Other than providing a convenient vessel for your carbonated beverages so that they don't go completely flat, aluminum soda cans are also quite useful for a number of other things once they're completely empty.
It'd be a financial burden to have to buy new shoes every time a current pair gets scuffed up, but thankfully there are some easy DIY tricks for saving us that trip to the shoe store. Scuff marks can easily be remove from shoes and sneakers using common household items found in your medicine cabinet or in your desk.
Originally invented by American mechanic Walter Hunt in 1849, the humble safety pin was first called a "dress pin." It was intended to solve the problem of bent pins and wounded fingers, but that's not all it's good for.
Sooner or later you're going to have to deal with a stuck zipper, whether it's on your favorite jacket, backpack, or pair of pants. Simply tugging hard on the zipper tab hardly ever works, but a few things lying around your house might do the trick.
It's no secret that Netflix streams different content based on location. Since your physical location in the digital world is simply a number, a simple switch of the DNS will make your digital "physical location" different. In your Apple TV setting, navigate to:
Compact discs...remember those? Before you toss your old CD spindle cases away, consider upcycling them to a DIY terrarium, cable storage container, hamster toy, rainfall shower head, bird feeder, bagel sandwich lunch box, and more.
Wax paper, a moisture-proof paper commonly used in the kitchen to keep food from sticking, can also be used to preserve maple leaves, keep bathroom fixtures spotless, line your refrigerator bins, funnel spices into small spice containers, and make re-corking unfinished wine bottles a cinch.
Feeling the need to creatively express yourself in a public space? Make an artistic statement with some DIY moss graffiti using moss, buttermilk, beer, a paintbrush, and some imagination.
So simple yet so brilliant: Designer Jung Soo Park found a way to improve a “run of the mill” hammer by incorporating a magnet at the end of the handle. It holds a few nails while you’re working and if you drop a few on the floor, the magnet makes it easier to pick them up.
Using an inflated balloon, some string and glue, you can make yourself a hanging string ball ornament for your living space. Simply hang an inflated balloon upside-down from the ceiling, and then cover the hanging balloon with glue covered in string. Allow for the string to dry, and then carefully pop and remove the balloon.
Love the look of Metro's live tiles, but can't see yourself ever owning a Windows Phone device? Then fear not—you don't have to subject yourself to Windows Phone in order to experience those sweet live tiles. You can simply use Tile Launcher, a new launcher app for Android devices that simulates the Metro interface pretty well. Tile Launcher, which is in beta for Android 4.0 and above, allows users to style their homescreen with customizable tiles à la the Metro user interface! Some of the fe...
Want to make your homemade pancakes and waffles fluffier? To enjoy a restaurant-quality breakfast, simply replace liquids used in the recipe with club soda.
Mayonnaise is not exactly the healthiest thing in the world, but it makes for a great household and self-care item, from whitening your yellowing piano keys to adding shine and luster to your dry and brittle hair.
In addition to keeping your cold drink from turning lukewarm, ice cubes are also surprisingly useful for removing gum from your carpet, keeping your hollandaise sauce from curdling, skimming fat off your soup, and watering your hard-to-reach hanging plants.
For a long time, Apple has had Remote—an app that can be used on any iOS device in order to remotely control iTunes. Remote allows users to walk around their home and change the music by simply going through their phone. And now, Android has released its own version of the Apple Remote app! Retune is a free app found on Google Play that has the capability to control iTunes—change songs, TV shows, and movies—using your Android device. You can view the entire iTunes library on your Android devi...
With the help of a hot glue gun and other basic craft supplies, the iconic red and white candy cane sticks can be used to make candy cane vases, candy cane wreaths, and candy cane candle holders.
'Tis the season to get crafty with maple leaves. Rather than buying fake maple leaves from the craft store, save real-life maple leaves you find on the ground outdoors using one of the following preservation techniques below.
Before you rake up the maple leaves on your driveway, how about grabbing a couple of the newer ones to make yourself a maple leaf rose?
Paper towels are great for absorbing your kitchen spills, but did you know that they're also perfect for cooking bacon in the microwave? Simply place bacon side-by-side on a layer of two paper towels and place two more paper towels on top of the bacon. Zap in the microwave at 1-minute interval for 3-4 minutes until desired crispiness is reached. No greasy pan-cleaning to worry about afterwards.
