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Turn a Hallmark Music Card into a Cereal Box Speaker
Posted by Kevin Purdy at 7:50 AM on May 19, 2008
Instructables poster Justin Seiter didn't let a slightly cheesey but expensive Hallmark card with audio go to waste. Using a glue gun, a junky set of old headphones, electrical tape, a utility knife and a mini-cereal box, he created a speaker for his iPod (or any stereo-jack-accepting device). It might not power your home theatre, but it gets stereo sound from the headphone wires and might make for a geek-pride spare speaker in a bedroom or bathroom. Hit the link for full instructions on piecing your childhood breakfast favourites and throwaway electronics into modern audio accessories.
Macworld contributor Brian Jepson isn't content with just connecting external drives, mice, scanners, and printers to his Mac—he wants to control custom hardware. He explains how to do just that with a microcontroller. Jepson writes: 
When it's time to finally clear out that dusty trunk full of home movies on VHS tapes, you have a couple of options: pay someone to transfer all that precious video to DVD, or do it yourself. For several hours of tape, having it done can get expensive, so the Unclutterer blog runs down the steps for capturing and burning VHS videos to disk the DIY way. You'll need a video capture card or external capture device (a camcorder will work), and to import it to a video application like iMovie or Windows Movie Maker. From there you can edit the clips, add titles, music, and burn the whole shebang to DVD. The whole process isn't a quick one, depending on how much tape you have and how fast a system and large a hard drive you've got. Have you digitised old VHS tapes? Got any gear or tricks that made it faster or easier? Let us know in the comments.
Give your cat a comfy place to snooze and save some money by turning an old sweater into a cat bed. Step-by-step tutorial site wikiHow runs down how. The result can even be a dog bed (for small dogs) and your pet will love cuddling up in something that smells like you, too.
Tech site Ars Technica runs down the basics of securing your home wireless network with the most secure and up-to-date methods. The main takeaway is that when you enable encryption on your wireless router, use WPA encryption instead of WEP, because it's better and stronger. 
If you don't feel like you're doing a job right unless you involve power tools in the mix, web site Sleepy Dog Labs details how to put together a cleaning brush with power-drill chops. In all it's a pretty simple process, and when you're done you'll be begging for an excuse to do some cleaning. The author uses his brush to clean the bathtub, but this power brush is the natural enemy of any surface where grime reigns.
