I’ve tried a lot of Bluetooth keyboard cases for the iPad, and they all suffer from the same complaint.  Regardless of any other features they may offer, all keyboard cases have undersized keyboards.  If you’re a true touch-typist, like I am, you’ll find it very hard to type on these small keyboards because your finger placement and movements aren’t “right”.  Even if you manage to adjust to the smaller size, you’ll find that a lot of the punctuation keys aren’t where you expect them to be.  The absolute best Bluetooth keyboard I’ve tried with my iPad is the Apple Wireless Keyboard.  Inspired by some comments on my last keyboard case review, I decided I’d try to find a case that carries both the iPad and the Apple keyboard and that could be used as a “keyboard desk” on your lap or on a tabletop.

I didn’t have any luck finding such a case, so I decided I’d try to hack my own case.  I started with the Vera Bradley Mini Laptop Case.  I reviewed one of the Mini Laptop cases back in 2010, and you can read that review for specifics about the case.  Let’s take a look to see what I did and why I chose this case as my starting point.

I realize that the Vera Bradley case isn’t going to appeal to everyone, but I was familiar with this case and could visualize how I could work with it.  There may be other cases on the market that are plainer and that may even work better than this case did.

All pictures in this review can be clicked for larger images.

I thought of the Vera Bradley Mini Laptop because the bottom of the case is covered in a velvety fabric that acts like the loops for Velcro.  The case comes with two fabric-wrapped hard foam bars with Velcro hooks sewn on one side.  You use those bars to adjust the size of the storage area to keep your netbook, portable DVD player, or other small electronics from sliding around in the case.  I thought I’d be able to arrange them to act as a brace for the bottom of the iPad.  The top of the iPad would lean back against the top of the Mini Laptop case, and I’d have an iPad stand.

Of course, the problem with that plan is that the Mini Laptop opens up like a book and lays completely flat.  I’d need to add some sort of strapping to prevent the case from opening flat.

I ordered some brown grosgrain ribbon to match the color of the brown Mini Laptop.  I got 0.25″ wide ribbon, but I think something wider might have worked better.  I folded the end of the ribbon down a couple of times and sewed it together to prevent fraying.

I then selected a point on the side of the case to attach the ribbon.  The body of the Mini Laptop is hard and is molded into a clamshell shape.  I couldn’t push the needle through the stiffening material, so I sewed the ribbon into the fabric edge on the top of one side.  I just eyeballed the length I’d need to hold the top open at 90-degrees, cut the free end of the ribbon, folded it down, and sewed it to the bottom side of the case.  I repeated those steps for the other side of the case.

This wasn’t as easy to do as it might sound.  The fabric is attached tightly to the hard interior shell, and it was hard to get a needle through the fabric without it jabbing into the shell.  It might have been easier if I had a curved upholstery needle, but I didn’t have one on hand.

Once both ribbons were in place, the case was held open at about 90-degrees.

The bottom of the case is about 0.6″ deep.  The curved shape prevents the keyboard case from fitting in completely to the bottom, but the width of the case is sufficient for the Bluetooth keyboard.  I decided I’d put the keyboard in with the keys facing the bottom.  The curved shape suspends the keyboard, so the keys don’t touch the bottom.  There’s no pressure on the keys this way.

I shoved both of the Velcro bars to the hinge-side of the bottom.  As luck would have it, the height of the Velcro bars is about the same as the height of the battery compartment on the back of the keyboard when it’s laying in the Vera Bradley case.

I could lay the iPad down over the keyboard, and the iPad was supported by the battery compartment and the two Velcro bars.  I show the iPad with the screen down in this picture, but I think it might actually be better to have the screen up.  The screen would be protected by the padded top of the Mini Laptop case.

The bag has a fabric hinge, and both the top and the bottom have depth (about 0.4-0.5″ for the top).  I could easily close the Mini Laptop and zip it up with the keyboard and iPad inside.  Everything was held tightly enough inside that I didn’t hear anything sliding around.

The Mini Laptop has a zippered pocket on the front (behind the open lid) that can easily hold the charger and cable for the iPad and extra batteries for the keyboard.  There’s a full-length pocket on the bottom, but you should probably only put flat things in that side so the case can sit evenly.

To use the keyboard case, I attached one of the Velcro bars near the hinge to serve as the base for the iPad stand. There’s a little room to move the placement of the Velcro bar, so you can adjust the angle of the iPad.  It’s shown in the landscape orientation, but it also works for portrait.

What you can’t see is that I placed the other Velcro bar under the keyboard, near the battery compartment.  I set the front edge of the keyboard on the lip of the Mini Laptop case, so the keyboard is supported and elevated so your wrist isn’t sitting on the zippered edge of the bag.

