DIY Life

Do you have old tapes kicking around? Recently, my husband's parents cleared out the old boxes they had been keeping from his childhood. Along with some trophies and LEGO there were boxes and boxes of cassette tapes. Many were mixes that he'd spent hours recording off the radio and making the perfect music compilation. As fun as those are to listen to, most of it can be downloaded. You'll get better quality and most of those 80's favorites should be readily available. What can't be downloaded elsewhere are his first music recording or memorable concerts. There were also some old books on tape that I haven't seen in ages. These recordings can't be replaced.

A year ago, Lifehacker taught us how to digitize old cassette tapes. In the spirit of getting organized before the New Year, let's get rid of the tape boxes, and get those recordings digitized. In case you missed it last year, or it's still on your to do list, have a look through the instructions. With a few tools and Audacity (an audio editing program), you can save these tapes in digital format to enjoy again and share with your children and grandchildren. The best part is that you can then ditch all those old boxes that are taking up space in your garage.

If you are unsure what to do with your old laptop, don't throw it away. Instructables user Timatron gives us pictures and complete step by step instructions on how to turn an old laptop into a hanging digital painting. Timatron takes you through the steps of very carefully removing the hinges from the laptop, taking out the battery, framing and matting the laptop, and hanging it up on the wall.

What a neat way to keep your old laptop out of the garbage! Have fun with this project and let your imagination fly as you pick out cool images to use for your new digital painting. Turn your old laptop into a neat Christmas gift and show off your kids to the grandparents. I bet Gramma and Grampa would love to receive such a cool present.

Selecting the audio and video cards for your new computer can be a daunting task. Breaking down your computer needs and desires into terms of functionality, you can make sense of how the multitude of dedicated processing cards can be sorted out to serve your particular needs.

Dedicated processing cards are sort of like your computer's main processor, except they are designed to handle specific tasks and types of information. Video or graphics cards are responsible for how visual data is displayed on your viewing screen. Sound cards are responsible for handling the performance of your speakers and other music or sound-related working applications

Your dedicated processing cards are two of the biggest component decisions you'll encounter when making your new machine truly customized. To make good choices, you need to go back to the very beginning of your computer planning and review exactly what you want your new computer to accomplish for you. Once you are reaffirmed in your computer performance desires, then you can proceed in choosing your processing cards and make your machine truly personalized.

Every so often, someone comes up with something new to do with a Moleskine or similar notebook. Often, these are DIY versions of existing products: "I bought a Moleskine knock-off and it doesn't come with a pocket in back, so I added my own." You know the drill.

Mike Rohde's Planner Hack is that kind of site: it uses a regular Moleskine to make a week-at-a-glance calendar. And to be honest, to me, it initially seemed pointless. Moleskine already makes a week-at-a-glance calendar that won't break the bank, and the process of making one by drawing lines all over the pages and labeling them sounds like a tedious one. Why not just buy the one that's out there? Then I thought about it, and further reading confirmed what I realized.

Earth-shattering epiphanies await you after the break!

Yeah, we all know that the all-powerful iPod, which Apple has turned into a perpetual cash machine, gives many of us our portable music fix just about anywhere we are, from the car to the treadmill, but if you're into solutions that you build yourself, and are handy with electronic parts, why not build your own MP3 player?

Many folks I know use their MP3 players to listen to news podcasts and music collections in their cars only. Do you need iPod fashion in your vehicle? Maybe not, an that is where a self-built MP3 digital audio player could be useful. Now that SD memory cards are insanely cheap (2GB cards go for under $20), what's keeping you from building your own MP3 hack job?

With a microcontroller chip, a power source (preferably a Lithium-Ion battery), a storage module (like an SD card), a small color display (like from a 2005-era cellphone) and a few assorted chips (like a MP3 decoding chip and amp circuit), you too can have your own MP3 player from scratch. Now, this is the type of solution that may take some skills in the areas of schematics reading and directions, but if you're not willing to depart with two benjamins for that latest iPod nano, break out your electrostatic gloves and get busy here.

Now this has to be one of the coolest hacks for a smaller Canon digital camera that I have seen. It has spy appeal plus you earn instant geek points with just about anyone who will see this in action should you choose to build it.

Yes, anyone can strap one of the newer digicams to a remote-controlled (RC) plane and send that plane to the sky (with automatic image capture enabled, of course), but I doubt any pictures would come out decent if good PC plane-mounted images were your goal.

Taking photographs of people can be hard enough, but when you want to capture a family memory for eternity the pressure is really on.

Baby Center has gathered some tips from photographer moms that help take the mystery out of photographing your family.

I for one can speak to Tip #1, which suggests that when you have the kids say "cheese," you are asking for an unauthentic smile. When we ask Owen to smile, not only do we get to see all twenty of his pearly whites, but the rest of his face scrunches up into an uber-squint. Not a good look.

One of the things I most enjoy about my computer is the creative potential it offers to me. Being that I'm a semi-accomplished artist, my computer's video card has become an extension of my personality. In that regard, my Paint Shop Pro (PSP) program has opened up illustration capabilities to me that would have otherwise gone unrealized.

Recently, I used PSP to make a cartoon out of myself. I think the results I produced would make Stan Lee proud. The pictures I have included outline the basic steps of the process. You'll notice that the end result is just a bit idealistic. You can make many desired improvements upon your subject when you transform it into digital form. I believe that's one of the things that I most enjoy about digital editing.

Whether you're a seasoned do-it-yourself guru or just getting started on new projects around your home, there are several ways to put your digital camera to good use while you're at it. If you' re doing a really messy project, like applying stucco to the walls in your new room addition, consider picking up a used -- or even disposable -- digital camera instead. Here are five ways we've used ours when working on DIY projects around the home and office.