Australia's population increases at fastest rate since 1988

Australia's population grew at its fastest rate since 1988 according to figures released today from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
The population growth rate for Australia during 2007 was 1.6% (or 331,900 people), for a total of 21,181,000 people.
Australia's population increases at fastest rate since 1988

Avoid speed cameras with Speedwarnings

Heading out in the car but don't want to get pulled up by cops or caught out by speed cameras? Speedwarnings offers an SMS update service; text a regional shortcode to receive regular updates on police and camera activity in your area (as tracked by parent company Road Info; there's a phone number for ringing in your own reports).
Avoid speed cameras with Speedwarnings

Weird science: 10 unexplained phenomena - Science

Science has the power to harness energy, allow human flight, help cure the sick, and explain much about the world. But as amazing and beneficial as science is, it cannot explain everything.
Scientists may never know exactly how the universe began, or help to settle matters of faith. The same is true for the paranormal world. Though science can explain many strange phenomena, some mysteries remain to be solved -- often because there is simply not enough information to reach a definitive conclusion.
Weird science: 10 unexplained phenomena

Photographer Documents Secret Satellites -- All 189 of Them

BERKELEY, California -- For most people, photographing something that isn't there might be tough. Not so for Trevor Paglen.
His shots of 189 secret spy satellites are the subject of a new exhibit -- despite the fact that, officially speaking, the satellites don't exist. The Other Night Sky, on display at the University of California at Berkeley Art Museum through September 14, is only a small selection from the 1,500 astrophotographs Paglen has taken thus far.
Photographer Documents Secret Satellites -- All 189 of Them

The-3-000-Mile-Oil-Change-Myth

According to a recent study by the California Integrated Waste Management Board, 73 percent of California drivers change their oil more frequently than required. This same scenario no doubt repeats itself across the country. Besides wasting money, this translates into unnecessary consumption of $100-a-barrel oil, much of it imported.
The-3-000-Mile/5-000-Kilometre-Oil-Change-Myth

Today is the happiest day of the year according to Cliff Arnall's maths formula

June 20 is the happiest day of the year according to a maths formula worked out by an academic. But rather a pity the formula doesn't account for which hemisphere you live in....
Today is the happiest day of the year according to Cliff Arnall's maths formula

100 Useful Niche Search Engines You’ve Never Heard Of

Though the general Google site is often touted as the number one search engine online, college students sometimes need more specific tools to help them uncover quality information on the Web that they can use for class projects, research papers, and even job and apartment searches. This list features a huge variety of search engines that can be useful to students, including tools that find photos, sound effects, summer internships, health and medical information, reference guides, and a lot more.

100 Useful Niche Search Engines You’ve Never Heard Of

...and dont forget this one...Useful Australian Search Engine You May Never Have Heard Of

Family Characteristics and Transitions, Australia, 2006-07

Providing information about changing patterns of family and household composition in contemporary Australia. Information on family transitions such as relationship history, relationship expectations, children born and fertility expectations is also presented in this publication.
Family Characteristics and Transitions, Australia, 2006-07

Top 10 Easy, Eco-effective Travel Tips

Wondering how small changes can make a big difference? Individually, they may not. But when enough of us make the changes we will make the world a more livable, sustainable place—and enjoy ourselves while we’re at it.
Top 10 Easy, Eco-effective Travel Tips

JukeBo: Online Music Video Database

If you’re perusing the Web for music videoshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_video , you’re likely to search YouTubeYouTube for content. Or DailyMotion. Or Yahoo, or AOL, or Last.fm. The choices are many, and they’re all quite good both in depth and delivery. But in your quest for convenience, perhaps you’d like to browse multiple video hosts at once, rather than visit each singularly.
JukeBo: Online Music Video Database

BBtv: "Improbable Research Collections" debut

Today, BBtv is proud to share a sneak peek at the new "Improbable Research Collections" internet tv series.
The Improbable Researchers are a group of scientists who collect and conduct research to provoke both laughter and thought. They publish a bi-monthly magazine, "Annals of Improbable Research;" they award the coveted " Ig Nobel Prizes;" and they oversee the exclusive and ridiculous Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists ("for scientists who have, or believe they have, luxuriant flowing hair").
BBtv: "Improbable Research Collections" debut

Eleven tips for broaching difficult subjects

We’ve all had to start conversations that we dreaded having – everything from asking for a raise to asking for a divorce to asking for help with the laundry. These strategies help the conversation go more smoothly -- at least, that's the hope.
Eleven tips for broaching difficult subjects

