Sammy.boyer

The truth, as a great man once said, is out there. It's just not 125 miles northwest of Vegas. And while no one's denying the seemingly great potential for extraterrestrial life on the outskirts of Sin City, newly declassified documents have shed further light on the long mysterious nature of Area 51. The good news: yes, the CIA acknowledges that Area 51 is , indeed, a thing. And it has the map to prove it. The bad news: there's nary a mention of aliens on stretchers or a besuited Will Smith. Nope, there's no one wearing cool sunglasses so far as we can tell -- heck, even the references to the U-2 program are largely Bono-free. Nope, the area was reportedly the site of Cold War surveillance -- programs that like Oxcart, which have been previously acknowledged. All in all, a perfectly normal base, as far as the government is concerned. Likely story, CIA.

Filed under: Misc, Alt

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Via: CNN

Source: George Washington University

Contrary to popular belief, water filters don't actually run on magic and disposable plastic. However, they're actually very easy to change out, and for much less than the sticker price that comes along with the Britta name.

Instructables user IAMSatisfied shows in the video above how to cut open a single water filter (the only one you'll need to purchase) and refill it with fresh activated carbon. The key ingredient that actually does most of the filtering is extremely cheap and the disposable filter can be modified for repeated refills, potentially saving a fortune over the long term.

How to refill a "disposable" Brita brand water pitcher filter with activated carbon | Instructables via WonderHowTo

If you've ever wondered why orange-flavored coffee exists or why chefs combine strange pairs like chocolate and blue cheese, this fun flavor map is for you. With it you can see how many foods and drinks have shared flavor compounds.

Scientific American explains:

Science-minded chefs have gone so far as to suggest that seemingly incongruous ingredients—chocolate and blue cheese, for example—will taste great together as long as they have enough flavor compounds in common. Scientists recently put this hypothesis to the test by creating a flavor map, a variant of which we have reproduced here. Lines connect foods that have components in common; thick lines mean many components are shared. By comparing the flavor network with various recipe databases, the researchers conclude that chefs do tend to pair ingredients with shared flavor compounds—but only in Western cuisine. Dishes from a database of recipes from East Asia tend to combine ingredients with few overlapping flavors.

To read the chart, click on the food dot. The bigger the dot, the more popular the food is (according to a global database of 56,498 recipes). Lines that connect two dots show they have at least one flavor compound in common; the thicker the line, the more flavor compounds they share. Red lines connect foods in different categories.

It's similar to previously mentioned Foodpairing, but another way of discovering flavor connections.

The Flavor Connection [Interactive] | Scientific American

Bite sized tater tots are delicious and convenient, but a lot of people prefer the restaurant-style hash browns that require a fork. If you're sitting down for a nice breakfast at home, it's surprisingly easy to make these fancier hash browns on a waffle iron.

For such a specific appliance, the waffle iron is surprisingly versatile. As One Good Thing by Jillee points out, all you have to do is toss some frozen tater tots onto your waffle iron, and press them for three or four minutes. Once they're done cooking, they should have formed together into a perfect patty. While you have the waffle iron pulled out, you could also use it to make no-fuss pizza pockets and cinnamon rolls.

Things You Can (and Can't) Make in a Waffle Iron | One Good Thing by Jillee

Apple's dedicated "in-app purchases litigation administrator" has had a busy few days. According to CNET, he or she has been emailing some important news to the 23 million parents who've been involved in a long-running class action lawsuit over in-app purchases racked up by their kids. The email says that individual claims for compensation can now be sent to Cupertino as per the terms of the original settlement back in February. Disputed transactions under $30 will qualify for a nominal $5 iTunes voucher, while bigger bills may be fully refunded in cash -- but only for strings of purchases made within 45 days of each other, back when there were no repeat password requests or disclaimers to get in a seven-year-old's way. There's a deadline of January 13th, 2014 for at least some types of claim, by which point Apple's litigation administrator may well find themselves diverted to another urgent case.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Apple

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Source: CNET

We know that music helps a lot of us through a workout, but the the psychology behind when music works and when it doesn't is still being investigated. The BBC Future has a few ideas about what's going on in your brain.

In general, music has the greatest effect on self-paced exercise:

The benefits of music are largest for self-paced exercise—in other words those sports where some of the work involved is in deciding when to act, as well as how to act. This means all paced exercises, like rowing or running, rather than un-paced exercises like judo or football. My speculation is that music helps us perform by taking over a vital piece of the task of moving, the rhythm travels in through our ears and down our auditory pathways to the supplementary motor area. There it joins forces with brain activity that is signalling when to move, helping us to keep pace by providing an external timing signal. Or to use a sporting metaphor, it not only helps us out of the starting blocks but it helps to keep us going until we reach the line.

It makes sense. After all, music distracts us from fatigue, and at the right BPM music can improve a workout. If you need some help picking out the best exercise headphones, we've got you covered as well.

The psychology of workout music | BBC Future

Photo by Kai Chan Vong.

“A cluttered desk is a cluttered mind.” “If you had more hours in the day, you'd be more productive.” These are common productivity tropes you've probably heard before, and you may even be wasting time trying to follow them when they don't make sense for you. Let's take a look at some of the most popular claims about productivity, and see if there's science to back them up.

The last time we tackled productivity myths, we used studies and published research to break down oft-repeated productivity tropes. We'll take the same approach this time, dig into the science that refutes each myth, and offer some tips to help you work smarter in your quest to get things done.

Myth #1: More Hours Equals More Work

If you had more hours in the day, surely you'd get more done, right? That's the sinister logic behind the myth that more hours equals more work. It's also the logic that encourages us to pull all-nighters in college and for employers to make their staff to work late or come in on weekends. Unfortunately, more hours doesn't equal more work, and in fact, longer hours usually leads to worse results, lower productivity, and an unhappy, less healthy you.

This 2011 synthesis paper (full text, PDF) by the International Labour Organization reviewed available research into the relationship between productivity and hours worked. The core conclusion: Longer hours do not make you more productive, and can in fact have the opposite effect: You'll get less done, and what you do get done is never your best work (or has to be revisited or corrected later). The ILO paper isn't the only one on the topic. A similar paper by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (full text, PDF) pointed out that among the 16 of the EU nations, people who worked more flexible hours or jobs that would be normally considered part-time were overall more engaged with and productive at work and happier in their off-time than people who worked more hours.

That paper even directly contrasted the European model of high "labour market participation rates" (which means more people working but not necessarily steadily employed with one job) and lower individual working times with the American model of high employment (people steadily employed with a single job) and longer working times. The paper concluded that regardless of the type of employment (full-time or part-time), the sweet spot is around 30 hours. After that, quality of work and life start to drop off. It's particularly stinging result (although one we've mentioned before) considering most of us work close to 50 hours per week. This isn't just Europe talking, either. Robert C. Pozen, former executive at Fidelity Investments, former chairman of MFS Investment Management, and current lecturer at Harvard Business School argues the same in his book Extreme Productivity: Boost Your Results, Reduce Your Hours. Similarly, all-nighters don't work either (don't take our word for it, this study in the journal Child Development concludes as much) and forcing an employee to work late just strains their already limited energy reserves.

