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  • From the Tips Box: Quick File Renaming in Windows 7, Fast Access to Web Sites on Android, and GPS-based Todo Lists

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Once a week we round up some reader tips and share them with the greater How-To Geek audience. This week we’re looking at speedy file renaming in Windows 7, fast access to bookmarks in Android, and a neat GPS-based todo list. How to Stress Test the Hard Drives in Your PC or Server How To Customize Your Android Lock Screen with WidgetLocker The Best Free Portable Apps for Your Flash Drive Toolkit

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  • Is Innovation Dead?

    - by wulfers
    My question is has innovation died?  For large businesses that do not have a vibrant, and fearless leadership (see Apple under Steve jobs), I think is has.  If you look at the organizational charts for many of the large corporate megaliths you will see a plethora of middle managers who are so risk averse that innovation (any change involves risk) is choked off since there are no innovation champions in the middle layers.  And innovation driven top down can only happen when you have a visionary in the top ranks, and that is also very rare.So where is actual innovation happening, at the bottom layer, the people who live in the trenches…   The people who live for a challenge. So how can big business leverage this innovation layer?  Remove the middle management layer.   Provide an innovation champion who has an R&D budget and is tasked with working with the bottom layer of a company, the engineers, developers  and business analysts that live on the edge (Where the corporate tires meet the road). Here are two innovation failures I will tell you about, and both have been impacted by a company so risk averse it is starting to fail in its primary business ventures: This company initiated an innovation process several years ago.  The process was driven companywide with team managers being the central points of collection of innovative ideas.  These managers were given no budget to do anything with these ideas.  There was no process or incentive for these managers to drive it about their team.  This lasted close to a year and the innovation program slowly slipped into oblivion…. A second example:  This same company failed an attempt to market a consumer product in a line where there was already a major market leader.  This product was under development for several years and needed to provide some major device differentiation form the current market leader.  This same company had a large Lead Technologist community made up of real innovators in all areas of technology.  Did this same company leverage the skills and experience of this internal community,   NO!!! So to wrap this up, if large companies really want to survive, then they need to start acting like a small company.  Support those innovators and risk takers!  Reward them by implementing their innovative ideas.  Champion (from the top down) innovation (found at the bottom) in your companies.  Remember if you stand still you are really falling behind.Do it now!  Take a risk!

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  • Bust Out these 13 Spooky Games for Halloween

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Looking for a suitably spooky board game for Halloween? This roundup includes everything from the light-hearted to the dark and challenging. Over at GeekDad they’ve rounded up 13 horror/Halloween themed board games to help you fill your holiday board gaming quota. The list includes classics like the in-depth and atmospheric Arkham Horror to more recent and kid-friendly GeistesBlitz. Although we think their list is rock solid and includes some great titles, we’re disappointed to see that Witch of Salem, a great lighter-weight alternative to Arkham Horror for those nights you want some cooperative H.P. Lovecraft inspired play without the massive setup and game length, didn’t make the list. To check out the full GeekDad list hit up the link below, for more boardgame-centric reading we highly recommend the excellent board gaming site BoardgameGeek. 13 Spooky Board Games for Your Halloween Game Night [GeekDad] What Is the Purpose of the “Do Not Cover This Hole” Hole on Hard Drives? How To Log Into The Desktop, Add a Start Menu, and Disable Hot Corners in Windows 8 HTG Explains: Why You Shouldn’t Use a Task Killer On Android

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  • How to keep background requests in sequence

    - by Jason Lewis
    I'm faced with implementing interfaces for some rather archaic systems, for handling online deposits to stored value accounts (think campus card accounts for students). Here's my dilemma: stage 1 of the process involves passing the user off to a thrid-party site for the credit card transaction, like old-school PayPal. Step two involves using a proprietary protocol for communicating with a legacy system for conducting the actual deposit. Step two requires that each transaction have a unique sequence number, and that the requests' seqnums are in order. Since we're logging each transaction in Postgres, my first thought was to take a number from a sequence in the DB, guaranteeing uniqueness. But since we're dealing with web requests that might come in near-simultaneously, and since latency with the return from the off-ste payment processor is beyond our control, there's always the chance for a race condition in the order of requests passed back to the proprietary system, and if the seqnums are out of order, the request fails silently (brilliant, right?). I thought about enqueuing the requests in Redis and using Resque workers to process them (single worker, single process, so they are processed in order), but we need to be able to give the user feedback as to whether the transaction was processed successfully, so this seems less feasible to me. I've tried to make this application handle concurrency well (as much as possible for a Ruby on Rails app), but now we're in a situation where we have to interact with a system that is designed to be single process, single threaded, and sequential. If it at least gave an "out of order" error, I could just increment (or take the next value off the sequence), but it's designed to fail silently in the event of ANY error. We are handling timeouts in a way that blocks on I/O, but since the application uses multiple workers (Unicorn), that's no guarantee. Any ideas/suggestions would be appreciated.

