The Truth: Mysterious Spiral Explanation Actually Was Alien Sighting Cover-Up [Aliens]

I admit it: I’m part of a worldwide plot coordinated by a secret international agency. We’re the same people who covered the fake Apollo landings, JFK’s assassination, and Tom Cruise. Fortunately, some readers uncovered the truth behind the mysterious spiral.

You are right, dear UFO and strange phenomena experts who sent the emails in the gallery. It is true, this is not what happened with the mysterious giant spiral in Norway. And since you are right, I’m sharing your theories on the matter with everyone in Gizmodo (yes, these are serious emails and comments from real readers).






Google Turns on Real-Time Search Results [Real-time Search]

The search giant showed us how real-time search would work, but very quietly turned on the actual feature this morning. Search for a topic that’s getting a lot of play on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, or Identi.ca, and you’ll see those results in a (strangely) scroll-able mini-section on your results page. Are you seeing these results unexpectedly today? Have they been helpful, or just noisy? [ReadWriteWeb]






How 3.6 Zettabytes of Data Get Consumed [Data]

You probably already saw that the average American tears through 34GB of data per person per day. Here’s how the media has evolved these last few decades (sorry print), and below a way to compare your consumption with Joe Average.

This chart breaks down each activity by hours, bytes, and words for the total population, average per user, and average per American in 2008. There’s a lot to process here, but my first reaction is: that many people still watch TV in standard def?

*A 1 with 21 zeros after it [UC-San Diego]






Microsoft re-releases Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool

Microsoft has re-posted the USB/DVD download tool after it was discovered it contained GPLv2 code. Installing Windows 7 on a netbook can be a daunting task. The lack of DVD drive can make even the most skilled geek feel inadequate and mortal. The only real way to plug external data into a netbook is via its USB ports. Now these handy lil' ports would be great, assuming Windows 7 actually came on bootable flash drives. Sadly, Microsoft hasn't decided to take that route. Instead, you're stuck scratching your head, googling (or binging, whichever) the best way to turn your flash drive into an installation disc.

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Microsoft planning to release Windows 7 Touch Pack download

Microsoft announced the Windows 7 Touch Pack back in May but originally it was meant for OEMs only. Today the company confirmed that it will be offering the Touch Pack for download soon. The official Touch Pack site states "the Touch Pack comes preinstalled on some multitouch PCs running Windows 7, and will soon be available for download. It's not included in Windows 7." A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed the sighting to Neowin but would only say "Microsoft is planning to make it available via download soon but has not confirmed/committed to a timeline." Obviously, in order to use these applications, you will need a Windows 7 PC that supports multi-touch.

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Most Popular How-To Features of 2009 [Best Of 2009]

We cover a lot of tips every day on Lifehacker, but we get our greatest pleasure from putting together in-depth, step-by-step guides. From Windows 7 to Hackintoshes and beyond, here’s a look back at our most popular how-to features of ’09.

How to Do Everything with Windows 7

Windows 7 was a huge part of 2009, and the Lifehacker crowd was eager to try it out early on—but not necessarily ready to ditch XP or Vista outright to do so. This guide got you up and running with a Windows 7 and Vista/XP dual-boot system. Once you got it up and running, our complete guide to Windows 7 got you started with the most important parts of tackling your new operating system. We toured Windows 7’s best, most underhyped features, schooled you on its impressive list of cool new shortcuts, and detailed how to pull a little XP mode in Windows 7. It was a pretty good year for Windows users.

How to Build a Hackintosh with Snow Leopard, Start to Finish

The Apple tax is always a little higher than a lot of people are willing to pay, so this year’s guide to building a Hackintosh with Snow Leopard, start to finish, followed up by the simplified guide to install Snow Leopard on your Hackintosh PC, no hacking required made a pretty big splash.

How to Crack a Wi-Fi Network’s WEP Password

Whether you’re verifying the security of your own network or up to something a little more dubious in nature, this guide to cracking a Wi-Fi network’s WEP password with BackTrack—followed by this WEP cracking redux post that took WEP cracking out of the command line realm proved popular.

Google Wave First Look

Google Wave made a serious splash this year, and while a lot of people still aren’t sure how to best put it to use, there’s no doubt that there’s a lot of interesting technology going on there. We did our best to help you understand how you might use it yourself, starting with our Google Wave first look, moving onto a few best use cases for Wave, and rounding it out with a guide to Wave keyboard shortcuts, filters, searches, and more with our Google Wave 101 guide.

