Make a Fireball Shooter

Another great video from the Internet legend KipKay. Wow, I really want to do this because not only does it look fun but, it's simple and cheap. I just need to find a store around that sells flash paper and cotton.

Make Your Own Motion Detector Alarm

Have you ever thought that it would be cool to make your own motion detector? Well now you can with some well written instructions. You need very few parts and the whole thing will only cost a couple of bucks. The parts that you will need are:

2 - Cds Cells (Photocells)
1 - 741 Op Amp
1 - Buzzer or alarm
1 - 9 volt battery breadboard
1 - 10K potentiometer

Not much huh? It really is actually really easy and quick to build. Much more than you would have originally thought. Click on the link for the step by step instructions.

Make Your Own Homemade LED Christmas Lights

If you have trouble with all of your Christmas lights going out when only one bulb becomes burnt out or stepped on and if you feel up to the challenge, you can build your own strand of LED Christmas lights. Whats even better is that you will wire the lights in parelell which means that when one bulb goes out the rest will stay on. Not only is it cool to have Christmas lights that you made yourself but, the LED's last over 100,000 hours, they produce little heat, they use minimal energy, and the bulbs aren't hallow which makes them virtually indestructable. Check out the instructions on how to build them. However, you will need tons of LED's, (can be bought at your local electronics store) lots of resistor, some solder, and the ability to solder. Good luck!

5 Minute Christmas Light Controller

Max from ZedoMax built an automated Christmas light controller. All that you have to do if you want one of your own is go to his website, copy the code that he already provides, and then send it to the CuSB22R board that is shown in the video. Here is a parts list:

1. CuSB22R from | cubloc.com
2. AC power cord (like the one for your computer or get it here: cubloc.com)
3. AC Connectors from Home Depot (You can get more depending on how many Christmas Lights you are trying to control,
remember you can also put Christmas lights in series per relay)
bunch of wires

In the video it shows him controlling only three strands of lights but, you can add up to seven more. Plus, you can have more than one set of lights in a strand. What's even better is that, if you feel the need to, you can edit the code for the lights to change the blinking rate or you can change it all together to make objects look animated.

Connect Your IPod To Your Car's Stereo

For those of you with newer cars you may not need this hack since, most newer cars come with an IPod input jack. However, most of us don't have the newest cars and would like to find a way to connect our IPod's to our car's stereo without buying different things to help us do it like an FM transmitter or a diskette that connects to your IPod. Well, now you can. You need to take off your dash panel. Do this by unscrewing the screws on the side of most panels. If your panel doesn't have screws you'll have to get a flathead screwdriver and gently pry it out. Once you have it off, find the two RCA jacks (they are red and white and are commonly used for an additional input device such as a cd player.) Once you have found them you'll need to make a quick trip to your local Radio Shack and ask then for a Y cable (you shouldn't have any trouble getting one). When you have the cable take the side with two female adapters and plug them into the two RCA jacks. Then, just put the dash panel back on (remember to leave the other end of the Y cable sticking out.) Once you have it installed just plug in the Y cable into the headphones jack of your IPod and play a song.

Make Your Own USB Powered Fridge

If you have ever wanted to keep you drinks cool while you surf the web than this is the perfect project for you. The best part, the whole thing will only put you back a mere $2.50.

Long Range Laser Listening Device

This is another eavesdropping device that can be used from hundreds of feet away. It works by using a laser pointed at a window and then having a Cadmium Sulfide Photocell capture the laser reflection. The photocell is then connected to a headphone cord which is connected to your computer. Then, all that you need to do is open a sound recording system that you use on your computer and click record. And there you have it, for more information click here.

DIY Rocket Engine

jetZILLA has mad a DIY rocket engine from some coffee mugs, a strainer, some scrap metal, and J-B Weld. The full set of instructions is too long to post so if you are interested just visit the link.

Build a 1/4 Mile Range FM Transmitter

If you've ever wanted to eavesdrop on a conversation from up to 1/4 mile away than you can build this simple and cheap FM transmitter. It is suprisingly high quility and defidently worth the little time and cost.