Even when empty, the case tipped back a bit when I had it open to the 90-degrees held by the ribbons.  With chargers, batteries, and cables in the exterior zipper pocket, the tipping was worse.  With the iPad leaning against the open top, it would simply fall back.  You can see that the back had to be supported to even get this picture.  I was hoping the keyboard would help stablize the position, but it’s simply not heavy enough to counterbalance the weight of the case and the iPad.  Trying to use this case on a tabletop wouldn’t work, because it would tip over the minute you lifted your hands off the keyboard.  Using it on your lap would be disasterous, because your iPad would almost certainly fall to the floor if you moved your hands off the keyboard.

I suppose I could try to put a weight in the open pocket to balance the open case, but who wants to carry an iPad case that’s as heavy as a laptop?  I suppose you could try pulling the shoulder strap around your leg and sitting on it, but that still leaves you open to breaking your iPad if you shift in your seat and the strap slips free.

It was a good thought, but I think I’m back to the drawing board.

Filed in categories: Bags, Backpacks, Do-It-Yourself, iPhone, iPad, iPod related

Tagged: DIY, iPad case with Bluetooth keyboard

Hack Your Own Bluetooth Keyboard Case for iPad originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 12, 2012 at 12:00 pm.

In my review of Sugru I mentioned that it would be great if it came in primary colours, which would give you yellow and reds and allow you to mix almost any colour. Well they must have listened to me. Announced today, it’s now available in packs of  8 x 5 gram packs of red, blue, yellow, black, and white, or a pack of black and white, or a pack of black only.  Only “issue” is that the price for the colors has remained the same ($15)  as the original 12 packs, so it has gone up in price.  Similarly the black and white packs are the same price but you only get 8 packs instead of 12 ($17).

I’m still finding more uses for my Sugru, I “fixed” my son’s cracked iPod screen just last night

If you’re interested you can buy direct from the Sugru online page.

Filed in categories: Do-It-Yourself, News

Tagged: DIY, Repair

Sugru – Hack it Better in Primary Colours originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 6, 2012 at 8:00 am.

Around my household I’m known as McGyver because of my VERY improvised solutions to fixing things. The issue I have though is that often my fixes don’t even last as long as an episode of McGyver  When I first came across a product called Sugru, my mind boggled about the many different ways that this could be used.

Sugru is an air-curing rubber that can be formed and shaped by hand, sticks to most surfaces, cures to a tough flexible silicone overnight, and is stable at -60°C to + 180°C. Strong, flexible, waterproof and durable, it can be used for a multitude of purposes to adapt, modify and repair. Its uses are really only limited by your imagination. Once cured it can be removed with a craft knife and the residue removed with fingernails and tissue paper, if required. How well does it work ?  Sugru was good enough to send The Gadgeteer some of their product so we can find out for ourselves.

Sugru was developed by Jane Ní Dhulchaointigh from Kilkenny, Ireland who conceived the idea in 2003. Through a lot of hard work, perseverance  and eventually business grants, Sugru was released and has grown in popularity. Sugru even appeared in position 22 in Time magazines 50 top inventions of 2010 (the iPad was number 34 ).

Sugru comes in a neat, resealable silver foil pack (neat but absolutely terrible to photograph ). On the back of the packet there’s handy hints, usage examples, and other information. Note on the left hand side of the back, there’s a use by date.   Ideally Sugru should be used within 6 months of selling date. So this packet has a sell by date of April 2012 and a use by of October 2012. If the Sugru is too old, it gets crumbly and hard to work with, and it loses its flexibility and tends to crack rather than flex when cured. Sugru suggests that you can keep it in the fridge as this should almost double the life of the product.

Inside the pack are twelve 5 gram packs of Sugru in varying colours: 3 black, 3 white, and 2 each of blue, orange, and green. Each individual pack has the use by date on it as well.

There’s a 7 steps quick start guide-book as well that gives you some starter ideas and also has a colour mixing guide to make various colours.

I was eager to just get straight into it, so I quickly found hack number one.  My son wanted to shorten the Y junction for the cables on his headphones. Sugru to the rescue.

When you cut open the sealed pack you can see that Sugru looks just like plasticine or Play-Doh, and that’s exactly what it feels like, though maybe a bit softer. There’s no bad smells from it like you get with some putties or silicone-based products. After opening the packet, you have around 30 minutes to work with the Sugru. I took half the 5 gram pack and rolled it around in my fingers, formed it into a sausage, wrapped it around the cable, and smoothed it off………

And voila!  One hacked and fixed headphone cable – and even in his favourite colour.

