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Unsyiah Gratiskan SPP Mahasiswa Korban Gempa Gayo

Korban gempa mendapat perawatan di Posko Puskesmas, Lampahan, Kecamatan Timang Gajah, Kabupaten Bener Meriah, Aceh Selasa (2/7/2013). Gempa berkekuatan 6.2 SR di Aceh, menghancurkan rumah dan mengakibatkan tanah longsor. Tujuh orang tewas dan puluhan terluka. | SERAMBI INDONESIA / MAHYADI
BANDA ACEH, KOMPAS.com — Pihak rektorat Universitas Syiah Kuala (Unsyiah) Darussalam Banda Aceh akan menggratiskan biaya sumbangan pembinaan pendidikan (SPP) untuk mahasiswa korban gempa dataran tinggi Gayo.

"Penggratisan uang SPP selama satu semester untuk mahasiswa korban gempa Gayo merupakan salah satu bentuk perhatian Unsyiah untuk membantu mahasiswa dan keluarga yang tertimpa musibah bencana alam," kata Kepala Humas Unsyiah Darussalam Banda Aceh, Ilham Maulana, di Banda Aceh, Jumat (2/8/2013).

Dijelaskannya, untuk pemberian SPP gratis tersebut, pihaknya saat ini sedang mendata mahasiswa korban bencana gempa Gayo yang telah mengajukan penggratisan SPP semester ganjil. Hingga saat ini, ada sekitar 51 mahasiswa dari Aceh Tengah dan Bener Meriah melapor ke Biro Kemahasiswaan untuk diproses sebagai salah satu penerima program gratis SPP akibat bencana.

Pihaknya memberikan kesempatan hingga 15 Agustus 2013 kepada korban bencana gempa Gayo untuk melapor ke Biro Administrasi Kemahasiswaan Biro Rektor Unsyiah dengan membawa surat keterangan tertimpa musibah dari kepala desa, camat, tempat orangtua mahasiswa berdomisili, foto rumah yang rusak, kartu keluarga, KTP/KTM, dan KRS/slip SPP.

"Tim Unsyiah akan melakukan verifikasi terhadap seluruh data yang masuk guna memastikan yang bersangkutan layak diberikan atau tidak," katanya.

Ilham menambahkan, pembayaran SPP mahasiswa lama sampai dengan tanggal 23 Agustus 2013 yang pembayarannya dapat dilakukan secara online melalui bank yang sudah bekerja sama dengan Unsyiah.

Gempa berkekuatan 6,2 skala richter pada 2 Juli 2013 yang mengguncang Kabupaten Bener Meriah dan Aceh Tengah mengakibatkan korban meninggal dunia dan ribuan rumah penduduk rusak berat, sedang, dan ringan.

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Chrome Gets a New Settings Reset Button, Improved Omnibox

Today, Google rolled out an update for Chrome that allows you to clear out all extensions and revert your installation back to its initial state without messing up your themes, bookmarks, or apps.

To get to the new option, go to your settings via the menu and select "Show advanced settings." At the bottom of the page, click "Reset browser settings" (as shown above) and Chrome will clean out your installation and make it just like new. The new update also brings some improvements to the omnibox.

Smarter omnibox suggestions for all | Google Chrome Blog

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Challenge Winner: Iron Shirts Quickly with a DIY Ironing Board

In last week's Hacker Challenge, we asked you to share your best laundry hack. We received some great entries, but the winning hack shows us how to create a custom template to get through your ironing faster.

Check out the description of the winning entry below and read about some of our other favorite entries.

Challenge Winner: Iron Shirts Quickly with a DIY Ironing Board

John hates ironing. He figured one reason for this was that the shape of the typical ironing board really isn't made to fit anything well. Since his dress shirts demand the bulk of his ironing attention, John decided to create an ironing board to fit those shirts. He began by making a cardboard template of his extra-large shirts, tweaking the template until it fit perfectly. He then cut a piece of particle board to match the template, upholstered it with cotton batting and material used for ironing board covers, and screwed it into his standard ironing board. Since his shirts fit perfectly, he gets through them much more quickly. If you're interested, be sure to check out his instructable.

We got a lot of great entries and we'd be remiss if we didn't share some of our favorites. Here are some of the entries that really impressed us.

lyo shares a single washer and dryer with a household of seven. He noticed that one big reason laundry got piled up was that if someone found clothes in the washer that hadn't been dried yet, they weren't sure what to do with them. To speed along the process, he put up a laundry whiteboard. People can set requested dryer settings by placing magnets on pre-labeled spots, write in special requests (such as what items need to be hung to dry), and note where clothes should go when dry. Now, when members of the household come to wash a load of clothes, they can at least move the process along.

Viktor's new washing machine worked well enough, but for whatever reason didn't come with the simple feature of beeping when the load was finished. He probably could have just used a simple kitchen timer, but Viktor wanted to do something a little more creative. So, he built a device that monitors the movement of his washer while it's running and beeps when it's done. Check out the technical details on his blog.

Like most of us, David always forgets to empty the washer when it's done. Unlike most of us, David decided to do something about the problem. He set up an Arduino to use a photodiode so that it can read the status LED on the washer and report the result. The Ethernet Arduino is connected to the home network using a simple WiFi bridge. His central home automation computer communicates with the Arduino via Telnet. When it detects that the washer is done, it uses text-to-speech to read a message letting David know it's time to check the laundry.

