Not having power sucks. It can be fun for the first few hours, but if it lasts any longer than that, most people run out of things to do pretty quickly (i.e. the batteries in all their devices die).
How to repair a stripped screw hole. Look, we've all bought a crappy chipboard piece of furniture in our time that has fallen to pieces because the screw holes are so worn they no longer hold the screw, or have had an old door that is about to fall off because the screws holding up the door have been stripped out of their hole.
Newer smartphones are more power hungry than ever before, and the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has a mighty appetite for amps that only Jenny Craig could possibly curb. On average, your Note 2 (or other Android device) lasts for what, a day, maybe two days before dying. Mine barely lasts 8 hours! This is thanks to all of the apps running in the background of your phone, even when you're not using them, eating through all of your CPU, leaving nothing but crumbs.
BioShock: Infinite may have just come out today, but that doesn't mean there aren't some good walkthroughs for it already. If you're the kind of gamer that digs unlocking all of the achievements (aka trophies), then here's one for you—the Aerial Assassin. In order to complete this task, you will need to kill 20 enemies with the Skyline Strike. You will be able to pick up the Skyhook weapon (needed for the Skyline Strike) in the natural progression of the game; no need to go searching for it. ...
Having to read a bunch of articles and tweets everyday can be tiresome, but if you can have a sweet-ass personal assistant read them for you, you're pretty golden.
I've had this idea in my head for almost a year now. I knew what I wanted to do, but wasn't sure if it would work. After a long time of armchair-engineering, I decided that the best way to test my idea was with a soldering iron and a screwdriver.
While there is definitely no shortage of video game emulators in the Android Market, it lacks in modern gaming consoles. Nintendo 64, Game Boys, and Sega Genesis are all accounted for, but what about emulators for some of the gaming consoles that have come out in the, let's say...past decade?
Walking the streets at night can be uncomfortably dangerous. In 2010, there were 32,885 motor vehicle deaths in the United States. Of those, roughly 13%, or 4,280, were pedestrians. Two-thirds of those pedestrian deaths occurred at nighttime. Along with darkness, drivers also have to deal with rain and other harsh weather conditions. Combined, all of these factors can be very dangerous for anyone taking a walk at night. As it happens, pedestrian deaths are on the rise since 2009.
Warm water is an essential part of life that we sometimes tend to take for granted. Over one billion people, or roughly one-seventh of the world's population, have no access to hot water.
Unfortunately, there are plenty of situations where having a can of pepper spray could come in handy. Even worse, in most of those situations your state of mind isn't really conducive to remembering important details like the facial features of the person who's trying to mug you, which means the police will have a harder time catching the culprit.
The International Space Station is a habitable man-made satellite currently in orbit around the Earth. Launched in 1998, the ISS is used mainly as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory where astronauts perform experiments in large variety of fields, including biology and physics. In order to be hospitable for crew members and scientists, the ISS needs energy. To do this, the station uses its solar panels to capture rays of sun and power the station up. In order to garner th...
In the Harry Potter world, there was a character by the name of Beedle the Bard, who told a story about witnessing the three Peverell brothers building a bridge out of magic and successfully crossing a very dangerous river that had claimed many lives.
You knew that the food you eat gives you energy, but did you know it can actually power a thermal lance with enough heat to burn through steel? A thermal lance, as in, the tool used to demolish buildings and bridges.
There are plenty of ways to create time-lapse photos and videos, but most of them are taken over the course of several hours. If you want to do a longer term shoot over several weeks or months, you'll need a battery that can last that long, and you probably don't want to leave your DSLR sitting somewhere for that amount of time anyway.
How much time do you spend outside, as opposed to inside? Whether it's because you're working, studying or just have a bunch of errands to run, it may seem like the majority of your day is spent indoors. Ever wondered exactly how much time you spend indoors and outdoors? Now you can, thanks to this DIY Arduino-powered tracking device by Instructables user Gramsky.
Inductive charging has been around since the days of Nikola Tesla, but it has yet to be integrated into a lot of popular devices. This is partially because it's slower and more expensive than methods that involve direct contact.
Eavesdropping from a distance can be tricky because it usually requires some sort of bug or transmitter. It's easy to transmit audio through lasers, but you can also use lasers to build a microphone that picks up audio from a distance. LucidScience built the Laser Spy System for about $20. To make your own, you'll need a cheap laser pointer, an NPN phototransistor, a headphone amp, and a few other small pieces listed below. A light-to-sound circuit is installed in a small plastic box with the...
As dedicated bicyclists are well aware, riding can be very dangerous. Now that daylights savings time has ended in the United States, darkness appears quicker, and the night is especially dangerous for cyclists because of the low visibility that drivers have. Not only is darkness a danger, but also fog, blizzards, and heavy rain—all wreaking havoc on the vision. To combat this, bikers attach reflectors: clear front reflectors, red rear reflectors, amber pedal reflectors, and clear side reflec...
Doorbells are useful and all, but most of them are boring as hell. They use the same old generic sounds to let you know when guests have arrived, as demonstrated below.
It's good to password-protect your PC to make sure that your personal files, folders, and important documents are safe and can't be modified without your permission. Though, entering the password all of the time before using your computer might frustrate you.
If you have the international version of the Samsung Galaxy S2 (I9100) and are sick and tired of waiting for the Jelly Bean update to hit your device, you're in luck—XDA-Developers member izap has leaked what appears to be the final version of Android 4.1.2 for the S2.
Whether it's forgetting your driver's license or misplacing your cell phone, forgetting things at home can be a pain in the butt. Car keys, wallet, purse, papers, sunglasses—the list can go on. Sometimes I even surprise myself at the important things I forget... Oops.
