DIY Life

We've reported on Bug Labs before. They make a sort of gadget LEGO system so you can easily build stuff like a GPS-enabled alarm clock. Not useful? Ask the guy who kept missing his train stop by falling asleep!

I spoke to Bug Labs founder Peter Semmelhack about what the company is up to, and how the future of DIY is shaping up.

My husband is a self-proclaimed computer geek. We don't just have a home computer; we have a downstairs server through which all of our incoming and outgoing email is processed. We have an upstairs computer which is the hub we can connect to remotely.

Add two laptops, a wireless router, a docking station, and infinitely many things that I cannot begin to tell you what they are used for, and you have our state-of-the-art wired household.

Did I say wired? You betcha. With technology comes wires, cables, and a mis-mash of mess -- everywhere! -- and that's where Creatrope's Card Cable Organizer comes in.

Technology is both a blessing and a curse. Sure, cell phones are getting smaller and smaller, which is a plus for portability. To me, though, small cell phones spell opportunity for accidents. It is easier for them to slip through hands and wind up, say, in a bathtub, boiling pot of pasta, or bowl of soup.

If you are like me and you've just ruined your free cell phone that came with your cheap calling plan, you probably aren't too alarmed. Is that fancy iPhone more your style? You'll want to do something about your wet cell phone, and fast.

Popular Mechanics gives detailed, step-by-step instructions of how to attempt to save your cell phone after getting it wet. Tips like surrounding it in dry rice or silica gel packets could help, as could using an air compressor or shop vac to blow or suck the wetness out.

Other tips? Avoid heat (no hair dryers!) and rinse with fresh water if salt water has gotten into your cell. Hopefully these tips will help you save your fancy cell phone so you don't end up with the free version, like me.

(via HackNMod)

You know, there are some DIY projects that are such a bad, bad, bad idea that you can't imagine people need to be told NOT to do them, and yet they're out there! Here we have just such a bad, bad, bad idea.

It's the cell phone hoax -- you know, the one where someone apparently makes a kernel of popcorn explode using their cell phone? Seems it's done by taking the magnetron out of your microwave and cooking the kernel from under the table. Do we really, really need to explain that a magnetron is dangerous? That there's a good reason it's carefully housed inside a casing inside your microwave?

That reason would be radioactivity. You know, the stuff that causes cancer, mutations, sterility and/or death, which is really not something you want to broadcast willy-nilly all over your kitchen.

So, yes, you likely can pop a popcorn kernel this way. And your future children may all be born with three eyeballs. Are you sure it's worth it?

As a man, getting up and going to the bathroom in the dark is much better than turning on blazing lights to do the same thing. Of course, there is the problem of missing the bowl. That's where this little built night light for the toilet by Robbtoberfest (me) at Instructables comes in handy.

Lift the seat and it shines a dim red light into the bowl, just enough for aiming, but not so bright that it ruins night vision. Drop the seat and it automatically turns off. A good gift for Father's day -- or any "man day" occasion.

You'll find the instructions after the break!

Iron Man gear is all the rage these days, thanks to the popularity of the new hit movie. We recently went to my nephew's fourth birthday party, and as a gift, he received an Iron Man mask and an arm attachment that shoots discs. Ah, the weaponry a four-year-old apparently needs....

If you've got an Iron Man buff in your household, why spend the money on a store-bought mask and arc reactor when you can build one yourself? Details after the break.

The other day, Make:blog mentioned the new 5.0 release of Eagle. Cadsoft Eagle is the most popular circuit design and layout software among DIY'ers, and the program I use in all my projects. Today I designed a project with Eagle 5 and journaled my favorite updates. I also tested compatibility with the current and beta versions of Eagle3D, a 3D circuit board rendering program.

Cadsoft Eagle 5

Eagle 5 installs to dedicated version 5 directory -- the new version won't overwrite a previous install. You still have full access to your original stuff if anything goes wrong.

When I start Eagle 5 it attempts network access; this might be an auto updater or license checker. It didn't complain when I permanently blocked access.



All my old schematics and circuit board files from Eagle 4.16r2 load in the new version. The board layout editor got a minor makeover with "web 2.0" pastel color shades.

Say goodbye to the awkward ALT+Backspace undo, because Cadsoft joined the rest of the world and standardized on CTRL+Z!!! Need I say more? Oh happy day!



Eagle now has right-click context menus in the schematic editor and the board layout editor. While context menus are ubiquitous (does your browser have it?), previous versions of Eagle pretend the right mouse button doesn't exist.