Karen.banaszak

Anyone can toss some oil into a pan and cook, but if you want to up your cooking game, consider using different oils based on the dish you're making and how you plan to cook it. Using the right one can mean the difference between a tasty, well-cooked meal and a smoke alarm going off over your burned food.

We're not suggesting that you run out and buy a dozen different oils just in case you need them, but there is some benefit to having more than one type of cooking oil in your kitchen. Depending on whether you plan to bake, fry, broil, or grill, a different oil will yield different results in your food, and give you more control over the cooking time and temperature.

Smoke Point: The Number That Determines When Oil Goes from Tasty to Terrible

First, a little science. Each different type of oil or fat has its own smoke point, or the temperature at which it begins to break down, smoke, and start to taste awful. Around that same temperature, the flavor and nutritional value falls off as well. What you're left with isn't very tasty and isn't very good for you.

The chemical process behind this is simple: As you heat a fat of any kind, it begins to break down into free fatty acids and glycerol. As the temperature rises, the glycerol breaks down further and produces a bitter-smelling, acrid chemical called acrolein. It's that acrolein in the smoke that makes your eyes itch, and it's also what makes the food you cook in that overheated oil taste terrible. Acrolein is no good for you either—too much is toxic, and it irritates the eyes, nose, throat, and ears when its airborne.

This is why it's important to choose the right type of oil for the cooking method and the dish you're going to make. If you plan to fry or grill, you want an oil that will stand up to high heat without breaking down on you. If you're going to use the oven, you have some more flexibility depending on whether you plan to bake, broil, and the temperature you set. With the right oil and the right cooking method, you'll taste a noticeable difference in your food.

Use Flaxseed Oil, Olive Oil, and Butter for Low-Temperature Cooking and Baking

As a rule, unrefined oils, dairy products, and animal fats have the lowest smoke points, and are best suited for lower-temperature cooking like baking, simmering, and low-heat pan frying. While unrefined oils are as close to the natural flavor of the oil you can get, that they have all of the free fatty acids and other ingredients that lower the oil's smoke point. This rule extends to full-fat diary products, which have milk solids and other fats in them that break down and burn easily. Here are a few oils in this range best reserved for lower-heat preparation methods, where you actually want to taste the oil or fat you're using:

• Flaxseed Oil: Smokes at approx 225°F/107°C
• Unrefined Walnut Oil: Smokes at approx 320°F/160°C
• Unrefined Olive Oil: Smokes at approx 320-325°F/160-162°C
• Butter or Lard: Smokes at approx 350-375°F/176-190°C

It's important to note that as you refine these oils, clarify them, or buy higher quality versions that are free of the same impurities or extra fatty acids (that some people would say clarify the flavor and others complain removes it from its natural quality) the smoke point increases. For example, clarified butter, or Ghee, smokes at a whopping 485°F (252°C), making it ideal for high-heat cooking like stir frying and grilling. Photo by Nicholas Humfrey.

Use Coconut Oil, Canola Oil, and Extra Virgin Olive Oil for Medium-Heat Cooking and Frying

Most of your middle of the road oils have applications in low-heat and cold preparations but can also be used on the stove or in the oven. Refined oils—the kind you'll find in most grocery stores—make their way up here, along with some all-purpose oils that you may already have. For example:

• Coconut Oil: Smokes at approx 350°F/176°C
• Extra Virgin, High-Quality Olive Oil: Smokes at approx 375-400°F/190-204°C
• Refined Canola Oil: Smokes at approx 400°F/204°C
• Corn Oil: Smokes at 400-450°F/204-232°C

Other refined oils, like Cottonseed oil (420°F/216°C) and Grapeseed Oil (420°F/216°C) are on the leading edge of this category. In general, these are the oils that are the most flexible, which is why they're easily available almost everywhere. Photo by Steven Tom.

Since the level of refinement and the quality of an oil has a huge effect on its smoke point and final flavor, we should note that there's some controversy around the quality of olive oil, especially imported olive oils that are often mixed with oils from different places with different ages, and then labeled "extra virgin" and sold at a premium. Before you buy, check for a harvest date and weed out the fakes. Check out the full UC Davis study (PDF) that blew the lid off of the issue and the brands they tested for more information.