After 24 hours, the Sugru has hardened into a flexible rubber compound. Sugru is electrically non-conductive, so there’s no reason why it can’t be used on exposed wires, circuits or anything of that nature. It’s a bit hard to get a nice smooth finish on the Sugru, and you can spend a lot of time trying to achieve with lots of “soft touching” and some soapy water – but then is a nice professional looking repair still a hack?

It’s worth noting that after curing, Sugru can be cut, carved, or even sanded. Also of note is that it won’t stick to soapy water or greasy plastics like polyethylene or cling wrap film. You can use this to your advantage where you need to shape things but don’t want the Sugru to stick to something while you’re shaping it or it’s curing.

So my next job was to see how it goes fixing things.  A while ago my spotting scope tripod fell over and broke the vertical winder. You can see it’s made of hard moulded plastic and there isn’t enough surface area to get a good bond with a glue. The repair had to be able to  put up with the pressure and twisting involved in turning the handle.  I could have used a big blob of two-part epoxy but it would have been very messy to apply especially since I can’t actually remove the mechanism to work on.

Half a packet of Sugru, a bit of moulding , 24 hours, and the winder works fine again. Okay, I can’t fold it up anymore but it’s 99% better than when it was blu-tacked to the leg so I wouldn’t lose it The Sugru has hardened nicely and is holding the two pieces together really well. It easily puts up with the pressure on the join while turning the handle. If I really wanted the handle to fold again I could probably use a razor or knife to cut off the excess, but meh !

Since getting the pack I’ve fixed and hacked all sorts of  things either by coating or connecting, made things like pot handles, knobs and hooks, sealed leaking tap joints and tried to use it in all the ways I can think of. I won’t bore you with more pictures of my projects suffice to say that Sugru has handled each task just fine every time.

A lot of the jobs I’ve done have been small ones, generally using only about half a packet.  Sugru starts to cure as soon as you open the pack, and that means I’ve had to find something else to use it on. Yes I could line up a number of jobs to do at once, but that takes away the spontaneity  of using Sugru.  I see from the web site that people have come up with all sorts of  methods of extending the life of an open packet but I’m not sure I could be bothered. It’d be nice if it came in 2.5g packs as well for those smaller jobs. Conversely I’d also like the option to purchase bigger packs for bigger projects like making large grips or handles and the like.

Base colours are limited to the 5 above and it would be nice if there was yellow and red, but I’m guessing this has something to do with the compound used to colour Sugru.  They’d be two nice colours to have, and if you had prime colours, it’d be easier to mix other colours.

The  limited shelf life may be an issue if you only use it occasionally; however, the way things are going, might be I’ll have to buy another pack way before the six months are up. A way around the limited life might be to buy one pack between a few people, divvy them up, and then group reorder when you’ve used them all up.

All in all I love Sugru. I’m constantly on the lookout for things to  fix or hack. I’m going to make sure I always have some handy in the house and in my gadget bag. It’s impossible to cover all the things that you can use Sugru for, so make sure you go over to Sugru’s website and see some of the ingenious ways that people have used it. If only McGyver had a packet of Sugru in his pocket every episode, the mind boggles with what he could have done

* I mentioned that Sugru was good enough to sent me a pack to review.  In reality, they actually sent me two, as the first pack went missing in the postal system somewhere between the UK and Australia.  Now I’ve used it I’m hoping that the missing parcel turns up and hopefully before the expiry date of the Sugru

Filed in categories: Do-It-Yourself, Reviews

Tagged: DIY, Hacking, Repair

Sugru – Hack Things Better Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 29, 2012 at 11:00 am.

Recently a spate of videos showing a smartphone treated with Neverwet being dipped in water was doing the rounds; however,  Ross Nanotechnology’s  product goes well beyond that.  Neverwet is a spray on or dip application that applies a super hydrophobic coating that completely repels water and heavy oils.  Any liquid placed on the coating literally just rolls of without touching the underlying surface.

Besides its applications in electronics, it can be used on almost all materials.  It’s properties include:

• anti-wetting
• anti-icing
• anti-corrosion
• anti-bacterial
• self-cleaning

Although not yet available to consumers as a retail product, their web site indicates retail spray cans being available by mid 2012 (not early 2012 as indicated in the video).  Make sure you check out some of the videos on their website.

Filed in categories: Do-It-Yourself, News

Tagged: DIY, Waterproof

Keep Your Gadgets Dry with Neverwet originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 26, 2012 at 10:00 am.

Last year, I reveiwed the Minox Rolleiflex MiniDigi AF 5.0 “tribute” camera (see related products links at the bottom) that reminded me of the old Imperial Reflex 620 Duo camera my mother had owned.  I was very disappointed in the tiny, low-res images captured by that almost $300 toy-like camera.  If only ThinkGeek had the Recesky Twin Lens Reflex Camera Kit then, I could have saved a lot of money and had a real, working, film camera.  With the Recesky kit, you spend about an hour to build the camera.  It has a fixed 1/125 sec shutter speed and focuses at 50cm to infinity.  Just like the original twin lens reflex camera, you hold it at your waist and look down into the top-mounted viewfinder.  You’ll need to supply your own 35mm film; ISO400 is recommended.  The Recesky Twin Lens Reflex camera kit is only $29.99.

