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Sunday, January 31, 2016
Is that webcam *supposed* to be on the internet? [Chet Chat Podcast 229]
Join Sophos experts Chester Wisniewski and Paul Ducklin for the latest episode of our computer security podcast.
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Tails 2.0 fixes many security issues
Tails is a live operating system, that you can start on almost any computer from a DVD, USB stick, or SD card. It aims at preserving your privacy and anonymity. Tails 2.0 is the first version of ...
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Defending the smart grid: What security measures to implement
Smart grids are a fundamental component of the European critical infrastructure. They are rooted on communication networks that have become essential elements allowing the leveraging of the “smart” fe...
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Week in review: The death of Java plugin, Magento fixes e-store hijacking flaw, cybercriminals targeting healthcare data
Here's an overview of some of last week's most interesting news and articles: There's no turning back: Say goodbye to the perimeter If you’ve been following the announcements from this year’s Co...
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These are the Most Tattoo-Friendly Companies to Work For In the U.S.
Visible tattoos can be a bad idea in the professional workplace, but companies are getting more lenient as time goes on. Here are some of the most tatt00-friendly companies you can work for.
This infographic, from specialty skincare boutique Skinfo, reveals all kinds of tattoo-related statistics. Not only will see what types of people and age groups have tattoos, you’ll also see which cities and companies are the most tattooed overall. Companies like Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Best Buy, Lowe’s, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and even Google don’t seem to have a problem hiring folks with a little ink. And if you feel the need to ever hide your tattoos, a few makeup tricks can make them practically invisible. You can check out the full graphic below.
Tattoos in the Workplace: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly | Skinfo
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Simplify Using the FlashAir Wi-Fi SD Card with These Apps
We’re fans of the Toshiba FlashAir Wi-FI SD card because it’s cheap and does its job well enough, but it’s still lacking some features. Lifehacker reader Chris points out that you can actually add in some functionality with third-party apps.
Chris pointed us toward the official FlashAir developer’s site, which has all kinds of apps that make transferring photos to your PC a little easier, add in the ability to look at photos live, and more. I’ve been using FlashAirSync this week, which automatically downloads photos to my Mac, which solves one of my big complaints with the card. It also turns out the card’s pretty hackable, with all kinds of different projects out there, so if you haven’t messed around with it, now’s a good time.
FlashAir Developers | via Chris
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Criticism Often Says More About Who Gave It Than Your Work
Constructive criticism is a pretty awesome tool for figuring out how to improve your efforts. At the same time, criticism might say more about the person giving it than it does your own work. It can be helpful to remember this if you have trouble taking criticism too personally.
99U says it helps to shift the way we think about criticism so we can learn to take it better:
See feedback as giving you information about the person giving it—not as giving you information about yourself. Perhaps your boss has given you the feedback that your work on a recent project is “bad.” So here’s the question: Does that give you any facts about your work, your talent? I’d argue it doesn’t. But it does tell you something about your boss’ preferences and taste.
Understanding feedback in this way—as providing information only about the person giving it—is liberating, especially for creatives who will always have to deal with a range of highly subjective assessments.
Beyond just learning to accept it better, this is also solid advice for understanding a boss or client’s needs and preferences in the first place. It’s also an important point to remember if someone gives you feedback that doesn’t seem to make sense, or that many other people don’t agree with.
Criticism is great, but for these reasons, it’s useful to consider your source. Check out the full post at the link below.
A Toolkit for Unhooking from Criticism | 99U
Photo by Brewbooks.
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These Exceptions Allow You to Withdraw Retirement Money Early, Penalty Free
Retirement funds are appealing because you can save money before taxes. The downside is, if you withdraw early, you typically have to pay a penalty. However, there are some occasions where you avoid this.
Reddit user dequeued explains several situations in which you can withdraw money before the age of 59 and a half. Some merely allow you to pull out funds a couple years early, however, you can make major withdrawals from certain types of accounts for things like buying a house, education, or difficult medical expenses:
I often see people who are interested in early retirement putting most of their retirement savings into taxable accounts because they believe IRAs, 401(k) plans, and other tax-advantaged accounts “lock up” their money until they are 59½. If you are interested in retiring before 59½, this is one of the worst mistakes you can make.
It’s a mistake because the premise isn’t true at all. There are many ways you can get access to retirement funds before age 59½ and all without that horrible 10% penalty for early withdrawals.
