How to Make a Jack

There are tons of ways to make simple DIY lamps out of things you have lying around at home. If you've got an empty container, (even an orange or tuna can), there's probably a way to upcycle it into a lamp of some sort, and they can come in handy if you ever lose power. After ...more

Planning on carving a pumpkin for Halloween? After you're done scooping and scraping out the inner flesh and pulp from your pumpkin, make the most of your jack-o'-lantern leftovers by using the pumpkin meat and seeds in the kitchen and for your beauty regimen. After steaming ...more

Halloween is less than a couple weeks away, so it's about that time you start thinking of cool ways to decorate your house (if you haven't already), and pumpkins are an obvious choice. Pumpkins are one of the cornerstones of Halloween celebrations, dating all the way back to t ...more

I loved my Lite-Brite as a kid. There was just something about using those little multicolored pegs to make my own designs, and it's not exactly a secret that kids love anything that lights up (LED sneakers, anyone?). So how do you combine the old-school fun of Lite-Brite with ...more

I don't know what I've been doing in the past when it comes to carving pumpkins, but usually they last a little while. For some reason, the pumpkins we carved this year lasted only two days before they became almost completely engulfed in mold and pumpkin juice. Maybe our apar ...more

Love carving jack-o'-lanterns but hate dealing with all the gunky pumpkin seeds afterward? There are plenty of no-carve ways to decorate a pumpkin for Halloween, but what if you're sick of the orange pumpkin aesthetic and still want to get your hands dirty carving something? ...more

Apple Pay has been available to use in stores, as well as in select apps and websites, ever since its first appearance in iOS 8.1. Now, with iOS 12, there are currently 13 different iPhone models that support Apple Pay functionality without the use of an Apple Watch, and the l ...more

Pumpkin carving and decorating is a favorite October pastime. After you've carved an amazing design or face into a pumpkin or two, you want to show it off through your window or set it out on your porch for the neighbors to see. But, without knowing the tricks to save your ho ...more

It can be extremely frustrating when you've forgotten the pattern you use to lock your smartphone, and even more so if someone has managed to prank you by changing it. Luckily, there's an easy fix if you know the username and password for the Gmail account you used to set up t ...more

Samsung has finally rolled out the Android Oreo update for the Galaxy S8 and S8+. If you're just now getting the update, you'll be happy to know that your Galaxy just got upgraded with plenty of cool new features. Like previous updates, Samsung has improved upon its software b ...more

Living on a budget often means compromising what you want for what you need—or at least, for what's affordable. But that doesn't necessarily mean you have to compromise on flavor, especially if you know the right tips and tricks to make something spectacular out of the ordinar ...more

Taco Bell's in the news for umpteenth time, and today the controversy is over their infamous beef taco meat. Gizmodo leaked a picture of Taco Bell's "Taco Meat Filling" and surprise, surprise— it's missing a lot of the "meat" that it claims in its advertisements. Taco Meat Fil ...more

According to a study done by Kaspersky, 7.6% of Android users root their phones. That may not sound like a lot, but with over 2 billion Android devices out there, the math works out to over 150 million rooted phones — more than the total population of Russia, Mexico, or Japan ...more

While music may not technically be a "universe language," it is the one language listened to by all. There are over 1,500 music genres today—rap, classical, rock, jazz, trap, hip-hop, house, new wave, vaperwave, charred death, nintendocore... and the list goes on. And if you'r ...more

Officially, in order to use AirPlay to stream music from your iOS device, you would need either an Apple TV, AirPort Express, or an AirPlay-enabled receiver or set of speakers. Despite what Apple wants you to think, there is another way to stream music without any of those Air ...more

Thrift stores! As a Steampunk, they can be your best friend, but it's easy to make a tragic mistake. This hands-on guide will help you navigate the murky waters of successful thrifting in order to find the hidden gems that will make your Steampunk outfit complete! Thrift Stor ...more

There's a lot that goes into making a nice crystal radio set, so this is going to have to be broken down into two parts. The first part is the actual making of a functional radio, and the second part is making the whole arrangement look nice. In this part, I'm actually going t ...more

At one point in the '90s, about fifty percent of the CDs produced worldwide had an AOL logo. About fifty percent of the CDs in my home still have that AOL promise of 500 free hours on them. Though they never got me to join their internet service, I did get a lifetime supply of ...more