PARTS:
R1, R4, R6 10K resistor
R2 1Meg resistor
R3 100K resistor
R5 100 ohm resistor
R7 1K resistor
C1, C2 0.1uf capacitor
C3 0.01uf capacitor
C4 5 - 30pf variable capacitor
C5 4.7pf capacitor
Q1, Q2 2N3904 transistor
L1 9 turns of #22 gauge
Microphone Electret Mic
Circuit Board
Battery Clip

It is all easy to solder together and requires no programming!
See the electrical schematic below for more details and visit the original website.

The Best Game Console Laptops

We've all seen some of the gaming system laptops and while some are just flat out ugly, some are actually pretty slick and cool. Below are just some pictures of some of the coolest looking gaming system laptops that we could find out there.



This one (above) is personally my favorite since it has the built in Blue-Ray player, a keyboard, and it just looks cool, plus the PS3 has insanely good graphics and games

The essential specs:

Original backwards compatible 60GB model
17-inch LCD HDTV screen: 720p
HDMI-DVI connection (same as last Xbox 360 laptop)
Built-in keyboard, USB ports, stereo speakers, headphone jack
Size: 17 x 13.75 x 3-inches
Weight: 16 pounds!

Check out this page about Ben Hecks laptop's and on information on how to build one of your own.



The Wii laptop looks great and is nice and compact, but is sort of pointless because the purpose of a laptop is to be able to use it while you are sitting down, or on a plane, ect. However, since this is a Wii laptop it requires you to move around. It just doesn't make too much sense to me.



This XBox laptop it the nicest that I have seen out there. There isn't too much to say about it, but look at the picture below to see another XBox laptop that was made and just use it as a comparison. It is put inside of a briefcase!

Giant DIY LED Clock

This giant clock from SparkFun looks expensive and hard to build however, it is made mostly of styrofoam, fiberboard and green LED strips. The whole thing is controlled by a simple circuit and didn't cost much to build. See the picture below for a better understanding of the basic design.

Guitar Hero LED Mod

Guitar Hero rocks, but it really needs some lights to liven up the virtual shredding.

What to do? Cram in some LEDs!

Cell Phone Detector

Circuit Projects has made a sort of pointless yet cool gadget... a cellphone detector. It is a pretty basic project as long as you have some decent soldering skills. However, the detector can only pickup signals and not the actual conversation since the signals are encrypted. Below the picture is the complete list from the website

R1, R5 : 100K 1/4W Resistor
R2, R6 : 1k 1/4W Resistor
R3, R7 : 8.2M 1/4W Resistor
R4, R8 : 220 Ohm 1/4W Resistor
R9 : 2.2K 1/4W Resistor
D1, D2 : BAT43 Schottky Diode
C1, C2, C4 : 100nF Polyester Capacitor
C3 : 100uF 16V Electrolytic Capacitor
L1, L2 : See Text
U1 : LM358
J1 : 8 Pin Socket
J2 : Stereo Jack
1 x 9V Battery
1 x 9V Battery Socket
1 x LED
1 x On/Off Switch

Insanely Cool DIY Electric Guitar

Dan Wagoner decided to go all out on his first re-born electric guitar. He took apart a sound generator from "Music From Outer Space" and placed the knobs and buttons into the guitars body. You can also see him expressing his creativity and love for DIY projects by looking at the pick guard he made from a real motherboard.



(ABOVE)The "Music From Outer Space" sound generator.
(BELOW)The finished guitar

Worlds First Fan LED Sign

The Ultimate Sports Fan Sign!! - video powered by Metacafe
Another video by KipKay. What a great idea!

Pop-Up Coffin

This is a pop-up coffin that the Halloween Prop Master has made of PVC pipe, a screen door closer, some plywood, a $6.00 Walmart mask, an old tux, and a sprinkler valve along with some other non-essential things for an added "scare".
Check out the Propmaster's website for more complete instructions, videos, and many other Halloween prop ideas.