failure is Not What You Might Think | YouTube
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Horizon 3 Integrates Weather Forecasts Into Your Calendar
iPhone: There are plenty of great calendar apps out there, but Horizon 3 takes a different approach than most. Instead of relying just on scheduling your day, Horizon 3 also brings the weather forecast into the forefront so you can get a better view of what to expect.
Horizon 3 does everything you need a calendar app to do. You can check out your upcoming calendar in various views, input new events with natural language, and easily see how busy your days are with a color-coded view. You can also see when you’re free by searching Horizon for terms like “next free lunch.” Each event also has a weather note attached to it as well, so you can quickly see what type of weather to expect for whatever you’re doing.
Horizon 3 (Free) | iTunes App Store
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Friday Squid Blogging: Nutty Conspiracy Theory Involving Both the NSA and SQUID
from Schneier on Security http://ift.tt/1cs4p8Z
When to Use Light vs. Dark Baking Sheets and Pans
Baking sheets come in different shades, and, if you’re like me, you’ve probably never given this much thought. But depending on what you’re baking, the color of your pan matters. Here’s when to use a light baking sheet versus a darker one.
The Kitchn breaks it down:
If you are wondering about the difference between light and dark pans, think about this: When you go out into the hot summer sun, what happens when you are wearing a darker T-shirt versus a light pastel or white T-shirt? Your shirt heats up more and a lot faster if it’s made of a dark material. The same goes for bakeware placed in the oven.Darker materials and black pans typically absorb and also radiate more heat.
When you are debating between using a light- or dark-colored pan to bake with in your oven, consider what you wish to achieve: Do you want the pan to get really hot and radiate lots of heat onto your food or do you want a gentler, lighter heat?
They suggest using a darker sheet or pan when you want crispy baked goods—like pizza crust or potato wedges. And if you’ve got an old, used, blackened baking sheet, use it for roasting veggies. Use a lighter pan for cakes and cookies. This keeps your cakes from browning too quickly on the edges before they’re thoroughly cooked.
And if you don’t have the right color pan, they’ve got some tips on how to modify the baking temperature with your current pans. Head to the link below to read more.
When to Use a Light-Colored Pan, and When to Use a Dark One | TheKitchn
Photo by Rebecca Siegel.
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Switch Your Ceiling Fan's Spin Direction to Warm Your Home in the Winter
Most of us know that we can use our ceiling fan to cool a room in the summer. It does this by spinning (typically) counter-clockwise to push cool air downward. However, your fan may have a switch that allows you to spin in the opposite direction to pull air upwards, which pushes the warm air that naturally rises back down.
Typically, most of us use ceiling fans to create a breeze in an otherwise warm room. This cools us off by evaporating perspiration. However, many fan models have a switch that allow the blades to spin in the opposite direction. This pulls the air in the room upwards, which pushes the warm air down the sides of the rooms, making your room a little warmer. This can give your heating unit a much-needed respite during the colder months of the year.
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Today's Best Deals: Better Beach Umbrellas, Contigo Bottles, More
It’s nearly June, which means it’s time to stock up on beach gear, and I can’t endorse the Sport-Brella Beach Umbrella highly enough. I bought this thing for about $55 last summer, but today only, Amazon’s selling them for just $36.
Unlike a traditional umbrella, this model digs into the sand with a series of stakes to provide a full canopy shelter that’s big enough for two chairs and a cooler. Once you figure out how to set it up, it only takes about 5-10 minutes, and you’ll feel like beach royalty for the rest of the day in your private oasis of shade.
Today’s price is the lowest Amazon’s ever offered, and you get to choose between blue and red. It is a Gold Box deal though, meaning the price is only available today, or until sold out. [Sport-Brella, $36]
Today’s Gold Box deal is the 24-Ounce Contigo Cortland Water Bottle, discounted to just $9. The Cortland is dishwasher safe, BPA-free, and fits in most cupholders. The Cortland is usable with one hand, with a drinking spout that “autoseals” between sips, and also features a carry clip on the handle. [Contigo Cortland, $9]
While Contigo took the win in our best travel mug vote, their bottles were not nominated in our best water bottle contest, where Nalgene secured the victory.
Here are some more great recommendations, in case the Cortland isn’t the right bottle for you:
Not plastic, and insulated...