Clean Up and Revive Your Bloated, Sluggish Mac

Feel like your Mac isn’t the speedy little box it used to be? Our guide to cleaning up and reviving your bloated, sluggish Mac will get your machine back to running like a champ. (PC users, we’ve got you covered here.)

Prep Your Mac for Snow Leopard

Windows users had the Windows 7 release, Mac users had the Snow Leopard upgrade, and this guide detailed how to prep your Mac for Snow Leopard for a painless transition.

Build a Silent, Standalone XBMC Media Center On the Cheap

The future of home entertainment isn't in your cable box as you know it today—it's in powerful home theater PCs. There was a time when you'd need a big, noisy box next to your computer if you wanted to impress with your HTPC, but this guide to building a silent, standalone XBMC media center on the cheap turns an inexpensive, tiny nettop computer into a standalone XBMC set-top box.

The First-Timer’s Guide to Building a Computer from Scratch

Ever been interested in building your own PC from the bottom up but always been a little scared of rolling up your sleeves with computer hardware? Building a computer from scratch is easier than you think, and it’s also one of the most satisfying projects a tech enthusiast can tackle.

Programmer 101: Teach Yourself How to Code

Whether you just want to do some simple scripting or you want to start down the road to an entirely new skill set, our 101 guide for teaching yourself how to code is a great place to get started.

How to Fix Your Relatives’ Terrible Computer

If you didn't already fix every one of your relatives' computers over Thanksgiving, don't worry—the holidays are quickly approaching, and you know your the resident IT person for your friends and family. Our guide to fixing your relatives’ terrible computer can help.Photo by Justin Marty.

Cut the Cable For Good with Boxee and Apple TV

If our above guide to building a silent, standalone XBMC media center wasn’t quite your bag of chips, consider our step-by-step guide to cutting the cable for good with Boxee and Apple TV. You remember Boxee, right? They’re the killer media center folks who had to fight it out with Hulu all year, and they just updated with an impressive new look and feel. Photo by philcampbell.

Six Ways You Should Be Using Twitter (that Don’t Involve Breakfast)

Twitter may be taking the world by storm, but it’s often- and much-maligned by many of our readers. (47 percent of you say you’d never even use it.) Say what you will about tweeting, but if you’re not using Twitter for at least search, we think you’re missing out.

Properly Erase Your Physical Media

A whopping 40% of the used hard drives on eBay contain easily recoverable personal data. This guide details how to properly erase your physical media when you get rid of anything containing a hard drive so your personal data doesn’t end up in someone else’s hands. Photo by Robert Scoble.

The Definitive Guide to Finding Free Wi-Fi

Spend a lot of time on the road and out of the comfort of your home or office? Our definitive guide to finding free Wi-Fi can help you find some fast internet while you’re out of your home territory. Photo by °Florian.

The Beginner’s Guide to Creating Virtual Machines with VirtualBox

We play around a lot with various pieces of new software and even entire operating systems around these parts. Play it safe or just play around with our beginner’s guide to creating virtual machines with VirtualBox, a free, open-source virtualization tool.

Use Firefox to Fix the Web’s Biggest Annoyances

The web is an amazing place. It can also be an extremely annoying place. Skip the annoying flashing ads, turn off auto-playing movies and sounds, skip the auto-refreshing pages, and more with our guide to fixing the web’s biggest annoyances with Firefox.

How to Build a Web Site from Scratch with No Experience

Ever wanted to try your hand at building a web site you've been dreaming about—but have no experience with web development? We've been there (I was proud to release MixTape.me earlier this year), and this guide for building a web site from scratch with no experience will point you in the right direction.

You’re Backing Up Your Data the Wrong Way

Your data is the most important thing you've got on your computer—in fact, it's everything. If you aren't backing it up correctly, one bad move and all that information—and all those memories—goes the way of the dodo. If you're not sure if you're backing up the right way, this how-to will steer you in the right direction.

Ten Must-Have Gmail Filters Available for Download

If your inbox is overflowing and you feel like you’ve lost control, these 10 must-have Gmail filters will get you started slicing and dicing your inbox into a more manageable place.

