Funny home cut out stickers.
Those salt and pepper shakers you've had your eye on are on sale. They've knocked $800 off!
iTable. These guys have made a touch-screen table that attaches to an iPhone (basically, the table becomes a giant iPhone).
Hungry, but not sure what to make? Check out photograzing! Browse a boatload of quality food pics to find the perfect meal.
Sandwich coasters that you can set your Brass knuckles coffee mug on.
Cold + Pillow = Chillow. Chillow is fun to say. Chillow.
A lightbulb storage solution to a problem we didn't know we had!
Nice magnetic doorstops Via KK's Cool Tools
Do I really need this thing? Ask yourself these questions while attempting to de-clutter the house.
NY Times articles on the tools you really need to maintain your home.
Pumpkin launchers should enjoy this collection of trebuchet/catapult designs.
NOTICE: Large moosehead wall lights have finally been invented.
360 Modern is a real estate firm in the Pacific Northwest U.S. that specializes in modern homes. Beautiful stuff.
Handy way to skip all the intro crap on DVDs that is usually forced on you when you throw a disc in your player. Apparently the chapters on DVDs that you can't skip (FBI warnings, copyright stuff, etc.) are flagged, on the disc, as UOP, or User Operation Prohibited. This site lists some of the techniques you can try to skip the ennui.
This colour coordinated bookshelf looks cool, but you might have a hard time finding a particular title.
For chewie edge lovers or corner brownie fans - it's the Edge Brownie Pan. All edges, all the time. Via BoingBoing
Puzzle carpet.
This to That is a handy site that will tell you what adhesive to use when attempting to glue various objects together.
Super creative bathroom tiles.
Skinny house in Brazil.
Apparently there are many LED lightbulbs available already. Via TreeHugger
WiiRoomba. YouTube of a guy controlling his Roomba with a Wii remote.
Hardcore Lost fans have a party and repackage the snacks and beer as Dharma Initiative rations. Make your own with the PDFs that they've so generously shared.
Here's a nice set of home improvement videos with the energetic and snappy Eric Stromer.
Faucet Fountain turns your regular faucet into a drinking fountain.
Kids and the Home Office. Here's a list of tips for the parent that works from home.
Save the Internet.
Great Pac-Man bathroom tile work.
Crazy toaster from the future TODAY!
Here is a nice napkin folding howto site with clean pictures and straightforward instructions. I think the shirt's my favourite.
DIY T-Shirt Rack via Instructables.
Stainless steel paint.
Onion goggles.
Batman-esque underground garage with hydraulic lift.
Microsoft to unveil a home server at CES this week in Vegas? This article at Arstechnica discusses the possibility of a machine focused on home automation and entertainment centralization.
Here's a blog full of interesting gifts for under 10 bucks.
WikiHow has a DriCore installation howto available for your edification.
Here is an energy saving tips post from last winter.
The USB humping dog you asked for is in.
Unique DIY photo ornaments.
A table that walks. Finally!
Twist and grow table. Amazing.
Roller toaster.
Make a nice 3D paper snowflake.
Tiny houses from the Tumbleweed Tiny House company.
Post-it note wallpaper made up of four different grey tones which, over time, reveals a usage driven design.
Sweet mug that comes with convenient built-in cookie chamber. Here's a great review of the mug in use.
Great unique gift idea and store thread on Ask Metafilter.
This is one massive bed that measures 12 feet by 10 feet.
Build your very own bottomless pit with this howto (heads up: there is some embedded audio on the site).
Laundry chute turned Cat chute.
PacMan arcade cabinet Halloween costume.
Crazy awesome self assembling robotic chair. Amazing.
DIY Bean bag sofa and/or bed from Instructables.
Another site on transforming household items into other useful (??) household items. Thanks for the tip Paul!
Environmentally friendly home cleaning service. I hadn't realized that there were companies that will clean your home using only animal and environmentally friendly products. This particular company is in the UK, but a quick googling pulls up similar companies in North America as well.
