So, in addition to frying data, the resulting flash from the gun will also fry your retinas. It even has a built-in MP3 player with a 2-watt amp for sound effects. Needless to say, if you do decide to build something like this, I wouldn't go aiming it at credit cards, hard drives, passports or living creatures. Hit the following link for instructions. [codeninja via Hack a Day via Technabob]

By day Craig is a hot tub/spa service tech, so his self-styled 20-sided decision die is a little plumbing-centric for my taste. My hack would probably stick to the three basic life paths: nachos, sleep, and beer. To start charting your own course, full instructions can be found here. [Make]

The bedbugs are attracted to carbon dioxide, so you'll want to use something like dry ice to lure them out of your bed and into somewhere where you can confirm the infestation. All you need is an insulated 1/3 gallon jug, 2.5 pounds of dry ice pellets and a piece of paper. That's about $15 worth of equipment in total. And dry ice can be easily had at many supermarkets, ice cream stores, and the like. Wan-Tien Tsai of Rutgers University explains the setup, which uses the dry ice and a type of rigging to trap the bedbugs inside:

She stood the jug in a plastic cat food dish with a piece of paper taped on the outside of the dish as a ramp up to the rim. The bowl's steep, slippery inside, with an added dusting of talcum powder, kept bugs from crawling out again.

In tests in real apartments, the homemade setup detected bedbugs as well, or better, than did two brands of professional exterminating equipment

I'll tell you what, even if you don't suspect bedbugs at home, I wouldn't hesitate to use something like this at that seedy hotel you might find yourself staying at for the holidays. [Wired Image via WestchesterGov]

Rain Gutters as Cable Management Tools

We're all about creative cable management here at Lifehacker, so we were instantly drawn to reader Seandavid010's rain-gutter cable management setup. Granted, you can find other cord-wrangling solutions, like the one Adam used when he made his cordless workspace, but the rain gutter approach yields impressive results. Sean was nice enough to send in his entire step-by-step, check out the full post to see it.

$5 IKEA Coat Hanger Offers Solid Cable Management

Weblog BitsOfMyMind shares a very simple idea that turns an inexpensive coat-hanger rack into a simple and streamlined cord management solution.

Back when Adam detailed how to go cordless in your workspace, he championed a $10 cable management add-on from IKEA. Many readers wrote in and said they couldn't find the IKEA wire-manager he used, so this clever hack is a welcome addition to our cable-wrangling bag of tricks.

Open a Bottle of Wine with Your Shoe

Got a bottle of wine on hand but no corkscrew to get it open? You can argue all you want about whether or not the guy in this video really needs more wine, but you can't argue with the results.

Make Cookies in 90 Seconds with Your Waffle Iron

Baking cookies in your oven is fine and all, but if you want to turn out some tasty cookies in a very short time, consider turning to your trusty waffle iron. Turns out you're only 90 seconds away from crispy, chewy, cookie-goodness.

Create a Cat Haven from Ikea Shelves

The climbing trees at pet stores are ridiculously expensive and take up tons of floor space. Help your kitty jump to a royal view, Super-Mario-style, without cluttering your floor or wasting money.

Remove Splinters Using a Banana Peel

Bananas are a good source of potassium, but turns out the peels can do more than just store the fruit. Apartment Therapy outlines seven ways to put used peels to work, including removal of those inconvenient splinters. Photo by keepon.

Get More From Cheap Vodka Than a Hangover

Sooth headaches? Clean razors? Kill bees? Vodka is handy for all sorts of uses besides the traditional one. The clear and high-proof alcohol can be used for all manner of tricks. Photo by Carsten Lorentzen.

Coke Can Clean Your Toilet in a Pinch

When your toilet's got rings and lime scale stains and you've got no cleaning gear on hand, grab a can of Coke out of the fridge.

