Your crafty older relatives used to have to mail-order their video tutorials or wait for "This Old House" reruns to get their DIY on, but the age of streaming video has been good to those who like to tinker and try out neat tricks. From prying open beer bottles with telephone bills to picking locks, from sealing chips to folding T-shirts, we've posted a lot of concise but instructive clips at Lifehacker. Today we're featuring 10 of our favourites, chosen for the tricks they teach as well as their watchable quality. Get ready to fill some weekend project time.

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Here's some news you're unlikely to have missed: the 2008 Beijing Olympics are about to start. If you're an Olympics tragic or an uber-patriotic type, then your big challenge for the next fortnight is working out how many late-night broadcasts you can watch without destroying your career, using Google to locate your favourite obscure event, and adding a few #080808 tags to your Twitter feed. But if (like me) major sporting events just aren't that interesting (or your concerns about China's human rights record are rising to the fore), here's 10 cool and useful things to do with your PC while everyone else is obsessing over the medal count.(Photo by Nagyman.)

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Whether she's appearing on a prime time TV show, gracing the silver screen, or writing, producing, and starring in her own hit web series, there's no shortage of things to keep actress and gamer Felicia Day busy. Most recently she stars in Joss Whedon's fantastic direct-to-web supervillain musical, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, as Dr. Horrible's crush, Penny. Since its release last month, Dr. Horrible has legions of geeks singing in the shower and (re)discovering her award-winning web series about a group of online gamers, The Guild. I'm thrilled Day, a self-described "Lifehacker addict" (SQUEE), took some time to talk with us about how she manages her projects in Hollywood and on the web—and finds time to play a little WoW, too.

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Lifehacker readers range from the complete newbie to the most seasoned techie, but where do the Lifehacker editors stand? We polled our own editors for the computer hardware and applications they swear by and we're breaking it down for you here. This post is categorised into the software each editor (US and Oz) uses on a daily basis, the operating systems we live in, the hardware we rely on, the peripherals we utilise on a regular basis, and webapps we need. Then we tell you exactly what kind of user we think we are.

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You don't need to plunk down $150 for a Wii Fit to track your progress toward a healthier body—even if that downhill skiing game looks mighty fun. If you're trying to curb unnecessary calories and stick to an exercise plan, there are tons of free applications that want to see you succeed. Whether you're facing a fast-food menu or polishing off a light entree, you can log, track, and make healthy decisions from your desktop, or just as easily from a phone. Take a look at a few suggestions for accomplishing your fitness goals, after the jump. Photo by angela7dreams.

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Honing your outdoor culinary skills is a lot more simple than it seems, given the right tools, a little preparation, and a few tips on technique. Take a look at some pointers on getting the right gear, turning out great meals, and even preparing for uncooperative weather, after the jump. Photo by Another Pint Please....

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Your Start menu and Applications folder are growing larger and harder to navigate every day, but with a solid application launcher at your side, you'll never notice. On Tuesday we put a call out for your favourite application launchers, and over 400 spirited comments later, we've pulled out the five most popular. Take a look at the time-saving app launchers that made the list, and then cast your vote for the one app launcher to rule them all.

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The newest version of our favourite open source web browser, Mozilla Firefox 3, offers dozens of new features and fixes, but only a handful will make the most dramatic difference in your everyday browsing. After 17 months of alphas and betas, Mozilla's finally made a feature-complete release candidate available, so it's time to spotlight the biggest improvements that will make "Gran Paradiso" the browser to beat. Nearly everything in the open-source app has gotten a second look from the minds at Mozilla, from back buttons to bookmarks, address bars to add-ons, passwords to performance, and the changes will make Firefox 3 worth the upgrade come its official release date, slated for sometime next month. Let's take a look at the 10 best upgrades in Firefox 3, and how they'll bolster your browsing, after the jump.

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You've been talking to (or screaming at) your Windows PC for years, but unless you were willing to shell out hundreds of dollars on pricey software, chances are it wasn't listening to a word you were saying. With Microsoft's new freeware tool, Windows Speech Recognition Macros, the days of you talking into your computer's unsympathetic ear are over. Not only is it listening, but it's up to the task of doing whatever you want it to.

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When you're saving sensitive files on your computer meant for your eyes only, make sure you've got the right tools on hand to keep them private. Whether you want to shield your brilliant startup business plan from the Pointy Haired Boss, or hide your stash of Gillian Anderson photos from the kids, there are several free tools that can encrypt, password-protect, or obscure files and folders from others who might use your computer. Let's take a look at various methods, tools, and levels of privacy and security you can use to lock up your sensitive data.

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