How to Record Every Network Show in HDTV
With the fall lineup of shows sneaking up on us, I’m shrugging my shoulders with a big so what. All I’m interested in seeing is the next round of Doctor Who and maybe Family Guy. Over at the SnapStream company blog, they have another idea. Zack walks you through the steps required to record every single show on every major network during the season premiere week. Not just every show, but every show in High Definition. With this configuration there’s no chance you’ll get behind on water cooler discussion. Theoretically you could do this with SageTV or the beta version of Windows Media Center as well, although Beyond TV and SageTV have more real world testing with recording HDTV.
hdtv, sagetv, season premiere, snapstream, windows mediaHow To Ship Your Luggage
I remember reading a story once about a CEO (was it Bezos?) who sent clean shirts to his hotels via FedEx so he’d always have a clean shirt without the hassle of carrying luggage. While $15 shipping for a shirt puts buying new at the Gap in every city more in my realm of sensibility, there’s something to the idea of traveling light. Coupled with the aire of uncertainty about what you can and can’t bring on a plane these days and numerous stories of lost luggage, it might be more reliable to ship your clothes than check them at the gate. Jaunted offers up the suggestion of using a service like luggage, traveling
How to Build a Cat Tree
My marriage came with three cats. All this really means is I’m cleaning up puke at least once a day because there’s always one cat with a hairball, or that ate to fast, or chewed on a plant, or whatever the five million other reasons cats have for releasing the contents of their stomachs to the world. It also means the cats need places to perch. You can buy an overpriced combination of plywood and carpet scraps at the local pet store, or you can build your own. PandEcats.com offers great detailed instuctions on how to build a cat tree, complete with three different perches to give your cat options.
Found via Bain Books
cats, cat tree, hairballHow to Stay Focused at Work
With all the potential distractions, staying focused at work can be a full time job by itself. There are articles to Digg; YouTube videos to watch; jokes to forward; IMs to answer - how can anyone actually get their work done? Dave Cheong offers a great list of 18 ways to stay focused at work. Most of these are common sense, but a few like time boxing will genuinely amount to productivity breakthroughs.
getting things done, gtd, productivityHow to Budget Your Finances
Budgeting is among the hardest things I ever do - I simply don’t enjoy it. I have a bad habit of paying bills and automatic investments, and then allocating the remainder to dining and gadgets, which makes the concept of zero-based budgeting almost mind blowing. Zero-based budgeting is the process of assigning a place for every dollar you take in each month before you actually get the money. Whether that’s groceries, savings, investments or the latest PSP game releases, knowing where your money is going makes it easier to plan. Getting Finances Done offers a comprehensive look at how to create a zero-based budget, which in many cases will lead to having more money even if you’re “spending” on paper before you actually get the funds. Use the recently mentioned Free Accounting Software to plan your finances and you’ll have zero cost for your zero-based planning.
Found on Lifehacker
budget, finances, free accounting software, zero based budgetingHow to End a Boring Conversation
We’ve all been there - you’re at a party, a business function, the grocery store and you can’t escape a conversation that just keeps going. You think there’s a break to safely exit just around the horizon, but it never comes. Lite Reviews offers 5 ways to end a conversation that’s starting to get dull. Here are a few more, just in case those don’t work:
1) Fake a phone call - nothing tells someone they don’t matter like picking up your phone in the middle of a conversation.
2) Check your watch repeatedly (or if you don’t have a watch, check the time on your cell phone) - the sense of urgency makes other people nervous.
3) Mention socially innapropriate topics - there’s nothing like an absurd medical condition to kill a party.
4) Read your email - you need a smartphone or Blackberry for this one, but it will get the point across that you have something more pressing than the current line of discussion.
5) If all else fails, simply walk away.