Turn IKEA Cabinets Into a Cordless Desktop Stand

The new iMacs, and similar all-in-one LCD desktop systems, make for a mostly cordless computing experience. Using two pieces of IKEA furniture meant for laptops and modems, you can hide the remaining wires and up the elegance.

Disposable Mugger's Wallet Gets You Off Scott Free or Gets You Beat Up

A mugger's wallet is a disposable second wallet that you're more than happy to give away to a mugger. It contains a few bucks, a non-essential ID, but not much else that would endanger your identity.

DIY Car Dash Camera Mount

Ever wished you had some high-speed chase footage after you finished tearing down the freeway after crooks? Of course you have! You need a quick, cheap DIY camera mount.

Remove Stubborn Batteries and Other Cool Magnet Tricks

As if the sheer magnetism aspect of magnets wasn't magical enough, weblog Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories points out 17 very cool tricks that put your magnets to great use. For starters, a strong magnet can be the perfect tool to remove batteries from the grips of a stubborn spring.

Use Vicks VapoRub To Cure Toenail Fungus

We've heard that Vicks VapoRub can cure toenail fungus before (it's also helpful when you've got a cold!), but the New York Times recently put it to the test. The results: The thyme in VapoRub can in fact do the job.

Repair a Broken Ethernet Plug with Zip Ties

We've all been there at some point: You've got a perfectly functional Ethernet cord that somewhere along the line had its tab broken off. Don't buy a new one or re-terminate the cord. Fix it with zip ties.

Open Beer Bottles with Bic Lighters

If you lack for a piece of paper, a ring, or just don't want to risk bursting another bottle, Wired explains the time-honored tradition of popping the top with a Bic-type lighter.

Outlet-Hanging Charge Station For Your Small Gadgets

If a full-sized charging station is overkill for your single cellphone or iPod, try this smaller gadget cradle that mounts neatly on a wall outlet. Craft blog Zakka Life put together a simple tutorial for making a cradle that's perfect for single, regularly-charged items—the kinds of things you dump out of your pockets upon returning home.

Have a favorite post from 2009 that highlights a clever use or novel way to repurpose an everyday object? Let's hear about it in the comments.

This strange contraption is a DIY plenoptic camera.

Still don't know what that is? I didn't either, but Make explained that "instead of capturing a flat, 2D array of pixels, a plenoptic camera uses an array of microlenses to capture 4D lightfield data. This data can then be processed to create a final image that is focused on any part of the scene." Basically, this means that it takes a lot of little images from different viewpoints and those can then be transformed into your ideal picture. If you want to get dreamy about describing this process, you could say that it lets you travel back in time and fix bad focusing mistakes of the past.

It looks crazy in action, too:

You can follow the links to Futurepicture and actually read all about how to make one of these camera rigs yourself. And if you do that: Please send along some images. I have a fascination with these trippy, crazy things. [Futurepicture via Team Droid via Make]

Seriously, I wish all computers came like this from the factory. Or at least mine. Check Nick's photographies and how-to documentation at [Bit-Tech]

Everyone knows light exposes film, but other forms of radiation do as well-a fact you can use to take pictures in some pretty unusual ways.

It's also how radioactivity was first discovered. In 1896, French physicist Henri Becquerel stored some x-ray film in a drawer along with a uranium rock. He suspected that uranium might emit strange rays when exposed to sunlight, but this sample had been kept entirely in the dark, so he was surprised to find, on developing it, that the mineral had exposed the film. The discovery of natural radioactivity won him a Nobel Prize.

It's not hard to repeat Becquerel's experience at home with standard film. I took apart a 10-pack of Fujifilm ISO 3000 instant film and wrapped each piece in tinfoil. This must be done in absolute darkness because 3,000-speed film is extremely sensitive. (I sacrificed the first pack practicing in the light.)

Next I set a big, flat butterfly-shaped earring directly on top of the wrapped film. I suspended the most radioactive thing I have, a small radium puck from an old classroom set, several inches above the earring. This allowed the radiation to shine through it and onto the film, exposing it right through the foil wrapper. Then I developed the film by pulling it through the rollers of an old Polaroid camera (once again, in complete darkness).