A big thanks to everyone who took the time to send us entries! Be sure to check back every week for a new challenge.

Image by Rafael Chacon Photography (flickr).

Belkin WeMo Light Switch Builds Simple Home Automation into Your Wall

We've previously mentioned Belkin's super simple WeMo home automation system, but back then they only offered outlets and motion sensors. They've now bridged the gap with a light switch you can install directly into the wall in order to add WeMo services to the wiring in your home.

While not quite as simple as plugging something into a wall, replacing a light switch is one of the easier electrical projects you can undertake. While you should hire an electrician if you don't feel qualified to do it yourself, Belkin does provide a simple and thorough tutorial to walk you through the process (see video above). Barring the installation process, the WeMo Light Switch takes just as little time to set up as the original devices. The service now comes with enhanced IFTTT support and an Android app, so you no longer need to own an iDevice to use it.

Belkin WeMo Light Switch ($50) | Amazon

Chronos Shows You How You're Spending Your Precious, Limited Time

iOS/Android: If you run out of hours in the day wishing you could make time for more important things, Chronos can tell you how much time you spend at work, home, the gym, in traffic or transit, and so on. It compiles all of the data into useful reports so you can see exactly where the hours go.

We've shown you how to reclaim your workday and be more productive by tracking your time with RescueTime. It's great if you're tracking your computer usage, but what about the rest of your day? Chronos wants to give you similar insight into your day-to-day activities, like how long you spend in traffic, how long you're actually working overtime, how much time you actually get to spend with friends or family, and so on. The app runs quietly in the background of your smartphone, and lets you highlight and mark events, locations, and more so you can get a complete picture of your day and your travels.

The app can also be useful to track your activities on vacation or when you're motoring about town, so you can look back and see where you've been and what you've accomplished on a given day. At the end of a day, or a few days of tracking, you can see where you're spending your time, and consciously make changes to your routine and lifestyle so you have more time for the things that are important to you.

The app comes in two flavors. The iOS version is fully featured and gives you feedback on your activities that you can view from your phone (as shown in the video above). The Android version is a data collector that just runs in the background and collects information you can review in infographic form on your computer later. Hit the link below to learn more about it, and download it from the app store of your choice.

Chronos - Find Your Time

A hacker claims to have gained access to "the entire database of users on Twitter" after leaking the

A hacker claims to have gained access to "the entire database of users on Twitter" after leaking the details of 15,000 accounts, but Twitter asserts that "no accounts have been compromised." You can read more here.

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Examine.com Is an FAQ for All Things Health and Nutrition

You'll find just about every answer on the internet, whether right or wrong. Sometimes bad information won't hurt you much, but when it comes to your physical health you don't want to trust a poorly-researched answer. Examine.com takes the most common health and nutrition questions and answers them by accumulating research and studies to give you the best answer currently available.

Not sure if eggs are healthy, or if high-fructose corn syrup will do more harm than regular sugar? Examine.com compiles the research to answer common questions like these. You can browse or search the site to find the answers you're looking for, or ask a question of your own. You should, of course, consult your doctor before making any significant changes that affect your health, but if you want a solid scientific opinion this is where you can find it.

Examine.com

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Contacts+ Brings Smart, Feature-Packed Contact Management to iPhone

iOS: Contacts+ syncs information from all of your connected services, like Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and your address book to give you complete contact cards for your friends, organized with big photos of each person. One tap calls them, another gets you up to speed on what they've been doing lately.

The video above gives you a good idea of how it works. One tap brings up a contact card full of information from all of your social networks and other services. Another tap calls your friend or sends them a text right from within Contacts+, and another will show you their latest posts on Facebook, their Twitter stream, updates on LinkedIn or Google+, and so on. The app also makes it easy to organize your contacts into groups, or quick call them by tapping and holding their contact photo. It'll even notify you when it's one of your friends' birthday, so you can call them or send them a text to wish them well.

Contacts+ is completely free (and also available for Android), and according to the developers always will be. There may be premium features in the future, but the power that the app offers now is already a huge improvement over the default contacts app, and on par with our old favorite address book for iPhone, Smartr Contacts, which was recently acquired and shuttered by Yahoo. Hit the link below to give Contacts+ a try.

Contacts+ (Free) | iTunes App Store

Get Social With Lifehacker and Your Favorite Writers

Every day, we post selections of our stories to different social networks so you can stay up to date and share with friends. Why not join us on your preferred network and add a little awesome to your day?

While you're around, you can make your social networks of choice even happier places by following your favorite Lifehacker writers. You can see what kinds of things they get up to in the off hours, what they're reading on other sites, and sometimes even pick up extra tips and tricks.

And don't forget—you can always keep up with our stories by adding our RSS feed to your favorite newsreader. Whatever way you choose to keep up with us, thanks for joining in on the fun!

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Confession: Maybe Coming Back to Cable TV Was a Bad Idea

After 2.5 years without cable TV I decided it was time to come back. Why? There were a number of reasons, which you can read about here. Now that I'm back, though, I regret it. Honestly, what the hell is going on?

My first introduction to cable television didn't come until college, but since then it was always a nice-to-have luxury, and one that I was willing to pay for because the content was worth it to me. When I signed back up after my hiatus, I figured that would still be the case, or at least that it would be easy enough to find the diamonds in the rough. I'm beginning to think I made a HUGE mistake.