So what do we do? The working world isn't going to let us work 30 hours a week anytime soon. The fix is something we've mentioned before: Take more breaks to get more done. Not just quick coffee breaks or "breaks" where you switch to another task, but real breaks where you actually get a chance to relax and recharge. This 2010 study in the journal Cognition draws a bright line between frequent breaks and downtime and overall heightened productivity and worker focus.

Breaks aren't the cure for overwork or working too many hours (we have other tips for that), but they can help, especially while you make the case to your boss that you should be judged on your results and the value you offer, not just face time or the time you spend in your seat at work.

Myth #2: Multitasking Is Necessary In Today's Workplace

Almost every job description has a line that says "able to handle competing responsibilities simultaneously," and some proudly claim they can juggle multiple things at once. They're full of it. Even people who claim they're multitasking are really just good single-taskers, and the ones who claim they really are multitasking are actually terrible at it, according to a 2009 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Researchers like David E. Meyer, Director of the Brain, Cognition, and Action Laboratory at the University of Michigan, have been warning us for years that multitasking slows us down and makes us prone to errors. The Laboratory has a whole page dedicated to studies on the topic, if you're not convinced.

Similarly, our interview with David Crenshaw, author of the book The Myth of Multitasking: How "Doing It All" Gets Nothing Done reads just as poignantly today as it ever did. The bottom line is that multitasking—or trying to do multiple similar tasks at the same time, or even in quick succession, inevitably leads to more stress, terrible results, and more rework in the long run.

Still, even though we all know what multitaking does to our brains, the rest of the working world still expects you to handle multiple responsibilities at the same time, and no one can ignore the fire alarm while they finish up an email. Most of us need to be able to move across to-dos with some fluidity. So what's the fix? Effective single-tasking and flexibility. When David Silverman defended multitasking, what he really did was explain why it's important that we focus fully on the item we're tasked with, but be ready and able to switch tasks when the need arises.

It's important to differentiate flexibility and multitasking. When you're flexible, you're ready and willing to move to another to-do when it's appropriate, not for the sake of trying to finish multiple things at once. You focus on the item at hand fully and completely, but if something demands—not just wants—your attention, you're able to switch to it in a serial—not a parallel—manner. You control the flow of information instead of letting it control you, and act accordingly. You can practice this kind of task-switching the next time you feel burnt out—it's beneficial to stop and pick up something else instead of beating your head against one specific problem. Also, take short breaks when you switch to help you refocus on the new task before you dive in. Flexible single-tasking is usually what people mean when they think they're good multitaskers. In reality, they're just good at doing one thing until they get to a stopping point, and then switching off to another thing that requires their attention (or that they want to pay attention to).

Myth #3: Procrastination Is the Enemy

In our productivity-powered culture, procrastination is seen as something you have to fight. Time doing nothing at all is viewed as wasted time. Sure, spending all day looking at cat gifs keeps you from working, and procrastinating can both waste precious time and ensure your to-do list never shrinks. Still, there's a dark side to this mentality. If we're supposed to banish all downtime, or any idle time we have where we're not doing "productive work," we're also banishing the only times our brain has to recharge. Procrastination, distraction, and boredom are essential to our mental health. In fact, we've gone so far as to suggest that sometimes you should prioritize doing nothing at all.

We're not the only people who think so. This 2011 study by researchers at The University of Limerick concluded that boredom is a healthy, normal mental state, and can actually push you towards more prosocial behavior—essentially, that it's not something to be banished when you feel it. Similarly, This 2009 study in the Journal of Neuroscience highlights that daydreaming—which you only get to do during those so-called "non-productive" periods, is equally healthy, and actually can improve your focus when you get back to work. You don't have to force your procrastination, either—let it happen naturally and don't be ashamed of it, but do rein it in when you have to.

Downtime is an essential part of the way our brains work. Human beings aren't machines, and we don't function at optimal levels for long periods. We work and focus in bursts, interspersed by periods where we need to relax, recharge, and, as we've mentioned, take breaks where we're not engaged—or even distracted by another item on our to-do list.

Myth #4: You have to be Clean to be Organized or Creative

Professional organizers and neatniks alike (myself included) will tell you that in order to get any real work done, your desk should be clean, tidy, and everything should be in its place. You may even notice from some of our featured workspaces that they're all almost impossibly clean. The same is true for some (but not all) of the people we feature in the "How I Work" series. So do you have to be impeccably clean and minimal to be productive? Not at all. If that's your style, go for it, but it's not a requirement.

One 2011 study in the Journal of Consumer Research (full text, PDF) concluded that, even though the researchers started the study with the assertion that mess was an averse condition that would lead to lower efficiency, their experimentation actually showed that in some people, some clutter actually made them more efficient, helped them make decisions, and made them feel more creative. They're not the only researchers to imply that a messy desk doesn't necessarily equal a messy mind. This piece in the New York Times cites a number of researchers who speak about mess and clutter in loving, productive terms. They sound off in favor of the notion that a clean space is a dormant space, where no work is being done, while a cluttered one is a place of activity, where someone's working.

This study clashes with other studies, like this one from the Princeton Neuroscience Institute in the 2011 edition of the Journal Neuroscience. It notes very clearly that "Multiple stimuli present in the visual field at the same time compete for neural representation by mutually suppressing their evoked activity throughout visual cortex, providing a neural correlate for the limited processing capacity of the visual system." Essentially, clutter makes you less focused. Clean up.

This is a place where the science isn't perfect. The studies that support the idea of clutter as synonymous with creative have largely been done by market groups, and some even by teams sponsored by furniture manufacturers. Kind of suspicious, right? Similarly, the Journal of Consumer Research study is almost universally the single source for every "messy desks are good" article you'll find. However, that doesn't mean it should be dismissed, or that its findings aren't accurate. The bottom line here is that if a clean desk works for you and you feel more creative in a simple, clean, minimal space, make it happen, and fight your tendency to clutter. If you need a little clutter to get your wheels turning, or your idea of organization is a series of piles where you know where everything is, don't let yourself be shamed into tidying up because someone else thinks you'll be more productive (or because your office has a "clean desk" policy). Find what works for you—there's evidence to support you either way.

Myth #5: Productivity is All About Shoveling More Busywork

We mentioned this the first time we tackled productivity myths, but the goal of being productive is not to just shovel more work onto your plate as quickly as possible. It can be, if that's how you approach it (or if you let your work take advantage of you), but the end goal of "productivity" is to spend less time doing the things you have to do so you have more time for the things you want to do.