Filed in categories: Digital Cameras and Gear, Do-It-Yourself, News

Tagged: DIY, film camera

Build Your Own Twin-Lens Reflex Film Camera originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 21, 2012 at 1:00 pm.

It’s not often that you can build your own lamp, but Homeloo offers a series of assemble-it-yourself wooden lamps from Sukoo so you can build your own.  The lamps, like the Sukoo DIY Wooden Classic Lamp shown here, are made of pine wood MDF.  The folks at Homeloo assure us that the temperatures won’t get high enough to cause fire problems with the MDF.  The lighting kit comes with a 220V connector, which won’t work for all countries.  The lamp kit shown is $18.00.  Prices for other lamp kits range from $17 to $27.

Filed in categories: Do-It-Yourself, News

Tagged: Desk lamp, DIY

DIY Classic Desk Lamp originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 29, 2012 at 12:00 pm.

A while back, Julie posted a news item about a ‘wooden pocket knife.’  I was intrigued: normally, one cuts wood with a knife, right?  So when the opportunity to review Nathan’s Knife Kit from Klecker Knives came up, I had to check it out.  My 8-year-old son had been asking me when he could get his own pocket knife.  I want him to begin to appreciate knife safety, but at the same time I know that he is not ready yet in the responsibility department for an actual knife of his own.  Add to this that he and I like to do little DIY-type woodworking projects together (bearing in mind that my tools and skills are meager at best), and this seemed like a perfect fit for both of us.  Onward!

NOTE: All images in this review have been enabled with clickable enlargeability for your viewing pleasure.  ;-)

Background

Packaging

Contents

Assembly

Some shots of the knife in the open and locked out position.  Yes, the locking mechanism really does lock out, and the thumb button must be depressed to close the blade, just like in a real lock-back folding knife.  It even produces a tactile and audible “lock” sound when locking open.

Detail shot of the locking mechanism in the open and locked out position:
A few more shots to illustrate the finished construction.  The parts in our kit all fit together nice and tight, with no slop or loose connections.

Something to keep in mind is that, while the blade is not “sharp” in the sense of having a true blade edge, it does have a sharply pointed tip.  

Part of the benefit of having the kit made from wood is that the finished knife can be sanded, glued, sealed, stained, painted and decorated as desired.   They encourage everyone who completes a kit to send them some pics of the finished work which they will post in their Hall of Fame.

And finally, below are a few shots of my son holding the completed knife.  He was eight when we assembled the kit just a month or two ago.

Conclusion

Filed in categories: Do-It-Yourself, Reviews

Tagged: DIY, Pocket Knife

Nathan’s Wooden Knife Kit Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on November 28, 2011 at 8:00 am.

If you’re looking for a cool gift for your favorite ukulele player, this is it. It’s a kit for a folding soprano ukulele. The parts are made of laser cut bamboo. All you need is some sandpaper, glue and a few other miscellaneous items and you’ll be able to build your own instrument that just happens to fold up into a nifty little package that can easily stow in your backpack. The resulting uke won’t sound as good as a traditionally built instrument, but it will make a fun do-it-yourself project. There are two kit designs to choose from, which are priced from $75-$87.50 (pictured). If you don’t want to take the time to build the kit, you can even buy them already finished… but for the price of the finished kits ($250 – $375), you could buy a decent regular uke. Check out these kits here.

Filed in categories: Do-It-Yourself, Musical Gear, News

Tagged: DIY, Musical instruments

Ukulele taking up too much space? Fold it. originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on November 26, 2011 at 11:49 am.

I enjoy making stuff, and I love electronics, so I generally really like electronics kit projects. The SpikenzieLabs Solder:Time Watch Kit seems like a great option for someone like me. This is actually a hackable watch- they provide the source code and other info, as well as convenient pads on the circuit board to tap into.