Use Peanut Oil, Avocado Oil, and Ghee for High-Heat Grilling and Deep Frying

The highest-smoke point oils are generally reserved for high-heat frying, brushing on the grill, and deep frying. Some of these are best used because of their high smoke point and their flavor, others are so heavily refined that a high smoke point is pretty much all they have going for them. A few examples:

• Sesame Oil: Smokes at approx 410°F/210°C
• Peanut Oil: Smokes at approx 400-450°F/204-232°C
• Palm Oil: Smokes at approx 450°F/232°C
• Ghee (Clarified Butter): Smokes at approx 485°F/252°C
• Refined Soybean Oil: Smokes at approx 495°F/257°C
• Avocado Oil: Smokes at approx 520°F/271°C

Depending on your opinion of highly saturated oils, some of these may be your go-to oils or they may be your never-use oils. Regardless, the fact is they're able to withstand the most heat, and often used in situations where extremely high temperatures are required, like broiling, deep frying, stir frying, or other situations where direct contact with flame are required. Keep in mind that some of them—notably peanut oil and avocado oil—impart their own flavors to your dish, so only use them when the taste is complimentary. Photo by Jack Liddon.

Finally, a note about soybean oil—soybean oil's smoke point varies widely based on its level of refinement. Unrefined soy oil can smoke as low as 320°F/160°C and refined soy oil at 350°F/176°C. Almost pure soy bean oil is what's listed here, so remember that when you go shopping if soy oil is a staple in your home.

Choose Your Favorites, and Keep Them On Hand

Like we said earlier, there's no reason to keep a half-dozen oils in your pantry (besides, you don't want your oil to go rancid on you.) Pick a few that you really enjoy using, both for flavor and for temperature. This cooking oil comparison chart, made with the help of Lifehacker friend, nutritionist, and Registered Dietitian Andy Belatti, does a great job of showing you which oils are best left for salads and low-heat preparations versus the ones that can stand a little heat.

I keep soybean oil, extra virgin olive oil, and sesame oil in my kitchen. The soy oil has the highest smoke point, so it's great for grilling or high-heat frying. The olive oil is tasty, and best for baking and low-and-slow sauteeing (and cold preparations, like salad dressing.) The sesame oil can stand high heat, so I use it for stir frying, but I don't shy away from using it to add flavor in colder preparations. I've been experimenting with coconut oil too.

Finally, keep your budget in mind. Some highly refined oils and others that are more natural (or have dubious health benefits) are pretty expensive, so do your homework before buying. There's nothing worse than buying an oil just because it has a high smoke point or someone's book says it's the cure for your ills only to find out it tastes terrible in everything. For a more complete guide to various oil types and their smoke points, check out this table at the Good Eats fan page (nicely formatted for copy/pasting), this chart from Cooking for Engineers, or Wikipedia's list of common oils and smoke points.

Cast iron skillets are awesome for cooking, but decidedly less awesome to clean. If you're having trouble removing caked on food and grease, some oatmeal can do the trick.

Madhu Shailesh shares this great tip on Snapguide. Once you've used a cast iron scraper to clear the pan of the largest food chunks, sprinkle in some quick oats and a little bit of water. Rubbing the oats around vigorously with your hands will create an oatmeal-like paste that can absorb the leftover grease without stripping the iron. Once you're finished cleaning the pan, try improving it with a flax seed oil seasoning

Clean A Cast Iron Pan in a Very Simple Way | Snapguide

Mmm, complex aromas of cheesy snausages and old leather shoes layered with a hint of toilet water followed by warm notes of barnyard refined earthiness.

Photo of Conga by Molly W. of Best Friends Animal Society, sent in by Melissa M.!

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Pups, ResQte

It's easy to fall in love with an item when you're out shopping and find a way to justify purchasing it, especially during tax refund season. But before making a rash purchase, try to think of at least five reasons reasons why you don't need to buy it.

Trent at The Simple Dollar perfectly describes that moment when we decide we need to buy something frivolous.

I'll pick up an item and, on some level, decide almost instantly I'm going to buy it. My conscious mind then starts filling in reasons for that purchase, and before I know it, I'm in the parking lot holding a bag in my hand.

It's that moment where you're standing there giving yourself reasons to buy it that you really need to focus on, because that's the moment where you can turn the tables on frivolous purchases.

Trent suggests thinking of five good reasons not to take make the purchase. Could you find the item for a lower price elsewhere, or will it be cheaper in a few months? Could you make do without it? Are there any good DIY options available to accomplish the same thing? If your justifications can still overcome the five potential cons that you come up with, then you'll be less likely to regret the decision later.

