Hot Gadget Hacks Posts
How To: Make a cosmic nightlight with LEDs and resin
See how to make a cosmic nightlight with LEDs and resin with KipKay and MAKE Magazine! Find out how to make a glittering LED constellation jammed in resin!! Kipkay loves his gadgets! This is perfect for moody, cosmic, night light for the nightstand. This is a two-part video tutorial.
How To: Make a bytelight from memory chips and a lamp
See how to make a bytelight from memory chips and a lamp with KipKay and MAKE Magazine! Find out how to make a high-tech mood light from a fluorescent lamp and a bunch of old memory chips! Kipkay loves his gadgets! This is perfect for mood lighting.
How To: Make a portable spy scope cellphone camera
See how to make a portable spy scope cell phone camera with KipKay and MAKE Magazine! Find out how to use a cellphone camera for espionage that captures long-distance secret activities! Kipkay loves his spy gadgets! This portable cell phone camera spy scope is the perfect way to spy on your neighbors!
How To: Make a simple laser communicator
See how to make a simple laser communicator with KipKay and MAKE Magazine! Find out how to secretly shoot your voice across the room in stealth mode on the beam of a laser! Kipkay loves his lasers! A simple laser communication device is the perfect way to talk across the room.
How To: Make a talking booby trap
Having trouble with people snatching your stuff? Did someone take your lunch from the company fridge? Here is an inexpensive, sneaky gizmo you can make to keep those sticky fingers away. This is a junk drawer hack from Make Magazine's Kipkay. It's activated when an item is moved from it, triggering a clothes pin to close and activate the voice command. See how to make a talking booby track in this video tutorial with KipKay!
How To: Build a pole-mounted aerial photography and video rig
Get a bird's-eye-view of the world with this Pole Mounted Aerial Rig for photography and video. This is a Make Magazine Weekend Project with Kipkay. This rig lets you see the world from above, and take beautiful photos and videos for any project. See how to build a pole-mounted aerial photography and video rig with Kip Kay!
How To: Make a DTV antenna & a steadicam
Learn how to make a DTV antenna & a steadicam. Digital converter box? Check! Great reception? Not so much. John Park shows how to take a fistful of wire coat hangers and make a TV antenna that gives great digital reception. While he’s at it, he also makes a video camera stabilizer using metal piping and counterbalance weight; great for at-home moviemaking.
How To: Feed your cat while you are away with a VCR cat feeder
John Park poses a kitty conundrum: Who's going to feed the cat while you're on vacation? Using a motor from an old VCR, he creates an automated feline feeder. While building this Make: magazine project, John learned that newer VCRs have safeguard technology, limiting access to the motor. Watch John as he demonstrates his solutions to this challenge.
How To: Make custom ringtones for an Iphone 3G on PC
This is flawless iPhone 3G ringtone creation for dummies. You can use iTunes or any music track to make the custom track your newest hip ringtone! This is a simple version of PC iPhone 3G ringtone creation. This will probably work with the old iPhone.
How To: Replace iPhone headphone earbuds
How to take off the iPhone earbuds and replace them with whichever ones fit your ears and sound best. This can help because you keep the button and the 1/8" jack that slips into your iPhone. You need a soldering iron to remove the earbuds.
How To: Tether the iPhone into a wireless router
One of the coolest feature of the 3G iPhone is the high speed, always on, Internet connection. Having a constant connection to the Internet is pretty much a must have for any dot com mogul. The main problem with the iPhone is the screen is too small to do any serious Web surfing. Yes, it’s great for Twitter or checking up on emails but blogging from it is an exercise in frustration. Fortunately, there is a way to extend that 3G connection onto your laptop by turning your iPhone into a wireles...
How To: Build an eBay affiliate partner site from scratch
Do some niche research for your eBay affiliate site in these video tutorials, and see how to build an eBay affiliate partner site from scratch. Learn how to drill down into eBay Pulse and search for untapped niches. Finding a niche for your eBay affiliate site might seem daunting, but it's not. Also, learn about the Google Keyword tool and Wordtracker keyword tool along with a basic Google search to determine traffic levels and how easy it is to rank for a given keyword.
How To: Circuit bend a toy piano
How to circuit bend a 80's Radio Shack toy synthesizer. Open up any device and play around with the internal audio devices. Circuit bending is done on mostly old cheap toys. This is a circuit bend demonstration on a toy piano. Get out your soldering iron and rip open toys. This takes some circuit board fiddling.
How To: Make a potato powered clock MacGyver style
In this video we manage to power a clock with nothing but two potatoes. In order to make this you will need two potatoes, a triple A battery powered clock, bare wire, galvanized nails, and leads, which you can find at radio shack. The clock is powered by the potato battery.
How To: Control & automate a home with an iPhone & Girder app
iPod and iPhone home automation remote control using Girder is only an install away. Run the lights, heat, security system among other things in your space age home for the 21st century. Make your home a modern marvel with this app for iPhone.
How To: Hack a PlayStation monitor into a digital television
Hack a PlayStation monitor into a digital television! Get that old PS1 out of the closet and dust it off, because the switch to digital television is coming soon, and you need a DTV, so why not put that PlayStation One to use? You can build a digital television from a new set top digital converter box and that PSone video monitor, plain and simple. It's easy! Don't forget that forty dollar coupon though from the government for the purchase of the digital converter box.