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  • Recycle Bottles for DIY Projects [Video]

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Rather than tossing bottles in the recycle bin with this simple hack and a little elbow grease you can recycle them into new containers like drinking cups and vases. In the above video Matt Richardson from Make magazine shows us how to use an inexpensive bottle cutting jig to recycle bottle into new things. With a little polishing you can drink more than beer out of your favorite beer bottles. Watch the video above to see how and hit up the link below for more information. How-To: Bottle Cutting [Make] What is a Histogram, and How Can I Use it to Improve My Photos?How To Easily Access Your Home Network From Anywhere With DDNSHow To Recover After Your Email Password Is Compromised

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  • Moviebarcodes Showcases Entire Movies as Frame-based Barcodes

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    If you’ve ever wanted a chance to look at at an entire movie in a single glance, here’s your chance. Moviebarcodes shares mock-barcodes generated by turning each frame of a movie into a thin stripe, offering a glimpse into the color choices and shot lengths in popular movies. The barcode seen above was generated from The Matrix; you can see where the green indicates scenes that were shot inside the matrix and thus given a subtle green tint. In the barcode below, generated from the movie Pleasantville you can see the transition in the movie between the color and black and white scenes. In the case of Pleasantville, elements of the black and white world turning to color represent pivotal moments in the plot development which are now neatly mapped out below: Check out the hundreds of barcodes at the link below; you can even order prints of your favorite movies. Find a great rendering in the mix? Share a link in the comments below. Moviebarcodes [via Cool Inforgraphics] How to Create an Easy Pixel Art Avatar in Photoshop or GIMPInternet Explorer 9 Released: Here’s What You Need To KnowHTG Explains: How Does Email Work?

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  • This Week in Geek History: YouTube goes Public, Blu-ray vs. HD DVD, and All Your Base Are Belong To Us

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Every week we bring you a snapshot of the current week in the history of technological and geeky endeavors. This week we’re taking a look at the birth of YouTube, the death of the HD DVD format, and the first mega meme. Latest Features How-To Geek ETC How to Enable User-Specific Wireless Networks in Windows 7 How to Use Google Chrome as Your Default PDF Reader (the Easy Way) How To Remove People and Objects From Photographs In Photoshop Ask How-To Geek: How Can I Monitor My Bandwidth Usage? Internet Explorer 9 RC Now Available: Here’s the Most Interesting New Stuff Here’s a Super Simple Trick to Defeating Fake Anti-Virus Malware The Citroen GT – An Awesome Video Game Car Brought to Life [Video] Final Man vs. Machine Round of Jeopardy Unfolds; Watson Dominates Give Chromium-Based Browser Desktop Notifications a Native System Look in Ubuntu Chrome Time Track Is a Simple Task Time Tracker Google Sky Map Turns Your Android Phone into a Digital Telescope Walking Through a Seaside Village Wallpaper

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  • Oracle as a Service in the Cloud

    - by Jason Williamson
    This should really be a Tweet, but I guess I'm writing a bit more. In theme of data migration and legacy modernization, I am seeing more and more of a push to consolidate data sources, especially from non-oracle to oracle in an effort to save dollars. From a modernization perspective, this fits in quite well. We are able to migrate things like Terradata, Sybase and DB2 and put that all into an Oracle database and then provide that as a OaaS (Oracle as a Service) Cloud offering. This seems to be a growing trend, and not unlike the cool RDS Amazon Database cloud being built on Oracle as well. We again find ourselves back in the similar theme of migration, however. The target technology sounds like a winner (COBOL to Java/SOA...DB2/Datacom/Adabas to Oracle) but the age-old problem of how to get there still persists. It it not trivial to migrate large amounts of pre-relational or "devolved" relational data. To do this, we again must revert back to a tight roadmap to migration and leverage the growing tools and services that we have. I'm working on a couple of new sections and chapters for a book that Tom and Prakash and I are writing around Database Migration and Consolidation. I'll share some snipits shortly.

