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Walmart Bests Whole Foods in Blind Taste Tests [Saving Money]

Submitted by admin on Fri, 02/26/2010 - 03:30

In a series of blind taste tests performed by The Atlantic's Corby Kummer, he found, to his surprise, that much of Walmart's new locally-grown fruits and vegetables taste just as good as (and sometimes better than) what you'll find at higher end stores like Whole Foods, but at a far better price. Kummer bought a bunch of fresh eggs, cheese, spinach, pears, and other locally-produced food from both Walmart and Whole Foods, cooked up a meal, and invited a bunch of friends over for a blind taste test. Here's what they discovered:

As I had been in my own kitchen, the tasters were surprised when the results were unblinded at the end of the meal and they learned that in a number of instances they had adamantly preferred Walmart produce. And they weren't entirely happy.

Walmart didn't win every time, but apparently you can find some good produce at the megastore. [The Atlantic]

Put Together a Rock Solid Home Tool Kit [Tools]

Submitted by admin on Fri, 02/26/2010 - 03:00

A well-stocked toolbox is indispensible for DIY projects and home repairs. Use this guide to select versatile and dependable tools that will help you with a lifetime of projects.For starters, Popular Mechanics has put together a great guide to stocking a toolbox. You can check out the list here right away or watch the video below to see Roy Berendsohn show off the contents of his well-stocked box:

The Popular Mechanics video and list do a great job covering what to put in a versatile toolbox, we're going to add a few bits of advice to round out your toolbox building skills.
Certain tools are absolutely indispensible, and you should buy them before the need to use them arises. A good multi-purpose hammer, a nice screw driver with interchangeable bits, a meaty pair of medium weight pliers, and other tools like that are handy for so many projects you should never wait around to purchase them. Other tools, like high-tension metal saws or specialty wire cutters or strippers should be purchased as needed for projects. While you use a screw driver or hammer for a huge number of projects, you use a specialty wire stripper for far fewer.
The benefit to buying tools as you need them for projects as opposed to buying a generic and cheaply made catch-all variety pack of tools—you know the kind, the $20-30 made-in-China all-in-one tool kits with dozens of unbranded and poorly made tools—is that you end up, after several projects, with tools in your tool box that are high quality and purchased as needed. It feels much better to buy a really nice wrench that gets years of service than it does to buy a bunch of cheap wrenches in a kit that just rust away at the bottom of your tool box or workbench drawer.

Since you'll be buying tools individually or in small sets, you can focus on buying well made tools. Although you might assume the best reason for buying high quality tools would be savings over time, even better than savings is dependability and safety. If you've never had a cheap drill bit snap off or a chisel fracture, you might not have considered the safety element of tool purchasing—if you always buy nice tools you'll never have to. Photo by Batega.
When you're shopping for tools, heft a variety of similar tools in your hand, and if there are any moving parts, give them a try. You don't want an adjustable wrench that rattles and wobbles or a pair of channel lock grips that don't quite seem to have the whole locking tight thing down pat. Cheap tools are manufactured with looser tolerances and they don't have that tight and snug feel that higher quality tools do. In addition to looking at tolerances and testing how the tool feels in your hand, you want to avoid novelty and over-complication. Don't buy a screw driver with a flash light built-in, a regular screw driver will last nearly until the end of time but a screw driver with a gimmick is more prone to fail. Most tool designs are timeless and don't really need to be improved upon. Shy away from bells and whistles that are just there to justify a higher price tag.
If you purchase tools when they're needed for projects and take your time to select high quality tools, you'll slowly but surely build up a home tool box that has a dependable and lifelong set of tools in it.
Have a tip for building a great tool box? Let's hear about it in the comments.
Home Toolbox Essentials: Skill Set [Popular Mechanics]

Use Resource Hacker to Customize Application Icons [Downloads]

Submitted by admin on Fri, 02/26/2010 - 02:30

Windows only: If you've got an application with a really ugly icon, or you just want to get some hard-core nerdy action with your desktop customization, Resource Hacker is the tool for the job.Over at the Tweaking with Vishal web site, he's put together a brief guide to using Resource Hacker to customize and replace graphical elements like icons, bitmaps, cursors, or even rename menu items for almost any Windows application.
If you've paid attention to our Featured Desktop series, you've probably noticed that some of the really hard-core desktop customizers, like reader nitzua and his million years of Litestep desktop, have gone the extra mile and used Resource Hacker to replace icons, and other graphical elements, from their favorite applications. If you've ever wondered how people manage that level of customization, this is exactly what they are doing.
Of course, this isn't the type of thing that just anybody should attempt, because modifying system files or hacking your applications is likely to cause things to break, especially if you aren't sure what you are doing. Still, if you are willing to tread into the dangerous world of hacking stuff to create a sweet desktop, Vishal's tutorial (and a good backup software) is a good way to get started.
All About Resource Hacker in a Brief Tutorial [Tweaking with Vishal]