This myth isn't one that's been scientifically disproven by study, but it is one that follows by logic from some of the previous myths. It's also one that, once you understand it, can make your life better or horribly worse depending on how you approach your productivity system. We've mentioned that willpower is a finite resource, and it's critical to spend it on the things that actually matter to you. The unimportant things on your list should be quick to handle or off your plate entirely, all so you have more time and energy to work on what matters—not work on everything that comes down the line, or whatever your boss pushes on you next because you don't "look busy enough." It's up to you to push back against that tidal wave when you realize you have more time because you've been working smarter and not harder In short, "productivity," the way we discuss it, is not about getting more done, it's about getting the right things done.

To that point, we've talked about the pitfalls of productivity "porn"several times here, and while we offering up more productivity tips and tricks than any normal person could possibly use, what's important is that you take the ones that work for you and enhance your system, not spend so much time shuffling papers and trying new apps and services that you don't get anything done. That's our job—we'll do it for you.

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Just like last time, these myths are only the beginning of the traditional productivity wisdom that gets trotted out whenever someone wants to sell you a book on productivity or wants your company to pay them to speak motivationally about the benefits of productive engagement. In many cases, all it takes is a little digging for find conclusive studies that dismiss the idea outright. In any case, remember the core message: Your productivity is a personal, individual thing, and while there are lots of tips that apply to lots of people, not everything is going to be relevant or useful specifically to you. They may be perfect for someone else, but don't take everything as the gospel truth, and don't dismiss something else just because it's not your style.

Photos by Stuart Jenner (Shutterstock), AlxYago (Shutterstock), prudkov (Shutterstock), Alle, Sam Crockett, and Everett Collection (Shutterstock).

LIDAR scanning has recently become cost-effective enough for archaeologists to use on large historical sites, and they're taking full advantage. A helicopter sojourn last year has revealed a massive urban site below the jungles near Angkor Wat in Cambodia that likely housed thousands of people. New canals, temples and other man-made structures were discovered during a two-day scan, which emitted up to 200,000 laser pulses per second and would have taken years if done by traditional excavation methods. The technique can scope out features as small as a footprint, and is also being used in cities around the Egyption pyramids and other archaeologically interesting regions -- marking another way that Indy-style archeologists are becoming obsolete.

Filed under: Science, Alt

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Source: MIT Technology Review

We're in a day in age where battery powered electronics are just an annoyance to most of us. Charging, or even plug-in power is so much easier to use. Instructables user DIYHacksAndHowTos shows off how to convert those battery powered electronics to run on AC.

Although the process sounds pretty complicated, it's not as difficult as you might think. It uses a voltage regulator circuit, , a switch, and a dummy battery system to take up space. The dummy battery also makes the whole thing removable in case you want to revert back to the batteries. As with any project where you're working with electricity, you'll want to be careful, but the process here is pretty straight-forward. Head over to Instructables for the full guide.

Convert Battery Powered Electronics to Run on AC | Instructables via Hack a Day

Can you believe this is a single photograph? Yeah, I know – it doesn’t appear so at first. It takes few moments before you see what’s actually going on, right? Here’s another interesting illusion that works in a similar fashion (solution animation included!).

There are some who have argued that games just aren’t the right medium for telling stories. Pointing out that scant few games have ever produced literary works comparable with other forms, the suggestion is that gaming just isn’t a suitable place for such narrative experiences. But this argument is entirely flawed, failing to understand that gaming is home to a completely new form of storytelling, and one that is perhaps more potent and powerful than any other.

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S.H.O.V.E.L. is yet another multitool, but it has a distinct advantage. It sports a spork for eating, a serrated edge for cutting things, a bottle opener for opening god knows what, and six feet of paracord for whatever your heart desires. Also, it's open source and you can make it however you like.

Perhaps you think the S.H.O.V.E.L. looks great as-is and you want to buy one for $10, but if you think it could use an improvement or two then you can take matters into your own hands. The creators of the S.H.O.V.E.L. decided to post the datasheet and CAD files on the product page so you can grab them and create your own version should theirs not suit you. But if it does, the S.H.O.V.E.L. doesn't cost much and makes for a pretty solid multitool.

S.H.O.V.E.L. ($10) | Spark Fun via Uncrate

Dear Lifehacker,
I like Apple hardware, but it doesn't run cheap and I'm not sure I want to use OS X. I know I can run Windows, but am I wasting money purchasing a Mac if I'm not using it as a Mac? When does it make sense to buy Apple hardware instead of a standard PC?

Sincerely,
Apples to Oranges

Dear AtO,
As you likely know, people who buy Macs generally make the purchase not just for the hardware but for the Apple ecosystem. When you buy a Mac, Apple expects (or, at least, wants) you to partake in their grand lifestyle design. In some ways, they lock you into this. In others, you can buy a Mac and use it as a Windows PC instead. Apple hardware sometimes offers distinct advantages over its PC counterparts and its worth the cost. Let's take a look at when you should get a Mac even if you might not use it like one.

You Want to Dual Boot on a Laptop

You can always dual boot on a hackintosh, or even triple boot, but you'll have a harder time accomplishing that on a laptop. If you want to use OS X and Windows, but don't want to commit to one or the other, buying a Mac laptop provides you with the option. Additionally, you get hardware with official drivers for both operating systems.

These benefits still apply on the desktop side of the equation, too. While we recommend building a hackintosh to save yourself some money and get a more powerful, customizable computer, if you don't want the hassle and do want the official support you should grab an iMac and use Boot Camp to run Windows. You'll save yourself the headache of fixing all and any hardware and software problems yourself (if you don't enjoy that sort of thing).

You Want Better-Than-Average Customer Support

I'm often the first to admit I don't like visiting the Genius Bar. In general, I avoid customer support at all costs. That said, I'd take Apple's customer support over any other large computer manufacturer. With all Macs you get a year of solid support, extendable to three, and Apple tends to fix problems when they don't have to. By no means will you convince them to replace a four-year-old iMac because you found a dead pixel, and Genius Bar horror stories certainly exist, but you'll more often get a better support experience through Apple even if you don't run their OS.

You Like Apple Hardware and You Get a Good Price

This should be obvious. If you like the hardware and you want to run Windows, buy an Apple computer and run Windows on it. Apple's MacBook Airs fall at a comparable price point with other ultrabooks, and many still prefer Apple's option over the standard PC competition. If it doesn't cost you more (or much more), you really have nothing to lose. Remember, you can find cheaper Macs by getting a refurbished machine from Apple's official store (often the better option anyway) or grabbing a new one from an online retailer like Amazon for a discounted price.

You Have Few (Non-Bluetooth) Peripherals

Macs have ports—just not a lot of them. Usually, you get a couple of USB ports and a few others you may or may not need. If you rarely plug in an external hard drive, audio interface, or any other common peripheral, you won't mind. Macs were not designed for the type of person who wants to plug things in. You'll need to stick with Bluetooth peripherals if you want to use more than a few things with your machine.

You Don't Need an Optical Drive

While the current MacBook Pros (without Retina displays) still sport optical drives, no other Macs have them. If you need/want an optical drive, don't buy a Mac. You'll need to get an external and that's no fun to lug around.

