Do it yourself, dude!
I love my cat to death, but in the six years I’ve had her, there is one habit I can’t seem to break her of. When I’m around, she knows better than to climb up on tables, desks or counters. However, if I’m out of the room, she sees those areas as fair game. There’s never food out on those surfaces for her to eat, so there really isn’t any reason for her to go up there, other than curiosity….
If you’ve got a pair of speakers for your computer, but don’t want them just sitting on your desk, you have some options. You could make a couple of shelves to put them on, but that could be a hassle, and take up valuable space. On the other hand, you could spend $20 and make a couple of swinging arm mounts for them, ensuring that they end up exactly where you need them.
Since the time of cavemen, it seems that we humans have a natural fascination for fire. There’s just something about the way it glows and crackles that just catches the eye. And possibly the fact that we can destroy so many things with it. Matches, lighters, and even butane torches are fun to use and all, but flamethrowers are where it’s really at. Most of them are too big and bulky to have fun with, but here’s one that is…
If you’ve ever had a cool t-shirt design, there’s a good chance that you never bothered to actually get a shirt made with it. Usually the biggest hurdle is the cost involved with getting shirts printed. Most shirt printing shops charge a good bit for a small run, as it takes time and money for them to make a screen for a single shirt. Well if you have a design already made, and want a cheap way to transfer it…
I’ve been happy to enjoy 70-degree weather for the past couple of days here in the Midwest. However, the forecast says that the cold temperatures will be coming back today. This means I’ll be looking for ways to keep warm without kicking on the furnace. If you’re worried about heating costs, here’s a great little tip that could help make your bed nice and toasty for the night, without running any extra heaters. First, invest in a nice hot water…
DIY projects can be a good way to make a device that simplifies your life, and saves you money. However, not all projects are like this. Some things we make because it seems like fun, or just to say that we’ve made it. I’d say that this Tweephone would fall into the the later categories. The Tweephone is an old rotary phone that allows you to compose and send tweets, simply by� picking up the phone and dialing. I say…
If you’re serious about having high-quality audio in your living room, you may find yourself spending a lot of money on a good sound system. However, having some of the best speakers around isn’t the only way to make everything sound better. Much of what you hear has to do with the room you’re in, and how the sound waves bounce off of walls and other surfaces. One cheap and very effective way to get a better sound is by…
Dropbox is one of those handy services that can really make your life easier. Whether you’re backing up important files, or sharing some with co-workers for a project, it can be a life saver. The best part is that the service is free, so long as you don’t need more than 2GB of storage. But even then, you can get more without having to pay. Lifehacker has put together a great guide on how to get Dropbox to give you…
If you have ever found yourself in a situation where you’ve needed to significantly increase the battery life on your phone, you know how difficult� it can be if you didn’t plan ahead. Sure, you can run to the store and try and buy some sort of battery extender, but most of the time those are going to need to be plugged in for a few hours to get a full charge. So what do you do? You walk into…
With cold weather already setting in, you may consider pulling those sweaters out of the closet to keep you warm. Most of them are nice and fuzzy, and quite comfortable to wear. Of course, there’s always that wool sweater that itches like crazy while you’re wearing it. Sure, an undershirt helps, but you’ll still feel it around your collar and wrists. So how do you make the fabric more bearable? The same way you make your hair nice and soft….
When you’re driving down the road, and someone is tailgating you, don’t you think it would be nice if you could actually communicate with the driver? Sure, there are some hand signals that you can always use, but those aren’t exactly polite. Well one hacker decided that they wanted to do that very thing, and set out to make an LED display that could convey messages to the person driving behind them. The system is composed of a mesh grid…
Every now and then it’s fun to make something that is not only dangerous, but serves no real purpose in life, except to simply look awesome. Most of these things involve either high speeds, or fire. In my search for a guide to make an interesting pumpkin carving for Halloween, I stumbled across the perfect dangerous solution: A flamethrowing Jack-O’-Lantern. Don’t want kids coming up and begging for candy? I can guarantee that if there’s a pillar of fire coming…
There’s a certain sense of satisfaction that you get from crafting something with your own two hands. But I wonder, do you get the same satisfaction when it’s something that’s crafted by a device you made with your own two hands? Well, there is only one way to find out. And that’s by putting together your very own MakerBot Thing-O-Matic 3D Printer and having it churn out creations of its own. This Thing-O-Matic printer does more than most 3D printers…
With Halloween fast approaching, I’m sure that some of you are still trying to figure out ways to make your house spookier than ever. Scary decorations are nice, and having the perfect lighting helps, but there’s something else you can add to the mix that will make the atmosphere just right. I’m talking, of course, about fog. Now I understand that you might not feel like going out and spending $50 or so on a fog machine, and I’m right…
If you’ve ever played a brass instrument, you’ve no doubt worried about accidentally denting it. After all, how exactly does one bang out a dent that’s in one of those tiny little tubes? The answer, it would seem, lies with magnets. Specifically, a couple of very powerful magnets and a steel ball. As you can see in the guide here, the idea is that you can stick the steel ball into your instrument, and rub the magnets over the affected…