The lack of decent programming is bad enough, and obviously your mileage will vary depending on taste. But good god it's bleak out there, a landscape littered with reality television bozos and hapless morons and just... ugh. But the shows aren't the worst part. Want to know what really chaps my ass, burns my biscuits, funks up my gravy? The menus.

Decades after gigantic satellite dishes were cluttering up yards, and cable got its first visual interfaces, TV is still hell to navigate with a basic set-top box. The sheer number of channels would be paralyzing enough. As a relaxing ocean of zero-agency white noise, sure, a host of channels to zoom through still has appeal. But who has the time to just channel surf through a bunch of unreadable, unnavigable, unrelenting horseshit menus? Answer: No one.

And let's not forget the actual controllers. They suck. A lot. There's a reason why we can use our mobile devices as remote controls now. Look at Roku or Apple TV, for instance. They both allow you to search for content using the on-screen keyboard, which can be frustrating to pair, but works just fine most of the time. In contrast, with your cable TV remote, you're relegated to the d-pad. If you aren't confused by this, you should be.

I've found that the easiest way to navigate the maelstrom is by using mobile apps. Seriously. Think about it: We've all grown accustomed to mobile UIs. They're intuitive unlike their dinosaur counterparts. You simply scroll, tap or type and voila! When you look at the Netflix, Hulu, or the HBO GO app, you know exactly what to do. There's no confusion. Zero clutter. Just pure viewing bliss.

But we can do better than just apps and websites. When Google TV was announced back in 2010, I thought it was the most amazing thing to happen to TV in quite some time. In theory at least. Most of us know what we want to watch, so it's just a matter of searching for it. You might not Google things all day like me, but you know how to search for things. GTV offered a way to bypass every cable set-top box menu and just get straight to the content. Whether it's a dispute with content providers, like HBO, or drab hardware, like the Co-Star, GTV has been poorly executed from the top-down.

Perhaps that's the reasoning behind Apple's recent acquisition of Matcha.tv, a video discovery tool that simply tells you where you can watch what you're searching for. Apple does have a track record of rehashing others' services that work like crap, but there's precedent here. More and more, source-agnostic search is becoming standard in on-demand, from Xbox 360 to the Wii U to the latest TiVo, universal search is taking hold. Adding in live TV would be a nice move for Apple. But there's no set timeline as to when Apple plans to implement the service into current Apple TV software, or even how. Fingers crossed that it will come soon, and that it will be good.

As for the future of my TV watching experience? I think I've made a grave mistake. I'm watching even less content than before. One thing is for sure though, I don't see myself paying for cable beyond this MotoGP season. In fact, I may just end it now; Fox Sports 1's coverage of MotoGP is like watching a monkey fuck a football. I signed back up for cable to watch more stuff—not to ruin the stuff I already watch.

Image: Flickr user schmilblick

Disable Ads on YouTube With This Simple Command

There are a lot of ways to block ads, but with a simple command in the developer console, you can disable all ads on YouTube via an experiment.

Google frequently tries out new features with experiments via TestTube. A less advertised experiment can disable all ads on the site. Here's how to turn it on:

Open up a YouTube video (any will do).Open up the developer console (Ctrl-Shift-J for Chrome, Ctrl-Shift-K for Firefox)Enter the following code:document.cookie="VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE=oKckVSqvaGw; path=/; domain=.youtube.com";window.location.reload();Boom. No more ads. Since this is something that Google is allowing, it's possible it could go away in the future, but while it works, you get a lovely ad-free viewing experience without any plugins. It even works on those pesky video ads.

YouTube Experiment gets rid of all advertisement on site | Ghacks

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How I Turned My iPhone Into a Simple, Distraction-Free Device

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Instantly See Which Side of Your Car the Gas Tank Is On

You probably know where the gas tank is on your car, but if you rent a car, share one with your family, or get a new one, you probably forget. Here's an easy way to always know where the gas tank is.

Many of you may know this, since it's been part of cars for quite awhile, but I didn't notice this for years. If you look at the little gas indicator on your dashboard, you should see a tiny arrow next to it. That arrow actually points to the gas tank side of your car—see the above video for a demonstration. Now you'll never forget where it is again!

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Minuum Saves Space On Your Phone With a Tiny, Predictive Keyboard

Part of the problem with smartphones is that the virtual keyboards they all come with take up a lot of screen space. Minuum skirts that problem with a crazy-accurate compressed keyboard.

Minuum, which began life as an IndieGogo campaign, shrinks most of the keyboard down to a near-single line, relying on an advanced prediction algorithm to reliably input text. Once you get used to it, it's pretty smooth. In the event that the tiny version doesn't work, the newest update to Minuum adds a traditional full-sized option that can be easily dismissed.

Minuum ($4) | Google Play Store

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How to Transform Your Bright and Noisy Bedroom into a Sleep Paradise

Good sleep really matters, but even if you have what it takes to get a good night's rest you still have to combat the world around you. You can't control the sun or the noise outside, but you can do a few things to make your bedroom dark and quiet when you need it so nothing stands between you and a good night's rest.

The sun rises right into my face every morning at 7:00 AM, and I don't need or want to get up quite so early. On top of that, the leaf blowers and music in my neighborhood get their start at about the same time. Since I'm not Helen Keller, this sort of thing wakes me up in the morning before I'm ready to go. Going to bed early can help, but not all nights were created equal and I wanted a way to survive the distractions. A few DIY tips and tricks made all the difference without much sacrifice.