This exposure took about 36 hours, determined by trial and lots of error. If you're willing to wait longer, less-radioactive sources work too, even common salt substitute. Yes, sodium-free salt (potassium chloride) is sufficiently radioactive (from the isotope potassium-40) that after several months, a saltshaker-ful will form an image on film. Provided you don't forget and eat the radioactive source on your breakfast.

Achtung! Stronger radiation sources such as radium watch hands, and any source that's flaking off fine particles, should be handled with care to minimize exposure and avoid contamination.

Photo credit: Mike Walker

Popular Science is your wormhole to the future. Reporting on what's new and what's next in science and technology, we deliver the future now.

All you need to do is download the PDF, print it out on card stock, cut it out, tape the ends closed and ipop some LEDs in there for color. As you can see in the image above, the light filtered through the layers throws a festive pattern on the walls. [Sparkle Labs]

This step-by-step guide from DIY web site Instructables is far from difficult—all it requires is a few household tools, along with some thin pieces of wood and, of course, a stylish bistro tray. Plus, not only can you use the extra space to store flash drives, power cords, or other miscellaneous computer items below the laptop, but you can also still use the tray to carry drinks and such when it's not holding your laptop—and where once the tray was stylish but prone to spillage, it is now a spill-free multitasker.

We had a tough time finding the exact tray used in the post, but it looks to be this one from CB2. IKEA has similar trays that could work, though, if you're looking for something a bit different. If you find one that you like, feel free to share in the comments.

Software and Photoshop tricks are great, but they're a poor substitution for doing things in-camera. Over the last year we shared a variety of hacks for taking better photos, looking better in photos, and ways to get professional results without spending your rent money on camera accessories.

Create Your Own Bokeh for Beautiful Photo Effects

What's a bokeh you say? It's that oh-so-wonderful fuzziness in the background of photographs with a shallow depth of field and accompanying starry highlights. You can create you own bokeh effects with a little craftiness.

Position Your Tongue Properly to Look Good in Photos

We live in a culture of oversharing, so odds are someone, somewhere will be snapping and posting photos taken of you at various events. To help ensure you look your best, heed where you position your tongue.

Take Better Pictures by Treating Your Still Camera Like It's Video

People often lament that they "just missed it!" upon seeing they failed to capture a pivotal moment in the action. You can avoid missing the action by treating your still camera like a video camera.

Avoid Mediocre Portraits with These Tricks

You have a camera and a willing subject, but you're not sure how to break your portraits out of the flat blandness that plagues many snapshots. Avoid boring compositions with these tips.

Set Up a High Speed Photography Studio in Your Garage

Many a photography enthusiast has assumed the equipment necessary is far too expensive for quality high speed photography captures. A high speed capture studio on the cheap can be had with this handy guide.

Create Abstract Light Art by Snapping a Camera-Toss Photo

Making abstract wallpaper and gorgeous slow-exposure shots doesn't require a bunch of design apps or photography lessons. Learn how to literally toss your camera to make abstract light art.

Be A Better Photographer On Vacation

Whether you head 30 or 3000 miles away, you'll want to bring back great photos of your vacation. The New York Times posts questions and answers on how to achieve great vacation photos.

Take Better Self-Portraits

Taking a good self-portrait is both a handy skill and a way to expand your photographic repertoire. Save your next profile picture from the camera-held-at-arms-length cliche with these tips.

DIY Tennis Ball Photography Stabilization Unit

DIY web site Instructables details how to make an image stabilizing unit to supplement your steady hand using a tennis ball and a few nuts and bolts.

Shoot Better Nighttime Pictures

Daytime photo tricks don't always translate when you're trying to capture the perfect night shot. The Photography Bay web site outlines tips for taking a stellar post-sunset shot without relying on a tripod or expensive flash system.