How To: Prep a thermocouple for a printed circuit board
How to prepare a thermocouple for attachment to a printed circuit board (PCB) for profiling a reflow or wave soldering system. This is advanced PCB circuitry and you need to watch all videos in the series to understand all the steps of wiring a printed circuit board entails.
How To: Wire an LED Police light bar system
This is my homemade led light system. The main unit has a total of 228 LED's, the corners are using super wide angle LED's to maximize visibility. There are also 48 LED mini lightbar, 5x 16 LED mini modules.
How To: Repair cooling fans in power supplies, video cards etc
Here's a quick and simple way to repair small cooling fans and extend their life. It's a video made with a how-to article from http://beecherbowers.com This is a delicate mr. fixit tutorial. Clean the fan so that it runs smooth and quiet. You need oil to do this repair.
How To: Convert a high power supply with an adapter supply
Hate those cheap multi-adapter power supplies that only provide up to 500ma of power? Here's how to use one high-output power supply (up to 3.5A in this case) to run all of your power hungry gadgets, like laptops, LCD monitors, etc...
How To: Use and understand Apple's iPhone, For Dummies
From the people who brought you the Dummies instructional book series, brings you the same non-intimidating guides in video form. Just watch this video tutorial with loads of easy to understand information about how to use and understand Apple's iPhone, For Dummies.
How To: Make cheap WiFi antenna booster
Patrick Norton Shows you how to make a simple WiFi antenna booster. This booster is a parabolic reflector made to focus a signal so it is stronger and can project farther. This is perfect if your wireless router is awkward and cannot broadcast a wifi signal to the far reaches of your home. This is called the windsurfer.
How To: DIY a portable handheld Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64. It's the classic video game console and probably houses a bunch of your fond childhood memories. Well, now you can relive those tender moments AND play Super Mario Brothers on the go by hacking your Nintendo 64 just a wee bit.
How To: Repair a cracked or broken circuit board
Step by step guide to repairing circuit boards Yes, I know, my hands are shaky.
How To: Circuit hack and mod
In this video, we explain some techniques for getting electronic circuits to do things they weren't designed for. As an example, use a speaker phone as a speaker. Hacking items into better or different devices is way cool DIY circuitry. These are ideas of electronics that are cool to splice, rip apart and use recycled electronics for new projects.
How To: Cut a circuit board
Sometimes there is a part of a circuit that you need but it's on a huge circuit board. This is one technique to cut it out. Take out the PCB part that is necessary. This is a great DIY electronics technique.
How To: Make an annoying strobe flash from an old camera
This shows you how to modify an old camera so it flashes at the push of a button. Annoy your friends. It's a perfect practical joke by modifying an old camera flash to create a strobe effect. This will make it so you don't have to wind it, just push the button
How To: Make a camera spotlight for cheap with a head lamp
This is a cheap little hack from a $5 discount store headlamp. Check it out. Quick and easy. You need a bolt to secure to your camera. This is great if you are shooting long shots and need different brightnesses. Otherwise kind of ghetto.
How To: Remove scratches from any DVD
In this Household Hacker experiment, we'll demonstrate how to completely remove scratches from your CD or DVD media.
How To: Make a mood light decorative lamp
Here is the Weekend Project: The Bytelight, a mood light from Kipkay and Make Magazine. Build a cool mood light out of obsolete sim memory chips from recycled old computers.
How To: Avoid spam email
Make it harder for spammers to clog your inbox with ads and scams. Learn how to avoid spam email with this Howcast video. You will need a secondary email address, a keen eye, and an anti-spam program. Tip: Never click on links in spam email - including "unsubscribe" links, and never, ever reply!
News: Hack hard drives into working speakers
Old Hard Drive + MP3 player = Music This equation just doesn't make sense. If you're an iPod addict, the HD element is redundant! Well, take a second look at what constitutes a speaker and what a hard drive is made of. They are more alike than you'd think.
How To: Get Halo on iPod Touch or iPhone
Finally Halo comes out on the iPod Touch and iPhone!! You must have a jailbroken iPod Touch or iPhone and have Cydia! Also upgrade to firmware 2.0 or higher through iTunes!
How To: Hack together a pink eraser casing for your USB drive
Use erasers to make a crafty casing that'll hide and protect your thumb drive. You will need two beveled pink erasers, a cutting board, a large chef's knife, a 1 gig USB flash drive, a pencil, a rotary tool, and a utility knife. This pink eraser USB drive is cute & useful.
News: Recycle an old satellite dish into a WiFi booster
Struggling to keep up your wireless signal? If you're struggling to stream Hulu from the backyard DocZee's got an idea.
How To: Build a fume extractor for soldering in an Altoids tin
Using the instructions on the MAKE blog (04/2008) We made this portable fume extractor for soldering. Works great at close proximity (2 inches). Note: We didn't screw down the voltage regulator, just stuffed it in the side. This will keep the fumes from seeping into your lungs by trapping them with an Altoids tin.
How To: Use a motor to create a fan or speaker
Use a motor to make a fan and a speaker. People often take for granted the common items and devices they use in everyday life. Looks can be deceiving. It's not what things appear to be, it's what they can become.
How To: Make a cone record player
If you're record player doesn't work anymore, but it still turns, then this is the perfect solution for you. The video show you how to make a cone record player. It's also a neat trick for playing your records with out a record player, instead of a regular phonograph needle.
How To: Code an iPhone App with XCode
This is a tutorial on coding an iPhone App in XCode.