How to Transform Your Bright and Noisy Bedroom into a Sleep Paradise

You may have noticed, but most blinds only keep out the sun so much. If you've got a lot of natural light in your bedroom like I do, you've probably considered expensive blackout shades but didn't want to pay the price. Additionally, if you actually like the light in your room at other times of the day, blackout shades only give you two options: really dark or really bright. I've found a good solution to each problem, and you can even combine them if you want.

First, you can dim your windows with cut-to-size removable decals. I purchased this Gila Privacy Film, which costs about $17 per window (not much for just a bedroom), but pretty much any generic removable dimming film should do the trick. You just cut it to size, wash your window, and roll it on. You have to take time to press it so it stays, and if you have multiple window panes you'll need to cut it into multiple pieces. I have 24 separate panes on one window and cutting took about an hour. I caught up with some podcasts. You'll probably have an easier time than I did, however, so I wouldn't worry too much about the commitment. Speaking of commitment, you can just take the film off at any time if you like. I taped mine in some places where it wouldn't stick, but it should stay on the window just fine if you leave it alone.

Second, you can make your own blackout shades. I prefer just the decals because I want some light to come in. With less coming through, I wake up closer to 8:00 AM—my desired time—so I don't employ other techniques unless I need to. If you want to make your own shades, you don't really need a lot of know-how. You just need blackout fabric, which you can find for as little as $5 per yard, a curtain rod, a staple gun, and a string. From there you just cut the fabric to the size of your window, staple the top around the curtain rod, mount the curtain rod above your window, and tie the fabric up into a roll with a string until you need to pull your blackout curtains down. Of course, these won't look beautiful by any means. It'll look like you stapled a sheet of fabric to a rod. If you have a sewing machine, however, you can sew them onto the rod and seal the corners without much effort. For some good instructions, check out DIY Network's post on making your own blackout shades.

You can use whichever techniques suit you best, or both. You can also just buy an eye mask if you don't mind them. Either way, you'll reduce the amount of light in your bedroom on the cheap and worry less about an early wake-up call from the sun.

You can block out the sun, but you can't black out the noise. If your home lets in a lot of outdoor sound, you can't really do anything simple to stop it. You can, however, plug up your ears.

You've probably thought of this. Ear plugs make for an obvious solution, but you want to get the right kind. Small foam inserts work best. You wouldn't want them for a loud, damaging concert (you'd want these), you don't need to block out a crazy amount of sound or maintain any level of quality. You just need to block out enough sound to stay asleep without causing much discomfort. You can order foam earplugs in bulk on the cheap. The simple cylindrical type tend to work best for sleep because very little protrudes, and you can get 50 for $11. The slightly-longer ones cost a little less, at $22 for 200. Either way, just shove 'em in your ears at night and you'll sleep well. A vibrating alarm will supplant your noisy clock if you need a wake up call.

Although ear plugs can solve the noise problem, they can create others if used over longer periods of time. You need to safely clean your ears so you don't get compacted wax issues. Also, if you toss and turn a lot at night you might want to avoid ear plugs because a quick change in pressure due to movement of the plug can cause damage to the ear drum. If you think it risky, consult your doctor or sleep specialist prior to using. Custom-molded ear plugs usually solve problems for people with issues (and work better in general), but you'll obviously pay quite a bit more for these. If you really don't want to plug your ears, you can always try a little DIY soundproofing but we've found this barely helps with outside noise.

Light and noise don't make up every sleep condition issue, but they do account for the most common. That said, temperature affects many people in the summertime. If you need to deal with the heat, check out our guide to staying cool while sleeping.

Photo by James Steidl (Shutterstock), Serg64 (Shutterstock), oilyy (Shutterstock), and Ian Murphy.

Many of us struggle to get enough sleep every night, but is the sleep we get any good? While it's important to get enough sleep, better sleep is … Read…

Nothing can stand in for a good night's sleep. Today we're not going to show you how to scrape by with less sleep; instead, we're… Read…

How Can I Get the Most Out of My Internship?

Dear Lifehacker,
I just got an internship at a company I really like, and it seemed like a dream come true until I realized I have absolutely no idea what to do next. How can I make sure I don't screw things up and make the most of this experience?

Sincerely,
Intimidated Intern

Dear I.I.,
Let's start with the good news: nobody expects you to know what to do. No matter what your internship entails, no new worker knows the ropes right away. Your company will spend a lot of time in the first few days, if not more, getting you up to speed. Even if your manager wants to throw you right into the fire, you still have to fill out a few forms and can ask questions. You'll learn as you go, and so long as you work hard and don't make any grievous errors you'll do just fine. With that in mind, let's talk about a few guidelines to follow to make the most out of the experience and avoid those big problems.

How Can I Get the Most Out of My Internship?

With the exception of a handful of people, pretty much no one can sprint for a mile. Even if your internship only lasts a given number of months, you need to avoid burning yourself out. You can't maintain an extremely high level of productivity forever or even a relatively short period of time. If you attempt to do so, you'll start making sacrifices like sleep, free time, and your health. You'll end up hating the work you do because you feel like you have no time for yourself.

You don't have to end up like that. You can do your job well and set boundaries so you have time for other things you care about. While you can't know exactly where your limits lie when they haven't been tested much before, you can say no when someone asks too much of you. No reasonable person will judge you for saying "I have too much on my plate right now, but if it can wait until tomorrow I'm happy to do it."

