News: Low-Cost DIY Hydroponics Systems
Not all of these involve PVC, but the majority do, and they all have their merits.
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Energy Vampires: How To Stop Them From Sucking Electricity
Energy Vampires are constantly sucking power through devices around your home, even when these devices seemed to be turned off! Learn how to slay these vampires once and for all so that you can save money and lower your energy costs.
News: Overhead Camera Boom Made with PVC Pipe
Overhead camera boom made with PVC pipe, from Dino at Hack a Week:
News: Potions and Enchantments
Potions have been the interest of discussions lately - it was hinted that they would be made using a cauldron. Recent news, however, suggests that the above "brewing stand" would be used instead.
News: Mobile App for Setting Correct Sprinkler Times
Garden Apps have just unveiled their new Sprinkler Time mobile app, which shows users the correct number of minutes to set their sprinkler times for maintaining healthy gardens all year round.
How To: Locate Free Parking Spots with Streetline's "Parker" App
With give or take 250 million cars in America, odds are most city dwellers waste time hunting for parking spots. And while a smartphone app can't make free parking spots magically appear, it can aid in the searching process.
News: NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Users)
Join NAPP if you love photography. The membership cost will come back to you in discounts and the magazine in short order. Hardware, software, lighting gear, classes, workshops and so many other discounts and benefits make this a no-brainer. The website alone is filled with resources. And don't forget to check out Photoshop User TV and other free podcasts from NAPP, for all levels.
How To: How Much Energy Is Your Home Using? Test It!
There are ways you can measure how much electricicity specific or groups of appliances are using. With the help of these devices you could can find out what is costing you more money and then use it to determine if you can cut usage to save money!
How To: change Printer Toner with Augmented Reality
Here is a quick demo showing the potential of watching how-to's with Augmented Reality and a smart phone. I bet we will see much more of this when the smart phone is common place.
News: Project Belly Dance
In November 2010 I had one of the best experiences ever in my Belly Dance "career" (I use quotes because I love it so much it is difficult to refer to dancing as a job). My family and I flew out to Baltimore, MD so I could participate in a reality show style Belly Dance competition called Project Belly Dance... The Search for America's Next Top Belly Dancer, Created by Michelle Joyce and Lotus Naraja and produced by Cheeky Girls Productions.
News: NYT's cost-cutting travel tips
Some really good tips in here, like using "private sale" sites or booking your flights on Tuesday.
News: What $100 will get you nowadays
Some guy bought all this online for $100. How much did all these cost the seller to accumulate? I feel sorry for them, and profoundly jealous of the buyer Master Marf.
News: View flight cost on a world map.
A really cool new feature on Kayak. Flight map link
News: The New York Times' Top 15 Kill-Proof Houseplants
With the aid of America's top botanical experts, Michael Tortorello of the New York Times has compiled a wonderful list of 15 hard-to-kill houseplants for the green thumb inept.
News: Respect, Please. Pole Dancing as a (Sensual) Sport
Last I checked pole dancing was mainstream acceptable as a form of exercise for adventurous young women and repressed housewives. Until now. This latest discovery deserves some real R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
News: Good do-it-yourself micro budget video lights
Professional video lights are great tools. They are color balanced, versatile, and offer great control over the light they give. There is a wide variety of video lights made for different situations. Unfortunately, they are also very expensive. The cheapest ones cost you easily hundreds of dollars.
News: A quick recap of injuries.
So here's a quick updated list of the biggest stars who are injured and will be missing the World Cup. This list would be incredibly longer if we decided to include players who are missing because of not being called up or their respective countries not qualifying (Zlatan anyone?).
News: Bride-To-Be Psychologically Tortured by Wedding Expo
"Most of the couples who ended up spending more than the cost of a downpayment on a house in order to get initiated into an institution with a near-50% failure rate probably intended at one point to have small, simple weddings." Jezebel, April 8, 2010
News: Human Flesh Search Engines- The Web Goes Vigilante
The New York Times magazine posts a fascinating feature on a Chinese cultural phenomenon known as human flesh search engines. Out of China has borne cyberposses, internet vigilantes, who target everybody from twisted individuals violating social norms to government corruption.
How To: Origami a cool heart out of a dollar bill
Here's a great cheap gift for Valentine's day! It costs $1, $5, $10, $20 or even more, depending on what bill you use. Origami a cool heart out of a dollar bill.
How To: Make a leather belt
Actress Tracee Ellis Ross joins Martha to make a fashionable leather belt. This fashionable leather belt achieves the look of a very expensive one -- for a fraction of the cost. Make a leather belt.
News: New Apps Let You Sign into Bank of America, Chase, & State Farm with Your Fingerprint
Applications are finally beginning to make use of Android 6.0's fingerprint authentication, letting users access sensitive information without having to enter (or unsafely store) complicated passwords on their phones.
How To: 8 Low-Cost Remedies for Treating Depression
An estimated 19 million American adults live with depression, a mood disorder which causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest.
