Hot Gadget Hacks How-Tos
How To: Make a brain machine
For those of you who don't know, a brain machine is a machine that controls your brain waves. This particular brain machine puts your brain in a meditative state and then brings you back out via brain waves.
How To: Use a multimeter
Learn how to use a multimeter. Multimeters are amazing measuring devices that are an absolute necessity for anybody who wants to works with electronics. However, if you don't know how to use one, you might as well not have one, a problem this video remedies by teaching you various measuring methods and there purposes.
How To: Make a rodent powered night light
Use magnetism, electricity, and a rodent to create a night light. If you have mice, or would not mind buying some, this project can be completely relatively quickly. Go and harness the power of rodents!
How To: Make a DIY hologram illusion with a monitor
Using a computer screen and a sheet of glass you too can create a hologram! As this video shows, simply use the correct monitor (depending on what you want to do) and a piece of glass positioned appropriately to create the holographic image.
How To: Hack the Staples Easy Button
Hacking an Easy Button? Easy! In this video tutorial from Make Magazine's Kip Kay, you'll learn to hack the Staples Easy Button to say whatever you want it to. For more information, including step-by-step instructions on replicating this hack at home, watch this how-to video.
How To: Boost PCMCIA wifi card reception
This video shows how to boost PCMCIA wifi card reception. This would allow you to be further away from the router or give you a better signal. Boost PCMCIA wifi card reception.
How To: Check your computer for hackers
This video demonstrates how to check your computer for hackers. The video explains a little bit about hacking and shows how to see the IP addresses of the computers connected to yours.
How To: Make a homemade acetate heater pad
Learn in this video how to make sodium acetate (hot ice experiment)with household item,and how to make heater pad re-usable more than 100time,give 45*c for 1 hour.
How To: Make a spaceship out of a floppy disc
Kipkay demonstrates how to make a spaceship out of a floppy disc and first snap apart the floppy disc. Save the metal door and the inside hub, but also snip an area at the very back of the ship.
How To: Make a glowing ice bulb from a balloon
To make a glowing ice bulb, like the one in this how-to video, you need LEDs, batteries, wire, a balloon, and electrical tape. First, you connect the led to the wires. Then, you put the LED in the balloon, fill the balloon with water and freeze it. Once frozen, remove the balloon and attach batteries. Watch this video tutorial and learn how to make a glowing ice bulb from a balloon.
How To: Make a hovercraft
Watch as Bre Pettis teaches you how to make a hovercraft, bering-less motor, and dirigible all from materials found in your grocery store. This is a good rainy day project to do with your kids, as the most advanced tools needed are a hot glue gun and balloons.
How To: Make a hover craft and play shoverboard
This is a two part video. The first part of the video shows you a bunch of people playing shoverboard, a combination of hoverboards and shuffleboards. However, if you skip to a little less than halfway down the video you will see some of the process involved in creating hoverboards, the interesting part. Yet another fantastic time spent with Bre Pettis and Make Magazine.
How To: Make a battery from lemons
A dad and his two boys show you how to make a battery from lemons as a tribute to Mr Wizard. This is a kid-safe project and a great way to learn about electricity and science.
How To: Make custom shaped CDs and DVDs
This instructable aims to show you how to cut any type of disk to a desired shape. It is particularly useful in cutting down cheap 12cm DVD-+R 's into more expensive (can be up to 10 times more) 8cm DVD-+R disks. The technique shown here works with all disk types. The video below shows us cutting a music CD into a heart shape, and also illustrates the basics of cutting 12cm disks into 8cm ones. The actual cutting of a disk (and the guide) can be seen here:
How To: Use a ham radio
Ham radios are a form of amateur radio that anyone can use. This is a great video series for anyone looking to connect with other random people through wireless means.
How To: Optimize Skype
Looking to make better phone calls over the Internet? The Lab Rats, Andy Walker and Sean Carruthers, show you some router secrets and tips and tweaks you can use to pump up our Skype phone calls.
How To: Surf the web secretly
Kipkay details how to surf the web secretly and leave no trace behind on your computer. Many websites collect personal data without you knowing it and you should surf anonymously.
How To: Trace any email
Kipkay explains how to trace any email and then see a map of where it came from. Go to your mail service, click on options, look for received from, and copy what is listed.
How To: Boost your car remote's range
You can learn how to boost your car remote's range and you need a small screwdriver. Locate the antenna, sand the top surface of the antenna, and do not forget when you are done to close the remote up. This is another great video by Kipkay.
