This is a cool mod we found whereby liquor bottles are illuminated by electroluminescent wire (El wire).  As you can see from the picture above, the whisky and liquor bottles look absolutely stunning. Below is a video of a bottle of Smirnoff demonstrating how it looks in real life and you can view more demonstrations too.

Since this was done by a private company, they don’t have a how-to tutorial for it.  However, El Wire is fairly easy to master by checking out some of our tutorials below:

El Wire Illumination Projects

• How to Make Daft Punk El-Wire Suits and Helmets
• How to Make your Clothing Glow using Electroluminescent Wire
• Create Outstanding Lighting Effects Using El Wire

The problem with most motion detection software for personal or business use it that they’re triggered by a leaf, animal, or other insignificant events.  Vitamin D, on the other hand, can detect movements of people, doors opening and closing, email alerts, and more. The diy security software works on PC and Mac

Impressive Features:

• “People Detection” instead of motion detection.
• Daily Highlight Reel – Summarizes the events of the day.
• Highly Customizable – Pinpoint when a certain door is opened.

It’s in beta and free until February 2010, so grab it while you still can.  We’ve covered some similar software on motion sensing security for more ways to protect your home or gadgets.

DIY Security Projects:

• Remote Surveillance Spy Vehicle/Office Unit
• DIY Rotating Bookshelves, Staircases and Trap Doors
• How to Use RFID to Protect your Beer, Valuables

A precision plotting and cutting instrument like a CNC machine is a dream for any DIYer. It’s perfect for any fabrication jobs – For example, you can etch a plaque or make a PCB by cuting along the traces of a schematic. While a store bought CNC mill will set you back by a few thousand dollars, you can build a simple CNC mill for as low as $100, but the one above is $700.

The DIY ‘LIL’ CNC project is a heavy duty piece of hardware. This is a 3-axis CNC mill that has a gantry-mounted cutting tool movible in 3 planes. The brain is in the CAD/CAM software in the computer that controls the movement of the cutting tool.

How Easy is it to Build?

You need basic shop skills and tools, but it definitely can be done.  The cost indicated covers the raw materials like sheet metal and component hardware. The difficult part of the plans and the software files has been covered by the DIY LIL CNC website. The assembly instructions and the source files are provided free for use under a creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license. The gallery illustrates the working of the machine. See a plot test video here.

More DIY CNC Projects:

• Make a 300mW Burning Laser CNC Plotter
• How to Make a Low Cost CNC Table using Servos
• Build your own DIY CNC Milling Machine

Here’s some new software for Windows 7 called Connectify which allows you to turn your Windows 7 laptop into a wireless hotspot. Basically, it converts your laptop into a wireless router of sorts, acting as a wireless access point for computers and wireless devices.  It’s essentially like creating your own wifi hotspot like the ones at Starbucks and other retailers.

It was developed by a military consulting firm called Nomadio and it allows other wireless devices to ‘tether’’ themselves to a single Internet connection. It’s secure too as the software encrypts traffic in both directions using WPA2-Personal encryption. Check out the demo video below:

This would be especially useful at airports to share the expensive Wi-Fi with friends or simply for extending your home WiFi without paying through the nose for a wireless router.

More Wifi Hacks

• Make a DIY Wifi Repeater/Range Extender
• How to: Blazing Fast Internet Speed with Dual Band Wifi
• War Driving Tips, Tricks, and Software

We’ve all heard of commercial GPS devices like the Garmin or Tom Tom and even handheld devices used for Geo-Caching.  But…Did you know you can build your own?  A Kinematic GPS Receiver is a specialized GPS device used by engineers, topographers and land surveyors. Why? Because it’s a super precise instrument which is accurate to within 1 cm.

Traditional GPS receivers have a significant delay when they receive signals from a satellite.  This delay in signal transmission decreases the precision to serveral meters.  Real Time Kinematic GPS receivers, however,  use multiple receiving stations (and a base station) for pinpoint measurements.  Good for field work but impractical when you are moving around in a speeding vehicle.