The Solder:Time Watch is loaded with interesting features for something so apparently simple and only $29.95:

• Laser-cut acrylic case (4 layers thick!)
• Dallas Semiconductor DS1337+ RTC clock chip
• PIC 16F631 micro-controller
• Low power consumption components
• Simple, one-button set-up and operation
• Long 2-sided Velcro strap wristband fits even large wrists
• Large, bright display
• Hackable and tinker-friendly allows for lots of other options- pocketwatch, desk clock, external power supply and more

Everything in the package

The parts for the case- some with protective film still in place

The electronic components

• Soldering the battery holder was annoying since there are no pins or anything to stabilize it. The directions have a handy trick I should have thought of, but I made it work.
• I needed to go back and trim the leads a few times- they need to be REALLY short for the right fit and to prevent issues when the board is squished into the case.
• It took a few tries ‘dry-fitting’ the 6 parts of the case, not including 4 socket-head screws, to get everything to line up right. It was fun to try to work out exactly how things fit. The directions make it super-easy, but I enjoyed the challenge.
• Troubleshooting was irritating and kind of fun. Long leads, mediocre solder jobs, and so forth plagued me- try it, works fine, assemble it and it was acting odd. Disassemble, try something, repeat. Even after it was working well enough for this review, it started to act up again.
• Trying to determine how to set the time without looking at the directions was fairly straightforward and I got it in only a few tries.

The glitches I had just added interest to the project for me, but could easily have been avoided by following the simple directions.

Assembled 'guts'

So what did I end up with for my investment? Well, to be charitable, it is a big watch- it measures 2 3/8in (60mm) across, 1/2in (12mm) thick- not counting the screw heads, which bring it to 9/16 in (15mm). It is also a simple watch- when you press the button, it displays the current time for about 5 seconds. No date, no seconds, no other functionality in its default state. If you wear it as it is, it actually looks a little silly- big clunky watch on a skinny 3/4in (20mm) band- albeit one you can see though,  which is kinda cool.

Finished watch on a reluctant model's arm(I forgot to remove one of the protective films- the back piece is clear as well.)

I doubt most people would wear this as is- it begs for hacking the case. I’m trying to decide it’s final purpose. If I carry it as a pocket watch or clip-on clock, I’d want to replace the 4 socket-head screws with countersunk flatheads, round off the top and bottom edges for a smoother package and figure out a cooler strap (carbon fiber???) If I use it as a desk clock, I’d glue it to a clear stand, probably taking advantage of the DC power option to run it off a battery pack in the base. Hacking the chip itself is outside my skills although I am curious what is possible. I did not find a lot of ideas or tips online for that.

Sure, for $29.95, you can buy lots of watches that look nicer and do more, but the cool thing about the Solder:Time is that you did it yourself and that you can then modify it into anything you can imagine.

Filed in categories: Do-It-Yourself, Reviews, Watches and Clocks

Tagged: DIY, Watch

SpikenzieLabs Solder:Time Watch Kit Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 25, 2011 at 11:15 am.

The Solder : Time from Spikenzielabs is an easy to solder wristwatch kit that has a laser cut acrylic casing that allows you to see the internal PCB, electronic components and battery (CR2032). There’s a velcro wrist band included, but you can also wear it as a badge with optional badge clip. This looks like a fun project for both young and old that can elevate your geek cred by several levels. The kit can be purchased for $29.95 or if you’re too lazy to build one, you can get an assembled watch for $39.95

Filed in categories: Do-It-Yourself, News, Watches and Clocks

Tagged: DIY, Watch

You aren’t a real geek unless you solder your own watch originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 24, 2011 at 1:00 pm.

One really nice thing about being an iPhone owner is that the third-party accessories market is so enormous that one is never at a loss for accessory options.  However, there is a trend in phone cases in general to lean towards the sleek and industrial or luxurious, often leaving those whose tastes tend toward the relaxed and unique out in the cold.

Fortunately for those people, Connect Design is now offering a DIY iPhone 4 case that allows the more skilled iPhone 4 owners to customize their phone with cross-stitch, thanks to a weave pattern on the back.  The case is available in six colors, and the Connect Design website even provides a number of sample patterns in case you’re not feeling terribly creative after all.

The DIY iPhone case is available now from Connect Design for $18.00.

Filed in categories: iPhone, iPad, iPod related

Tagged: Custom iPhone cases, DIY, iPhone Case, Spotlight Gadgets

Show Off Your Crafty Side With the DIY iPhone Case originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 14, 2011 at 12:00 pm.

Bobble heads.  Cool, right?  How about a trapezoidal-shaped bobble head that you construct yourself by downloading a template, printing on cardstock, cutting, folding and gluing it?  Too good to be true?  Check out Pally Pal Paper Toys.  They have a growing inventory of Pal designs in several categories or download a blank template and create your own.  You can even submit your own designs to be added to the site.  Funky DYI papercraft toys.  And they’re FREE!

Got a favorite?  Who would you submit?

Filed in categories: Do-It-Yourself, Geek Toys, News

Tagged: DIY, Geek toys

Pally Pals: Trapezoidal, Foldable, Bobbly & Fun originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 26, 2011 at 12:30 pm.

