Frightfully Expensive Search Results

News: Make Windows Vista Run Faster - free!

More Speed without buying expensive hardware. Windows Vista was never the step up in performance that people hoped for after XP. In fact a lot of people preferred the old XP or Linux until windows 7 arrived. Nevertheless there are a few things you can do to make your Vista OS system run faster and smoother.

News: Portal Free to Download for a Limited Time!

Portal is game design milestone. Originally only available bundled in with larger cousins Half-Life 2 and Team Fortress 2 in The Orange Box, its creators, Valve Software, changed what first person gameplay could be. It's been a stand alone product for much of the four years since its release, but never an expensive one, usually available for $5 on Steam (also created by Valve). If that barrier to entry was too high for you, or you just never got around to trying it, there are no more excuses....

News: Magnetic Powder Turns Silly Putty into Freakish Magnet-Hungry Blob

It's best known as a children's toy, but kids aren't the only ones who can appreciate the unique and marvelous properties of Silly Putty. It's an incredibly fun silicone polymer that almost seems like a scientific anomaly, thanks to its viscoelastic non-Newtonian flow. This amazing dilatant fluid can be stretched, torn and mashed back together, as well as bounce and shatter into pieces with a forceful blow.

How To: Find the Perfect Beer with the BrewGene iPhone App

There are two kinds of beer drinkers—those who just want to drink and those who want to enjoy it. The former usually sticks to the same kind of beer, drinking it habitually, while the latter is always on the lookout for new varieties. They like savoring the taste of a freshly poured dark lager and the roasted aroma of a hearty stout and are always looking for that "Holy Grail" of beer—the perfect combination of hops, malt and yeast. Thankfully, there's a mobile application that gets you once ...

News: World's Smallest 3D Printer Makes Super Tiny Solid Objects

If you liked the idea of cutting duplicate keys from a personal 3D printer, then you might be interested to know that researchers at the Vienna University of Technology in Austria have successfully designed the smallest 3D printer to date. The prototype device is smaller than a shoebox and weighs only 3.3 pounds. It uses stereolithography compared to the RepRap's extruding molten plastic, and it's not a self-replicating machine and costs a bit more, at nearly $1,800 each. But compare that to ...

Fantasy Food: The $1,000 Popsicle & More

From Fox News, the Marquis Los Cabos resort in Baja California Sur, Mexico is now offering a $1,000 Popsicle made from 24 ct. gold flakes and Tequilas Premium Clase Azul Ultra—a premium liquor that goes for $1,500 a bottle. You can enjoy the gold-laced ice pop as you're lounging by the pool.

News: Bat Cave in San Francisco

What do you do when you desperately need to put a parking garage into the bottom floor of your Victorian apartment building, but the city's Department of Planning says "No". The simple and expensive answer: Create an elaborate secret garage door. If you own a pretty building, it is well within the jurisdiction of the Landmark Commission to inform you that even though you own the piece of property, you cannot remodel it any way you want. Seems un-American. But in San Francisco, specifically th...

News: Create a video for legendary rock band Senser, and win Magic Bullet Looks!

Legendary rap-rock-electronica crossover pioneers Senser celebrate the release of their slamming new single, “2, 3, Clear” with a video competition open to all budding video creators! The winning entry will receive great exposure on many top music websites and TV, and the winner will receive a copy of the awesome Magic Bullet Looks plug-in set worth $400, plus some sexy Senser merchandise.

Size Matters: World's Largest Touchscreen Hacked Together with Ordinary Hardware

It's gigantic! It can handle over 100 simultaneous touch points! It has a curvature of 135 degrees! And best of all, it is not the newest, insanely expensive gadget to hit the market. Instead, this touchscreen was hacked together with a bunch of PCs, video cameras, projectors and cheap infrared illuminators at the University of Groningen, in the Netherlands. It works like this: "The cameras, illuminators and projectors are all placed behind a large, cylindrical screen (formally used as a 3D t...