Conversely, don't feel like you have to set super-strict boundaries. Special occasions will dictate when you might want to work a little late, put in some extra effort on a project, or help out a coworker in need. Save that energy for times that will benefit the company and your reputation at the same time. Although you won't become the paradigm of altruism, we're talking about a job here and not charity work. You only have so much energy to expend, so pick the best moments to expend it so everyone benefits.

Companies may or may not have strict sets of rules, but you need to follow them to the letter for your first two weeks. Show up on time, or even a little bit early. Dress according to whatever dress code they may have (or claim to have). Take your lunch breaks for however long they allow or less. You probably won't have to follow these rules for most of your internship, but don't break them until you know where flexibility lies at your company. After about two weeks you'll know what you can get away with, so just follow them strictly until then.

When you go to lunch, go with others at the company. Start off by asking someone new to go to lunch every day. Tell them you want to meet people around the office and want to know if they'll take their break with you. Not only will this help you get to know people—people who can help you with specific parts of your internship when needed—but some of them might pay for your lunch because they actually make a salary. Even if not, you'll learn all the places people like to eat and save yourself some time discovering nearby quick eats.

Confidence can take you far, but you don't want to go so far that you find yourself jobless on the side of the road. You can make a good impression by standing by your ideals, but you need to keep an open mind and leave the cockiness at home (or in the garbage can, as it doesn't really help you in any situation). Timid people don't have to worry about this problem but will need to make a greater effort to contribute to their team if they want to get noticed.

Fortunately, we're not dealing with a fine line. You want to have the courage to suggest ideas, defend your opinion when you think it serves the company, but also know when to shut up. As much as you may want to have an equal voice in every discussion, interns (and even lower-level employees) need to prove themselves before people start to listen. That takes time. It doesn't happen overnight, and it won't necessarily happen during your internship. Make your voice heard when you can, but if you sense more than just a little resistance you need to back off even you think you're right. Both you and your superiors make mistakes, but you don't have years of experience under your belt. If they argue, people might say "so-and-so argues a lot but always does great work. People won't say the same of you because they'll only know about your argumentative attitude.

On the other side, companies forget people who lack confidence and always stay quiet. Great work takes you most of the way, but if you never contribute beyond what the company instructs you to do you will always restrict your own success. If you lack the courage to make suggestions in meetings (or in general), set aside time at home to think of some and practice. If you don't feel comfortable contributing to a meeting right away, come back the next day with some ideas that came to you overnight. While you might miss your chance to actually contribute, you'll demonstrate that you want to. That'll get you one step closer and you can work your way up to proper confidence in due time.

You will make mistakes, and should. Your company will expect those mistakes, too, so just handle them gracefully. Apologize when necessary, but always prioritize correcting the error. You can only say sorry so many times. Learning from your mistakes, however, demonstrates intelligence and growth.

On top of that, you should pay attention to whom your mistakes affect. Even if you work on a team, errors in your work may affect other teams within the company. When correcting a problem, figure out who you've caused problems for and address that issue with them directly when necessary. You don't want members of a team—or the entire team—thinking of you as the incompetent intern because they haven't put a face to the name. A simple apology can avoid that, especially if you give them an ETA on the correction. As you'll find with most things, good communication gives you a serious advantage.

You may have enough work day-to-day, but when you have free time you should ask for more work. It'll hurt your reputation if someone finds you doing nothing by choice, even if nobody assigned you anything. Show initiative and get new worked assigned to you. Better yet, have something in mind. When free time presents itself, you have a great opportunity to ask for the kind of work you like best or a task you really want to explore. Even if you don't get a job out of the internship, you should seek out the kind of work that'd look good on your resume. That way, should you depart, you can use that experience to get the kind of job you want.

Under the best of circumstances, you can ask your manager for regular feedback on your performance. This way you can learn how to improve from the person who sees you working the most. That said, you might have a better relationship with someone else in the company who can offer a more level-headed perspective. You don't want to go to a work friend for feedback, but rather someone quite a ways above you on the food chain who you respect. Either way, checking in now and then can help you get the small amount of mentoring you need to learn what you can't figure out on your own.

Love,
Lifehacker

Have a question or suggestion for a future Ask Lifehacker? Send it to tips+asklh@lifehacker.com.

Images by Jeremy Kaposy (Shutterstock), Goodluz (Shutterstock), Stuart Grout, and Mopic (Shutterstock).

Trick Chrome into Installing the Google+ Photos App on Windows or Mac

Chrome/Windows/Mac: The Google+ Photos app for Chrome was designed only for Google's Chromebook Pixel, and is now available to all Chromebooks. However, with this little hack, you can install it on your Windows or Mac computer for convenient automated backups of your photos and more.

Right now, if you try to install the Google+ Photos app, you'll get a message that the app isn't supported on your computer. 9to5Mac posted the instructions for enabling the button so you can install the app:

Go to the Google+ Photos app on the Chrome Web StoreRight-click on the grayed-out "Add to Chrome" button and select "Inspect Element"In the bottom text editor that opens up, hit CTRL+F (Windows) or CMD+F (Mac) to search for webstore-button-disabledDouble-click on that highlighted text to select it. Then delete the text and press enter.The "Add to Chrome" button will then turn blue and you can click to install it. The first time you run the app, you'll get a warning it's not designed for your device, but click "Run anyway" to get past that.