An Exhaustive Guide to Saving Your Smartphone’s Battery

If you spend a lot of time outside your home or office, your smartphone is likely your lifeline to the rest of the world. Problem is, your pesky battery can die pretty quickly if you’re not mindful of how you’re using it. Follow our exhaustive guide to saving your smartphone’s battery and you may be able to squeeze a few more hours out of that gadget of yours. Photo by [177].

Make Free VoIP Calls from Google Voice

Soon free-calling functionality may be built into Google Voice (now that Google’s bought Gizmo5), but in the meantime, here’s how you can make free phone calls using Google Voice.

Hack Your Wii for Homebrew without Twilight Princess

If you’ve got a Wii and want to undertake a little homebrew fun, the Twilight Princess hack used to be the only way to go. Not so anymore, and our guide to hacking your Wii for homebrew without Twilight Princess walks you through how to go from zero to homebrew step by step.


Which Is Your Favorite Lifehacker How-To Feature of 2008?(polls)

Got a favorite Lifehacker guide on or off this list that we covered in ’09? Let’s hear about it in the comments. If you’re feeling nostalgic, you can also gander back at the most popular how-to features of 2008.






Windows Live Messenger 2010 revealed

We promised you a look at Windows Live Messenger 2010 earlier this week when we revealed Microsoft is planning both Bing and Messenger iPhone applications next year. Thanks to an anonymous tipster we received several screenshots of Microsoft's upcoming Messenger client due in 2010. We have confirmed these to be genuine and they offer a small insight into what the software giant is planning for Wave 4 of Windows Live. Firstly the main Messenger window that contains your contacts has changed somewhat. Included on the left hand side is a "social stream" of updates provided by Windows Live. These are updates from your Messenger contacts and the data is provided by Windows Live.

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How to Build a Pencil Crossbow [Books]

Take your spitball firepower to the next level with this guide for constructing a No. 2 Pencil Crossbow, one of many undersized armaments found in John Austin’s must-read new book Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction.

For those familiar with the classic Bic pen's true function—not as a lackluster writing implement but as the ideal barrel for a middle school-era rubber band shooter—Mini Weapons is the Holy Grail: a beautifully illustrated guide for making all manner of miniature munitions, from slingshots and catapults to mines and bazookas, with supplies that can be found in any household, office, or classroom. You can start turning implements of work into instruments of war by picking up John Austin’s Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction on Amazon and can find more information at JohnAustinBooks.com.


Supplies:

  • Pen – 1
  • Pencil – 4
  • Rubber Band – 7
  • Tape – 1
  • Wooden Skew (ammo) 1+

The #2 Crossbow is a larger variant of the other bows found in this book. With a structurally solid design and double elastic power, it is equipped to fire large realistic skew arrows. It sports a pen-housing barrel that helps with both accuracy and control.


Step 1:
Using four thin rubber bands, rubber bands, assemble two pairs of unsharpened wooden pencils. Both sets should be identical and tightly secured.


Step 2:
Crisscross the two sets of pencils. Center one of the pencils frames on top of the other towards a selected end. This end will ultimately be the front of your #2 Crossbow. While holding the pairs in place, use one or two rubber bands to fasten the frames into place.


Step 3:
Disassemble the plastic ballpoint pen. You may need a pocketknife or pliers when removing the rear pen cap. The hollowed-out pen housing will be used for your crossbow barrel. Discard all the other pen contents.


Step 4:
Position the pen housing on top of the pencils, as shown, then secure with tape. It is important that the pen housing sits on top of the rubber bands and that the barrel is not obstructed by them.


Step 5:
Slide two wide rubber bands between the tightly secured pencils ends. The pencils should lock the bands into place, but if they don’t add an additional thin rubber bands on the ends. The wider will ultimately provide you with your elastic firepower.


Step 6:
Bring both ends of the rubber bands together and attach them using strong tape. As you secure the bands, try to create a small ammunition pouch with the tape. It is possible you may need several pieces of tape to fasten the bands together securely. Pull the assembly back a few times with your fingers to test.


Step 7:
Your #2 Crossbow is now complete! Slide one wooden skewer (used for cooking) or a 3/16 dowel into the pen housing. Gripping the wood arrow and the rubber bands, pull back and aim your crossbow launcher. Release and watch it fly!