How to Defend Yourself in a Street Fight
Slightly more useful than how to defend yourself against someone armed with a bananna, this video shows a number of moves to counter an opponent in a bar fight or on the street. Aside from dodging a few bottles thrown at my head, I thankfully avoided any serious fights while owning a bar in my mid-twenties. When fights did occur, the guy who came out on top generally used tactics similar to those show here. The only thing missing is a demonstration on how to knock someone to the ground and repeatedly kick them in the ribs until they curl up into the fetal position.
Next week, we show you how to attend anger management class.
anger management, bar fight, owning a bar, self defense
How to Make Incense
Most of my exposure to incense comes from the Nag Champa purchased by friends from the local head shop new age store. Apparently you can also get a variety of scent experieces by making your own. Scents of Earth shows you how to make incense, offering a detailed explaination of the difference between combustible and non-combustible incense, heating methods, and a complete list of ingredients with a few incense recipes. This is slightly self-serving since they also sell the materials, but the info appears to be solid.
How to Play WoW Good
Learning the intricacies of the modern MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online Game) can be a little daunting — especially if you’ve never played one before. I wish that, when I’d started playing World of Warcraft (WoW), I’d had a helpful little guide like this one to…
Well, to completely mislead and frustrate me, to be honest. But it’s especially funny to anyone who’s played WoW for more than a few days.
Overexplaining this would only detract from the funny. Go have a look and enjoy this bit of what, in my opinion, is comedic genius!
[Thanks to Sean at Metroblogging Azeroth for digging this one up!]
gaming, MMOG, video games, WoWHow to Make an Ultra-Light Backpacking Stove
If you ever go hiking, you know that one of the keys is keeping your pack weight down. All that gear adds up. Here’s a DIY solution for building the perfect stove for backpacking - compact, versatile, and most importantly - light. One of the key things that makes this useful beyond size is excellent wind-shielding around the heat area, helping to guarantee you won’t waste time re-lighting the stove with every small burst of wind.
backpacking, camping, hikingHow to Maximize Laptop Battery Performance
Jeremy Toeman of SlingMedia (you know the Slingbox people) has a great list of tips for extending battery life on your laptop while on a plane or just disconnected from power for an extended period. I got a second battery for my laptop for exactly this reason, but I’ve still managed to run out of juice when I can’t find an outlet during long layovers. The obvious #1 is turn down your screen brightness, but the rest of them are all excellent ways to eek out a few extra minutes of flying time.
One thing Jeremy doesn’t mention (that you should be doing in-flight anyway) is turning off WiFi. If you don’t need it, turn it off. Next to screen brightness it’s the #1 battery drain.
What’s your favorite way to save battery life on a plane or elsewhere?
Found via HSXDunbar
battery drain, battery life, laptop, screen brightnessHow to Be A Restaurant Regular
Because I’m allergic to milk, I’m frequently making special requests when ordering from a menu. If I find someplace I like I tend to go back often, but I rarely develop any kind of lasting relationship with the wait staff or restaurant personnel. One exception to this is Mandarin Chef in the U-District in Seattle, where I’m always treated well and recognized on every visit. If it’s special menu items and favors you crave when you’re out for dinner, Urban Monarch offers a list of tips for becoming a restaurant regular. Most of these are just common sense advice like being polite to servers and tipping well. The only one I’d disagree with is taking a recommendation when you ask for one - I often order special items or recommended selections when going to a restaurant for the first time, but if the server’s suggestion doesn’t sound good (or if he/she forgets that I just told them I can’t have cheese) I politely decline a suggestion and choose something else.