Build a DIY Kinematic GPS:

Researchers at Tokyo University think so. They created a completely open source design for precise GPS calculations. The whole GPS console using a off the shelf GPS receiver sits on a low cost Beagle board.  Awesome stuff!  If you want to build your own, the working plans are all available on their site.

More GPS and Geo-location Projects:

• DIY GPS Hacking Projects
• Geo-Location Game “Urban Defender” using Arduino
• Build your own GPS Device

Learn how to install Windows 7 and Ubuntu on the same hard drive so you aren’t restricted to the limitations of one or the other.  With this guide, you can dual boot the opposing operating systems and run them in perfect harmony on the same computer.

What You’ll Need:

• Windows 7 installation disk
• Ububtu 9.10 installation image
• Finally, don’t forget to back up your data beforehand.

How it Works:

To put it simply, most of this guide is straightforward and easy to follow. It’s nothing too daunting and even if you’re a little intimidated by the proposition of potentially frying your PC, there’s plenty of screenshots and accurate instructions to keep you on the right track.

Windows 7 is installed first and the hard drive is then configured to accept Ubuntu. Once Ubuntu is installed, the remainder of the guide is telling you how to get them to work together without causing crashes or a complete meltdown of your computer.

More Windows and Linux Projects:

• Free Windows 7 by Hacking XP and Vista
• How to Hack Windows, Mac and Linux User Passwords
• 5 Awesome OS Transformation Packs

Learn how to  and shows you how to link an LED sign to your Google Voice account which can physically show you your voicemails through an array of LEDs.  The video below walks you through a quick demonstration of how the LED message board system works.

What you’ll need:

Firstly, you’ll need a Google Voice account. Then you have to download some python scripts to program the system correctly with a ‘trigger word’ – that way your system can pick voice messages and display them on the screen. You can set it to display all messages or just those of your choice. You’ll also need plenty of LEDs (of course), a soldering iron, and a 9v battery.

How it Works:

A Python script accesses your Google Voice account which finds the text version of you voicemail messages.  Then, it downloads them to a text file on your system which then displays it on the LED board.

More LED Projects:

• LED “Graffiti” using LED Throwies
• Top 10 Absolutely Stunning LED Light Projects
• Top 5 Custom LED Beer Pong Tables

1. DIY Multi-Room Wireless Music Remote

   
   With the help of some external hardware and a handheld wireless device such as an iPhone or iPod touch, you can build your own wireless music remote. It’s a bit spendy if you don’t already have an Iphone/iTouch and a router, but there’s a step by step tutorial to guide you through the setup build.

2. DIY iPhone Controlled Car (Complete Control)

   These guys took an iPhone and using a special app, the onboard GPS and Wifi along with some serious modding they managed to make a life size R/C car. I bet it was difficult to drive using the six-axis in the iPhone but it’s still a great mod. Learn how it was done in an upcoming post. Subscribe so you don’t miss it.

3. iPhone Controlled Mazda (without gas and break)

   By tapping into his car’s onboard wifi and diagnostic systems, this hacker can control his car from anywhere in the world.  He’s able to start the engine, pop the trunk, lock/unlock, and view all vehicle diagnostics from his iPhone. As seen in the video, electronic controls are housed in the trunk along with an Arduino to help process commands.

4. How to View your Webcam on your iTouch or iPhone

   

   In this tutorial, we’ll be showing you how to watch a live feed from your webcam on your iPhone or iPod touch from anywhere in the world. Setup is pretty simple, basically just download and install a windows program and the necessary app and you’re ready to stream live.

5. Build a Solar-powered iPhone Charger

   

   How many times has your cell phone died in the middle of the day because of its lousy battery life? You have several options: you could recharge via wall socket, via USB, through an external battery or the green way, with a DIY solar iPhone charger. Don’t forget to pick up any needed supplies for this build (including solar panels) at our store!

