Although not one of the DIY All Star materials, people use PVC pipe to create all sorts of awesome things because it's cheap, sturdy, and versatile. This weekend, grab some at your local hardware store and tackle one of these fun projects.

Make a Creative Tool

PVC pipe works well for all sorts of creative endeavors. Videographers can make a simple shoulder mount for their camera, a stabilizer, and even a dolly. Musicians can make a microphone stand and a shock mount. For those who get creative on their computers, make this laptop stand instead.

Get Organized

PVC pipe can help you boost your productivity, too. You can use it to wrangle your desk cables or even the stuff inside your desk by making stackable drawer organizers. If you want organizers on your desk, you can make those too. This cord extension caddy makes it easy to manage lengthy cables. You can even make a trash can to hold the things you don't need anymore. To handle the extra bags, PVC pipe makes for a good trash bag dispenser as well!

Upgrade Your Home

You can upgrade your home in several different areas with the help of PVC pipe. If watering the lawn often proves difficult, you can create an efficient sprinkler system. Thicker pipe makes for an easy wine rack. The same idea works well for shoes, and you only need half of a big pipe to make a dish drying rack. When you need to hide a key, you can do so easily with a little pipe. If you're looking to get fit, you can go all-out and build a home bodyweight gym. If you prefer to bike, you can build a bike rack, too. Need a set of speakers? You can make those out of PVC pipe, too! If you need to match a specific color, you can stain the pipes.

Have a great Friday (and Memorial Day weekend)!

Laptop docks generally don't come cheap—especially when you have a Mac. DIYer Johan Frick put together a simple docking solution with the necessary cables and a little bit of Sugru, saving a ton of money in the process.

As you can see from the video above, the process is pretty simple. Just plug in all the cables you want to connect, surround them with a healthy amount of Sugru (carefully, so as not to get any on your MacBook), smooth it out, and let it dry. When you're done, you have a dock!

Make a plug hub for your MacBook | Sugru

Finding a job is a challenge these days, but keeping one can be a challenge as well. US News describes eight simple mistakes you can make to ruin your professional reputation, from leaving a job to early to failing to keep your commitments. What mistakes have you made, or seen others made, that hurt their reputation and made it more difficult to get another job?

Most of the time you'll get by just fine if you treat your employer with the respect you expect from them, avoid rash decisions, and keep your temper under control. Everybody makes mistakes, but how do you recover from them? If you've made a huge error and hurt your professional reputation, let us know how you fixed the problem, too.

How to Ruin Your Professional Reputation | US News

Photo by Lass Kristensen (Shutterstock).

This week on the podcast we're talking about Google, Google, and more Google. Also, your questions about keeping to a budget, cold-emailing your dream job's company, and freeing up space on your iPhone.

How to Listen to This Week's Episode

Here's how you can listen to our episode:

• Download the MP3 directly.
• Subscribe on iTunes.
• Subscribe to the RSS feed.
• Just listen to it in the Souncloud player below.

News and Top Stories

• Google I/O Roundup: We attended Google I/O last week and learned about what’s next for the company.

• Gmail Users Can Now Try the New Hangouts: Gmail users can now try the new Hangouts right from Gmail, though it removes the ability to call phones with Google Voice. Luckily, you can revert back to the old chat if you want and Gmail calling will be officially restored in the near future.

• Google Chrome 27 Out of Beta, Loads Pages 5% Faster: Chrome 27 is out of beta and available for download now. The biggest benefit: It'll load pages 5% faster. And voice search. Google Now in Google!

• Google Unveils Play Music All Access, a Subscription Music Service: Google took the wraps off of Google Play Music All Access, a new subscription music service, that offers playlists and music suggestions based on songs you already own and love. The service is already packed with music from Google Play Music, and any songs you see you can play or turn into a streaming radio station.

• Google Music All Access: Should It Be Your New Streaming Service? Google unveiled Google Play Music All Access, a subscription music and internet radio service that opens the door to millions of tracks, all intermingled with the music you already own. Sounds great, and the price is competitive, but should you ditch your current streaming service for it? Let's take a look.

• Yahoo! Acquires Tumblr: Yahoo has acquired blogging service Tumblr to the tune of $1.1 billion, news that CEO Marissa Mayer posted to her own Tumblr (and subsequently, Yahoo's corporate Tumblr). They promise to keep it independent and "not screw it up."

• Flickr Offers 1TB of Free Space for Your Photos, $50 Yearly for No Ads: Yahoo, in an attempt to make its photo-hosting service Flickr relevant again, decided to offer 1TB of free space to all users. The downside? Everyone who doesn't pay $50 per year gets ads.

