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Researchers at the University of Maryland found the one activity unhappy people do more than happy people is watch TV. The New York Times reports:

"We looked at 8 to 10 activities that happy people engage in, and for each one, the people who did the activities more — visiting others, going to church, all those things — were more happy,” Dr. [John] Robinson said. “TV was the one activity that showed a negative relationship. Unhappy people did it more, and happy people did it less.”

The study doesn't indicate whether TV-watching is a symptom or a cause of unhappiness, so turning off the TV won't necessarily make you happier. Have unhappier times in your life involved more TV-watching, less, or the same as happy times? Let us know in the comments.

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Some bored people who hate that Saved By Zero commercial as much as you do have mashed it into a trailer for The Ring. Hooray.

[via Buzzfeed]

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Windows XP only: When you right-click on your desktop or on a file, do you have to go through two dozen useless menu items before you hit the one you want? Free utility Mmm offers an easy interface for hiding and organizing context menu items—into a "Rarely used" subfolder, for example. With Mmm running, hit the colored button it adds to the top left of the menu to see the configuration area, shown here. Check out the before and after photos of my context menu using Mmm.

Before:

After:

Recently, the How-To Geek explained how to clean up your right-click menu by editing the Windows registry—a fine option for super-savvy users who don't want to run yet another utility to achieve the same end. If messing with your registry isn't your bag, previously mentioned FileMenu Tools and ShellExView also get the job done. Mmm Free is a free download for Windows XP only; Mmm+ offers more options for $9.99. Thanks, gravi_t!

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Michael Vick, the allegedly herpetic former NFL quarterback and dog lover, has filed paperwork detailing the decent into financial ruin that lead to his bankruptcy filing in July of this year. Vick blew through $17.7 million dollars in two years preceding his Chapter 11 petition. If that sounds like a lot of money in a short amount of time, consider the fact that Vick has been imprisoned since November 2007. For those of you looking for some insight into Vick's attitude towards money, the Smoking Gun points out that one of his check memos reads, "chump change."

The check was made out to Vick's mother, Brenda Boddie, for the sum of $1,000.

Michael Vick's "Chump Change"[The Smoking Gun]

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We just pushed an update to Lifehacker's mobile-friendly site version, located at m.lifehacker.com. Mobile users on the Blackberry, iPhone, and other handsets who visit Lifehacker will be automatically redirected there; click the "classic Lifehacker" link to see the full-on browser version on your phone. Suggestions, thoughts, feedback? Post it in the comments here.

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How to take that great holiday photo It's one of the few times when all your friends and family are in the same room at the same time. That makes a holiday gathering the perfect family-portrait photo op. But it's not always easy to squeeze everyone into a single, well-posed, properly-lighted shot. Here are some tips for making the most of the opportunity: If you use a basic point-and-shoot digital camera, or prefer to rely on the camera to do most of the work for you: If your lens has wide-angle capability, this is the time to use it. Zoom the lens out to its widest angle. A 28-mm-equivalent is minimally sufficient; 24-mm is better. (Our digital camera Ratings, available to subscribers, points out which cameras feature wide-angle capabilities.) Then set the camera to program mode. Arrange your group as a triangle, with short or seated people on the ends, heads tilted toward the middle to avoid distortion. Taller or standing people should be in the middle. (If there are too many people to fit into one row, see the more advanced tips below.) Reduce red-eye by placing a light behind you. To add a vintage holiday feel to your portraits, use the setting for sepia tones, if your camera has one. If you have a digital SLR or a camera with advanced features that you want to use: If you're shooting more than one row of people, use a higher f-stop setting to increase the depth of field (focus range). Set the flash to the highest power available—the idea is to light the largest area you can. Experiment with slower shutter speeds to allow more background light into the picture, but still use the flash. For more tips on seasonal shooting, such as holiday-lights, gift-opening, or winter-sports shots, see our free Tips for taking your best winter shots. For advice on how to choose a digital camera, watch our digital camera buying guide video by clicking on the embedded player at right. And you can check out our free digital camera buying advice on ConsumerReports.org for more helpful information. —Jeff Fox Subscribe now! Subscribe to ConsumerReports.org for expert Ratings, buying advice and reliability on hundreds of products. Update your feed preferences

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Mac OS X only: The latest version of the free Plex Media Center for Mac now includes iTunes and iPhoto support, iTunes visualizations, TV theme music, and the ability to play songs you've purchased from the iTunes Store. This tight iTunes/iPhoto integration comes in part from the Plex Media Server, which makes your songs and photos show up inside Plex while running in parallel. The Plex developer explains:

The Plex Media Server is a standalone program that runs alongside Plex (or alone on any machine, it’s a Universal Binary). It serves up media from your iLife applications (iTunes and iPhoto today, Aperture and Lightroom shortly). Plex communicates with the Plex Media Server on the local machine, on your local network, or even across the world over the Internet. This means that you can play your friends’ iTunes playlists or browse their podcasts or photo albums.

The Plex Media Center is a fork of the XBMC project, which also offers a Mac version. In fact, XBMC Atlantis' Mac version also includes iTunes and iPhoto support; compare our Plex screenshot tour to the Atlantis tour to see the differences between the two projects, which share the same code base. Plex is a free download for Intel Macs running Leopard only.

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Imagine going to the doctor for a severe migraine and ending up with your right arm amputated. That's what happened to Diana Levine when her doctor injected her with Phenergan, it seeped out of the vein into an artery, and gave her gangrene.

Vermont courts found that Wyeth hadn't given adequate warning to doctors and patients that one particular injection method, the one used on Diana, greatly increases the risk of gangrene. Wyeth is trying to use Federal preemption to win the case, arguing that patients is that consumers can't sue a pharma company if the drug has been approved by federal regulators. The case, Wyeth v. Levine, is before the Supreme Court. The Alliance for Justice has made a 22-minute documentary about Diana Levine so you can learn more about her story. Watch it in its entirety, inside...

Access Denied [Alliance For Justice]
PREVIOUSLY: Big Pharma Goes Before Supreme Court To Get State Lawsuits Banned

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Readdress your gripes! Walmart will have a new CEO, Mike Duke, starting Feb. 1. [CNNMoney]

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