Found via Lifehacker
common sense advice, restaurant tipsHow to Open a CD Case
Sure CDs are supposed to be on the way out, but for the moment if I’m actually paying for music tracks I’m buying them on CD - it’s still the fastest way to get DRM-free music ripped to your hard drive. The trick has always been getting that stupid theft-deterrent sticker off the jewel case. I hesitate to admit how many hundreds of CDs I opened before someone showed me this trick.
cds, drm, jewel case, music tracks
How to Make an Origami Frog from a One Dollar Bill
If you’ve got a dollar in your pocket, you can turn it into a frog.
dollar bill, frog, origami, paper folding
How to Convert DRM Protected Music Files
There a several methods for stripping DRM from music files purchased through one of the various download music services. This happens to be one of them.
download music, drm, music services
How to Make Fried Rice
If Alton Brown were an animated character, he might make videos like this one. Fried rice is one of those basic, filling comfort foods with simple ingredients and satisfying taste that almost anyone can make successfully. This video walks you through the basic components and demonstrates all the steps for making fried rice. The hard part might be finding an anime wok.
alton brown, anime, fried rice, wok
How to Scalp Tickets
The closest I’ve come to scalping any concert tickets was back in college when I sold a pair of 6th row seats to a Blues Traveler show I couldn’t attend. I used a BBS to advertise -there was no Craigslist for Ames, IA (there might have been no Craigslist period). The immediacy of selling something to a willing buyer right before the big game or minutes before the concert starts creates an interesting market of immediacy. Here’s how to scalp tickets the “right” way.
concert tickets, scalping
How to Make Shadow Puppets
With a light and a white wall you can create your own virtual zoo using only your two hands. I’ve never gotten past making bunny ears on the wall or what might pass for a barking dog, but these are some complex and creative shadow puppets. haha.nu has images showing you how to make shadow puppets that look like everything from an elephant to a wild boar using slight hand controtions in front of a light. A full set of the illustrations is available for download by way of a book by Henry Bursill in the Project Gutenberg collection.
Found on Fark.
illustrations, project gutenberg, shadow puppetsHow to Open an Oyster
I love clams, mussels, and oysters in stews and pasta, but I’m not inclined to make seafood pasta at home. If you asked me to open an oyster, I’d divert to someone with more experience. This Japanese video shows you how. I’m not sure what the scrolling text says, but the visual demonstration is fairly self-explanatory.
clams, japanese video, mussels, oysters, seafood pasta
How to Change Your Oil
I’m not likely to stop going to Jiffy Lube anytime soon because I’m lazy, but if I ever needed to change my oil I could. Here’s a video for those determined to pour some Texas Tea in a metal pan.
jiffy lube, oil change, texas teaHow to Open a Beer Bottle with a Rock
AKA opening a beer ‘Russian Style’. My solution for opening a beer with a rock is breaking the top off and drinking from the jagged glass top (kids, don’t try that at home). This is a little more civilized and not unlike the old trick of opening a bottle with a lighter.
beer, beer bottle, bottle opener
How to Make an Omlette in a Ziplock Bag
Eggs for breakfast is a tradition in many parts of the world. Depending on how you make your eggs you might go throuugh a ton of different utensils and containers before you start eating. Here’s a self-contained solution for cooking your omlette in a bag and getting a tasty result.
cooking, eggs, omlette
How to Make Your Own Nintendo GameBoy
I have a feeling certain pieces of this might be illegal, but it’s too cool not to mention. BestDIYSite has a tutorial on taking a Power Player III chip, gutting it from it’s shell and rebuilding it from the ground up as a portable Nintendo gaming device. Apparently the primary parts are available from the local mall in some places, although Google is likely the best source for finding what you need. At the end of the day, you’ll know how to make your own Nintendo GameBoy (after a fashion).
Link corrected because the other site was scraping the content - thanks pt
nintendo gameboy, nintendo gaming, portable nintendoHow to Hack a Nokia Cell Phone
I’ve dumped my old cellphones on CellForCash a few times, I even had friends destroy my cell phone, but I still have a box full of old phones I couldn’t get rid of. Apparently I was thinking about this all wrong - instead of dumping my old phones, I should be hacking them. Jakob Selbing offers a great introduction on how to hack a Nokia cell phone. Apparently, this has also been featured on MAKE (and it’s likely we’re watching the same feeds). Great minds think alike!
