Last Week’s 10 Biggest Posts

You wanted fiendish brain teasers, BBQ cleaning tips and sex robots. Kick off your Monday by checking out the ten most popular posts from Lifehacker Australia last week:

1. It’s 9HD-Day, Re-Scan Your TV Channels
   Today is the day that Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Adelaide, Perth, and Darwin will get a few new free-to-air digital TV channels. Just like in 2009, Channel 9 is again simulcasting its main TV channel in Full HD 1080i as 9HD, but it’s using new technology to do alongside its existing 9, GO and GEM broadcasts, as well as introducing a new channel called 9Life — all using nifty MPEG-4 compression.
2. The Best Deals From Black Friday And Cyber Monday
   The craziest sales season of the year has kicked off in the US once again. To make your life easier, we’re collecting the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday bargains that you can get in Australia — keep checking back for updates!
3. Black Friday Shopping Tips For Australians
   Black Friday is one of the biggest shopping days on the US calendar, with retailers offering discounts of up to 80 percent on big ticket items. If you’re stuck here in Australia, there’s no reason why you need to miss out on the action. Here are seven online shopping tips for Black Friday (and Cyber Monday) bargain hunters.
4. How To Disable Microsoft’s ‘Spying’ Service On Windows 10
   When Windows 10 was released, many people were up in arms over the operating system’s ability to constantly track how users were interacting with it and would send that information back to Microsoft. With the first major update for Windows 10 that came out earlier this month, Microsoft has seemingly removed Diagnostics Tracking Service, also known as DiagTrack, which was responsible for the tracking. But it turns out the company has just renamed the service.
5. Deus Sex Machina: The Ethics Of Robot Love
   There was to have been a conference in Malaysia last week called Love and Sex with Robots but it was cancelled after Malaysian police branded it “illegal” and “ridiculous”. “There is nothing scientific about sex with robots,” said a police chief. However, others believe there are many interesting and important aspects of intimate robot partners that are worth researching and discussing.
6. Dealhacker: Telstra’s $40 BYO Plan Now Comes With 7GB Data Per MonthTelstra has never been the most generous telco when it comes to mobile data allowances — which is why its latest Go Mobile BYO plan is so surprising. For a limited time, new customers can get a massive 7GB of data on a 12-month contract for just $40 per month. This is one of the best deals we’ve seen, on Australia’s most reliable network. What’s not to like?
7. Can You Solve This Children’s Maths Puzzle?
   School quizzes occasionally contain a puzzle so fiendish that it even stumps intelligent adults. (Teachers have to get their kicks somehow, y’know.) The above brain-teaser recently appeared on an elementary school entrance exam in Hong Kong and quickly went viral. How long will it take you to solve it?
8. A Snapshot Of Private Health Insurance In Australia [Infographic]
   Private health insurance is a complex beast. This exhaustive infographic from The Conversation explains all the important facts; from an overview of the major players to the annual cost of different policies and an explanation of means-tested rebates.
9. How To Get The Jobs That Are Never Advertised
   Have you wondered why some people simply seem to get the good projects, promotions and opportunities?
10. The Easiest Way To Clean A Public BBQ
    You know the last time you cleaned your own BBQ, but if you’re grilling in the park, you can’t be sure when that public BBQ last got a thorough scrubbing down. Next time you head to a cookout at the park or camping, here’s how you can clean that BBQ easily.