Other Devices

How To: Transform Multiple Screens into One Big Virtual Display

The Junkyard Jumbotron is an amazing project that allows a collection of random web browser enabled displays—laptops, smartphones or tablets—to share a single image split across the group, creating one large virtual display. Created by Rick Borovoy at MIT's Center for Future Civic Media, the app is completely free and open, meaning you can do it yourself in a matter of minutes. It works like this:

How To: Repair the Vivitar 285's Flash Foot

In this tutorial, we learn how to repair the Vivitar 285's Flash Foot. First, remove the flash foot using a soldering iron. Melt the solder just enough, don't ruin the wires or the backing. Now, set the iron down and then short the wires out, you will see the flash go off when you do this. Trim of the exposed wire from the end, then wrap a small amount of electrical tape around the wires. After this, you will repair the metal around where the wires were connected. Then, solder the wires back ...

How To: Use magnetic card readers and writers with your PC

Magnetic card readers can make e-transactions far simpler, especially for people who are running their own small business. You can also watch this video to learn about card writers, which can let you create your own magnetic cards (such as a membership card) to track your customers' activity.

How To: Print 2-sided (duplex) w/ an Epson all-in-one printer

The Epson video describes how to print two-sided on one piece of paper. When document is ready, go to "File" and then "Print". Click the "Properties" button and select Page Layout tab and turn on the two-sided printing option. Click "OK" in print window. Wait for Epson printer to complete the first page. Take paper, flip over and put it back upside down in the paper feeder. There are instructions that will pop out on screen for this. Click resume and the second page will be printed on the bac...

How To: Troubleshoot common problems with a CD player

CD players are largely a thing of the past, but their audio quality is still top-notch. If your old CD player is broken, watch this video for ideas on ways to troubleshoot common CD player problems and repair them.

How To: Clean a cassette player

Learn how to clean a cassette player. Cassette players may be outdated, but if you've still got tapes, you're going to want to keep them in good condition.

How To: Calculate compound interest using a TI-84 and solver

This is a video tutorial in the Electronics category where you are going to learn how to calculate compound interest using a TI-84 and solver. Press the apps button on the calculator and press enter to load the TVM Solver which is the 1st choice. Here the meaning of various notations are N is time, I% is the percentage, PV is present value, PMT is payment, FV is future value and C/Y is compounding period. The problem is find the compound amount and the interest earned on $12,903.45 compounded...

News: World's First Super Soaker, the 4.4 Pound Cell Phone, and More

Wired posts a gallery of the original models of now iconic devices, with some fun tech-fetish facts. Did you know the first cell phone weighed a whopping 4.4 pounds? Or that the world's first super soaker was invented completely by accident? Examples below; click through for Wired's complete gallery.

How To: Graph Mario on a TI-83 Calculator

When it comes to graphing and comparing functions, the TI-83 graphing calculator is the end-all device for math and science students. But one of the most entertaining aspects of Texas Instruments' powerful algebraic and trigonometric calculator is not the equations themselves, but rather the art that can be "equated" on them—just think of them as the mathematical equivalent of the Etch A Sketch.

How To: Hack someone's web cam or online security camera

This tutorial will let you hack into a wide selection of web cams and online security cameras. The hack is actually quite easy, and is best done with a browser like Mozilla Firefox. Navigate to Google in your browser, and then type in "inurl:viewerframe?mode+refresh". This piece of code will open up a list of active webcams. Then just surf through your choices and watch whatever you want. You can even change the camera angle and zoom in and out of the picture!

How To: Use an external hard drive for extra storage with your AppleTV

Movies, TV shows and other media content can fill up even the most generous hard drive quickly. You can use MediaUSB on aTV Flash to connect an external USB drive to your AppleTV for extra media storage capability, and this tutorial shows you how. Make the most of your Apple TV!

How To: Make your laser pointer run on AAA batteries

This video shows us the method to make your laser pointer work with AAA batteries. Take a metal casing made of metal. In the video, we take a Duracell mini flashlight and remove the front and back part. Unscrew the top and back of the laser pointer and remove the batteries. Roll some aluminium foil and put it in the metal casing. Put the AAA batteries in the casing with positive side inside. Put the casing and the laser pointer together and the laser works. Bind the two together by two rubber...

How To: Simply read a binary clock

Sydus 93 teaches You Tubers how to read a binary clock by demonstrating the following process: A binary clock is made up of four rows and six columns of colored or uncolored dots. The rows, from bottom to top, represent the numbers one, two, four and eight. From left to right, columns one and two represent hours, three and four minutes and five and six are seconds. In order to tell time using the binary clock, begin at the left of your chart and simply determine which dots are filled in and a...