You can check out the post below for a list of several of the exceptions. The options available to you may depend on what type of retirement account you’ve chosen. Of course, taking money out of your retirement account isn’t something you want to do lightly anyway, but if you ever have a pressing need to, it’s helpful to know what your options are.
PSA: Retirement funds are not locked up until age 59½ | Reddit
Photo by 401(k) Calculator.
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Take a Moment and Assess Your Workspace for Productivity
Your workspace should be a comfortable combination of personality and productivity; a space that you enjoy working in, but also one that helps you get things done. This graphic doesn’t touch on the personal side, but it does offer some useful tips to address the productive side, taken with a grain of salt or two.
All in all, you may not have complete control over your work environment. Not every office will let you keep personal effects on or near your workspace, but if you work in an office, you probably do have some control over the tools you have on hand to help you organize, sort, and manage your work. The graphic below is full of helpful (if not at times obvious) suggestions for assessing your workspace and making some more productive changes.
Check the whole thing out below, don’t forget to add some personality to your workspace if you can, and see what you can change where you spend 8 or more hours of your day.
How to Organise Your Office for Maximum Productivity | Make It Cheaper
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Read It Later Showdown: Pocket vs. Instapaper
When it comes to “read it later” services that let you save articles today to read when you have time, you only have two serious options these days: Pocket and Instapaper. Both are great, but they’ve diverged a bit over the years and play to different strengths. Let’s compare them, head-to-head.
Features
For the uninitiated, a “read it later” service is just a fancy bookmarking app. You create an account, save articles you want to read from any web browser, and the app organizes them and lets you read them in a clean, uncluttered view that ditches most of the ads and focuses on the text.
Let’s start by addressing the big similarities between Pocket and Instapaper. Both Pocket and Instapaper are available have bookmarklets for every browser as well as apps on Android and iOS. Both save anything you find online, from articles to videos, for easy access later. Both have a special reading mode that strips out excess ads or images, perfect for lightweight devices. Both also have offline reading modes for their mobile apps, so you can download articles and read them anywhere, with or without a connection. Both even have text-to-speech options built right in. Heck, both even integrate with the automation service If This Then That.
Even so, Pocket and Instapaper differ pretty dramatically. Here are a few of the features that are exclusive to each service:
- Tagging system to organize articles
- Quick direct sharing with other Pocket users
- Built-in social network for publicly sharing articles and finding recommendations
- Instant import of URLs from your clipboard in the mobile apps
- Syncs with Kobo reader
- Desktop app for Mac
- Text highlighting
- Variety of font options in reader view
- Follow other users and see their recommended articles
- Organize articles into folders
- In-line article commenting
- Tons of sorting options to find articles quickly
- Speed reading options
- Syncs with Amazon Kindle
- Build-in “reading times” for articles
Each app has its own list of proud, exclusive features. Now let’s dig into what it’s like to actually use both of these apps.
Using Each Service
While Pocket and Instapaper have similar features, they feel like completely different apps when you’re using them. Take a glance at Instapaper and you get a much more serious tone from its newspaper-esque layout, lack of colors, and simple list. Conversely, Pocket is bright, displays images like a proud parent, and flaunts its colors behind bouncy animations. While it’s hard to quantify the “feel” of an app, Pocket’s tone has the jovial relaxed vibe of a pop-up craft store in San Francisco, while Instapaper feels designed for a librarian in Cambridge.
Those moods extend throughout the experience. Instapaper’s primary focus is the reading experience. Subsequently, you get all sorts of options for customizing the font, themes, and text size of an article. Beyond all that, you can also change the spacing and width, which makes the reading experience much more pleasant overall. Pocket only allows you to change the color theme, choose between one serif or san serif font, and alter the text size. So, if reading text articles is all you want to do, Instapaper’s the app you want.
On the other hand, in my experience, Pocket is much better at handling images and any built-in media. While Instapaper does support the likes of YouTube and Vimeo, it doesn’t do nearly as good of a job at parsing those things out. Case in point, Instapaper just added support for in-line video in an update this month. Still, Instapaper routinely cut images and video out from articles when I used it, while Pocket displayed them all with ease. Arguably, for some this is more of a feature than a bug, but my preference falls to Pocket for media.