When You Shouldn't Get a Mac

When it comes to desktop Macs, you don't gain much for the cost. Unless you really want the design of an iMac or Mac Pro, you'll almost always pay more for the same hardware. Additionally, with Microsoft pushing the touch screen everywhere you'll miss out if you get a Mac and run Windows 8. On the laptop side, the old-fashioned MacBook Pros (without Retain displays) cost quite a bit more than their Windows laptop counterparts.

If you like lots of ports and expandability you will hate having a Mac. You can't swap batteries on laptops, you can barely upgrade the hardware (if you can at all), and upgrading at purchase time often costs far more than the individual parts actually do. If you care at all about hardware customizability, you should not buy a Mac.

Ultimately, Apple hardware makes sense when you want a PC with operating system flexibility, solid hardware design, and good support. If you care about upgrades or want the absolute cheapest machine possible, most anything else will do.

Love,
Lifehacker

We've long known that a yoga practice can do wonders for your health and well-being. A new study suggests a 20-minute yoga workout can improve your memory and other brain functions even better than aerobic exercise.

Researchers from the University of Illinois recruited 30 undergraduate women to participate in a 20-minute yoga session involving seated, standing, and floor postures, as well as a deep breathing and meditative pose at the end. They also walked or jogged on a treadmill for 20 minutes to 60-70 percent maximum heartrate.

The results revealed that immediately after doing yoga, the participants showed significant improvement on cognitive tests evaluating their reaction times, accuracy, and memory. Surprisingly, there were no significant improvements from the aerobic exercise directly afterwards.

It's possible that yoga's emphasis on centering, awareness, and focus are behind that immediate brainpower boost. Whatever the reason, the takeaway is if you have a big test or other mentally-challenging task ahead of you, try doing some downward dogs and warrior poses (or your preferred yoga workout) beforehand.

The Acute Effects of Yoga on Executive Function | Academia.edu via Science Daily

Photo by Tom Mooring.

If you're already overwhelmed by the sheer amount of activity surrounding the ongoing NSA fallout, we're guessing that now would be an excellent time to go on vacation. Predictably, lawsuits are already being filed against the National Security Agency, the second of which is coming from the American Civil Liberties Union. Essentially, it's challenging the constitutionality of the surveillance program in a New York federal court, deeming the initiative "one of the largest surveillance efforts ever launched by a democratic government."

The suit claims that the program infringes upon (at least) the First Amendment and the Fourth Amendment of the United States constitution. As The Verge points out, the ACLU's prior NSA lawsuit (in 2008) was dismissed in a 5-4 outcome "on the grounds that it did not have legal standing to sue, since there was no way to prove it had been targeted." Given the leaked documents involved now, however, the outcome could be much different this go 'round. Of course, one has to wonder: if all of this leads to the public shutdown of the program, are we capable of trusting the same government that started it to not actually operate it in secret?

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet

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Via: Wired

Source: ACLU [PDF]

"The National Security Agency is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of US customers of Verizon, one of America's largest telecoms providers, under a top secret court order issued in April. The order, a copy of which has been obtained by the Guardian, requires Verizon on an 'ongoing, daily basis' to give the NSA information on all telephone calls in its systems, both within the US and between the US and other countries. The document shows for the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of US citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk - regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing." Hey Americans, welcome to the club. And here we were, afraid of Google!

They meet more people in an afternoon than most of us do in a year. But what faux pas do human resources pros see again and again during the interview process? We picked the brains of two high-profile executives to find out what you definitely should and shouldn't say, as well as what they secretly think of your résumé.

(One was so brutally honest about her just-don't-do-this advice that she preferred to remain anonymous.)

Not Knowing When to Stop Talking

"Talking over your interviewer is the biggest mistake that interview candidates don't realize they're making," says Stacey Hawley, a career and leadership development coach and compensation specialist. "This is usually from nervousness, but as a result, the candidates outtalk the interviewer and don't engage in active listening."

Amy Michaels,* a human resources director at a high-tech firm in New York City, agrees: "The inability to listen is huge. That person who's always trying to have the exact right answer, but can't stop talking? They ultimately won't be a success." Instead, listen up and watch more subtle clues—like your interviewer's body language. If she's shifting back and forth or clearing her throat, it's time to let her get to the next question.

Bad-mouthing Your Ex-Job

While it may seem like a no-brainer, putting down your current employer happens all too often, says Michaels, perhaps because the bad feelings are still fresh. If you're tempted to trash your present company, stop right there.

"When I ask why you're leaving a place, I don't want to hear you gripe about your current manager or badmouth your situation," she says. "Be creative enough to come up with a tactful reason as to why you're leaving. Otherwise, to me, that's a huge red flag that you're not mature enough to know not to do it. Not to mention that it makes me nervous about how tactful you're going to be externally if I hire you."

Not Acknowledging Your Mistakes

A couple of interview rules of thumb: "Be well-groomed, and be on time," says Michaels. "Or email if your train is running late. That happens in New York."

While one minor transgression may not deep-six your prospects of landing the job, you should still acknowledge it and move on, says Michaels. Hawley will also pardon small errors: "Mistakes are OK and acceptable. No one is perfect—or needs to be." The bigger red flag, both say, is someone who can't admit their missteps. "The people who make me nuts just act like being late never happened," says Michaels. "If you make a mistake, own up to it."

Neglecting Your Cover Letter

Our experts were adamant about this. "To be honest, I don't read objectives, and I don't care if you fence," says Michaels. "But I do read cover letters." Hawley agrees: "Absolutely write a cover letter. It's an opportunity to highlight your understanding of the business, and what you can do for the bottom line."

And, even in the digital age, there's no excuse for a quickly dashed-off email—take the time to compose it with care. "Demonstrate your knowledge of the company," says Hawley. "And link your past achievements to the position, showing how you can contribute to their future success." That, she says, will always make a candidate stand out.

Trying Too Hard

While confidence is a must, check your supersize ego at the door. "I have a good radar," says Michaels, "and I have a policy where I will not bring in ego. I've made that mistake, and it really affects the culture of an organization."

What good HR professionals have that most humans don't, notes Michaels, is a high EQ. "You notice body language," she says. "You can sense whether someone has empathy or is overly self-involved."

Michaels advice? Try to relax and be your (best) self. "I like people who are authentic, and you know it’s who they are," she says. "I'm just attracted to that." Of course, HR execs can also pick up on whether you're posturing. "When you start elaborating on things you don’t actually know or things you think I want to hear, I’m not impressed," she says.

Curbing Your Enthusiasm

If you're going to the trouble of sprucing up your résumé and dry-cleaning your suit, at least try to appear appropriately enthused. An interview is an opportunity to learn about the company, and vice versa, but you can take yourself out of the running prematurely if you don't act like you want the position. And that includes doing your homework on both the company and your individual interviewers.

"I would never hire someone who didn't do the proper research," says Hawley. But if it came down to a choice between two candidates, "all else being equal, the person who showed the most excitement and interest would get my vote," she says.