How to Make a Camera Strap
I lost my camera strap recently and haven’t had time to buy a new one. After seeing this tutorial, maybe I won’t (buy a new one, that is). I have a closest full of bags acquired from tradeshows and coferences. Most of these bags has a detachable strap that could be my next camera strap. Mattyfu shows us how to make a camera strap from about $5 in parts and basic tools many people probably already own. IF you’ve got your own way to do this, I’d love to hear suggestions.
camera gear, camera strap, digital cameraHow to Build an Electric Motor
I have a battery, a drywall screw, a magnet and a piece of wire in my pocket - I think I’m going to build a motor. Seriously, that’s all you need to make a small motor. Evil Mad Scientist Laboritories shows you how to make an electric motor using this collection of pocket junk. Of course if you don’t have a motor, you could use a mouse instead.
electric motor, mad scientistHow to Make a Wireless Telegraph
Since it seems like we’re on the verge of humanity bombing itself back to the dark ages, retro technology may come in handy all over again. Guided Human offers detailed instructions on how to make a wireless telegraph with off the shelf electronics equipment. While I’d prefer to send an email or pick up the phone, this is a neat project to learn how communication works.
wireless telegraphHow to Make a Recorder from PVC
The recorder was a requirement at my grade school, but I never got into playing it. It wasn’t punk rock enough, or something. Here’s a clever adaptation of the instrument using PVC piping available at any hardware store.
hardware store, musical instrument, pvc piping, recorder
How to Get Rid of Ants
In general, I don’t like killing bugs. If I can simply send them back out into the world, so much the better. We periodically get ants in the house where I live. If one ant finds our cat food dish or a pizza box sitting on the counter, suddenly 20 ants, then 50, then too many ants to count are marching through the house on the way to the first ant’s discovery. You can never squish or drown ants fast enough to stop the dozens more that also learned about food. Poisons treat the problem, but not the source. The best way to cut off a steady stream of ants is to find where they are entering and seal it off. I do this with baby powder. Think about all those bad horror movies with voodoo where they pour brick dust across an entrance to keep out enemies. Baby powder works the same way by blocking the ants scent trail. Ants already in your house walk around lost until they die, unable to find their way back to the colony. Ants outside your house won’t ever come in because they hit a dead end at the baby powder. Using this method of prevention often takes detective work to see where ants came from - if you put baby powder at the wrong opening, they’ll just keep coming.
Anyone got a favorite method of eliminating ants?
ants, baby powderHow to Install Wooden Shelves
I haven’t watched This Old House in years, but I can remember a number of cold Iowa winter afternoons spent watching Bob Villa yammer as Norm Abram did all the real work. The show typically involved projects no mere mortal would attempt alone, but their Web site is loaded with tips and home improvement projects that don’t require hiring a contractor. This particular tip walks you through the process of adding shelves to any room in the house.
bob villa, improvement projects, norm abram, shelvesHow to Open a Mac mini
I need to add more RAM to my Mac mini, so this suddenly became an important topic in my world. If you can survive the cheesy branding for FastMac in the first 10 seconds, this video is the best of several I’ve seen on showing you how to safely remove the case so you can access Mac mini internals.
computer upgrades, mac mini
How To Screen Print a T-Shirt
Getting t-shirts made at a printing house is expensive, especially in runs under 500. Sure you could make a design and put it on Cafe Press, but that won’t give you the hand-crafted feel of a true screen print design. Instead of paying through the nose to set up a press for a handful of shirts, do-it-yourself. Craftgrrl presents a cheap screen printing tutorial to show us how using MS Paint, cheap brushes, an embroidery hoop and some Speedball ink. Go forth and make shirts.
How to Test if Your Light Switch Works or Not
This one hits close to home because we just had a ceiling light stop working in my house (and no, new lightbulbs didn’t fix the problem). The house is 80 years old, so there could be one of several things wrong, but I was leaning toward a defective dimmer switch. Gilchrest Electric offers some good advice on how to test the light switch to see if it’s broken. Some knowledge of voltage testing required.