The Hydroflask took third place in the voting. Stainless steel, attractive, and sporting a wide variety of sizes, colors, and lids. It’ll keep your cold drinks very cold and your hot drinks very hot.
If you don’t want plastic or stainless steel...
Many readers were not convinced of the safety of BPA-free plastic and are sensitive to the taste stainless steel can add to water. The Lifefactory was the most enthusiastically recommended glass bottle in our comments, and is also the water bottle I use at the office.
Something huge...
Our promotions team (not part of Commerce) is current running a deal with WavesGear on their 34oz Forever Cold stainless steel insulted water bottle.
For coffee or tea...
The Contigo Autoseal West Loop was your winner for Best Travel Mug, and one of our most popular products of 2014.
For cleaning your bottles...
We recommended the Oxo Good Grips Water Bottle Cleaning Set to clean your Travel Mugs, and are doing the same here.
Use promo code ANOVAONE to get the Anova Sous-Vide Immersion Circulator for $99. That’s not only the cheapest this model has gone for but the cheapest Sous-Vide circulator we’ve ever seen. [Anova Sous-Vide Immersion Circulator, $99 with code ANOVAONE]
Pair it with the the FoodSaver V2244 Vacuum Sealing System.
Lifehacker has a great explainer on Sous-Vide cooking for you to check out, but the basic idea is that you seal the food in plastic bags, and then cook it in hot water over a longer period of time. Here are some advantages to this process from Lifehacker’s guide:
- Cooking sous-vide results in evenly-cooked meat and fish.
- Cooking sous-vide gives you specific control over the final temperature of the meat, avoiding overdone, dried-out food.
- You can hold foods cooked sous-vide at their specified temperature for long periods of time without damaging the texture or quality of the dish, making it an ideal cooking method for holiday dinners or meals with multiple components and side-dishes.
- Bacterial or other contamination is largely not an issue with sous-vide cooking. While you may be cooking up to minimum safe temperatures, the length of time you’re holding the food at its safe temperature will pasteurize your meat and ensure the safety of your food, meaning “safe” meat doesn’t have to equal “dry” or “not pink” meat any longer. Still, keep your meat thermometer handy, and test before serving. Remember, sous-vide lets you hold food at temp for long periods without diminishing the quality of the food, so if it’s undercooked, you can seal the bag and put it back in.
- Sous-vide cooking is by nature a repeatable process. Set the temperature, set the timer, and walk away. You will wind up with perfectly cooked food every time you do it.
I’ve been using this Anova since April 2014, and really can’t recommend it enough. It’s like the Aeropress of meat cooking methods.
We’ve seen our fair share of cheap Bluetooth ear buds, but how about on-ears? Mpow’s Muze headphones are wireless, foldable, well-reviewed, and even noise-canceling. That’s a hell of a package for $54. Remember that if you’re getting an Apple Watch or Android Wear watch any time in the near future, you’ll need Bluetooth headphones to listen to music from the device. [Mpow Muze Superb Stereo Sound Bluetooth 4.0 Wireless Headset, $54 with code 9G2PKHDV]
Heat and texture milk with this discounted $25 milk frother. Use code S9UWEQE4 to get the deal.
Pair it with one of our best coffee gear recommendations or a Nespresso.
Check out the rest of today’s best deals:
- Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 3020 3D 3LCD Projector ($1200) | Best Buy
- Intel 530 Series 240GB Solid State Drive ($130) | Best Buy
- Fujifilm X-M1 Compact System 16MP Digital Camera Kit with 16-50mm Lens ($400) | Amazon
- Hoover TwinTank Steam Mop ($48) | Home Depot
- Mpow Streambot Y Wireless Bluetooth FM Transmitter ($30) | Amazon | Use code FHLFTN9J
Gaming
- Take an insane 40% off Batman: Arkham Knight for PC with code BATMAN-ARKHAM-SAVE40. Discount also applies to the premium edition. You need to be signed up for GMG e-mails for this to work.
