Archive for February, 2008
17 Things to Do with an Old NES Console
Chances are, somewhere lurking in your house, there is a dusty old 8-bit NES console, which you haven’t even thought about since you started playing emulated versions of all the old games right on your trusty PC. I have bought and sold entire collections on eBay several times, only to end getting all nostaligic and […]
Build Your Own Portable 8-Bit Nintendo Entertainment System
Sure, the Nintendo DS is great. But let’s face it, few things beat the satisfaction of sliding one of those big old cartridges into place. Using the “NES on a Chip,” (which can be found inside many grey-market Famicim clones) Ben Heck has put together a truly amazing portable NES. The finished product is only […]
How to Make Your Own Playdough (or is it “Pla-Doh?”)
Got a hankering to get your old Playdough (or “Pla-Doh,” for the purists among us) out and make an animated monkey stop motion movie? Well, who doesn’t? The problem with the original Playdough was that it was kinda stinky (and, as some of us know, didn’t taste all that great either. If you want to […]
“Hacking” Your Local Best Buy Store Codes
Ever notice the big weird yellow numbers on the wall when you walk into a Best Buy, one of the most nightmarish of electronics retailers? Cabel did, and he didn’t rest until he deciphered them. It turns out these coded numbers are for store employees, and what’s better than the secret communication that goes on […]
Build Your Own Super Energy-Efficient Outdoor Refrigerator
For those of you living in the Northeast, or, for that matter, anywhere it gets blindingly cold, you may have wondered why you are spending perfectly good money running your refrigerator when it is so chilly outside. Surely, there has to be a way to harness the power of Papa Winter in order to keep […]
Build Your Own Leaf Blower Hoverboard
Oh, man, I have been dreaming of a hoverboard ever since I saw A.P.K. zipping around on one in Back to the Future II. But as far as I can tell, not only do hoverboards not work on water, unless you have power, but they don’t exist, period. Until now. Viewers in the UK are […]
25 Skills Every Man Should Know
Popular Mechanics has narrowed the list of man-knowledge down to 25 entries in this indispensable guide. And guess what? There’s no mention whatsoever of which men’s fragrances will match your chi, which color ties will ensure success in the boardroom, or what your girlfriend’s body language says about her sexual proclivities. Nope…this is real knowledge every […]
Build Your Own Television Pixelator
Looking for a way to recreate the joy of trying to watch scrambled Spice Channel when you were 12 years old, only with more overt nightclub overtones? When we first saw the GrooveTube back in December, it was love at first sight. This translucent box suction cups to the front of your television screen, and […]
Build Your Own Coffee Can Cell Phone Booster
Just hang in there, and get past the lame 43 second introduction of this cast of wacky science characters (why does Popular Science, a fairly respectable brand, feel the need to do stuff like this?), and you’ll see a great video on how to build your own low-cost, easy cell phone reception booster using just two […]
“Hacking” the New Breed of Soda Vending Machines
Most modern soda machines, like the Coca-Cola machine shown at left, with the curvy faceplate, have tiny computers inside them controlling their every function. And as we know, any appliance with a computer in it can be manipulated. Just look for soda machines that have a tiny red LCD on them, displaying messages like, “Enjoy […]
