Check out these cool Skatebrakes that will add brakes to your skateboard.  Of course, this isn’t really practical for freestyling on the streets but it will definitely help if you live in area like San Francisco where steep hills will make it impossible for you to ride continuously.

With this brake kits, fear no more 45 degree hills in San Francisco, just apply the brakes if you happen to slide down too fast.  I think even if you are an advanced skateboarder, this will help in really steep hills as it’s annoying to put your right foot down everytime you are going too fast.

And yes, this would be really great for picking up chicks on your skateboard.

via cg, skatebrake

You know when it comes to New Years and Independence Day, you always get to see some really exotic, beautiful fireworks.  Well, all those fireworks are nowdays controlled by an ignition control system but here’s how to make one for yourself.

At the heart of my firework ignition system is an SX48 running at 50 MHz. I was able to make full use of the SX’s 36 IO pins. Thirty lines are dedicated to the 30 channels. Two lines connect to a MAX233 chip for serial port control. Another line is connected to a 7805 (TO-92) which monitors the state of the arming key. The remaining 3 lines are used to communicate with the PIC A/D converter via an SPI interface. The system was built with cost as an important factor. At $10 the SX48 Proto board was an easy choice with its incorporated 5V regulator, led and all the difficult surface mount soldering already done for me. I also designed 2 pc boards using the freeware version of Cadsoft’s Eagle. The interface board connects the SX48 Proto board and contains the MAX233 chip, A/D converter and 30 LEDs to represent the state of each of the 30 channels.

via hackedgadgets, DIY Page

Well, it’s not that often I tell my readers/newcomers about my money making secrets but here’s a heat map that I’ve created to maximize income from my blogs.

Now, this is a proven heat map for making the “most” money online with blogs.

It’s a rather “in-your-face” type of advertising where you force your visitors to really read your Adsense or Chitika ads.

Why do I do this type of “before-content” advertising?

Because it gives you the most bang for your buck.  Of course, if you have a million dollars of funding and you are simply trying to promote your brand, you could go without advertising.  But for people like me who depend on Adsense and Chitika to pay rent, it’s crucial that money keeps rolling in the bank, otherwise this site wouldn’t be paid for and there would be no more websites.

If you think it’s too much advertising, think of it this way.  (Provided you live in the U.S.,) Can you tell me how many full 20-second advertisements you see on every TV show?

Yes, probably 3 or 4 and you don’t mind it because you need to keep watching the TV show.

It’s the same thing in blogging and you need to really force ads down the readers throat per say.  It’s not the most nice way to make money, but heck, sometimes you gotta do what needs to be done.

Anyway, I hope this heat map helps you make more money online as I have worked on this for last 5-6 months or so optimizing it.  (Yes, I did the analysis and optimization for you so all you have to do is follow it.)

Now, please don’t complain there’s too many ads on this site unless you would like to pay for my rent and credit card bills.

via Insider Adsense Secrets Blog

You know those telepromopters that TV news reporters use to read their daily news?  Well, here’s a simply way to make a teleprompter for any type of presentations.  (This one is an example for a church but I don’t see any reasons why you wouldn’t use it outside god’s house.)

1. Whatever you do…. no matter what…. and this is job #1 so pay attention…. always have a paper copy of your notes in your suit pocket.     Allow me to repeat myself — Have paper backup of your talk.    To sum up this point:  Make sure you have your notes on paper, and easily accessible in case your computer dies.
2. Write your talk, refine it and get it to the point where you would normally print it out as notes. In my case I work from a hybrid of a bullet point outline & written-out quotations.
3. Enter those notes,  page by page into a power point presentation.   Use huge font, as it is irrelevant how many slides/pages you use.
4. Get a “wireless presenter”    You plug a small receiver into any USB port, then hold the tiny clicker in your hand.  My clicker is 1-1/2 inch across, 3-1/2 inches long and about 1/2 inch thick.  It fits easily, and unobtrusively into your hand.   No one will even notice it.

via ldsym

Here’s a great use for re-making stuff, use old batteries to make a death (or dead) star!

Dead Star is made from residual battery at the end of their duty. Left to itself, the sculpture will slowly cool down since there is no longer electronic activity taking place in it. The hundreds of batteries were once used to power appliances before they finish their cycle in a recycle facility. Retrieve from death, they were assembled again in this whole structure.

via make, Design Page

Here’s a really useful DIY for those of you with concrete floors.  Basically this DIY shows you how to paint your concrete floor with epoxy finish.

Why is this good?

Well, you can give your concrete floors a new shiny finish with your favorite color without spending a bunch of money on new wood flooring or whatnot.

I did this to one of my former job offices, (well, I hired someone to do it) and it’s a really good solution for turning a warehouse into an office. (that’s what I did)

It sure beats spending more than $2000 on hardwood flooring.

If you have a garage that you park a vehicle in or use as a project work area then you probably keep wishing the floor looked a little better. Well with a few gallons of Epoxy Paint and a weekend your floor can look better then new.

via yourepair

Here’s a cool set of DIY colo-changing LED coasters.  Basically, it runs on solar power, LEDs light up in red for hot drinks and blue for cold drinks.

Looks pretty simple to make, maybe a good idea for your next circuits projects.

Smart Coasters are cast-plastic coasters for your drink that light up red when you put a hot drink on top and light up blue with a cold drink. The design is fully analog– no microcontrollers and no programming– and they incorporate a solar cell so that the whole thing is hermetically sealed: waterproof and washable. Complete step-by-step DIY instructions are included for both the electronics and the resin casting.

via evilmadscientist, hungryscientist

Here’s a cool DIY hydroponics system you can make for growing all types of your favorite plants indoors.

This is a great way to keep your plants constantly filled with nutrients, now don’t burn your house down with lamps that are too powerful.

The air pump has become a staple component in most systems for various reasons. Moving water with air makes complete sense to me while solving several issues and being cheap, reliable and easily serviceable. Pump maintenance is algae free and time will tell just how reliable.

via instructables

Well, it isn’t often that we feature any DIYs related with fashion but here’s our very first featured fashion hack, how to wear scarves the right way.

via whowhatwear