JJ’s Knife Kit from Garrett Wade is a nifty build it yourself kit for little ones aged 4-7. Kids always want what their parents have, so this is a safe way to let them feel like they have a grown up tool. These kits come with pre-cut and pre-drilled pieces of Oak or Cherry depending on the style. Even though they are supposed to be for kids, I’d like to have one too They are priced from $11.75 – $22.50.

Filed in categories: Do-It-Yourself, Kid Gadgets, News

Tagged: DIY, Knives, Spotlight Gadgets

Do-it-yourself pocket knife building kit for kids originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 5, 2010 at 10:02 am.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I rarely use the CD drive in my iMac or Macbook Pro. 99.9% of the time, I download software instead of buying CDs. And I don’t watch DVDs on my devices either. OWC has a cool product that will let you ditch your optical drive for something that you might use more often – more disk space. With their $79.99 do-it-yourself Data Doubler kit for the Mac mini (2009) and iMac (2009/2010), you can replace the internal optical drive with a second hard drive or Solid State Drive for up to 750GB additional internal capacity or a RAID array. Check their site for compatibility info.

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Do-It-Yourself, News

Tagged: DIY, Hard Drive, mac, Spotlight Gadgets

Add a 2nd internal HD to your Mac mini or iMac originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 31, 2010 at 8:00 am.

TOKYObay will be offering a Limited Edition DIY Toolbox in time for the holiday gift buying season. This kit will give watch enthusiasts the ability to customize and assemble the main components of a classic style watch. The DIY watch kit includes two mid size classic watch faces. One with a cream dial and and one with a black dial. Four different colored straps in military canvas, sporty nylon and leather are also included. You can mix and match the bands and faces to create just the right look. Also included are nine tools for watch repair, back up batteries and watch band slug pins. This kit will retail for $210. Visit TOKYObay to add your name to the waiting list.

Filed in categories: Do-It-Yourself, News, Watches and Clocks

Tagged: DIY, Spotlight Gadgets, Watches and Clocks

DIY Watchmaking with the TOKYObay Limited Edition DIY Toolbox originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on October 8, 2010 at 9:00 am.

The Gadgeteer recently showed you how to easily change your downlights into pendant lights without hiring an electrician.  Today, we’ve found another way update the look of your recessed lights.  Sky Mall is offering Recessed Light Covers in a variety of styles from modern to traditional.  These Recessed Light Covers snap into place over your existing recessed lights.  Simply slide in the inner can with clips to hold it in place, then attach the glass insert and detailed steel outer ring.  The inner diameter is 7″, outer diameter is 8.5″ .  The Recessed Light Covers are $34.99 each at Sky Mall.

Filed in categories: Do-It-Yourself, News

Tagged: DIY, Home Improvements, Home lighting

Another Way to Change the Look of Recessed Downlights originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 6, 2010 at 12:51 pm.

If there’s anything that I love as much as getting my hands on a shiny new gadget, it’s taking old gadgets and repurposing them to accomplish something completely awesome.  I recently combined a low-end Eye-Fi card, a 2008 Mac Mini, and a little elbow grease to turn my home theater system into a slideshow displaying photos of a party at my home — live, as I was taking them.  Here’s how I did it, and how you can too.

What you’ll need

• A home theater system in the same room as your party
• A Mac Mini (you might be able to accomplish this with a Windows HTPC as well, but there may be limitations — details on that later)
• A home wireless network
• An Eye-Fi card
• An Eye-Fi-compatible camera (most cameras are, these days)
• minor scripting voodoo

Setup

HTMac/HTPC
Fortunately for me, I already had half of this project done before I began, because I had been using a Mac Mini as a home theater PC for some time.  While the 2008 Mac Minis didn’t have HDMI-out, I was able to run video out via a DVI to HDMI adapter, and audio out via the Mac’s mini-TOSLINK jack.  With Plex installed, the Mac Mini becomes a rather formidable living room media solution.  But I digress… the point is that a Mac Mini — even an older one — is ideal for this project.

If you don’t have a spare Mac Mini laying around, you can probably pick one up fairly cheap from the refurbished section of Apple’s online store, or you can try your luck with one of the many Windows-based HTPCs out there (yes, I realize that there are Linux-based HTPC solutions, but Eye-Fi did not work with Linux when I last checked, and that’s a crucial element here, as you’ll see in just a moment).

Regardless of the OS and hardware you choose, you will need a computer of some kind hooked up to your home theater and providing video to your television (unless, of course, you use one of those gorgeous 27-inch iMacs as your TV, in which case you have one less thing to set up).
Eye-Fi
With your HTMac/HTPC set up, now you have to establish a conduit for your photos to get from your camera to the computer.  Fortunately, Eye-Fi makes this easy.  First, you want to use the Eye-Fi manager software to configure your Eye-Fi card to transfer photos to a specific folder on your computer.  It doesn’t matter where this folder is located, but I’d recommend starting with a fresh, empty folder, and placing it somewhere that’s easy to remember and navigate to.

