Signal Edits Emails in Your Gmail Inbox

Chrome: Signal is a new extension for Chrome that lets you edit messages in your Gmail inbox, letting you delete the unwanted parts or highlight the important stuff. Once you install the extension, you'll get three new buttons in your Gmail toolbar: Edit, Highlight, Restore. The first lets you edit any text in the body of a message, including the subject line, but you can't edit details like the sender, timestamp, etc. Similarly, Highlight lets you select and highlight any text in the body. If you want to see the original message, hit Restore; and to go back to your edited message, hit it again. The Signal web site also claims that changes made in the message are reflected in your default inbox listing of all emails, but that didn't happen for me, even after switching browsers and operating systems. The extension is pretty useful to help you knock out the unnecessary text in any email and keep the salient details, so that you can refer to it any time in the future without needing to hunt for what you need.

Tear a Beer Case Near the Handle to Easily Carry It After Opening

The normal way to open a beer case is from the end, where it's easy to take a can out. But if you're going to need to carry that case with you, then it's smarter to rip it from the handle and keep the ends intact, says weblog Guyism. The problem people have is that they open a case from the end. Sure it's easier to get a can out, but if you need to bring beer to another location you're stuck carrying it upright like an idiot, or even worse, as a bag of rogue beers. If you tear away from the handle, the case remains structurally sound. You can carry your "new" retro Miller Lite cans as far as your arms will allow. For a pic of what it looks like from the top, head to the original post below.

Create Sign-up Sheets for Smooth Chores When You Have House Guests

The holidays usually mean that you will either have house guests or be a house guest at someone's place. It can be logistically difficult, so to make everything run smoother, create sign-up sheets for all the regular household tasks, suggests Unclutterer. Make a note of who's "on point" for a given activity well before the guests arrive. Who will drive to caroling in town? Who's in charge of dinner? Who's going to make breakfasts? Or take the dog out? Run to the dump or turn the laundry over? When my extended family goes on summer vacations together, we create sign-up sheets for determining who wants to do what. It might sound overly formal, but it helps the 13 of us stay on top of things without a doubt. Of course, this isn't a rigid set of rules. Think of it more as a set of guidelines on who is in charge of what, but if plans change, just work around them. Having those sign-up sheets should make things smoother when you need to know about any particular activity. And it'll be a good idea to stick them all in one place, like the fridge.

SimpleNeat Simplifies Creating, Collaborating & Sharing Photo Albums

Web: You'll probably click a lot of photos over the holidays, as will everyone else around you. SimpleNeat is the easiest way to create an album, invite others to add their images to it, and share it with anyone. The webapp doesn't even require you to sign up to use the service. You can just create a new album (which generates its own URL) and share that link with others. You'll have to choose whether to allow others to add photos to the album. Then, just drag-and-drop images from your hard drive to the window or use the uploader. Give your album a custom name and you're good to go. You can also sign up at SimpleNeat and save those album links. The free account is ad-supported, and original full-size photos are stored and can be downloaded for a month (and after that, for $0.99 per photo). The Event and Pro accounts increase those limits as needed. The interface is dead simple for anyone to use and the whole thing looks pretty good too. It's an easy way to get everyone to share their pics and create a collaborative album. You can also do the same thing with Facebook's Shared Album, but well, you'll need everyone to be on Facebook and the interface is not as easy.

Hack a Tart Pan with Aluminum Foil for Custom Sizes

In order to bake a tart of a particular size as the recipe states, you need a tart pan of that size, right? Wrong! Amanda Hesser of Food52 shows a simple trick to turn any sheet pan into a custom-size tart pan using only aluminum foil. You take a sheet of aluminum foil and fold it up lengthwise till it forms a thin strip. This strip is going to be the barrier in any sheet pan with sides. Lay your dough into the sheet and adjust the strip to get the size you want. Hesser explains the finer points in the video, like trimming the edges and getting the right size, so check that out.

Cold Water and Regular Soap Kills Germs Just as Well as Hot Water

It's conventional wisdom that to really kill germs and disinfect your hands, you should be using water as hot as you can stand it and antibacterial soap, right? Not so, according to researchers at Vanderbilt University. In fact, cold water and regular soap can be just as effective. Here's why. It may be more comfortable to wash your hands with hot water, and it may be better at getting debris and dirty off of your hands than cold water, but when it comes to making sure your hands are germ free, the hot water from your tap just isn't enough to make a big difference. Amanda R. Carrico, a research assistant professor at the Vanderbilt Institute for Energy and Environment, explained to National Geographic:: Carrico said, "It's certainly true that heat kills bacteria, but if you were going to use hot water to kill them it would have to be way too hot for you to tolerate." She explained that boiling water, 212°F (99.98°C), is sometimes used to kill germs-for example, to disinfect drinking water that might be contaminated with pathogens. But "hot" water for hand washing is generally within 104°F to 131°F (40°C to 55°C.) At the high end of that range, heat could kill some pathogens, but the sustained contact that would be required would scald the skin. Carrico said that after a review of the scientific literature, her team found "no evidence that using hot water that a person could stand would have any benefit in killing bacteria." Even water as cold as 40°F (4.4°C) appeared to reduce bacteria as well as hotter water, if hands were scrubbed, rinsed, and dried properly. In fact, she noted that hot water can often have an adverse effect on hygiene. "Warmer water can irritate the skin and affect the protective layer on the outside, which can cause it to be less resistant to bacteria," said Carrico. In fact, it's for this reason that neither the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) or the World Health Organization (WHO) actually specify water temperature in their handwashing guidelines. They do suggest scrubbing with soap for at least 20 seconds (as in, singing the "Happy Birthday" song in your head to mark the time), but the key is to wash well and wash often, not necessarily wash hot. Carrico also notes in her interview with National Geographic that organizations and households can save money on energy by washing with lukewarm water instead of trying to get their tap as hot as they can stand it. Hit the link below to read the full story, more linked studies, and to get the full picture. It's long, but it's worth a read, if only to debunk the temperature-to-cleanliness issue when it comes to handwashing. Of course, if you prefer warm water (and I know I do), by all means use it, but it's not required to get your hands nice and clean. The researchers point out you should wash your hands at a comfortable temperature—which can mean warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

Ask These Three Questions at the End of Every Meeting

For meetings that actually lead to successful outcomes, it's advisable to ask everyone what they see as their necessary actions. Robert C. Pozen, senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, expands on this and says there are three questions you should be asking all the participants: What do we see as the next steps? Who should take responsibility for them? And what should the timeframe be? Record the answers and send out an email so that everyone is on the same page. This helps with accountability too (because) no one can say they're not sure what really happened. This is the last of Pozen's seven rules to follow at a meeting, published in full at Harvard Business Review. It's a great read, and while some of the advice is probably familiar to you, it can't hurt to revisit it.