How to Open a Beer Bottle with a Piece of Paper
If you can’t find your bottle opener, or you happen to be sitting next to a computer printer, here’s a clever way to open a bottle of beer using a single sheet of 8.5×11 paper. Certainly safer than using your teeth.
How to Start a Business in Your 20s
As someone who started two different companies in my twenties, I know exactly how hard starting a business can be. Being entrepreneurial in your thirties isn’t exactly a cakewalk either, but a few gray hairs goes a long way toward getting some respect. StartupJournal has some common sense advice for anyone thinking of leaping into the path of starting a company, including these wise words:
1) Get help
2) Don’t live like a millionaire at 25
3) Build your resume - fast
All three are good advice at any age, especially not living like a millionaire (unless you are one). Before you launch your first (or next) company, it’s worth it to review The Journal’s wisdom on How to Launch a Business in Your 20s.
How to Board Southwest Airlines Faster
The Consumerist has somewhat of a tongue-in-cheek idea for boarding Southwest Airlines faster. For those who’ve never flown them before, Southwest uses a first-come, first-serve ticketing system, so the first people to check in online or in person get the “A” designation, and get to board the plane first. “B” and “C” follow, depending on how many people are on the flight. Their process entails of checking in online, and then modifying the boarding pass in Notepad or similar text editor. You can read the full article here.
Disclaimer: We have no idea what the legal implications might be for altering an airline ticket.
airplane, boarding pass, flight, southwest airlines, ticketing systemHow to Use WordPress as a CMS
This one’s for all the WordPress geeks out there. An ongoing set of tutorials over at http://www.marialanger.com detail how to make WordPress act more like a CMS (content management system). WordPress is the popular blog engine that powers over 111,000,000 blogs, including Lockergnome’s own Doing It, for which anyone can register and contribute.
Part 1: Discovering that WordPress makes a good CMS
Part 2: Finding and modifying just the right theme
Part 3: Planning the site’s organization and creating the pages
Part 4: Category-specific posts in the sidebar
How to Make a Muslin Photography Backdrop
Photography studios generally have a ton of backdrop choices at their disposal. One common common backdrop is a slightly textured background with a subtle tie-die like pattern of variations on the same color. If you purchase backdrops from a photography supply store they can be expensive. With some RIT dye and a large section of muslin cloth, you can accomplish the same thing for under $20. DIYPhotography.net shows us how to make a Cheap DIY (Homemade) Muslin Photography Background.
backdrop, photography background, photography supplyHow to Create the Perferct .htaccess File
Or how to prevent unwanted scraping of your content. On a Web server, the htaccess file is sort of like a keyless entry system for visitors. With the right credentials, you walk right in. Wrong creditinals, you’re left standing on the porch waiting for someone to answer the door. That’s not exactly a perfect analogy, but that’s sort of how it works. Good sites, like Google want to search your server for pages to index. Bad sites might want to summarily scrape your content for a spamblog. Using an htaccess file, you tell these visitors whether they can pay you a visit or whether they get kicked to the curb. While the scraping tools are constantly a moving target, JavaScript Kit provides something close to a perfect resource (for now) on building an htaccess file to defend your site by blocking bad bots and site rippers.
bots, htaccess, javascript, scraper, web scraperHow to Plant a Tree
The rules for tree planting vary by climate, but the basics are the same. While the nursery you purchase trees from should have some instructions, it’s always good to double check with other experts before proceeding. The Virgina Forestry service offers some good information on planting a variety of trees depending on how they were packaged for delivery from the nursery, including balled and burlapped trees, bare-rooted trees, and container trees. Before you start digging a hole in your yard, review the steps on how to plant a tree to make sure your tree gets a long healthy life.
