Family Friendly sites listed on Blackstump Australia Issue 20 - July 1, 2009

The latest issue of new family friendly sites listed on The Black Stump.
Family Friendly sites listed on Blackstump Australia Issue 20 - July 1, 2009

Australian Social Trends, June 2009

From the ABS - the June issue features articles about transitions in people's living arrangements, as well as how they work and student achievements in maths and science.
Australian Social Trends, June 2009

WARNING: New Facebook Scams Today, Junfunrun and Bulitre

Mashable have previously covered a number of Facebook scams, most designed to steal your Facebook login details to spam your friends. Today another such scam popped up: the Mashable team currently has multiple mails from “Junfunrun [dot] com” and “Bulitre [dot] com” (don’t visit those domains).
WARNING: New Facebook Scams Today, Junfunrun and Bulitre

LIVESTRONG: 1.9 Billion Calories Burned in One Year

LIVESTRONG.com is the social networking piece of the Lance Armstrong Foundation (making remarkable strides in social media for social good) that aims to help people better their lives with tools and resources for diet, nutrition, and fitness.
LIVESTRONG: 1.9 Billion Calories Burned in One Year

Download Microsoft Security Essentials

You might have been one of the lucky ones who was able to download the beta of Microsoft antivirus software program Security Essentials. Chance is you missed the opportunity as Microsoft has limited the beta downloads to 75000. Users who want to download Microsoft Security Essentials today are notified that downloads are not available at this time.
Download Microsoft Security Essentials

Microsoft hikes Win7 prices for Australia

Australian buyers of Microsoft's upcoming Windows 7 operating system will pay between AU$50 and AU$150 more in real terms than US residents for the software, the company revealed this morning.
Microsoft hikes Win7 prices for Australia

Your digital camera: Avoid these common goofs

When it comes to caring for your camera, are you a fastidious photographer or a slipshod shutterbug? Our survey of 8,250 ConsumerReports.org subscribers by the Consumer Reports National Research Center revealed that many failed to make the best use of their newest point-and-shoot.
Your digital camera: Avoid these common goofs

Microsoft Announces Windows 7 Pricing

(US prices) Microsoft has officially announced the initial pricing for Windows 7, and Home Premium will indeed be $200, or $40 less than the initial and today’s pricing of Windows Vista. Unfortunately, this is more than what some of us hoped it would be considering the state of today’s economy and Snow Leopard’s upgrade pricing of $30 and the full price of $170.
Microsoft Announces Windows 7 Pricing

Search Me

Inside the launch of Stephen Wolfram's new "computational knowledge engine."
Search Me

Windows 7 Beta To Go Into Crazy Mode On July 1

You might want to consider switching to the Windows 7 Release Candidate before July 1 if you are still running the (excellent) Windows 7 Beta release. The beta will go into crazy mode – please bare with me, those are my words for what will be happening from that day on – which simply means that the operating system will reboot every 2 hours automatically to give the user a friendly reminder that the Windows 7 beta has reached the end of its lifetime.
Windows 7 Beta To Go Into Crazy Mode On July 1

Ultimate Credit Card Guide - Information for Using Credit Cards Wisely

If you're looking for credit card information, you've come to the right place. Get the facts on credit card fees and programs, learn how to use credit cards wisely (get the benefits without the debt) and if you have gathered a bit of credit card debt, get the most effective methods on paying them off.
Ultimate Credit Card Guide - Information for Using Credit Cards Wisely

Improve Your Sleep Posture

We tend to apply ergonomics as it relates to our waking activities. But utilizing the right sleep posture is just as important as having the right PC posture, especially if you want to enjoy a pain-free morning and day.
Improve Your Sleep Posture

Set File Associations Without Writing To The Windows Registry

File associations are written to the Windows Registry by default. This usually happens during the installation of the operating system and computer software programs. Installing Microsoft Word will make it the default word processor on the computer system with file types like docx or doc opened by it by default. The same is true for many other applications like software music players, video players and basically any other tool that can open files automatically.
Set File Associations Without Writing To The Windows Registry

