What I Read – Feb 2010

In keeping with my latest series, here is the best of what I read online in February.

Which Media Center is right for you? [Lifehacker] – Lifehacker compares top media center software XBMC, Boxee and Windows Media Center. If you’re thinking about building a dedicated set-top box, check this out first.

Name Brand vs Store Brand Foods [Consumer Reports] – A short comparison of food quality, showing that store brand foods don’t always suck.

Wire Whole-House Speakers Using Existing Phone Lines [Lifehacker] – A guide how to convert your phone lines into speaker wires. Just be sure to read all the comments before you try it.

Become a Gmail Master [Lifehacker] – Of course you use Gmail, so you might as well learn the tricks to make it do your bidding. Covers keyboard shortcuts, Google Labs, and a few other topics.

Back up your Firefox Profile with about:support [Lifehacker] – Use the new about:support page in Firefox to easily back up your profile.

Tutorial: A Snowboarding Website Design [Line25] – A step-by-step guide to creating a slick snowboarding-themed web design in Photoshop.

Steakhouse Dining on a Poor Budget [mom advice] – Quick recipes and guides to put together a nice steakhouse quality dinner at home for cheap. Great guide if you’re overdue for a date but don’t have the spare change to go out.

How to Cook a Steak in the Oven [the kitchn] – Although it is summer now and perfect grilling weather, it won’t stay that way forever. Make a note of this guide so when winter rolls around you can impress your friends with a perfect oven-cooked steak.

When Faced With Two Choices… – Simply toss a coin. Why? Click the link.

Three Lenses Every Photographer Should Own [digital photography school] – Spoiler alert: “a fast general purpose zoom (18-50mm), a macro lens and a telephoto zoom (70-200mm)”. I’d love to get a DSLR camera someday, so I flagged this for future reference.

The Secret World of Private Bittorrent Trackers [Gizmodo] – If the only Bittorrent you know is The Pirate Bay or ISOHunt, you’re missing out. This Gizmodo article gives you a brief glimpse into one of the many private trackers. I believe they are profiling the tracker What.cd, but I’m not sure.

Thinksound Earbuds Review [Gizmodo] – Looking for some quality earbuds for around $60? Gizmodo really liked these.

Top 10 Plugins for Windows Media Center [Lifehacker] – If you’re using WMC without any plugins, you’re missing out. Um, I guess I’m missing out, which is why I flagged this post.

How to Build a Facebook Landing Page for your Business [Mashable] – How to create a custom page for your business that will make it stand out among the other Facebook Fan pages.

MeetWith.me – I found this web app after it was featured on Lifehacker. A SWEET tool that loads your info from Google Calendar, Outlook, or iCal to create an easy to share calendar that shows when you’re busy. It’s a great way to share my availability with friends (although my summer calender is mostly empty).

XHP: A New Way to Write PHP [Facebook Engineering] – A mix of XML and PHP, this looks like a fun hybrid to play with, but I’m not sure I’d use it without more investigation.

Making Facebook 2x Faster [Facebook Engineering] – A short post of how Facebook tackled the goal of making their site twice as fast in only six months. Excellent work!

Check back tomorrow for my post of the best of March!