Next, you’ll probably want to configure your Eye-Fi card to use Selective Transfer.  This step isn’t strictly necessary, but I recommend it.  With Selective Transfer active, the Eye-Fi card will only transfer selected photos to your computer, instead of every photo you take.  Selecting a photo for transfer is as easy as pressing the “protect” button while viewing the photo on your camera.  By using Selective Transfer, you ensure that only the best photos end up in your slideshow, rather than including all of those photos of people with their eyes half-closed, which you’d normally just delete and re-shoot.

It should go without saying that you also need a wireless network set up in your home for this to work.  The Eye-Fi card can’t communicate with your computer unless they are both connected to the network.
Slideshow software
Now that you’ve got photos flowing to your HTMac/HTPC, you need to display them.  How you go about this will depend on which OS you’re running on your computer.  While it’s true that both OS X and Windows have a screensaver that can display a randomized selection of photos from a specified location, there are limitations.  For example, I have confirmed that the OS X slide show screensaver does not automatically refresh — that is to say, when the screensaver kicks in, the slide show that it creates contains only photos that were in the specified location at the time that the screensaver launched.  Any photos added to the folder after the slideshow has begun will not be included in the slideshow.  I haven’t had a chance to confirm conclusively that Windows’ “Photos” screensaver has the same limitation, but from what I’ve seen so far, it seems to work in the same way.

Fortunately, there is a simple solution if you’re on OS X.  I threw together a simple AppleScript that addresses this is the simplest manner possible:

repeat
 tell application "ScreenSaverEngine" to activate
 delay 300
 tell application "System Events" to key code 59
 delay 2
end repeat

When launched, this AppleScript will trigger the screen saver, wait five minutes, simulate the pressing of a key (quitting the slide show), wait two seconds, trigger the screen saver again, and repeat until manually terminated.  The end result is that the slideshow is effectively “refreshed” every five minutes (you can adjust the frequency of the refresh by tweaking the delay values).  Save this AppleScript as an application, and you can put it on your desktop or in your Applications folder and launch it whenever you want your self-refreshing slide show to run.  Now you need only set the slide show as your screen saver, point it at your Eye-Fi photos folder, configure your display options, and you’re set.  When you want to quit the auto-refresh, just press a key or move your mouse to exit the slideshow, and quit the AppleScript from the dock.

Unfortunately, Here is where the OS X and Windows roads diverge.  Windows does not provide any reasonable equivalent to AppleScript, so Windows users will need to find some sort of slideshow application that will get them around this limitation, or some sort of scripting/macro utility that will let you mimic the behavior of my AppleScript.  Being that I no longer use Windows unless I really have to, I’m afraid that I don’t have any suggestions that will help Windows users over this last hump.  If you have suggestions, please add them in the comments.

Putting it all together

Once all of these ingredients are in place, you’re basically done.  Insert the Eye-Fi card into your camera and fire off a few test shots to confirm that the photos end up in the correct folder (remember to protect the photos if you’re using Selective Transfer), start up your AppleScript (or whatever you’re using for Windows) to launch the slide show and confirm that the correct photos are displaying, and that’s that.  The HTMac/HTPC can do double duty as your party’s jukebox while it’s displaying your photos, if you like.  You could even take this to the next level by using iTunes’ DJ mode to provide your party’s music, and allow your guests to request or vote on tracks via their iPhones.  Welcome to the future.

Now… go get some beverages and snack foods, invite your friends over, snap some photos, and enjoy!

Filed in categories: Articles, Digital Cameras and Gear, Do-It-Yourself

Tagged: DIY, HTPC, Photos

Geek Up Your Party With a Live-Updating Slideshow originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 19, 2010 at 10:00 am.

If you are tired of the way your recessed can lights look, you can convert them to pendant fixtures in minutes without paying for an electrician.  These Instant Pendant Lights from Solutions simply replace the bulb in your old fixture.  You can adjust the length of the fixture without having to cut the wiring, and the pendant light’s canopy slides up to cover a 4-6.5″ can light opening.  The pendant uses conventional incandescent or compact fluorescent bulbs.  There are four shade style/metal color combinations.  Each Instant Pendant Light is $49.95.

Filed in categories: Do-It-Yourself, News

Tagged: DIY, Pendant lights

Change the Look of Your Room With Instant Pendant Lights from Solutions originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 12, 2010 at 9:34 am.

If you are equally handy with “needle, thread, and battleaxe”, you can make yourself a D20-shaped handbag (called a dice bag, if you’re male).  The ThinkGeek kit contains all the components you need to make the bag;  you just need to supply the sewing machine, thread, iron, and the skills.  The DIY Dice Handbag kit is $29.99.  You know you want it!