The 25 Best High-Tech Pranks

Everyone loves a good laugh, and in the age of electronics, high-tech hijinks are just waiting to be pulled off. So snuggle up to your screen and get ready to unleash all sorts of shenanigans as we present the 25 best high-tech pranks known to man. Our apologies in advance to your friends and co-workers.
The 25 Best High-Tech Pranks

Australian finds vulnerability in his coffee maker

An Australian man has discovered security holes in his internet-connected coffee maker that could allow a remote attacker to not only take over his Windows XP-based PC but also make his coffee too weak.
Australian finds vulnerability in his coffee maker

How to Make Yourself Indispensable

Let me ask you a question: could you disappear? If you didn’t show up at work tomorrow, if you weren’t home at 6:00 for dinner, if nobody ever heard from or saw you again, would it matter?
OK, these are depressing things to think about, but that’s exactly how many people feel, day in and day out, in their jobs and even at home. They feel unappreciated, unchallenged, ineffective, and in the end, completely irrelevant.
How to Make Yourself Indispensable

50 office-speak phrases you love to hate

Management speak - don't you just hate it? Emphatically yes, judging by readers' responses to writer Lucy Kellaway's campaign against office jargon. Here, we list 50 of the best worst examples.
50 office-speak phrases you love to hate

The Ultimate Guide To What’s Good In Firefox 3

Ok, so Firefox 3 final is out. You don’t really care that much about its compatibility with every standard under the sun; you just want to know which new features are actually useful? Good, so do we. Here’s our rundown of the stuff that makes the latest iteration of this cool Web browser worth your while.
The Ultimate Guide To What’s Good In Firefox 3

How to Make Windows Vista Less Annoying

Whether it's the nagging prompts or the irritating notifications, Windows Vista's default settings can grate on your nerves... which doesn't help you be the productive person you want to be. A few simple tweaks can cut down on the irritation—and drastically alter your views on Vista. Let's take a look at some of the best ways to tame the Vista beast and make it a less naggy operating system to work on.
How to Make Windows Vista Less Annoying

Why You Should Download Firefox 3 Right Now

Firefox 3 — available for download at 10am PDT Tuesday — is the culmination of a two-year quest to build the best browser ever. And while it’s not perfect, it comes pretty close.
Why You Should Download Firefox 3 Right Now

Archive Shoeboxed: Organise Your Receipts

Launched around a year ago, Shoeboxed provides a simple service for uploading, storing and organizing all those paper receipts that are stuffed into real shoeboxes around our homes and offices, into over-sized wallets and purses, largely lost or disorganized until summoned by our accountants and tax authorities!
Archive Shoeboxed: Organise Your Receipts

Is it Time to Retire the Never-Ending List?

One afternoon, earlier this year, as I was scanning a long list that I was adding to endlessly, I realized, "I'll never get it all done. That's probably just fine. But this endless list and this feeling of being completely scheduled...it's not working right now."
Is it Time to Retire the Never-Ending List?

Retrain Your Brain

Can't remember where you put your glasses? Blanked on your new colleague's name? "Forgetting these types of things is a sign of how busy we are," says Zaldy S. Tan, MD, director of the Memory Disorders Clinic at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. "When we're not paying good attention, the memories we form aren't very robust, and we have a problem retrieving the information later."
Retrain Your Brain:

Toilet Signs Across the World

Male and females are represented differently all across the world. One of the proofs for this statement is the diverse representations of toilet signs in different corners of the globe. While some tried to make the signs as obvious as they can get, others went out of their way to be creative. Here are some of the wackiest, funniest or oddest men and women toilet signs.
Toilet Signs Across the World

The 30 Most Salacious Sites For Celebrity Gossip

Feel a burning need to know the latest happenings in Lindsay Lohan’s life? Can’t wait to find out about the latest addition to the Brangelina family? If so, this list is definitely for you.
The 30 Most Salacious Sites For Celebrity Gossip

RepairPal Tracks the “Health” of your Car, From Buy to Sell

What if you could keep tabs on your automobile’s “health” in the same manner Google is hoping you’ll manage your own healthcare? There are a few services out there that hope to aid you in your pursuit of automobile happiness, including sites like Carfax that give you itemized records of car maintenance so you can decide whether or not the used car you’ve been eying is a lemon.
RepairPal Tracks the “Health” of your Car, From Buy to Sell

