Ingredients

• For the hollandaise sauce:
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1 Tbsp water
• 1 stick unsalted Margarine, cut into 8 pieces
• Juice from 1/2 a lemon
• Salt
• Pepper
• For the burgers
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• Salt
• Pepper
• Worcestershire
• 3 eggs, fried or poached
• 3 slices of bacon, cooked to a crisp ( or Pastrami)
• Burger buns

Instructions

Notes

Yields: 3 servings

Hollandaise sauce adapted from Gourmet

Estimated time: 30 minutes

To prevent burning, submerge the plank in water for at least 2 hours. It will float to the top so weigh it down with a heavy object.
Add your favorite marinade to the salmon 30 minutes before grilling.

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Whitson Gordon

What if you were a wizard that could bend the entire world to your will? chores would do themselves, bills would pay on time, and your appliances would obey your every thought. Well, you can’t do that exactly, but with a bit of ingenuity, you can automate a lot of your life so you don’t have to trudge through the boring stuff. Here are ten things you can automate right now.

10. Maintain Your computer Without the Work

No one likes to sit around and clean up their computer, but it’s something that has to get done. We’ve talked about what kind of maintenance you need to do on your Windows PC and Mac, and much of that you can automate—like running CCleaner on a schedule. You should also set up an automated backup program, so you never lose your data. Set it up once, and forget it.

9. Make Your Bills Pay Themselves

Paying bills and managing your budget sucks. Luckily, we live in an age where computers can do a lot of the work for us. Have your bills automatically pay themselves online, and set up an automatic budget that’s easy to stick to with Mint. check out our guide to automating your finances for more ideas, and be sure to check out when you shouldn’t automate your finances, too.

8. Create a Diet Without Thinking

Whether you’re trying to lose weight or just take the stress out of planning and cooking, you can automate what you eat with a number of tools. Gather all your recipes up in one place and plan your weekly meals ahead of time for stress-free Shopping and cooking. If you need to pay closer attention to your diet (like if you’re trying to lose weight), try a service like Eat This Much or Swole.me, which will plan your diet for you based on your goals. That way, you can keep an eye on what you eat and stay on track with minimal effort.

7. organize Important Documents and Files

We’ve all got stacks of papers lying around, not to mention a hard drive full of unorganized files. Luckily, you can automate just about anything with those files using a few tools. First, if you’re having trouble organizing that paper, go paperless so you can organize it digitally—it won’t take you much time. Ditch hard drive clutter by organizing your Home folder automatically. For everything else, you can use Actions on Windows or Automator on the Mac—they’ll let you automatically rename a bunch of files, crop a large number of images, or even extract text from a bunch of PDF files. Anything you can imagine, you can probably do—heck, I even put together a service that syncs iTunes with nearly any device.

6. Do Away with Shopping and Get Automatic Discounts

Whether you’re grocery shopping or trekking yourself to Home Depot, you can make shopping a lot easier by…well, not doing it. For example, Amazon Subscribe & Save will automatically send you everything you need on a schedule, and at a nice discount—heck, you can even use it to automate office lunches. Don’t like grocery shopping? Get what you can delivered, and plan your way through the store for the few things you can’t. While you’re at it, be sure to automate all your coupons so you don’t have to search for discounts—you’ll just get them automatically.

5. Make Your phone Read Your Mind

Smartphones can be useful, but sometimes it feels like it takes forever to perform the simplest of tasks. With a few tools, you can essentially make your phone read your mind, performing tasks in response to related actions. For example, you could tell your phone to automatically dim your screen at night, or go into silent mode when you put it face down. Android users should check out Tasker, while iPhone users will need to jailbreak and try out some of these tools to make it happen.

4. Integrate Your Favorite Apps and web Services

You probably have a few apps and tools that you absolutely couldn’t live without—like Dropbox, Gmail, a to-do list, or something else. That’s great, but you can make those services even better by automating tasks—and even making them talk to each other—with If This Then That, also known as IFTTT. Make job searches easier, save articles for later, fix Instagram pictures on Twitter, add to-dos with Siri, make app deals last forever, archive your life, get digital doubles of your photos, and much much more. There’s barely a limit to what it can do.