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  • Portal 2 in LEGO Stop Motion [Video]

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    If you’re a fan of the Portal video game series, this well-executed LEGO stop-motion film combines Portal characters, clever animation, jokes, and even a Black Mesa reference or two. LEGO Portal 2 [via Wired] How to Factory Reset Your Android Phone or Tablet When It Won’t Boot Our Geek Trivia App for Windows 8 is Now Available Everywhere How To Boot Your Android Phone or Tablet Into Safe Mode

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  • Scrollbars: A Retrospective

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    It’s easy to overlook the humble scrollbar, a much used but hardly thought about user interface element. This graphic compares scrollbars over the last thirty years. Some of the more modern Windows incarnations are missing but, on account of the Vista/Windows 7 scrollbar looking pretty much like a gray version of the XP one, we’ll forgive them. A full resolution version of the image is available at the link below. Scollbars Through History [via Geeks Are Sexy] How To Delete, Move, or Rename Locked Files in Windows HTG Explains: Why Screen Savers Are No Longer Necessary 6 Ways Windows 8 Is More Secure Than Windows 7

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  • Password protect an alias virtual difrecory

    - by Jason
    I have a main domain being hosted through CPanel. I also have a sub-domain that I would like to appear as a path under the main domain instead of as a sub-domain. So I have: http://example.com/ pointing to the main hosted file. http://example.com/mydir pointing to the subdomain files. This is achieved by a httpd.conf include from the main domain section to set an alias: alias /mydir /path/to/subdomain/files/ Now, that works fine so far. The problem is that if a .htaccess file under /path/to/the/subdomain/files/ contains an error, the alias is completely skipped, and /mydir goes instead to the main host files. That is kind of surprising to me - I would expect an error to return an error instead. Now the killer: if I try to password protect /path/to/subdomain/files/, then trying to access http://example.com/mydir will again attempt to deliver from under the main hosted files and not from /path/to/subdomain/files/ I am not seeing any errors reported on the .htaccess file in the apache error log, so I am assuming the .htaccess is valid: AuthUserFile /path/to/valid/readable/.htpasswd AuthName "Secure Access" AuthType Basic Require valid-user This kind of behaviour does not seem right to me. Is there something obvious that could be causing it? Or is this just the way it works? Perhaps using an alias is the wrong way to go?

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  • Case convention- Why the variation between languages?

    - by Jason
    Coming from a Java background, I'm very used to camelCase. When writing C, using the underscore wasn't a big adjustment, since it was only used sparingly when writing simple Unix apps. In the meantime, I stuck with camelCase as my style, as did most of the class. However, now that I'm teaching myself C# in preparation for my upcoming Usability Design class in the fall, the PascalCase convention of the language is really tripping me up and I'm having to rely on intellisense a great deal in order to make sure the correct API method is being used. To be honest, switching to the PascalCase layout hasn't quite sunk in the muscle memory just yet, and that is frustrating from my point of view. Since C# and Java are considered to be brother languages, as both are descended from C++, why the variation in the language conventions? Was it a personal decision by the creators based on their comfort level, or was it just to play mindgames with new introductees to the language?

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  • LightScythe Creates Huge Light Paintings

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Earlier this year we showed you how an LED POV staff could be used to visualize network data. This build takes it to another level and allows you to imprint entire words and images into photos. Gavin, a hardware hacker from Sydney, built an open-source POV (persistence of vision) staff after the Wi-Fi visualizer inspired him to begin playing with large POV builds. He built his POV staff using LED strips, wireless controllers, and a laptop to send the signals at the proper intervals to the staff. He can write words, create images, and even send Pac-Man racing across the frame. Hit up the link below to read more about his project and grab his schematics and parts lists. LightScythe [The Mechatronics Guy via Make] HTG Explains: Photography with Film-Based CamerasHow to Clean Your Dirty Smartphone (Without Breaking Something)What is a Histogram, and How Can I Use it to Improve My Photos?

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  • Does HTML5 have a feature that enables a user to add an icon to the Apps screen when "installing", and if not, when are they planning to add it?

    - by Jason Livesay
    I know that the mobile bookmark bubble might sort of work for iOS, but it isn't going in the same section. And for Android, bookmarking is really not going to cut it for a mobile HTML5 application install since users just don't think to go to their bookmarks and that bookmark process takes two or three steps. To me this issue of getting the application (bookmark) installed pretty much makes the rest of the HTML 5 features aimed at mobile HTML much less useful. I can't realistically expect users to prefer the bookmark install and launch process over regular apps, so I can realistically expect them to ignore my mobile HTML5 application and use a native app. The groups behind mobile HTML 5 features do seem to be pushing for HTML 5 apps adoption with things like Application Cache etc. To me it seems obvious that the bookmark bubble is not going to cut it. Someone please tell me they have addressed this or at least are working on it?