De-duplicate Your Data with Free Tools

When your hard drive's cluttered with hundreds of files in folders scattered everywhere, chances are you're using up disk space with multiple copies of the same data. Whether multiple memory card downloads have plagued your photo library, or swapping MP3s with friends who have similar tastes left you with double copies of the same songs, or you've saved and re-saved the same documents in different places, a good file de-duping can recover hard drive space and help you get organized.
De-duplicate Your Data with Free Tools

The Celebrity 100 - Forbes

IT IS THE YEAR OF THE TWEEN. Coming off a concert tour, a hit 3-D movie and a risqué picture in Vanity Fair, pop star Miley Cyrus (a.k.a. Hannah Montana) leads a slew of young stars onto our annual Celebrity 100 ranking of the world's ultrafamous. Also building buzz, and drawing dollars, from the under-18 crowd: Daniel Radcliffe, Zac Efron and Ashley Tisdale.
The Celebrity 100 - Forbes

The Growing List of Things You Can Do With Google Maps

The Google Maps team has been hard at work launching a number of new features in recent months. In case you’ve missed them, here are a few of the features available in Google Maps these days.
The Growing List of Things You Can Do With Google Maps

Quarterly updates - Oxford English Dictionary

Every quarter, a range of entries in OED Online will be replaced by updated versions produced by the OED's revision programme. New entries will also be added across the alphabet.
Quarterly updates - Oxford English Dictionary

Fourteen tips to avoid nagging

In marriage, or any partnership, chores are a huge source of conflict. How do you get your sweetheart to hold up his or her end, without nagging?
Fourteen tips to avoid nagging

Australia's most gullible: Top victims of cybercrime?

Australians experience one of the highest levels of cybercrime in the world, according to a new survey — but are Aussies really such easy targets?
Australia's most gullible: Top victims of cybercrime?

Top Tourist Spots Americans Can’t Visit

Looking for someplace special to spend the Fourth of July? FP investigates five fabulous destinations where a summer getaway is next to impossible.
Top Tourist Spots Americans Can’t Visit

How to Recover Deleted Files with Free Software

Ack! The computer ate my term paper! We've all been there at some point. You delete an important file, somehow it skips your Recycle Bin altogether, and for all practical purposes, it's disappeared into the ether. But before you hit the big red panic button, there's a very good chance that your file is still alive and kicking somewhere on your hard drive—you just need to know how to find it. With the right tools, finding and recovering that deleted file can be as simple as a few clicks of your mouse.
How to Recover Deleted Files with Free Software

The 50 Best Pun Stores

Pun stores. Stores with puns in the title. Bet you didn’t think we could rank the 50 best ones. But you didn’t even think there were 50. Well guess again. BWE.tv has scoured the internet and pulled together the 50 Best Pun Establishments. And here we go:
The 50 Best Pun Stores

Get Rid Of Ants Without An Exterminator

Has warm weather brought a plague of ants down upon your home?
Get Rid Of Ants Without An Exterminator

Five job interview bear traps

In a tough job interview even the smoothest candidate can come unstuck. And the interview episode of The Apprentice showcases tactics to test the mettle of prospective employees. How to respond if you find yourself in a job interview from hell?
Five job interview bear traps

Eight ways to get exactly what you want - being-human

Cajole your boss into giving you a raise, win someone round to your point of view, or persuade your partner it's their turn to put out the trash - getting people to do what you want can be very handy. Persuasion is a key element of all human interaction, from politics to marketing to everyday dealings with friends, family and colleagues.
Eight ways to get exactly what you want - being-human

The Ultimate Guide to Motivation - How to Achieve Any Goal

One of the biggest challenges in meeting any goal, whether it be related to productivity, waking early, changing a habit, exercising, or just becoming happier, is finding the motivation to stick with it.
If you can stick with a goal for long enough, you’ll almost always get there eventually. It just takes patience, and motivation.
The Ultimate Guide to Motivation - How to Achieve Any Goal

Human Body and Mind

Surveys and Psychology Tests.
BBC - Science & Nature - Human Body and Mind - Surveys

Five Best Antivirus Applications

The internet is a glorious and exciting world, but unless you're properly protected with a good antivirus application, it can also be a dangerous one. We've come a long way since the days of Norton, with handfuls of excellent freeware software that can keep your computer safe from malware just as well as their bloated, more expensive counterparts.
Five Best Antivirus Applications