How To: Hack a crank powered flashlight for emergency power
If disaster strikes, chances are that power will also go out. Kipkay to the rescue! By creating one of these hand-powered chargers from a crank flashlight, your electronic devices will remained charged in emergencies.
How To: Make a powerful flashlight
Kipkay shows you how to make a powerful flashlight for under ten dollars. To finish the flashlight off you can paint it with black satin paint.
How To: Hack your cell phone to charge on USB
Kipkay teaches you how to make a USB cell phone charger and first you need a standard USB cable. Cut off one end of the cable and use a voltmeter to check which of the four wires has five volts.
How To: Use codecs to prep video for the web
This tutorial will help give viewers a good understanding of how Video and Audio CODECS work. If you are encoding content for web streaming this lesson will benefit you. In this example the guide uses the MPEG-4 Part 2 and MPEG-4 Part 10 ( H.264/AVC) codecs to illustrate how to make sure your end users can view your streaming videos. Scroll part way down the page and click the "watch this video" link. Use codecs to prep video for the web.
How To: Get alerts on new videos without going to youtube
With their new API, you can now get alerts on new videos without going to youtube. This tutorial will show you how to set it up.
How To: Use wget to manage downloads
The free download manager wget lets you download all the files on a page or directory with a single command. It also allows you to resume downloads after getting disconnected letting you start where you left off instead of starting the download at 0% again. Check out this tutorial and see how to install and use wget.
How To: Protect your email address from spam
If you're putting your email address online on your own website, or sites like facebook or myspace, you may want to be a bit clever about it. Check out this tutorial and see how to protect your email address from spam.
How To: Make Firefox much faster
This tutorial explains how to make firefox much faster by editing the about:config options.
How To: Detect viruses and spyware
This video helps you to protect your computer against viruses and spyware often contracted when using peer to peer (p2p) networks like limewire, kazaa and emule.
How To: Download free sheet music for any instrument
This tutorial teaches you how to download sheet music from movies, video games, and tv series. Learn to modify the sheet music to transpose the notes to any instrument and print it out. Again if you can get sibelius or finale, it might be better but Noteworthy Composer works fine.
How To: Get a free college education online
This tutorial shows you how to get free full college video lectures from the best sites in the US. It's based on the Free Education Online Program from the OCW Open Consortium.
How To: Improve your download speed
The key to understanding download speeds and if it's possible to improve yours, is really to understand that you want to increase your bandwith. Check out this video and see how to learn about bandwith, kilobytes and kilobits per second and improve your own download speeds.
How To: Increase video quality with the FFDShow decoder
FFDShow decoder (win32) owns both as a video encoder and decoder. It can process the video while it's playing adding effects like sharpening, deblocking and color manipulation.
How To: Filter incoming emails in Gmail
If you're new to Gmail or just haven't taken the time to play with it, and really want to know how to deal with filters (sorry there aren't folders) and organize your inbox, then you'll want to check out this tutorial.
How To: Turn YouTube videos into AVI files or iPod mp4's
Learn how to save youtube's FLV files and turn them into editable AVI, wmv files that you can edit with movie maker or your favorite video editing software. You can use this to create video responses to your favorite youtube personalities by cutting direct video quotes from their video.
How To: Format text on your YouTube posts
This video tutorial will talk about html formatting on YouTube. specifically how to make your comments bold, italicized (italics), underlined, or all of the above. It also explains html entities.
How To: Use the hotkeybind macro
This tutorial explains how to use the free Hotkeybind macro. It allows you to open programs or insert text with a just a keystroke.
How To: Make a Bawls bottle blue LED light
Kipkay shows you how to turn an ordinary Bawls bottle into a cool crystal LED light.
How To: Make a whipped cream can safe
Make a hidden safe out of a whipped cream can. Kipkay shows you how to make a secret stash for valuables with just some magnets and glue.
How To: Use Google docs & spreadsheets sharing
This video shows a cut and paste illustration of the tools Google offers in it's documents programs. Sharing a document can either occur by transmitting the doc from your home server to another person's home OR you can upload a doc to Google and browse from anywhere-- not just your home computer.
How To: Create new contacts in a BlackBerry 8700 address book
Male instructor explains how to create new contacts in the BlackBerry 8700 mobile device. Going to the BlackBerry's address book, it is a matter of entering in all the information for a new contact to be created. Step-by-step process makes it very easy to understand and complete the contact.