Stout Beaver

Got some spare time on your extra day off? Why not put it to good use in your kitchen, backyard, or entertainment center? Here's a few great projects you can pull off in your spare time today. More »

The newest DSLRs on the market are sporting some pretty fancy HD movie features. If you have an older Canon DSLR, however, you can use a bit of software to turn it into an HD video camera. More »

Inexpensive phone mounts are almost always disappointing with low-quality parts and a poor grip on your phone. This cheap DIY mount is slim, solid, and and will fit your phone perfectly. More »

Google is following in Nokia's footsteps today by offering its users a simple-to-use DIY app maker. Employing a design scheme that relies on visual blocks rather than oodles of arcane code, the App Inventor -- still in Beta, of course -- has functions for "just about anything" you can do with an Android handset, including access to GPS and phone functionality. All that's really missing is the raw creative talent, which we're sure you'll be happy to provide. Hit the source link to get involved or skip past the break for an educational video.

Continue reading Android App Inventor lets you be the developer (video)

Android App Inventor lets you be the developer (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Jul 2010 04:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Variable neutral density filters are very useful for photographers that like manual control in bright light. Instead of paying hundreds of dollars for one, though, you can make your own from just a few cheap polarizing filters instead. More »



Neutral density filter - Business - Shopping - Home and Garden - Filters

We've covered building your own pizza oven before, from nice and cheap to really cheap. But none of these were crowned Best Pizza Food Cart by vlog Ah Nom Nom; that title belongs to San Franciscan PizzaHacker and his modified Weber Grill.

Sure, PizzaHacker's pizza is delicious because it uses choice ingredients and a sourdough recipe to die for—but the other half of the equation is FrankenWeber, his modified Weber-grill-turned-mobile-pizza-oven. If you're looking for an easy, movable outdoor solution to your DIY pizza needs, this might be the way to go:

Part of what makes this open air culinary spectacle work is the heavily modded Webber 22.5" grill that's been outfitted with fireproof blocks and a domed top comprised of refactory cement and perlite that's been molded in the original Webber top. Using chunks of wood and charcoal, the Franken-Webber quickly reaches 1000F (the ideal temperature for cooking authentic Neopolitan-style pizza).

For a closer look at the FrankenWeber and its inner workings, check out the above video on Pizzahacker by Ah Nom Nom. There's no specific how-to for building it, but it shouldn't be difficult with the above materials and the close-up view in the video. If you've been hankering for some DIY pizza action but our past options just haven't done it for you, this might just be the solution.

If you're looking to have a little weekend science-lab fun with lasers it turns out that in the heart of every cheap laser pointer is a fire-starting, balloon-popping, monster.

What's the secret to upgrading your cheap laser from a boring presentation tool to a goggles-on-for-safety experiment? Over at Wired's How-To wiki they detail how to take apart a cheap laser pointer and find the adjustable variable-resistor on the circuit board inside. Tweak that resister with a small jeweler's screw driver and you can crank the juice up on your laser pointer—not too far or you'll burn it out! Visit the wiki at the link below for full instructions.

Inspired by the potential burnination of your cheap laser? Check out how to turn a DVD player laser into a hand-held burning laser. Have a warranty-voiding bit of fun to share? Lets' hear about it in the comments. Oh, and please be careful, and proceed at your own risk.

Whether making your own lens hood to create custom bokeh, breathing like a sniper to get a blur-free photo, or angling your body to look the best in pictures, we shared some great photography hacks this year.

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

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Which Is Your Favorite Lifehacker Photography Hack of 2009?(polling)

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

Making your own versions of great food and clever gadgets is already rewarding, and if you play your cards right, the homemade route also comes with serious bragging rights. These 10 economical homemade creations—epicurean and electrical—should inspire some well-deserved praise.

Photo by ginnerobot.

10. Ice cream creations

The moment you discover you're out of ice cream, at that crucial just-enough-room-left moment, is a very bad moment, indeed. You can make a substitute in about five minutes, or forge a vanilla bean substitute if it's more your speed. For more fixes and crafty dessert ideas, try our favorite homemade ice cream recipes.

9. Pizza ovens

There's an entire realm of new restaurants opening on the premise that pizza baked in wood-fired ovens tastes great, and is worth the extra time and money over your favorite napkin-soaking corner joint. We're of the mind that you shouldn't have to drop a C-note to feed a family with great pizza. We started our obsession with a temporary bricks-in-oven setup, then moved on to a small but efficient backyard model. We hit our apex with stomachs growling by glimpsing at a backyard, concrete-seated pompeii oven, and then brought it all back home with an oven you can build in one afternoon. Pizza—it inspires our readers, and makes us hunt for ever more tasty step-by-step pictures.