Be More Photogenic by Forgetting About the Camera

When the camera comes out, a lot of people instinctively declare that they look awful in pictures. Learn how to be more photogenic and put your best face forward.

Breathe Like a Sniper to Take Better Photos in Low Light

Steady hands are critical to taking low light photographs. Breath like a sniper to make sure you snap the shot when your hand is least jittery.

Create a Basic Ring Flash

If the DIY Fiber Optic Ring Flash we wrote about required too many specialist parts for your taste, check out this much simpler remix. The construction is easy and done with common household items.

Use Composition Rules to Take Better Photos

Photography is a creative art, no doubt, but creative doesn't mean doing everything willy-nilly however you want. Use these basic rules of composition to give your photos an extra boost of visual appeal.

DIY Beauty Dish Enhances Your Portraits

Beauty dishes are great flash modifiers for portrait photographs, but even a cheap model will set you back at least $100. Skip it—a surprisingly effective DIY beauty dish costs less than $20.

Create Stunning High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photos

Gizmodo's John Mahoney explains how to take high dynamic range (HDR) photos so that the results of your photograph more accurately recreate what you were seeing when you snapped the shutter.

Create Studio Quality Photos Using Natural Light

You don't need a blockbuster budget to get high-quality light for your portraits. By coaxing the sun to help in your photographic endeavors, you can create stunning portraits on a tiny budget.

Make a DIY Photography Light Box with K'Nex

Lightboxes aren't just for the professionals any longer. Using them to illuminate your Craigslist and eBay listings can help make a sale, and amateur photogs can get professional-looking shots with one. Create your own using K'nex and a little know how.

Take Great Panoramic Pictures with Any Camera

Panoramic software has come a long way toward making panoramic images child's work. Great software or not, there's no substitution for good source material. Take better panoramic pictures with these tips

Take Better Pictures by Studying Studio Layouts

Whether you're interested in learning more about lighting to add to your photography skill set or you're just curious how proper studio lighting works, this handy guide will provide some photo-enhancing insight.

DIY Tilt-Shift Photography Lens

Tilt-shift lenses create a great miniature effect on photographs of everyday things. The problem? These specialized lenses are insanely expensive (think $1,000 range). This video from Make demonstrates how to make a DIY tilt-shift lens on the cheap.

Take Awesome Sunset Photographs

Sunsets are one of nature's more spectacular displays, and a good one is worth preserving with a photograph. Take pictures that will capture the perfect dusk moment with these photography tips.

Create a Flash Diffuser Using An Empty Cigarette Packet

The right flash can make or break your shot. Unfortunately, not all built-in flashes are created equal. DIY web site Instructables demonstrates how to create a worthy on-the-spot flash diffuser using an empty cigarette packet.

Make a DIY Macro Lens from Old Binoculars

A high-end macro lens for your camera can easily run upwards of a thousand dollars, but you can make a super-simple macro lens for a few bucks out of old binoculars.

Have a favorite photography-related hack from 2009 that wasn't featured here? Let's hear about it in the comments.

CoolerBot uses a tail-dragger design with 14" wheels in front and a 10" castering wheel in the rear. The caster wheel is mounted using PVC pipe. The robot is capable of moving in either direction. CoolerBot uses two NPC-41250 motors powered by a 10 amp hour 12 volt SLA battery. The logic is powered by a separate 10 amp hour 12 volt SLA battery and both batteries are recharged by the two onboard solar panels. The motors are driven by two Parallax HB-25s are which are controlled by a Propeller. Currently the robot is remote controlled through a 912 MHz Transceiver.