Perfect Your Presentation by Kidnapping Random Slides [Presentations]

Submitted by admin on Fri, 02/26/2010 - 02:00

Ed. note: Despite our love for technology, we know how temperamental it can be—Reader Alex writes in with a tip to avoid letting tech problems ruin your next presentation, and keep you on top of the information to boot.Photo by Phil Whitehouse.
I was at a microbiology seminar this afternoon where a researcher was giving a presentation via PowerPoint. After a few slides a crucial diagram failed to show up over the projector. I would have gotten flustered and cursed the Microsoft Office for Mac gods. This presenter didn't though. She just walked over to a nearby whiteboard and drew out the entire diagram from start to finish, explaining as she went along. This turned out to be a much more effective way to describe her system than even a perfectly constructed PowerPoint slide ever could. Even more effective? Everyone was impressed how well this presenter knew her stuff—it was a very complex diagram.
It's one thing to follow something already on a PowerPoint slide. It's another to recall it completely from memory under pressure and technical malfunction.
This got me thinking. A spectacular way to practice a PowerPoint presentation would be to have someone eliminate one of your slides, or a section of a slide. Then, run through that altered presentation and see if you can compensate for the missing material. This will make you feel more confident about your presentation, and help you avoid being flustered if everything doesn't run smoothly. You know you can never trust a PowerPoint.
We all know that practice makes perfect, but this method takes it one step further—being able to practice your presentation with slides is one thing, but knowing the material so well that you don't even need the slides really shows your stuff (and, if you do have problems, it shows that you know how to keep cool under pressure as well). Got any other tips for perfect presentations? Share them in the comments.

The Workspace-on-a-Shelf Office [Featured Workspace]

Submitted by admin on Fri, 02/26/2010 - 01:30

Today's featured workspace is about as tiny as a workspace can get, short of calling a lapdesk and netbook a workspace.Lifehacker reader Tek on Dek has some serious space constraints to work with. In order to have room for a computer workspace as well as the rest of his life in his limited space, he opted to wall mount the whole affair and to do so with a focus on minimizing the footprint of the workspace. He writes:

Dual Dell G2410 Led Monitors. Workstation was built on an 11 inch deep bracket shelf from IKEA. I had a very small space for my desk and this was my solution. The monitors are mounted on a Planar AS2 dual mount. I have a 10 dollar IKEA keyboard tray installed underneath. And I'm using 4 IKEA LED Dioder light strips, 2 on each monitor. The wallpaper is "Spartan vs Spartan" and can be found on Deviant Art.


If you have a workspace of your own to show off, throw the pictures on your Flickr account and add it to the Lifehacker Workspace Show and Tell Pool. Include some details about your setup and why it works for you, and you just might see it featured on the front page of Lifehacker.
The Workspace-on-a-Shelf Office [Lifehacker Workspace Show and Tell Pool]

Disable Your Touchpad When You're Typing with AutoHotkey [Annoyances]

Submitted by admin on Fri, 02/26/2010 - 01:00

Windows: Back in November we highlighted TouchFreeze, a small utility designed to prevent you from accidentally moving your mouse cursor and messing up text what you're typing while you're typing. Reader bobbo33 made an improved version with a clever AutoHotkey script.Photo by Patrick Denker.
From bobbo33 at the Productive Geek forums:

A few months back, LH posted a link to TouchFreeze:
This program was designed to stop you from accidentally hitting your laptop/netbook's trackpad with your thumbs while you are typing. However, this program didn't really work for me—I still accidentally jumped the cursor from time-to-time.
So here's my Autohotkey version, which has been working very well for me for the last couple of weeks since I created it. (Note that you can tweak the timer line if the 500ms default still isn't quite long enough for you.) I've noticed no performance lag at all with method, since it's a keyboard hook.
I think it's always better to add little functions like these to my AHK master script, rather than installing YAU (yet another utility) for these small tweaks.