Forgetting Your Manners

When it comes to an interview, you want to dot your I's, cross your T's and, yes, put your résumé on nice, thick paper stock—but certain old-fashioned politesse can also get you ahead.

"A handshake is actually important to me," says Michaels. "It's a totally stupid thing, but I do pay attention." So what is she looking for? "You want a firm, confident handshake," she says. "It tells you whether that person is an introvert or an extrovert. If it's a sales job, you have to have a healthy handshake."

As for Hawley, her biggest interview-etiquette pet peeve is equally simple: not following up. So be sure to send a thank-you note or a thank-you email, if you're trying to be expedient. But don't just send a form letter to every person who you interviewed with—thank them instead by mentioning a personal connection or a particular detail that you discussed.

Torpedoing the Salary Negotiation

Finally, if you're lucky enough to get an offer, you're on to (arguably) the hardest part of the interview process.

There are two common salary-negotiation mistakes our recruiters see: The first is mentioning money too early. "I think it’s really presumptuous for a candidate to bring up money," says Michaels. "You have to earn the right to bring that up." The second is forgetting to negotiate at all. "People—especially women—negotiate against themselves," says Hawley. "They assume how the company will respond, and answer for the company."

Our nerves often cause us to blurt out a number, locking us into a salary when there was more money to be had. Instead, she says, you should ask open-ended questions, such as "What range do you have in mind?" Then wait and listen.

HR Experts Confess: 8 Biggest Job Interview Mistakes We See | LearnVest

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LearnVest's mission is to empower people everywhere to take control of their personal finances so that they can afford their dreams. They believe that financial planning should not be a luxury, which is why they've developed an advice-driven program that is personalized to your specific financial goals and situation. Take control of your money. Join LearnVest today.

Image remixed from ilustrator (Shutterstock).

Want to see your work on Lifehacker? Email Tessa.

Cooking is chemistry, and every time you set foot in your kitchen, you walk into a laboratory, packed with high-tech gear and stocked with supplies, made just for you. People say cooking is an art, and that's true, but the science of cooking is easier to grasp and repeat. Understanding it will make you a better cook and help you have a little fun in the process. If you're the type who hates cooking, or just doesn't think you're any good at it, here’s your solution.

Cooking is Science, So Study Hard

There are some simple scientific principles you can take with you to the kitchen to improve your food and have a little more fun. In this post, we'll walk you through them, and introduce you to a movement that wants to bring the benefits of modern technology, experimentation, and observation into your kitchen. Finally, we'll look at some food hacks that incorporate these methods, and explain why they work so well.

To help us, we teamed up with J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, Chief Creative Officer at Serious Eats and the author of The Food Lab, and Jack Bishop, Editorial Director at America's Test Kitchen. Both gentlemen are experts when it comes to using science in the kitchen to make delicious food, and so you have a better time "in the lab," as it were. As Jack Bishop put it, "Cooking is chemistry and physics, except you get to eat your lab work."

Some Basic Principles to Learn that Will Drastically Improve Your Cooking

If you're not convinced that science has a place in the kitchen, just look at a recipe. Ingredients and measurements, instructions and written documentation, all designed to lead you to a specific, repeatable outcome that someone else has also perfected. Baking is a bit more precocious, but it's a science in its own right. While a cake or souffle can go wildly wrong if your measurements are off, the best bakers know the principles behind their craft, so they know by look and feel whether they'll get their desired result. At its core, cooking is the process of taking a series of ingredients, combining them, using energy to apply heat or cold, and working with them to produce a delicious, nutritious, and hopefully fun experimental result.

Speaking of recipes, when I asked Jack Bishop for some recipes he thought would get a home cook interested in the science of cooking, he suggested that rather than focus on recipes, it would be more helpful to master some basic principles instead:

Learn the Science of Measurements (and Make Sure You Have the Tools for the Job)

If you know how to follow instructions, you can follow a recipe. The key is to pay attention, learn to interpret and understand measurements, and make sure you have the basic tools to help you succeed: Measuring cups or spoons, a timer, a thermometer, and a kitchen scale (when you're ready, you can add a few helpful upgrades). Kenji stressed (and we agree) that one of your kitchen investments should be a good thermometer. It may cost you, though. The Sweethome, a spinoff site from our friends at The Wirecutter, just picked their favorite instant-read thermometer, the CDN DTQ450X ProAccurate Quick-Read Thermometer. I'm partial to classic Thermoworks Thermapen, popularized by Alton Brown, which The Sweethome also suggests if you're willing to spend a little more.

Don't worry, measurements and recipes don't have to be a crutch, and there's always room for experimentation, but if you're just getting started, want reproducible results, or you're tired of ruining everything you try to cook, stick to the recipe and pay attention. You'll begin to understand how much of what adds which specific flavors to your dishes, and whether you like them or not. For example, I love cooking with garlic, and I quickly learned that when a recipe calls for a single clove, it's just not enough flavor for me. Whenever a TV chef says "add one or two cloves of garlic" to a recipe that's supposed to feed four, I know I should double that, if not more.

Learn Your Cooking Methods Inside and Out

As with any scientific endeavor, you need to do is break down the language barrier between yourself and your study topic. When it comes to cooking, you'll want to understand cooking methods on their own terms. Learn the differences between dry cooking methods like frying, baking, roasting, broiling, or grilling and wet cooking methods like poaching, boiling, braising, steaming, and stewing. You may be familiar with them, but this rundown at Wikieducator goes into deeper detail on each.

Studying cooking methods does more than just clear up terminology: By understanding each, you'll also understand how foods and flavors develop under different conditions and temperatures. For example, poaching involves a gentle, stable liquid cooking environment with relatively low temperatures, while sauteing or frying are high temperature techniques (separated largely by how much oil is involved. Sauteing implies a thin film of oil while frying can involve a thick layer or completely submerging food in oil, a la deep frying). Once you're familiar with each, you'll also be familiar with how temperature plays a role in cooking different types of food, and you'll be able to see your desired result and the cooking method to get you there more easily.

High Heat Develops Flavors, But Gentle Heat Prevents Overcooking

If you're not familiar with the Maillard Reaction, it's the chemical process that creates delicious browning on seared meats, baked or toasted breads, malted barley in your whiskey or beer, and roasted coffee. Understanding the chemical process behind the Maillard Reaction will do you well in the kitchen. The video above does a great job of explaining the process, as does this article from Modernist Cuisine. Jack noted that browning equals flavor, so you'd do well to look to cooking methods that promote it, either at the beginning or the end of the cooking process, especially with meats.

Regardless, Jack explained that you're less likely to overcook a roast in a 250° oven than a 450° one. 350°F, for example, is generally referred to as the "universal" baking temperature, and that's for a reason. Most common dishes can be cooked in a reasonable amount of time at that temperature. He also explained that the heat differential from the outside to the inside of your dish is lower in a cooler oven (or on a cooler grill), so you have a bigger window to experiment without ruining your dish. Many people hate cooking and ruin dishes for no other reason than that they cook at entirely too high temperatures, so don't hesitate to turn it down a bit.

