Awesome Do-It-Yourself USB Drive

Modders and do-it-yourselfers would love this project. The picture above might look like a hacked USB cord but it's actually a USB drive. Awesome right? It will surely be a hit with your techie (and maybe non-techie) co-workers.

It's quite easy to make too. Check out Evil Mad Scientist for the step by step instructions.

Upgrade Your Life (by Lifehacker)

Lifehacker's Upgrade Your Life is the ultimate compilation of the best Lifehacker tips and tricks. It's a book version of the best Lifehacker has to offer. While you'll have to shell out dollars to get the book, the online version is absolutely free. There are lots of great tips you can use. Here are the most useful for me...

• Outlook tip: Color code messages addressed only to you - This is extremely useful since I get a lot of email advisories that I don't necessarily have to read asap. This makes the most important emails (the ones addressed directly to me) stand out of the numerous unread messages in my inbox.
• Generate unlimited email addresses with Gmail - I hate, hate, hate spam. Who doesn't? With this tip, you can create "disposable" email addresses for use with websites that require the submission of an email address.
• Future-proof your email address - Email addresses used to be novelties. Not anymore. Now, they are a cruicial part of your social life. That's why it's important to choose an email address that will grow with you.
• Create and customize your own planner with D*I*Y Planner - Electronic PDAs aren't always the best choices in organizing your life. Sometimes, the good old planner is the way to go.
• Power Texting Tips - Text messaging may not just be for kids and teenagers anymore. These tips take you from novice to power texter.
• Create your own virtual private network with Hamachi - If you've got multiple computers at home, creating your own VPN makes it a whole lot easier finding and accessing files from other machines.

Check out Lifehacker's Upgrade Your Life for many other useful tips.

Awesome iPod Nano Video Enlarger Plus Speaker

Think your iPod Nano's screen is too small? Then check out this do-it-yourself iPod Nano video enlarger. It's made out of an old 35mm slide viewer, hacked to include portable speakers. Very cool.

Make Your Own Cheap 5.1 Surround Headphones

This is pretty cool. As we all know, headphones can be pretty darn expensive, expecially those which are especially made for surround sound systems. Babblin5 had this great idea to create his own surround headphones out of a cheap headphone and 2 pairs of earphones.

I'll be honest, I was a bit skeptical about this at first. However, after reading the comments about it, it seems like people are pretty pleased with their do-it-yourself headphones. Not bad for a cheap hack-job. Check out the instructional video below...

5.1 Surround Headphone Hack! - The best video clips are here

Turn Your Old Highlighter Into a Flash Drive Case

Check out this great idea from Instructables.com. Here's a disclaimer though: it comes with really crappy pics. However, at least the instructions are very easy to understand. So you've been warned.

The instructable shows us how to somewhat camouflage and disguise your flash drive to make it look like an ordinary highlighter. I can't count how many times I've lost a flash drive. Who knows which hands my important data will land into? At least if my flash drive is disguised into a highlighter, nobody will give it a second look if ever I leave it somewhere. Now all I have to remember is not to put it in my pencil case along with every other highlighter I have.

Link: [Instructable.com]

Make Your Own Noise Eliminating Headphones

Have you ever tried using the stock iPod earbuds in an airplane? It's torture. Even with the volume up to maximum, I had to cover my ears with my hands just to understand what I'm watching. Not a great experience.

In this situation, I would have killed for a pair of noise eliminating headphones. But the cheapskate in me just can't spend more than a hundred of dollars just for a pair of headphones. This Kipkay hack blew me away. It makes me think, why didn't I think of this before? Check it out and you'll see what I mean.

Headphone Hack! Make You Own Noise Eliminating Headset! - Watch a funny movie here

My Mashable.com Top 5

I love lists and compilations. That's why I totally get Mashable.com. I could probably spend all day reading and just absorbing post after Mashable post. Although I haven't done that yet, I have already compiled a personal Mashable Top 5. These aren't in any particular order and subject to change at any time (haha)... enjoy.

1. 80+ Free 2-Column Website Templates - I'm a web designer and this is a great source for inspiration. Yup, I admit it, I've been to the point where I just can't get a move on a project due to the lack of a mind spark. Scrolling through this post gets my creative juices flowing in no time.