One of my favorite features in Pocket comes from something as innocuous as pasting a URL. When you open the Pocket mobile app and it detects a web page on the clipboard, it’ll automatically suggest you add that link to your reading list. It’s a little thing, but it’s a time saver I’ve used a bunch. Instapaper doesn’t have a solution nearly as elegant—even worse, it doesn’t have a solution at all. You can’t paste a URL into the Instapaper mobile app at all, which is a bizarre exclusion. Of course, most apps and browsers allow for direct sharing to both services, so it’s a moot point for many since that little share icon is virtually everywhere, but if you get links from a variety of sources, Pocket makes importing a tad easier.
To Instapaper’s credit, its best feature is the highlight and note function. You can easily highlight text excerpts and save them, or add notes of your own to the articles you read. For students and other researchers, this alone is Instapaper’s killer feature.
Finally, one of the biggest key differences is in how you organize articles. Pocket uses a tagging system where you quickly add tags to any article, then search and sort by tag later on. Instapaper uses a pretty clunky folder system that only allows you to put an article in one folder at a time. Depending on how you prefer to organize your stuff, this can be a dealbreaker.
Price
Both Instapaper and Pocket are free. However, both have optional subscription models that toss in premium features. They’re not required by any means, and most users can likely get by without spending a dime. Still, here’s what you get in each of the premium packages:
Pocket: $4.99/month or $44.99/year
- Permanent copy mode (makes pages accessible even if the original web page disappears)
- Advanced search operators
- Smart tag suggestions
- Full text search
- Search through current articles and archives
Instapaper: $2.99/month or $29.99/year
- Full text search
- Unlimited highlights
- Unlimited speed reading articles
- Text-to-speech playlists
- Send to Kindle via bookmarklet option
- Ad free mode on the web site
Some of the premium features are nice, but they’re not a necessity for most of us. Regardless of which service you choose, I’d stick with the free version at launch and decide later on if you need any of the premium features.
The Bottom Line: Pocket Is Best for Multimedia, Instapaper Is Best for Pure Reading
After using both Pocket and Instapaper over the years, I think there’s pretty good distance between the two. Pocket is best for people who like to save multimedia, or save just as many videos, image and vine-heavy articles, or mixed media, and who obsess over organization. Instapaper’s best for people who just want to read text articles they find on the web.
Really, that’s it. When it comes to design and usability, the rest is about preference. Some people might find comfort in Instapaper’s decidedly serious-yet-drab color options, while others might prefer Pocket’s clown car color scheme. Where one person definitely needs notes in their read it later app, another might not at all. The features that separate these two don’t establish a clearly “best” option, but they do suggest what type of user will get the most out of them. Pick the one that suits your reading needs and stick with it.
Or heck, if you really want to go all in, IFTTT has plenty of recipes for syncing all your articles between both services.
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Sunday's Best Deals: Fire TV Sticks, $120 Exercise Bike, Bluetooth Speakers, and More
A $120 exercise bike, discounted Fire TV sticks, and a clever water bottle lead off Sunday’s best deals. Bookmark Kinja Deals and follow us on Twitter to never miss a deal. Commerce Content is independent of Editorial and Advertising, and if you buy something through our posts, we may get a small share of the sale. Click hereto learn more.
If you still own any TVs without access to smart apps, you can save $5 on Amazon’s excellent Fire TV Stick, or $10 on a bundle that includes a voice search remote today.
Amazon Fire TV Stick ($35) | Amazon
Amazon Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote ($40) | Amazon
This $120 exercise bike doesn’t have a digital screen to track your distance and calories, but guess what? Your muscles can’t tell the difference. Plus, you can use the money you saved to build a virtual reality bike riding experience. [Sunny Health & Fitness Indoor Cycle Trainer, $120]
If you’re ready to graduate from smartphone photography to something a little more serious, Canon’s prosumer T5i has several discounts available on Best Best and Amazon today, complete with plenty of extras.