As far as an "arsenal" is concerned, CoolerBot is equipped with an infrared video camera and a Nikon DSLR. Check out the terror in the eyes of the bunny in the shot above. It's just waiting for a missile launcher to pop out of the cooler and reduce him to a smoking crater. At any rate, it seems like overkill unless your objective is to capture lions with their cubs or dangerously unstable celebrities. Now that is a good use for this thing...a paparazzi-bot that goes in on the really dangerous missions. [Norris Labs via Make]

Create Your Own Sun Jar: Lifehacker Edition

Inspired by a tutorial we posted last year, we decided to make our own DIY sun jars. The trendy summer time lighting accessory retails for $30+ but we were able to make ours for around $10 each. The sun jars proved to be our most popular non-computer DIY of the entire year and readers shared their own creations with us.

The First-Timer's Guide to Building a Computer from Scratch

Building your own computer is a great way to get exactly what you want, the way you want it, without being constrained by the limits and high-prices of mass produced computers. We showed you how to build a computer from start to finish and have fun doing it.

Turn a Sharpie into a Liquid Fueled Rocket

What's standing between you and some office mayhem? Certainly not a lack of Sharpie markers and keyboard dusting spray. Combine the two with this fun DIY project and you've got one of the most awesome pieces of office-machinery we've ever featured.

Properly Erase Your Physical Media

You need to be properly erasing your physical media: all the time, every time. Our guide will show you how to get the job done and done right whether you use software to scrub your disks or you send them to the great data mine in the sky with a 21-gun salute.

Turn an Old Laptop into a Wall-Mounted Computer

Why settle for a digital picture frame when, in the same wall space, you could mount an entirely functional computer/slideshow player/TV tuner? One Lifehacker reader turned an old laptop into a super-charged digital frame.

$8 DIY Aluminum Laptop Stand

We've always been keen on DIY laptop stands, but reader Aaron Kravitz—inspired by an attractive $50 stand—went above and beyond, creating one of the most attractive DIY laptop stands we've featured to date.

Build an IKEA NAS On the Cheap

If the Hive Five on best home server software got you excited about setting up a home server but you're not keen on another unsightly PC in your home, check out this DIY IKEA NAS.

Build a DIY Portable Air Conditioner

We've shown you how to make an air conditioner (even for as low as $30), but what if you wanted something you can put in your car and take with you? While it's no substitute for a fully-charged and factory-fresh AC system, it'll keep you cool.

Turn a Bookshelf into a Secret Passage

Who hasn't dreamed of having a mystery-story-style secret passageway? While a trick bookshelf is pretty awesome in itself, this secret passage hides a home office with clever style. One industrious Lifehacker reader and his girlfriend had grown tired of seeing their office from their living space, so they hid it behind a wall of books.

Wire Your House with Ethernet Cable

You've ripped a movie on your laptop, and now want it on that fancy new home theater PC next to your TV. If you've got the time, wiring your house with Cat-5e cable could make transfer times a distant memory.

Rain Gutters as Cable Management Tools

We're all about creative cable management here at Lifehacker, so we were instantly drawn to reader Seandavid010's rain-gutter cable management setup. He was awesome enough to send detailed photos and step by step instructions to help other readers recreate his setup.

Build Your Own DTV Antenna

The lights went out on analog television this year and we were there with a guide to help you build a great DIY antenna for boosting your reception and getting that crisp digital picture you crave.

DIY Laptop Rack Hack Turns Your Monitor into an iMac

Lifehacker reader Matt Lumpkin saw our monitor stand from door stoppers post and thought we might like his laptop rack hack as another space-saving desktop solution for laptop-lovers. He was right.

Build Your Own Pizza Oven

Suppose you were inspired by the cheap DIY home pizza oven—but weren't so sure your home insurance would cover oven modifications. It's time to build a safer, more eye-pleasing oven, and we've got a thorough guide.

Crack a Master Combination Padlock Redux

Two years ago we highlighted how to crack a Master combination padlock for those of you who may have lost the combination to your bulletproof lock; now designer Mark Campos has turned the tried-and-true instructions into an easier-to-follow visual guide.

DIY Invisible Floating Bookshelves

We've covered the invisible floating bookshelf once or twice before, but if you liked the idea but weren't keen on ruining a book in the process, weblog May December Home's got you covered.

