From The Tips Box: Dual Monitor Productivity, Coat Hanger Stands

Lifehacker readers offer their best tips for staying productive with multiple monitors, standing up your phone with a coat hanger, and getting the last bit of sauce out of the jar.

Every day we receive boatloads of great reader tips. From the Tips Box is where we round up some of our favourites. Got a tip of your own to share? Add it in the comments or send it using the contact tab on the right.

Put Time-Wasting Programs on One of Two Monitors to Stay Productive

@mattbuchanan adds his own thoughts to the multi-monitor productivity argument:

How a 2nd monitor actually makes you more productive: move email, twitter and chat to other monitor. Turn it off when you need to do things.

Picture: Steve Lacey.

Make a Smartphone Stand Out of a Coat Hanger

Patrick Piper throws together a quick but well-designed smartphone stand:

I needed a quick and dirty phone tripod to make a time lapse video. I had a coat hanger, pliers and some electrical tape. This is what I came up with.

Get the Last Bit of Pasta Sauce Out of the Jar

TheGordinator doesn’t let any food go to waste:

Using the last of the alfredo or other sauce from the bottom of the jar? Throw in a clump of fettuccine/spaghetti and shake it around. Almost all of the sauce will come out, already evenly coated on your noodles.

Picture: Crystal.

Back Up Finicky Android Apps Before Updating

Jeff makes sure new apps don’t bork his Nook Simple Touch:

I’ve rooted my Nook and downloaded lots of good apps, but I’ve found that occasionally, a new version of an app will break on the Nook, making me afraid to update any of my apps. I realised that if I just go into my file explorer and copy the APK into another folder as a “backup” before I update, I can update without fear of the app breaking. If it breaks, I can just uninstall it and re-install the old version, and avoid updating it in the future.