2. Download YouTube Videos - Let's face it, YouTube rocks. It's not just a repository of corny home videos and hilarious Japanese tv shows. Everyone is using it nowadays and it's virtually an unlimited resource for informative videos including gadget reviews, tutorials, even podcasts. However, it's biggest limitation for me is the lack of a built-in download feature. To the rescue are more than a handful of third party apps that do just that. Stan Schroeder from Mashable has made things easier for us by compiling a list of YouTube downloaders. Handy.

3. 50 Great Widgets For Your Blog - These are all great widgets for your blog. Keep it in mind though, it's great to have a few widgets on your blog, but don't overdo it. Choose the most relevant ones for your sites content and practice moderation.

4. 30+ Tools to Turn Wordpress into a Personal Hub - Although I'm using Blogger, I won't deny that Wordpress is a great blogging platform. It's very flexible and easy to use. These tools allow you to make your Wordpress blog into a virtual souped-up social network profile page. In this case, contrary to my advice for #3, I'd say go all out with the add-ons and have fun.

5. TWITTER TOOLBOX: 60+ Twitter Tools - By itself, Twitter is a simple microblogging tool. With these add-ons and tools however, Twitter becomes a messenging powerhouse. I personally didn't get Twitter when it first came out but as these tools slowly trickled out I realized that you control how powerful it can become.

Kipkay's Battery Hack

I'm an Electronics Engineer but the thought of opening up batteries never came to me before. I mean, I know theoretically what the basic components of a battery are and how it works. I just don't know what exactly lies underneath the smooth metalic packaging of a regular 12 volt battery.

What Kipkay discovered inside these basic consumer batteries certainly surprised me. How can eight $4-$6 batteries equal to one $2 battery? It's absurd! However, now that I think of it more, packaging, shipping, and marketing does add up. Talk about not getting what you paid for. The proof lies in the video.

12 Volt Battery Hack! You'll Be Surprised... - video powered by Metacafe

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5 Great Instructables Projects

I love projects. Finishing a project and admiring the product of my hard work just gives me great satisfaction. Not to mention showing it off to my friends (although I have reason to believe that more than once the enthusiasm they showed was less than heartfelt, haha).

Instructables is a great resource for all types of do-it-yourselfers. The projects range from piece of cake to what the heck?. Check out these great project ideas (great reasons to dust off your soldering iron).

• The Barbie Box: This is a camouflaged case/boom box for your mp3 player. I'm not sure what the inspiration of the author of this was, maybe the Hide-a-pod? Although, if it was up to me, I would definitely choose a different theme. I'm not a Barbie type of girl after all.
• LED Throwies: These are gorgeous in the dark. You can use them to decorate your garden or house for a party, or just throw them around for fun.
• NES Controller MP3 player: Another great mod idea for an mp3 player. The author of this instructable used a fairly cheap mp3 player and it looks very easy to do.
• Use an LCD Monitor as a TV Without a Computer: This is such a great idea. LCD monitors are considerably cheaper than LCD televisions it makes sense to try to use them as a tv display. Why didn't I think of this before?
• Turn Your Old Monitor into a Fishtank: So you've got an old monitor? Rather than throwing it to the dumpster, why not turn it into a fishtank?

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Twitter Productivity Hacks

Aside from broadcasting to people you hardly know whatever you're doing or whatever you're thinking at a particular moment, Twitter can now do so much more. Thanks to integrations like GCal and Remember the Milk, Twitter is no longer just the micro blogging service we thought it was.

Remeber the Milk is a Twitter integration that reminds you of stuff you need to do.

Just send (Twitter user) rtm a direct message with the name of a task and
(optionally) when it's due. The task will be added to your inbox, and RTM will
remind you about it later.

pick up the milk

call jimmy at 5pm tomorrow

return library books in 2 weeks

(You can send a direct message on Twitter by posting an update with d rtm your message -- by SMS, IM, the web update box, or a third-party app like Twitterrific. So, you'd add a task with d rtm pick up the milk.)

GCal is a virtual calendar that lets you add events and appointments to your Google Calendar thru Twitter. Check Twittercal for more info on this.

To get started, just add gcal as your Twitter friend and grant it access to GCal. Now add any events by sending a direct message to gcal

d gcal meeting with paul tomorrow at 7pm

d gcal meeting with fred on monday, 25th of june at 9am

Source: Lifehacker.com

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