The Skinny on Fat: You're Not Always What You Eat

Ever wondered why some people seem able to gobble down anything and still stay slim?
New research shows that the answer may lie in serotonin, a neurotransmitter, or chemical messenger produced by nerve cells.
The Skinny on Fat: You're Not Always What You Eat

The Most Risky Web Locales

Where should you be careful when you’re online? That’s the question that McAfee Research has tackled in its newly released report The Most Dangerous Domains to Surf and Search on the Web. The report seeks to pin down which general types of domains give you a good chance of picking up malware, and gets into which parts of the world those domains are usually associated with.
The Most Risky Web Locales

Complaint Letters: Professional Complaint Letter Writer Shares His Secrets

"Praise with faint damn" is the underlying secret to how professional complaint letter writer Bruce Silverman is able to be so successful in getting companies to give him free stuff.
Complaint Letters: Professional Complaint Letter Writer Shares His Secrets

New Hints Seen That Red Wine May Slow Aging

Red wine may be much more potent than was thought in extending human lifespan, researchers say in a new report that is likely to give impetus to the rapidly growing search for longevity drugs.
New Hints Seen That Red Wine May Slow Aging

5 salts from around the world

Salt is one of those ubiquitous ingredients that not only makes food taste better, but is a necessary part of the human diet. Chemically speaking, it’s a compound formed by sodium and chloride ions arranged in a lattice structure which is why it forms crystals.
While many take it for granted these days, there was a time when salt was more valuable than gold, influencing the growth and migration of civilizations and inciting wars. A recent tome to Salt recounts the epic history of this every-day ingredient revealing that it’s anything but mundane.
5 salts from around the world

Eight tips for making yourself happier IN THE NEXT HOUR

If you’re experiencing a blues emergency, you can lift your spirits right now by using some of the following strategies. The more items you tackle, the bigger the boost you’ll receive.
Eight tips for making yourself happier IN THE NEXT HOUR

Key to All Optical Illusions Discovered

Humans can see into the future, says a cognitive scientist. It's nothing like the alleged predictive powers of Nostradamus, but we do get a glimpse of events one-tenth of a second before they occur.
Key to All Optical Illusions Discovered

The 30 skills every IT person should have

An IT manager's guide on how to be better at what you do, no matter how experienced you are.
The 30 skills every IT person should have

The Panacea for Putting Things Off

Can you recall a time when you wanted to do something important, yet you’ve managed to make enough excuses to leave it for a later date? Putting something off once makes it easier to put it off again, and before you know it, several weeks have past and you still haven’t done it?
The Panacea for Putting Things Off

Navigating Food Labels

Did you know the label "100 Percent Natural" has different meanings for chicken fingers, cookies and various other foods? Or that those "cage-free" chickens might not ever have seen the outdoors? Here's a guide to help sort out what's meaningful, what's dubious — and what's total fluff.
Navigating Food Labels

Five Secret Japanese Tricks to Make Life Better

In Japan, there's an organic, non-commercial cure for almost anything. It's a tradition that blossomed in the post-WW2 era when people had to save money and space for economic reasons. Today, this habit of utilitarian thriftiness paired with a quirky national sensibility has spawned a phenomenon called urawaza--a collection of offbeat life hacks and unmapped shortcuts.
Five Secret Japanese Tricks to Make Life Better

Pringles can designer dies; remains buried in Pringles can

Dr. Fredric J. Baur was so proud of having designed the container for Pringles potato crisps that he asked his family to bury him in one.
Pringles can designer dies; remains buried in Pringles can

Digital Forensics: 5 Ways to Spot a Fake Photo

This story is a supplement to the feature "Digital Forensics: How Experts Uncover Doctored Images" which was printed in the June 2008 issue of Scientific American.
Digital Forensics: 5 Ways to Spot a Fake Photo

Digital Forensics: Photo Tampering Throughout History

Photography lost its innocence not long after it was born. As early as the 1860s photos were already being manipulated—only a few decades after Joseph Nicéphore Niépce created the first photograph in 1826. With the advent of high-resolution digital cameras, powerful personal computers and sophisticated photo-editing software, the manipulation of digital images has proliferated. Here, I have collected some examples of tampering throughout photography's over 180-year history.
Digital Forensics: Photo Tampering Throughout History

