Believe it or not, this guy claims that he can start BBQ charcoals faster with his homemade wire-mesh and hair dryer.

You might want to consider trying this method for your Independence Weekend BBQ.

Whenever I have trouble starting coals for my BBQ I grab a hair dryer, point it at my grill and pull the trigger. One minute later I have red hot coals and I never have to use any lighter fluid to get them started.

Video after the jump!

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via instructables

Well, today, my 42″ Samsung DLP TV I bought in 2005 broke down on me.  The only thing I got from the TV was a Lamp LED going on and off.

So I figured that it was time for the Lamp to be swapped out for a new one.

Before doing that, I ran into this blog posts about how to reset the Lamp hour setting on the Samsung DLP TV.

Once I resetted the Lamp hour, my TV started working again!  Yey, I guess the manufacturer, Samsung, put an hourly limit on the lamp so you replace the lamp but hey, why replace it until it’s truly broken?

Here’s the simple instructions on how to reset that lamp hour setting and make your DLP TV lamp last longer:

Mute + 1 + 8 + 2 + Power.

Your TV set should now say “Loading Factory”.

Browse down to “Option” then press Enter (or the right cursor button).

via fixyourdlp

Here’s a cool DIY documenting how you can build a motorized window blind controller just under $15.

For a long time I just waited until I got home in the afternoons to open my blinds, but my plants suffered from a lack of light. They were not dying by any means, but they were not healthy, and their growth was severely stunted. I needed to find a way to open and close my blinds automatically when I was not at home.

via instructables

If you are a musician, you will reap cash-savings benefits from making these stackable Gobos for your garage music studio.

Now, here’s how to make those pesky little sound-absorbing, stackable gobos!

Gobos are really useful things especially if you’re working in a sub-par recording environment (ie. your living room). So what exactly is a Gobo?

Baffle - A physical object that absorbs or otherwise reduces the volume of sound which passes through it, or is reflected by it.

via instructables

Here’s a cool hack that shows you how to turn your regular old Kodak disposable camera into an emergency strobe light.  The hack does require some soldering but not too much work for some cool effects.

This instructable involves modifying a device that operates on 300v DC, so I am NOT responsible if you injure or kill your self and/or any body else from any of your actions messing around this device. So be careful what you are doing, be safe and have fun!

via instructables

As an avid fan of Linux operating systems ever since I took Minix class, which Linux was born from, I love to hear about cool little DIYs on making a Linux firewall out of a lunch box.

The greatest thing about Linux operating systems in comparison to Windows or any other operating systems is that it can be easily custom tailored to do one thing whether that’s a web server, firewall, file server, or any type of server that requires stability at “no cost”.

This simple DIY shows us the things that are possible with open source and free software.

Heck, you could probably make a lot of money putting these Lunchbox Linux firewall boxes to production as they are as good as an over-priced Cisco router.

It’s a plastic Thermos brand Hot Wheels lunchbox circa 2007. Black plastic, white handle, but no Thermos inside. As soon as I saw it, I knew it would become a computer case, so I bought it, brought it home, and started digging in the parts box. Grabbed one of my Via C3 embedded 3.5″ boards, a cheap 4GB compact flash card, a small 5V, 8A power supply, and my exacto knife and files.

via technabob

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Here’s a fun science experiment you can do to create some AC current from a 9 volt battery.  Well, it’s not “real” AC current but still really cool.

via wonderhowto

Here’s a cool DIY on how to make a pan tilt airsoft gun.  You can even buy one here if you want to skip making it yourself.

“The robot airsoft kit brings together a simple pan/tilt servo setup with an automatic airsoft gun. Everything is controlled from your computer’s serial port. Attaching a camera allows you to have completely autonomous control of the gun, which makes it an ideal platform to enter the Defcon Robot Contest or the Robot Airsoft event at RoboGames! Overview

* The base has a servo which controls the pan.
* That connects to the U structure, which is the tilt, and holds all the control electronics.
* The gun is attached to the tilt rod. It’s a generic connection so any light gun will work.
* The pan/tilt is controlled from the computer’s serial port.
* Firing is done through a relay via the servo controller.
* Power comes from 8 AA batteries (4 for the gun, 4 for everything else).”

via hackedgadgets

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Here’s a very innovative bike turn signal jacket.  This could be really good for motorcycles.  When do these go in production?

via boingboing

I’ve been thinking of writing several books lately and I came by this great guide on making a book using Google Docs over at Hackszine.

Currently, my editor Brian Jepson and I are collaboratively writing the book (tentatively titled) Google Office Hacks by O’Reilly using Google Docs. I wanted to outline the process we came up with, and maybe it’s helpful for you too for certain needs.

The base document we’re working on is the outline. It’s a linked table of contents which helps us to organize the broad shape of the book, and also see the status of progress. I’ve bookmarked the outline in Firefox and added a keyword shortcut within the bookmark properties, so to open it I just need to type “gohacks” into the browser address bar.

via hackszine