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  • Turn Your Browser Pane into a Game of Katamari Damacy

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    If you’re a fan of Katamari Damacy, a quirky and fun Japanese puzzle game made popular on the PlayStation, you’ll love this Javas script hack that turns your browser pane and its contents into a giant HTML-collecting game of Katamari Damacy. Katamari Damacy, for the unfamiliar, is a addictive game based on the premise that a galactic prince is on a mission to rebuild stars, constellations, and moons accidentally destroyed by his father. You roll around and collect objects (making yourself an increasingly larger ball in the process). This script hack puts a ball on your web browser pane (works best in Chrome) that you can roll around collecting elements from the web page. At first you can only grab links but as you grow you can grab increasingly large objects like photo elements off the page. It doesn’t have the sophisticated graphics of the Playstation version, of course, nor the detailed back story, but it’s a clever little hack that is sure to delight fans of Katamari Damacy. Katamari Hack [KatHack] Internet Explorer 9 Released: Here’s What You Need To KnowHTG Explains: How Does Email Work?How To Make a Youtube Video Into an Animated GIF

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  • What is the ideal laptop for creative coding applications?

    - by Jason
    Hi, I am a creative coder using C++(cinder and OpenFrameworks) I am looking to upgrade from my MacBook, which slowed down to about 3fps this morning. My project involves particles systems and fluids reacting to audio analysis data and computer vision data in real-time. SD or HD? no biggie. I have asked many people what computer I need. Ideally, I want a MacBook Pro. But is that enough power? I've been told that I need a desktop for what I am doing though I'd rather stay portable I've been told that I should go PC linux to get the most power but I'd rather stay mac I've been told that RAM is more of bottleneck than processor speed I've been told that the Graphics Card is more important than CPU and that code optimizations such as using trees over lists, proper threading, sending tasks to the GPU make a bigger difference than the hardware!!! what's true?! what do I need? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated

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  • DIY Halloween Decoration Uses Simple Silohuettes

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    While many of the Halloween decorating tricks we’ve shared over the years involve lots of wire, LEDs, and electronic guts, this one is thoroughly analog (and easy to put together). A simple set of silhouettes can cheaply and quickly transform the front of your house. Courtesy of Matt over at GeekDad, the transformation is easy to pull off. He explains: It’s really just about as simple as you could hope for. The materials needed are: black posterboard or black-painted cardboard; colored cellophane or tissue paper; and tape. The only tools needed are: measuring tape; some sort of drawing implement — chalk works really well; and scissors and/or X-Acto knife. And while you need some drawing talent, the scale is big enough and the need for precision little enough that you don’t need that much. For a more thorough rundown of the steps hit up the link below or hit up Google Images to find some monster silhouette inspiration. Window Monsters [Geek Dad] How Hackers Can Disguise Malicious Programs With Fake File Extensions Can Dust Actually Damage My Computer? What To Do If You Get a Virus on Your Computer

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  • Mercury and Sound Waves [Video]

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    In this video a tone generator is used to shoot specific frequencies through a large drop of mercury which results in a wide array of unique shapes and patterns created by standing waves–but really, you need to see it to appreciate it. The experiment, put together by Nick Moore, combines a glass dish, a drop of mercury, and a old tone generator to demonstrate standing waves in 3D. Check out the video above to see the experiment in full speed or hit up his YouTube channel to see a remix with music (and other cool science experiment videos). Mercury Hz [via Mental_Floss] How to Use an Xbox 360 Controller On Your Windows PC Download the Official How-To Geek Trivia App for Windows 8 How to Banish Duplicate Photos with VisiPic

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  • Instapaper Updates; Sports Native Social Media Sharing, Browsing, and More

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Popular web content manager Instantpaper has updated to version 3.0 and brings a host of new features like native support for social media sharing, a recommendation system, in-app web browsing and more. Last year we shared a detailed guide with you on how to use Instapaper to save content from the web to your iOS device for later reading–definitely check it out if you’re unfamiliar with Instapaper. Some of the new features in Instapaper 3.0 include a social recommendation system where you can follow other Instapaper users and see the articles they are liking/sharing, native support for sharing to Twitter, Facebook, and other social media systems, smart rotation lock on the display, and more efficient article downloading and storage. Check out the link below to read a full rundown of the new features on the Instapaper blog. Instapaper 3.0 Is Here! [Instapaper via O'Reilly Radar] HTG Explains: What Are Character Encodings and How Do They Differ?How To Make Disposable Sleeves for Your In-Ear MonitorsMacs Don’t Make You Creative! So Why Do Artists Really Love Apple?