Once you're in, you can set it up to automatically backup photos from your computer or memory cards to your Google+ account. Plus, you can use it as a standalone photo viewer and manager for your Google+ photos (the app works offline).

How to enable the Google+ Photos Chrome app on Mac | 9to5Mac

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This Interactive Tool Shows the Cheapest Wireless Plans for Your Needs

If you've ever tried to compare cell phone plan prices, you know it's an exercise in frustration. This calculator from The Wall Street Journal simplifies the 500 or so variations in pricing to tell you whether T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, or AT&T has the best pricing for your specific needs.

Answer five questions and the calculator will show you the cheapest plans and how the pricing breaks down. (Update: Note that the calculator doesn't include prepaid plans, which could save you a bundle more, but you'll have to compare those plans yourself.)

In most cases, whether you have one or multiple lines, T-Mobile is the cheapest option of the Big Four providers—something we've discussed previously. (I wish this calculator was around back then!) However, if you look at the 2-year prices, sometimes—depending on how many phone lines you need—the other providers are less expensive or close to T-Mobile. That's because this calculator rolls into the two-year price the cost of paying for an iPhone 5—and T-Mobile customers pay full price for the phones while the other providers subsidize them.

Price isn't the only factor when choosing a wireless provider, but it's definitely one of the major considerations. This tool takes the pain out of comparing your different options.

WSJ's Wireless Savings Calculator | The Wall Street Journal via Consumerist

Why Kolab Might Be the Best Secure Email Service Still Standing

The digital carnage continues as yet another online service shuts down rather than face NSA scrutiny. Fearing for its email security, the legal site Groklaw shut its doors on Tuesday, but not before offering a very valuable recommendation: An email service that's out of reach of government goons.

If you're worried about the spooks reading your email, take Groklaw founder Pamela Jones's advice and check out Kolab. This ten-year-old open source groupware developer is everything that Gmail is not. Its email and calendar services are completely secure, so your private data will never be crawled. That means there's no robot pulling keywords out of your emails to serve you more relevant ads, and in Kolab's own words, your data "can not be accessed by spy programs such as PRISM, so there will be no spying."

The fun doesn't stop there. One of the key features of Kolab is the fact that they store all client data on a physical server bank in Switzerland, a country with some of the best privacy laws and data security in the world. Kolab proudly points out on its website that there were only 20 cases of real-time internet wiretapping in Switzerland last year—an amount that's basically negligible compared to the NSA's sweeping surveillance programs in the United States—and Kolab meanwhile received no requests from data during the same time period. Kolab promises never to sell your data but makes everything easily downloadable by you from the organization's servers.

There are a couple of downsides and missing features. For one, Kolab doesn't offer end-to-end encryption services which, to be fair, is tough to do for email. (Gmail doesn't offer encryption either.) However, the organization explains in its FAQ that it's chosen not to do server-side encryption is that it's impossible to do so without giving the provider access to the data. They do suggest some email programs like Thunderbird that do support encryption. Another downside is the cost. Kolab's webmail service is not free, although at $10 a month, it's not very expensive either.

Really, it all comes down to how you want to protect your data. Now that we know Google's been working with the NSA and other secure email services like Lavabit and Silent Circle have folded to pressure from the NSA, there aren't many options left for secure email. So it might cost you a buck or two and you might have to seek out some features it doesn't offer, but Kolab's email service is one of your best options. Think of it this way: The servers are literally nestled in the safe and neutral mountains of Switzerland. You don't get much more secure than that.

Why Kolab Might Be the Best Secure Email Service Still Standing

For the last 10 years, if you wanted to understand a complex legal issue in the news, your first stop was Groklaw. A free, open source exchange of… Read…

YouTube's New Look and Multitasking Player Come to iOS

The YouTube app for Android just underwent a major overhaul, with a new interface and the ability to watch videos in a small window while still browsing YouTube.

YouTube now uses the card-based interface we've come to know from Google's other apps, and it's added the ability to search for and watch playlists. Undoubtedly the coolest feature, though, is the ability to watch a video in the corner of your screen while you browse YouTube channels. All you need to do is swipe the video down to turn it into a thumbnail, after which you can tap it to full screen it again (or swipe it to dismiss it). Of course, if you want to overlay a YouTube video over any app on your phone, we've showed you how to do that before too.

The YouTube update is rolling out now, and will come to your device between now and tomorrow. If you're impatient, you can grab the leaked APK over at Android Police.

Most Popular Paper Notebook: Moleskine

Sometimes there's just no beating pen and paper, whether it's for doodling, taking notes in class or a meeting, journaling, or sketching, and in those times you need a great notebook. We asked you last week which ones you preferred, then took a look the five best paper notebooks and put them to a vote. Now we're back to highlight the winner.

Love them or hate them, Moleskine took the top spot with a broad margin and 60% of the overall vote. Moleskine's notebooks come in all shapes, sizes, types, colors, and designs, and they're available almost everywhere, so it makes sense for them to be as popular as they are. Moleskine has also developed a cult-like following of enthusiasts and note-takers unlike many other companies.