Here are some very unique hand made leaded glass doors, produced using the lead came method, a method in use since the middle ages.
Pumpkin carving. This site has some seriously impressive pumpkin carvings as well as a tutorial, which, although informative, still looks like it requires a lot of artistic ability. Worth a shot though - it's just pumpkin.
Another declutter your home tip page. This one's by FlyLady.net.
USB twister hub with Rubik's cube-like rotating ports.
An outdoor pizza oven party would be a cool alternative to summer barbeques.
Skeeter Bag is a bag that attaches to box fans to catch mosquitos by the thousands.
Lego ice cube tray.
Turn maple leaves into roses with the help of this photo tutorial. Very autumn/thanksgiving.
Interesting Alton Brown video on knife sharpening and maintenance. Instructables also has a step-by-step sharpening howto.
CNN Money article: Middle-class families in worse shape than ever.
Nice and clean magnetic tool rack from Instructables. The nice thing about this organizer is that the actual tool holders can be positioned and rearranged (on the fly) on the metallic backboard.
Designer wood computers handmade in Canada.
Humanoid shaped shelves. Kind of looks like James the doorstop.
How to find a good neighbourhood. MSN article, via Lifehacker.
How to make clear ice cubes.
Use your PC and webcam as a motion activated security camera.
This Old House has made available a very large fall home inspection checklist for your downloading pleasure.
Mike Jagger of Provident security has been on the scene of thousands of residential burglaries and has put together this interesting walkthrough of a typical break-in.
Concrete countertops on Flickr.
This is pretty damn clever. Sizeasy is an online tool that helps you visualize the size of something you're reading about or considering buying online. Punch in your dimensions and see your widget along side things like a deck of cards or a piece of paper.
Here's the skinny on upgrading your home network to Gigabit ethernet. It's probably worth doing simply because "gigabit ethernet" just sounds cool and not at all nerdly.
Greenpeace is getting on Apple's case about their use of certain hazardous chemicals in iPods, iBooks and the like. Greenpeace claims that other manufacturers have discontinued the use of some of the chemicals that are still found in Apple products.
De-Clutter your home to sell it faster. Here's a page with a lot of ways to do just that.
Consumer Reports: 20 Free Ways to Save Energy is a nice list of things you can do, mostly around the house, to save energy and of course, as the two go hand in hand, cash.
Those salt and pepper shakers you've had your eye on are on sale. They've knocked $800 off!
iTable. These guys have made a touch-screen table that attaches to an iPhone (basically, the table becomes a giant iPhone).
Hungry, but not sure what to make? Check out photograzing! Browse a boatload of quality food pics to find the perfect meal.
Sandwich coasters that you can set your Brass knuckles coffee mug on.
Cold + Pillow = Chillow. Chillow is fun to say. Chillow.
A lightbulb storage solution to a problem we didn't know we had!
Nice magnetic doorstops Via KK's Cool Tools
Do I really need this thing? Ask yourself these questions while attempting to de-clutter the house.
NY Times articles on the tools you really need to maintain your home.
Pumpkin launchers should enjoy this collection of trebuchet/catapult designs.
NOTICE: Large moosehead wall lights have finally been invented.
360 Modern is a real estate firm in the Pacific Northwest U.S. that specializes in modern homes. Beautiful stuff.
Handy way to skip all the intro crap on DVDs that is usually forced on you when you throw a disc in your player. Apparently the chapters on DVDs that you can't skip (FBI warnings, copyright stuff, etc.) are flagged, on the disc, as UOP, or User Operation Prohibited. This site lists some of the techniques you can try to skip the ennui.
This colour coordinated bookshelf looks cool, but you might have a hard time finding a particular title.
For chewie edge lovers or corner brownie fans - it's the Edge Brownie Pan. All edges, all the time. Via BoingBoing
Puzzle carpet.
This to That is a handy site that will tell you what adhesive to use when attempting to glue various objects together.
Super creative bathroom tiles.
Skinny house in Brazil.