Stop Justifying Your Spending Yes's | The Simple Dollar

Photo by Jag_cz (Shutterstock)

(s and j)

Milk, the stuff of childhood. Some of us drink it as adults, some might not, but it’s got a reputation for being a staple of our early years. Which is why parents have long used the advice of the American Academy of Pediatrics and eventually moved from giving their kids whole milk to reduced-fat milk, for health reason. But is that really the healthier choice?

A new study questions one of the traditional ways of doing things, which makes sense  — reducing fat cuts down on cholesterol and calories — but perhaps is just an assumption of being the healthy choice.

According to NPR, a study of preschool-aged kids published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, a sister publication of the British Medical Journal, finds that low-fat milk was associated with higher weight. Which, low-fat milk was doing the opposite of what it was assumed to do.

“We were quite surprised” by the findings, the coauthor told NPR. Both he and his co-author pretty much figured the opposite would happen.

Instead, the connection between skim-milk drinkers and having a higher body weight worked across the board in all racial/ethnic and socioeconomic groups. The researchers add that low-fat milk didn’t keep preschoolers from gaining weight over time, a good thing as kids need grow.

Other studies have come up with similar results in different age groups, and involving other health quantifiers like body mass index.

So how can higher fat lead to lower weight? The two don’t seem to mix, but the researchers have a theory: whole milk makes us feel fuller and thus, content. No room for dessert!

“This is speculative,” says one author, but if you feel fuller after drinking whole-fat milk, “it may be protective if the other food options are high in calories.”

Before any kind of formal recommendation is made to change things up, the researchers think more studies should be done. To that point, critics point out things like the fact that in the study, kids on low-fat milk were already heavier in the first place.

All in all, drinking milk of any kind is going to be better for a kid than 32 ounces of Mountain Dew daily. So there’s that.

Whole Milk Or Skim? Study Links Fattier Milk To Slimmer Kids [NPR]

As the saying goes, “Every Dog Has His Day.” And so it shall be! National Puppeh Day ees today! So go find a puppeh and SNORGLE SNORGLE SNORGLE!

[As HuffPo notes, the ASPCA and Petfinder are great resources for adopting. -Ed]

But there’s always a troublemaker, right?

Check hovers for creditos, and have a Great National Puppeh Day!

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: puppehs

If you enjoy McDonald's breakfast sandwiches, this may be life-changing information: You can get a real egg—not that rubbery mystery egg-like substance—on any breakfast sandwich (including the biscuit ones) just by asking for it.

J. Kenji Lopez-Alt shares this "secret" on fantastic food site Serious Eats:

All you've got to do is tell the cashier that you'd like your sandwich made with a "round egg" and they'll replace your folded egg patty with a real egg, free of charge.

The round egg is the one they put in their Egg McMuffin, made with a ring mold and, yes, a real egg. Of course, you can make many McDonald's foods at home, but now when you're out and about you can get a real egg sandwich made for you there.

More photos and info on Serious Eats:

Want Real Eggs at McDonald's? Just Ask! | Serious Eats

Photo by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt

SonicSpike excerpts from CNet's coverage of the latest in the seemingly inevitable path toward consistently applied Internet sales taxes for U.S citizens: "Internet tax supporters are hoping that a vote in the U.S. Senate as early as today will finally give them enough political leverage to require Americans to pay sales taxes when shopping online. Sens. Mike Enzi (R-Wy.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) are expected to offer an amendment to a Democratic budget resolution this week that, by allowing states to 'collect taxes on remote sales,' is intended to usher in the first national Internet sales tax." There goes one of the best ways to vote with your dollars.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

By Kate Kelland, Health and Science Correspondent LONDON (Reuters) - When Ireland's Katie Taylor was taking hits and striking blows for boxing's Olympic debut in an east London ring last year, John Hardy did not want to look. To this leadi...

Do you know what you're doing while you're asleep? If you're like millions of other people, you could be talking, walking, or even having sex in your sleep. Here are some of the crazy things we do when we're asleep, and how—if you're someone who suffers from them—you can find some relief.

We've all heard of people who sleepwalk or sleeptalk, but what about sleep driving? Or sleep eating? They're both very real conditions. Some people even get into fistfights with their partners while they sleep. A british actor, recently convicted of rape, tried to use another real medical condition, sexsomnia, as a defense in his case. The jury didn't buy it, but the condition itself is actually real.

In this post we'll walk through some of these sleep conditions and some potential treatments that might help you get a better night's rest. To help, we called Dr. Nitun Verma, a specialist in sleep medicine and the Medical Director of the Washington Township Center for Sleep Disorders in the Bay Area.

