This week at Lifehacker: Build yourself a solar-powered wifi booster for the backyard. Your mousing wrist feeling a little achy? Train yourself to mouse lefty (or righty, lefties.) PayPal your buddy your share of the dinner bill with your cell phone. Add encryption to Gmail and sync your Google calendar with your mobile phone or handheld.

This week at Lifehacker: One wire plus two computers equals 800 megabytes transfer rate. Here's how to set up a fast FireWire network to move all your disk hogging files from one machine to another. Our in-house law geek reveals what will really happen if you get caught BitTorrenting those copyrighted movies. It's not EVDO, it's just you and your cell phone. Get online on the go when you're wifi hotspotless by using your cell phone as a modem. Finally, iTunes may insist on only keeping an eye on one folder for music, but with the Library Updater software and a little arm-twisting, you too can get iTunes to sync up with any folders on your hard drive you'd like.

This week at Lifehacker: We kicked off our Coolest Workspace Contest with a DIY door-turned-tabletop, an adjustable sit or stand desk and more. Submit pictures of your tricked-out rig for a chance to win a $100 gift certificate to Amazon!

Also: automatically add an image of the camera model used to shoot photos on Flickr. Blog while gaming on the Xbox 360. Finally, find out how to use metadata and dynamic search-based folders as your digital filing system.

This week at Lifehacker: Convince your boss you'll be 30% more productive if you could only have a second monitor. Save yourself 70 bucks and replace your iPod Mini's battery yourself. It's a bunch of nerds in a grassy field with circuit boards, LED's, homemade Segways and more! Check our special report from Geeks Gone Wild the first annual Maker Faire. Headed off to Circuit City determined to come home with an HDTV? Print out the short and sweet HDTV buying guide and stick it in your pocket before you go. Finally, when your hard drive starts growling at you in the midst of writing your final paper, automatically email yourself file backups to keep your work safe even if your disk platters go south.

This week at Lifehacker: De-crapify your new Dell of all the garbage software it had installed on it out of the box. See a video demonstration of iAlertU, the car alarm for the MacBook Pro. DIYers, snugly encase a wifi router inside your Xbox. And if you thought you found all your Easter Eggs this year, there's one tucked away you missed: uncover the Star Wars game hidden inside Open Office.

This week at Lifehacker: Set up your personal wikipedia. Help that feeble brain of yours and develop digital photographic memory. Remedy your memory-sucking Firefox installation. Make Mom a rotating digital photo frame that refreshes with your current Flickr photos. Finally, rig up a portable USB charger with a 9-volt battery.

You gave up Britannica for the Wikipedia a long time ago. But have you ever wished you could have your very own editable encyclopedia to build a reference to the vast swathes of knowledge you absorb every day? Check out our guide to installing the free MediaWiki on your PC and endure us invent the term "personalpedia" all at once.

Disk space is cheap and plentiful, and so are digital cameras. Use the tagging and organizing capability at photo-sharing site Flickr to keep track of your stuff. Archive digital images of business cards, wine labels, meals you've cooked, gadget serial numbers and more. Here's how to turn Flickr into your digital photographic memory.

We loves us some Firefox but the little bugger can get a little greedy with the RAM from time to time. When the memory-usage-o-meter's going through the roof thanks to the 'fox, reduce it using magic! And, um, about:config.

Mother's Day approacheth. What are you giving the woman who dealt with the shock treatment that was your childhood? Beam photos right to Mom's mantle real-time with a DIY rotating photo frame powered by a beater wifi-enabled laptop and your "formom" Flickr tag. What a good kid you are.

Finally, charge your iPod, PDA or any other USB devices on the go with a DIY USB charger made with a 9 volt battery and some basic circuitry. Package the whole thing up in an Altoids tin and you'll be rockin' out off the grid.

Lifehacker's Power User column appears every Wednesday on Gizmodo.

This week at Lifehacker: Decide when to trash your old PC and when to upgrade. Be a walking encyclopedia - literally - with Wikipedia on your iPod. Build yourself a booty-hiding secret hollow book. Finally, smack down that annoying Windows error report dialog that pops up whenever software crashes for good.