Apparently there are many LED lightbulbs available already. Via TreeHugger
WiiRoomba. YouTube of a guy controlling his Roomba with a Wii remote.
Hardcore Lost fans have a party and repackage the snacks and beer as Dharma Initiative rations. Make your own with the PDFs that they've so generously shared.
Here's a nice set of home improvement videos with the energetic and snappy Eric Stromer.
Faucet Fountain turns your regular faucet into a drinking fountain.
Kids and the Home Office. Here's a list of tips for the parent that works from home.
Save the Internet.
Great Pac-Man bathroom tile work.
Crazy toaster from the future TODAY!
Here is a nice napkin folding howto site with clean pictures and straightforward instructions. I think the shirt's my favourite.
DIY T-Shirt Rack via Instructables.
Stainless steel paint.
Onion goggles.
Batman-esque underground garage with hydraulic lift.
Microsoft to unveil a home server at CES this week in Vegas? This article at Arstechnica discusses the possibility of a machine focused on home automation and entertainment centralization.
Here's a blog full of interesting gifts for under 10 bucks.
WikiHow has a DriCore installation howto available for your edification.
Here is an energy saving tips post from last winter.
The USB humping dog you asked for is in.
Unique DIY photo ornaments.
A table that walks. Finally!
Twist and grow table. Amazing.
Roller toaster.
Make a nice 3D paper snowflake.
Tiny houses from the Tumbleweed Tiny House company.
Post-it note wallpaper made up of four different grey tones which, over time, reveals a usage driven design.
Sweet mug that comes with convenient built-in cookie chamber. Here's a great review of the mug in use.
Great unique gift idea and store thread on Ask Metafilter.
This is one massive bed that measures 12 feet by 10 feet.
Build your very own bottomless pit with this howto (heads up: there is some embedded audio on the site).
Laundry chute turned Cat chute.
PacMan arcade cabinet Halloween costume.
Crazy awesome self assembling robotic chair. Amazing.
DIY Bean bag sofa and/or bed from Instructables.
Another site on transforming household items into other useful (??) household items. Thanks for the tip Paul!
Environmentally friendly home cleaning service. I hadn't realized that there were companies that will clean your home using only animal and environmentally friendly products. This particular company is in the UK, but a quick googling pulls up similar companies in North America as well.
Here are some very unique hand made leaded glass doors, produced using the lead came method, a method in use since the middle ages.
Pumpkin carving. This site has some seriously impressive pumpkin carvings as well as a tutorial, which, although informative, still looks like it requires a lot of artistic ability. Worth a shot though - it's just pumpkin.
Another declutter your home tip page. This one's by FlyLady.net.
USB twister hub with Rubik's cube-like rotating ports.
An outdoor pizza oven party would be a cool alternative to summer barbeques.
Skeeter Bag is a bag that attaches to box fans to catch mosquitos by the thousands.
Lego ice cube tray.
Turn maple leaves into roses with the help of this photo tutorial. Very autumn/thanksgiving.
Interesting Alton Brown video on knife sharpening and maintenance. Instructables also has a step-by-step sharpening howto.
CNN Money article: Middle-class families in worse shape than ever.
Nice and clean magnetic tool rack from Instructables. The nice thing about this organizer is that the actual tool holders can be positioned and rearranged (on the fly) on the metallic backboard.
Designer wood computers handmade in Canada.
Humanoid shaped shelves. Kind of looks like James the doorstop.
How to find a good neighbourhood. MSN article, via Lifehacker.
How to make clear ice cubes.
Use your PC and webcam as a motion activated security camera.
This Old House has made available a very large fall home inspection checklist for your downloading pleasure.
Mike Jagger of Provident security has been on the scene of thousands of residential burglaries and has put together this interesting walkthrough of a typical break-in.
Concrete countertops on Flickr.
This is pretty damn clever. Sizeasy is an online tool that helps you visualize the size of something you're reading about or considering buying online. Punch in your dimensions and see your widget along side things like a deck of cards or a piece of paper.