Just dried a load of laundry? Don't throw away that used fabric softener sheet just yet. You can repurpose a used sheet for a variety of practical uses around the home, such as picking up pet hair from your furniture, deodorizing your gym bag, removing static cling from your stockings, and adding shine to your mirrors and toaster.
I wish these robots were real, but alas, they're simply the brainchild of Barry McWilliams, an artist who wants to make a book about them. His Kickstarter for only $5,000 is now fully funded, so the book will be coming soon. There's still a lot of time left in the fundraiser, so consider visiting and contributing anyway!
Other than adding that missing component to your jelly sandwich, peanut butter is another weirdly useful pantry staple that can also be used as emergency shaving cream, door hinge lubricant, gum remover and more.
What can you do with your egg cartons after you are done using up all the eggs? The compartmentalized spaces used for storing eggs are also perfect to use as seed starters, DIY candle makers, paint palettes, and for storing similarly fragile or round objects like Christmas ornaments and golf balls. The sturdy, lightweight material of styrofoam egg cartons are also ideal to use as cheap packing material and an alternative to packing peanuts.
For a while I've been playing around, buliding a redstone playground. I've tried to gather and build some things, from a simple AND-gate to more complex things. It is not supposed to be a place where I try to be a show-off, but rather a place where people can come and get inspired or just walk around and push buttons for fun. The designs aren't supposed to be "the" solution to any redstone-problem but rather somnething that is easy to build or atleast get some kind of understanding how to sol...
Believe it or not, it is absolutely possible to get by without a big refrigerator in your kitchen. After all, before refrigerators became a household staple in the last century, people somehow managed to store their perishable fruits, vegetables, legumes and meats for an extended period of time with ice boxes, root cellars, evaporative cooling pots, preserving, canning and more.
This is a fun project and a good way to use up small amounts of yarn. Just follow the easy steps below for knitting a color-graded hat.
Get Angry Birds and Other Games on Google Chrome
Despite the fact that you may not find this as a necessity, if you do follow this quick guide, you will wonder how you ever managed before. This tutorial is based on the assumption that you're using Google Chrome, so if you aren't, I advise you to download and install it. Furthermore, this tutorial is aimed towards beginners, however advanced users may also learn a thing or two.
Fire. It’s everywhere— always has been. From the Ordovician Period where the first fossil record of fire appears to the present day everyday uses of the Holocene. Today, we abundantly create flames (intentionally or unintentionally) in power plants, extractive metallurgy, incendiary bombs, combustion engines, controlled burns, wildfires, fireplaces, campfires, grills, candles, gas stoves and ovens, matches, cigarettes, and the list goes on... Yet with our societies' prodigal use of fire, t...
Graffiti with your eyes, or let your robot do the work for you. Via Flong,
Remember the magical LED graffiti video "paint"? Here's another cool LED graffiti design by Aissa Logerot.
Behold, a topic both repulsive and utterly irresistable at the same time. Jackpot.
Got a screw loose? Don't worry. We all do. This handy tutorial will keep any screw secured to any screwdriver.
The fine Brits over at Videojug are devoted to the world of tutorials. Revelatory, fun, procedural. Yup, it is a how-to. The cheeky tone simply adds color.
Legend says this is Winston Churchill's trick. He used to pull it off with cigars just to elicit a reaction.
I have seen wallets/billfolds made this way. Like magic. The essence of this folk design is that there's no movement up or down at all. The cassettes are simply flipping back and forth.
Granted the iPhone is an awesome phone... but their choice for default ringtones kind of, well, stinks. They have plenty of apps you can BUY to PURCHASE ringtones... but why waste money when you can make an unlimited amount of ringtones yourself forFREE? At first glance, it looks complicated and confusing, but I'll break it down so simply, you'll be making ringtones for everyone in iTunes.
Mac owners— life just got a little easier. No longer do you have to wait in line for the newest version of iLife. No more searching Amazon or eBay for the best price on Aperture. And no more Angry Birds on your mobile device's small touchscreen!
There are a million tutorials on the Internet for how to transmit redstone power up and down, but that's because vertical power transfers are both really important and very counterintuitive. This quick and easy guide should help clear it up!
In this article, I'll be exploring the basics of Python, i.e. variables, input and output. You'll need Python (2.7+), a computer, and some free time.