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.

Shut Down Your Computer With a Text Message

If you have ever left your house without turning off your computer and you need to turn it off for whatever reason but, don't want to go home than you can set your computer up with this program. It takes only a few minutes to do and even though it really isn't practicle, although it could be (I guess), it is pretty cool. For a little more fun you can set this up on a friends or family members computer and have a little fun :-).

Blender Defender

If you have a cat that just won't get off the counter than the Blender Defender may be the project for you. Mark was fed up with that so he built a system so that when his cat jumped on the counter it triggered the blender and a strobe light to go off. Like that isn't cool enough, he also has a video camera facing the blender to see how to cat reacts if he's away and the video is sent to his phone directly after it is recorded. For those of you interested, plan on spending about $164.00 if you already have a blender (the main part of the cost is the camera so if you already have one you are in good shape!)and will take a few hours to set up. Please check out his website, even if you don't plan on building it, for some videos of it in action.

$5.00 Burglar Alarm

While this make be very simple it is also very cool and doesn't take much time or money to build. So why not?

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.

Golf Club POV

"So we were thinking about how we could have a POV while making it useful. Well since people like to hit up the driving range or the golf course at times, we figured we could just make a POV out of a golf club. At the same time, we can make it kinda useful too.

As you can see, the letters will go backwards on the back swing and forwards on the forward swing. Ben Hogan’s “Five Lessons” has a good picture of correct swing arc for a golf swing."

If you already have a golf club than the whole projects will cost you about $74.00.

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Roomba Controlled via Wiimote

Criss Hughes from The Internet Patrol has posted a hack that he did that allows him to control his Roomba. The wiimote sends signals to the computer which then sends codes to the Roomba via bluetooth. For the code he used and for more details visit his website.

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.

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!

The Geek Scooter

ThoughtLab has taken a new Vino scooter and decided to make it into the ultimate geek machine. "The end result was a rolling system capable of long distance war driving, GPS navigation, Skype calls on the road and the ability to record TV programs so you don’t miss Lost because you are lost."
Their website has some great instruction on how they did this project and many more pictures.

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.

Homemade RC Airsoft Turret

Invent Geek has built their very own remote controlled airsoft turret that it made using parts salvaged from an old airsoft gun, some servos, plexiglass, and some hardware. It shoots 1500 rounds per minute and can hold tens of thousands of bb's. Their website has step-by-step instructions but don't plan on making one unless you have about $200.00 to burn. Below you can see the turret in action.

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!

RC Car Controlled by IPhone

Nerd Kits.com has created some hardware to allow your IPhone to connect to an R/C car controller via the Internet which then sends the signals to the RC car. You control the car by moving your finger in different parts of a box that is on the IPhone screen which in turn moves the car in that direction.

DIY Halloween Spider Webs

While most people go to stores like Wal-Mart or Party City to buy some commercially made cotton spider webs, you can make your own by making your own web-shooter. Not only is it really cool, but it also makes Hollywood style webs, because it is actually almost the same process that they use in most movies to make webs. For more instructions see the video below and go to the Instructables web page.

DIY Animatronic Hand

A pretty cool Halloween prop. It would be cool to add some servos to make it automated. View the Instructable here.

LED Hard Drive Clock

Ian has made an LED hard drive clock by using flashing LED's and a spinning CD with a slit in it to create patterns. He uses an LED strip from Super Bright LED's and programed the whole thing himself. The CD spins at 90 RPM which tricks the human eyes into thinking that it isn't flashing which is the reason that we see solid patterns. The thing, as you can hear from the video, is pretty loud, but later on Ian plans on building a plexiglass case to enclose the project to reduce the sound levels.