Today is Portal 2 day, and those of us here in North America aren’t the only people celebrating. Over at the University of Copenhagen, a geeky bar called the ScrollBar is celebrating as well by opening their own little Portal Bar!

At the Portal Bar, they’re slinging cocktails that look delicious and are named after the many characters and personalities you’ll encounter in Portal and Portal 2. The drink above is called the Chell, named after the character the player controls, but you can bet there’s a GlaDOS cocktail too – and guess what? It starts with Absinthe. Perfect.

The Chell on the other hand is a mix of fruit juices and gin, which is perfectly tasty but strong, if you catch my drift. But in Chell’s way are the Sentry Guns, also sweet but strong, made with Vodka, Bols Banana and Bols Blue, and a little Sambuca, too.

They even have little portal shots – one orange and the other blue. Seriously, I can’t make this stuff up. My only regret is that I don’t live in Denmark so I can’t visit. Reminds me of The Mana Bar in Australia – another awesome place to have a drink that’s sadly too far from my home.

Thankfully the makings for all of the cocktails are right there on the bar’s Web site, so people like us who are far and wide can make our own The Cake is a Life cocktail and raise our glasses in the general direction of the ScrollBar. Here’s to you, University of Copenhagen!

[ Scrollbar @ IT University of Copenhagen: The Portal Bar ]

(image courtesy of Flickr user puuikibeach, found at Lifehacker)

I’m a huge fan of the “start over” approach when it comes to cleaning things – especially if you’re planning to move soon or looking for ways to minimize your lifestyle and do more with less. I’m planning a move, so it’s a great time to stop and take inventory of exactly what I do and the tools I used to get it done, which of course leads me directly to a pile of things I need, things I like, and things I can get rid of.

So over at Lifehacker (and by proxy, an original post at Unclutterer,) they outline a great process towards getting familiar with the things you use every day, labeling them as such, and then comfortably knowing that you really don’t need all of the other junk you have lying around:

* Take all of the supplies out of the drawer and put them in a small box.
* Clean out your desk organizer and the drawer.
* Go about your work.
* When you need an item, take it out of the box, use it, and then put it away in the top desk drawer.
* After five days have past, review the items that made it into the top desk drawer and make sure that they are organized in the best way for your needs.
* The items that remain in the box on your desk do not belong in the prime real estate of your top desk drawer. Sort through the items and toss out, recycle, or pass along to a co-worker anything that is pure clutter in your desk. Find a shelf or lower drawer where the items you need but use less frequently can be stored.

I think you could do this a little quicker if you have the conviction to get rid of things that you know for fact you definitely don’t need, but if you’re definitely the type of person who needs to “prove to yourself” that you don’t actually use that item that’s been sitting on your desk collecting dust, this is a great way to go about it.

[ Unclutterer :: Bringing Order to Your Top Desk Drawer ]

I’m a huge fan of Sennheiser headsets and headphones: I have a trusty pair of PC 350s that I splurged on for voice communication in my PC games, and I’m seriously looking at the PC 360s since they’re the logical step up from the PC 350s. Now, Sennheiser has announced a promo where they’re willing to ship you a free pair of Sennheiser OMX 60 earbuds with your purchase of a pair of HD 515 headphones.

The HD 515s run for around $50, depending on where you buy them from (a few outlets on the Web are as high as $55,Amazon has them for under $50,) and if you’re in the market for a pair of earbuds so you don’t have to carry the cans around with you on the subway or on your next flight, fill out the rebate form to get your paid of OMX 60s.

[ Sennheiser Offers Free Earbuds With Purchase Of HD 515 ]

First it was Facebook, and now it’s Twitter – both social networks have finally gotten around to turning on always-on HTTPS to make sure that users logged in to their Web sites are always sending data encrypted when they’re logged in, managing their profiles, posting, and communicating with friends. Considering the number of hijacked accounts is becoming an issue, and the fact that apps like Firesheep allow people on the same network as the user to pull that user’s Twitter or Facebook password in clear text, it makes sense for Twitter to give users the option to use HTTPS for all of their connections.

Now, however, it’s up to developers of third-party apps to leverage HTTPS or SSL in their apps to make sure they’re not defaulting to the old method of passing Twitter logins and can take advantage of the new security.