The Two Types of Disorders that Rob You of a Good Night's Sleep

We've discussed some common sleep conditions like snoring, insomnia, and sleep apnea, but when it comes to those "strange things people do in their sleep," there are two types of conditions: REM behavior disorder, and parasomnias. Photo by Helder Almeida (Shutterstock).

Parasomnias

Parasomnias are a class of disorders that include most of the strange behaviors you've likely heard of. Sleepwalking, talking in your sleep (also known as somniloquy), sleep eating, and sexsomina are all parasomnias. According to Dr. Verma, they normally take place in the first half of the night, an effect of disrupted slow wave sleep. Not all parasomnias result in people getting up and moving around. Some people experience night terrors that can lead to shouting or flailing about in bed, experience restless leg syndrome, or hear loud noises that no one else can hear. A few examples:

I heard about one patient who, after getting the wrong sleep medication, sleep drove to Taco Bell, ate a ton of burritos, then returned home to bed. He didn't remember any of it but put the pieces together when he found hot sauce packets all over himself. Textbook sleepwalking, which is a parasomnia.

I remember another patient who is a high profile professor at a prestigious university. He suffered from exploding head syndrome, where he would hear a violent explosion in his head just as he started to fall asleep. Frightened since he thought he was having an aneurysm or stroke, he went to the ER, but all tests came out normal. Since it happened every day and he couldn't sleep, he quit his tenure job. After seeing many neurologists, he came to me. A targeted low dose of an appropriate medication fixed his sleep, and he went back to his job after a week.

With parasomnias, the sufferer will likely never remember or know about their condition until someone tells them or they find evidence of their activity. A person who talks in their sleep may never know they have a problem until they share a bed with someone who has the dubious pleasure of hearing their midnight speeches.

REM Behavior Disorder

REM behavior disorder, or RBD, as the name implies, takes place later in the night, during the phases of sleep where rapid eye movement occurs. People who suffer from RBDs usually "act out dreams," and remember the dream they were acting out, although they may not understand what happened when they first wake up. In the dream, their action may be completely justified, but to an outside observer, their actions may be completely meaningless or random. Dr. Verma offers an example:

A father was arrested when he dreamt his house was on fire and he 'saved' his newborn baby by throwing him out the window to firefighters below to catch. Trouble was, there was no fire, no firefighters, but he did throw the baby out the window (The baby was ok). This is a classic REM behavior disorder.

Another example comes from comedian Mike Birbiglia, who appeared on This American Life and explained his struggle with RBD and how he used to stand on the bed in the middle of the night thinking there was a jackal in the room he needed to fight off. The video here is actually the trailer to his movie, Sleepwalk With Me, a comedy that deals with the issue.

Treat Sleep Disorders with Good Sleep Hygiene (and Expert Help)

Since parasomnias range from sleep driving to simply talking in your sleep, treatments vary. People who grind their teeth may get a mouth guard, but people with night terrors may need therapy. Someone who suddenly starts fighting the person next to them in bed because they're dreaming there's an intruder should, without delay, see a physician who specializes in sleep medicine. In many cases, there's medication (ranging from prescription clonazepam to over-the-counter melatonin) that can help you stay comfortably asleep at night. Still, Dr. Verma reminds us that If you can't see a doctor for some reason or your condition is mild, upgrading your sleep rituals and habits may be the key to a better night's rest for everyone involved:

Think of the brain with many parts that don't sleep and wake in unison. So if the part of the brain that controls the legs wakes before the rest, there is a risk of sleepwalking. So while the perfect fix would be helping all the parts of the brain wake and sleep in unison, we don't really know how to do that. So what we focus on (and readers can do by themselves) is their sleep hygiene. It results in less awakenings at night, which means less chance of parasomnias.

• Relax before bed. Making time for a little meditation or even just some quiet time to destress from the busy day can work wonders and lead to a deeper, fuller night's sleep with fewer inturruptions, whether they're dreams so vivid that you start talking out loud or get up and walk around your house. Photo by Sarah G..
• Get regular exercise. While it's not a direct relationship between exercise and sleep disorders, good, regular exercise does improve the quality of your sleep, and can lead to fewer arousals overnight, which in theory should keep you in bed, quiet, and sleeping deeply longer.
• Cut back on screen time before bed. We've said this before a few times, but study after study all point to the notion that electronic devices mess with our sleep cycles. If you're an otherwise normal sleeper, you may be able to muddle through this, but if you have a sleep disorder like a parasomnia, maintaining a solid, healthy sleep cycle is imperative. Turn off the screens at least two hours before bed, Dr. Verma recommends, or at least don't let the last thing you see before you close your eyes be your smartphone or tablet. Don't worry, it'll be there when you wake up. While you're at it, put it on silent so it doesn't wake you up in the middle of the night. Photo by Miramiska.
• Cut back on alcohol, caffeine, and cigarettes. All three can seriously disrupt your sleep cycles, especially alcohol and caffeine. This study compared the effects of all three, and for someone with a serious sleep disorder, eliminating these—at least in the hours before sleep—will be one of the first things your doctor asks you do to.
• Tweak your bedroom for optimal sleep. Heavy, light-blocking curtains, soft surfaces, and a comfortable bed will do a lot to improve your overall quality of sleep, which will in turn help you beat back some of these disorders, especially when they're mild. A deeper, more restful sleeper is usually one who doesn't talk in his sleep, for example.