DIY Inverted Bookshelf

Instead of storing your books upright on top of the shelf, the inverted bookshelf holds all of your books in place using elastic webbing so you can hang them below the shelf—all the while allowing you to still take them out and put them back on as needed.

Build an Under-the-Cabinet Kitchen PC from an Old Laptop

Inspired by our guide to giving an old laptop new life with cheap or free projects, Lifehacker reader Brian turned his aging Dell laptop into an incredible under-the-cabinet kitchen PC.

Turn Storage Containers into Self Watering Tomato Planters

If you'd like to have delicious home-grown tomatoes but lack a garden to grow them in, you'll definitely want to check out this ingenious and inexpensive self-watering system.

Deter Thieves by Uglifying Your Camera

A few years ago, blogger Jimmie Rodgers's camera was stolen while volunteering in an impoverished Brazilian community, so he did what any sane person would do: He bought a new camera and made it ugly. With his uglified camera, Rodgers was able to snap pictures freely during the rest of his trip without worrying too much that his ostensibly crappy camera would end up stolen.

DIY TV or Monitor Stand from Door Stoppers

Nothing adds space to a desk or home theater setup like a simple monitor or TV stand, and weblog IKEA Hacker details how to build your own stand on-the-cheap with a few inexpensive items from IKEA.

Repurpose Your Analog Television

You don't need to run out and buy a new TV because of the DTV switchover. If you did anyways, Make Magazine has put together quite a guide to giving old TVs new life.

Use Ping-Pong Balls to Create Diffused Party Lights

If you need some cheap and novel ambient lighting for your next party, you're only a box of ping-pong balls and a string of lights away from solving your lighting worries.

Build a Custom-Made BoxeeBox

DeviceGuru blogger Rick Lehrbaum, inspired by the cheaper set-top boxes, made his own higher-powered "BoxeeBox" for the free, open-source media center. He posted all the parts, the how-to details, and lots of pictures.

Build a Sturdy Cardboard Laptop Stand

You already shelled out your hard earned cash for a swanky laptop, why drop more cash on an overpriced laptop stand? Cardboard alone can do the trick, as detailed in this step-by-step tutorial.

Install Snow Leopard on Your Hackintosh PC, No Hacking Required

Earlier this year we put together a wildly popular guide to building a Hackintosh with Snow Leopard, start to finish, and then followed it up with an even easier guide to install Snow Leopard on your Hackintosh PC, no hacking required. Computers + DIY is all sorts of geeky fun waiting to happen.

Have a favorite DIY from 2009 that wasn't highlighted here? Sound off in the comments with a link to your favorite project. Want to see more popular DIY guides courtesy of the ghost of Lifehacker past? Check out our huge DIY guide roundup from 2008.

If you want to make your own, all you'll need are some Star Trek Pez heads, a Deluxe LED Menorah Kit, and a healthy disregard for tradition. In keeping with the holiday spirit, couldn't they have made room for Khan? [Evil Mad Scientist via Make]

Check out Benjamin's site for some pics of the construction process. He claims a video is on its way, so keep an eye out for that if you are interested in trying to build something like this yourself. [Twenty Seven Gears via hackerspacessoup via Make]

1. Oh my, that man is holding a large weapon!

2. Ah, I see that it is a replica based on a movie.

3. That is some impressive attention to detail!

4. I wonder how long that took to make?

5. I bet he set in his basement for like 6 months with a tiny paintbrush and a magnifying glass and hasn't seen the sun in ages.

6. Let's go have sex with a guy in a band!

You've just gotta follow the process through to its logical conclusion, is all. [GadgetHim]

For those familiar with the classic Bic pen's true function—not as a lackluster writing implement but as the ideal barrel for a middle school-era rubber band shooter—Mini Weapons is the Holy Grail: a beautifully illustrated guide for making all manner of miniature munitions, from slingshots and catapults to mines and bazookas, with supplies that can be found in any household, office, or classroom. You can start turning implements of work into instruments of war by picking up John Austin's Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction on Amazon and can find more information at JohnAustinBooks.com.