Canon EOS Rebel T5i Digital SLR with 18-55mm STM Lens + Memory Card, Bag and Battery ($599) | Amazon
Canon - EOS Rebel T5i DSLR Camera with 18-135mm STM Lens + Strap, Memory Card, and UV Filter ($800) | Best Buy
Canon EOS Rebel T5i 18.0 MP CMOS Digital Camera with 18-55mm and 55-250mm Lenses plus 32GB Deluxe Accessory Bundle ($700) | Amazon
Whether you need to back up your files or just store more Xbox One games, this 2TB external drive is a solid value at $70. [Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB USB 3.0 Portable External HDD, $70]
If you have a home theater PC connected to your TV, but need a compact way to control it from the couch, this $16 wireless remote includes a keyboard and a trackpad. I wouldn’t want to write a novel with it, but it’s perfect for finding a new video to watch. [Seneo 2.4Ghz Mini Touchpad Keyboard with USB Interface Adapter, $16 with code 9XRAO52J]
$20 water-resistant Bluetooth speakers are nothing new, but this model from Mpow cleverly includes a suction cup so you can stick it to your shower wall. It’s like one of those old FM shower radios, except you can use it to listen to Spotify and Serial. [Mpow Buckler Water-Resistant Suction Cup Bluetooth Speaker, $20 with code 9ZTOG87S]
If you place a heavy emphasis on sound quality, the equally water resistant UE Roll is also down to $70 right now, an all-time low. [UE Roll Bluetooth Speaker, $70]
Heading to the gym, but don’t want to take your wallet? This ingenious little water bottle includes a small storage compartment to hold your house key and a few cards. [Contigo AUTOSEAL Kangaroo Water Bottle with Storage Compartment, $9]
If you like going for runs with your dog, but want to keep your hands free, this cheap running belt has a leash built right in. Genius! [Homdox Running Belt With Built-In Handsfree Dog Leash, $13 with code QNHZT382]
Victorinox’s Fibrox 8” chef’s knife is one of your favorite chef’s knives period, and by far the best value in the industry. It’s also the knife I’ve used almost every day for over three years. Amazon has it for $31 right now, which is an absolute steal for the quality you’re getting. [Victorinox Fibrox 8” Chef’s Knife, $31]
If your Xbox Live Gold membership is running low, you can re-up for another year for just $38 today. That’s $22 less than renewing through Microsoft. [Microsoft Xbox Live 12 Month Gold Membership, $38]
No matter how many HDMI ports are on your TV, chances are, it’s not enough. Luckily, this affordable 4x1 HDMI switch will let you plug in three extra devices, and even watch them all at once with built-in picture-in-picture functionality. [Etekcity 4K x 2K 4 Port High-Speed HDMI Switch with IR Wireless Remote Control, $27 with code SWITCHO2]
More Deals
Tech
- Amazon Fire TV Stick ($35) | Amazon
- Amazon Fire TV Stick with Voice Remote ($40) | Amazon
- UE Roll Bluetooth Speaker ($70) | eBay
- Canon EOS Rebel T5i Digital SLR with 18-55mm STM Lens + Memory Card, Bag and Battery ($599) | Amazon
- Canon - EOS Rebel T5i DSLR Camera with 18-135mm STM Lens + Strap, Memory Card, and UV Filter ($800) | Best Buy
- Canon EOS Rebel T5i 18.0 MP CMOS Digital Camera with 18-55mm and 55-250mm Lenses plus 32GB Deluxe Accessory Bundle ($700) | Amazon
- Epson Home Cinema 740HD Projector & Sanus Universal Ceiling Mount Package ($500) | Best Buy
- Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB USB 3.0 Portable External HDD ($70) | eBay
- Seneo 2.4Ghz Mini Touchpad Keyboard with USB Interface Adapter ($16) | Amazon | Use code 9XRAO52J
- Mpow FreeGo Wireless Bluetooth 4.0 Headset ($20) | Amazon | Use code OAWGKWOD
- Mpow Buckler Water Resistant Wireless Bluetooth Speaker ($20) | Amazon | Use code 9ZTOG87S
Home
- Sunny Health & Fitness Indoor Cycle Trainer ($120) | Amazon
- Veet Infini’Silk Light-Based IPL Hair Removal System ($80) | Amazon
- 50% off NYDJ Apparel | Amazon
- Avia Men’s Modern Bubble Jacket ($16) | Amazon
- Contigo AUTOSEAL Kangaroo Water Bottle with Storage Compartment ($9) | Amazon
- KitchenAid Fitted Stand Mixer Cover ($25) | Amazon
- Imprint CumulusPRO Professional Standing Desk Anti-Fatigue Mat ($37) | Amazon
- Insignia - Ceramic Tower Heater ($50) | eBay
- Rowenta Ultrasonic Warm Mist 360 Humidifier ($95) | Woot
- Speedway 7 in 1 Powerstation & Jumpstart ($57) | Woot
- Butterball XL Indoor Electric Turkey Fryer with Bonus Pack ($85) | Woot
- 60 Watt Equivalent Slim Style A19 LED Light Bulb 12-Pack ($25) | eBay
- Hanes Men’s TAGLESS Ultimate Pima Cotton Boxer Brief 3-Pack ($6) | eBay
- Homdox Running Belt With Built-In Handsfree Dog Leash ($13) | Amazon | Use code QNHZT382
- Attmu Silicone Travel Bottles, Silicone Containers Set, Travel Toiletry Bottle for Cosmetics, Lotion, Set of 3, 3 Colors ($7) | Amazon | Use code 2YUW6J8J
- Attmu Shower Caddy, Quick Dry Shower Tote Bag, Bath Organizer ($6) | Amazon | Use code Z6TBGA9T
Gaming
- WRC 5 [PS4/Xbox One] ($30) | Amazon
- LEGO Minecraft 21122 the Nether Fortress Building Kit ($65) | Amazon
- Minecraft: Story Mode - Season Pass Disc ($20) | eBay
Media
- Spy (Unrated) ($10) | Best Buy
- Kingsman: Secret Service ($10) | Best Buy
- Magic Mike XXL ($10) | Best Buy
Commerce Content is independent of Editorial and Advertising, and if you buy something through our posts, we may get a small share of the sale. Send deal submissions to Deals@Gawker, click here to learn more.