; Script Function:
; Disables trackpad for 500ms any time a key is pressed (prevents accidental mouse clicks)
;

#NoEnv ; Recommended for performance and compatibility with future AutoHotkey releases.
SendMode Input ; Recommended for new scripts due to its superior speed and reliability.
SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir% ; Ensures a consistent starting directory.

;keyboard hook code credit: http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/post-127490.html#127490
#Persistent
OnExit, Unhook

hHookKeybd := SetWindowsHookEx(WH_KEYBOARD_LL := 13, RegisterCallback("Keyboard", "Fast"))
Return

ReenableTrackpad:
BlockInput, MouseMoveOff
Return

Unhook:
UnhookWindowsHookEx(hHookKeybd)
ExitApp

Keyboard(nCode, wParam, lParam)
{
Critical
If !nCode
{
BlockInput, MouseMove
SetTimer, ReenableTrackpad, 500
}
Return CallNextHookEx(nCode, wParam, lParam)
}

SetWindowsHookEx(idHook, pfn)
{
Return DllCall("SetWindowsHookEx", "int", idHook, "Uint", pfn, "Uint", DllCall("GetModuleHandle", "Uint", 0), "Uint", 0)
}

UnhookWindowsHookEx(hHook)
{
Return DllCall("UnhookWindowsHookEx", "Uint", hHook)
}

CallNextHookEx(nCode, wParam, lParam, hHook = 0)
{
Return DllCall("CallNextHookEx", "Uint", hHook, "int", nCode, "Uint", wParam, "Uint", lParam)
}

TouchFreeze alternative in AHK [Productive Geek]

ZipList Is an Impressive Grocery List Tool with Coordinated Shopping, Anywhere Access [Shopping]

Submitted by admin on Fri, 02/26/2010 - 00:30

The very definition of frustration: You and your significant other or roommate arrive home after work and discover you each remembered to stop for milk—but neither of you bought cat food. ZipList puts an end to uncoordinated shopping trips.UPDATE:Actually, the iPhone app is in the works and will be released "in the coming weeks."
This free web-based service lets multiple people access your a shopping list so you don't end up with four heads of lettuce and no toilet paper. Family members can add items to the list and check off things they've bought to avoid duplication. You can even assign importance to an item so if you have a limited amount of time or cash in your pocket when you're at the store, you can grab only the important stuff and be on your way.
One of the slickest things about this service is how many ways there are to add or remove groceries to a list—email, SMS, IM, right at the site, take your pick. There's even an app for the iPhone and iPod touch that replicates most of the features found on the website.
ZipList has a bulging database of store sorted by location that you can add to your profile. Tell ZipList which store you want to buy your groceries from and it will sort the list according to that store's layout. Then you can sort your grocery list by aisle or store to get your shopping done fast.
Of course, you can't make a grocery list if you don't know what you're planning to eat, so consult ZipList's recipe database for ideas. It's got more than 300,000 recipes from MarthaStewart.com and Everyday Food and when you find something you like, one click adds the entire ingredient list to your shopping list.
Got a favorite meal planning and shopping tool that makes your life easier? Let us know in the comments.
ZipList [via eHub]

MacGyver of the Day: Electronics Hacker Jeri Ellsworth [DIY Week]

Submitted by admin on Fri, 02/26/2010 - 00:00

Ed. note: Senior Editor of MAKE magazine Phil Torrone joins us to celebrate more modern-day MacGyvers as we continue DIY week at Lifehacker. Today's maker: entrepreneur and self-taught computer chip designer Jeri Ellsworth.
Pictured above, MacGyver of the Day: Jeri Ellsworth - Electronics hacker, chip maker, race car builder, pin ball machine maker, blowing-stuff-up'er...
Hi Lifehackers! MAKE is best known for sharing all the goodness of making things for yourself, learning new skills and many times, voiding warranties... Marcus Chan of the San Francisco Chronicle said we're the "The kind of magazine that would impress MacGyver" - and that's what this week is about. It's a little known fact, but MAKE even has the creator of MacGyver writing at MAKE: Lee D. Zlotoff! Lee is a writer/producer/director among whose numerous credits is creator of MacGyver (you can see his articles here). Let's dive in and meet today's MacGyver - Jeri!
Jeri was hacking, modding, and running her own computer store in the late 1990s—and more.. Quick, to the Wikipedia!