For more sleep hygeine tips, check out our guide to getting better sleep. Better sleep hygiene can go a long way, but it shouldn't stop you from seeking the help of an expert on the matter even if you think your condition is mild. Sometimes the solution may be behavioral, or as simple as a melatonin supplement before bed.

How to Help Someone with a Sleep Disorder

So far we've discussed what to do if you're the person suffering from an RBD or a parasomnia. If you're the person sleeping next to someone who talks in their sleep or sleepwalks, Dr. Verma explains the best thing you can do is treat them with a gentle hand:

Roommate sleep walking? Gently guide them back to their bedroom. If they are going for a knife, intervene aggressively! If they already have the knife, run aggressively! The reason people say "don't wake the sleepwalker" is because since they aren't fully alert, they may respond aggressively to you. I have never done restraints because they will hurt themselves with those too.

For mild occasional sleep walking, take precautions: place heavy curtains on windows (so you don't cut your self if jumping out), install an alarm on your doors, sleep on the floor, sleep on the first floor of the house, hide any keys or knives.

Trying to restrain someone who's known to sleepwalk, or move the snacks away from someone who sleep eats is usually counterproductive. A sleepwalking person may struggle so hard against their restraints that they injure themselves, or if the restraints are part of their dream, they may ignore pain to break free. Putting the snacks on the top shelf will just make the sleep eater try to get to the top shelf, and potentially hurt themselves. Instead, gently guide the sleepwalker back to bed and help them get comfortable. Photo by auremar (Shutterstock).

Speak softly to them and don't try to wake them from their slumber. The reason people say you shouldn't wake a sleepwalker is because when we wake up, we're naturally disoriented as we move from unconsciousness to consciousness. What may be clear as day while we're asleep is difficult to comprehend as we wake up, and a sleepwalker who wakes mid-stroll may be confused, disoriented, or frightened. They may even react violently out of fear. A sleep driver on the other hand should be urged to pull over as soon as possible—call the police to find and escort the vehicle if possible, and hide the car keys next time.

People do some really crazy things while they're asleep, and unfortunately we just don't understand how the brain works enough to really pinpoint why and how to stop it proactively before symptoms manifest. That doesn't mean that there's nothing you can do though. In some cases, getting into a healthy relationship with sleep is the best way to ease sleep disorders and feel more rested in the morning as a result. For serious conditions or mild ones that persist no matter what you do, never hesitate to see an expert.

Dr. Nitun Verma, MD is a specialist in sleep medicine and the Medical Director of the Washington Township Center for Sleep Disorders in the Bay Area. He has offered his tips for better sleep here before, and he graciously volunteered his expertise for this piece as well. We thank him, and you can follow him on Twitter at @nitunverma.

Title image made using yskiii (Shutterstock) and stv777.

Dear Lifehacker,
I've got this setting called "HDR" on my phone's camera, but I'm still not sure what it does. It's supposed to make my pictures look better, but sometimes my pictures just come out blurry or washed out! Am I doing something wrong?

Sincerely,
Confused Cameraphone

Dear Confused,
HDR stands for High Dynamic Range imaging, and it's an old photography practice recently introduced to cameraphones like the iPhone and some Android devices (or with the use of special apps). You're on the right track: it's supposed to make your pictures look better, but it depends on when you use it. Here's a quick primer on how HDR works, and when you should—and shouldn't—turn it on.

How HDR Works

HDR, as its name implies, is a method that aims to add more "dynamic range" to photographs, where dynamic range is the ratio of light to dark in a photograph. Instead of just taking one photo, HDR uses three photos, taken at different exposures. You can then use image editing software to put those three images together and highlight the best parts of each photo. In the case of HDR on smartphones, your phone does all the work for you—just snap your picture and it'll spit out one regular photo and one HDR photo. The result is something that should look more like what your eyes see, rather than what your camera sees.

