$60 - phone, internet. I don't pay for the Netflix account I use, use Spotify free, etc. If you include the hardware as well, then the cost averages out to be significantly higher. $1200 on building a computer, $160 on peripherals, $500 on a laptop a few years ago, $125 on a monitor, $420 on a new monitor, $100 on a…

I've owned a 10" (Asus TF700T) and a 7" (Nexus 7 2013). After a while, I realized that the things I wanted to do with my tablet worked best with a smaller screen size; I like using it for reading books, articles, blogs, etc. I don't need the bigger screen, and it in fact becomes more of an obstacle to easily using it.…

Mouse: Razer Naga (original version, 12-key pad on the side, blue glow, wired only)

I'm decidedly more introverted than extroverted, and I always have been. I also used to be really shy, and I still am to some extent, but it's not nearly as bad as it used to be. I'm totally fine in the vast majority of social situations, and I can handle them for extended periods of time even, but they really wear me…

I'd just like to point out that Americans frequently perceive European service as being worse, when in reality it just reflects a different food culture. In Spain, for example, meals out are social events, frequently lasting upward of 3 hours. Because of that, the wait staff do their best to intrude on your social…

That depends on my mood and which platform I already have the book on. I prefer physical books when possible because I like how they feel, seeing how far along I am, and physically turning pages. I've decided that my 10" tablet is too big for use as an ereader, so I really only use it for reading PDFs (usually for…

Oh you poor person. I'm originally from Louisville, and there's nothing reliable about the public transportation there. Sometimes the buses just never show up. It's also only "ubiquitous" in certain areas, not really everywhere in the city.

I bought one of these while I was in Germany (I'd never seen this particular brand before, and they were in the campus bookstore), and it's my favorite tiny notebook I've used.

For class notes and things of that nature, I like Staples' Arc system (http://www.staples.com/sbd/cre/market…). Being able to rearrange my notes at will is pretty handy, especially since I use the same notebook for everything (I divide classes with the folder dividers they sell). The hole-punch for it is pretty…

As for roommate vs flatmate, in at least some dorms in the US, you actually do only have a single room for two people. Those usually have communal bathrooms, frequently for an entire floor. But even in a large house with several people living there, most Americans (in my experience) still say "roommate," though…

Weird. My name is Tyler, and yesterday I moved away from home. I mean, I've already finished my undergrad, and I studied abroad for a semester, but moving away to grad school without the prospect of going home in the summer just seems so much more real. This apartment is my home now, for the next several years. I've…

Mrs. Sego. She was my first truly fun teacher, and she was incredibly understanding. I skipped 5th grade (finished 4th then started 6th), and having her as my 6th grade teacher helped in the transition pretty substantially. She was also a German immigrant (well, formerly; she'd become an American citizen) and would…

If you have gas heat, then you've got a furnace. If you've got electric heat, you've got an air handler. They fulfill a lot of the same functions for the system, just in different ways. When it comes to the air conditioning, they're more or less the same: there's a blower that moves the air through the indoor coil…

Assuming that at least the vast majority of things featured/discussed on Lifehacker fall under the category "lifehacking," I'd say that for me, lifehacking is less about being more productive in some way (though that's definitely a component) than it is about learning new things and enjoying a bit of DIY.

It might be that the condensate drain is clogged up, so it's spilling over to the inside of the house. I'd try that first, if I were you. If there aren't any other problems, then I honestly can't think of what else it could be. You might as well go ahead and clean out your filter when you try to unstop the drain,…

You're absolutely right. The only reason I didn't include it is because I was focusing more on the easy fixes for the average homeowner, and to be perfectly honest, I have no idea if parts like that are available directly to consumers. If they are, then it'll take about 5 minutes (if that) to replace a blown…

Oh, and I forgot: if the indoor coil IS freezing up, you should immediately turn off the air conditioning and switch the fan to "on" on the thermostat. This will blow air through the indoor coil and will help it thaw faster. Setting it to heat will thaw it even faster, but that frequently gets water all over the…

Some air conditioners have a delay longer than 5 minutes (a number of units I've installed have an 8-minute delay, for example), so I'd recommend waiting about 10 minutes for it to come on. Also the majority of air conditioners I've worked on do NOT have fuses in the disconnect switch (pictured above), so trying to…

I know it's a headset, but my SteelSeries v2 Siberia set (not the USB one) is pretty great. Not that I really know what I'm talking about, since it's my first set of anything that isn't a pair of super cheap and terrible earbuds. It's really comfortable, though, and it keeps sound out well, sounds pretty great to me,…

I'll be building a desk soon, and I actually wanted to integrate a power strip and USB hub like in that Martha Stuart desk, but I haven't really seen many good ways to do that. Any advice? I'd prefer not to just drop a power strip in there, but if that's what I have to do then I guess I will.