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Improve Your Video and Photo Editing with a Gaming Mouse
Gaming peripherals are great for productivity as well as games—they often come with macro buttons you can program special commands for. Over at DIY Photography, they explain that gaming mice are especially great, since the extra programmable buttons can do in one click what keyboard shortcuts may take several to accomplish.
Of course, nothing is going to replace some good, solid keyboard shortcuts, but if there’s no shortcut for an action you want to perform, or you’d rather just program one of your gaming mouse’s many buttons to do the whole command for you, it’s not a bad idea. The team there focused on the Corsair K95 keyboard and the M95 mouse, both of which have tons of programmable buttons they could tweak just for applications like Adobe Premiere Pro or Photoshop. Some examples:
“Here is one such simple example. One of the buttons on my M95 is configured to CTRL+K which cuts the clip where the play-head is located.
Another more enticing example is what I did when I had to edit a movie with many slow-mo sequences. Regularly, I would have to hit CRTL+R to access the speed dialog, then press 50% and enter. For every single clip….. I made a short script and assigned it to button 7 (see photo below). This made slo-mo-ing a clip very fast, and being a repetitive job, it really saved a lot of time.”
Here are some more ideas for shortcuts both on the keyboard and the mouse:
nesting a clip ([the shortcut you assigned]>enter)
Ripple delete (d>Ctrl+Backspace)
Nudge a clip up/down (alt+up/down)
Cut/copy/paste (Ctrl+x/c/v)
Just think on your repetitive actions and assign a macro for them.
The “photo below” and some more ideas are all at the link below, but you get the idea. You can save a lot of time—and get a better return on your investment in that pricy PC gaming hardware—by putting it to good use at work as well as at play.
One Up Your Editing Game by Using a Gaming Mouse | DIY Photography
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Saturday, January 30, 2016
The secrets of malware success in the Google Play Store
Rowland Yu of SophosLabs is a great friend of Naked Security, being a regular contributor to our Android articles - so please vote for him to present at this year's RSA conference!
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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.
The Best Android Apps to Make Driving Safer, Easier, and More Fun
The very last place you should spend long amounts of time on your phone is behind the wheel of a car. Fortunately, plenty of apps are designed to help you find information and deal with distractions on the road safely.
How I Finally Organized My Messy Inbox with Sortd
I’ve tried dozens of solutions to clean up my inbox, and so far, the Sortd Chrome extension comes closest to helping me use and organize email the way I work. Sortd transforms Gmail into a drag-and-drop workspace with columns of customizable lists. It’s like life-organizing webapp Trello, but for email.
The Temple Morning Desktop
This desktop may not look like much, but that’s precisely why it’s so great. It is actually customized, but just in the right ways, and in the ways that work best for shadownight, who submitted it to our desktop showcase. Here’s how it works.
Chrome for iOS Is Now as Fast and Stable as Safari
iOS: Way back in the old days of iOS 8, Apple allowed third-party browsers access to a bit of software that allowed them to be just as fast as Safari. Google Chrome has finally taken advantage of that.