- Smash Bros. ($49) | Amazon
- Mario Kart 8 ($50) | Amazon
- Monster Hunter 4: Ultimate ($21) | Target
- Mortal Kombat X [PS4] ($38) | eBay
- Sunset Overdrive ($25) | Amazon
- Evolve [Xbox One] ($25) | Amazon
- World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor Expansion ($30) | Amazon
- refurb Logitech G930 Wireless Gaming Headset ($50) | Newegg | Use code EMCASPK24
Commerce covers the best products on Kinja Gear, finds you deals on those products on Kinja Deals, and asks you about your favorites on Kinja Co-Op, click here to learn more. We operate independently of Editorial and Advertising, and if you buy something through our posts, we may get a small share of the sale. We want your feedback.
Send deal submissions to Deals@Gawker and all other inquiries to Shane@Gawker
Follow us for the best deals on the Internet, and check out http://t.co/w8ke7mw7nT
June 9, 2014
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Five Best Ways to Send Money to Other People Online
Sending money online, whether you’re splitting the check at lunch, paying your share of the bills, or buying something via Craigslist, is easier now than it’s ever been. There are tons of services that make it easy to transfer money with a phone number or email address. This week we’re looking at five of the best, based on your nominations.
Earlier in the week we asked you what your favorite methods to send money online were, and which you trusted to provide the best security, speed, ease of use, and low fees. You responded with tons of options, but we only have room for the top five. Here they are, in no particular order:
Square Cash
Square Cash is fast, flexible, available for iOS and Android, and lets you send money to other individuals in minutes. All you need for an account is a smartphone and an email address, and of course, the debit card you’d like to connect your Square Cash account to, and that’s about it. From there you can send and deposit money easily. You can even create what the service calls “$cashtags,” or custom names that identify you and make it easy for other people to use Square Cash to send you money—you can add it to an email signature or put it on a business card or whatever. Best of all, money transfers with Square Cash are free, meaning they don’t take a cut of your transaction, and they don’t charge you fees for sending or receiving money. If you’re a business user, they take a 1.5% cut of your transactions, but individual users don’t pay a dime.
Those of you who supported Square Cash’s nomination glowed about it—some of you praised the service for their speedy, easy money transfers, and many of you highlighted the fact that the money is often in your bank account within minutes, instead of waiting days to clear like other services. Some of you said that the fact that they let you do all of this for free is akin to magic, but you weren’t complaining. A few of you rightfully pointed out that Square Cash is US only, which makes it off limits to a lot of people, but for those people who can use it, it’s a windfall. One of you even mentioned you use it to send money even though you and your spouse have accounts at the same bank! Read more in its nomination thread here.
Venmo
If you’re looking for the company that really started the whole “send payment from your phone easily” craze, it’s probably Venmo. The app (available for iOS and Android) is extremely popular, and makes it easy to send payments to anyone with a phone number or email address, completely free. Sending money from your Venmo wallet or a connected debit card or bank account is free, and receiving money is free—you only pay (a 3% fee) if you want to send money from a credit card or non-major debit card (you can see what’s “major” and what isn’t on their pricing page.) Once you have an account, sending money is as easy as sending cash you already have in your Venmo account (you can use it as a wallet if you choose) or through a linked bank account or debit card. Those transactions can be public or private (and the public ones can be hilarious), and you can either cash out the money you have in Venmo to your bank account, or leave it there for future money transfers. Money you cash out is usually in your bank account within a business day.
Many of you praised Venmo for having the largest userbase of many of these services (even though it’s technically US only), and for being big enough that you know you can offer to send someone money via Venmo and they either have an account or have heard of it. Venmo has had its security problems, as we noted in this post on money transfer security, which more than a few of you called out as reasons to think twice about using the service, but others said that it was secure enough for you, and the anti-fraud protections your bank offers made you feel at ease. Others of you praised it for being fast and easy and for letting you keep a wallet of funds, so not every transaction has to go back through your bank, and others mentioned that it’s got that “all the kids use it” air about it that means it’s easy to find people—especially younger people—who use it. it’s also important to mention that Venmo is owned by PayPal, another contender in this roundup. One of you said Venmo is “like their fun teen brand,” and that sounds about right. Read more in its nomination thread here.