Always operate your crossbow safely. Watch out for spectators and never aim the shooter at anyone. Wooden skewers usually have pointed tips, which can make them very dangerous. Styrofoam targets are ideal; but you should never place them in front of a breakable backdrop just in case you miss your target. Do not use the #2 Crossbow if any of its rubber bands show signs of wear.

Start turning implements of work into instruments of war by picking up John Austin’s Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction on Amazon. Then, check out JohnAustinBooks.com for printable zombie targets you can use to test out your mini weapons.






Apple’s Tablet rumored for March?

AppleInsider reports that Yair Reiner, an Oppenheimer analyst, stated Apple will begin mass production of their rumored tablet device in February. He was quoted saying the following… "Our checks into Apple's supply chain indicate the manufacturing cogs for the tablet are creaking into action and should begin to hit a mass market stride in February… At this stage Apple appears to be sizing its supply chain to support production of as many as 1 million units per month." The device looks like it will have a 10.1 inch multitouch, capacitive, LCD display, as opposed to the previously rumored 9.7 inch OLED.

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New Tron Legacy Poster and Image Online

Tron Legacy is shaping up to be a very visually stunning movie, and there is a new image and poster online.


The imgagery is just amazing. The poster looks a little gamey, but then its supposed to take place inside a video game.

Each step closer to the release of this film and the nostalgic little boy inside me gets closer to peeing his pants.

Via

Giant Mysterious Spiral Takes Over the Skies of Norway [Science]

People are freaking out all over Norway because of what you are seeing here. According to Norwegian news outlets, the spooky giant spiral was seen, photographed, and recorded on video from all over the country. Updated.

Confirmed: It was a failed Russian missile launch. Click here for the full explanation.

Could it all be a hoax? Maybe it's a massive joke, but all kinds of Norwegian news sites are reporting on it. According to NKR—Norway's national TV channel—it could be related to a rocket fired from a Russian submarine in the White Sea. The Russians are denying any part on it at this at the moment. Nick Banbury, a witness located at Harstad, described how it all happened:

We are used to seeing lots of auroras here in Arctic Norway, but on my way to work this morning I saw something completely unexpected. Between 7:50 and 8:00 a.m. local time, there was a strange light in the sky. It consisted initially of a green beam of light similar in colour to the aurora with a mysterious rotating spiral at one end. This spiral then got bigger and bigger until it turned into a huge halo in the sky with the green beam extending down to the earth.

As hard as it is to believe, you can’t dispute the fact that the strange spiral was witnessed and recorded by thousands of people from hundreds of miles away, which means that the phenomenon occurred at a very high altitude. Even Phil Plait from Bad Astronomy agrees that this is real, and says that it was probably a rocket out of control. Norwegian astronomers and news outlets have actually confirmed that this was a failed Russian missile launch.

So barring any epic group joke, expect your new alien overlords to arrive at any time now. We can only hope they are all peace-loving voluptuous blondes with blue eyes. [Altaposten, VG, NRK via SpaceWeather via Universe Today—thanks Gonzalo Oxenford]

If you know Norwegian and have any information, contact me on AIM or by mail.






Americans Consume 34GB of Content a Day [Information]

The New York Times highlights a a report published by the University of California, San Diego claiming that the average American consumes 34GB of content and 100,000 words a day. How is that possible, you ask? It’s all about bathing in the data.

This doesn't mean we read 100,000 words a day — it means that 100,000 words cross our eyes and ears in a single 24-hour period. That information comes through various channels, including the television, radio, the Web, text messages and video games.

In fact, the report focuses primarily on our insatiable appetite for information (11.8 hours of information a day fills our gluttonous info-bellies). [NYT]






Google Docs Now Lets You Export Everything At Once [Backup]

Google Docs already has an option to export every document you check off, but checking them all off is a time-wasting pain. Now it’s much more simple to grab everything, 2 GB at a time, in zipped-up files.

The Digital Inspiration blog points out the new addition to Google Docs’ export options. Simply select any file by checking the box to its left, then hit the More Actions menu and select Export. In the box that pops up, there’s a check box at the bottom to “Export all your files (up to 2 GB),” which, for most users, covers just about everything. Those with more will be prompted with a list of the files that couldn’t be exported, so you can grab them next. You can also choose what format your files are downloaded in, which is mighty helpful as well.