Hangouts 7.0 Adds Quick Reply and Home Screen Shortcuts For Contacts
Android: Google’s Hangouts app is a handy, if somewhat lacking messenger app. Now, it’s getting quick replies and home screen shortcuts for specific contacts. Neat!
MailButler Bundles a Ton of Plug-Ins that Make Apple Mail More Useable
Mac: Apple Mail is fine for most people, but if you really need a powerhouse email client, it falls short in all kinds of ways. MailButler is a set of plug-ins that makes Mail a bit more powerful.
Docs Online Viewer Opens Up Most Major File Formats Directly in Chrome
Chrome: When you’re browsing for files online, it’s always a bit annoying to have to download something, then open it up in a third-party application just to view it. Docs Online Viewer lets you open up most major file formats you come across right in Chrome.
You Can Now Stream Live Video from Your iPhone On Facebook
When it comes to live streaming, Periscope’s been the most recent go-to option, but today, Facebook’s getting in on the action. iPhone users can now start up a live video stream right from their phones that all their friends will see.
ZCast Makes Podcasting and Live Streaming One-Touch Easy
iOS: Podcasting can be a tricky business to get into, but ZCast for iPhone, just launched, makes it as easy as downloading an app, pressing record, and letting your stream fly. The service even integrates with Twitter, so you can let people know you’re broadcasting so they can tune in live.
Little-Voices Filters Images, Links, and Replies Out of Twitter
iPhone: Find yourself wanting for a simpler time on Twitter, when it was just a wall of text-based tweet? Little-Voices is a little app that’ll provide just that.
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Make an Impromptu Vegetable Peeler Out of a Soda Can Lid
If you don’t have a dedicated vegetable peeler and you’re in need of one, the top of a soda or beer can will actually work pretty well.
In this video from the Shake the Future YouTube channel, you’ll learn how to safely remove the top of an aluminum can and turn it into an effective vegetable peeler in a matter of minutes. Remove the top of the can with a can opener, trim the edges so you don’t cut yourself, and bend the part of lid where you’d normally drink from. Now you can easily peel carrots, potatoes, zucchini, or anything else that needs a quick peeling. This trick can come in handy when you’re out camping or even at home if you don’t normally peel a lot of vegetables.
Disposable Vegetable Peeler from a Soda Can | YouTube
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Build Your Own Arduino-Powered Virtual Reality Indoor Cycling System
Virtual reality promises all kinds of things, but one thing it can certainly do is make those boring indoor training rides on a bike a little more fun. DIYer Paul Yan shares his system.
Yan’s system uses an Arduino to track the rotations of a wheel, then a cheap headset for an iPhone, and a cheap virtual environment from Unity. It certainly leaves a lot to be desired in the actual environment exploration, but the rest of the system seems solid enough. Just make sure you figure out a way to not sweat all over that headset. Head over to Yan’s site for all the details.
A VR Cycling Experience for $40 | Paul Yan
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Connections Is a Contacts App With Notes and Reminders For Each Person
Android: Microsoft’s Android apps are surprisingly not bad. One of the most recent to come out of the Microsoft Garage is Connections, a Contacts app that allows you to set notes and reminders for each contact.
The app can manage your existing contacts list, so you don’t need to rebuild from scratch. However, if you have certain contacts you communicate with irregularly and need to remember certain facts, Connections allows you to organize and maintain them. You can also categorize groups of contacts with tags like “personal”, “vendor,” and others. It’s clearly aimed at business relationships, but it can be useful to anyone who has to do a lot of networking.
Connections | Google Play Store via Android Police
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This Video Shows Simple Survival Tricks Using Cans and Other Everyday Objects
YouTuber HouseholdHacker shares clever ways to survive the great outdoors in the video above, including tips like protecting matches in a Tic Tac container and using a soda can tab as a fish hook.
Though they’re simple tips, they’re thoroughly discussed in the video. For example, with the fish hook, the video demonstrates how to cut the tab and securely tie it to dental floss or string. Another tip is to turn a container formerly for peanuts into a toilet paper dispenser—useful for your next camping trip. (You could also use a coffee canister.)
Simple Survival Life Hacks | YouTube
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Make Mac and Cheese Waffle Sandwiches in Your Waffle Iron
If this doesn’t convince you to buy a waffle iron, I don’t know what will. Waffled mac and cheese replace bread for this bacon and fried chicken sandwich.
There’s no printed recipe, but the video above from Food Steez pretty much explains it all. You can also skip the meat and just make mac and cheese sandwiches using Serious Eats’ instructions.