Hot Food Keeps Cooking, and Resting Heat Maximizes Juiciness

You're probably familiar with both of these principles by now, but they're both explained in detail in Cooks Illustrated's The Science of Good Cooking. Kenji explains in detail at the Food Lab why it's so important to let meat rest, and it's also important to remember that even after you've removed food from direct heat, it's internal temperature will continue to rise for a short resting period before it begins to come back down. If you're cooking meat, that means you should expect the internal temperature of your meats to come up a bit after you've taken them off the heat or out of the oven. For veggies, this is why many cooks stop the cooking process with an ice bath after removing them from the heat—doing so preserves their texture at the moment they're pulled off the stove.

Write Down Your Lab Results

J. Kenji Lopez-Alt shared this lesson for aspiring chef/lab technicians looking to improve their cooking with the scientific method:

I think Adam Savage from Mythbusters put it best, and I'm paraphrasing, but he said something like "the difference between screwing around and science is that with science, you write it down."

I like that a lot, because it illustrates what is important about science: precision and repeatability. My advice for cooks who want to learn what they are doing in the kitchen is to simply start paying attention to details. Write down what you are doing, take notes, review your notes, if something went wrong, try and track down what step it was or what ingredient threw it off so you can learn from your mistakes.

Kenji noted that many people forget that there's just as much science in cooking a steak or a hamburger as there is in cooking something flashy and full of unpronounceable ingredients. Just because you don't happen to have sodium citrate at home (more on that later) doesn't mean you can't see the science of a sizzling steak.

Some Useful Food Hacks and the Science Behind Them

Both Jack and Kenji shared some simple, elegant tips to take into the kitchen with you that can improve your cooking using the power of science. Here are a few:

• Master the reverse sear. We've mentioned the reverse sear in the past, but both Kemji and Jack recommended it without knowing the other would. Cooks Illustrated and The Food Lab have both rigorously tested the process, and both with the same result. Kenji explains:

  For cooking meats, the reverse-sear is pretty much my standard for any kind of searing or roasting, no matter the type of meat. It's a technique I developed for cooking steaks while I worked at Cook's Illustrated, but it has applications in all kinds of cooking. Basically, traditional recipes will tell you to sear your meat first - say, by starting a prime rib in a blazing hot oven - then finish it off low and slow. This is a technique based on the false idea that searing somehow seals in juices or locks in flavor.
  
  In fact, through some very rigorous testing I found that the exact opposite is the case: you lose more juices by searing first than you do by searing at the end. When cooking a prime rib, I'll start it off as low and slow as possible - 6 to 8 hours in a 175°F oven, if possible. Once the meat has hit the desired final temperature (130°F for medium rare), I'll remove it from the oven, pump up the heat, and blast it to crisp and brown the surface just before serving. You get juicier, more evenly cooked meat with a better crust and the added advantage that the meat doesn't need to rest, as there is no temperature gradient inside.

  The reverse sear is a great way to reheat steaks without drying them out too.
• Don't forget the salt. You may already know how important salt is in frying or searing, but even if you're marinating, don't skip the salt. Jack explains that it's salt that actually makes meat more tender and contributes to your meat taking on the flavor of your marinade. Acidic ingredients like vinegar, lemon juice, or that bottle of Italian salad dressing, he notes, just break down the outermost layer of tissue on your meat via enzymatic reaction and makes it gross and mushy.
• Melt your butter for chewy cookies. If you're baking cookies and want chewy instead of crispy, the key is to melt your butter first. Jack explains:

  Butter is about 18% water and if you melt the butter that water will mix with the proteins in the flour to form gluten—the stuff that makes bread (or cookies) chewy.

  Many recipes suggest you "cream" your butter, or beaten at a slow speed until it becomes smooth and frosting-like before you add sugar or other ingredients. That's fine if you want crisp cookies, but who doesn't like a soft, chewy chocolate chip cookie?

• Bloom ground spices in hot oil to open up their flavor. Jack explained that most spices contain a wealth of fat soluble flavor that's all locked up inside. Most of us tend to add spices to water-soluble liquids and stir them up long after sauteeing onions or garlic, but Jack suggests we start with them instead:

  Don't add spices to a pot of chili after the liquid has been added. Instead, add the chili powder, cumin, ground coriander, etc, to the pot with the onions. Spices contain a lot of fat-soluble flavor compounds and cooking them in vegetable oil (rather than water-based ingredients) brings out their full flavor.

  This goes double for older ground spices—normally we would suggest ditching spices past their prime, and Alton Brown explains in this episode of Good Eats that your spices are best bought whole and grated on demand. We couldn't agree more, but if you do have ground spices in your pantry (like most of us do), this is a great way to extract every last bit of flavor from them.
• Tame tricky emulsions with a dab of mayo. Emulsions are a beautiful example of chemistry at work in the kitchen. An emulsion is a combination of oil-based ingredients and water-based ingredients, like a mixture of oil and vinegar in a vinaigrette, or water and butter fat in butter. Salad dressings, Hollandaise sauce, and even the crema on top of your morning espresso are all examples of emulsions, and getting them to cooperate can be tricky. Jack suggests the secret to making your emulsions more stable—that is, so they don't immediately separate into their water and oil parts as soon as you stop whisking, stirring, or shaking—is to add a dab of mayonnaise. Since mayo itself is an emulsion that's been stabilized by the lecithin in egg yolks (or by an artificial stabilizer, depending on the mayo you buy), adding a dab will lend its properties to your salad dressing or sauce. I've done this before and it works like a charm.
• Reach for cocoa power when you need serious chocolatey flavor. If you're baking and want to amp up the chocolate flavor in your cookies and cakes, you could always try and grate some chocolate into your dish or melt a little to go into it, but it's generally a bad idea. You'll introduce a ton of liquid and fat you may not intend when what you really wanted was flavor. Jack offers this tip instead:

  Ounce for ounce, cocoa powder has more flavor than other forms of chocolate. That's because it's 100% chocolate, with a high proportion of the tasteless cocoa butter removed. What's left behind? The cocoa solids that provide all the flavor we associate with chocolate. An ounce of cocoa powder has the same flavor impact as 1.6 ounces of unsweetened chocolate or 3.8 ounces of bittersweet chocolate. Cocoa powder is the secret source of intense chocolate flavor in many of our cakes and cookies.

• Keep an "umami bomb" at the ready for emergency savory injections. I love savory foods. It's a bit of a weakness. When both Kenji and Jack both suggested some quick ways to add savory flavor to virtually any dish, I perked up. Jack recommends the humble anchovy—which may make you turn up your nose—as a pantry staple. He adds them to beef stews, chili, and braises. A little bit will go a long way (even anchovy paste will work) and seriously amp up the meaty flavor of your dish without adding fishiness. Kenji's three "umami bombs" also feature anchovies, but he also keeps marmite and soy sauce at the ready for everything from marinades, salad dressings, soups, and even meatloaf. All three add incredible savory flavor to whatever you're making without imparting their own to the dish.

