You're all set to leave for your well-deserved Christmas holiday when you realise you haven't prepped your home at all. Here's a list of all the energy vampires you should disable (or adjust) before you head out.

Over the last few years, tech companies have been under increased scrutiny to ensure that the gadgets they create are manufactured responsibly. That covers everything from where they source the minerals used to create components, through to the people working in factories, packing, shipping and recycling programs. But when you're standing in a store, cash or credit cards at the ready, how do you now your money is supporting an ethical supply chain?

If you want to get your hands dirty on a semi-evil electronics project, this DIY EMP generator is fun - if not a little dangerous - build to try. It won't fry much, except at extreme short range, so you should be careful with it, but you'll learn a lot in the process.

The USB Killer is infamous (but ingenious). Plug it in, and within seconds your computer is dead, motherboard fried thanks to a high voltage dose of electricity, along with any other nearby components. This video shows you how it works, but the takeaway is clear: Never connect random USB devices to your computer.

Plastic pumpkins are a mainstay around Halloween, but if you want to give the ubiquitous little candy holder a bit more character, Adafruit has a guide for adding lights and custom sounds.

Halloween's around the corner, and if you're looking to make your own costume, Ben Heck and his crew take on a superhero costume, and in turn show off how to do a ton of different costume-related projects.

After upgrading my laptop, I spent months feeling bad that I hadn't yet sold the old one. It sat around for months, until one day when a friend was over to work on a writing project. He hadn't brought his computer, so I fired up the spare laptop, whisking away my guilt. That spare computer has now become a dedicated guest computer.

Last week, news got out that two prisoners in the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction were caught with a few hacked together computers hidden in the ceiling above a closet. What'd they do with these computers? Aside from obviously downloading porn, they were also laying down a wide variety of scams and hacks.

A while back we detailed how to make your own Amazon Echo device using a Raspberry Pi, but if anything went wrong with it, you'd have to manually reboot the whole thing. It was a pain in the butt. Now, there's an easier way to make your own Echo.

The Raspberry Pi Zero and its newest brother, the Raspberry Pi Zero W, are notoriously hard to find in stores. To help with that, Pi Locator is a simple site that will check stock across the globe.

If you're running a Raspberry Pi that's doing something in the background, like working as a security camera system or a weather station, then it's good to know exactly what it's up to no matter where you are. Initial State shows off how to build a dashboard that keeps you up to date and notifies you if anything goes wrong.

It's no secret that turning a Raspberry Pi into a retro game console is hands-down the most popular, easy, and fun project you can do with a Pi. That initial guide is just the beginning though, and if you really want to get more out your little DIY console, you'll want to dig in with some advanced tips.

Do you long for the days of your Sidekick, arguably one of the best-worst-greatest phones to ever hit the market? NODE shows you how to build a mobile Raspberry Pi machine that should help with that longing as long as you don’t care about the actual phone part.

For most modern computers, you can add a file from anywhere using a service like Dropbox or Google Drive. That doesn't quite exist on a Raspberry Pi, but Instructables user audstanley put together a guide to make your own web uploader.

If you've ever wanted to live stream to YouTube but didn't want to spend much money to do so, MakeUseOf has a guide for setting up a Raspberry Pi as a live streaming device that will broadcast automatically.

Yesterday was Pi Day, and what better way to celebrate everyone's favourite mathematical constant than by taking a look back at everyone's favourite cheap hobbyist computer, the Raspberry Pi. Since the launch of the Raspberry Pi, I've written an absurd number of guides, blogs and an already outdated book on the variety of projects you can do with it. I've learned a lot it that time.

Dual monitors are useful for a lot reasons, even if they don't actually affect productivity. Buying a second monitor is straightforward if you're working from a desktop computer, but it's much trickier with a laptop. YouTuber DIY Perks shows you how to build a second monitor from recycled parts that works great with a laptop.

Ever wished you could access your Raspberry Pi when you're on the road? Perhaps you've set up a home security camera, you're running a private Minecraft server, or you're using your Pi for some crazy hacked together internet appliance of your own making. Whatever your reasons, it's easy than you think to access that Raspberry Pi remotely. Here's how.

Making an internet-connected clock is a lot harder than you'd think, but over on DIY Engineering, you'll find a three-part guide to build one for yourself.