I made a mac and cheese waffle variation yesterday and it was pretty good (and decadent), but fair warning: it makes a cheesy greasy mess. Worth trying at least once, though.
Mac & Cheese Fried Chicken Waffle Sandwiches | YouTube
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Top 10 Ways to Fix Your Terrible Posture
Good posture isn’t just about looks. How we sit, stand, and walk affect both our health and our moods. So stop slouching and get centered with these top 10 posture tips.
10. Get the Wii Fit
This isn’t an option for everyone, since it involves investing in an expensive video game system, but if you have the Nintendo Wii or Wii U, I highly recommend the Wii Fit. Sometimes you can find the game, balance board, and fitness tracker for just $20—well worth the price for a unique game that focuses on measuring your balance and keeping you moving every day. In the first week of playing the game, my posture went from severely unbalanced to the right to centered (and I think about my posture constantly now, which I guess is a good thing). If you don’t have the Wii or Wii U, perhaps play any other video games standing up. Sitting all day is killing us and many of us could be better off standing more.
9. Test Your Posture and Learn to Stand Properly
That all depends, of course, if you’re standing properly to begin with. Test your back and neck posture against a wall or check this illustration to find any areas you need to work on when standing. Become more aware of your feet when you’re standing and adjust your weight so it’s distributed evenly across both feet. These seven moves will test your basic mobility and core strength.
8. Do Yoga or Work on Your Core Strength
Exercises that strengthen your core will help you stand taller and help you maintain the proper posture. I like yoga because it also emphasizes body awareness and balance—and you can work up to some pretty badass poses. Pilates and any other exercises that focus on your core will help with your posture too.
7. Sit at a 135 Degree Angle
When you do have to sit, make sure you’ve got a good chair that supports your back and is ergonomic for your workspace (more on that below). Sitting at a 135-degree angle could put less strain on your spine, but you’d have to adjust your workspace accordingly. If you don’t care to recline, check out this animated guide to the do’s and don’ts of sitting.
6. Adjust Your Posture in Every Situation
It’s not just at our desks that we have to think about our posture. We need to sit up straight when driving (adjusting your rear view mirror could help). Our posture when we’re sleeping, the type of pillow we use, and the type of mattress we sleep on will affect how we hold ourselves during the day. If you have to work from bed, do it in a way that won’t wreck your posture. And in the kitchen, you might need to adjust the height of your counters to keep from hunching over.
5. Learn to Breathe Properly
How we breathe can deeply affect how we move and how we feel. Learn to breathe more effectively, using your diaphragm, and try breathing exercises that focus on lengthening your spine and engaging your waist muscles and lower core muscles.
4. Use Apps to Improve Your Posture
Remembering to stand and sit properly is hard work, so thankfully there are apps to help us out. Nekoze is a cute app that uses your Mac’s camera to keep an eye on your posture—a cat (icon) will warn you when you’re slouching. There are other posture trainers for iOS and Android, but if you’re not into apps using your camera, build your own posture sensor for your chair.
3. Hold Your Phone and Tablet Properly
Constantly craning your neck down to stare at our phones isn’t helping. Try holding your phone straight in front of you instead of bending your head down, and similarly propping your tablet up perpendicular to the table if you’re just reading.
2. Fix Your Workstation
If you’re a desk jockey, you might get the most posture improvement from setting up your workstation properly. Figure out the ideal desk height, whether sitting or standing, and keep your feet flat on the floor when sitting (an easy way to find the right seat high is to level it with your knees). Here’s our complete guide to setting up an ergonomic workspace.
1. Do Posture-Correcting Exercises
Good posture involves training your body to be in the proper position, with the least amount of strain possible on your supporting muscles. In addition to these do’s and don’ts for posture, we’ve shared several simple exercises you can do to improve your posture:
- Improve your posture with exercises from the Army Field Manual
- Fix your posture with three exercises against a wall
- Get into proper posture at your desk with two simple body adjustments
- Improve your posture and build balance with a daily warm-up
- A guide to stretches that help fix posture problems
- Fix your computer hunch and other posture problems in 30 seconds
Of course, if you have serious posture issues or pain, you’ll want to consult a doctor. But for most of us who just aren’t as well aligned as we should be, the tips above will hopefully help prevent pain and boost well-being.
Illustration by Fruzsina Kuhári. Photos by Sarah Kathleen Peck, Bigstock.
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