News: Under cutting door jambs with a hand saw, before installing laminate flooring

If your installing your own laminate flooring, you may need to under cut some door jambs. Cutting your own door jambs with a hand saw is the least expensive way. You can rent or purchase an electric jamb saw if you prefer. In my opening photo is a door jamb hand saw, which can be purchased for under 20.00 at the big box stores. When installing laminate flooring the laminate needs to be able to slide under the door jambs so it appears that the door jambs are installed on top of the laminate fl...

News: What kind of camera do I need?

Choosing a camera, perhaps one of the most difficult decisions there is when it comes to photography. But being a great photographer on a budget isn't as hard as you think. It gets a little intimidating when you're looking at all these DSLR Canon and Nikon cameras. (By the way "DSLR" just means "Digital Single-Lens Reflex") But you don't NEED a big, bulky, expensive camera like those. Granted they are amazing cameras and you def. get what you pay for. But let's face it, the normal "just as a ...

HowTo: Build a Vibrating Lock Pick With a Toothbrush

Unbeknownst to the general public, picking a lock can be a very easy process once you get the hang of it (yes, surprising AND frightening). A vibrating lock pick set takes the general ease of picking even further by speeding up the process. Now, with the help of Invent Geek, you can make your own DIY Vibrating lock pick for about a tenth of the price of a manufactured kit.

How To: Create A Nice Curtain In GIMP

Hello everyone, This is my first tutorial posted on WonderHowTo and as a starter I wanted to show you how to make a nice curtain in GIMP, the free Photoshop alternative. Even though GIMP does not have all the features of his expensive brother, you can still do some cool designs or photo manipulation.

News: No, It's Not an App. It's a Japanese Soft Drink.

Shiny, pretty touchscreen vending machines have finally gone mainstream in Japan. My only question is... what's taken so long? The vending machine business can be quite lucrative (location, location, location), so all the more reason to make the interface as aesthetically appealing and user friendly as the iPhone AND as smart as a robot (read below). Features (translation via YouTube):

News: Cheap Ass Videocameras and Citizen Journalism

The idea that you could buy a cellphone sized video camera that shoots 720p for a hundred bucks would literally seem like nonsense to me five or six years ago, as I sat trying to get a shot worth looking at out of my old Sony pd150. They're here, though, the Flips and iPhones and Kodaks and whatever else and while most of their impact can be measured in the increased frequency of Bieber-tribute videos hitting youtube, having a $100 hd camera also puts me in a mind to go - me a regular old idi...

News: Attendance woes make FIFA take notice.

This article aggregates a lot of things that have been said about the World Cup experience this year (South Africa's infrastructure, low scoring games, uninteresting first round match-ups, etc). I've noticed in a few broadcasts that upper seating areas are not filled to capacity and maybe the vuvuzelas make up for this. I think this will change once the Knock-out stages begin, but Nick Webster has a point:

News: MIT Student Invents $3 Blood Sucking Plunger That Could Speed Up Healing for Millions

The medical field has known for some time now that negative pressure (re: suction) can drastically speed up wound recovery time. However, the machines that are currently available are quite expensive, and not an option for third world countries. Enter MIT student Danielle Zurovcik. The doctoral student has created a hand-powered suction-healing system that could completely revolutionize first aid in developing nations. Her device goes for only 3 bucks a pop.

How To: DIY Cat Toys You Can Find at Home

Cat toys can be unnecessarily expensive. Using items you already own, you can provide your cat with new and fun ways to play. Look around, you may have dozens of potential cat toys that will occupy your cat for days to come!

How To: Your New Year's Eve Survival Guide

Going out on New Year's Eve is not for the faint of heart, especially if you live in a big city. Follow the New Year's Eve survival guide below to make sure you are prepared for worst-case scenarios that can range from losing your phone to figuring out how to quickly remove a vomit stain from your friend's new carpet.