Google Wallet
Google Wallet definitely lets you send money to people quickly and easily, that’s true, but the service is much much more than that. All your recipient needs is a Gmail address (and to live in the US, although the service is experimenting with international users), and you can send them cash from your Google Wallet account, or from a linked debit card, bank account, or credit card. Google Wallet is available for Android and iOS, and in addition to being an easy way to send or receive money, if you have a phone with NFC, you can use it for contactless payments in brick-and-mortar stores, to check out when shopping online, and even use the Google Wallet card as a physical card (backed by Mastercard) that’s tied to your Google Wallet account. Using Google Wallet is fast and easy, and money cashed out from your account to a bank account or debit card takes about a day or so to land, if that much. Plus, it’s free to send money from your wallet, debit card, or bank account (it only costs money if you use a credit card), and it’s free to receive money as well. Best of all, since all a person needs is a Gmail account to use Google Wallet, odds are they already have it as a payment option, even if they don’t actively use it.
Those of you who nominated Google Wallet pointed out that those instant cash transfers are great, and the ability to easily send money to people combined with the fact that you can use Google Wallet to pay for things at retailers or online makes it a logical do-everything option if you want one app that can handle just about everything. Plus, like we said—all the other person needs is a Gmail account and they have Google Wallet. You don’t have to get them to sign up for anything, just ask for their email address. Combined with the fact that Google just announced Android Pay, which may either be a replacement for or improvement on Google Wallet, the option is about to get even more useful. You can read more in its nomination thread here.
PayPal
PayPal has a long and interesting history. From being one of our worst companies for customer service and being bad enough to inspire a whole article discussing PayPal alternatives, the service seems to have at least woken up to its bad rap in recent years, even if it’s still not completely out of the headlines for holding people’s money and freezing accounts when they’re most needed. PayPal is ubiquitous, and while its subsidiary, Venmo, has a lot of mindshare, almost everyone has a PayPal account. The service lets you send money in a couple of clicks via the web or its mobile apps (available for Android and iOS), keep your money in your PayPal account like a wallet, or even use PayPal to check out at tons of online retailers, or just about anyone else with an online shop that doesn’t want to handle payment processing themselves. Sending money with PayPal is easy and free for personal transactions as long as you use your PayPal account, or an authorized debit card or bank account (fees come into play when you use credit cards), and as long as you’re sending money within the United States (PayPal does support international money transfers, there are just fees involved, along with the currency conversion.) When you pay for goods or services using your PayPal account, the person providing the service gets hit with a 2.9% + $.30 fee for your transaction (which they may or may not pass back along to you.) PayPal’s fees can be confusing, but you can read a breakdown of them here. In short, just make sure your transactions are personal, and not labeled as for goods or services. Once you have the money in your PayPal account, cashing out to a bank account usually takes several days (sometimes up to five business days or more), so be ready for that.
Those of you who nominated PayPal did so because of two reasons mostly: Either a: It’s everywhere and everyone you know has an account, or b: It’s the only one of these kinds of services you’ve heard of. Few of you said you actually liked using PayPal, but you did like the fact that it’s easy enough to use, available everywhere, supports international money transfers (unlike most of the other contenders here), and people who don’t know anything about banking or sending money online recognize it as a long-standing and well-known name. You can read more of the whole back and forth in its nomination thread here.
Chase Quick Pay
Surprisingly, you don’t have to have an account at Chase Bank to use Chase Quick Pay, but if you do, it really helps. If someone sends you money through Chase Quick Pay, you can sign up for an account and use it from then on, but if you want to use it yourself and you’re not a Chase customer, you can actually sign up and link another bank account or debit card to the service (however, one person in the transaction does have to have a Chase checking account to get started—essentially, you can use it to receive money if you’re not a Chase customer, but you can’t use it to send.) Sending and receiving money is free, and sending just requires a phone number or an email address. Getting your money is fast, and usually takes just a few minutes, and if you’re a Chase customer, your money is available instantly. If you’re not a Chase customer, it usually takes a little longer, but not much. The service is US only, and there are no fees to send or receive money.
Those of you who nominated Chase Quick Pay praised it for being fast and easy, and for even making it somewhat easy to send money to non Chase customers, but equally many of you said that the process is difficult for those non-Chase customer to accept money, and that the Chase mobile banking app is only useful for Chase customers, so those people without Chase checking accounts but with Chase Quick Pay accounts are still kind of out in the cold. More than a few of you said that if Chase made it easier for others to use the service, and to access their money. You can read more in its nomination thread here.