Dud Is A Program That Does Nothing

It feels rather strange reviewing a software program that does absolutely nothing. If you start Dud it will immediately terminate its process using 60 Kilobytes of computer memory in the short meantime. The question that is probably in your mind right now is about the usefulness of a program like Dud. Why would someone want to run a software program that terminates a second after execution?
Dud Is A Program That Does Nothing

Top 12 Important Social Media Stories This Week

This week was dominated by two big stories: the iPhone and the Iran election crisis. Apple released the iPhone 3.0 OS upgrade and a brand new iPhone, the 3G S. Tweetdeck also jumped into the Twitter app race with its own free iPhone application.
Top 12 Important Social Media Stories This Week

Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories: Year 3

Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories is now three years old. To celebrate, they've rounded up their most interesting projects from this past year.
Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories: Year 3

Building Collapses in New York: Google Street View Shows a Crack

While Google Street View is sometimes viewed as invasive, eroding privacy yet further as more of our lives are captured and digitized, the event shows an unexpected benefit: images that once seemed irrelevant are suddenly at the center of a major news event.
Building Collapses in New York: Google Street View Shows a Crack

Five Best Clipboard Managers

Basic cut and paste gets the job done, but if you're going for speed and efficiency, you'll need a clipboard manger to keep your copy-fu strong. Let's take a closer look at five of the most popular clipboard managers.
Five Best Clipboard Managers

Muggers Caught When Their Crime Was Captured By Google Street View

Last September, a 14-year-old Dutch boy was assaulted and robbed after being shoved off his bike. But with no evidence and no real idea who his assailants were, police were powerless—until the crime showed up on Street View.
Muggers Caught When Their Crime Was Captured By Google Street View

How to Gain Control of Your Emotions

Controlling your emotions doesn't mean ignoring them. It means you recognize them and act on them when you deem it appropriate, not randomly and uncontrollably.
How to Gain Control of Your Emotions

How To Open Microsoft Excel Spreadsheets Without Excel

There are quite a few ways of opening Microsoft Excel spreadsheets if Microsoft Excel is not installed on the computer system. The article will outline several popular ways of opening Excel spreadsheets so that the contents can be at least read and printed. Several of the methods even allow to work with the contents of the spreadsheets as well.
How To Open Microsoft Excel Spreadsheets Without Excel

Grey hair may be protecting us from cancer

GREY hair may be unwelcome, but the processes that produce it are now better understood and could be protecting us from cancer.
Grey hair may be protecting us from cancer

Top 10 Firefox 3.5 Features

Firefox 3.5 is a pretty substantial update to the popular open-source browser, and it's just around the corner. See what features, fixes, and clever new tools are worth getting excited about in the next big release.
Top 10 Firefox 3.5 Features

Beware of These Speeding Ticket Myths

While your best defense is to ensure you're always driving below the speed limit, most of us don't.
Beware of These Speeding Ticket Myths

Microsoft's Browser Comparison Chart

Microsoft has a “Get the facts” page for Internet Explorer 8. As you can see, Internet Explorer has security, privacy, and ease of use, whereas Firefox and Chrome don’t have those. Gotta love some old-fashioned propaganda.
Microsoft's Browser Comparison Chart

Use the Good Stuff

A few years ago, I read this excerpt from one of Erma Bombeck’s columns, when she discovered she was dying from cancer — it was titled “If I Had to Live My Life Over”:
Use the Good Stuff

Drowsy drivers: Study finds motorists asleep at the wheel

A 2005 survey from the National Sleep Foundation found 60 percent of drivers (168 million people) drove while drowsy in the past year and more than a third have fallen asleep behind the wheel. Four percent of these people, or 11 million drivers say they have either been in an accident or almost had an accident.
Drowsy drivers: Study finds motorists asleep at the wheel

Hands On with iPhone 3.0's Best New Features

The iPhone 3.0 software update hit servers a few hours ago, and we spent our afternoon playing with every new feature we could find. Step inside for a look at our favorite new iPhone 3.0 features.
Hands On with iPhone 3.0's Best New Features

Estate Planning 101: Preparing for the Possible — and the Inevitable

We interrupt this regularly cheerful website to bring you some unpleasant news: You’re not going to live forever. And, just to pile on the unpleasantness, you might become incapacitated before you join that Great Tax Shelter in the Sky.
Estate Planning 101: Preparing for the Possible — and the Inevitable

iPhone OS 3.0 Arrives Today: What You Should Know

While you may know many of the features that are coming out with the iPhone 3.0 update, you probably don’t know them all, and you may not even know where to download the software. This short guide provides a quick overview of the iPhone 3.0 software, what to expect, and what’s upcoming in terms of applications and the iPhone 3G S.
iPhone OS 3.0 Arrives Today: What You Should Know

Dry Clean Only?