You’ll find the option in the image above in your Twitter account settings – so when you’re logged in, just click your username in the upper right, then choose “Settings,” and scroll to the bottom of the page. Do yourself a favor and turn this on, right now. Oh! And while you’re there, follow me @halophoenix!

[ Twitter Blog :: Making Twitter more secure: HTTPS ]

One of my good friends Chris Breeden runs the blog The Modern Guy, and this week has an excellent article on why you should make sure you’re backing up your computer, right now. As in a, “no excuses, here’s how to do it, why aren’t you doing it yet” kind of piece.

The fact of the matter is that hard drives fail – frequently. The drive that’s the heart of your computer right now will likely fail long before you have the opportunity to migrate all of your data off of it, so make sure you have good, solid, active backups at all times.

So how do you do that? Well, that’s where Chris comes in. He has some suggestions on finding good ways to back up your data both on-site and off-site, and why you really shouldn’t just rely on a second hard drive inside the same computer for all of your precious data.

Seriously: read it, work on your own personal backup plan, and put it in place. I’ve been neglecting this task for too long myself, and I don’t even want to think about the inevitable day when my primary hard drive dies. Will I be happy that I have everything important to me somewhere else, or will I be dismayed that all of my photos, documents, and videos are gone? If I have any say in it, it’ll be the former.

[ The Modern Guy :: Back Up Your PC, Back Up Your Life ]

The summer is coming and it’s about time to start thinking about – if you haven’t already – how to keep your energy costs down when the heat goes up and you hit the air conditioner to stay frosty. Well, there are ways to stay green and stay comfortable at the same time – especially when it comes to your technology, and over at PC Mag them mention more than a few.

For example, you can always switch to greener computers if you have the cash to sink into a forklift upgrade of all of the systems in your home, but you can also snag some power-saving surge protectors, get rid of your older, power-inefficient computer gear in exchange for something more energy efficient, and more.

There are some great suggestions in the slideshow – make sure to click through and see which ones will work best for you. Me? I’m planning to snag some apps to help steer me to the best gas prices: it’s getting pretty dicey at the pump these days.

[ Lower Your Energy Costs with Tech ]

(image courtesy of Engadget)

Oh yes, it was predictable, but someone had to go there: as soon as the iPad 2′s specs were released, it was just begging to be compared to every other high-end tablet on the market today, including those that haven’t shipped just yet and will be the iPad 2′s major competition when it’s released.

The Motorola Xoom, which is already out but clearly the most natural comparison to the newest iteration of the iPad, the HP Touchpad, and the BlackBerry PlayBook – neither of which even have ship or pre-order dates yet – all get thrown down spec-wise to help you understand whether you should spring for the iPad 2, get a Xoom, or wait for something new.

The table is over at Engadget that runs down all of the specs (including the reported future specs of the tablets that haven’t been released yet) – and yes, I can hear people complaining now that it’s not entirely fair to compare a unit coming out now or already on the market to tablets that have been announced but aren’t shipping and are subject to change. To those people I say: I agree completely – take the future specs with a grain of salt, and don’t wait unless you’re wedded to what you’re waiting for.

Head on over to Engadget and take a look at the table.

[ iPad 2 vs. Motorola Xoom vs. HP TouchPad vs. BlackBerry PlayBook: The Tale of The Tape ]

I’m not just saying this because I had the opportunity to do some writing for Lifehacker, but every now and again the site puts together a feature that’s so incredible that it’s difficult not to bookmark it and vow to use it the next time you have the opportunity: or to make it a weekend project of your own.

That’s how I felt when The Geek’s Guide to Rebooting Your Kitchen popped up – complete with the video above of a very determined Kevin Purdy working his way through his kitchen, cleaning things out as he went and organizing them in the process. He did something that I’ve suggested people do when they move to a new workspace: think about the way you use the space, and then organize it from the ground up to match the way you work in it. That way you have a space that’s always useful and never a pain to work in or around.

Here’s a tidbit I adored from the piece:

To be honest, the heart of my own kitchen’s recent reboot was not cheap—it was a total gut and remodel, with contractors and drywall and all that fun stuff. Putting the root-level changes aside, it was also a chance to empty out our cabinets and drawers, pack up all the dry goods and spices, and rethink where we wanted everything to go. You can do this, too: piece by piece, or, you know, you can jam it all into four hours of French-press-fueled mania on a Saturday night, as shown in the clip above. Your call.

