DIY: Boost Your Laptop’s WiFi
Even with the hardware of today you can still experience horrible wireless reception. Dead spots have become all too common and if your wifi access point happens to be on another floor, you know how much of a pain it can be to stream media when your signal sucks. Sure you could go out and [...]
DIY: Macro Lens
Macro photography can be beautiful. Close up shots of tiny objects, their detail shines through so crisp and vibrant. The problem is that you aren’t going to pull off those incredible shots with your iPhone, you won’t even be able to pull them off with your standard DSLR lens. Special macro lenses can be quite [...]
DIY: Infrared Light Converter
Infrared lights can come in handy. Trying to be discreet when shooting video in a dark place is the first example that comes to mind. Purchasing dedicated IR lights can be very expensive. By using some old floppy disks or a roll of film you can convert an average flashlight or incandescent light bulb to [...]
DIY: Wind-Up Cellphone Charger
Here is a great project that will keep your cellphone going when you have no outlet to charge it with. Ben Heck from the Ben Heck show took a cheap wind-up flashlight, added a small diode, resister and a female USB port to make a hand-crank charger for devices that charge via USB. I wouldn’t [...]
DIY: Lock Your Door Via Text Message
Billy Chasen thought that using keys to open his office was so 2000 so he decided to build a door lock/unlock system via text message. Using a servo motor, a tiny web server, and some piping claps from Home Depot he built a unit that can lock or unlock a door via a text message. [...]
DIY: Camera Flash Softbox
Diffusing light is the key to warm, soft shots. If you do a lot of portrait photography then you know how valuable a softbox can be, but the cost can sometimes be prohibitive. You can add a white card to your flash to diffuse light, buy a diffusing cap for your flash or you can [...]
DIY: Mini MAME Cabinet
We have showed you in the past how you can build your own MAME arcade cabinet, but if you are lacking space for a monster arcade machine this mini MAME cabinet would be perfect for you. Modder Ed had an old netbook lying around and decided to slap this together as a Christmas gift for [...]
DIY: Twittering Coffee Pot
You can use Twitter for just about anything these days and thanks to an Arduino you can now schedule your coffee from Twitter. This is a simple hack and a great one if you have been wanting to play with an Arduino but felt a bit intimidated by it. The idea behind the project is [...]
DIY: Bike Powered USB Charger
Here’s a perfect project for the upcoming summer; a bike powered USB charger to keep all of your gadgets charged while you ride. The USB bike generator works by placing a rotating wheel against the rim of the rear wheel with a heavy spring. The attached wheel turns a stepper motor to generate an AC [...]
DIY: Skate-wheel Dolly
Looking for an inexpensive dolly for your smartphone or small camcorder? Flickr user eok.gnah put together this dolly by using some skate wheels and a GorillaPod tripod. As you can see from the video it offers a nice smooth shot, perfect for those aspiring filmmakers who don’t have big budgets. [Via Make Magazine]
DIY: FlashRing
Adding a ring flash to your DSLR is a real nice way off adding a soft glow to your portrait images. Problem is that professional ring flashes can cost you a lot of money. DIYPhotography.com has a simple solution if you want to play around with a ring flash but aren’t ready to commit the [...]
DIY: Snail Mail Notifier
How did we ever live without push notifications? Email, SMS, IM; we get notified each time one of them is updated. What about our old analog world? Make Magazine show’s us just how we can get push notifications for an older form of mail, snail mail. This awesome project uses an Arduino to trigger a [...]
Coolest DIY Lightsaber
Bradley Lewis of Sloth Furnace has created easily the coolest homemade lightsaber ever. Since we are still quite a ways away from having an actual lightsaber this will just have to do. This saber is the brightest replica I have ever seen. It lights up almost instantly and has some sweet detail in it’s construction. [...]
DIY: Word Clock
Have you looked at the qlocktwo word clock yet? It’s a sleek time piece that displays the time using words. The only problem with it is that it costs well over $1000, not really an affordable way to tell time. scottbez1 put together an affordable version of the qlocktwo by using an Arduino and a [...]
