My friend Deimos over at AhKong.Net posted an interesting post today about how to utilize the file cache of Firefox. By use of more cache, you will be able to browse the web faster, especially if you check out many of the same sites daily.

You can read about his full DIY on Firefox Cache HOWTO here.

Wow, these high scool students hacked into their school’s computer to change their grades.  I guess it could be a felony or an award of high “hack” achievement (from me).

I believe this is due to the security vulnerability in the school’s computer systems.  If high school students can hack it, the system is at fault, not the students.

Four high school students are charged of hacking into the Fort Bend Independent School District’s computer network and altering grades for at least 60 students, as reported by the district officials.

The case could be regarded as a felony case, since the financial loss of the act is estimated at about $190,000. According to the law, an action leading to a loss of $100,000 to $200,000 should be called a second-degree felony, which carries a penalty of two to twenty years of prison.

via infoniac

Here’s a good instructable on how to build a cheap bluetooth audio for your GPS. If your GPS doesn’t already support bluetooth (I believe most don’t), this is a great cheap way to get all those audible directions into just the driver’s ears, not everyone in the car.

I needed a way to hear my cheap a$$ GPS under the helmet on my motorcycle and didn’t wanna fork over 2x the price for a “motorcycle ready” GPS device so I made it myself.
This may be interesting to bikers a well!

[via] instructables

Ever wonder, can I make my own cool looking USB hub that doesn’t look like a USB hub?
Well, here’s some good news for you, there’s full instructions over at instructables on how to make your own video cassette USB hub. Thank Alan over at HackedGadgets for finding it. (He always finds the coolest gadget hacks.)

Nowadays, usb hubs are getting smaller and smaller (and then, they fall behind your desk because the cable is heavier than the hub an then you have to crouch behind your computer to recover it)

So I needed something better (of course, i could have simply glued it in place )
I got some old videotapes to throw away, and suddenly an idea hit me: I like the look of these old tapes, needed an usb hub that won’t slide behind the desk, why not build an videotape usb hub?
And some LEDs could be added to nearly everything, and an videotape forms no exception i think..

So save an old tape off the landfills and give it a new, fancy life…

[via] instructables

Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode

Lol, this has got to be the best DIY project I have seen this year. A white board plotter! I need this as I used my white board a lot but do feel if I had such an automated plotter, I could be doing a lot better at jotting down my ideas more clearly than what is now, simply scrambled jotting.

Well, using the Internet to take a look at the whiteboard isn’t that difficult: just take a webcam and point it at the board. Writing it will be a bit more difficult: there’s something like a plotter needed for that. I’d like the solution to be lightweight: while a completely Borgified whiteboard has its charm too, I’d like to alter mine as little as possible. That’s why I decided to use an idea I saw first at the 24C3: a way of hanging a pen using 2 rubber belts and two motors called a bipod. Problem was that I had no info of that device (I found the youtube-link while writing this article) so I had to work from memory.

[via] HackaDay

Yey, here’s a fun little DIY for those of you who want to mask your secret USB drives as a “Sawed-Off USB Cable“.

This might prove to be the best security protection you ever had for your USB device. (Why didn’t I think of this before???)

Holy crap– somebody just went and TORE MY FREAKING USB CABLE IN HALF while it was still attached to my laptop!!!

No– wait– sorry. That’s just my USB drive. My bad. Never mind.

via EvilMadScientist

Well, I had to widgetize my old theme today but it was pretty simple:

Make a file called functions.php in your theme directory. (if you don’t have one yet)

Add the following code and save the file:
if ( function_exists(’register_sidebar’) )
register_sidebar(array(
‘before_widget’ => ”,
‘after_widget’ => ”,
‘before_title’ => ‘

‘,
‘after_title’ => ‘

‘,
));
?>

Then add the following anywhere you want to add dynamic widgets:

<?php if ( !function_exists(’dynamic_sidebar’)
|| !dynamic_sidebar() ) : ?>

<?php endif; ?>

You can actually put your existing code within the if loop OR you can also put it before or after.

Since I didn’t want to widgetize all existing stuff, I simply put it after all my existing code in my sidebar.

You can also create multiple dynamic widget locations simply by add numbers to the code like this:

<?php if ( !function_exists(’dynamic_sidebar’)
|| !dynamic_sidebar(1) ) : ?>

<?php endif; ?>

Other Online Resources:

Widgetizing Themes by Automattic

Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode

Check out this nifty little hack that will help you take better photos!

Can’t afford an expensive lens with Image Stabilizer (IS) or Vibration Reduction (VR)? This instructional video shows you how to build your own stabilizer in 5 minutes for less than $1. It is super light weight and folds up small enough to fit in your pocket.

via dphotojournal

This post was guest posted by Joe from HackNMod. (Do you have a tech blog and want to guest post? Send an email to zedomax at gmail.com)

With technology rapidly evolving, light emitting diodes are in virtually every single electronic device on the market. They don’t produce any heat, consume less power, and emit brighter light than conventional bulbs. Furthermore, they are incredibly inexpensive and are easy to solder, allowing any inventor to utilize them with ease.

1. New to LEDs? Not a problem, everyone has to start somewhere. Learn how to solder them, then build a few beginner projects. These three projects are great for anyone just getting into electronics and wiring.

2. Using a standard digital camera and a few infrared leds,you can make your own, high quality Night Vision Security camera for about $5.