• Twitter Gets Two-Factor Authentication: Twitter finally added two-factor authentication and you should enable it right now. We probably don't need to tell you why, but just in case you forgot about social engineering hacks you want to enable this feature to protect yourself.

Questions and Answers

• Is it appropriate to send my dream job a cold-call email asking about employment opportunities and, if so, how do I go about asking? Be clear you really want to work for them, not that you just really want the job. Try to get to know someone at the company by offering to buy them lunch or just stopping by to meet the receptionist, then ask for advice about how to approach the company. If sending them a cold email, be concise and ask what one has to do to get a job and when you should look for the next opportunity. Just asking for a job might get ignored unless your timing is perfect.
• How can I digitally catalog my mom’s belongings so the entire family of both Android and iPhone users can easily look up what box they’re in? The caller suggested Evernote and we think that's the way to go, too. Springpad might be one other alternative, or even a spreadsheet if you want something really simple (although Google Docs isn't fantastic on smartphones).
• I'm 20 and financially irresponsible, mostly because I eat out too much. How can I balance my budget and start cooking more? Budget with Mint or get a bank account that automatically saves money for you. To cook more, plan your meals. These simple recipes are a good place to start.
• Is there one good way to convert iPhone videos (quicktime,.mov) to a Windows Media Player format? Nope, not without spending some money on robust video conversion software. MP4 works pretty much everywhere so we suggest converting to that using Handbrake (free).
• I am a teacher and want to move to paperless classroom. Is there an easy way for lots of people to scan documents quickly? Looking to buy stuff for the classroom next year. Any products ideas? Doxie works really well, and you can move them around the class really easily. It integrates with Evernote so you can put all the scans into one notebook and share that notebook with the entire class. If you don't like Doxie, check out these alternatives.
• What do you recommend for freeing up space on iPhone? Transfer pics and video to a flash drive? Is that just drag and drop? Yes, you answered your own question. :) Plug in the phone on a Mac and open Image Capture to drag and drop files wherever you want. On a Windows PC, just access the phone like a drive and find your pictures and images in the DCIM folder like any camera. If you want to try and free up more space, you can see what apps are using the most space in the General section of the Settings apps. If something is using most of your iPhone's storage, you can go into that app and delete what you don't need.

Tips of the Week

• Alan’s Tip: Avoid Dealer Advertising and Delivery Fees to Save Big Buying a Car

• Whitson’s Tip: Find Free Wi-Fi Passwords on FourSquare

• Dachis’ Tip: Get Great Deals at the Amazon Outlet Store You Never Knew Existed

Downloads of the Week

• Alan’s Pick: CupCloud (Windows/OS X) and Minbox (OS X)

• Whitson’s Pick: ObjectDock (Windows)

• Dachis’ Pick: GText (Chrome)

How Do I Submit a Question?

There are two ways to send in your question:

• Call (347) 687-8109 and record a question. Calls are awesome! We like them!
• Email your question to tips+asklhshow@lifehacker.com.

Please keep your questions as brief as possible. This means about 3-5 sentences for emails and 30-60 seconds for calls and videos. Your questions can be specific, but broader questions are generally better because they'll apply to more people. For example, "how can I breathe new life into my old PDA?" is much better than "what can I do with an old HP iPAQ 210?" Either way, we look forward to hearing from you!

Newspaper, Computer, Clock (by Brandon Hopkins), and Alert (by Dima Yagnyuk) provided by the Noun Project.

Chrome: Although Gmail can already send and receive text messages, it doesn't sync with your Android smartphone. Gtext, an extension from previously mentioned MightyText, sends and receives texts directly in Gmail using your mobile phone number. Since DeskSMS might not be taking new users, this is a great alternative just in time.

Just like MightyText—rightfully billed as the iMessage of Android—every SMS (and MMS) you send from Gmail syncs up with your smartphone (presuming you have the Android app installed, too). The interface works just like chat in Gmail, only you're actually sending text messages. You also get a handy "Compose SMS" button right beneath the standard email compose button you're used to. If you already have MightyText installed, you'll get up and running in about 10 seconds. If not, installing the app won't take much longer. For those of you who spend a lot of time in Gmail and hate switching to your phone to text, this Chrome extension is a must-install.

Gtext (Free) | Chrome Web Store

The DSLR LCD screen once served as little more than a means to viewing photos you'd already taken in the comfort of indoor lighting. Now you can use it as a live monitor and capture photos and video. It still doesn't work too well outside. With some old hotel key cards, however, you can fix that problem on the cheap.