• Try cooking sous vide. Perhaps the biggest example of science in the kitchen is the sous vide cooking method. Even a few years ago, you'd be hard pressed to find a thermal immersion circulator in a kitchen near you, but these days they're almost everywhere. Plus, commercial water ovens are getting more and more affordable, and are making their way into homes where people like you and I are experimenting with the cooking method. If you're interested in it, our primer on sous vide cooking, and how to do it on a budget is a must-read. Don't worry, you can get started even if you don't have a water oven. I followed Kenji's example and used a cooler, but you could even use your kitchen sink.

I also spoke briefly to the team behind Modernist Cuisine about their newest book, Modernist Cuisine at Home, which aims to bring those more adventurous and experimental techniques to home kitchens. You may have seen some of their tips here before, or over at Chow's MDRN KTCHN video series, hosted by Scott Heimendinger, Director of Applied Research at Modernist Cuisine. If you're looking for easy, applicable ways to add a little science to your cooking game, they're worth watching.

These are just a few suggestions, but they're by no means all of them. Some of the best food hacks that feature modern cuisine are ones we've mentioned in the past, like Modernist Cuisine's method for perfectly melty cheese from whatever type of cheese you enjoy (Spoiler: the secret is adding Sodium Citrate). Also, this method for making infused liquors, oils, and syrups in seconds with a whipping siphon may require you have some gear on-hand, but the result gives you infusions that normally take weeks in mere moments. Finally, if you've ever brined a turkey for Thanksgiving, there's serious science at work there that's worth understanding. Once you do, you won't wait for Thanksgiving and you'll move beyond turkey to pork and chicken—both of which take well to brines.

Additional Reading

For more information on the science of cooking, and how your kitchen is essentially a laboratory for the tasty sciences, here are a few books worth checking out, some of which were used as references for this article:

• Cook's Illustrated: The Science of Good Cooking, by The Editors of America's Test Kitchen and Guy Crosby Ph.D
• On Food and Cooking, by Harold McGee
• The Kitchen as Laboratory: Reflections on the Science of Food and Cooking, by César Vega, Job Ubbink, and Erik van der Linden
• Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking by Nathan Myhrvold, Chris Young, and Maxime Bilet, and Modernist Cuisine at Home by Nathan Myhrvold and Maxime Bilet
• I'm Just Here for the Food and Gear for Your Kitchen by Alton Brown

It may seem daunting at first, but paying attention to the science behind your food and your cooking actually simplifies the process in the long run. Like with most things, you'll understand why and how cooking methods work the way they do and ingredients taste the way they do. Since you'll be able to peek behind the veil and understand the processes at work, you'll eventually be able to free yourself from recipes and experiment on your own—which makes you a better, more creative cook, makes your food taste better, and makes cooking less of a chore and more of an opportunity to go play in "the lab" and have a little fun.

Jack Bishop is Editorial Director at America's Test Kitchen.
J. Kenji López-Alt is the Chief Creative Officer at Serious Eats and the author of The Food Lab.
Both gentlemen volunteered their expertise for this feature, and we thank them.

Photos by Monika Wisniewska (Shutterstock), Chefsteps, Chefsteps, João & Raquel, Chris Schlosser, and Chefsteps.

Before you head out on your next camping trip, save a coffee can or a big plastic coffee canister to take with you. It's the perfect size for a roll of toilet paper, and with the lid on the roll will stay fresh and dry, without anyone crawling inside or the paper getting wet or soggy.

Soggy toilet paper is useless toilet paper, and useless toilet paper is worse than no toilet paper at all. Thankfully this simple tip from the Alaska Outdoor Journal repurposes a coffee canister or can you'd get from any grocery store (assuming you buy large cans of pre-ground coffee, that is) to hold a roll of toilet paper. This may be old hat to seasoned campers, but it definitely beats a paper bag, and coffee cans can have other uses at your campsite, too.

Keeping Your Toilet Paper Fresh and Dry! | Alaska Outdoor Journal

Water makes for excellent wallpapers in all its forms, especially when placid and paired with a clear sky. Lakes have a way of meeting that criteria. Here are some of our favorite quiet, relaxing lake wallpapers.

Even Now

Download this wallpaper | 50 Foot Shadows 2560x1600

Glowing Lake

Download this wallpaper | The Paper Wall 1920x1200

Clouds Over Water

Download this wallpaper | The Paper Wall 2560x1600

In the Reeds

Download this wallpaper | The Paper Wall 1920x1200

Trails

Download this wallpaper | The Paper Wall 1920x1080

Cloudy Lake

Download this wallpaper | The Paper Wall 2560x1600

Green Lake

Download this wallpaper | The Paper Wall 1920x1200

Deserted

Download this wallpaper | The Paper Wall 2560x1600

For more great wallpapers, check out our previous Wallpaper Wednesdays. Got any great wallpapers you'd like to share? Email me a link with "Wallpaper Wednesday" in the subject line. Submitting your own work is highly encouraged!

We've discussed how to check your credit score, improve it, and even debunked myths about it, but you don't have to ride the credit treadmill forever. If your goal is to improve your score to the point where you qualify for the best interest rates, financial offers, perks, and benefits, 760 is your magic number.

In a great piece at LearnVest, Jacqui Kenyon describes her own quest to improve her credit score, constantly checking it, tweaking her spending and saving habits every time she found new tips or learned a little more about the mysterious magical mathematics FICO uses to calculate it. She was striving for a perfect 850, but quickly learned that there's really little point:

“It’s important to understand that if you have a FICO score above 760, you’re going to be getting the best rates and opportunities,” says Anthony Sprauve, director of public relations at FICO, the analytics company whose credit scores are most often used to determine a borrower’s reliability. “While it’s nice to aspire, you really don’t need to,” he says.

According to Bingham, a perfect 850 may not even be possible.

“The highest I’ve ever seen was an 847,” says Bingham, who tracked 1,500 credit scores for several years while researching scoring systems. Sprauve says that when FICO examines credit scores, they do so in ranges, so even if someone did have an 850, they’d never even see it.

So the moral of the story is that while there's nothing wrong with trying to boost your credit score, especially if you're in a position where your past spending habits or old debt have left your credit a little lacking, the best benefits of a high score come around 760, and it's a much more attainable number than 850. Sure, higher scores get the best rates on financing, loans, credit cards, and more, but you don't need to chase perfection in order to reap those benefits.

Just keep in mind that your score is calculated in ranges, so if something happens to make your score drop from 760, your benefits may drop down a tier. Still, improving your score is worthwhile, but it's nothing to obsess over. As we've mentioned, the people with the best scores are the ones who view credit as a tool they have control over, not a force they have to combat.

My Quest for the Perfect Credit Score | LearnVest

Photo by graja (Shutterstock).

Computers are expensive, and every dollar counts if you're building one on a budget. If you pick the right parts, shop at the right stores, and use a few simple tricks, you can save quite a bit on that new PC.