How To: Set a Rolex Day-Date President wristwatch

This video tutorial from Melrose Jewelers shows you how to set a Rolex Day-Date President wristwatch. Setting the Rolex Day-Date can be done with just a few simple steps. You will see how to set the day, the date, and time... just watch.

How To: Use a TI-84 calculator as an MP3 Player!

With the help of a program called TItunes & standard earbuds (and adapter) we can listen to music played by a TI84! Mod you calculator to play music. This only works on a TI84, not a TI83.

How To: Set up an X10 spy camera

The spy camera shown in this how-to video has a 60 foot cable, and is full color and has audio. This spy cam can be used as a security device, or to feed paranoid delusions or stalking urges. Watch this video tutorial and learn how to set up an X10 spy camera.

How To: Strip your Casio fx-82MS calculator

Take a look at this instructional video and learn how to take apart a Casio fx-82MS calculator. First, you'll need to get a screwdriver the take off the calculator's backplate. Make sure not to misplace those screws afterwards. You should be able to see the motherchip after taking off the plate, this is the next item you'll want to remove. These screws are extremely small so it might be best to use a knife to unscrew them. Lift the motherchip and take out the rubber key pad off. To put it bac...

How To: View a waveform of an inverter on a oscilloscope

Checking the waveform on a car plug-in inverter, like the type you would use to power a laptop computer in a car. I used my NLS MS-215 Miniscope to view the waveform. As you can see it is much more like a squarewave than a sinewave, like a staircase waveform.

How To: Resize a Breitling watch bracelet

Here is a video showing how to resize a Breitling Watch Bracelet. If you have small wrists, or just like a loose fitting watch, just get a screwdriver and watch.

How To: Make your own air conditioner

Step by step instructions on how to make an air conditioner using parts that cost less than $40.

How To: Make a laser out of a lighter

Kipkay has a new cool project for you. In this video, you'll learn how to make a laser out of a lighter. All you need to do is a cheap butane lighter. Any one will do, including one bought from a convenience store. Just watch this how-to video, and you'll be playing with your laser pointer in no time at all!

How To: Create a radiation detector using a digital camera and a plastic scintillator

If you're interested in creating a dosimeter using simple tools, take a look at this video. Using a digital camera, a plastic scintillator, and some tape a radiation dosimeter can be crafted allowing for radiation information to be collected with simple materials.

How To: Add Mic Input and Headphones Output to Samsung HMX-T10 Camcorder

This is the cheapest device to gather interviews as a small, easy-to-carry recorder. I started to use it for preproduction and film documentation after I bought it in a Polish discount shop for about 100 Euro. The only problem was very poor sound quality.

News: Copycat Apple Stores Emerge in China (Don't Let Them Fool You!)

It's no secret that Apple has retail stores in China, along with a large amount of Premium and Authorized Resellers. But a recent post by blogger BirdAbroad has caused quite a commotion in the world of all things Apple, claiming that in her home city of Kunming, there is another breed of Apple Store locations... "Un"Authorized ones.

News: Japan's Flying, Tumbling Reconnaissance Sphere Soars at 37 MPH

Flying orbs. At first, you might think of the Tall Man and his army of flying sentinel spheres, equipped with zombie brains and a mini-arsenal of saw blades, drill bits and shooting lasers. But these flying orbs weren't conceived from the evil mind of a superhuman mortician—they were designed by Fumiyuki Sato, a researcher at the Japanese Defense Ministry's Technical Research and Development Institute—for something other than deadly deeds.

News: FakeTV Keeps Burglars Away by Mimicking Television Light and Scene Changes

In the last decade, burglary rates in the United States have fluctuated little with over 2 million burglaries each year. In 2009, nearly three quarters of all burglaries were from residential properties, with over sixty percent being forcible entry. But we all know burglars don't like confrontation—they prefer breaking into apartments and houses when its owners are away. And that's why it's a must for apartment dwellers and homeowners to be on the defensive, even when they're not home.

Coming Soon: Spy Video Glasses with Real Time Streaming to... Facebook?

Lady Gaga and Polaroid's upcoming Grey Label Camera Glasses can record video and snap pictures, but who really wants to show the world what they're up too on those mini LCD screens? It's nothing more than a fancy gimmick between a pop star and a failing company. Isn't the intention of camera glasses to capture things around you as they are? Drawing attention to yourself with clunky video-displaying eyewear kind of defeats the purpose, but that's why they're "fashion" glasses and not practical...

News: The World's First Teensy, Weensy 3D Printed Bikini

For the hefty price of $200 and up, you can be the proud owner of the world's first 3D printed bikini. And not just the first bikini, but reportedly the first functional and affordable item of ready-to-wear 3D printed clothing on the market. Created by Continuum Fashion, the N12 3D printed bikini is revolutionary because it addresses the technical challenge of creating flexible "textiles" with 3D printed material. The bikini is made of a material called Nylon 12, which is entirely waterproof.