Supplies:

• Pen - 1
• Pencil - 4
  
• Rubber Band - 7
  
• Tape - 1
• Wooden Skew (ammo) 1+

Step 1:
Using four thin rubber bands, rubber bands, assemble two pairs of unsharpened wooden pencils. Both sets should be identical and tightly secured.

Step 2:
Crisscross the two sets of pencils. Center one of the pencils frames on top of the other towards a selected end. This end will ultimately be the front of your #2 Crossbow. While holding the pairs in place, use one or two rubber bands to fasten the frames into place.

Step 3:
Disassemble the plastic ballpoint pen. You may need a pocketknife or pliers when removing the rear pen cap. The hollowed-out pen housing will be used for your crossbow barrel. Discard all the other pen contents.

Step 4:
Position the pen housing on top of the pencils, as shown, then secure with tape. It is important that the pen housing sits on top of the rubber bands and that the barrel is not obstructed by them.

Step 5:
Slide two wide rubber bands between the tightly secured pencils ends. The pencils should lock the bands into place, but if they don't add an additional thin rubber bands on the ends. The wider will ultimately provide you with your elastic firepower.

Step 6:
Bring both ends of the rubber bands together and attach them using strong tape. As you secure the bands, try to create a small ammunition pouch with the tape. It is possible you may need several pieces of tape to fasten the bands together securely. Pull the assembly back a few times with your fingers to test.

Step 7:
Your #2 Crossbow is now complete! Slide one wooden skewer (used for cooking) or a 3/16 dowel into the pen housing. Gripping the wood arrow and the rubber bands, pull back and aim your crossbow launcher. Release and watch it fly!

Always operate your crossbow safely. Watch out for spectators and never aim the shooter at anyone. Wooden skewers usually have pointed tips, which can make them very dangerous. Styrofoam targets are ideal; but you should never place them in front of a breakable backdrop just in case you miss your target. Do not use the #2 Crossbow if any of its rubber bands show signs of wear.

Start turning implements of work into instruments of war by picking up John Austin's Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction on Amazon. Then, check out JohnAustinBooks.com for printable zombie targets you can use to test out your mini weapons.

Nicknamed Harlequin, the device allows you to type and write on the right (the touchscreen) and read on the left (the original mini 9 display). Thanks to Windows 7's native handwriting and speech recognition, those issues have been solved at the base software level.

Of course, the mod isn't quite complete, its non-existent hinge mechanism defining this more as two interacting tablets than a sleek, compact book. So working on the system becomes a Ten Commandments enterprise involving lots of wires and juggling. But we'll see whose product is done first, the modder's or Microsoft's. [mydellmini via SlashGear]

I really doubt that many of us will send or receive Christmas cards like this one, but if you really feel like a DIY project then don't forget to get an iPhone app called Bauble. Yeah, as if buying an iPhone isn't enough, you need to get a $.99 app to make the card. [Bauble App]

You can find all the details for Batsignal projector (including stencil patterns) at Thingiverse. Fun part is that you can even switch out the stencils just in case you decide that you want a different superhero identity. Spacegirl-signal, anyone? [Thingiverse via Make]

As demonstrated in the video above, the fix shouldn't take more than a minute, or a few minutes, if you're being very careful. It's basically just pushing in a bit on a small metal piece that, when too far out, makes it easy for your battery to slide right off. You'll want to be careful, of course, and especially with your SIM card so close by, but if you've had the unpleasant experience of a falling battery cover, this fix might just be what the (DIY) doctor ordered.

Found another fix for your Droid's battery cover slippage? Tell us about it in the comments.