Now that you’ve seen the top five, it’s time to put them to an all-out vote to determine the community favorite:
Honorable Mentions
No honorable mentions this week, as the nominations dropped off pretty quickly after these five. We should, however, give a nod to Bitcoin though, since a few people did nominate it as an anonymous and private way to send and manage funds—although how easy and effortless it is depends heavily on the wallet application you’re using for the purpose. We don’t have the space here to really get into the ins and outs of Bitcoin, but if you’d like to learn more, our primer to Bitcoin and what you can do with it is a great place to start. If ain’t nobody got time for that, this two-minute video should do the trick.
Have something to say about one of the contenders? Want to make the case for your personal favorite, even if it wasn’t included in the list? Remember, the top five are based on your most popular nominations from the call for contenders thread from earlier in the week. Don’t just complain about the top five, let us know what your preferred alternative is—and make your case for it—in the discussions below.
The Hive Five is based on reader nominations. As with most Hive Five posts, if your favorite was left out, it didn’t get the nominations required in the call for contenders post to make the top five. We understand it’s a bit of a popularity contest. Have a suggestion for the Hive Five? Send us an email at tips+hivefive@lifehacker.com!
Title photo made using Olga Lebedeva (Shutterstock).
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Make This Burnt Miso "Butterstoch" for Rich, Delicious Desserts
Acclaimed chef Christina Tosi stumbled on this burnt miso “butterscotch” dessert topping while experimenting with new flavors for Momofuku Milk Bar. It may not look like much, but it’s easy to make (once you have the ingredients), keeps for weeks (if it’ll last that long), and goes great on, well, anything.
To make it, you’ll need shiro miso (which you may not have at home obviously, but Tosi explains you don’t have to run out and get premium miso for this,) sherry vinegar, mirin, brown sugar, and softened butter. You’ll spread out the miso on a silicone baking mat (parchment paper would probably work for this too) and put it in the oven at 400 degrees F (~204 degrees C) for about a half-hour. Then scrape the now brown, nutty, rich-and-delicious-smelling miso into a blender with the other ingredients, and make your sauce. It’s that simple, once you have what you need to make it.
One of the best things about this recipe is the way Tosi explains how it’s a bit “shabby chic,” meaning that even if you don’t have the ingredients, you don’t have to blow open your wallet on expensive versions of them to make this. She writes, over at Lucky Peach:
You take a few well-worn ingredients, add the cheapest form of miso, and make something greater than the sum of its parts. We originally used the resulting “miso butterscotch” as part of a deep-fried apple-pie dessert on the opening menu of Ko. But I guarantee that way more of it got heated up quickly in the microwave and drizzled over ice cream than on customers’ plates. Use it at home just like you’d use Hershey’s syrup!
Hit the link below for the full recipe, and measurements for all of the ingredients.
Burnt Miso Butterscotch Topping | Lucky Peach
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This $9 Contigo Water Bottle Will Get You Through Summer and Beyond
Today’s Gold Box deal is the 24-Ounce Contigo Cortland Water Bottle, discounted to just $9. The Cortland is dishwasher safe, BPA-free, and fits in most cupholders. The Cortland is usable with one hand, with a drinking spout that “autoseals” between sips, and also features a carry clip on the handle. [Contigo Cortland, $9]
While Contigo took the win in our best travel mug vote, their bottles were not nominated in our best water bottle contest, where Nalgene secured the victory.
Here are some more great recommendations, in case the Cortland isn’t the right bottle for you:
Not plastic, and insulated...
The Hydroflask took third place in the voting. Stainless steel, attractive, and sporting a wide variety of sizes, colors, and lids. It’ll keep your cold drinks very cold and your hot drinks very hot.
If you don’t want plastic or stainless steel...
Many readers were not convinced of the safety of BPA-free plastic and are sensitive to the taste stainless steel can add to water. The Lifefactory was the most enthusiastically recommended glass bottle in our comments, and is also the water bottle I use at the office.
Something huge...
Our promotions team (not part of Commerce) is current running a deal with WavesGear on their 34oz Forever Cold stainless steel insulted water bottle.
For coffee or tea...
The Contigo Autoseal West Loop was your winner for Best Travel Mug, and one of our most popular products of 2014.
For cleaning your bottles...