You want a new PC. Your old one still has life left in it. What to do? A little RAM, a new hard drive and a Windows reinstall could do wonders, or it might be time to throw in the towel and invest in a newer model. With Vista looming on the horizon, decide whether or not you should be dropping a new compie in your shopping cart — or just a few new parts.

You've wasted away hours reading about Star Trek on Wikipedia while you're at your computer. Now you can do it on the go! Download the 750MB Encyclopodia onto your iPod as an ebook for research while you're waiting on line at the grocery. Just think, you could listen to the Star Trek theme at the same time...!

Got something to hide? Something that would fit inside a book? Be it porn, drugs, money or the earring your high school crush dropped in gym class, everyone needs a secret hollowed-out book in their library. Get thee out the Exacto knife and some glue, because we've got the linkage on how get your stuff into hiding the DIY way.

You know when you're working in a software application and it suddenly crashes, and you're pretty tweaked that you just lost a bunch of unsaved changes to your files? Then to make things worse, a dialog box appears, asking if you'd like to send Microsoft a bunch of data about the crash from your computer, and that just pisses you off even more? Stop letting Windows kick you when you're down and disable error reporting for good.

Lifehacker's Power User column appears every Wednesday on Gizmodo.

This week at Lifehacker: Unlock the power of the scroll wheel and mouse gestures and drive Firefox without taking your hand off the clicker. Fix scratched CDs with toothpaste, Pledge, Pinesol or peanut butter. Get flight status information, horoscopes and drink recipes SMS'ed directly to your phone. Make sure your laptop battery doesn't poop out during the key scene of that DVD movie you're watching. Finally, get AIM on your PSP.

This week at Lifehacker: That sound your computer's fan is making? It roughly translates to "Help! I'm being strangled by cat hair!" Get under your PC's hood and evacuate the dust bunnies partying on your video card.

Speaking of video, YouTube junkies can use a little Javascript voodoo and some free software encoding to save YouTube videos to your iPod or PSP.

So you're freaked out enough about co-workers getting into your bank account that you type in every password on the web every time, eh? Here's how to secure saved Firefox passwords - especially handy for the copy of portable Firefox you're toting around on that thumb drive. Be extra paranoid and encrypt all your thumb drive's data on the fly.

Remember when you were 15 and you bought that guitar because you wanted to be just like Van Halen? Well, Mom's still got that 6-stringer in the basement and a few free guitar tutorial vodcasts for your iPod can get you started down that road to rockstardom. Finally, iPod-lovin' runners, leave that stopwatch at home and get hoofin'. This useful Windows script generates interval running playlists set to start and end songs just when you're scheduled to switch gears.

This week at Lifehacker: Watch a video demo of an iPod running Linux. Still required to use IE at work? Have some strategies for surviving IT lockdown at the office. Build an Lego iPod dock. Turn your PSP into a universal remote capable of controlling over 1,800 devices. Automatically defrag your hard drive, reboot your PC or start up Firefox with all your favorites opened in tabs with Windows Scheduled Tasks. Finally, massage your LCD's stuck pixels right out.

This week at Lifehacker: Free your iPod from the shackles of iTunes. Witness operating system multiple personality disorder on a real live ThinkPad dual-booting Windows and Mac OS X. Scare your cat and get in shape with a sledgehammer and a sweater. Finally, master the art of portable computing with some tried and true laptop tips.

Oh, iTunes, how do I hate thee - let me count the ways. Free your iPod from iTunes' stranglehold once and for all. By installing standalone apps on your 'pod in disk mode, you can play, rip and transfer music from a PC to an iPod without iTunes or any other special software on the 'puter. Make yours a self-sustaining iPod.

There's been a lot of talk about whether or not a MacTel will be able to dual boot Windows and OS X, but friends of Lifehacker got OS X and XP dual-booting on an IBM ThinkPad just fine. A couple of video driver and wifi card wrinkles have to be ironed out, but otherwise the shiny round apple glows on a black IBM lappie.

