DIY Life

When I spied the title "Guard your Laptop with Electric Rings of Death!," well, I had to check it out. And what did I find? Awesome pics of what looks like a bright electric force field circling a laptop! What is this? A DIY electric fence to keep unauthorized sticky fingers off your keyboard? Is it for real? Well, turns out this project is simultaneously very geeky and very cool.

Okay, so it's not a real force field. No, it will not zap your roommate for attempting to access your passwords file. However, creator TeslaDownUnder, says that, yes, the photos are for real and not Photoshopped. It's all done, he says, using a gadget involving rotating electrodes, which was then photographed in a dark room on a long exposure. Voila! Instant force field. Nope, it won't harm a fly. But it looks cool!

Using a old computer keyboard you can make a thin sleeve to protect your CD or DVD from damage. Inside computer keyboards is a thin, flexible, and sturdy membrane with printed circuits on it. Older keyboards tend to have prettier colors and designs in my experience. If you have upgraded to a USB keyboard or one with a bunch of fancy function keys and can not find a taker for your old keyboard grab a small screwdriver and see what's inside.

Making a few sleeves like this could be combined to make a CD wallet. Adding a "jacket" made from an old 5¼ inch floppy diskette gives the newer disc even more protection and also makes your CD protection quite similar to the old familiar albums.

Get your magnifying glass ready. Or your patience, at least. For this is one pesky task, my friends: reattaching a laptop key that has popped off.

I experienced this particular mishap first-hand a few months ago. An over-enthusiastic terrier used my laptop keyboard as a spot from which to vault to the windowsill. Grr. The good news is that even with my non-techie abilities, I was able to fix the problem myself. However, there was a fair bit of humming and hawing involved as I figured out how to click back into place the teensie-weensie plastic hinges that keep your laptop keys click-clacking.

I wish I had known about this -- LaptopRepair101's fine instructions for reattaching laptop keys, complete with excellent close-up photos demonstrating each step. Check it out. Oh, and here are some important facts up-front: Lesson 1: the aforementioned teensie-weensie plastic hinges are actually called key retainers. Lesson 2: if you don't get them repositioned just so, your key will be useless for all time. Lesson 3: be gentle. They are super-fragile. Lesson 4: If you need a replacement key, don't bother calling your computer's manufacturer. Unless you've paid for a tech help plan, they don't care. Instead, search eBay for a replacement key.

I suppose some people don't really care what their computer keyboard looks like, but I find mine to be especially boring. Black with white letters. Yeah, that is sure to wake me up in the morning. Not!! I came across an interesting article on 88bytes.com about a guy who painted his computer keyboard. I think this idea totally rocks and it is sure to wake up my brain when my 2 year old gets me up before I am even ready to think about dragging my butt out of bed.

Step 1. Remove the keys with a flat screwdriver or a butter knife,
being extra careful with the longer keys, especially if they
have a metal hook on the back that attaches to the
keyboard. I would grab a container to put the keys
in, just in case you have a cat or kid that thinks they are now toys.

Step 2. Take the screws out of the back of the keyboard and put them in another small container so that you
don't lose them. Remove any remaining keys from the front plate and clean that dirty nasty keyboard.


Step 3. Spray the keyboard with plastic spray paint. You might have to do this 2 or 3 times to get the desired
effect that you want. Spray very lightly the first time and then heavier the second time. Let dry thoroughly,
probably overnight.

Step 4. Put the keyboard together in the exact opposite way that you took it apart.

I think that taking a picture of the keyboard is helpful in case you might not remember exactly where the keys go. If I had to tell you right now, this instant, where all the keys go, I am most certain that I couldn't do it. I don't think either, that I could sand all the letters and numbers off the keys as mentioned in the article and remember what symbol was what. I am good, but certainly not that good. I like to see what I am typing.