We recommended the Oxo Good Grips Water Bottle Cleaning Set to clean your Travel Mugs, and are doing the same here.
Commerce covers the best products on Kinja Gear, finds you deals on those products on Kinja Deals, and asks you about your favorites on Kinja Co-Op, click here to learn more. We operate independently of Editorial and Advertising, and if you buy something through our posts, we may get a small share of the sale. We want your feedback.
Send deal submissions to Deals@Gawker and all other inquiries to Shane@Gawker
Follow us for the best deals on the Internet, and check out http://t.co/w8ke7mw7nT
June 9, 2014
from Lifehacker http://ift.tt/1cr45Y5
Saturday, May 30, 2015
This Week's Top Downloads
Every week, we share a number of downloads for all platforms to help you get things done. Here were the top downloads from this week.
Inbox by Gmail Is Now Available Without an Invite, Adds New Features
Today, Google finally stripped Inbox of its invitation requirement. If you’ve wanted to get in on the email-as-a-to-do-list action, you can now sign up for Inbox directly.
Google Hangouts for Windows, OS X, and Linux Updated with a New Look
Windows/Mac/Linux: Google updated the Hangouts Chrome app today with a brand new look that makes it a lot more appealing to use. The new app looks a lot like the Android and iOS versions of Hangouts.
Wego Is a Customizable Weather Client for the Terminal
Just because you’re a command line power user doesn’t mean you don’t need to know what the weather forecast is. Wego is a weather app for Terminal that displays the weather in a variety of ways and looks great doing it.
Noisli for Chrome Generates Background Sound to Keep You Productive
Chrome: We’re big fans of the Noisli web app, which allows you to create background noise so you can focus on your work. The new Chrome extension works the same way, but you don’t need to keep that extra tab open to use it.
Spaces Manages Chrome Windows, Saves Tab Layouts For Later
Chrome: The person who invented browser tabs was obviously a genius, but it left us with the problem of managing multiple open tabs. Spaces makes it easier by allowing you to save and jump between open windows of various tabs.
How to Install the Android M Developer Preview on Your Nexus 5, 6, or 9
Today’s Android M announcement at Google I/O 2015 already got us pretty excited. If you’re eager to try out the new hotness (and you have a Nexus 5, 6, 9, or Player), here’s how to get it on your device right now.
GIFs for Mac Makes Sure You Always Have the Perfect Reaction GIF Handy
OS X: GIF is a simple, free app for the Mac that lets you search for the perfect GIF at the perfect time, get a link to paste it into a chat or email, or download it to your computer. If you communicate with GIFs (and honestly, who doesn’t at this point), it saves you the effort of Googling around for the perfect one.
AndroidTool Takes One-Click Screencasts and Screenshots from Your Phone
Android/OS X: If you want to take screencasts or screenshots of your Android phone and instantly have them saved to your computer, AndroidTool makes the process as simple as a single click—assuming you have a Mac to go with that Android device, that is.
Pixelmator Is Now Available for iPhone
iOS: The iPad version of Pixelmator released last year was fantastic and today the app gets an update that brings along iPhone compatibility and a new distort tool.
Revisions for Dropbox Makes Viewing Your Dropbox History Easy on Mac
Mac: Dropbox’s revision history is a great way to pull up older versions of files, but it’s not exactly easy to use in the web app. Revisions for Dropbox is a Mac app that lives in your menu bar and makes browsing file versions a breeze.
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This Video Explains Why You're Probably Better Off Buying Cheap Wine
You might feel fancy buying an expensive bottle of wine, but you’ll probably get just as much joy out of the cheaper stuff. This video explains why.
The video above, from Vox, points out that according to extensive research, unless you’re a serious wine enthusiast, you probably won’t even like the taste of the expensive stuff as much. In fact, when it comes to award-winning wines, most experts can’t even agree on what’s actually “better.” So before you grab a $50 bottle of wine, you have to ask yourself, “am I going to enjoy this any more than a $15 bottle?” The price tag might trick you into thinking you’re getting something better, but you’ll probably be just as pleased—and save some money—when you go with the cheap stuff. Just be careful of the second cheapest bottle at restaurants.
