Tag archive: DIY

Detailed at Telnets.org, a fan of Valve's Portal series converted his computer room into a full-blown Aperture Laboratories office complete with a Cave Johnson oil painting, Test Chamber sign, lemon grenades and even a hidden message within the room. After leaving the home office beige for the last three years, he decided to give the entire room a theme rather than simply changing the paint color. While Nintendo's Mario franchise… Read More

In an installment of cool projects that unfortunately can't be purchased, we bring you the eSleeper cat bed from designer Samuel Cox. Most cats do their daily napping on a chair, couch, or in an uninteresting cushy cat basket. We never saw that as much of a problem, but designer Samuel Cox wanted his cat to have a more evolved napping site, so he took an old eMac, threw in some Arduino, spoken Tweets, and ambient lighting and created the… Read More

Expanding your repertoire as a photographer is as easy as lining up those white and red dots, and tossing a different lens on your camera. That part is simple… it’s the affording that new lens part that can be challenging. But there is a solution: Do it yourself. We scoured the great wide web for the most effective (and realistic) ways to make your own lenses and other camera equipment. In this guide, we’ll take you through a collection of… Read More

Suddenly as of late, I’ve been getting a raft of questions about which particular laptop and PC models stand out for use with Windows 7. It must be shopping time, and my guess is that a bunch of you are tired of the aging desktop and notebook products you are using and are now on the hunt for something new. Here, I’ll walk you through the products that I think stand out in this regard, from low-cost netbooks to business laptops, desktops, and… Read More

There are two ways of making your PC run faster: You can spend money upgrading to new components (buying a faster videocard, more memory, or maybe even a more advanced CPU), or you can follow our guidance and invest a little of your time instead of your greenbacks and tune up your computer for free. Besides, spending money on an old machine isn’t always a good investment. Plugging a spendy new videocard into a system with an aging CPU, for… Read More

Spending a lot of money on your home theater and then not getting the most out of it is like eating pizza without tomato sauce. It’s really just a bunch of cheesy bread. To get that special sauce for your room, we recommend making a few simple adjustments and enhancements to let your theater truly shine. From a budget system to a high-end pin-up of a system, the following tips will get you dialed in, quick. 1) The Mirror Trick. “One of the most… Read More

The old axiom that you can’t upgrade a laptop has never been less true. Sure, your nay-saying, desktop-bound friends who repeat it have a basic kernel of truth in their favor – the core guts of a mobile machine are pretty much set in stone. But if you’re not looking to completely revamp a computer (which can hardly be called an upgrade anyway), aftermarket manufacturers have found plenty of clever ways to skirt the issue of expandability, and… Read More

We don’t know about you, but we’re tired of hearing about the economy. Who says you can’t have a little fun during tough times? While building a home theater may not sound like the most prudent idea, you can do it for relatively cheap – if you do it yourself! You’ll save money on the cost of an electronic systems consultant, the cost of gear, learn some really cool tricks, and have a blast doing it. Here are a few of our favorite DIY tips for… Read More

We’ve experimented with any number of home media servers that will stream YouTube, play movies across a home network, and stream music from a library of connected home storage appliance. And they’re nice if that’s all you ever want to do. But for ultimate flexibility, nothing beats a true home theater PC. Using a fully functional PC, you throw away all the limitations of a traditional set top box, building up a box that does exactly what you… Read More

When you have your first child, people seem to come out of the woodwork with all kinds of advice. There are endless unsolicited tips on diapering, feeding and sleep schedules. Well, to many, a home theater is like a baby, and with its birth comes a lot of opinion. Everyone and their installer has ideas, tweaks, products and plenty of other info. After all, there are endless audio and video products, as well as spaces, setups and resources. We… Read More