An eco expert tells us when it’s safe to ignore labels.
Dry Clean Only?

Blackstump Australia Issue 19 - June 18, 2009

The latest issue of new family friendly sites listed on The Black Stump.
Blackstump Australia Issue 19 - June 18, 2009

Hard stats shed light on bushfire risk

The risk of a house being burnt down in a bushfire in Australia is small and hasn't changed in the past 100 years, say researchers.
Hard stats shed light on bushfire risk

6 Intriguingly Shaped Communities As Seen On Google Maps

The introduction of mapping applications such as Google Maps (undoubtedly the most popular example of all) and their subsequent widespread use around the world has resulted in an enormous amount of people taking up an interest in an interactive view of the world which previously was very difficult to obtain. There are millions of incredibly interesting sights to experience which, when living at ground level as we do, are rarely seen in the flesh.
6 Intriguingly Shaped Communities As Seen On Google Maps

Lifehacker's Firefox Add-On Packs

It used to be a pain to hunt down your favorite extensions every time you reinstall Firefox. Mozilla's recently launched Collections make it easy, so we've assembled a few easy-to-install collections of our favorite Firefox helpers.
Lifehacker's Firefox Add-On Packs

The Future Of GPS Traffic Monitoring In Australia

The Suna traffic-tracking service will cover most of Australia’s key cities within weeks, but what else can we expect from this handy GPS enhancing technology? Lifehacker chatted with Adam Game, CEO of Suna’s parent company Intelematics, to find out.
The Future Of GPS Traffic Monitoring In Australia

Top 10 Social Media Stories of the Week

This week’s social media news was dominated by three stories: the launch of Facebook Usernames, the activation of Twitter Verified Accounts, and the announcement of Apple’s iPhone 3G S. Mashable brought you all this news, including live coverage of the Usernames launch from Facebook HQ.
Top 10 Social Media Stories of the Week

60 Rare and Unusual Vintage Signs

In the U.S., most outdoor signs made between 1890 and and 1950 were constructed of a base of heavy rolled iron, which was die cut into the desired shape, then coated with layers of colored powdered glass and fired in a kiln. This process made them durable and weather-resistant. Signs made this way were known as porcelain enamel signs or simply enamel signs.
60 Rare and Unusual Vintage Signs

Obvious Fail

Yeah, well !
Obvious Fail

Save Time With Excel's Double-Click Tricks

The article runs down a list of double-click actions you can use to save time in Excel—for instance, if you want to resize a number of columns at once you can simply select them and double-click on the separator to make Excel automatically resize those columns to the width of the content.
Save Time With Excel's Double-Click Tricks

Q&A: Is it safe to buy meat when the "sell-by" date is about to expire?

How safe is it to buy beef or fish at a reduced price because the “sell by” date is about to expire? What are signs of bad steak? Does browning around the edges indicate it’s spoiled?
Q&A: Is it safe to buy meat when the "sell-by" date is about to expire?

How to Adjust a Front Bicycle Derailleur

On any bike with gears, the derailleurs need to adjusted periodically to ensure proper shifting. Follow these steps to ensure that your front derailleur is properly adjusted.
How to Adjust a Front Bicycle Derailleur

Oxford English Dictionary Adds New Words

The Oxford English Dictionary has added several new words to their publication. That complete list can be accessed online here.
Oxford English Dictionary Adds New Words

Being Green: 11 Environmentally Friendly Habits

Sending kids outside, household chemicals explained, promiscuous boaters, and more.
Being Green: 11 Environmentally Friendly Habits