Your home has walls for privacy, but Wi-Fi signals passing through them and can be detected up to a mile away with a directional Wi-Fi antenna and a direct line of sight. An amazing amount of information can be learned from this data, including when residents come and go, the ...more

I love making beeps and bloops with the Arduino pitches library, but sometimes archaic 8-bit tunes just don't cut it. Whether you want your robot to terrify your enemies with a demonic synthetic voice, you just need a pocket boom box on the go, or you want to a miniature guita ...more

If you still have no idea what to wear for Halloween, but don't want to spend a lot of money or time putting together a costume that doesn't completely suck, welcome to the club. Last year, I shared a roundup on truly last-minute Halloween costumes for the cheap and lazy, and ...more

Though silica gel packets clearly instruct you to throw them away (and not eat them), you can actually keep them for a variety of unexpectedly practical uses around the home. Silica gel is a desiccant, a substance that absorbs moisture, which makes these packets perfect for ke ...more

Copy and paste keyboard shortcuts are beautiful gifts from the gods, and any website that blocks such an offering can burn in hell. But really, Cmd+C and Cmd+V (Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V for Windows folks) are second nature to most of us, so it's very frustrating when sites like PayPa ...more

Mobile gaming has exploded in recent years, with experts predicting 2.4 billion global mobile players by the end of 2019. It already accounts for 47% of the worldwide gaming market, besting console and PC. No wonder we've seen the rise of gaming smartphones, a class of phones ...more

If you've run out of time for all of our more time-consuming Halloween costume ideas, here are some places on the web for free, downloadable paper masks. There must be at least 100 options among these links to satisfy your last-minute costume needs! Just download, print, and c ...more

Look, I'm no food snob. I once dedicated an entire day to eating only deep-fried things (butter, Twinkies, Oreos, pickles) at the Minnesota State Fair. But even I draw the line at instant mashed potatoes. I mean, why bother? It's not that hard to make perfectly delicious and f ...more

Definition Judgment is a game where you have to predict the number of hands you'll make and try to make those number of hands that you predict. It is a game usually for 3 or more players. Even 2 players can play but then the game won't be that interesting. 5 players can play ...more

You can blame your naggy mom, a crappy soap bar, and school or work stress for your acne. But ultimately, you should blame yourself. While it's true that your skin type (oily vs. dry vs. sensitive) and how your skin reacts to stress play a big part in blemishes, there is a nur ...more

Briefing Playing cards are used to play Killer but Killer is not exactly a card game. You cannot play this game if you do not know how to wink. I do not recommend that you go about winking at men and women to practice for this game. A minimum of 4 players are required to pla ...more

Believe it or not, an ammo box can still be of use to you once its rounds are gone. You can use it for storage, as a toolbox, or possibly even as a Faraday cage. But if you want to use it as more than just a container, why not turn it into a portable set of speakers that you c ...more

In the music world, it's safe to say electric instruments are more versatile, but they lack the portability of their acoustic counterparts. However, with the aid of your smartphone plus an audio interface, you can play your electric instrument anywhere — with all the pedal eff ...more

The new Xbox One has yet to implement compatibility with third-party headsets, meaning for now, you're stuck using one of the official Xbox One headsets available. However, many have run into problems with the included wired headsets, and would much rather use the expensive th ...more

Samsung just announced the Galaxy S10 lineup, but we already knew each device's every nook and cranny. Thanks to leaks and hands-on demos, we know the OEM kept the coveted headphone jack, but omitted one treasured feature in its place — the notification LED. Why did Samsung st ...more

Need to add some spooky ambient fog to your super-scary Halloween party? Rather than shelling out money for a fog machine you'll probably only use once a year, make a trip to the nearest drug store and pick up a bottle of glycerin, a gallon of distilled water, a 2-liter bottle ...more

There's nothing wrong with driving an older car, but one problem that a lot of people run into is that as mobile devices get more advanced, it gets harder and harder to use them in vehicles made more than a few years ago. There are several ways around this, like installing a d ...more

A great many S8 and S8+ users have undoubtedly spent quite a bit of time figuring out ways to unlock their new Galaxy in as few steps as possible. One of the most endearing features of previous Galaxy models was the ability to unlock the phone by pressing the home button and m ...more

With portable devices being a necessity in modern everyday life, they may be subject to overuse, improper charging, or normal wear and tear. For those people who carry around their smartphone or iPod with them all of the time, how many times have you been out and about just to ...more