How to Save Money on Car Insurance
Car insurance is one of those necessary evils you can only live without if you don’t own a car. Even with a clean driving record you’ll still pay several hundred dollars every year, in some cases a couple hundred dollars per month. The most common tip I’ve seen for reducing car insurance bills is to raise the deductible. Many other factors play into how much you pay and with careful examination of the bill, you can drop your rates even further by eliminating stuff you don’t really need. Over the life of owning a car, these dollars start adding up. Get rich slow offers advice from someone who works in the insurance business on how to cut cost on car insurance.
car insurance, driving record, insurance, insurance bills, insurance businessHow to Boost Cell Phone Reception with an External Antenna
My house is a cell phone dead zone. Particularly my basement office, which munges most conversations and renders Cingular’s BroadbandConnect service nearly useless. The only solution I can think might work is an external cell phone antenna to boost signal strength. I hesitate to purchase one of those external car antennas, because I’ve never found them truly useful. Graeme at Earth: Mostly Harmless offers a compelling alternative by boosting his cell phone signal strength with a modified WiFi antenna, taking his house from cell phone dead zone to functional. I have tons of WiFi gear laying around; this just might do the trick.
car antennas, cell phone antenna, signal strengthHow To Compose a Great Looking Picture Almost Every Time
Shot composition is one of the hardest things to learn about digital photography. You need to start with things like being in focus and finding decent lighting. But once you’ve mastered the basics, composition is what takes a photo from good to great. Total Image looks at a series of steps you can follow to compose great looking shots almost every time. You may still get a dud every now and then, but burn these photography rules into your brian and you’re well on the way to undertstanding how to compose great looking photos.
How to Publish iCal Calendars without .Mac
Apple offers an awesome calendar sharing feature as part of the OS X Calendar app, but it requires a .Mac account or some other WebDAV enabled server to make it work. Unless you’re an ubergeek, setting up WebDAV is really tricky. System Boy found a slick solution for sharing iCal calendars online without the hassle of configuring WebDAV or the fees of a .Mac account. You do need to sign up for a free Box.net account to get on the iCal bus, but that’s a minor inconvenience for major calendar accessibility. System Boy offers detailed instructions on publishing iCal without .Mac.
apple, calendars online, icalHow To Send a Girl a Drink
HowToBehave offers a number of tips for acting with confidence in social situations. How to Send a Girl a Drink is no exception. Instead of pulling a cheeseball move, the video walks you through the suave way to send a drink and follow up with polite conversation. I’m not in the single scene, so I can’t validate the sucess of the tip, but it looks like it might work. Ladies, is this a one-way ticket to a slap-in-the-face or the right way to make an introduction?
Download How to Send a Girl a Drink
confidence, dating scene, polite, social situationsHow to Wire Your Own Ethernet Cable
If you plan on wiring your house with CAT-5 or CAT-6, knowing how the wires work is a necessity. Without proper pinouts on the connectors, you get nothing but Local Network Connection Unavailable balloons from the Windows system tray. Along with proper tools, like a cable crimper, wire cutters and a mountain of patience, a configuration diagram will save you hours of troubleshooting later on. Follow the Internet Centre tips on wiring Ethernet cable to avoid frustration and acheive maximum throughput.
cat 6, crimper, ethernet cable, wire cuttersHow to Make Bottlecap Magnets
Fridge magnets are both functional for posting pictures and notes in the kitchen and an entertain diversion for my 4-year-old. They regularly disappear, which means we need to find new ones or do without. Using a collection of bottle caps from leftover beverages of any flavor, combined with a hot glue gun and some magnets from the neighborhood science store, making more becomes a fun project with a functional result. Bonus points for taking thumbtacks and making new pushpins for a bulletin board using the same strategy. Deep Fried Kudzu shows you how to make bottlecap magnets and pushpins.
bottle caps, fun project, hot glue gunHow to Apply Blush
My complexion looks like I bask in LCD rays all day long, but I’m not likely to start wearing blush anytime soon. Even so, fashion tips from a celebrity makeup artist are hard to ignore, which is what makes this demo from Elke Von Freuden a must watch for glam rockers and fashion hopefuls alike. You can see more of the video on YouTube in the fashion collection from philleif.
celebrity makeup artist, fashion tips