This is why, when you turn HDR mode on, your phone takes a little longer to take the photo. It's actually taking three pictures, rather than just one. Check out the image above for an example. It wasn't taken with a cameraphone, but it's a good demonstration of what HDR can do. If you want more detailed information on how HDR works, our friends at the How-To Geek have a great explainer. Photo by Mszklanny.

When You Should Use HDR

As we said, HDR is designed to help you take better-looking photos, especially in certain situations. Here's where you should try using HDR:

• Landscapes: Big landscape photos usually have a lot of contrast between the sky and land, which is difficult for your camera to deal with in just one photo. With HDR, you can capture the sky's detail without making the land look too dark, and vice versa.
• Portraits in Sunlight: We all know that lighting is one of the most important aspects of a good photo, but too much lighting on someone's face—like harsh sunlight—can cause dark shadows, bright glare, and other unflattering characteristics. HDR can even that all out and make your subject look better.
• Low-Light and Backlit Scenes (see above): If your photo is looking a little too dark—which often happens if your scene has too much backlight—HDR can brighten up the foreground without washing out the well-lit portions of your photo. Photos by Jacob Reiff.

When You Shouldn't Use HDR

Of course, as you've discovered, sometimes HDR actually makes your pictures look worse. Here are some situations in which HDR is better off ignored:

• Photos with Movement (see right): If any of your subjects are moving (or might move), HDR increases the chance of a blurry photo. Remember, HDR takes three pictures, so if your subject moves between the first and second shot, your final picture won't look very good. Photo by William Hook.
• High-Contrast Scenes: Some photos look better with stark contrast between the dark and light parts of the photo, like if you have a dark shadow or silhouette you want to highlight. HDR will make this less intense, resulting in a less interesting photo.
• Vivid Colors: If your scene is too dark or too light, HDR can bring some of the color back. However, if you're dealing with colors that are already very vivid, HDR can wash them out.

Luckily, most HDR cameraphones will give you two images: one with HDR turned off, and one with it turned on. That means that you can always give HDR a shot and see what the comparison looks like before turning it off altogether (as long as you have time to sit through the extra few seconds of photo-taking). As with all things photography, you can't go wrong experimenting! These guidelines should help you out, but don't be afraid to snap a few photos and look at them later. Once you get the hang of it, HDR can be a great tool for getting better pictures. While you're at it, check out our general tips for taking better pictures on your phone, too.

Sincerely,
Lifehacker

P.S. If you're already an HDR expert, we'd love to see some of your favorite shots. Share them with us below!

Title photo by Alexis D.

AccuWeather has just unveiled a new look for its iPhone app with a recent update that borrows some popular features from the iPad version.

Version 6.0 of the app is highlighted by the ability to create customizable My AccuWeather forecasts. For example, you can choose the ideal temperature, wind speed, and local weather for outdoor fitness activities. The app will then tell you how the current weather stacks up to your ideal conditions.

The app now also has the option to show more or less weather detail. The forecast now also refreshes every five minutes. And finally, the forecast states the probability of precipitation.

AccuWeather for the iPhone can be downloaded now in the App Store for free. It does contain ads, but they can be disabled for an in-app purchase of $1.99.

I really like the new look to AccuWeather. The iPad version is one of my favorite weather apps, and I’m glad to see some of those nice features transfer over well to the iPhone.

It’s been a busy time for weather app updates. Along with the Weather Channel for iPad and NOAA Radar Pro, WeatherBug for the iPhone, and Radarscope have all recently received some nice improvements.

 

• AccuWeather for iPhone
• RadarScope
• NOAA Radar Pro
• The Weather Channel for iPad

AccuWeather For The iPhone Now Features Customizable Forecasts is a story by AppAdvice.com
AppAdvice - iPhone, iPad, iPod, App Reviews + News

A couple of weeks ago, the Japanese Apple-focused blog Mac o Takara reported that Foxconn, Apple’s largest manufacturing partner, had begun production of the iPhone 5S. But now, another tech news site from the Far East is claiming that components for the next-generation iPhone are only about to start shipping.

According to the Taiwanese tech industry daily DigiTimes, which is known for its hit-and-miss track record, Apple’s upstream supply chain suggests that said components will begin shipping at the end of May.

As a result, the iPhone 5S is expected to be released in the third quarter of this year. This prediction is in accordance with, most notably, iMore’s recent report saying that the next-generation iPhone would be released in August.