The Google Wave Highlight Reel

We haven't been invited to try out Google Wave, but based on the 80-minute demonstration video, we're jazzed about it. Don't have 80 minutes? These eight 30-60 second clips highlight the best parts of Google Wave.
The Google Wave Highlight Reel

Seven things that don't make sense about gravity

It's the force we all know about and think we understand. It keeps our feet firmly on the ground and our world circling the sun.
Yet look a little closer, and the certainties start to float away, revealing gravity as the most puzzling and least understood of the four fundamental forces of nature.
Seven things that don't make sense about gravity

Car Accident Checklist Lessens Post

Even a minor fender bender can make your nerves run amuck. Having an accident checklist on hand can make the situation less stressful so you can get the important information you need.
Car Accident Checklist Lessens Post-Accident Stress

Fotopedia: An Online Encyclopedia for Photos

Fotopedia, a photo encyclopedia site that launches to the public today, hopes to become the Wikipedia (Wikipedia reviews) for photos by centralizing the photo experience around user-created topics and subject matters. The sleek web interface is coupled with a desktop application for a community experience on site or off.
Fotopedia: An Online Encyclopedia for Photos

CIA World Factbook Launches New Web Site

On Monday, June 8, the World Factbook team unveiled its thoroughly redesigned Web site. Presenting a cleaner look, improved navigation, and a host of added features, the new site provides visitors with a more user-friendly experience.
CIA World Factbook Launches New Web Site

Slang Words: Not What You Think

What do you think of when you think of slang? Maybe you think of a bunch of teenagers running around saying “OMG, like, LOL.” The truth is that everyone, not just young people, use slang –sometimes without even realizing it.
Slang Words: Not What You Think

Firefox 3.5 Preview

The Mozilla Firefox team has released a new version of the upcoming Firefox web browser. The version is called Firefox 3.5 Preview by the team and is listed as Firefox 3.5b99 on the Mozilla ftp site and about pages in the web browser. Users who are already working with the Firefox 3.5x branch can update the web browser by going to help > check for updates. This checks if a new version of Firefox is available with the option to download the new version right away.
Firefox 3.5 Preview

Blackstump Australia Issue 18 - June 9, 2009

The latest issue of new family friendly sites listed on The Black Stump.
Blackstump Australia Issue 18 - June 9, 2009

The Most Dangerous Web Search Terms

Which search terms would make it on the list if you would have to compile a list of the ten most dangerous web search terms? Most users would probably add search terms like warez, cracks and sex when asked to compile a top ten list. A recent McAfee study on the other hand came to a completely different conclusion.
The Most Dangerous Web Search Terms

5 Advanced Bing Tips

5 advanced tips that showcase some interesting features that Bing is offering but also should make working with the search engine more comfortable.
5 Advanced Bing Tips

The 11 Essential Social Media Stories This Week

Social media made big waves this week. We saw several new services released to the public, while Google Wave continued to generate buzz. China tried to shut down Internet chatter while on a lighter note, Google turned retro to celebrate Tetris’ birthday.
The 11 Essential Social Media Stories This Week

Fact or Fiction? You Must Drink 8 Glasses of Water Daily

Virtually every health-conscious person can quote the recommendation: Drink at least eight eight-ounce glasses of water per day.
Fact or Fiction? You Must Drink 8 Glasses of Water Daily

Sixteen Tips for Feeling Happier at Work

Being happy at work is, of course, quite related to how much you like your job, but there are small steps you can take to boost your mood. Maintaining the comfort of your body, sprinkling a few small pleasures throughout your day, using your time wisely – a little thought can mean a lot more happiness at work.
Sixteen Tips for Feeling Happier at Work

Google Flu Trends

Influenza is currently more active in the southern hemisphere, where flu season typically spans from May to September, the southern autumn and winter months.
Google Flu Trends

Recorded Crime - Victims, Australia, 2008

This publication presents national statistics relating to victimisation incidents for a selected range of offences recorded by police during the 2008 calendar year. These offences may have been reported by a victim, witness or other person, or they may have been detected by police. They provide indicators of the level and nature of these offence incidents as well as changes over time.
Recorded Crime - Victims, Australia, 2008