Here's the skinny on upgrading your home network to Gigabit ethernet. It's probably worth doing simply because "gigabit ethernet" just sounds cool and not at all nerdly.
Greenpeace is getting on Apple's case about their use of certain hazardous chemicals in iPods, iBooks and the like. Greenpeace claims that other manufacturers have discontinued the use of some of the chemicals that are still found in Apple products.
De-Clutter your home to sell it faster. Here's a page with a lot of ways to do just that.
Consumer Reports: 20 Free Ways to Save Energy is a nice list of things you can do, mostly around the house, to save energy and of course, as the two go hand in hand, cash.
Cydus Home RFID Deadbolts
A relatively new company called 'Cydus' has addressed the dearth of residential RFID access controllers in the marketplace by releasing a pair of modern electronic deadbolts. The locks operate as you may expect RFID proximity access controllers to, however, this unit, the MyKey 2300, unfortunately requires that a button be pressed before the unit is ready to read the keychain RFID tag. The higher end unit, the 4000, only requires the card to be in close proximity to the reader for activation. Besides it's raison d'etre; the convenience of keyless entry through small RFID cards, the deadbolts have some interesting features, including this backup battery system in case the unit's batteries die:Simply touch a 9v battery to the built-in battery terminal and your MyKey 2300 is up and running. The MyKey even stores all of your existing security keys, so even if it's without power, when you turn it back on your access cards and pin combination are fully intact!
Lost or forgotten RFID cards aren't the end of the world either, as the unit comes equipped with a nicely hidden keypad for which to enter your password.
See also: RFID Enabling your front door. This is a homemade RFID entrance controller with a PC backend. The author shares a parts list, source code and cost breakdown (see author's comments ).
Previously: DIR RFID Access to your Front Door
HomeSeer RFID Home Automation Starter Kit
From automated patio door access solutions for pets, to DIY, front door keyless entry howtos, RFID seems to be everywhere, and its popularity is certainly on the upswing. It should come as no surprise, then, that a home automation-friendly, retail RFID product is now available. The product, which is a joint project between RFID developer iAutomate.com and HomeSeer.com, will run with additional software from HomeSeer, and connect to your PC's serial port. Some possible uses, from the site:- Control the lights, HVAC, garage door or security system when your car approaches or leaves your home. The Ultimate Driveway Sensor !
- Detect if vehicle is in the garage.
- Detect a person entering or leaving a room or area.
- Arm or Disarm Security by individual tag.
- Automatically open a "pet" door when your pet approaches the door.
- Control, Lights, Music, and Temperature based upon the presence or absence of a tag...
Still, as much as the hardware might allow you to do, $599 seems a bit steep given that it ships with only one RFID reader.
Via Automatedhome.co.uk.
Email DIY RFID Access to your Front Door
If you enjoy the convenience of keyless entry technology at work then perhaps you've thought about having a similar unit installed at home to make life a little easier, like when you struggle to reach your keys with armfuls of groceries or when you're being chased by neighbourhood thugs and vagrants. ExtremeTech.com walks you through the creation of just such a device with this tutorial on creating a handy RFID access controller for the front door of your home. This is a very nice, detailed tutorial that includes a parts list, tool list, software and schematics. The project looks pretty intensive, so set aside a good chunk of time to see it to completion.
Doormate Automatic Patio Door with Pet Proximity Sensor
Doormate.com makes an automatic patio door opener aimed at the elderly and people with special needs. The unit is pushbutton controlled (keychain) or activated through the optional, mountable numeric keypad for secure entrance. Once open, the Doormate slides the door closed after a short delay. Aside from the obvious practical benefit for people with special physical needs, the most interesting accessory is the 'Pet Prox' proximity device that clips on to your dog's collar. The device is triggered as the dog comes within a few feet of the Doormate- from either inside or out. This should be a welcome addition to the home for anyone that has a dog with a small bladder or frequent, obsessive hankerings for grass.Doormate system and Pet Prox add-on available from Smarthome.com.
Recent stuff from HouseHacker:
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