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  • Cutting the Cable: The State of Internet-based TV [Infographic]

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    If you’ve been turning your cable box on less and watching more shows online, you’re certainly not alone. Check out this infographic look at the state of TV distribution in the digital age to see how everyone is getting their TV fix. People are watching more media online, less from traditional distribution channels, and in a more mobile and selective way than ever before. Hit up the link below to check out the full infographic with a shake down of how media consumption has shifted and who is jockeying for a slice of the consumers’ attention. Cutting the Cable: The State of Internet-based TV [Daily Infographic] How to Enable Google Chrome’s Secret Gold IconHow to Create an Easy Pixel Art Avatar in Photoshop or GIMPInternet Explorer 9 Released: Here’s What You Need To Know

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  • Leeroy Jenkins Reimagined As a Bank Heist [Video]

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    In this 3-minute short film, Leeroy Jenkins of World of War Craft infamy, brings his raid-botching power to the real world in a bank heist gone wrong. If you haven’t seen the original Leeroy Jenkins clip, watch it first to properly contextualize this entertaining little film. [via Super Punch] HTG Explains: Learn How Websites Are Tracking You Online Here’s How to Download Windows 8 Release Preview Right Now HTG Explains: Why Linux Doesn’t Need Defragmenting

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  • A LEGO-Themed Take On the Movie Inception [Video]

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    This Inception-inspired short film combines LEGO and CGI to great effect. Courtesy of a Staffordshire University design team, the short is a result of roughly a thousand hours of design work spread between seven students to serve as their semester project in visual FX. It has everything you could want from Inception rendered in LEGO: folding landscapes, flying bricks, an a LEGO man or two even loses his head. [via Geeks Are Sexy] HTG Explains: What Is Windows RT and What Does It Mean To Me? HTG Explains: How Windows 8′s Secure Boot Feature Works & What It Means for Linux Hack Your Kindle for Easy Font Customization

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  • The Most Ridiculous Computer Cameos of All Time

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    For the last half century computers have played all sorts of major and minor roles in movies; check out this collection to see some of the more quirky and out-of-place appearances. Wired magazine rounds up some of the more oddball appearances of computers in film. Like, for example, the scene shown above from Soylent Green: Spoiler alert: Soylent Green is people! But that’s not the only thing we’re gonna spoil. Soylent Green is set in 2022, and at one point, you’ll notice that a government facility is still using a remote calculator that plugs into the CDC 6600, a machine that was state-of-the-art in 1971. Come to think of it, we should scratch this from the list. This is pretty close to completely accurate. Hit up the link below to check out the full gallery, including a really interesting bit about how the U.S. Government’s largest computer project–once decommissioned and sold as surplus–ended up on the sets of dozens of movies and television shows. The Most Wonderfully Ridiculous Movie Computers of All Time [Wired] Why Enabling “Do Not Track” Doesn’t Stop You From Being Tracked HTG Explains: What is the Windows Page File and Should You Disable It? How To Get a Better Wireless Signal and Reduce Wireless Network Interference

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  • XboxMP Helps You Find Multiplayer Games for the Xbox

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Searching for the perfect versus or cooperative Xbox multiplayer game can be challenging–the game publisher says it plays four but what exactly does that mean? XboxMP catalogs games with detailed breakdowns of what the multiplayer experience actually entails. You can search first generation Xbox games, Xbox 360 games, and Xbox Live Arcade games with a variety of detailed criteria including the number of players it supports for local, system link, and online play (it may be a deal breaker, for example, that the only way to play the game with 4 players is to have two Xboxes or an Xbox live account). In addition to the multiplayer game data each game listing also includes addition information about the general game play including peripheral support and other features. Hit up the link below to check it out and, for more help finding multiplayer cooperative games, make sure to check out previously reviewed Co-Optimus. XBoxMP What Is the Purpose of the “Do Not Cover This Hole” Hole on Hard Drives? How To Log Into The Desktop, Add a Start Menu, and Disable Hot Corners in Windows 8 HTG Explains: Why You Shouldn’t Use a Task Killer On Android

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  • Finding the Best Spot in the Microwave [Video]

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Where’s the best spot in the Microwave? In this video we see a neat hands-on demonstration with some LED lights that shows just how the microwave beam in your microwave works. In the above video from Smarter Ever Day they visit the National Electronics Museum and get a first person look at how microwaves work and why nearly every microwave you’ll ever own has a turn table. Best Spot in the Microwave? [YouTube] How to Make and Install an Electric Outlet in a Cabinet or DeskHow To Recover After Your Email Password Is CompromisedHow to Clean Your Filthy Keyboard in the Dishwasher (Without Ruining it)

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