Pick the Right Parts

Saving money on a home-built PC starts with picking the right parts. We've already talked about this a lot before, so we won't get into the nitty-gritty details here, but it's the first place you should look for savings. For example, when it comes to desktop PCs, processors don't matter all that much anymore. Buying Intel's brand-spanking-new Haswell processors won’t make a huge difference in your build. If you want to save some money, check out last generation's Ivy Bridge processors and motherboards instead. They're pretty similar in features, but you can often get them at a lower price.

Similarly, you don't need a high-end (Core) i7 processor with hyperthreading to build a gaming PC. Very few games take advantage of the extra four threads, so an i5 offers the same performance for less money. You also won't need 8GB of RAM, unless you run a lot of virtual machines or perform other RAM-hungry processes.

Lastly, you may find that as you shop around, you see multiple parts that would all fit the bill in your computer. Maybe you don't care what brand of RAM you buy, or what kind of hard drive you get, as long as its the right speed. Heck, you may even find one or two similar motherboards that will work in your build. In that case, monitor them all, so if one goes on sale, pops up as an open box item, or gets a combo deal with another part you can use, you can grab it and know you're getting the best deal.

Just remember: as you shop, don't buy something just because it's cheap. Pick your parts first, then shop around based on price. You don't want to get stuck with low quality components just because you bought them on mega-sale.

Plan for the Future Now

Think about future upgrades when you design your build. Many people will buy brand new, expensive, top of the line parts in the name of “futureproofing,” but that isn’t how futureproofing really works. For example, buying a super expensive video card or hard drive now may make increase your computer’s lifespan, but it'll cost you more in the long run than if you had bought something appropriate now and upgraded it later. On the other hand, you don't want to buy something really cheap with the intent to upgrade in the near future, since it’ll cost more than if you had just gotten a nicer part now. It's all about balance.

So, think about when you might need to upgrade this computer next, and make sure you buy compatible parts. For example, if you think you'll upgrade to an SSD the next time around, buy a motherboard with SATA 6GB/s support so you can take full advantage of it. If you plan on adding a second graphics card (which we don't always recommend), make sure you have enough PCI slots, a motherboard that supports SLI and Crossfire, and a power supply with enough wattage.

Lastly, many parts will last you multiple builds into the future. If you buy a nice case the first time, you can keep it around for years and years to come, which will save you money in the long run. The same goes for power supplies, CPU coolers, and other accessories. We've talked about all this before, but it's worth mentioning again. Check out the video above for a more in-depth explanation on how you can plan for the future and save money in the process.

Choose Your Store(s) Wisely

If you just go to Newegg and buy all your parts in one batch, you probably won’t get the best price possible. Different stores will have different sales, and sometimes you'll save more driving to your local store than you would buying online.

In general, I use Newegg to filter products and read reviews. Once I've found a few that I like, I'll put them into PCPartPicker. It searches the most popular stores, finds the best price on each part, and tracks all their prices automatically. It can even track rebates and combo deals.

Although PCPartPicker does a great job of comparing prices, don’t use it as your only price matching tool. Do a little googling on your own, and check out any local stores that PCPartPicker might have left out. Micro Center, for example, usually has insane deals on processors to get you into the store. If you have one nearby, you can save a ton of money by picking your CPU up in person.

Save on Shipping with Price Matching and Store Pickup

Once you've found the lowest price for each part, you may be tempted to buy them all from their respective stores. Ignore that urge: when you buy from many stores, you pay a lot in shipping. take advantage of price matching to save that money. For example, NCIX will match most of their competitor's prices, and all you have to do is send them a link to the store's page for that part. After that, you can buy all your parts from one store for one low shipping cost. It’s so easy and fast, there’s no reason not to give it a shot.

Often, you can get stores like Micro Center to match online prices as well, particularly for their big competitors like Newegg, though readers at the Tom's Hardware forums mention that your mileage may vary. It never hurts to call and ask!

Speaking of physical retail stores, you can also save on shipping by picking up your parts at a nearby store or warehouse, where applicable. For example, Newegg, NCIX, and even Amazon have services around the country that'll let you pick up your items within 24 hours and without paying shipping. Just make sure the travel time is worth the few bucks you save in shipping.

Watch for Coupons, Open Box Items, and Combo Deals

You can buy your parts all at once easily, but if you're the patient type, many people recommend waiting. If you buy your parts separately over a two-month period, you can monitor their prices more closely and get the best deal on each one.

For example, Redditor smeace notes that if you buy a few parts from Newegg, you'll often get a coupon in your email right after that you can then spend on your next few parts. And, as with anything, keep an eye on coupon sites like RetailMeNot or use extensions like Coupons at Checkout to see what coupons are already available. You can also sign up for newsletters, which aren't too bothersome as long as you have a good Gmail filter.

If you keep an eye out, you may also find cheap "open box" parts at many computer stores. Open box products are exactly what they sound like: parts that have been opened, but not used. Some folks argue you take a gamble when buying open box, but as long as you make sure you can return the item if it's broken you can often save quite a bit of cash.

Newegg and Amazon also feature frequent combo deals, giving you a discount when you buy two or more specific parts together. You'll spot many deals right on the page, but you can find more if you dig a little deeper. If you followed our original advice to pick a number of "possible" parts for each component, this can serve you well. PCPartPicker can also find some of these for you.

This method does have some downsides: It’s very time consuming, requires a lot of effort, and a little risky. If you buy your parts over too long a period of time, you may lose the ability to return them if they don't work. Buying them closely together ensures that you can build the computer, test that everything works correctly, and return parts within the 30-day window if they don't. Deal hunting helps, but don't wait too long in the hopes something great might crop up. In general, the “buy over time” trick works better for future upgrades than building a brand new PC.

Buy Used (But Be Careful)

Lastly, if you're really hard up for cash, some builders recommend buying used parts online. This is just as risky as it sounds: you could end up with a broken part, you'll have a shorter warranty, and you don't get to see the product before you buy.

That said, if you want to go this route:

• Don't buy from sites like Craigslist. Buy from hardware-focused sites like Hard Forum, AnandTech's classifieds, the Overclock.net Marketplace, or Reddit's /r/hardwareswap.
• Buy from a store with a "reputation" feature and that the person you're buying from has lots of positive feedback.
• Look for parts that still have the manufacturer's warranty, and that it supports owners beyond the first.

You may want to poke around those forums and ask for more advice buying used as well. Use your head and be careful.

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These are just some things I've learned from personal experience and digging through forums, but they aren’t the only ones. Just remember that your time is worth something too. At a certain point, it stops being worth it to spend hours looking for deals just to save just a few bucks. For more great tips, I recommend checking out Tom's Hardware's guide to buying PC parts, Reddit's guilde to saving money when you build, and Tested's guide to properly budgeting your next PC. And, of course, be sure to check out our complete guide to building your PC from start to finish and our best builds for every budget as a starting point. Good luck!

Images remixed from Tele52 (Shutterstock) and Logan Ingalls.