What do you call a guy swinging a sledgehammer in his bedroom? A guy getting in shape, of course! Give a geek a rainy day that he doesn't want to go to the gym, and he'll invent home exercise equipment for "natural movements" like chopping down a tree and churning butter with a sledgehammer wrapped in a sweater. Why the sweater, you ask? So you don't hurt yourself, of course. Or the cat.

Be good to your lappie and it will be good to you. Extend your laptop's battery life, save the screen from scrapes, foil thieves' evil plan to mine your data, and learn how to work offline in our compendium of must-have laptop tips.

Lifehacker's Power User column appears every Wednesday on Gizmodo.

This week at Lifehacker: Build yourself a gadget recharging station. Hack together a pen-sized wireless antenna. Revive a a soaked piece of hardware killed by spillage. Finally, download essential free software that Google Pack whiffed on.

The ball and chain's been on your back for months about doing something with the milk crates stacked up in the bedroom filled with charging gadgets. What to do with your 17 smart phones, cameras, PDA's, and MP3 players? Mod a regular old piece of furniture into a gadget recharging station that looks like it belongs in a house where humans live and earn those brownie points you so desperately need.

Your laptop's wifi card needs a little signal boost, dontcha think? Build a small antenna that fits inside a pen case and mount it to the back of your laptop screen for maximum signal reachage with the utmost hacker cred.

Your router got rained on. What to do? Give it a bath and a careful cleaning with some cotton swabs, and transform your drowned device into a useful member of electronic society again.

Google put together Google Pack, a collection of free software that "makes your computer just work." Well, it was a nice try, but no cigar. Check out Lifehacker's picks for best essential free Windows software, called Lifehacker Pack, cuz we're really original like that.

Lifehacker's Power User column appears every Wednesday on Gizmodo.

This week at Lifehacker: You know you're supposed to be backing up your data, but are you? Set it and forget it - automatically backup your hard drive. If you didn't get one of those shiny new video iPods for the holidays, tweak out your ancient 'pod and make it (almost) as good as new. Speaking of upgrades, have some tips on replacing your motherboard with a younger model. Finally, convert any web page to a stripped down version fit for any mobile phone or PDA.

You've been coding the software that's going to save the world, penning your breakout novel or simply storing photos from the last 10 years of your life on your computer. Don't let all that pirated music disappear with one zap of a fried hard drive. Get your automatic backup system up and running with free software, an external drive and an FTP server. Nightly, weekly, monthly on and offsite backups are just a download away.

Your second gen iPod's sagging a bit around the scroll wheel next to the shiny new video models, but that doesn't mean you can't still put it to good use. Sure the thing still plays music well, but there are scads of other cool uses for an old iPod.

Speaking of old and saggy, that ancient machine you've got sittin' around could really use a new motherboard. Here, have some tips for installing one.

Finally, when your favorite web site doesn't offer a mobile version, check out the Google Mobilizer. Strip down any web page with or without images and turn out a version fit for browsing on your phone or PDA on the go.

Lifehacker’s Power User column appears every Wednesday on Gizmodo.

This week at Lifehacker: Get the most out of your video iPod. Buy the best quality recordable DVDs. Cube warriors, firewall your attention at the office. Fold up a pen and stick it in your wallet. Finally, remedy LCD screen burn-in.

So you got yourself a shiny new video iPod over the holidays. Know how to use it? Subscribe to free video content, play movies and TV on the big screen with cables lying around the house, compress and save your own home movies. In short, get the most out of your new 'pod.

Ever go cheap and wind up with a spindle of DVD-Rs that don't burn or wind up unreadable? Check out this guide to high quality recordable DVDRs to avoid a stack of shiny drink coasters.

"Corporate accounts! Nina speaking! Just a moment!" When every day is a case of the Mondays at your cubicle job where constant interruptions keep you from getting a thing done, take our advice on how to firewall your attention at the office.

Need a pen? Oh, look! Here's one all folded up in my wallet. Get your brilliant ideas down on paper wherever you are with a foldable wallet pen.

