Best Photography Tips, Tricks And Hacks Of 2011

This was a great year for all things photography, with posts to help you behind the camera, in front of it, when you’re shooting and when you’re editing. Here’s a look back at our most popular photography tips, tricks and hacks of 2011.
Best Photography Tips, Tricks And Hacks Of 2011

Family Friendly sites listed on Blackstump Australia Issue 22/2011

The latest issue of new Family Friendly sites listed on The Black Stump.
Family Friendly sites listed on Blackstump Australia Issue 22/2011

What's Your Greatest 'Words With Friends' Achievement?

It’s been an interesting week for Words With Friends. On Monday, Alec Baldwin made news for getting kicked off a flight prior to take-off in Los Angeles because of issues relating to his phone use. Apparently his addiction to the popular Scrabble-like game Words With Friends is what did him in. It’s not entirely clear what happened on the plane – American Airlines released a statement saying the actor was “extremely rude to the crew,” while Baldwin himself published a column in the Huffington Post apologizing while saying he was “singled out.” But one thing is certain – Words With Friends is highly addictive.
What's Your Greatest 'Words With Friends' Achievement?

How To Open Everything When You’re Weak

Sometimes it’s hard to open doors, jars, beers and other things when you have a hard time getting a good grip or you’re just plain weak. Thankfully, there are plenty of good tricks out there to get things open using common household objects.
How To Open Everything When You’re Weak

Hidden iOS 5 Feature Offers Tons of Beautiful Emoticons [PICS]

If you’re tired of embarrassing Auto Correct errors or composing emoticons based on punctuation marks that only make sense if you tilt your head sideways, there’s a somewhat hidden iOS 5 feature you’ll like: Emoji.
Hidden iOS 5 Feature Offers Tons of Beautiful Emoticons

Most hated buzzwords

"Think outside the box" is the most hated buzzword. At the end of the day, however, we have to circle back and touch base with a proactive look at the many other turns of phrase that are no-brainers for inclusion in the list.
Most hated buzzwords

Windows Defender Offline Tool Now Available

The majority of threats that land on a Windows PC can be removed by antivirus software while the operating system is running. Some threats on the other hand cannot be fully removed when the system is running. The only solution in this case is to either boot into a different operating system, restore a previous version of the system from backup, or use bootable security software to remove malicious software this way.
Windows Defender Offline Tool Now Available

Real or Fake? The Texts Behind Damn You Auto Correct

The popular blog Damn You Auto Correct went viral on the Internet again this week, after the site unveiled its funniest auto-corrected text messages of the year.
Real or Fake? The Texts Behind Damn You Auto Correct

Facebook bug can make your private photos public

Nothing is ever 100% completely secure, let’s get this settled from the off. Whatever security anybody or any company ever puts in place there’s either some way to crack it, or some flaw in the system that will allow people to circumvent it. Thus it’s not really a shouting a Facebook moment to discover that such a flaw has been found that allows people to see the private photos of others.
Facebook bug can make your private photos public

List The 100 Largest Windows Files

You have several options when you are running out of storage space. You could consider uninstalling software that you no longer need, run a temporary files cleaner like CCleaner, search for large files to delete them, backup files to restore space or even buy a new hard drive to extend the available space.
List The 100 Largest Windows Files

The How-To Geek Guide to Buying an HDTV

The HDTV market is loaded with high prices, jargon, and more than a few pitfalls for the uneducated consumer. Save your money, spare yourself a headache, and get the best bang for your buck with our detailed HDTV buying guide.
The How-To Geek Guide to Buying an HDTV

How to Search for Text Inside of Any File Using Windows Search

Many of us rely on Windows Search to find files and launch programs, but searching for text within files is limited to specific filetypes by default. Here’s how you can expand your search to include other text based files.
How to Search for Text Inside of Any File Using Windows Search

20 of the Best Tips and Tricks for Getting the Most out of the Windows Command Line

Do you use the command line in Windows to get things done? If you are more comfortable typing commands to accomplish tasks than using the mouse, we have compiled 20 of the best Windows command line tips and tricks to help you become a command line guru.
20 of the Best Tips and Tricks for Getting the Most out of the Windows Command Line