Filed in categories: Do-It-Yourself, Gaming Gear, News

Tagged: D20 dice, DIY, handbag

DIY Dice Handbag Kit originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 26, 2010 at 1:55 pm.

Photo courtesy of The Modern Day Pirates website

I recently posted news items about an official Moleskine Kindle case with a reporter-style notebook and the DODOcase Moleskine-style case for iPad.  If you really want a Moleskine-style case for your iPad but don’t want to spend $50 and wait up to six weeks for it, you can try your hand at making your own.  Brandon at The Modern Day Pirates website has posted complete instructions for making your own iPad case.  He even included a list of supplies you’ll need and the source and approximate price for them.  Brandon warns the project isn’t for people with no crafting experience, and he says he took a college class in bookbinding.  However, his instructions are so clear that any one with crafting skills should be able to give it a try.  Brandon spent less than $20, and his cover looks great.  I snagged a picture from his website to show you his finished product next to a real Moleskine notebook.

Filed in categories: Do-It-Yourself, iPhone, iPad, iPod related, News

Tagged: DIY, iPad case, Moleskine

DIY Moleskine Case for iPad originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 24, 2010 at 7:58 am.

Wee-Meng Lee sent in a nifty tip for those of you that own a Pilot Varsity disposable fountain pen and would like a relatively easy way to refill the ink instead of throwing away the pen. Wee-Meng has created a video that demonstrates his method. If you have other gadget tips like this one, please send them to me so I can share them.

Filed in categories: Do-It-Yourself, News

Tagged: DIY, Pens

Recycle Tip – Refill Pilot Varsity Fountain Pens originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 18, 2010 at 11:32 am.

If you are a photography buff or just like to build things, check out the Plamodel build-your-own working 35mm camera with a 28mm lens.  You simply snap together the plastic parts in the DIY camera kit from Japanese design house SuperHeadz.  This could be a fun project for you to do with a younger child who’d like her own camera.  Unicahome has a plain black model for $17.00, or a “custom moriyama special edition cow model” with a picture of a cow on the body of the camera for $27.00.

Filed in categories: Do-It-Yourself, News

Tagged: Camera, DIY, Spotlight Gadgets

Build Your Own 35mm Camera originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 2, 2010 at 3:45 pm.

Benny Johansson sent in a link to his site where he demonstrates how to make your own holders for flashlights, bicycle pumps and other items. His photography and clear instructions are great. I’ve bookmarked the site for future reference. Go check it out.

Filed in categories: Do-It-Yourself, News

Tagged: DIY

DIY holders for flashlights originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 14, 2010 at 5:10 pm.

Look on the Internet for plans to build a robot from an old computer mouse and you’ll find plenty.  Really useful, huh?  But, look for a set of plans for a Murphy bed and you’ll be disappointed.  Oddly there are plenty of people out there searching for do-it-yourself plans for Murphy beds, myself included (both in the “searching” and in the “odd” category).

Murphey Brown

Eddie Murphy

A typical Murphy bed

Moddi Murphy bed (twin size)

I finally found the Moddi Murphy Bed Plan and purchased their set of plans for $8.  The plans include not only the exact parts that are needed (and where to buy them) but a pretty thorough set of instructions, too, including cut sheets.  I was suspicious about shelling out money for a set of plans that you would think would be available anywhere on the internet but after a few days of searching and not finding such a thing, I was willing to splurge.

The deciding factor for me was not only that the plans are in one place and contain obtainable parts list, but that the entire bed (minus mattress) can be constructed for less than $400 (or less than $300 for a twin size).

Filed in categories: Home Tech

Tagged: DIY

A Real Murphy Bed Plan originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 20, 2010 at 1:06 pm.

I had no issues with my Droid battery cover for the two weeks I used it, but I have heard some complaints that the cover can fall off. I know another reviewer that had no problem with her review unit, but after purchasing she had issues with the new one. So it probably is dependent on the unit you get.

I did come across a nice little video that describes a potential DIY solution if you don’t mind slightly customizing your Droid. Actually in the world of DIY this is really minor. Of course I am not going to take responsibility for any over-zealous mods on your part. If you want to follow these instructions, take care.

Update:

Matt from Motorola (he manages the Motorola Support Forum) added a nice comment below about a non-DIY solution. It’s great to hear a company stand so solidly behind their product. He provides this link to get support if your cover is coming consistently off: https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/utils/chat

Filed in categories: Android related, Do-It-Yourself

Tagged: DIY, droid, Motorola

DIY Droid Battery Cover Fix originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 7, 2009 at 9:56 am.