6. Make a Laser Matrix Projector for the iPhone

   
   The idea is to add some kind of projector capability to mobile phone (e.g. iPhone) that isn’t too complex or expensive. Instead of using an expensive mini projector, I decided to use lasers instead to any bitmap font using a matrix of laser points, which is controlled by iPhone.

7. How to: iPhone as a Wireless Router for your Laptop

   Transform your iPhone into a wireless router, allowing you to connect your wifi deprived laptop to the internet anywhere phone service is available. It’s also perfect when you’re browsing the web but the small screen is too cramped. Now you can easily switch over to your laptop for a larger viewing window.

8. RC Car Controlled Via the Web

   

   Strap on a standard Linksys router to an RC car and you can wirelessly control it through the web from up to 1640 feet away. It’s also equipt with a webcam and operates through a brain comprised of PIC microcontrollers or the Arduino’s ATmega168. The in depth tutorial will guide you through the build.

9. Home Automation Using the iPhone and X10

   Like most people, we’re huge fans of home automation. We’ve even covered quite a few ways people have used Twitter to automate your home. This time, however, we’ll be automating our homes by managing SmartHome’s X10 home automation modules using the iPhone.

10. The Rockband Robot iPhone.

    This guy obviously wanted to break a world record in Rockband because he built a robot to attach to his iPhone that plays it perfectly for him. It works by light sensors telling the prosthetic fingers when a note is coming up and driving a motor to press the screen and thus play the note.

Honorable Mention: How to disassemble the iPhone and unleash your hardware hacking skill.

More iPhone Projects:

• Jailbreak and Unlock iPhone 3.1.2
• iPhone Controlled USB Missile Launcher
• How to Build a Simple iPhone Tripod Mount

Learn how to make a dirt simple (basically free) wifi antenna booster using tin foil.  Yes, it sounds crazy, but it actually works and significantly increases your wifi signal in the dead zones of your house. The video above is pretty lengthy, but does a good job walking you through a few optimal designs.

You can make this wi-fi parabolic antenna for your router without breaking a sweat.

• Manila file folders
• EZ-12 Templates for the antenna from Freeantennas.com
• Adhesive
• Aluminum foil

The parabolic antenna is nothing but a focusing device cut out from the stiff manila folder and backed by a layer of aluminum foil on the back for the reflective surface. The exact cutting pattern is aided by the EZ-12 template.

As the video shows, the construction is as easy as an elementary school project. The effect is pretty impressive for such a simple device. You can expect a signal boost from 9 to 12dB. The signal gain depends on the size of the antenna and the number (1 or 2) in use with your wireless router.

More Wifi Projects:

• Make a DIY Wifi Repeater/Range Extender
• How to: Blazing Fast Internet Speed with Dual Band Wifi
• Extend your Wifi using Tin Cans – DIY Cantenna

Even taking simple photos for items we’re tying to sell on eBay can be tricky. Most of us want to have a certain degree of professionalism to our photos that say something out us.  You have to have a fancy, expensive setup, right? Nope: Learn make a DIY photography studio in your closet.

The Setup

This guide shows you how to set up a small but completely functional DIY photo studio in a space no bigger than a closet. It works by using some basic framing and material which could be soured from a hardware shop or even your tool shed.

Above is the inside setup with a watch on a reflective surface on top of a black cloth.  For such a simple setup, the results are astounding!

The Final Result:

Superb quality photos!  There are also instructions to set up the different kinds of lighting which are nothing more than basic domestic lights you can but at your local home furnishings store.  Overall, the guide is very well written and has great illustrations and pictures to help you along the way to building your own photography studio in your closet!

DIY Photograph Articles:

• Incredible DIY Aerial Kite Photography
• DIY Macro Photography Kit on the Cheap
• How to build a simple iPhone 3GS Tripod Mount