How To Entertain Yourself in an Airport

Flight delayed? Have a long layover? Think you’re going to go crazy? Fear not. There are ways to keep sane and entertained.
How To Entertain Yourself in an Airport

50 Weight Loss Secrets: Small Changes, Big Weight Loss

This is not a diet -- or a rigorous exercise program. (Nobody can stick to those for long.) Instead, it's a simple way to make weight loss a natural part of the life you already live. And guess what? It's fun! You don't have to give up the foods you love or join a gym. It's about balancing calories in tiny ways that add up to big benefits. You just adopt some tricks naturally lean people do. Pick the ones you like, stick with them, and you'll slim down and tone up -- for good!
50 Weight Loss Secrets: Small Changes, Big Weight Loss

10 Items You Think Make You Cool, But Don’t

Being cool is normally subjective. But there are some things that unequivocally make you uncool. We’re not saying we’re cool, we’re just saying if you own any of these items, you’re not.
10 Items You Think Make You Cool, But Don’t

Scientific American: Swedish Spruce Is World's Oldest Tree

What's sixteen feet tall and 9,550 years old? It’s the world's oldest tree. The worn and weathered spruce grows in Sweden's windswept tundra. But, until recently, well, recent to the tree at least, it barely resembled a tree at all. Before this last warm century, the spruce grew more like a shrub to survive the harsh conditions of its cold landscape. But rising temperatures convinced the tree to give up its shabby lifestyle, shed the majority of its needles and go with the single-trunk look.
Scientific American: Swedish Spruce Is World's Oldest Tree

Google Earth: Now in your browser!

Google just released a new browser plugin that lets users experience Google Earth from directly inside a webpage. The new plugin is accompanied by an API that web developers can use to easily incorporate Google Earth into their applications, just like what they did with Google Maps a long time ago.
Google Earth: Now in your browser!

20 Funniest Newspaper Headlines ever

20 Funniest Newspaper Headlines ever

Word Clock (Mac)

Word Clock is a typographic screensaver for Mac OS X. It displays a fixed list of all numbers and words sufficient to express any possible date and time as a sentence. Word Clock displays time by highlighting appropriate words as each second passes.
Word Clock

Protect Your Stolen Mobile Phone

You've synced your email, address book, and calendar to your fancy smartphone, which has internet access, photos, and videos on it, too—but how do you keep a thief from ringing up your bill, or worse, stealing your identity using your phone?
Protect Your Stolen Mobile Phone

RestyleMe Answers the Question: “How Do I Look?”

How do I look? It’s the classic question friends ask before they walk out the door. Most of us would say “fine,” but what if you had the chance to really point out the flaws in someone without feeling bad about it? RestyleMe is a social network for girls (and boys) who seek constructive criticism on how to fix their appearances. In other words, they want to be told how to look better. RestyleMe describes itself as “the ultimate style advice community website that features a novel way to get style advice.”
RestyleMe Answers the Question: “How Do I Look?”

Old filmstrip: "Bicycle Safety"

Once again, Derrick Bostrom of Bostworld provided an invaluable service to the world by scanning a vintage educational filmstrip and uploading it to YouTube.
Old filmstrip: "Bicycle Safety"

A Runner's Primer

Everything your ever wanted to know about running but were too lazy to google yourself.
A Runner's Primer

10 things you can do when Windows XP won’t boot

When your computer hardware appears to power up okay, but the Windows XP operating system won’t boot properly, you have to begin a troubleshooting expedition that includes getting into the operating system, determining the problem, and then fixing it. To help you get started on this expedition, here are 10 things you can do when Windows XP won’t boot.
10 things you can do when Windows XP won’t boot

The Essential Bookshelf: The Only Eight Books I’ve Kept

Over the last two years, I’ve reviewed in detail more than a hundred (actually approaching two hundred) personal finance and personal productivity books on The Simple Dollar - for more than a year, I reviewed two a week.

