DIY Life

I'm going to show you how to put together a very simple blogging empire for under $10. In today's market of web services, there's often little reason to actually pay for anything, especially if you want to try something out. So if you've ever hankered for a blog of your own, especially one where you can make money, stay tuned. Here are X steps to rolling your own blog (and possibly making a little money at it).

Step One: register a bona-fide domain name

I know it hurts to fork over cash, let alone on something so spurious as a name. And it certainly isn't fair that Yarn.com or Knitting.com or even Superknitting.com are all taken (as of this writing, martianknitting.com IS available). With domains going for peanuts, it isn't surprising that most of the good names are gone. So think about what brand you're trying to create, and come up with something catchy but usable. This, admittedly, is the hardest part of almost any creative endeavor. But there are tools to help!

To quickly find site names that are available, I use instantdomainsearch.com because it checks as you type. Plus, it refers you to several reputable domain sellers once you choose a name. While it won't help you come up with a name, it'll save you grief as you discover all the good names are taken.

If you need help in the creativity department, let's just say there's another blog post on that topic alone, but About.com has a serviceable piece on creating a name for your business. I find Oblique Strategies and the Creative Whack Pack good tools for brainstorming, but there are actually dozens of strategies for creative thought out there.

The point of having a genuine domain, instead of something like jimboknits.blogspot.com is that no one will remember your rather long website name! Buying a domain name simply puts your foot into cyberspace with a proper landing spot. Read on for where you get the blogging done, how you add video and pictures, and how to monetize your blog.

Have you ever been caught in a sticky situation and wished that a super hero would come to the rescue? Not to worry folks, now you can make your own super hero online and have them ready to serve you at a moment's notice. Under Ground Online has made it easy for you to assemble the component parts which will give you a really cool looking super hero character portrait. Granted, it's only a picture of a super hero but it's your own creation and perhaps even an extension of your ego.

You can choose male or female, human or mutation. You get to choose their entire outfit, piece by piece. You even get to give them awesome side arms and other weapons. What you can't do is make a replica of a well known super hero which already exists. Well, you can make a replica but that would be naughty.

All you aspiring cartoonists out there owe it to yourself to take a trip to Hero Machine 2.5 to give it a try. It's easy, it's fun and if you get hit with a mega dose of gamma rays while you're working on your super hero creation, perhaps the attributes you have chosen shall be transmuted into your DNA making you into a real super hero... but probably not.

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.

Coming into this blog post, number four in my series about building your own computer, I finally have had some of the components delivered. I have included some pictures and information to keep you up to date, but we're not nearly ready to begin assembling parts. I'm hoping that my editors aren't getting too annoyed that I haven't started actually screwing parts together yet. Perhaps I should have told them that I didn't have $900 dollars to plunk down to buy all the parts at one time. Oh well, my intention was to walk you through this slowly any way. You can see my first three lead -in posts via this link!


This week I went through the process of choosing my hard drives. Yes, I mean drive(S), as in more than one. After getting various opinions on the subject I have decided that my new computer shall be set up with two hard drives. One will serve for daily use and the second one will be a fully updated backup kept on hand as an instant replacement just in case the first one fails. It was suggested that I could run the two hard drives in tandem, using one for the operating system and one for image storage which is a fine idea also but I have determined that I do not need that volume of data storage capacity yet and that option would still leave me needing a back up solution. I can always throw another drive in there. That's one of the advantages of building a computer from scratch.

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.

Okay, you're back from your summer vacation and have an ample amount of digital camcorder or camera (or both) footage sitting on a shelf or desk waiting to be spruced up into a menu-laden DVD that you can burn for friends and family. The effort to get all that footage into something worthy of a movie studio DVD may be easier than you think.

Even to technology neophytes, just possessing a newer computer with Windows Vista Home Premium or the newest version of MacOS X (along with a DVD burner) will get you off and running. If you have a digital camcorder with a FireWire connection -- and your PC has one -- you should be set. But what about mixing in still photos along with your camcorder footage? I recently had this problem and found a pretty decent solution.

Mark Frauenfelder is well-known to web-heads as the editor of MAKE magazine and the founder of BoingBoing, which may be the world's most popular English-language blog (they say it is, anyway). His recent book, Rule The Web, is full of tips and tricks to help you do just that. Even if you think you're an old hand at this Internet game, you might still be able to learn something from his book.

