How To
”Experience the Joys of Constant Lag With Xbox Live on Dial-Up
For you poor, poor souls who own an Xbox 360 but still rely on dial-up for your internet, an intrepid Instructables member has written up a great "How To" on using your phone line to log onto Xbox Live. All you need is a PC running Windows with a working dial-up connection, an ethernet cable and an Xbox 360 (duh). Yes! Now even those of us still riding along the 56.6K information dirt trail will be able to download new Rock Band tracks! [Instructables]John Mayer Gets Apple Reply after Bug Report Jibba-Jabba
It looks like writing "John Mayer here" really works to get Apple's attention when you report a problem. According to Steve Jobs' fab guitarist, they got back to him directly only four days after he sent the bug report ramblings:
How To Shoot Fireballs
It's the weekend. You should either be consuming alcohol or playing with fire. Or better yet, both! (That was not an official endorsement by Gawker Media—so if you do this project trashed and rocket a ball of fire up your nose, don't sue us.) Anyways, making a fireball shooter is a wee bit complicated and requires quite a few parts you won't find at Wal-Mart, so you're going to want get started Saturday morning if you wanna impress your buddies and burn your eyebrows off Saturday night. Not convinced? I'll repeat: Fireball. Shooter. [MAKE]
format peace
Turn Your HD DVDs Into Blu-ray
The process of converting your HD DVDs to Blu-ray is time-consuming, potentially costly and sucks balls. Really, there's almost no reason to, since you can bet most everything on HD DVD will be released on Blu, and if you have a million HD DVDs you don't wanna rebuy, you should just buy a dual format player. But if you revel in pain, here's how to do it, thanks to the crazy video guys at Doom9. More »Lightning in Block Form Adds to Desk Clutter, Looks Amazing
Lichtenberg figures are fantastic; they perfectly display branching electric charges that occur within, or on the surface of, certain insulating materials. Sure, that may sound like a whole load of boring, but check the image above to see why you are wrong—they look amazing. Popsci is hosting a video that shows you how to make your very own with some office supplies, a metal point and some shag carpeting.
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how to
Nothing Says "I Love You" Like LED Pasties
Just in time for Valentine's Day, we've scored a nice how-to on making your own burlesque LED pasties. Dancing around the room, she'll think that after all these years you still can't take your eyes off of her. Meanwhile, you'll get to appreciate the planet-rocking impact of power efficient LED technology.
Just think, if every woman ditched her normal incandescent pasties just one day a year, we'd save enough power to abandon solar, wind an hydroelectric power sources altogether. Am I right? [instructables via boingboing]
macbook
Make Your Nasty MacBook Sparkling White (and Minty Fresh) With Toothpaste
Apple uses spare white for a reason: It's a pleasing, clean color. Until it isn't. Like if your mom sets a coffee cup on top of your MacBook, or you toil away on it with especially grubby mitts. Solution? Arm & Hammer toothpaste! More »How To Discover Secret Gadgets Through the FCC
How Camera Lenses Are Made: In Honor of PMA 2008
This video has made the rounds before, but given that it is PMA season, we figured you might want to take a look at this video illustrating how camera lenses are made. There aren't any sex scenes (thank God) or explosions, but it is definitely cool and educational. Two words that are not normally used in the same sentence. [YouTube]
nintendo
Kalashnikov AK-47 Converted into Wiimote
Now you can convert your very own AK-47 and feel like a Soviet soldier while killing crazy bunnies and Zelda goblins. It may not be as cool as firing a bazooka in a 360-degree environment, but it definitely beats the Nintendo Wii Zapper. We talked with its creator about all the details: More »
How To Install an Internal 3G Card in the Asus Eee PC
Hardware hacking genius and electromagician JKK has published a video tutorial showing how to add an internal 3G HSDPA card to the Asus Eee PC, allowing you to connect at high speeds to the internet from anywhere in the world with 3G cellphone coverage. We talked with JKK, and according to him "it works great" and "the hack is doable by any amateur with a soldering iron." Indeed, it looks easy enough for our sausage fingers in the video:
(UPDATE 2 DEC 28 10:20 EDT: New information with all the answers about connectivity and supported networks after the jump)
More »DIY LED Chandelier From Xmas Lights
Make Your Own Steampunk MP3 Player, Prove You're a Cool Nerd
Last month we featured the awesome steampunk themed MP3 player, called the Ambience Enhancer, which gathered quite some interest. If you missed it, check the image above to see what all the fuss was about. Thankfully, the chaps at Instructables have procured a complete how to, but if you have the patience of an ADHD prone lab rat, perhaps it's better you give this one a miss. Sufficed to say, it is certainly going to take you longer than setting up that new speaker set Santa dropped off for Christmas. I ruined the surprise—damn, I'm always doing that. Follow the link for the extensive tutorial, and if you undertake the project, send us pictures of the final product. [Instructables]
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how to
Hardcore Data Recovery: Double Boil Your Drive?
If your hard drive is seriously f*cked, and you have some big shiny balls (or you're dumb as hell), you might be interested in how a fellow from Mandible Games claims that he recovered data from his drive. According to the article, he noticed that his drive would spin, but it would not show up in BIOS and there was a distinct and repetitive clicking noise. More »
how to
Instructables: Copy a Key Using a Coke Can
Instructables has a neat if dangerous tutorial on how to quickly make a key copy by tracing the metal from a Coke can. It's pretty obvious, and with that seed planted in your mind, there's probably no need to read the instructions. More »
planet cheap terror
Turn Your Old, Dusty PC Into Ghetto Gas Mask
Everyone needs a gas mask to go with their tinfoil hat, but the problem is that they tend to cost too damn much. Unless you construct one from scrap parts from your last PC. With a paper bag base, CD case visor and a filter fashioned from a keyboard box, cleaning disk, CPU fan and a WC paper tube, it's probably not going to shield you from Resident Evil or Planet Terror-esque biohazardous tomfoolery, but the listed specs do promise protection from acid rain, your mother-in-law and +10 to haxx0r skills. [Sorgonet via Makezine]Make a "Fun" Stun Gun for Under 10 Bucks
I found the skull-poundingly monotonous drum beat combined with a complete lack of voiceover and "oh my, you're dumb, home viewer" finger-pointing a teensy bit annoying. But! It's super easy to follow and it looks simple enough to build your own ghetto stun gun, so much so that I might whip my own up to put my four-year-old cousin in place when she's bothering me by acting like a small child. [Metacafe]