Australian Demographic Statistics, Dec 2008

Australia's population increased by 1.9% for the year ending December 2008 according to statistics released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics today. The last time Australia saw higher growth rates (above 2%) was in the 1950's and 1960's as a result of post war migration and high birth rates.
Australian Demographic Statistics, Dec 2008

Google Squared Is Live

Google Squared is live, and it’s a lot of fun... albeit the info presented is far from always being accurate. Here’s how you use it: just enter the name of a group of things, say, I entered comic book character. Google Squared then calculates for a bit, and presents you with a table of attributes. In the case of comic book characters, the automatically found columns were name, image, description, publisher, first appearance, and author.
Google Squared Is Live

Tour the homepages of your favorite celebrities

Have you ever wondered what celebrities do when they use the web? Today, we're announcing the new iGoogle Showcase, which allows you to see and share the homepages of some of your favorite icons. These 30 preeminent people, including Dave Matthews, Rachael Ray and Katie Couric, are sharing their iGoogle pages with you in full so you can get a glimpse into their interests and how they experience the web.
Tour the homepages of your favorite celebrities

How to Sustain Motivation when You're Struggling

After being motivated initially, there comes the second part - staying motivated when you don’t feel the same excitement as you did in the beginning. Perhaps something new has come into your life and your old goal isn’t as much of a priority anymore. Perhaps you skipped a day or two and now you can’t get back into it. Perhaps you screwed up and got discouraged.
How to Sustain Motivation when You're Struggling

Do ya got your El Niño on?

According to the National Climate Centre in Australia, there is a greater chance than normal of an El Niño event in 2009. The meteorologists there predict the odds of an El Niño are well above 50%, which is over double the normal percentage.
Do ya got your El Niño on?

64 Funny, Inspiring and Stupid Money Quotes From Famous People

People love quoting famous people. Whether the celebrity in question is a genius or not, we love a good sound byte. We've collected quotes from presidents, movie stars, philosophers, athletes, and even Paris Hilton on everybody's favorite topic: Money.
64 Funny, Inspiring and Stupid Money Quotes From Famous People

Free Spyware Removal Tools

There are hundreds if not thousands of free spyware removal tools for the Windows operating system. The choice ranges from to popular spyware removal tools such as Windows Defender, Spybot Search And Destroy or Spyware Terminator to lesser known anti spyware software programs and even so called rogue applications that look like spyware removal tools but are in fact malicious in nature.
Free Spyware Removal Tools

Now you see it: Best visual illusions of 2009

Every visual illusion - from the way that simple lines drawn on paper seem to form a cube, to the logic-defying labyrinths of M. C. Escher - works exactly the same way: they expose discrepancies between physical reality and our perception of that reality.
Now you see it: Best visual illusions of 2009

Lifehacker Pack 2009: Our List of Essential Free Windows Downloads

All the best free downloads for new computer owners, re-installers, would-be geeks, or anyone who wants to save time installing the best stuff out there. This is the 2009 Lifehacker Pack for Windows computers.
Lifehacker Pack 2009: Our List of Essential Free Windows Downloads

Installing Vista SP2 Might Free Up Hard Drive Space

PC World reports that its forum users are, in some cases, seeing big chunks of their hard drives freed up after installing Vista Service Pack 2. It might be due to old Restore Points being wiped out, or because it runs a command-line cleaning tool, compcln.exe, but a good number of (successful) SP2 installers report tens of gigabytes opening up.
Installing Vista SP2 Might Free Up Hard Drive Space

How to Play Pinball Like a Pro

So you see that person putting completely inhuman scores on the local machine and you're wondering how he does it. Fear not! While there is definitely a fair amount of skill required to become a Pinball Wizard, with some basic instruction, you too can be racking up the replays in no time.
How to Play Pinball Like a Pro

Hand Luggage Only: The Big Lessons Learned

If there was a single aim to Hand Luggage Only, it was to see just how sustainable the “living from one bag” approach was in the medium term. Almost anyone who travels for work has done an overnighter with just one bag (or perhaps more realistically, one bag and a laptop case), but sustaining that approach over a longer period requires a more focused approach. While it’s unlikely anyone would directly replicate this particular challenge, these are all issues you should think about if you’re packing light for any kind of trip.
Hand Luggage Only: The Big Lessons Learned