Jeri Ellsworth is an American entrepreneur and self-taught computer chip designer. She is best known for, in 2004, creating a Commodore 64 emulator within a joystick, called Commodore 30-in-1 Direct to TV. The "computer in a joystick" could run 30 video games from the early 1980s, and was very popular during the 2004 Christmas season, at peak selling over 70,000 units in a single day via the QVC shopping channel. She is a pinball machine aficionado and owns over 60 full-sized pinball arcade games.

Before we continue...
I live in an actual electronics factory and let me tell you, what Jeri made was really, really incredible. She reverse engineered and designed the entire Commodore 64 audio and video system on a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) and then managed to get it made cheap enough so it could sold on QVC. A FPGA allows you to design circuits after a chip was made—"an integrated circuit designed to be configured by the customer or designer after manufacturing." She went from prototype to a top-selling product, 70k in one day!
Just to be clear for the super-geeks out there, here's the photo she *looked at* to reverse engineer the chip; then in her head, she visualized the transistor layout and converted it to a FPGA. Thousands of transistors, weird tricks, dealing with skew timing and delays, process variability, sneaky chip stuff, NTSC video generation— this was an amazing feat. We could probably wrap up this article now, but this volume dial goes to 11. Let's roll.
The chassis picture to the left is from Jeri's late teens and early 20's when she hand-built a race car chassis from a piles of tubular steel.
Jeri recently put up photos of her "chip fab". She writes, "It took me 2 years to achieve my dream of making transistors and simple IC's at home."
Jeri recently said in an email: "Of course I love fire and blowing stuff up. Then, there's my addiction to pinball". I've included some more photos, videos from her show and other odds and ends. Jeri inspires me to be more Macgyver-ish every day, and I'm sure she'll inspire you too! Take a look at the many videos and projects she has online and make something!
The 52-Inch Etch A Sketch

newVideoPlayer( {"type":"video","player":"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/Mhu3zojL5Y4&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22","customParams":[],"width":500,"height":412,"ratio":0.824,"flashData":"","embedName":null,"objectId":null,"noEmbed":false,"source":"youtube"} );

Jeri builds a 52-inch Etch A Sketch from a HD projection TV, tent poles, golf tee, and gear reduced motors.
Nintendo Purse
Pictured above: Jeri Ellsworth showing her homemade (working) Nintendo purse at a semiconductor show the same day as a roller derby event she skated in.

newVideoPlayer( {"type":"video","player":"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/DPlBeWy8Xwo&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22","customParams":[],"width":500,"height":412,"ratio":0.824,"flashData":"","embedName":null,"objectId":null,"noEmbed":false,"source":"youtube"} );

And here's the video about the Nintendo on a chip and C64 that Jeri installed into a purse. It used a LCD from a portable DVD player and an 8 amp hour battery, which lasts for 9 hours.
DIY Pinball Machine

newVideoPlayer( {"type":"video","player":"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/O64CHn9uDHg&hl=en&fs=1&fmt=22","customParams":[],"width":500,"height":412,"ratio":0.824,"flashData":"","embedName":null,"objectId":null,"noEmbed":false,"source":"youtube"} );
Homemade pinball machine she is working on...
Fire-Breathing Furby
And last, the fire-breathing Furby she made!
Phil Torrone is Senior Editor of MAKE magazine, contributing editor to Popular Science, and creative director of Adafruit Industries, where they make educational electronics and kits like the TV-B-Gone and some "other" hacky projects that sometimes make the rounds in these parts of the web. You may have seen MAKE in bookstores, public television, online, or been to one of their Maker Faires (there will be 3 this year, they are expecting over 100k attendees!). His personal site is http://www.braincraft.com.

Gadget and Gear Deals of the Day [Dealhacker]

Submitted by admin on Thu, 02/25/2010 - 23:30

HDTVs, laptops, hard drives, crazy dual-screen cameras, and discounted e-book readers await in today's Dealhacker roundup. As always we've got free loot to share. Like to score deep discounts on random stuff? You'll want to check out the in-progress Woot Off!Woot! Off in Progress!

Computer Gear!

Home Entertainment Gear!

Portable Gear!

Free Stuff!

Thanks Dealzon, TechDealDigger, Slickdeals, Fatwallet, TechBargains, CheapStingyBargains, CheapCollegeGamers, and GamerHotline!

