The mirror is really a box with a two-way mirror on the front. Inside the box are models or other renderings of ghosts. Since the inside of the box is black, the two-way mirror reflects the room normally, but when tiny lights hidden inside the box are illuminated, they wash out the reflection and reveal the hidden ghosts.

When you enable Mail Goggles, it will check that you’re really sure you want to send that late night Friday email. And what better way to check than by making you solve a few simple math problems after you click send to verify you’re in the right state of mind?

How did they do it? Arjan said it starts with the right attitude. “It’s not about booting faster, it’s about booting in 5 seconds.” Instead of saving a second here and there, set a time budget for the whole system, and make each step of the boot finish in its allotted time. And no cheating. “Done booting means CPU and disk idle,” Arjan said. No fair putting up the desktop while still starting services behind the scenes. (An audience member pointed out that Microsoft does this.) The “done booting” time did not include bringing up the network, but did include starting NetworkManager. A system with a conventional hard disk will have to take longer to start up: Arjan said he has run the same load on a ThinkPad and achieved a 10-second boot time.

I started by tearing the Mini down and seeing if it was even possible. Luckily, there’s a bit of space around where the Bluetooth adapter is located. It wasn’t much, but it looked like enough, so I ordered the smallest USB GPS receiver I could find. It’s a nice unit with a SkyTraQ chipset and support for AGPS. Once I used the included utility to download an AGPS update into the unit, it gets a location fix in about five seconds after a reset.

If you’re looking for some easy ideas for Halloween decorating and entertaining, try these quick crafts. They’re sure to beautify (or boo-tify) your home with a minimum of effort.

1) Sand and prime the surface of the furniture.

2) Paint the surface. In this case, a white latex paint was used.

3) Change out the knobs with ones you love. (Flea markets are a great resource for vintage knobs and drawer accessories.)

4) Measure and cut the sections you’d like to cover with wallpaper. An adhesive like 3M Hi-Strength 90 spray will help secure the paper to the wood. (Quick tip - make sure you place the pattern in the right direction)

5) Finish the project by using a finishing spray and allow the furniture piece to air dry.

Our relationship with technology is quickly becoming analogous to our relationship with fast food. Like the fast food restaurant chain McDonalds, information technology (e.g. the internet) seems to be everywhere. We expect it to be fast, and collectively value convenience and efficiency over elegance and craft. In the Phone Dial Web Browser, I ask how we might bring beauty and appreciation for craft back into our interaction with the now commonplace, pervasive web browser.

Subhead Anti-Slip Stickers help avoid the very real and un-funny problem of slipping and falling. At sea or on land, help to protect your family, friends, and employees from injury.