Tactile Communication: The Tickle-Me iPhone & Remote French Kissing

In recent years, communication has become more intimate with the advent of applications like Skype and FaceTime, but what about the longing for actual physical contact? What if you could feel a loved one's hand, or even exchange a kiss? Impossible, right?

News: New Biometric Device Steals Fingerprints from 6 Feet Away

Dactyloscopy isn’t going anywhere. Forensic science has much relied on fingerprinting as a means of identification, largely because of the massive amount of fingerprints stored in the FBI’s biometric database (IAFIS), which houses over 150,000 million prints. And thanks to the departure of messy ink-stained fingertips, biometric analysis isn’t just for solving crimes anymore.

How To: Use a metal detector to find gold and gold nuggets

This video will show you how to use a metal detector to look for gold. There are gold nuggets in rivers and hillsides all over the United States, waiting for you to find them. With the proper equipment and a little know how, you can strike gold!

Amazing Invention of the Day: The Fastidious Icky Goo Scooper

Outstanding advancements in medicine and super creepy Androids aren't the only jaw-dropping inventions out there. Every once in a while, an incredibly random—and at first glance, seemingly useless—device comes along and strikes a chord of strangely deep satisfaction. Behold, the SWITL, a mysterious goo-scraper robot hand created by factory equipment manufacturer Furukawa Kikou: From what I can glean from a very rough Google translation, it sounds like the SWITL was developed for food producti...

News: The Stupid Orchestra

How can an orchestra be stupid, one may ask? Well, when musically measuring a toaster next to a cello, one device certainly comes across as inherently… dumber. Think 200 vintage vacuum cleaners, blenders and washing machines assembled into a whirling, ringing, humming cacophony of daily function. It's not exactly music to the ears, but a kind of robotic harmony is formed.

News: Print Yourself in 3D

Since the early genesis of the brilliant Microsoft Kinect hack, inventive applications have been popping up nonstop. One of the most fascinating projects to surface recently falls within the realm of 3D printing. "Fabricate Yourself"—a hack presented at the Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction Conference in January—allows users to pose in front of an Xbox Kinect, which then converts a captured image into a 3D printable file. What does this mean exactly? Think Han Solo trapped in carbon...

Size Matters: World's Largest Touchscreen Hacked Together with Ordinary Hardware

It's gigantic! It can handle over 100 simultaneous touch points! It has a curvature of 135 degrees! And best of all, it is not the newest, insanely expensive gadget to hit the market. Instead, this touchscreen was hacked together with a bunch of PCs, video cameras, projectors and cheap infrared illuminators at the University of Groningen, in the Netherlands. It works like this: "The cameras, illuminators and projectors are all placed behind a large, cylindrical screen (formally used as a 3D t...

News: The Anti-Cheater Hidden Camera Wall Hook

WonderHowTo loves gadgets. We also tend to enjoy getting our hands (just a little bit) dirty. So, naturally, Brando's Wall Hook Coat Hanger Camcorder is the latest gadget to excite. Disguised as a coat hanger, the device is actually a camera triggered by motion detection. And paired with the see-all glass doorknob, your significant other ain't getting away with nothing...

How To: Use Huluplus to watch movies and shows on the Roku Digital Video Player

The Roku Digital Video Player is one of the best of the net-video-streaming boxes to come out over the last few years, and now is partnered with Hulu to offer Huluplus on it's devices. This video will show you how to use Huluplus on a Roku to watch all your favorite Hulu content quickly and easily.

How To: Stream any video to your AppleTV with a jailbroken iOS 4.2 device

So you've got an AppleTV, but you can't watch half the stuff you want because it won't play it. Well, do you have a jailbroken iOS 4.2 device? Sweet! Just follow along with this video, and pretty soon you'll be watching any sort of video you want in no time at all.

News: When Will the iPad Be Paper Thin?

Below, designer Chris Woebken's Flicflex isn't a new concept (Woebken displayed it at MOMA in '08), but still amazingly cool. And still not on the consumer market. Watch his paper thin, magazine-like "page turning": "Opening a letter, unfolding it and feeling the texture of the paper is a very tactile experience compared to receiving an e-mail. On top of the content itself, the behavior and micro-interactions adds a level of engagement to the medium. Flicflex explores the possibilities of fut...

How To: Use Hulu Plus on a Roku digital video player

Ever wish you could watch your favorite Hulu shows on your TV using your Roku media player? Before November 17th, 2010, you were out of luck — now, in most cases, it's as easy as running a software update! This clip will show you what to do you get Hulu Plus up and running on your own television using your Roku set-top box.