Hacks Mods & Circuitry: Page 8

chrof Instructables boasts: "This is the most comprehensive step-by-step guide to build an 8x8x8 Led Cube ever published on the intertubes. It will teach you everything from theory of operation, how to build the cube, to the inner workings of the software."

Want great reception? Then a fractal antenna may be your answer. And you can make one yourself, right at home! Fractal antennas uses a fractal design to maximize the perimeter of the material that can receive and transmit electromagnetic radiation within a given total surface area or volume. Sounds complicated, right? Not after you watch this DIY video. Just follow along and see how one is built!

Back up your computer data and save your time, money and valuable information using these helpful tips. There are several options to backing up and storing your important data, ranging from tiny keychain USB drives to backing up your files online. This informative and lighthearted video from Kipkay shows you how.

Phosphors are great for lighting up areas where fire will not burn, and also for keeping humans alive in very small quantities. Quenching phosphors allows you to use them for all sorts of cool projects, and this video will show you how to make an IR detection device with quenched phosphors and also how to measure temperature with thermally quenched phosphors.

An EMF detector will help you find invisible electromagnetic fields, and you can make an inexpensive one for under ten dollars. This will only detect the presence of a field, you will need other tools to be able to measure its strength.

This gift will give the recipient a nice little zap when they open it! All you'll need is some basic electronics that you can find at any retailer like Radio Shack, and a soldering iron for a little bit of detail work.

All hail artist, programmer and human electrocution music-machine, Daito Manabe. He's back, and better than ever:

Even basic electronics are pretty damn complicated. This video is near the end of Scotty's amazing series of electronics tutorials, and will teach you about adding a diode and a capacitor to a circuit, choosing a power supply, voltage states, and polarity.

Lasers are one of the coolest things that you can build yourself from a pure sci-fi fantasy standpoint. They're not easy though, but this video will help you somewhat by describing different types of laser diodes and how to connect them to a power supply.

Electronics are the most important new thing people have created in the last hundred years, and learning how to use them will make you much more able to function in modern society. If you want to learn about electronics without going to a class or anything so formal, this excellent video series will teach you everything you need to know to get started. This video, the first in the series, will teach you about the basic tools and components you'll need to work on electronics projects, including...

If you've ever seen It Might Get Loud, you probably remember the part where Jack White makes a one-string guitar out of household scraps. This type of guitar is called a Diddley Bow, after Bo Diddley, and is about the simplest and easiest electric guitar you can make. Watch this video to learn how.

The Arduino Ethernet Shield is a wonderful device for DIY electronics projects, and this project is really creative and awesome. In this video you will learn how to use an Arduino, a promixity sensor, and some LED lights to make a proximity-sensing, LED-lit, evil Jack-o'-Lantern that will terrorize your neighborhood and probably get stolen if you don't watch it like a hawk.

USB devices are ubiquitous and cheap nowadays, which means they make great raw materials for hacking and electronics projects. This video will show you how you use a USB host shield to hack USB devices and use them with MIDI controllers, game controllers, and other devices.

The Segway is one of the oddest inventions of the last decade, but they've captured the imaginations of many. If you don't have $5000 to spend on one, but have $4000 and some heavy robotics skills, watch this video. It will teach you how to build your own DIY self-balancing Segway-style scooter, in either steampunk wooden barstool form or a more modern bicycle-handled model.

TSA agents are having a little too much fun, it's time for the rest of us to join in. More complicated (and more promising) than the see-thru video trick, Jeri Elsworth gives instructions for building your own hand-held TSA see-thru scanner with a $3 feed horn and some (admittedly hefty) technical know-how.

General Electric isn't known for their Christmas lights, but maybe they should be, because their GE Color Effects are pretty awesome. Especially the LED Color Effects G-35 String sets.  And especially when someone named Darco hacks them.

Radar has made much of modern life possible, and if you're into building your own electronics building one is a fun and useful project. Watch this video for instructions on how to build your own simple radar out of cheap spare parts from a satellite dish or a toy radar gun.

Organic LEDs (OLED) are even more efficient than their standard LED cousins, but does that mean they're harder to make? Perhaps somewhat, but no excessively. Watch this video to learn how to make a DIY OLED at home, allowing you to make really cool light-up displays.

Who says nothing productive ever came out of doodling? Certainly not the hacker responsible for this fun (and at least somewhat functional) paper-and-pencil touchpad, which takes advantage of the natural conductivity of graphite:

Are you addicted to Google Reader? If so, you may be looking for an even faster way to scroll through all of your favorite RSS feeds. Well, Matt Richardson has the solution…