Random Things Lifehacker Taught Me This Year

At the start of the year, I could have told you that I’d spend quite a bit of time hunting down pricing for Android and iPhone devices, testing the speed of wireless broadband and working out ways to customise Chrome. But one of the joys of Lifehacker is that I constantly get to cover unexpected topics. Here is an entirely personal highlights list of the unusual things I learned this year.

•You can make a Big Mac at home, but not a $1 cheeseburger.
•Vegemite and mint sandwiches are good. Vegemite clones are not.
•We are all shower hogs.
•If you own an inflatable flying shark, you need binder clips.

•Lifehacker readers like to sleep with their phones.
•You can make an acceptable sandwich using nothing but toast.
•There are ways to reduce noise when having sex on a squeaky bed.
•Using a $600 iron did not make me want to iron more.
•Sitting down on the toilet can make sense for men.
•I could save money on groceries by moving to the UK.
•If I want to get rich, I should switch careers and become a storage administrator.
•You can get loads of good stuff in IKEA for under $10.
•There are lots of big-selling Aussie artists missing from the iTunes store (though Cold Chisel and Icehouse have since changed their tune).
•Sometimes you can buy dozens of boxes of tissues for one cent.
•Google can solve a Sudoku more quickly than I can.

•An Australian five cent piece isn’t worth the metal it is printed on.
•You can build your own PAC-MAN maze.
•Beetroot tastes good in a chocolate cake.
•MAD Magazine once invented its own measurement system.
•Both Wikipedia and the Nolan sisters are good for you.
•You can safely lick an iPhone.