Three Easy And Cheap Ways To Increase Your Home’s Security

You want to protect your home, and the people and things within it, but a paid-for alarm system is outside your budget. Don’t worry: there are several inexpensive ways to make your home less attractive to thieves.
Three Easy And Cheap Ways To Increase Your Home’s Security

11/11/11 Is “Nerd New Year” — Here’s How to Turn it Up to 11

Nerds and numerologists get ready: the last binary date of the 21st century is approaching.

11/11/11 Is “Nerd New Year” — Here’s How to Turn it Up to 11

New NASA Video Taken From Space Shows Deadly Asteroid’s Trajectory

How close did asteroid 2005 YU55 get to Earth? Not close enough to endanger our civilization, but close enough to take some fun videos. Like this short film of its trajectory recorded by NASA Swift’s satellite.
New NASA Video Taken From Space Shows Deadly Asteroid’s Trajectory

iOS 5.0.1: Battery Fixes, Aussie Voice Updates

Apple has rolled out the iOS 5.01 update, bringing with it the promised battery fixes, along with improved Australian voice support.
iOS 5.0.1: Battery Fixes, Aussie Voice Updates

Announcing the Wolfram Investment Calculator and Gaming Odds Reference Apps

We are happy to announce that we released two new entries into our line of Wolfram|Alpha-powered iOS apps: the Wolfram Investment Calculator Reference App and the Wolfram Gaming Odds Reference App. The Wolfram Investment Calculator Reference App was built specifically to help users get the most from their investments, and the Wolfram Gaming Odds Reference App provides the probabilities and odds of winning many popular card and lottery games.

Announcing the Wolfram Investment Calculator and Gaming Odds Reference Apps

Namerick Helps You Remember Names

iOS: Need a little help cementing your new acquaintance’s name in your brain so you won’t need to embarrass yourself next time you meet? iPhone application Namerick uses tried-and-true techniques to help you remember the name of a person you’ve just met, creating memory mnemonics, sending you followup reminders, and more.

Namerick Helps You Remember Names

How To Disable The Caps Lock Key Permanently

When I was working in IT I sometimes dealt with support requests that involved the caps lock key. Users were complaining that they could not enter their password, or that they locked their account even though they were sure that they had entered the right password, or that their username was displayed in upper case letters.

The caps lock key, next to num lock, was the culprit here most of the time. Most computer users do not need the caps lock key on the keyboard anymore. The following guide explains how you can disable the caps lock key permanently.

How To Disable The Caps Lock Key Permanently

Deaths, Australia, 2010

Presents statistics on deaths and mortality for Australia, states and territories, and sub-state regions. Information on characteristics of the deceased include place of usual residence, age at death, sex, Indigenous status and country of birth. Information is also provided on infant deaths, life expectancy and death rates.
Deaths, Australia, 2010

How to Hide a Drive in Windows So that No One Will Know it’s There

When you add a drive to your PC, by default it gets a drive letter, whether it is a removable drive or even a fixed hard drive inside of your PC. Lets take a look at how we can hide these drives.
How to Hide a Drive in Windows So that No One Will Know it’s There

How To Enable The Secret Panorama Mode In The iPhone’s Camera

The iPhone camera has a secret easter egg: a panorama mode. This special mode, which Apple has not enabled for consumers yet, will allow you to capture large panoramic scene using multiple photos. This is how to enable it.
How To Enable The Secret Panorama Mode In The iPhone’s Camera

What happens when you flush a toilet in the world's tallest building

The Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world. It's located in Dubai, a city with a lot of other skyscrapers. What Dubai doesn't have: A central sewage infrastructure that can accommodate the needs of a bunch of skyscrapers.
What happens when you flush a toilet in the world's tallest building

Ask physicist Brian Greene anything

Last week, physicist Brian Greene answered a lot of questions—including a few submitted by BoingBoing readers!—at a live event in New York City. If you missed it, you can watch a recording of the event online now.