How To: The Effortless Secret to Baking Perfect, Crispy-Edged Cookies with Chewy Centers
No matter how good you are at baking, we've all had a cookie mishap (or disaster) or two. Sometimes you forget about them and they burn, other times you open the oven to find your sweet treats have melted into one huge, disappointing blob of a cookie. And occasionally, you just picked a bad recipe (although no one ever believes you when this is the case).
Today's Tidbit: Expensive Hotels Nickel and Dime Their Customers
Expensive hotels are frequented by business travelers who charge everything to their companies, and therefore don't care about the cost of incidentals.
News: Ingenious Chain Clock Sinks Its Teeth into Steampunk
This clock is amazing, and I think I really need one. I wonder how hard it would be to just make one. It doesn't look that difficult in concept, at least. Might be tricky to get the timing right, though. Designed by Andreas Dober, this clock will only cost you a measly $2,338.
News: DIY Chalkboard Paint
Check out this cheap recipe for homemade chalkboard paint! It's easy, and convenient. Honeysuckle Pink Chalkboard with Homemade Chalkboard Paint.
How To: Cook pressure cooked short ribs with a wine reduction glaze
Slow cooking meat makes it taste choc full of deep, rich flavor, and the meat usually ends up so tender it literally falls off the bones. But not all of us have hours and hours to devote to preparing a meal at night. So how do we achieve that same flavor without the time commitment? Check out this video to learn a recipe for pressure cooked short ribs.
How To: Tie the San Diego Jam knot for heavy lures or jigs
Popularized in Southern California, the San Diego Jam knot is used primarily by fishermen. It's a great, sturdy knot aimed at success, and is gaining popularity everywhere, even in South America. If you're up for a new fishing knot, give this one a try. Watch the animation to learn how to tie it.
News: Piratebay - To be blocked in the UK
To those who may not know about this, the UK high court has ruled that all UK based ISP's are to begin blocking Piratebay. This comes in retaliation to Piratebay's action to take down all torrents and provide only magnet links to the pirated content - a move which releases TPB from liability should they be once more accused of hosting the actual content.
News: NSA Axes Printed SCRABBLE News in Favor of Online PDFs
Attention all National SCRABBLE Association members: You know that newsletter that you get in your mailbox every month or two? That SCRABBLE News mailing from the NSA? Well, they're axing it. No more printed SCRABBLE News. No more ink on your fingertips. No more surprises in your mailbox. It's done for... kinda...
News: Cheapest days to have your wedding
Weddings are expensive, but there is a way to have all the glamour and beauty of a wedding day without it costing a fortune.
How to Hack Netflix: Free DVDs and Money Saving Tips
I remember a time when I had to rent a VHS from the local video rental store. It wasn't all that bad, with the only real annoyances being the trip to and fro, having to rewind the movie and the possible malfunction of my VHS player, which liked to eat tape from time to time.
How To: Hack Flash Games
This is a tutorial showing you how to easily hack flash (.swf) games! You only need two things:
How To: Sell items with eBay Blackthorne
New to eBay? Don't worry, setting up an account and buying and selling doesn't take that much effort at all. Everyone who has an Internet connection has at one point come across eBay, to find the perfect gift for their loved ones, to find the cheapest deals on plasma televisions and computers, or to get rid of their dusty, old record album collection in their web store.
How To: Sell merchandise through an eBay store
New to eBay? Don't worry, setting up an account and buying and selling doesn't take that much effort at all. Everyone who has an Internet connection has at one point come across eBay, to find the perfect gift for their loved ones, to find the cheapest deals on plasma televisions and computers, or to get rid of their dusty, old record album collection in their web store.
How To: Illuminate a regular computer keyboard
Light up your keyboard with this illuminating tutorial from Make Magazine's Kipkay. To get started on this hack, which should take roughly a half an hour and cost no more than $5, you'll need the following: (1) a regular computer keyboard (most any model will do), (2) a screwdriver, (3) a drill, (4) telephone wire, (5) heat shrink tubing, and (6) two 5 mm high-brightness, white LEDs. For comprehensive, step-by-step instructions on building your own light-up keyboard, simply watch this hacker'...
News: From Backpack Transceiver to Smartphone: A Visual History of the Mobile Phone
Remember what life was like before your iPhone? Before there were palm-sized smartphones with seemingly endless features, there were phones like Motorola's RAZR that peaked with its embedded camera. Before that, there were simple flip phones with texting capabilities, bulky two-pound Gordon Gekkos—even briefcase phones.
How To: MARK BURNETT on How to Become the Biggest Producer in Prime Time Television
Mark Burnett is, financially speaking, perhaps the most successful television producer today. While I had launched America's Most Wanted and COPS a decade earlier, Mark exploded onto network television with Survivor, the glossy and fantastical innovation to reality television. With Survivor now entering its 11th year, I recently interviewed Mark at the Los Angeles public radio station KCRW, where the podcast will be made available. Below, Mark's 10 steps from soldier-to-nanny-to-premiere-Holl...
How To: Paint an Engine Block
Tired of your old engine looking... not so good? Clean it up and enhance the overall look with a simple paint job! In this episode, we show you how to paint your engine block, costing you only a few bucks and about an hour or two of your time!