You know that cat’s litterbox can become potentially dangerous to your health with its deadly fumes, especially for pregnant women.  Now, here’s a cool way to make a self-ventilating cat litterbox so you don’t have to worry about all that invisible bad-for-your-health fumes.

I recently saw a post on Apartment Therapy showing a homemade “Cat Jet” ventilation solution (http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/at-email/tools-for-pet-living-the-cat-jet-and-the-roomba-email-from-9108-062199) using a bathroom fan to vent the noxious fumes of a litter box from the inside of the house to the outside. As a home automation geek I immediately was inspired to take it up a notch by combining similar hardware to a series of timers.

Behold: Alan’s Automated Cat Jet! Total Cost? $80.

Consisting of one bathroom fan, one bathroom vent kit, one Smarthome Appliance module, and my home automation system, Alan’s Automated Cat Jet shows once again that with technology, anything is possible.

via bb gadgets

For those of you replacing your kitchen with brand new appliances and fixtures, you might want to consider demolishing the kitchen yourself using a sledgehammer and crowbar as this person has done.

One quote for replacement cabinets actually included a $1000 charge to do what we did today. That being, taking a crowbar and a 16lb. sledge to a 48 year old kitchen and matching defunct oven.

via moneygulch

Here’s a great way to turn your monotonous T-shirt into a very fashionable cut-out T-shirt using simple tools such as scissors and some planning.

This might be helpful those of you who are struggling in these hard U.S. economic times but still need a new shirt without buying one.

Ever since seeing Zana’s cutout skull sweater by Pleasure Principle, I’ve had a major crush on the label. From their fantastically simple split knee jeans to their knot dress, their designs are extremely covetable. Anyway, to the point of this article (which wasn’t to gush about the brand), I’d been lusting over Pleasure Principle’s cut out spine tee for what seems like ages when I realized that it would make a rather simple DIY project.

via chictopia

Here’s a cool hack I found on Yahoo News, it’s a hack that lets you watch free Amazon videos using the security hole:

(I don’t think this will last too long once Amazon finds out so we suggest you to take advantage before they close the security hole)

The free demo version of Replay Media Catcher allows anyone to watch 75 percent of anything recorded and 100 percent of YouTube videos. For $39, a user can watch everything recorded.

One Web site — www.tvadfree.com — explains step-by-step how to use the video stream catching software.

Amazon.com’s Adobe-powered Video On Demand service allows viewers to watch the first two minutes of a movie or TV show for free. It charges up to $3.99 to rent a movie for 24 hours and up to $14.99 to download a movie permanently.

Amazon starts to stream the entire movie during the free preview — even though it pauses the video on the Web browser after the first two minutes — so that users can start watching the rest of the video right away once they pay.

“It’s the traditional trade-off, convenience on the one hand and security on the other,” said Ray Valdes, analyst at research group Gartner.

However, even if a user doesn’t pay, the stream still sends the movie to the video catching software, but not the browser.

via YahooNews

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 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 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