The Essential Bookshelf: The Only Eight Books I’ve Kept

Arts and Culture in Australia: A Statistical Overview

Provides a statistical overview of culture in Australia. Contains information on a range of topics including employment in culture, time spent on cultural activities, attendances at cultural venues and events, expenditure on culture, and imports and exports of cultural goods and services. Also provides profiles of the cultural sectors, grouped according to the Australian Culture and Leisure Industry Classification.
Arts and Culture in Australia: A Statistical Overview

Fix a stripped screw hole with a golf tee

Don't you just hate it when a hinge on a door or cabinet just won't stay put because the screw hole is stripped out? Sure, you can use a bigger or longer screw, but then it won't match.
Fix a stripped screw hole with a golf tee

Subliminal Advertising: KFC Wants You To Think There's Money In Your Sandwich

Subliminal messages in advertising has been a controversial topic for years. Is it underhanded? Does it even work?
Subliminal Advertising: KFC Wants You To Think There's Money In Your Sandwich

Does a Site Have Malware? Google Provides Diagnosis

Google put up a new* malware diagnosis service; just append any domain – your domain or another site you want to check on – to the end of the URL “google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=".
Does a Site Have Malware? Google Provides Diagnosis

Email Etiquette Pages Explain So You Don't Have To

Why waste time schooling clueless email senders one by one when you can build a web site to do it for you? A recent trend among email-overloaded web developers who don't want to explain the basics of email etiquette to frequent senders is to set up a web page that does it instead—then reply to senders with a link to the page, or just include it in their signature.
Email Etiquette Pages Explain So You Don't Have To

Six 'uniquely' human traits now found in animals

So you think humans are unique? Six articles from the New Scientist archive that tell a similar story and six videos of animals displaying 'human' abilities.
Six 'uniquely' human traits now found in animals

Starving yourself may fend off jet lag

Starving yourself before a long flight may help prevent jet lag, according to US researchers.
Starving yourself may fend off jet lag

Web banking: It's time to write down your password

Banks should stop forcing customers to create long, alphanumeric passwords because they can't protect against today's threats, according to AT&T computing researcher William Cheswick.
Web banking: It's time to write down your password

Why Zappos Pays New Employees to Quit

“The Offer.” Zappos, which works hard to recruit people to join, says to its newest employees: “If you quit today, we will pay you for the amount of time you’ve worked, plus we will offer you a $1,000 bonus.” Zappos actually bribes its new employees to quit!
Why Zappos Pays New Employees to Quit

How to Make a Color Image Look Like a Sketch in Photoshop

A sketch is a free hand drawing. In Adobe Photoshop, you can add a sketch effect to any color image or photograph and give it an artistic feel, or perhaps trick your friends into thinking you've suddenly become an amazing sketcher.
How to Make a Color Image Look Like a Sketch in Photoshop

HomeCamera Turns Your Webcam into a Surveillance Camera

Web site and software HomeCamera turns your desktop webcam into a web-enabled surveillance camera. Just sign up and download their desktop software to get started. In just a few minutes, you can check an image or video from your webcam in real-time from any browser. Even better, you can set up motion-detecting alerts that will email you with a shot or short clip of what triggered the alert.
HomeCamera Turns Your Webcam into a Surveillance Camera

11 tips for sticking to a schedule of regular exercise

Exercise is a KEY to happiness. Research shows that people who exercise are healthier, more energetic, think more clearly, sleep better, and have delayed onset of dementia. They get relief from anxiety and mild depression, comparable to medication and therapy. They perform better at work.
11 tips for sticking to a schedule of regular exercise

Cool Tool: Knot Tying Cards

These cards are handy for those who already know how to tie proper knots, but don't do so every day and need a quick reminder.
Cool Tool: Knot Tying Cards

Why We Humans Behave So Strangely

MIT's Dan Ariely discusses his research in behavioral economics and explains how to deal with our brain's flawed decision-making process.
The Science of Irrationality: Why We Humans Behave So Strangely

Privacy: Best Free Ways to Protect Your Private Files

When you're saving sensitive files on your computer meant for your eyes only, make sure you've got the right tools on hand to keep them private. Whether you want to shield your brilliant startup business plan from the Pointy Haired Boss, or hide your stash of Gillian Anderson photos from the kids, there are several free tools that can encrypt, password-protect, or obscure files and folders from others who might use your computer. Let's take a look at various methods, tools, and levels of privacy and security you can use to lock up your sensitive data.
Privacy: Best Free Ways to Protect Your Private Files

Do Infants See Colors Differently

Infants, unlike adults, store color categories in the brain's right hemisphere. This new finding reveals the surprising power of language over perception.
Do Infants See Colors Differently

17 Tips to Help You Get Leaner and Fitter

We don’t want to lose weight, although that’s often stated as the goal — we want to get leaner. We want to shed the fat and leave just the lean muscle (some of us want to increase the muscle, others just want to lose the fat). We want to be healthy and in good shape and able to be physically active.
17 Tips to Help You Get Leaner and Fitter