3. download Anything Without Even Searching for It

The days of combing the net for good downloads is over. With a small collection of programs, you can have your computer automatically search for, download, and organize nearly any type of file in existence. You can even tell it the quality of videos you want to download, the file format of the music you want, or what program you want to use to download it. It takes a little work to set up, but you’ll never have to search for a file on the web again.

2. Put Your Chores on autopilot

Doing chores is boring, so why waste time doing them when you can put them on autopilot? You can’t make your broom come alive and clean the room for you (unless you’re Merlin), but you can create a schedule that breaks everything up into almost unnoticeable chunks. Do your cleaning in regular short bursts, speed up your laundry, and even maintain your home without batting an eyelash. It isn’t true automation, but it’ll sure feel like it when you have all that extra time in your day.photo by Maarten Takens.

1. Automate Everything In Your Home

Ever wish you could change the thermostat without getting up, or unlock your door without fumbling with your keys? Home automation can make it happen. We’ve shared tons of tricks over the years, from transforming your digs into a home of the future, controlling everything with Siri, turning stuff off with your phone, or even watering the plants and feeding the cat. Check out all our posts on home automation for even more ideas—the sky’s the limit!{Source lifehacker top 10}

Having trouble deciding between analog and digital photography? Get the best of both worlds with the Polaroid Z2300 Instant Digital camera ($160). Sporting a 10 megapixel sensor, 3-inch LCD, and SD storage, it’s a capable compact camera, but thanks to the built-in ZINK printer, it’s much more — on-board editing tools let you crop images and add effects before printing them out in full color, giving you both a digital file and a 2×3, smudge-proof, water-resistant print with a sticky back for good measure. Arriving in August.

Great views of East Harlem, the South Bronx and Astoria

Although Governors Island tends to get all of the attention, there’s another isle off Manhattan where families can go for great views, picnicking and relaxing under the summer sun: Randall’s Island.

Located in the East River and bordered by Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx, the isle has recently undergone major renovations with more planned or underway. While it’s not as bucolic as Governors Island—the RFK Bridge cuts right through it so you never forget you’re in the city—Randall’s Island offers many kids’ attractions like mini golf, Sports fields, batting cages and a playground, so it’s a great place for families to explore.

Previously owned by the Randel family, the 480-acre isle was purchased by the City of New York in 1835 and the Parks & Recreation Department took control in 1933. Since then, Randall’s Island has hosted countless sporting events and many notable concerts, like the New York Rock Festival in the summer of 1970 (featuring Jimi Hendrix) and Lollapalooza in 1994.

Today, Randall’s Island boasts more than 60 sports fields, which account for over half of all fields in Manhattan. You’ll find fields for baseball and softball, lacrosse, soccer, rugby and football (although many require a permit for use), plus Sportime, a state-of-the-art tennis complex and Randall’s Island Golf & Sports Center, which offers mini golf and batting cages. There’s also the 5,000-seat Icahn Stadium, which hosts local, national and international track and field events, even Olympic training and trials.

If you’re just looking for a place to relax for an afternoon, you can picnic on the open grassy lawns or lounge by the water and enjoy views of East Harlem, Astoria or the South Bronx, depending on where you’re sitting. There are lovelylandscaped areas and themed gardens to explore and designated barbeque areas. It’s best to bring your own lunch as food trucks are rare and the sole restaurant is the Courtside Cafe in the Sportime tennis center.

For cyclists, waterfront bicycle and pedestrian paths already circle most of the island. Just this April, the Hell Gate Pathway was completed.

There is one modest playground on the island and bathrooms are located at both information centers. Public restrooms are also available in the tennis complex.

Randall’s Island also hosts frequent events like outdoor concerts, art exhibitions and sporting events, some free, like FLOW.12, an environmental art exhibition on the shoreline, others requiring admission. In the past, Cirque du Soleil has pitched its tent here and Check its calendar for a complete schedule.

If you’re driving, Randall’s Island is easily accessible from Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx via the RFK Bridge. The M35 bus on 125th Street also goes to the isle. You can also walk or bike to the isle via the recently reopened 103rd Street Footbridge. Another pedestrian bridge connecting the island to the South Bronx is slated to open in 2013. Check the website for complete directions.
Find more seasonal activities in our Summer Fun Guide.