DigiTimes’ sources also believe that Apple is planning to release a low-cost iPhone model having a plastic chassis. But they maintain that the iPhone 5S is not going to significantly improve upon Apple’s current flagship smartphone, the iPhone 5. No surprise there, since it is, after all, in keeping with Apple’s established “S” product cycle.

Specifically, DigiTimes’ sources join the chorus of speculators who claim that the iPhone 5S is set to feature both an improved processor and an improved camera.

But according to a Morgan Stanley analyst, the iPhone 5S is going to have a “killer feature.” Of course, this killer feature is yet unknown. But several reports have suggested that it could come in the form of fingerprint recognition, NFC technology, or both.

Via: MacRumors

Components For iPhone 5S To Start Shipping In May In Time For Third Quarter Release is a story by AppAdvice.com
AppAdvice - iPhone, iPad, iPod, App Reviews + News

Les Misérables: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
~ Claude-Michel Schönberg (Composer)
(26)
Release Date: March 19, 2013

Buy new: $20.01
20 used & new from $17.12

(Visit the Hot New Releases in Music list for authoritative information on this product's current rank.)

They say, according to ancient legend, rubbing the happy corgi’s belly brings good luck!

Machete, the happy corgi, smiles upon you! Sent in by S. Raelynne Becerra.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Pups

Consumption of soda and other sugary drinks might be linked to some 180,000 deaths a year worldwide, including 25,000 in the U.S., according to a new study. The findings might help to bolster the arguments of advocates seeking to ban the sale of certain large-size sugary drinks.

In the study, presented this week at an annual meeting of the American Heart Association, researchers looked for connections between intake of sugar-sweetened beverages (including sodas, sports drinks, and fruit drinks with added sugar) and deaths from diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.

They determined that 130,000 diabetes deaths, 44,000 deaths from cardiovascular disease, and 6,000 cancer deaths that year were attributable to consumption of those beverages. Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, particularly Mexico, had among the highest death rates from diabetes due to sugary drink consumption, the authors concluded.

Sugary beverages are believed to contribute to obesity, which in turn plays a major role in diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain cancers, including pancreatic cancer.

The current findings haven't yet been peer-reviewed or published, but they're still likely to add fuel to the debate raging in several cities over whether local governments should limit the sale of large soft drinks and other high-calorie, sugary drinks. In New York City, a proposed ban by Mayor Mike Bloomberg was struck down by a Manhattan judge on March 11, but the city has vowed to appeal the decision.

Learn how to cut down on added sugar.

Source:
180,000 deaths worldwide may be associated with sugary soft drinks [abstract presented at AHA scientific meeting March 19, 2013]

Student loan debt amounts to a massive $1 trillion across the board, with an average of $27,000 per person. Paying it off is only made more difficult by different loan sources and a lack of realistic payment plans. Student Loan Hero (SLH) organizes all your student debt into a single web interface and helps you get on the right path towards paying it off.

To start, you enter your login credentials to various federal loan providers (or Sallie Mae for private loans) and SLH connects to them to download your data. For unsupported providers, you'll need to enter relevant information (e.g. due dates, interest rates, etc.) manually. SLH then analyzes your provided information to help you figure out a simple payment plan across the many loans. It also tracks your payments so you don't miss any and wind up costing yourself more money. For those of you concerned about information privacy, you can take a look at SLH's privacy policy to learn more about their security practices.

SLH is free to use. They make their money through referrals with banking partners, such as loan consolidation services, so you don't need to provide a credit card and accidentally wind up paying for something if you sign up. If you need to get your student debt in order, give it a shot. If you've got all kinds of debt you need to manage, you may also want to check out previously mentioned ReadyForZero as well.

Student Loan Hero (Free)

Android: Google Keep is a new app that seeks to save whatever you're currently thinking about so you don't have to remember. Although not the first app to try and solve this problem, Google's integrated Keep directly into Drive to make it easier to use.

Keep organizes everything in a colorful tile interface. Each one shows you a preview of each note, whether it's a photo, a to-do list, a single task, a saved webpage or whatever else. You can organize each to re-prioritize as needed, and you can add new notes with your voice. A Keep widget on your home screen can make adding notes really simple and straightforward. You can even add new items through the web via Google Drive (indirectly at the moment, but directly in the coming weeks). It's kind of like their version of Springpad (or a combination of Evernote and Pinterist).

Keep is available now for free on the Play Store, so go check it out.