But wait, there's more! Dr. Greene only had an hour to talk, and a metric crap ton of very good questions—including, again, some from BoingBoing readers—went unanswered. That's why I'm pleased to announce that the World Science Festival has added a new column to their website, called Ask Brian Greene Anything. For the next month, he'll be sifting through leftover questions from the live event as well as new submissions to answer a physics question every day.

Ask physicist Brian Greene anything

20 of the Best Stupid Geek Tricks to Impress Your Friends

Have you ever surprised and impressed a non-geek friend when you were doing something on your computer that you thought was simple? If so, you performed a Stupid Geek Trick. These are simple, sometimes not very useful, computer tasks.

Whether you’re the geek performing the Stupid Geek Trick and you want to learn more geeky tricks, or you’re the non-geek friend wishing you could do what your geeky friend did, here is a collection of some of the best of our Stupid Geek Tricks.

20 of the Best Stupid Geek Tricks to Impress Your Friends

How To Restore Firefox Bookmarks

One of the things that I migrate to new computer systems that I build or but are my bookmarks. I have a collection of a few hundred sites in my bookmarks that I use regularly thanks to browsers recommending bookmarks when entering text into the address bar.

A corrupt or accidentally deleted bookmarks file could have a serious impact on my work day. Most modern web browsers come with synchronization and backup options that can be used to restore data in the browser. The majority of those features need to be activated though before they can be used to restore data.

Firefox users who cannot access all or part of their bookmarks anymore can make use of the browser’s built-in restoration option to restore bookmarks in the browser. This feature is enabled by default. Here is how it is done.

Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-Shift-b to open the bookmarks manager. Locate the Import and Backup menu at the top and click it to display its menu options.

Move the mouse cursor over the Restore menu to display a list of bookmark backups that can be restored. Firefox by default backs up the bookmarks once per day (if the browser is used).

Click on a data to restore that bookmarks backup in the browser. Please note that Firefox will overwrite the existing bookmarks with the backup. Bookmarks that you have added in the meantime will not be available once the restoration has completed.

Firefox users can make use of the export bookmarks to HTML in the same menu to create a manual backup of their current bookmarks file. It is always a good idea to backup the file before restorations. This manual copy can then be restored by selecting the Import bookmarks from HTML option in the same menu.

Bookmarks can also also be backed up as JSON files instead by selecting the Backup option of the menu. These bookmark backups can then be restored via the Restore > Choose File option.

How to Add a Stopwatch to Powerpoint

Many PowerPoint users like to set their presentations to run in a slideshow while discussing the content and leading the conversation. However, some presentations may call for several slides to flip past without any verbal commentary. Here's how to add a stopwatch effect to PowerPoint to allow for slides to advance automatically.

How to Use Refresh and Reset in Windows 8 to Easily Reinstall Your PC

Sick of formatting? Then learn how to breathe new life into your machines without formatting using the new Refresh and Reset features present in Windows 8.
How to Use Refresh and Reset in Windows 8 to Easily Reinstall Your PC

Family Friendly sites listed on Blackstump Australia Issue 20/2011

The latest issue of new Family Friendly sites listed on The Black Stump.
Family Friendly sites listed on Blackstump Australia Issue 20/2011

Beyond Barrel Roll: 10 Hidden Google Tricks

Oh, those whimsical Google nerds. The Mountain View-based search giant may not have Apple’s design chops, but it certainly knows how to code a good joke.
Beyond Barrel Roll: 10 Hidden Google Tricks

How to Reset Your Windows Password Without an Install CD

If you’ve forgotten your Windows password and you don’t have an install CD laying around, there’s no need to worry. Not only are there half a dozen complicated ways to reset the password, you can do it easily with the Offline Windows Password editor.
How to Reset Your Windows Password Without an Install CD

Snake in ATM machine

A resident in Llodio, Alava, got a shock when a snake came slithering out of the slot of a cash machine when he withdrew his money.
Snake in ATM machine