[Abraham Book via Make]

Squeezing Chumby parts (bought for $139) into a hollowed-out book, Gary Watts' Chumby book was made easily enough, though I'd rather insert Chumby guts into a taxidermied fox. How cool would that be? [Flickr via Make]

Rodger Cleye set out to make damn sure kids in his neighborhood had a fun halloween this year. Candy, you see, if a cop-out. The best adults are the ones who make robots. Every child knows this. Rodger knows this too, which is why he built the Robo Theater, a five-mph, remote-controlled projector with a five-foot screen.

And candy is part of the problem, people: what kids need now is a motivation to get out and exercise, even if that exercise involves slowly wandering around the cul de sac, watching Ice Age 3, kept alert by the slight but always present threat of becoming a pedestrian fatality. [Hacked Gadgets]

Not only that, the guy behind the hack claims it can be done in 30 minutes on a budget as small as $10. In a nutshell, he just inserted two apple mini usb plugs into the outlets and tucked them back in the wall, but you could soldier the wires to the chargers if you have the skills to go that route. Yeah, you could just keep the chargers plugged in to the regular outlet, which is even easier and seems like less of a fire code violation, but this certainly looks a whole lot better. [Instructables]

The iPhone screen is capacative, meaning that it requires your finger to complete a circuit in order to work. So, by sewing some conductive thread in small patches on the fingers of your gloves (a circle of about 1/4" or 6mm in diameter is recommended) and larger patches on the inside area of the fingertip, you should be able to use your touchscreen with an acceptable degree of accuracy.

Still, I have to imagine that this modification would be useless on anything other than tight-fitting gloves. The thick gloves that actually keep your hands warm would be far too bulky. [Instructables via Lifehacker]

Check out the Instructables guide for details on how to hollow out light bulbs and build the necessary stands without cutting up your hands. There are even some bonus light bulb projects on there.

Now, how about a few "How many ___ does it take to change a light bulb" jokes before you run off to DIY? [Instructables]

The shake-to-erase action works because of a hidden mercury switch which detects movement and you don't really need to worry about the hard drive since this project kinda destroys your screen. [Project Lab via Make]

The original 1.2GHz Core 2 Solo U2200 processor (which was soldered in place) has been swapped with a 1.33GHz Core 2 Duo overclocked to 1.438GHz. And the 48GB SSD is replaced with a fast RunCore ProIV 128GB SSD. Amazingly, the battery life is said to be pretty much the same.

It's a pretty involved mod, but it's a hackintosh I'd definitely like to take for a spin. That 4.5-inch touchscreen doesn't look too bad, either. [MicroPCTalk via UMPC Portal via SlashGear]

Chumby Guts are available for $139 and include everything you need to construct a Frankenstein's monster version of the gadget. [Maker Shed]

Using a hacked Powermat, this plank of wood becomes a full capable inductive charger. Why do I find this so superior to the original product? Most tables are built from wood, and this technique would allow a tabletop, with no special gimmicks on top, to charge your gadgets.

And it's the potential for passive, seamless integration that makes inductive charging so attractive to me, not just the lack of plugs. [Instructables via CrunchGear]

Maximum PC's how-to uses 3D picture synchronization software called StereoData Maker, a nonvolatile firmware update based on the Canon Hack Development Kit (CHDK).

You'll then need to build a mounting rig, and use a small enclosure (such as an Altoids tin) to make a simple USB switch remote. Free software called StereoPhoto Maker is used for post-processing. And yeah, you'll still need a pair of red/cyan glasses. Still, it looks like fun. Full instructions at: [Maximum PC]

Unlike traditional GPS, RTK-GPS doesn't measure the delay between its signal and the the signal received by a satellite—instead it measures the shorter wavelengths in the satellite's carrier signal. This can mean accuracies within one centimeter, but there are difficulties with aligning signals with RTK, and the need for multiple receivers makes the technology impractical for navigation. This is why the technology is most widely used in land surveying. If you would like to tinker around with one yourself, full instructions are available on the project page. [Project Page via Make]