Google Chrome hits beta for Mac and Linux, extensions available for extra-smug Windows and Linux users

At long last Mac and Linux users don’t have to feel like second class citizens in Chrome land: they’ve got official beta versions of Google’s browser to call their own. Of course, people have been running the open source Chromium version on both sides of the fence for ages, but beta brings with it a new level of stability and officialness. Google is also finally launching extensions for Chrome, which is available for the Windows and Linux versions of the browser, and with Mac compatibility on the way. There are already 300 extensions available, not a bad start, and hopefully a good indication of the sorts of added functionality we’ll be able to stuff into Chrome OS with the help of a seemingly-excited developer community.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Google Chrome hits beta for Mac and Linux, extensions available for extra-smug Windows and Linux users originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Store, Edit, and Share Documents with Microsoft Web Apps

One of the more exciting features available with the new Office 2010 release from Microsoft is the ability to share and edit documents with their Office Web Apps service. Today we take a look at how it works with Office 2010.

A while ago we took an overview look at the Office Live Web Apps feature and what you can expect. Here we’re going to take a closer look at it’s features with Office 2010 and what you can can accomplish with the new service.

Using Microsoft Live Web Apps with Office 2010

In this example we take a look at sharing MS Office documents and also preparing them for collaboration online. Before sharing a document you can click on the File tab which they call Backstage view. It includes the feature Prepare for Sharing which allows you to inspect the document, check Accessibility, and check compatibility.

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In the Document Inspector, decide which type of content you want to analyze.

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It gives you the results and you can click to remove different aspects of the document.

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Save to SkyDrive

Click on the Share tab on the left side where it gives you options to share the document on you SkyDrive, SharePoint, publish to your blog, or send as an email.

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When you share it to your SkyDrive you’re prompted to log into your Live account.

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After logging in you can select which folder on your SkyDrive to save the document in.

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It takes a moment for the connection to be established, Explorer opens up showing the files you have in the SkyDrive folder and you can save it like you normally would on your local machine.

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While the document is saving you will see a progress bar at the bottom of the document showing it is uploading to the server.

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Office 2010 has a feature called Upload Center that allows you to keep track of the documents you upload. From here you can manage the documents you upload to the servers.

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If the MS servers are unreachable for some reason, the document will be shown as a pending upload in the Backstage section and you can try to upload it again or cancel the changes.

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Access and Edit Documents Online

To access and edit the uploaded documents from the web, you’ll need to log into your Windows live account and go into SkyDrive and select the document you want to work on.

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In the next screen yourself and other collaborators can leave comments on the document.

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To share a document with others you’ll need to make sure they have permission to the folder the docs are stored in, then send them the Web address link.

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The Web Apps service currently has limited functionality compared to the desktop app, but it does allow basic editing and is a good way to share and collaborate on your documents.

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The PowerPoint Web App lets you make quick edits and create new basic presentations. There is no save option as edits to a presentation are automatically saved.

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With PowerPoint presentations you can kick off a slide show. This is handy if you want to share a presentation in read only mode to others on the web.

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Currently you can only read, print, or open Word Web Apps…there is no ability to edit them online, but according to Microsoft that option is on the way.

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Conclusion

Office Web Apps is still in technical preview and Office 2010 is in beta testing, but both are available to anyone and you might want to get started now. There are several ways to share and access documents online through Web Apps and also using SharePoint which is great for business. Another cool thing about Web Apps is they will work with browsers other than Internet Explorer. According to the site, it officially supports Internet Explorer 7 & 8, Firefox 3.5, and Safari 4 on Mac, although I have been able to get it to work fairly well in Google Chrome. If you’re looking for easy way to store, edit and share documents online or from a mobile device, Web Apps are an exciting new feature that you can start using now.

Microsoft Office Web Apps

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Google introduces real time search

Google's a company that's continually trying new things. It's braved the world of browsers, mobile phones, and, soon to be, operating systems. It still doesn't forget about its roots, though: search. The company has unveiled its implementation of real time search, which will be going live soon. As written about on Google's blog, the company claims its doing this as it does its best to bring consumers the latest, real time news, in an easy-to-read way. Now, whenever you search for a topic, you'll be able to see live updates from sites like FriendFeed and Twitter, enabling you to see what others have to say about what you're interested in (of course, you'll get updates from news sites, also).

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