When the ghost of your login screen burns into your LCD monitor and haunts you while you're working in other programs, Apple's got a little tutorial on getting rid of the little bugger and avoiding it in the future.

Lifehacker's Power User column appears every Wednesday on Gizmodo.

This week at Lifehacker: Build an auto-on pantry light with a Timex watch holder. Replace your iPod's hard drive. Make an RFID-blocking duct tape wallet. Finally, instantly inventory your gadget stash off-site for insurance purposes when the house blows up.

Open the door, light goes on. Close the door, light goes off. The system works in the refrigerator, and it's pretty nice in a dark pantry or closet as well. DIYers, rig up your own auto-on pantry light with some Christmas rope lights, a reverse switch and a plastic Timex watch holder.

iPod sad face? Save yourself 150 buckeroos. Buy yourself a new hard drive and crack that baby open, you bold take-things-aparter, you. Replace your fourth-gen pod's dead hard drive with a screwdriver, stick glue and a little elbow grease.

That identity thief sidling up to your butt with a RFID-reading device? Foiled (literally) by your custom-made RFID-blocking duct tape wallet.

Now that you're all grownup and responsible with actual homeowner's insurance, it's up to you to keep track of what gadgets you've got. Snap a few quick pics of serial and model numbers and upload to a photo-sharing site for instant personal off-site inventory.

Lifehacker's Power User column appears every Wednesday (most of the time) on Gizmodo.

This week at Lifehacker: Take your data home for the holidays. While you're there, crack the neighbors' wifi. Spraypaint the guts of that old computer into Christmas tree decorations. Build a photo lamp from a Mag-Lite. Bend web pages to your will with our favorite Greasemonkey scripts.

HTTP, FTP, VNC, oh my! Lifehacker's got your home server needs covered for remote access to your movies and music and other, ahem, files while you're home for the holidays.

While you're there, find nearby wifi, sniff packets and crack passwords with these essential wireless networking tools. Well ok, don't actually break into people's private networks - but you sure could help the 'rents secure their own network from clowns like you.

Short on holiday decorations? Bare tree and tons of debris laying around the house? Kill two birds with one can of spraypaint. A nice gold sheen can turn the most common household object into a festive decoration fit for hanging next to the mistletoe.

Some paper, foil, tape and a Mag-Lite's all you need to build your own photo-lamp, perfectly portable for photographing small objects up close.

Oh Javascript, is there nothing you can't do? Strip ads from Google search results, auto-link URLs on web pages, and add a Delete button and saved searches to Gmail using the Greasemonkey Firefox extension and our picks of favorite user scripts.

Lifehacker's Power User column appears every Wednesday on Gizmodo.

This week at Lifehacker: Build your own gingerbread house. Finetune Firefox for fast or slow connections and computers. FTP to your Gmail account. Finally, stuff stockings with a narrated Ken Burns style photo movie.

Plant spearmint leaves in the front yard, hang peppermint candy wreaths and pave your walkway with Spree: it's time to architect your gingerbread masterpiece. Of course we're lazy and we can't cook (not to mention bake) so we picked up a ten buck pre-assembled gingerbread house kit to get our iced cookie mansion on. You know you're curious - check out our step-by-step photo gallery of the building.

Fast computer but slow 'net connection? Slow computer on a fast connection? Free software Firetune tweaks Firefox for optimal performance in any computing situation.

This SO has to violate the terms of service, so enjoy it while you can: the Gmail File Space Firefox extension gives you an FTP-like interface to your 17 gigabytes of email storage. Upload entire folders or individual files, but .exe's will have to be renamed to circumvent the big G's spam filters.

You're not going to get her perfume again, are you? This ChrismaKwanzaaHanukkah, melt his or her heart with a multimedia slideshow movie of digital photos. Narrate sweet nothings as digital memories pan and zoom across the screen, or set the whole thing to the sappiest MP3 you've got in your collection. Burn it to DVD or save it to a thumbdrive and stuff it in the stocking hung with care. Trust me - you'll thank us for the holiday brownie points.

Lifehacker’s Power User column appears every Wednesday on Gizmodo.