An anesthesiologist's view of the human heart

This is a really fascinating entry in The Guardian's multi-video package about heart health and medicine. Bruce Martin, a British anesthesiologist, talks about his job, anesthetizing patients for heart surgery. If this doesn't make your job seem less stressful by comparison, then you're probably a fighter pilot or something.
An anesthesiologist's view of the human heart

Stop Carrier IQ From Tracking Your iPhone

Carrier IQ has made quite a stir with its ability to track everything you do on your Android phone, and it turns out that it comes preinstalled on the iPhone as well — albeit a less dastardly version. Here’s what it can do and how to turn it off.
Stop Carrier IQ From Tracking Your iPhone

Carrier IQ and Your Phone: Everything You Need to Know

There’s a storm of controversy flaring up over Carrier IQ, cellphone software that logs user activity and relays at least some of that information to wireless carriers. The carriers say they’ll use that data to improve their networks. But anything that’s peeking in on what you’re doing on a phone raises a host of privacy concerns, and many users are suspicious.

Carrier IQ is so controversial for a few reasons:

• It’s hidden. Short of rooting, or removing certain software safeguards to obtain “administrator” access to your phone, it’s almost impossible to know if it’s there.


• It’s everywhere. The software reportedly exists on millions of handsets on several carriers, including many Android phones and even some versions of the iPhone.


• It’s not opt-in. Without the user’s explicit approval, the software is enabled and gathering data on the phone.


• It’s voracious. According to Trevor Eckhart, who created the recent explosion of attention on Carrier IQ with a video he posted on YouTube earlier this week, the software logs every keystroke and incoming text message. However, there’s some question about how much of this information is actually sent to the carriers.

Here are the most important things you should know about this previously little-known piece of software:
Carrier IQ and Your Phone: Everything You Need to Know

Dropbox File Synchronization and Online Storage Review [Giveaway]

Cloud hosting, or online hosting in general, is not a new technology. Your emails hosted on your email provider’s server are as much cloud hosting as storing website files on content distribution networks or important documents with the help of a provider like Dropbox.
Dropbox File Synchronization and Online Storage Review [Giveaway]

The Eight Splendid Truths of Happiness.

Each one of these truths sounds fairly obvious and straightforward, but each was the product of tremendous thought. Take the Second Splendid Truth—it’s hard to exaggerate the clarity I gained when I finally managed to put it into words. Here they are:

First Splendid Truth
To be happier, you have to think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, in an atmosphere of growth.

The Eight Splendid Truths of Happiness.

Facebook Unveils Its Most Shared Stories of 2011

1. Satellite Photos of Japan, Before and After the Earthquake and Tsunami

This Mar. 15 New York Times interactive graphic compares satellite images of the damages of the Japan earthquake and tsunami.

Click here to view this gallery.

Facebook has released a list of the 40 most shared stories of 2011 (well, the first 11 months, at least). We’ve collected the top 20 into the gallery above — check it out.

The topics range from sweet (twin baby boys conversing in gibberish) to serious (satellite photos examining the damages of the Japan earthquake).

There were some clear trends. Twelve of the stories relate to parenting or families, while three of the picks are viral videos. Another three are about Steve Jobs.

More suprisingly, all 40 of the stories come from just six online outlets: Yahoo has 13 stories, CNN has 11, the New York Times has 7, The Huffington Post has 7, The Wall Street Journal has one and the Washington Post has one.

Mashable‘s Pete Cashmore wrote the number seven story: You’ll Freak When You See the New Facebook, as one of his regular columns for CNN.

Most of the stories provide unique opinions, such as pieces on “Tiger Moms” and why women remain unmarried. Straight news coverage, however, didn’t fare so well. CNN‘s Steve Jobs, Apple Founder, Dies barely made the list at number 37).

Facebook Unveils Its Most Shared Stories of 2011

Earth Time-Lapse View from Space

Time lapse sequences of photographs taken by Ron Garan
fragileoasis.org/âbloggernauts/âAstro_Ron and the crew of expedition
28 & 29 onboard the International Space Station from August to October,
2011, who to my knowledge shot these pictures at an altitude of around
350 km with a high ISO HD Camera developed by NHK Japan,
nicknamed the SS-HDTV camera. All credit goes to them.
Earth Time-Lapse View from Space