Many of you pointed out that you've moved on from Moleskine to some of the other contenders in our roundup, like the second place Field Notes, which earned close to 13% of the vote. Field Notes earned praise for being rugged, long-lasting, and designed to be carried and used in all types of situations and environments. In third place with close to 11% of the vote was Leuchtturm1917, a high-quality notebook manufacturer who's been at it for close to 100 years, making beautifully bound journals and notebooks of all shapes and sizes. In fourth place was Rhodia, one of your favorites for paper quality, with just over 10% of the votes cast. Bringing up the rear with about 6% of the vote was Whitelines, which makes a broad array of beautifully styled modern notebooks, most with their characteristic white-lined paper, and some with digital companion apps that scan and help you organize your notes.

The Hive Five is based on reader nominations. As with most Hive Five posts, if your favorite was left out, it's not because we hate it—it's because it didn't get the nominations required in the call for contenders post to make the top five. We understand it's a bit of a popularity contest, but if you have a favorite, we want to hear about it. Have a suggestion for the Hive Five? Send us an email at tips+hivefive@lifehacker.com!

Use your internship as an opportunity to network.

Great discussions are par for the course here on Lifehacker. Each day, we highlight a discussion that is particularly helpful or insightful, along with other great discussions and reader questions you may have missed. Check out these discussions and add your own thoughts to make them even more wonderful!

For great discussions any time, be sure check out our user-run blog, Hackerspace.

If you've got a cool project, inspiration, or just something fun to share, send us a message at tips@lifehacker.com.

Happy Lifehacking, everybody!

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The Popup Profile Home Screen

We treat our home screens as basic app launchers, but there's something to be said for making the space your own. My Color Screen user Amal Cns took this approach to make the above design.

The design features a steady top half with a background and profile photo, while the lower half is sorted by categories of tasks with great-looking photographs for shortcuts and persistent common icons along the bottom. If you want to get this look for yourself, here's what you'll need:

Do you have an awesome, tweaked-into-oblivion home or lock screen of your own that you'd like to share? Post it in the comments below, or on your own Kinja blog with the tag "home screen showcase" (no quotes). Be sure to include a description of how you made it so we can feature it as the next featured home screen.

Popup Profile | My Color Screen

View the original article here

Think of Decisions as Experiments and Start Making Better Ones

A surprising amount of our day is filled with decisions: how to respond to an email, what to do with clutter, whether to go out with friends or stay home, whether to take a job, to move, to take a class, and so on. And a good amount of stress can come about from all of those decisions, because many times we don’t have the information we need to make a good decision.

How can we make a choice when we don’t know the outcome of each choice? If the choices had clear outcomes, we could just weigh them and decide. But most of the time, the outcomes aren’t clear. So how do we decide? Most of the time, people don’t decide. They put off deciding, which is why inboxes are full and clutter piles up and life choices are postponed and stress grows.

But here’s a simple method that works for me: See decisions not as final choices, but experiments. The anxiety (and paralysis) comes when people are worried about making the perfect choice and worried about making the wrong choice. Those are two outcomes that aren’t necessary to make a decision, because if we conduct an experiment, we’re just trying to see what happens.

With an experiment, you run a test and see what the results are. If you don’t get good results, you can try another option and run another test. Then you can see what the outcomes of the choices are (the info you didn’t have when first thinking about the decision), and can make a better-informed decision now.

Some examples:

Don’t know if you should start your own cupcake business? Try making some and selling them through your network of friends. You can’t fail because it’s an experiment, and after doing it, you’ll know a little more about whether you want to do that business or not.Don’t know if you should take ballet class? Go to the class and try it out.Don’t know if you should take a certain job? Take it, and see. Worst-case scenario is you don’t like it and will have to find another. But that’s not bad, because now you have that information, when you didn’t before.Don’t know if you should blog? Do it and see.Don’t know if you can get rid of some of your clutter? Get rid of them and see if you survive.Don’t know if you can travel with less? Try and see. You won’t die.Sometimes experiments come at a cost. A semester of college isn’t cheap, but at the end of the semester, you’ll have valuable info—did you like college or not? Moving to a new city isn’t cheap, but it’s also not the end of the world. If you didn’t like it, change course, armed with your new results.

A bigger-picture perspective helps here. Experiments might take months, or a year. That’s a tiny amount of time in the space of a lifetime, and those bigger experiments are worth learning about. When you’re just conducting experiments, there’s no failure. Any result is learning. If there’s no failure, you don’t have to worry. Let your heart soften, smile, and have fun with your experiments.

Easier Decision-Making: Conduct Experiments | Zen Habits

Leo Babauta is the creator and writer of Zen Habits. He's married with six kids, lives in San Francisco (previously Guam), and is a runner and a vegan. Read more about him: My Story.

Image remixed from Sonchai Jongpor and Vladgrin (Shutterstock).

Want to see your work on Lifehacker? Email Tessa.

Start and End a Conversation with Someone's Name to Memorize It

If you have trouble remembering names (like I do sometimes), a great way to help yourself remember is to start and end your first few conversations (especially your first one) with a person's name. It helps cement it in your mind and attach their name to their face so you'll have an easier time remembering later.

FastCompany explains it this way:

Repeat their name: Engrave that name into your frontal lobe with repetition. Price says to say the name aloud twice: first to confirm that you're saying it correctly, second as a conversation starter.
Conclude with their name: Close the conversation by saying their name. It'll be validating for them—aw, they remembered!—and give you another chance to convince your neurons to fire that way again.