8. DTV Antenna

Okay, we don't actually love collections of specially-spaced wire connected by coaxial cable, but we do love the free, often high-definition television content that's floating through the air. It is, after all, the missing link between a cable-free life and "What about sports and events?" We really dislike paying $40 or more for a really crappy model with a six-foot cord, though. That's why this homemade version, which you can run as much cord as you want to and place anywhere, is so appealing. Judging from our commenters and own experience, it's also a lot more successful at grabbing channels from multiple stations, which is reason enough to dismantle some wire hangers and grab a two-by-four. (Original post)

7. Ginger ale and other sodas

There are only so many brands of the fizzy stuff at your grocer, and it's all about the same price. Wanna jazz up your soft drink selection? Make your own home-brewed ginger ale and other sodas, tweaking the flavor profile, sugar amounts, and carbonation to your liking. We started down this road with a ginger ale made from real ginger, but picked up a ginger-syrup-based version and a smaller batch carbonated with yeast. Finally, we heeded Howcast's advice on making any kind of soda yourself, yielding two 2L bottles that keep for up to a month. Needless to say, all of this stuff tastes how you want it, and might even go well with the harder stuff.

6. Sports drink

Not that there's anything wrong with the neon-colored stuff, but concocting your own is cheaper, slightly more natural, and amenable to having the flu and really not wanting to drive to the drug store. We've recently seen fairly well-tested recipes from the New York Times' Well blog, and WebMD also has its mix. (Original posts: first, second).

5. Sun jars

Jason dug the idea of solar-powered backyard lights, but not the looks of them. So he read through this Instructables tutorial, picked up on some of the commenters' suggestions, and added a few of his own ideas, like DIY frosting, and came up with his own mason-style sun jars. They can be any color you please, you can hack together as many as you need, and your deck doesn't look like part of a home improvement store flyer illustration.

4. Shake Shack burgers and crispy fries

Lots of people love the burgers from NYC's Shake Shack, enough so to put up with rather sizable lines. Burger researcher extraordinaire J. Kenji Lopez-Alt went to the trouble of reverse engineering their recipe, right down to the smash-and-scrape griddle technique. For the natural accompaniment, soak and fry some potato wedges for unbeatable French fries. Photo by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt.(Original posts: burgers, fries).

3. Home theater PCs

They're not exactly something you can pick up at any old electronics store, but TV-attached PCs are coming into their own. There's the upcoming Boxee box, the Popcorn Hour, and a number of HD TVs arriving with streaming capabilities built in. If you'd like a bit more flexibility with your media, both downloaded and streamed, it's not too hard to set up your own little media computer that fits snugly into your home theater setup. Adam's silent, standalone XBMC-based setup is a super-slim little box that has just enough oomph to stream videos, and runs about $200. Me, I sprung for a cheap but powerful Boxee media center, boasting a spacious hard drive, 2 GB of memory, and the same kind of powerful graphics chip.

2. Kentucky Fried Chicken

Even if you know the Colonel's "11 herbs and spices"—and one of them appears to be a heavy dose of monosodium glutamate—it's hard to replicate the high-pressure deep fryer results of actual KFC. That didn't stop Tim Hayward and readers of his Word of Mouth blog from crowd-sourcing the best possible KFC stand-in. His post also lists the spice mixture from America's Most Wanted Recipes, so you can get in on that "facepunch" MSG factor if you'd like. (Original post).

1. Hackintosh running Snow Leopard

The Apple Tax—the difference between a Mac's hardware costs and what the Cupertino company charges—is steep, but you can endlessly argue its justification. If you don't want to pay it, or would rather get a bit more choice in your hardware peripherals, you can build a system and install Mac OS X Snow Leopard on it. Adam's chosen hardware setup is how he can (mostly) assure success with the process, but by crafting your own "Hackintosh," you get a choice of case, memory amount, processor speed, and other factors normally left to the whims of yearly inventory updates.

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What have you made at home that guests can't believe isn't store-bought? Do a bit of your own bragging in the comments.

We love DIY projects here at Lifehacker. Whether we're building computers, backyard projects, or turning office supplies into artillery, we're always tinkering. Today we're taking a peek at the most popular DIY projects of 2009.

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.

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Which Is Your Favorite Lifehacker DIY Project of 2009?(polls)

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.