5 Tips to Help You Live a Well-Balanced Life

With the hustle and bustle of our everyday lives, we often find ourselves yearning for a quieter, more balanced life. If your life has come to resemble an endless race to the finish line, take a look at the suggestions below to bring a greater sense of peace, calm, and even simplicity back into your life.
5 Tips to Help You Live a Well-Balanced Life

10 Healthy Foods Under 1 Dollar

Even with rising food prices, it's possible to shop for healthy foods without spending a fortune.
10 Healthy Foods Under 1 Dollar

Punctuality: More Than Showing Up on Time

When you think of what values you seek from co-workers, colleagues, and clients, punctuality is probably one that wouldn’t immediately come to mind. Being web workers, parents, co-workers, spouses and just about every other role you can imagine, we have many demands for our attention and sometimes these time frames overlap.
Punctuality: More Than Showing Up on Time

Secure Passwords Keep You Safer

There's been a lot written on this topic over the years -- both serious and humorous -- but most of it seems to be based on anecdotal suggestions rather than actual analytic evidence. What follows is some serious advice.
Secure Passwords Keep You Safer

The Traveling Web Worker: What You Should Know About Your Destination

With the mobility that comes with web working, we can now afford to travel for leisure while taking our work with us. However, the nature of our work gives us very specific needs. We can’t just expect to open our laptops in the mountains of Nepal and start working.
The Traveling Web Worker: What You Should Know About Your Destination

4 Free Digital Photography and Image Editing Resources

Many web workers are involved with digital photography, graphics and image editing. There are a number of excellent, free resources available online for staying abreast of the latest news on these topics, and improving your skills.
4 Free Digital Photography and Image Editing Resources

Air Hostesses of Yesteryear

Miniskirts, hairspray and polyester, the official look of the 1960s air hostess.
Air Hostesses of Yesteryear

Taking your laptop into the US?

Last month a US court ruled that border agents can search your laptop, or any other electronic device, when you're entering the country. They can take your computer and download its entire contents, or keep it for several days. Customs and Border Patrol has not published any rules regarding this practice, and I and others have written a letter to Congress urging it to investigate and regulate this practice.
But the US is not alone. British customs agents search laptops for pornography. And there are reports on the internet of this sort of thing happening at other borders, too. You might not like it, but it's a fact. So how do you protect yourself?
Taking your laptop into the US?

Laptops: How to Thief-Proof Your Laptop

PC World magazine rounds up eight tips to stop thieves from stealing your laptop, the most obvious-yet-effective of which is simply locking it up. Apart from their suggestion that you encrypt your hard drive (we'd recommend the cross-platform TrueCrypt for that), all of their suggestions require you to throw down a bit of cash. If you're not up to spending any money but you still want to beef up your laptop security, hit the jump for a look at a few no-cost solutions for guarding your laptop against thieves.
Laptops: How to Thief-Proof Your Laptop

13 Must-See Google Maps Mashups

There are plenty of obvious ones (Frappr, Zooomr, Trulia) but we’ve made some quirkier picks for our must-see mashups. Enjoy!
13 Must-See Google Maps Mashups

Airplane Air Not So Germy

Admit it. When that guy four rows ahead of you starts hacking, you can almost see the viruses wafting your way.
Airplane Air Not So Germy

Moving Tips

Relocation advice.
Moving Tips

Google Started Blurring Street View Faces

Google updated the panorama photo imagery of Manhattan as part of Google Maps, and for this update also blurred the faces of persons shown in the pictures.
Google Started Blurring Street View Faces

More Than an Exercise in Vanity

“I’ve been lifting weights since I was 12 years old and look at me,” he said. Dr. Thompson is small and wiry with not a bulging muscle on him. He speculated that he must have a genetic inability to build muscles, no matter how hard he works at it.
But are his muscles healthy?
More Than an Exercise in Vanity

Packing Clothes :: One Bag

Although perhaps more relevant to business than vacation travel, most of us do not want to spend our days looking like a wrinkled mess. Thus a natural concern is how to arrive at our destination(s) with our packed clothing in a fairly pristine state. By pristine, I mean that garments will have creases where we want them to be, and not have creases where we don't want them.
Packing Clothes :: One Bag

How to Enjoy Your Job

Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
How to Enjoy Your Job