Lifehacker Readers' Proudest DIY Moments [What You Said]

Submitted by admin on Thu, 02/25/2010 - 22:30

At the kick-off of our week-long celebration of DIY, we asked you to share your proudest DIY moment. You did not disappoint. Read on for tales of rescued Rock Band sessions, one-cent car repairs, toilet-hardware-assisted lock-picking, and much more.Reader Phil emailed in to direct us to this extensive Flickr set, detailing his efforts to repair a Denon DCD-825 CD player—one that was 14 years old, but no less loved by audiophiles. In keeping with the week's theme, Phil didn't just take fate's suggestion that he upgrade laying down, but reached for around $30 in parts and patched in a new lens unit.
Reader Chirag submitted a simple but problem-solving fix he uses for semi-securing luggage in a way that deters would-be thieves with a lazy streak, but doesn't require the TSA to bust open a $10 lock on every flight:

I use key rings to lock the zip of my check-in baggage and also to secure my carry on baggage.
Advantage of using key ring is that it can be opened without a key! But at the same time it takes a small amount of time to get the ring out, this small amount of time is good enough to discourage anyone with malicious intent to try opening the bag.

Dave submitted a tale that saved him around $40, restored his tried and tested car, and cost him literally one cent, along with some elbow grease:

Some years ago the starter on my '79 Honda failed. It didn't go all at once - it clicked once when you turned the key, then worked on the next turn. Then it was 2, 3, 10, and finally wouldn't engage at all, just click. I pulled the starter out. It turned out there was a metal "plunger" which pulled in when the key was turned and made contact between two thick copper pieces to power the motor. Due to not making good contact, the connection had arced, eventually burning away enough of one piece of copper that no contact was made. I took a penny (most of them were solid copper then) and hammered it into roughly the shape of the burned away area, soldered it into place, then filed it down until it was flush. I reassembled and reinstalled the starter. The car worked for some years afterward, and when it died, the starter was not the cause. To this day I am proud of my one-cent repair!

Reader Timothy wrote in with a tale of both geeky necessity and on-the-spot electro-engineering:

My proudest DIY moment just happened to come out of necessity. A friend of mine would bring up Rock Band from his place roughly an hour away. While unpacking and setting up we discovered he forgot the pedal. I wasn't about to let that ruin my need to slam on those rubber discs all into the morning, so I came up with this makeshift pedal, using things I had around the house. I saved the day with an audio adapter, a metal plate, duct tape and a sandal. Hope you like it.

Be sure to hit that link for a full explanation of how the (original) Rock Band drums could be wired up with RCA plugs and a simple contact point to accept all the foot stomping you want to put on them.
Edward wrote us to point out a DIY crib-top changing table that's an elegant solution to a, well, less than elegant everyday need.

We're sharing our office space with the baby so we are limited on the space we have for furniture; additionally ... accessory crib furniture is expensive. We liked the over-the-crib changing station but the only ones we could find cost $350, so I decided to build one myself. It cost less than $30 for supplies plus an investment in a drill and drill bit set.

Commenter wjglenn dropped this harrowing tale of late-night office lock-out, along with its not-so-obvious solution. He was renting doctor's office space, with a door that locked on its own when shut. And so, late one night ...

... Aound 2:00am, I went out that door to go to the bathroom and the door fell shut behind me. I knew as I heard the click that I didn't have my keys in my pocket. So, I was stuck in the entryway behind three locked doors. No keys, no cell phone. I thought I might have to break one of the glass doors. But then I decided to see what I had at my disposal.
I ended up taking apart the toilet. I used the clip that held the chain to the flush valve as a makeshift screwdriver to take apart the refill tube. Attached to that was a flat piece of metal - not sure of the name. I was able to get that piece of metal behind the doorknob to my office, using the top of the toilet tank as a hammer. I got the knob away from the door enough that I could reach in with the lift rod from the tank and push the latch inside and open the door.
And the best part? I was able to put the toilet back together afterward. :-)

Finally, commenter jetRink was lured into sharing this tale of last-minute paper clip electrical engineering:

Mine actually involved a paper clip. My passenger side window got stuck down due to an electrical failure. I was away from home and parking in a bad neighborhood, so I couldn't fix it properly right then. I took the control panel off with a multi-tool and routed electricity from the power locks to the window motor using a paper clip and was able to put the windows up for the night.

Photo by bbaunach.

Thanks to everyone who left their tales in the comments, or sent them in by email! If you've got one we missed, or you missed our initial call for submissions, feel free to drop it in the comments below.