Expensive wine is for suckers. This video shows why | YouTube
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Build Your Own Wireless Inductive Power Night Light
Inductive charging is a cool way to show off your DIY skills, and Adafruit has a guide to making a very simple little inductive charging night night that doesn’t even require soldering.
The process for making the light itself is super easy and only requires a couple of parts and cables you can easily put together in a few minutes. From there, you’ll just need to cut out the enclosure with a CNC, which should be easy enough if you have a local hackerspace you can pop into. If not, you can certainly make your own little case using other household supplies. Head over to Adafruit for the full guide.
Wireless Inductive Power Night Light | Adafruit
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Get an Android Development Education With This Nanodegree From Google
Getting into Android development can be rewarding, but there’s also a lot you need to learn. If you have some experience with code but want to transition to becoming a developer, Udemy has a year-long curriculum of material straight from Google that can get you started.
The curriculum is part of Udemy’s Nanodegree program. The Nanodegree program is designed so that students have a portfolio of projects to show employers by the end of the course. Since the programs are developed with help from the industry, it’s a pretty safe bet that what you’re going to create is what potential employers want.
The Android development Nanodegree program was just announced at Google I/O and costs $200/month for a 12 month course. Udemy is also offering to refund 50% of the tuition costs if you graduate within one year of the time you enroll. The costs might be a bit high for hobbyists, but if you’re looking to get serious about developing as a job, it’s hard to beat the price for an education straight from Google.
Android Developer Nanodegree | Udemy
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This Tool Lets You Read Health and Safety Reports for Any Cruise Ship
Cruise Control, a recent report by Pro Publica on the health and safety issues in the cruise industry, is worth a read, but you might find their interactive tool to search and read all the reported health, safety, and maintenance issues on specific ships more useful before you book your next cruise vacation.
Whether you’ve been on a cruise in recent years or you’re thinking about taking a cruise vacation in the future, the Cruise Control interactive guide is a beautifully organized database of everything from environmental and mechanical reports by the Coast Guard on specific ships, reported health and safety issues to the CDC, deck plans, details and reviews, and even the ship’s current position on a map. It’s ideal if you, like I did, wondered how a ship you’ve been on has fared in the past. Similarly,if you’re thinking about a future cruise, you can almost always see the names of the ships that leave from ports near you, so you can check the health and safety records for those ships before you book.
The full report walks through some of the usual offenders you might expect on cruise ships, topics like norovirus, injuries from maintenance issues, or people falling overboard and how often that actually happens (spoiler: Not that often, and when it does it’s usually either reckless behavior or a drunk passenger.) You can check it—and the interactive search tool—out below.
Cruise Control | Pro Publica
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The Best Furniture Fabric When You Have Pets
When you have pets, you have to be careful with furniture. Your sofa or armchair can easily turn into a giant scratching post, chew toy, or hair magnet. And the upholstery fabric you choose can make a big difference.
Some fabric is more pet-friendly than others, Apartment Therapy points out. They share a a few of their best options for furniture fabric when you have pets. A couple of them include:
Consider Synthetic Fiber (Ultrasuede/Microfiber): It’s not always easy to get excited about this choice aesthetically (that said, there are always exceptions, especially if the shape of the sofa or chair is super stylish), but it’s about as close to “pet proof” as you can get. Cats don’t seem to like scratching it (especially if there is a scratching post nearby) and even if they try, it’s easy to brush away, if it even shows up. Cleaning is easy too, especially if the upholstery code is “W”: you can use a simple solution of soap and water.
Lots to Love with Leather: The allure of leather is that it is mostly resistant to odor and it doesn’t attract pet hair. If by chance some actually happens to find its way onto the cushions, it wipes off easily with a dust cloth. Cats seem to avoid leather as long as there is a scratching post nearby, and if your dog leaves a scratch you can usually buff it out. If it’s an option, choose distressed leather, it will draw less attention to scratches and scuffs.
They suggest staying away from tweed, which can trap the hair in its weave. Of course, pets and their habits vary, so your mileage will, too. But each of their suggestions have some valid points to consider. Check out the full post for yourself at the link below.
Best Upholstery Fabric Options for Cat & Dog Owners | Apartment Therapy
Photo by Petras Gaglias.
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Top 10 Ways to Improve Your Messy Photo Collection
Our photo collections have a way of growing and multiplying like weeds, and tidying all the photos up can be a daunting task. With the right tools and approach, however, organizing all our photos is less of a chore.