Google Keep (Free) | Google Play Store via Google Official Blog

Today we bring you something green and healthy. This is the time of year when I have to try and resist all sorts of delicous looking Easter candies every time I'm at the grocery store. It's hard to pass up a cadbury egg! So while I'm tempted by every color of Peeps marshmallows I thought I'd try to focus my kitchen efforts on healthy snacks this week. Behold: parmesan and wasabi baked edamame.These little guys are HIGHLY addictive. You have been warned. After snapping a few photos of these I stood staring out my kitchen window popping these in my mouth by the handful for probably about ten full minutes. Like a edamame eating zombie. (Which makes no sense because everyone knows zombies only eat brains. Duh.)Parmesan & Wasabi Edamame

2 cups cooked edamame (if frozen thaw beforehand)
2 tablespoons oil (I used olive oil)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese (from a shaker is best for this particular dish)
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon wasabi powder
salt + pepper to tasteFirst coat the cooked edamame in the oil. In a separate bowl stir together the parmesan, flour, wasabi powder, salt and pepper. Sprinkle the flour mixture in with the edamame, tossing as you go. You want each piece to get coated in the flour mixture without any big clumps forming. 

Lay the edamame out on a baking sheet lined with a silpat mat or parchment paper. Bake at 400°F for 30 minutes, tossing the edamame half way through baking so that they get cooked on both sides.Serve warm. These are best the day they are made but you can try reheating them in the oven should you have leftovers. I think these make a fantastic snack but I could also see them being served as a fun side dish. Enjoy! xo. Emma

P.S. Looking for other healthy snack options? Check out: baked fruit (three ways!), dairy free ice cream, homemade apple chips, brussels sprout chips and whole wheat pretzel bites.

Hello everyone!

This morning I have mixed feelings: I am happy that we have the possibility to bring our beloved The Old Reader to a new level, and I am sad that Google Reader soon will be completely over. It was a large part of my daily internet life. We even started making The Old Reader because no one could stand my whining anymore.

News came unexpected (mind you, we are living in GMT, so it was literally the middle of the night), but we are doing out best. We tripled our user base (and still counting), and our servers are not amused so far. We will be deploying more capacity shortly, so things should get better by the end of the day. Please, be patient with us.

(The Old Reader’s team before March 13, photo by repor.to/shuvayev)

This is overwhelming. When we started this as something for us and our friends to use, we never expected so many of you to join us in our journey. Thank you very much for your kind words and support, we appreciate this.

Seeing Google Reader go, many of you are asking whether The Old Reader is going to stick around. Also, quite a lot of people would like to donate to keep our project running. We have been discussing this quite a lot recently, and we decided that paid accounts (the freemium model) are the way to go. We want to keep making a great product for our users, not cater it for advertisers’ needs.

We are going to be honest, we have not even started coding this yet. However, we would like to get this news out as soon as possible for everyone to know the way we will be going. Paid accounts will have some additional features, but the basic free accounts will still be 100% usable. We are not in this game to make money, but we want to give something special back to the people who are going to be supporting us.

We have our daily jobs, so we can’t promise that new features will be ready tomorrow or next week. We have no investors or fancy business plans, but we are open about everything we do, and we want to do it the right way.

We reworked the plans according to the news today. Creating an API for mobile clients is the number one priority in our roadmap. We would love to collaborate with any developers who were making Google Reader clients. Please, spread the word about this if you can.

For those of you who are posting feedback and creating new feature requests - please, double-check for existing items in Uservoice. We hate answering the same questions multiple times and removing duplicate requests.

Most asked questions are:
- “When will OPML import be working again?” As soon as we launch more capacity to handle this. Hopefully, later today.
- “Why are you asking for access to my Google contacts when I log in via Google account?” We don’t anymore.
- “When will you make an iOS app? How about Android?” We will start with API as soon as we can and see how it goes.
- “Why is there no way to login without Google or Facebook accounts?” We cover that one in our knowledge base, but we plan to implement own login code. The demand is high.
- “How do I rename a feed?”. Just browse the Tour page, please? 
- “Shut up and take my money!”. Will work on that, stay tuned.

We have lots of things to do, and it will probably take us several days to reply to all emails and tickets. Also, Twitter keeps reminding us about daily tweet limits, so there might be delays as well.

Some other news: last week our developer (on the left) turned 21, and we have implemented PubSubHubbub support. Many of you asked us to make feed updates faster, and PubSubHubbub makes compatible feeds refresh almost instantly. Yay!

Thank you very much for your support. We will do our best during next three months to prepare for the day Google Reader will no longer be around.