DIY web site Instructables steps through how to build your own scroll wheel—like the Griffin PowerMate—with an old mouse, remote control car wheel (or similarly sized wheel that fits your hand), and a fair amount of elbow greese. The guide is detailed and the results, as you can see in the video above, are very impressive. The author even uses previously mentioned Volumouse to take his scroll wheel to the next level of usefulness. If you've got the skills to follow along, this looks like an excellent weekend project.

The Driinn Mobile Phone Holder declutters your charging portable device by providing both a place to store your device and a method for controlling its long cable while it charges. This charging holder about half the price of the previously mentioned Socket Pocket and charging hammock, and the wrap-around for long cords really cleans things up. The Driinn Mobile Phone Holder comes in a variety of colours and will set you back around $7 at Amazon.

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US-centric: Coupons—they're never around when you get that sudden urge to splurge on electronics. Not so with a 10-percent-off printable discount at Best Buy, which is posted as an image at a U.S. Postal Service "Mover's Guide" site with... Read More »

US-centric: Recycle your old electronics for free with the US Postal Service's new "Mail Back" program. The program, which allows you to discard your used electronics in an environmentally friendly manner, provides free envelopes in 1,500 post offices to... Read More »

Lifehacker reader Jenny writes in with a fix to an audio equipment problem that sounds like it came from the "Hit It Really Hard" repair theory, but comes endorsed by at least a few other audiophiles I found in a bit of Google-ing. Both her old record-player and a newer CD player were causing a loud crackling noise whenever she adjusted the volume knob. One solution she found—take the device apart and clean the knob contacts—wasn't all that appealing, so she tried another

Turn the stereo off, then quickly turn the volume knob back and forth for about a minute to get rid of most of the grime that is causing the static. Then turn it back on.

You wouldn't want to do this too quickly, of course, but it's not a bad idea for older equipment you want to hold onto. Another sage suggestion I found was using a low-powered, hand-held vacuum cleaner to suck out any particles that could be causing the same problems.

Good magazine has an interesting chart in their latest issue that details how much energy your vampire devices use, and how much it costs you to keep them plugged in. The guide differentiates between devices that are in "active" (ready to leap to life) and "passive" (just plugged in) standby modes, and some items are real shockers. A plasma TV, for instance, can cost about $160 per year just to keep plugged in. That Wii you got your hands on? $25 before you even hit one virtual tennis ball. The takeaway for me, at least, is thinking about putting some devices on power strips and turning them off if I know I won't be using them for a day or more.

Like to tinker but just don't have the hands to keep up with all your doin's? Build a third hand to assist your work with a howto from DIY web site Instructables. You can buy similar "third hand" tools at electronics stores, but according to the author they just don't do the job of this robust, inexpensive third hand. If electronics tinkering isn't your thing, you could still use this for anything from scrapbooking to recipe card holder, and seems to me that with a few tweaks to the design you could even turn the third hand into your own anywhere tripod.