Urban greening projects in Melbourne’s west are contributing to making the region cooler, more pleasant and healthier to live in and travel through. The key to this success is the Greening the West initiative. Since 2011 this has brought together 23 organisations that, by the end of 2018, will have collectively planted more than 1 million trees in Melbourne’s west.

The program’s efforts not only offer clear health and economic benefits for the region’s residents, but are also welcome news in the face of reports that tree canopy cover in Australian cities is generally declining.

Brief news items of note for Lifehacker readers, including: The South Park video game sequel turns out to be not too bad, Google has a map of the Solar System

Video: Everyone has used their phone to settle disputes over trivia. You whip it out, punch in a few keywords and there's your proof that Geoffrey Rush won an Oscar for Shine. The makers of Cake, a new mobile browser, think they can make this process better.

In the era of 'fake news' and 'anti-vaxxers', being able to detect the difference between Good Science and Bad Science is critical to see through the nonsense. This 12 point guide is an excellent overview of how you can spot any untruths that you might see floating around your social media pages, you know, like how injecting bicarb soda cures cancer (it doesn't).

IKEA products have a wide variety of interesting names. Some are Swedish words, others are named after places, and some are just made-up names made from mixing other words. This dictionary lists them all.

Last night on The Project, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced that his state will be the second last in the country to ban lightweight, single-use plastic bags.

The Pixel 2 comes packed with new features you won't find on regular vanilla Android 8.0, and a big part of that is the home screen. Google redesigned its calendar widget to show upcoming events, and as a result it moved the search bar down to the bottom of the screen under the dock where you can access it even faster.

Thanks to the dropping price of data, mobile broadband is becoming an increasingly affordable way to stay connected. Whether you want an alternative to an ADSL or NBN broadband connection, a SIM card for a tablet, or a stop gap for a move or a holiday, mobile broadband could be the answer.

Amazon's latest Kindle, the New Kindle Oasis, is definitely appealing. It's got a bigger screen, waterproofing, and Bluetooth support for listening to audiobooks. But if you consider reading to be fundamental, you're better off sticking to traditional paper books instead of pixelated pages.

Study after study show that reading on screens is, for various reasons, inferior to reading on paper. It's something to consider before dropping your hard-earned scratch on a New Kindle Oasis -- or any e-reader.

When you don't know how to connect with a deaf or hard-of-hearing person, you can complicate the process -- or worse, shut them out entirely. If you need to communicate with a deaf person, here's what you should do.

A security researcher has revealed serious flaws in the way that most contemporary Wi-Fi networks are secured. Discovered by Mathy Vanhoef from the University of Leuven, the vulnerability affects the protocol “Wi-Fi Protected Access 2”. Otherwise known as WPA2, this encrypts the connection between a computer or mobile phone and a Wi-Fi access point to keep your browsing safe.

Because this security can be cracked, it’s possible for someone to read what is transmitted on the network, allowing them to intercept passwords or credit card details, or to inject malicious code when users visit websites. Fortunately, there are some steps you can take to keep your internet traffic safe.

A huge flaw in Wi-Fi devices using WPA and WPA2 security encryption was exposed by Mathy Vanhoef, working out of KU Leuven, yesterday. Attackers can use this flaw to steal sensitive data – passwords, credit card numbers, emails – or inject malicious software into websites. If you’re using an Android device, an attack could be “exceptionally devastating”.

Here’s what you need to know.

If you're in the market for a Google Pixel 2 when it comes out on October 31, you're probably in the market for a case too. The pair go together like hand in glove and, just like gloves, there are plenty of options to wrap around your phone to keep it safe. Here are a few of the cases coming out soon for the Pixel 2.

Brief news items of note for Lifehacker readers, including: Huge news about gravitational waves, why women need to keep pushing for equal pay, everybody knew about Harvey Weinstein

In our podcast episode How to Change Your Brain With Mindfulness, With Daniel Goleman, we talked about the concept of "smart practice" -- practising mindfulness with the help of an experienced instructor who can offer feedback and suggest ways to improve. During our conversation. Daniel Goleman offered the following advice...

We already showed you how to get the Pixel 2's new camera app and calendar widget on older Android devices, but there's another fresh feature from Google that you can port over to your current phone. The Pixel 2 comes with some cool new live wallpaper options, too. Here's how to get them without buying the new smartphone.

Have you heard the story of the Orkney monster, the Nuckelavee, that appears as a skinned man-horse-cyclops and exudes a toxic vapour from its mouth? No?

How about the Ittan-Momen, Japan's sentient roll of cotton that suffocates people?

Mythical creatures are weird (but also terrifying).

Haven't responded to the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey yet? Need a new form? Then you're running out of time. Requests for new forms will close this Friday. If you need help requesting a new form, we've got you covered.

Workplace sexual harassment affects far more women than men, but men are the ones who bear responsibility for ending it. Besides, of course, not harassing women, we need to stand up for them, especially (and unfortunately) as we're more likely to be heard and respected than the victims themselves. Esquire has a guide to noticing, handling, and reporting sexual harassment, including how to escalate a complaint to a superior, HR, and even the press.