10. Clean Up Duplicates, Bad Dates, and Other Issues
Ever have a set of photos think they’re from another date in the future? You can fix this metadata issue with a few useful tools, get rid of duplicate photos, and otherwise make more sense of your photo collection. You can also quickly rename photo (and other) files in bulk with a simple shortcut.
9. Easily and Automatically Share Your Photos Everywhere
If you like sharing photos, you can use Wappwolf or IFTTT to automatically upload your photos to places like Facebook and Flickr. Admittedly, this doesn’t really keep your computer’s photos folder from being a mess, but your favorite photo sharing sites will have all the photos you want uploaded without any work on your part.
8. Automatically Upload All Your Photos to Flickr
Similarly, after installing Flickr’s new photo tools on your computer and/or phone, you can have all your photos automatically backed up/shared in one place—up to a free 1 TB’s worth of space. Even if your computer’s photos folder is disorganized, on Flickr you can automagically sort by photo categories or date and bulk edit the photos’ metadata.
7. Use Dropbox Instead of Photo Management Apps
If you prefer Dropbox, in three steps you can get all your photos organized in Dropbox and not bother with photo management software. You just need a clear folder structure and syncing turned on. As a bonus, you can use Wappwolf to automatically edit photos before saving them to Dropbox.
6. Or Use Google Photos as Your Photo Management Tool
Google Photos (formerly Google+ Photos) is our favorite photo hosting site—better than Dropbox when it comes to free storage space and editing tools. You can automatically back up photos to Google with unlimited storage space (if you keep the resolution low enough), and intelligently search your photo collection with some Google-fu, or just enjoy Google Photo’s auto-organization of your photos.
5. Sync and Sort Your Photos in OS X’s New Photos App
In the new Photos app on Mac, you can sync the photos across your devices either through iCloud or My Photo Stream. Here’s how. Also, you can use Photo’s “Smart Albums” feature to automatically sort your photos and rearrange them by your favorites, specific dates, and more—or use Hazel to sort by location. You might want to add some Automator actions too, for things like adding photos to specific albums and more.
4. Tackle Generations’ Worth of Family Photos Strategically
There really is no easy way to tackle a gazillion photo prints, negatives, and digital photos. You can, however, approach this daunting task with a plan. Lifehacker readers suggest starting with the oldest relative and then going down the family age tree, using Picassa’s face recognition feature, scanning and saving photos into folders organized by family person’s name, and/or organizing photos by “era.” Organize as you go.
3. Future-Proof Your Digital Photos with Smithsonian Institute-level Archiving
Digital photos are great, but we all probably have way too many of them. Delete bad photos, print out the best ones, and back up, back up, and back up. It takes time and effort, but if you want your photos to last forever, that constant photo processing is necessary. Even 10 minutes a day of organizing during TV commercials will help get your photo collection under control.
2. Get All Your Photos in One Place
You probably have photos buried in your emails. Scattered across your phone, tablet, and computer. Scattered across the web. Choose one folder to store your photos, and use tools like Lost Photos for email or even Facebook’s shared photo albums to consolidate your photos into one place. (You can archive every photo you’re tagged in on Facebook or elsewhere too.) If photos are stuck on your phone and not automatically backed up to Dropbox, Google, OneDrive or the other tons of photo organization tools, you’ll need to regularly manually import those photos. Also, remember to back up that consolidated photos folder, wherever it’s hosted, lest you lose your most important files.
1. Use a Folder and File Naming Structure That Makes Sense
To really get your photos under control, whether just for you or if they’re shared photos, you’ll need a system. I organize by year, then monthly subfolder YYYY-MM, and then special occasion subfolders within the month, separating original photos from edited ones, but you can use any organization system that makes sense to you. (You could even use a batch file to automatically rename photo files with the date-filename structure.) Whatever you do, just like you need to have a system for organizing your other digital and non-digital files, make it as easy as possible for your future self to find the pictures you’re looking for. (And did I mention you should back up your photos?)
Lifehacker’s Weekend Roundup gathers our best guides, explainers, and other posts on a certain subject so you can tackle big projects with ease. For more, check out our Weekend Roundup and Top 10 tags.
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