Photographer Maciej Pietuszynski put together this clever hack by taping together a bunch of old key cards with gaffer's tape. All you have to do is measure your screen and cut the cards to create a box for it, tape them together, and add a rubber band for easy attachment. For the full instructions, check out the post on DIY Photography.

Hotel Keys Don't Work? Make An LCD Hood! A Pictorial | DIY Photography

If you know your terminal basics, you know that mkdir creates directories—but it can do more. If you add the -p flag, you can create a directory with subdirectories in a single command and save yourself the trouble of quite a bit of extra typing.

Here's an example:

mkdir -p parentdir/childdir/etc

That command will create a new directory called parentdir with a subdirectory of childdir and another subdirectory inside of childdir called etc. You can make the chain go on forever if you want. Just type out the path you want to create, hit enter, and you'll have it with plenty of typing time saved.

6 Mac OS X Terminal Tips | Colmjude

The internet is full of wonderful memes so why shouldn't your desktop be, too? We searched high and low for wallpapers centered around these internet pop culture phenomena. Join in by setting you desktop to one of these many options.

For more meme-based wallpapers, check out our original collection.

The Internet

Download this wallpaper | The Paper Wall 1920x1329

Nyan Cat

Download this wallpaper | The Paper Wall 1366x768

Sir Grumpy Cat

Download this wallpaper | The Paper Wall 1920x1080

Trololo

Download this wallpaper | The Paper Wall 1715x1037

Why Not Zoidberg?

Download this wallpaper | The Paper Wall 2560x1600

I Know That Feel, Bro

Download this wallpaper | The Paper Wall 1920x1196

Do a Barrel Roll!

Download this wallpaper | The Paper Wall 1920x1080

Rage Guy

Download this wallpaper | The Paper Wall 2560x1600

Chubble Bubbles: Jurassic Park

Download this wallpaper | The Paper Wall 1920x1080

Forever Alone

Download this wallpaper | The Paper Wall 1920x1080

For more great wallpapers, check out our previous Wallpaper Wednesdays. Got any great wallpapers you'd like to share? Email me a link with "Wallpaper Wednesday" in the subject line. Submitting your own work is highly encouraged!

When you know how to do something, you have a skill. When you understand how something works, you can alter that knowledge and adapt it for your best uses. This gives you confidence and the ability to grow.

It's also the best piece of advice developer Matrin Rue received from his grandfather. He explains its importance:

If you simply remember how to do something, then all you can do is use it the same way over and over, but if you understand how it works, you can reason about it. Once you can reason about something in your mind you can contemplate why it is the way it is, you can apply your entire creative mind to making the most of it, and you can implement and question improvement – you own it intellectually.

Information only gets you so far. Learn how things work and you can expand upon them infinitely.

Understand How It Works | Martin Rue

Photo by Biter Big (Shutterstock).

Twitter finally added two-factor authentication and you should enable it right now. We probably don't need to tell you why, but just in case you forgot about social engineering hacks you want to enable this feature to protect yourself.

To enable two-factor authentication in Twitter, you first need to verify your phone number and email address. With that complete, follow these steps:

1. Visit your account settings page.
2. Select “Require a verification code when I sign in.”
3. Click on the link to “add a phone” and follow the prompts.
4. You’ll be asked to enter a six-digit code sent to your phone via SMS each time you sign in to twitter.com. (Note: That doesn't mean every time you access Twitter, but just when it requires you to sign in.)

For more information, check out the full post on Twitter, and be sure to enable two-factor authentication everywhere else, too!

Getting started with login verification | Twitter Blog

The latest release of Chrome (27), now available for download, adds Google's conversational voice search for Star Trek-style voice searching.

We're still exploring all the things it can do, but we've talked about some of it before, when Google announced it at I/O. It can understand where you are, look up events on your calendar, and even understand context—so if you ask it "Who is the president of the United States?" it'll answer Barack Obama, after which you can ask "How tall is he?" and it will understand who you're talking about.

The service isn't fully fleshed out yet, though. You can't start searches by saying "Google" just yet, and some other demoed features may not work, but much of it is up and running. If you're using Chrome, update your software and head to Google.com to check it out.

Google Now style voice search now live in Chrome stable channel | Android Central

You can have a lot of fun making music, but getting a good recording and arrangement of your song requires some work and knowledge. Last week we set up a home recording studio. This week we're going to start recording.

Note: This is primarily a video lesson and you'll get a lot more information from watching the video above. That said, the instructions below will suffice and you should hang on to them for reference.

