How to Deal With a Mooching Friend

We've all experienced a moocher-- someone who conveniently "forgets" their wallet at home every time you go out to dinner, "loses" anything you loan them, and always manages to get out of their share of a chore. If you want to maintain both the friendship and your sanity, you will have to set firm but clear boundaries to stop the mooching behavior. The key is to anticipate potential situations where the mooching will occur, and address the issue with increasing degrees of confrontation.
How to Deal With a Mooching Friend

Man's arm trapped in train toilet

A passenger on a French train had to be rescued by firemen after having his arm sucked down the on-board toilet. The 26-year-old victim was trapped when he tried to fish out his mobile phone, which had fallen into the toilet bowl, and fell foul of the suction system.
Man's arm trapped in train toilet

Seven of the greatest scientific hoaxes

For this week's issue of New Scientist I edited a review of The Sun and the Moon by Matthew Goodman, which tells the story of the great moon hoax of 1835. This got me thinking about other great scientific hoaxes in the past. After doing a bit of digging, I was amazed by how many there were – and at the variety and creativity of the hoaxes. Here are a few of the best
Seven of the greatest scientific hoaxes

Public Speaking: How to Present Yourself Powerfully, Part 1

You may have a great idea bouncing around in your head. It may be something that could revolutionize the company that you work for, or even change your own career. But if you can't find a way to get that idea out and in front of others, you and it will be forever stuck. The key is to have the ability and the courage to get up in front of a room—full of your friends, your peers or your bosses—and tell them what you know.
Public Speaking: How to Present Yourself Powerfully, Part 1

How to Clean a Window

Nobody really likes to clean windows. But if you are going to do it, you might as well have them looking their best. Here are a few tips to get your windows sparkling clean.
How to Clean a Window

How to keep your bathroom mirror from steaming up

Tired of your bathroom mirrors steaming up after your shower???
How to keep your bathroom mirror from steaming up

Start Em Young - Three Web Apps for Families

Since launching Dad-o-Matic, a blog where dads give views, reviews, news, and ideas about parenting, I’ve been thinking a lot about how families interact with the Web. I look for applications and ideas that give parents some “first steps” into sharing experiences using online tools. Here are three Web applications I’ve found recently that I find provide a fun way to build projects with kids.
Start Em Young - Three Web Apps for Families

Clean and Maintain Plasma TVs

When you spend a great deal of money on a new Plasma TV in order to have the best quality viewing experience possible, you want to do everything you can to make sure that your TV is properly maintained. Correctly cleaning and maintaining your new Plasma TV will help to ensure that you get years of enjoyment from it.
Clean and Maintain Plasma TVs

10 Tips to Keep Your Notebook Safe when Traveling

These days, we Geeks don’t travel anywhere without our laptops. It’s a given that we need to have them on us! How would we survive?! Thankfully, Seth sent in the following tips to help us keep them safe while we are on the road.
10 Tips to Keep Your Notebook Safe when Traveling

Giz Explains: How to Buy an HDTV Like a Pro

The economy sucks. But like Warren Buffett, you should be greedy when everyone else is skurred. If you've got the extra scratch, this is probably the best holiday season ever to buy an HDTV, since retailers don't want a pile of them going obsolete in their warehouse. But what should you look for in an HDTV? HD Guru Gary Merson—a dude who's reviewed 125 TVs at once—uses sophisticated gear for his own studies, but told us the five most important things that all the rest of us Joe the Plumber types can look out for when buying an HDTV.
Giz Explains: How to Buy an HDTV Like a Pro

Calculate the Optimum TV Screen Size for Your Room

The bigger that TV screens get, the more important it is to calculate room size; by doing this you can determine the best screen size for maximum picture quality.
Calculate the Optimum TV Screen Size for Your Room

Microsoft posts emergency defense for new attack

News update responds to threat of Web worm
By Brian Livingston (Windows Secrets)
We're publishing a special news update today to bring you a bulletin on a serious weakness in Windows.
Susan Bradley, our contributing editor who covers Microsoft patches, has written an up-to-the-minute description of the latest situation, which potentially affects every recent version of Windows.
Microsoft posts emergency defense for new attack

My Maps Australia Awards

Your favourite spot or hideout in town. Interesting sites and local specialties. Make your own "My Map" on Google Maps and enter it in the My Maps Australia Awards. Ten winners will receive "Best My Maps Awards" and one of these will win the grand prize of a 13" 2.1 GHz Macbook and eternal Australian mapping fame. Take part in My Maps Australia Awards now!
My Maps Australia Awards

How to remove red wine from carpet

How to remove red wine from carpet.
How to remove red wine from carpet

How to clean a DVD

Have you ever rented a movie and it starts to skip right at the good part well here's a easy way to clean the DVD.
How to clean a DVD

Treat your child’s cold and cough, but skip the drugs

If you have a child under age 4, what are you supposed to do now that the makers of children's cough and cold medicines are warning parents not to use their products? Actually, all children under age 6 shouldn't be given these medicines.
Treat your child’s cold and cough, but skip the drugs

How to Reuse Old Toothbrushes

Toothbrushes still have a use beyond their initial life. Not only will you get more bang for your buck, but you'll also be helping the environment.
How to Reuse Old Toothbrushes

Giant spider eating a bird caught on camera

Photographs of a giant spider eating a bird in an Australian garden have stunned wildlife experts. (I'm staying in Victoria..)
Giant spider eating a bird caught on camera

Software Updates Week 40 2008

A list of software updates is published each Wednesday at Ghacks. The list will consist of software programs that have been covered before at this website, that have been updated in the last seven days and that are free to use.
Software Updates Week 40 2008

Gas Appliance Safety Check

You can’t always smell gas when there’s a leak. Maybe it’s a small amount you’re dealing with or perhaps allergies have stolen your smelling capabilities.
Gas Appliance Safety Check