Some of the tips in the book, like the general information about eBay, will seem like no-brainers to anyone who has any experience with the sites or processes in question. But there are also sidebar tips, labeled "Deeper," which usually include inside or obscure information that may be new even to quasi-experts.

Find out more about Rule the Web after the break!

I need a new computer. While Apple, Dell and Hewlett-Packard all make fine machines, I want something made just for me. I want a custom machine which will serve all my needs. It needs to be fast, quiet and powerful. It needs enough on-board memory so I never have to worry about memory availability again. It needs the capability to duplicate a CD or DVD. It needs to be outfitted for web-casts, video production, digital image editing and all those other things which a home / small business computer is depended upon. Oh yeah, and it must be virtually indestructible. A self-cleaning function would be nice too, but I think that might be asking a bit much. Now here's the angle: I want our DIY Life readers to help me assemble my component package. I want your input about the parts I will need to assemble this top-notch machine.

My first consideration is my power feed. I don't mean the interior power source for the machine itself, I'm talking about the power management unit I plug my computer into.

I didn't know what a lenticular image was until I saw this cool Photojojo photo tutorial on how to make one yourself. Apparently its an image that looks different depending on which way you look at it. I remember seeing magnets like this when I was a kid and thought they were really cool. (hopefully I didn't just date myself)

Photojojo shows you how to make your own lenticular image using two digital photos, Photoshop (or another photo editing program), cardstock and your printer. All you need to know is how to run your program and you can make a really cool picture that appears to move or change as you move side to side.

The idea is to use two photos that are of the same object in different states and mash the together in your editing program. Such as a flower closed and then open or your baby before and after eating chocolate pudding. Anything that shows a cool before and after.

This is such a cool idea I am going to have to try it myself. Maybe for a fun Christmas gift for the grandmothers this year.

They've been doing it since the 60's. People are trying to "find themselves." If they would have just asked me, I could have saved them a lot of time and trouble because I know one of the absolute fastest ways there is to find yourself.

All the seekers of self need to do is to make a Google search of their phone number. Just type your phone number into the little box this way: 555 555 1212 . In most cases, Google will then tell you exactly where you are, if you're at home that is.

What is even better is that with one additional click, most people can get a map right to their house, or to somebody else's house as far as that goes. I'm told that Google was even kind enough to provide an opt out link for this service. As of yet, I haven't found that link.

I just couldn't resist providing this handy information to you. It's the quickest way I know of to find yourself. While this process may leave the hippies and existentialists with some unanswered questions, it's still a darn good way to get a map to Aunt Tillie's house!

Did you ever wonder how people make some of those cool looking pictures and logos that you see on the Internet? It's easier than you may think. You can do it too, if you have more than just a basic paint program and also have some time on your hands. Let me take you on a simplistic journey into making an amateur logo. I use Paint Shop Pro version 9. In my opinion, it's the single best digital art and photo program I have encountered and it can easily be learned by average folks like me.

The logo in the attached gallery and tutorial took me just under an hour to make. The tips and screen shots should help make this an easy project for you. Much, if not all of what I describe can be done on many different paint programs. I have been using digital image editing software for many years and Paint Shop Pro is the best I have gotten my hands on thus far.

Take a look at the tutorial and please feel free to ask any questions using our comment section. Enjoy!

Going off to college is often a huge shock for Freshmen students. Not only are they leaving home for the first time, but they are living in a an all too often drab, uninspiring, concrete box called a dorm room. Add to that mix the fact that dorm rooms require a roommate situation and problems often arise. Dorm rooms can end up looking like a really bad mix of grandma's hand me downs and a garage sale gone bad.

The folks at Homeslyce have worked out a great solution to this problem. It is a way for college students to design their dorm room, buy the products and even collaborate with their future roommates, all online. The site offers a simple, comprehensive collection of bean bags, futons, water filter containers and linens. There is an option for both roommates to share the design and a shopping cart so that each roommate only has to pay for one half of the merchandise.

I wish there had been a site like this when I was in college. My roommate and I might not have squabbled so over her yellow shag carpet.