What You'll Need in This Lesson

If you participated in last week's lesson, you should have all the equipment you need to get started. If not, read last week's lesson first before preceding. We're not going to make equipment recommendations here, but you should know what equipment you're going to need to participate in this lesson:

• Your computer with the DAW software of your choice installed (we'll be using Cubase)
• A digital audio interface (with 48v phantom power) hooked up to your computer
• A microphone connected to your digital audio interface, most likely via XLR cable
• An instrument (e.g. a guitar, your voice, etc.)
• About 20-30 minutes of your time

Once you've got everything ready, boot up your DAW software and let's get started!

Get to Know Your DAW's Interface.

Interface elements vary between different DAWs, but they embody the same ideas. We'll use Cubase to demonstrate here, but if you're using something else you should find things are pretty similar. Let's take a look at the common parts you'll need to know about.

The main project window is where you'll do a lot of your work. This window lets you interact with your instruments and sounds as well as bring up individual channel settings as needed. You can do a lot more, too, but those are the basics.

The mixer (in Cubase, this is the first of three mixers) looks like a hardware mixing board in a lot of ways. You can adjust the levels of individual tracks, open their channel settings, monitor the master output, and keep a general eye on what's going on with your mix as it plays.

The transporter does what you probably expect: it transports you around your project. This is where you press record, stop, and play, but also where you can toggle the metronome, set time signatures, loop your project, and get information about where you currently are in your project.

The VST instruments panel isn't something you really need to know about until the next lesson, but it's simply where you add virtual instruments to your project.

When you click the little "e" button next to an audio track you get its channel settings. You can add input (track-specific) and send (multi-track) effects here, use the built-in EQ, and adjust gain.

Those are the main elements of the interface you need to know about. Read on to learn how to set up your first project!

Set Up Your First Project

You already know how to record audio if you know how to push a button, but digital audio workstation (DAW) software requires some setup before that big red circle will actually capture an audio signal. Although we'll be using Cubase to set up our project, most DAW software works in similar ways. If you're not using Cubase, you should be able to follow along just fine but will need to look in slightly different locations for menu items and certain buttons. Here's what to do:

1. To get started, create a new project by selecting New Project in the File menu. Select "Empty" as a project type. Cubase will ask you where to save it, so pick one and wait for everything to load.
2. Before you can start recording, you need to make sure Cubase (or whatever DAW you're using) can find your interface and the mics (or whatever else) you have hooked up to it. Go to the Device menu and choose VST Connections.
3. From there, click the Inputs tab and set the first mono input to your first microphone. Repeat this process for any additional microphones or inputs (e.g. electric guitars).
4. Click the Outputs tab and you should see a pair of stereo outputs. Set the first one to your left speaker and the second one to your right speaker.
5. Now that your inputs and outputs are properly routed, close VST Connections and go to the Project menu. Choose Add Track -> Audio.
6. When the new track window appears, create one track and set its configuration to mono. Because we're just recording from a single microphone in this lesson, you don't need a stereo track. In fact, you'll rarely choose stereo even when recording from two microphones because you'll likely prefer to have the channels separated. This provides you with greater control over where they're placed in the recording (i.e. where it sounds like the recorded voice or instrument is) and the character of the sound. When you're done, click Add Track.
7. By default, the new track should have its record enabling toggle button lit up red. You'll see this beneath the track name. If it isn't lit, click on it to enable recording on this track.
8. Also by default, your track should be set to your first microphone. If not, take a look at the panel on the left side of the main project window and you'll see input and output settings. The output should be set to Stereo (which is the default name for Cubase's stereo output) and then input should be set to whatever you named your first microphone (usually Mono In by default, but this can vary). If you see No Bus that means nothing is connected to this audio track, so click on No Bus and change it to the name of your first microphone.
9. Using the transporter—which is the thin horizontal window strip with lots of tools and buttons on it—press the record button. You'll see the recording start. Talk, sing, or play an instrument into the microphone and the waveform of your audio will appear in real time.
10. When finished recording, press the stop button on the transporter.

That's all there is to it! You've just recorded your first bit of audio. It probably sounds bad, but that's likely due to a need for EQ, higher gain (increase in the amplitude of the frequency so it sounds louder), or some other problem. We're not going to worry about that just yet because you're still getting used to how your DAW works. We'll tackle mixing individual audio tracks and the entire mix in a later lesson, though you can get a preview if you watch the video above.

Want to learn more? Join us next Tuesday at 5:00 PM PT for our next lesson: playing and recording virtual instruments. Don't forget to bring your MIDI keyboard!