This week at Lifehacker: Cell phone modem connection got you twiddling your thumbs? Find out how to survive a slow Internet connection. Carry your OS on your keyring and boot Windows from a thumbdrive. Save cameraphone photos to Flickr with the press of a button. Finally, create multiple iTunes libraries on one computer and switch between them on the fly.

You don't have one of those fancy broadband anywhere connections, so here you are watching the minutes of your life slip away while you browse the web using your cell phone modem or dialup account. Your connection slow as molasses in winter? Stop limping along the service road of the information superhighway with these surfing tweaks and tricks.

PC won't boot? Wanna use your favorite apps on OPP (Other People's 'Puters)? Create a Windows boot disk with a 256MB thumbdrive. Add a copy of Ad-Aware, Firefox and the Nero DVD-burner to get stuff done on other computers with your favorite apps on the go, no installation required.

You can email or SMS cameraphone pics to photo-sharing site Flickr, but who wants to press all those buttons? Beta cameraphone app ShoZu triggers a one-click "Save to Flickr" option on compatible phones right after you snap your photo for immediate, easy Flickrization.

The wife just rated Neil Diamond's "Weekend in New England" five stars in iTunes. Clearly it's time for separate libraries. Shareware Libra for Mac or PC creates and maintains multiple iTunes libraries on one computer, which includes ratings, playlists and playcounts so you and your family members can share a media center and still live in separate, musical bliss.

Lifehacker's Power User column appears every Wednesday on Gizmodo.

This week at Lifehacker: Drive Firefox with your keyboard. Carry around secure data backups on your iPod. Optimize your Mac's broadband connection. Learn all the right gym moves using exercise videos on your iPod.

You call yourself a geek and you didn't know that Control/Command-K will snap your cursor up to the Firefox search engine box? And that Control/Command-Down and Up will switch up engines? Click thee to our guide to mouse-less Firefox and shun that rodent while you surf faster and more efficiently.

Some people have redundant arrays of disks backing up their pirated movies, porn, and Word documents of college papers. Others just use their iPod. Stick an encrypted disk image of your personal data in your pocket along with the 10,000 MP3's you never listen to. This way when your house burns down along with the multiple replicating file servers, you'll still have off-site iPod backup.

Enlarge the data pipe that connects your Mac to the 'net. Apple's free Broadband Tuner increases buffer sizes to take full advantage of broadband connections on OS X. Remember, when it comes to buffers, size does matter.

Are you the uncoordinated fool at the gym flailing about pulling leg muscles while trying to master the art of the crunch? Download free exercise videos to your iPod to get those moves right and give you something to look at other than the gaggle of hotties pointing and giggling in the corner.

Lifehacker's Power User column appears every Wednesday on Gizmodo.

This week at Lifehacker: You're home, you're eating turkey, you're fielding computer questions from Mom and Dad, Uncle Lou and Aunt Mitzy. Fix Mom and Dad's computer and add some memory to that 4-year-old Dell while you're at it. Plus: Organize and charge up your mobile devices in one place, and speed up the ol' iPod with a good disk defrag.

It's that time of year again - time to celebrate stamping out the indigenous peoples over a large roasted bird and pumpkin pie, time to get your parents' computer working again. Kill spyware and viruses, update Windows, introduce the 'rents to tabbed browsing and run a backup of their important vacation photos. Consult this checklist on how to fix Mom and Dad's computer during your munificent journey down Familial Tech Support Lane this Turkey Day.

While you're doing the Geek Squad thing, crack open that box and snap in a bit more memory so Dad can play chess and check his stock prices without slowing that old 'puter to a crawl. DIMMs or SIMMs you ask? Our guide to installing more RAM will help.

Charge up your iPod, phone and Gameboy Advance all in one handy place that stows your cords and trips a breaker during a power surge. This mobile device recharging station'll get your desk in order and score you big points with your neat freak ball and chain.

iPod slow navigating menus and moving from song to song? It's a regular old disk, isn't it? Give it a good defragging to arrange your music on the platter for faster, easier access.

Lifehacker's Power User column appears every Wednesday on Gizmodo.