It's tough out there on the battlefield, especially when your stuck in the trenches and your comrades are dropping like flies. There's no hope. At least, until the next airsoft battle.
Rooting your device gives you all-powerful administrative access to your phone and its system settings. Of course, with such power comes great responsibility, and sometimes that responsibility becomes to burdensome or just plain unnecessary.
Samsung's Galaxy Note and Note II phablets have been hailed for their large displays and responsive systems, making them ideal for gaming and movie watching. But if you've recently upgraded to Jelly Bean (Android 4.1) from Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0), you'll be sad to know that some Android devices running Jelly Bean no longer support Adobe Flash Player.
Windows 8 the biggest update to Windows yet. The new gesture-friendly version replaces the aging start menu with a dynamic new Start Screen, complete with live tiles that give you a glimpse into your apps before you launch them, not unlike the new Windows phones. With such a radical departure from the past, some familiar features have been moved around, which will take some getting used to. It's worth noting that the new Windows 8 does not abandon the old desktop model completely; it still ha...
Lucid dreaming, in which you're aware that you're dreaming, can be profoundly beneficial to us. It gives us freedom to do things we couldn't possibly do in the real world. It can show us the true potential of our brain power. You can even use lucid dreaming to question the nature of our own reality. For whatever reason, people everywhere are interested in this mysterious phenomenon...especially in achieving it. Whether it be visiting another planet or flying around, the possibilities in lucid...
There are plenty of things you can use at home to make your own rocket, like sugar, matchsticks, or even trash. They may not be as impressive as a real rocket, but they can still be a lot of fun. In this video, How To Lou shows how he made a high-flying water rocket out of some basic materials like PVC and a soda bottle. As Lou points out, the bigger your soda bottle, the further it will go. He used 1/2" PVC pipe, valves, and connectors, as well as some brass adapters. He added an air compres...
Michael Faraday was awesome. He discovered electromagnetic induction, diamagnetism and electrolysis, and he invented the Bunsen burner (before it was the Bunsen burner). Because of his work, we can make suits that can withstand 1,000,000 volts of electricity and cases to protect our gadgets from nuclear attacks.
Wall Anchors. Drywall Wall Anchors. Plasterboard Wall Anchors. I discovered these plasterboard (drywall) anchors / plugs a few years ago and think they are fantastic. They are ridiculously easy to use and are extremely effective in attaching fixtures to walls. One of the main things to be aware of (as with all things that have fixtures hanging from them) is the recommended maximum weight loading of each size of anchor. What ever the packet says, adhere to it.
A couple of months ago at the Black Hat security conference, hacker Cody Brocious gave the hotel industry a nasty surprise when he figured out how to hack the locks made by Onity that are used in millions of hotels worldwide.
"Jef with one F" from the Houston Press compiled a list of the 10 best steampunk songs, but it's really a collection of the best steampunk music videos. There are some amazing videos in the collection, such as this one, "Brass Goggles" by Steam-Powered Giraffe. It's not the best-looking, but it's a great performance.
The original NES controller has become one of the most recognizable symbols of the Nintendo gaming culture, thanks to its perfectly rectangular shape and simple button design. But despite its popular appeal, people just don't game with them anymore. So, what do they do with them? They savor the memories and turn it into something more useful, like a light switch.
Even though iOS 6 has only been out for a day, the folks over at iPhone Dev-Team have already released a Redsn0w jailbreak that works on the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and iPod touch (fourth generation). As of right now, there's only a tethered jailbreak available, which means that you'll have to connect your device to your computer every time you power it up, but an untethered version that works on more devices is more than likely on the way. Until then, tethered is better than nothing, so here's...
Want to take advantage of your neighbor's super fast Wi-Fi connection? If they're smart, they probably have it password protected (otherwise you wouldn't be reading this, would you?). But if you have an Android phone, you can get back at them for always parking in your spot and slamming the door when they get home at 2 a.m.—by stealing...er, borrowing, their connection.
The worst part of moving into a new place is, well...moving. It's tedious, a lot of hard labor, and it can take forever, and don't even get me started on all those labels. It's also one of the only times in your life when everything you own can be stolen at once, since it's sitting in a movable container. Rather than risk losing everything, try this DIY Moving Truck Alarm System by Tim Flint that lets you know when the loading door is opened so you can catch would-be thieves red handed.
Old newspapers come in handy for many different uses around the house, from birdcage liners to shipping cushioning and even a little fish cooking. But for backyard rocket scientists like Markus Bindhammer, they're more suitable as an ingredient for rocket propellant.
Getting two sticky-pistons to pull eachother, a piston-train, isn't anything new but the pistons and their timing in 1.3 are and there has been alot of QQ-ing on the Minecraft-forums about how bad they are and that Jeb should bring back the old pistons we all know. I, for one, not only welcome out new 1.3-pistons but have also made a small mini-game out of them. A two-player tug-o-war. The players stand on the diamond or emerald area and press a button to make the piston-train take one step t...
Looking to transmit some super-secret audio communications to your other spy buddies? A laser is the perfect tool for getting your sounds heard from a small distance—without anyone intercepting them— even if it's just a cover of your favorite pop song. A laser audio transmitter uses light rather than radio waves to transmit sound. This is a much more secure way to send audio communications because the laser is a focused beam of light, whereas radio waves are not controlled, so they can be pic...
Who needs to go to bartending school when you've got the Inebriator to mix your favorite drinks for you? Want a cosmopolitan? No problem. Press a button. Want a tequila sunrise? Sure thing. Press a button. As long as you've got a good supply of liquor and mixers, the Inebriator is at your command. So, what exactly is this Inebriator thing? Well, it's a robotic bartender that can automatically pour 15 different pre-programmed cocktails. With 9 different liquors and 7 mixers on board, it's got ...