People who are old hat at memory tricks like this may know this method already, but it's especially useful in a social situation where you're meeting a lot of people at once. Try to get their name into the conversation at least once or twice while you're talking to them, and then definitely conclude the conversation with their name as you're saying goodbye or moving on to talk to someone else. That level of repetition will help you remember, and make the other person feel acknowledged. It's a win win. Hit the link below for a few more tricks to remember anyone's name, or head over to our full guide to how to remember people's names (and deal with difficult names).

4 Tricks for Remembering Anybody's Name

Photo by cameramannz (Shutterstock).

What Should I Watch Out For When Changing Careers?

Changing careers is always challenging. It grows even more challenging as you get older. What can you do to help smooth the way with potential employers?

Jen asks:

I'm changing careers in my mid-30s, from management/admin to programming. From the perspective of an employer, what are the pros and cons of hiring a career-changing not-young person? Specifically, how can I frame it so that my resume isn't passed over because of these factors?
Yes, ageism, sexism, racism, all-the-isms are illegal, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

Have some advice for Jen? Post it below!

Do you have a problem that needs solving and want help from the Lifehacker community? Email us at tips+wyp@lifehacker.com and we might post it. The best questions are broad enough to apply to other people and have many possible answers (so that you can get lots of opinions from your fellow readers). If you have a question that's specific to you or only has a single solution, send an email to tips@lifehacker.com instead.

Images by kurhan (Shutterstock).

View the original article here

Gaji Naik Tiga Kali Lipat, Lewandowski Lupakan Bayern

Striker Borussia Dortmund, Robert Lewandowski.
DORTMUND, KOMPAS.com — Penyerang Borussia Dortmund, Robert Lewandowski, akhirnya tak lagi mendesak klubnya untuk melegonya ke Bayern Muenchen. Ia memastikan diri bertahan setelah manajemen klub bersedia menaikkan gajinya sampai tiga kali lipat lebih, yakni dari 1,3 juta pounds (sekitar Rp 21,7 miliar) per tahun menjadi 4,3 juta pounds (sekitar Rp 72 miliar) per tahun.

"Sekarang aku akan bertahan setahun lagi di sini. Kami sudah menyelesaikan semua kesalahpahaman. Ada beberapa kesalahan, tetapi semua sudah selesai," kata Lewandowski kepada Sport Bild.

Namun, pemain yang baru menginjak usia 25 ini tak menampik bahwa ia sempat marah kepada klubnya karena tak dibolehkan pindah. "Aku punya pendapat berbeda dari klub. Kupikir aku boleh pindah karena itu aku kecewa dan kesal saat dilarang. Namun, semua sudah selesai dan aku selalu bilang aku menghormati kontrakku," tukas eks penyerang Lech Poznan ini.

Meski sepakat bertahan di Signal Iduna Park, Lewandowski tetap teguh dengan keputusan tak memperpanjang kontraknya. Dengan begitu, saat kontrak Lewandowski selesai musim panas tahun depan, ia akan pergi dengan status bebas transfer.

Hans-Joachim Watzke selaku Direktur Dortmund membenarkan klubnya telah menaikkan gaji Lewandowski. Keputusan itu diambil menilik penampilan cemerlang Lewandowski musim lalu.

"Memang benar kami telah melakukan penyesuaian gaji atas kontribusinya. Kami sudah berniat melakukannya," ujar Watzke.

Pernyataan Watzke itu cukup beralasan. Musim lalu, Lewandowski mencetak 24 gol di Bundesliga dan 10 gol di Liga Champions. Empat gol di antaranya dijaringkan ke gawang Real Madrid pada leg pertama semifinal Liga Champions. Sayang, gol-gol Lewandowski tak cukup mengantar Dortmund meraih trofi.

View the original article here

Xabi Alonso Menepi Tiga Bulan

Gelandang Real Madrid, Xabi Alonso (kanan), berebut bola dengan bek Borussia Dortmund, Neven Subotic, pada pertandingan leg pertama semifinal Liga Champions, di Signal Iduna Park, Rabu (24/4/2013).MADRID, KOMPAS.com - Gelandang Real Madrid, Xabi Alonso, harus absen selama tiga bulan setelah mengalami cedera retak tulang metatarsal di kaki kanannya.

Alonso mendapat cedera tersebut ketika mengikuti latihan bersama Madrid, Rabu (21/8/2013) pagi. Setelah menjalani pemindaian, pemain asal Spanyol itu diperkirakan harus absen selama tiga bulan.

"Tes radiologi yang dilakukan tim medis Real Madrid telah mengungkapkan bahwa Xavi Alonso mengalami retak tulang metatarsal kelima di kaki kanannya," demikian pernyataan Madrid dalam situs resmi.

Cedera Alonso itu mau tidak mau membuat Pelatih Madrid, Carlo Ancelotti, kembali memutar otak untuk menguatkan lini tengahnya. Untuk mengisi posisi Alonso, Ancelotti pun dikabarkan akan mengunakan jasa pemain yang baru direkrut, Asier Ilarramendi.

View the original article here

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Most Popular Paper Notebook: Moleskine

Use your internship as an opportunity to network.

The Popup Profile Home Screen

Think of Decisions as Experiments and Start Making Better Ones

Start and End a Conversation with Someone's Name to Memorize It

What Should I Watch Out For When Changing Careers?

Gaji Naik Tiga Kali Lipat, Lewandowski Lupakan Bayern

Xabi Alonso Menepi Tiga Bulan

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