Hey – just because I love my French press doesn’t mean I’m any less dedicated. Seriously though – with a move on the horizon for yours truly, this will be incredibly helpful. Here’s hoping you can find some use out of it too!

[ Lifehacker :: The Geek's Guide to Rebooting Your Kitchen ]

The fine folks at Lifehacker were kind enough to allow me to guest post for them last Friday, and now that the furor around it has died down a little bit and my nerves have calmed a bit, allow me to share those guest posts with you:

[ Lifehacker :: Roll a Powerful Media HTPC for Less than $500 ]
This piece was tons of fun to write – partially because of the speed with which I had to assemble the component build for the HTPC, and the fact that I had to stick to a budget. I wanted to stay under $500, but I wanted to make sure it was chock full of quality components that would get the job done. As usual, the comments are great for my piece, with lots of great critiques of some of the areas even I think are most flexible.

For example, a lot of commenters suggested going AMD instead of Intel to save money – great idea, I just went Intel because it was tried and true and proven to me, and frankly I’m not as familiar with the AMD chipset and its current-gen processors. A number of others suggested going with less RAM (something I don’t agree with at all) or with an Atom/Ion processor/chipset combo (skeptical, but open to the idea,) but if you’re planning on building an HTPC anytime in the future, this is a good guide and parts list.

Alternatively, you can accomplish much of the same by installing XBMC on your Apple TV 2, but the article was really targeted at people who wanted the ability to have complete and utter control over their home media solution – and who could drop the media management software anytime they chose to stream Hulu and Netflix even if those two services block the set-top software they’re using.

[ Should I Go Back to School? ]
This “Ask Lifehacker” column was partially torn from the pages of my own life: back in 2002 I was debating the same thing. I was stuck in a job where I didn’t think there was much career growth for me, and I had to make the decision whether I wanted to go to grad school or stick it out in my current job and hope for the best.

I decided to go back to school, get a Master’s, and stick it out in the job at the same time – partially for tuition benefits from my employer but partially because I didn’t want to just quit my job wholesale and go back to school full time. I had an apartment I had to keep and bills I had to pay, and while the tuition assistance was great, it wasn’t everything. When I did graduate though, it was clear that my current employer at the time still didn’t have any growth opportunities for me, so I left in favor of an employer who did. Best decision of my life.

But it may not be the best decision for everyone – and that’s what I point out in the Ask Lifehacker piece: weigh your options, your pros and cons, and whether you’re actually going back to school for something that will make a difference in your career. Discuss with your family and determine whether you can pay for it or get help from your employer to pay for it. Then make your decision.

[ IRS2Go Tracks Your Tax Return from Your Phone ]
A simple little piece on a handy mobile app that – even though it has some pros and cons – allows you to track your tax return from your smartphone and get tax tips and updates from the IRS…if you actually want them. Handy!

And that does it! I’m incredibly grateful to the Lifehacker team for allowing me to guest post for them, and hope I’ll have the opportunity to do it again soon. In the meantime though, enjoy! It was a huge accomplishment for me as a writer, and hopefully it can help you out in the process.

The beauty of PC Mag’s “How to Buy the Right Headphones” series is that the team there keeps updating the piece every year with new models, updated features, and more things you should think about before you run out and buy a pair of headphones for your digital music player or even your cell phone – this year’s roundup has some of the best headphones that the team has ever seen, and has boiled down some of the things you should remember to four basic types of headphones: earphones, headphones, noise-cancelling, and wireless.

The piece has some tips to remember for each type, and what you can expect in terms of audio quality when it comes to each and how much you can expect to pay when it comes time to lay down your credit card for a shiny new set.

One important thing to remember though is that cheap doesn’t always mean bad, depending on who you go with: sometimes some very affordable earphones in the sub-$100 range sound really really good, and you don’t need to go all out and drop $2-300 on a pair of noise isolating brand name earphones to get good audio quality – especially when your source audio is garbage anyway.

[ PC Mag :: How to Buy the Right Headphones ]