CO2 Powered Nerf Gun
Instructables hacker Philysteak527 modified a Nerf gun, making it semi-automatic thanks to the modern marvel of compressed air. This mod isn’t for the faint of heart since it involves the design and manufacture of a bolt-action the fit’s the specific gun you are using. Philysteak527 used some polyoxymethylene plastic and a CNC lathe to create [...]
Boost USB Port Voltage
Most larger gadgets that recharge via USB require at least 10 watts of power like Apple’s iPad. The iXP1-500 dongle claims it will allow devices to recharge from underpowered USB ports. I’m not quite sure how they accomplish this for $5, but I assume it must have some sort of capacitor inside that stores juice [...]
DIY RJ-45 Cable Tester
Cable testers can be super expensive, but if your trying to trouble shoot a cable drop or run then you know how valuable one can be. Our favorite kids over at Instructables have a great how to on building your own on the super cheap. A quick trip to your local big box home improvement [...]
Build An Annoying Beeping Thing
I’m always up for a good practical joke, especially the kind that involves electronics and can drive people mad. Get your soldering guns out kids, this is a good one. The Annoying Beeping Thing is a simple circuit board that is powered by a single 9-volt battery and outputs a high-pitched whining sound through a [...]
Remote Control That’s Impossible To Lose
This is gonna be one of the easiest hacks you’ll ever do, at least from an electrical standpoint. Most electronics like digital camera and cell phones have a loop attached to them so that you can slip a lanyard on to it which in turn makes it easier to find or harder to lose. This [...]
Unlock Your Car With Your iPhone
Car alarm company Viper (which is owned by Directed Electronics) is unveiling a new app for iPhone users that will let customers control certain aspects of their Viper SmartStart-enabled vehicle from their iPhone or iPod Touch. The app, which is called Viper SmartStart, acts as a virtual keychain which can do things like lock/unlock your [...]
Pedal Powered USB
Most people who own gadgets that are USB powered have a billion different charging cables. A USB cable to use with your computer, a few wall warts to change your stuff at home or at the office, a car USB charger, hell, some of us even have battery powered altoid tins to charge our iPod’s [...]
Netflix and Samsung Blu-Ray Team Up
Netflix and Samsung recently announced that two of Samsung’s Blu-Ray players (the BD-P2550 and BD-P2500) now have the ability to stream the Netflix service. Samsung and Netflix also plan to bring the movie/tv subscription service to more of Samsung’s consumer electronics in the future. To make it happen, the Samsung Blu-ray player communicates with Netflix [...]
RockBand For Those Over 40
Over 40 and wonder what the whole RockBand or Guitar Hero crazy is all about? Want to jump in but don’t know how to? Maybe you would be better off with Dan’s mish-mash of sound and electronics. This guitar has been stripped of all it’s internals and has a CPU and all sorts of cool [...]
DIY: WiFi Robot
Jon Bennett has created a WiFi controller robot that can be controller via the internet or from a computer up to 500m away. The robot is built from an RC car that he picked up at a thrift store, a Linksys WRT54GL router running the Open-WRT firmware, a network camera. The bot can be powered [...]
Four Way Pong On Your Coffee Table
Sure, you could head on off to Ikea and pick up that $49 coffee table to fill that void in your apartment. Or, if you truly are the hardcore geek we all know you are (why else would you be reading this blog?), you could go out and pick up SparkFun’s LED coffee table and [...]
RFID Poker Table
Have you ever wanted to host your own World Poker style tournament like the one on TV? With all of the bells and whistles including letting people see who’s got what, well now you can. This might not be affordable for the average “Guy’s Poker Night”, but I can see this being a hit at [...]
Charge Your Batteries While You Walk
Everyone has seen solar gadgets that provide juice to electronics or charge batteries up, but these units require you to be in a good source of sunlight for hours on end just to get a bit of juice. While some people might be outdoors most of the day, the majority of people aren’t in the [...]
Build Your Own Terminator Shades
These might not be as functional as the Anti-Paparazzi Glasses but they will look cool. All you do is turn an old pair of sun glasses into Terminator shades, just like the Movie. It’s quite simple and silly actually, all you need to do is install two red LEDs onto the frames. You don’t even [...]
Hot-Spot Shoe
This is one of those silly “I should have thought of this concepts”. A Step in the Right Direction is a prototype for a new shoe that detects Wi-Fi signals as you are walking. The shoe has integrated electronics under the tongue flap that is triggered via a pressure sensor so that it begins a [...]
