Going Green: DIY-style

Here in true ‘green’ form is a collection of the latest home made hacks to getting the most out of your gadgets.

DIY Solar iPhone Charger

This one's not for the faint at heart when it comes to soldering but a DIY guide for a MightyMintyBoost has been posted by Instructables user Honus. Although the tutorial may tax your skills the result is a nifty solar charger forged from various technical components and one Altoids tin.

Guide ...

A Twittering Kill-a-Watt

 

For many consumers it’s difficult to truly gauge the impact some gadgets are having on your energy consumption except as the bottom line on your hydro bill. When you factor in HDTVs, PCs, consoles, maybe a heating unit in the winter time, A/C in the summer, it can become a veritable labyrinth in terms of trying to track down the culprit behind your latest whopper of a utilities bill. Enter the Kill-a-Watt. Plug it into a wall socket, jack-in a shady appliance, and watch the digits soar.

The ...

The DYMO, a Device You May Never Need.

As far as compact discs go, they are close to obsolete thanks to the widespread availability of smaller, more durable MP3 payers- at the forefront of which is the iPod. But even in the post-CD age some music lovers find the need for discs is still there, which may be one reason for the creation of the DYMO DiscPainter. 
A compact device, the DYMO DiscPainter may or may not be for you. The main function of this printer ...

Spykee Robot Perfect for Your Robot Army

Are you building a robot army to take over the world and finding it frustrating that there just aren't enough types of robots to choose from?  Well, if this is you (and who isn't it these days?), your selection got a little wider with the Spykee spy robot from Meccano (watch out for their official website--it's a resource-hungry Flash-based monster).   When Meccano calls this a spy robot, they're not kidding.  

Once built (he comes as a kit), Spykee has a built in camera and microphone and can stream both audio ...

The MechRC Expandable Robot, Ideal for Use Against the Robot Uprising

Every day it seems like more and more robots are popping up. Industrial robots, toy robots and more--a simple Google News search for "robots" will net you more reading than you have time for. One thing is for certain, it's just a matter of time before one of those little guys decides he needs the same rights as the rest of us and then... the robot uprising will begin! How should you deal with the robot uprising? Plan ahead by picking ...

12 Dollar Computer for the Third World

Odds are, you've probably heard of the so-called $100 laptop from OLPC, but a $12 computer? That's just not possible, is it?Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) non-profit, back in 2005, began an attempt to make a laptop that would cost them just $100 to make and Third World governments just $100 to buy. Sadly, after two years of amazing hardware and software development, OLPC was able to produce the XO Laptop which cost them just under $200 to construct. Since they're a non-profit, OLPC began selling ...

Bug Labs' Swiss Army Knife of Gadgets

If you've ever wished you could tweak that handheld gadget of yours just a bit, or even a lot, to make it better meet your needs, Bug Labs has a gadget you might want to check out. Well, it's less of a "gadget" and more a gestalt of gadget-like objects. OK, you may be wondering just what the heck that even means, but when you see how the Bug platform works, you'll understand. See, the idea is that you have a base gadget--similar to a mini-motherboard. Like a mobo, you plug other components into it and then ...

Dock Your Hard Drive

If you're like most computer-based gearheads, it's more than a little likely that you have an extra hard drive or two just laying around taking up space and collecting dust. You might even be contemplating building a low-end homemade rig just to serve as a new home for those still functioning but probably smaller-capacitied (not really a word) drives. Or, perhaps you recently upgraded from a tower PC to a laptop and have yet to transfer all that data off of your old machine. Which ever is your issue, computer accessory company, Brando, ...