Old Gas

Want an electric car without the price tag? You could always build your own, or maybe just hack your old gas guzzler into an eco-friendly electric machine... This weekend at Defcon, security consultant David Brown showed off his "Voltswagon" project, a 1974 Beetle named Shocky ...more

If you're a diehard Apple fan, chances are the new iPad 2 caught your eye, stole your heart and emptied your wallet. Who couldn't resist the sophisticated slim-body design or its fascinating new Smart Cover? Well—it seems nobody could. And if you were late to jump on the bandw ...more

Running this World has prompted me to think about MTG on a deeper level than I ever have before. In attempts to contextualize it, explain it, research it, and understand the parts of it that I don't yet understand, I have come to an unexpected conclusion: I'm old. I know I'm ...more

Forget electric cars, quit mixing your at-home biodiesel; just attach one of Dutch John's handy wood gasification contraptions to the back of your car and fuel your transportation with backyard wood chips. Says DVICE, "This old Volvo modified by a guy calling himself Dutch J ...more

Gottlieb Daimler's "Revolutionary Riding Car" of 1885 doesn't look like a car (in truth, it would be more analogous to what we recognize today as a motorcycle), but it did mark the very first inkling of the automobile age. Wired reports: "Under the strictest etymology — the ...more

In this article, I'll show you how to create a simple yet accurate demonstration of the "rising ionized gas" principle. In other words, a transformer, two metal prongs and lots of evil laughter. Remember those large "towers" in the background of Frankenstein movies with a "lig ...more

If you're like me, you were always jealous of the kids with rich parents who got to ride around in their own Power Wheels cars. Now that I am tall enough to sell my body and time, I find myself attaining childhood dreams like buying my own Power Wheels car. I would not have ch ...more

Let's say today is your birthday. You've just put those boisterous, vicenarian times behind you, reaching the first big step to your upcoming midlife crisis—30 years old. Maybe this is your midlife crisis. After all, if you're not where you want to be in life when you join the ...more

In this series on weaponized lasers, I'll be exploring the function, operation, strength and building instructions for three basic laser weapons; CO2, Diode, and Flashlamp. These laser types are just a few of many, selected because of their simplicity and basic construction (d ...more

Anonymity is something that doesn't exist today. Everything you do in the world is tracked, from the purchases you make to surfing the internet—even taking pictures on your iPhone. Everything you have ever said and done on the internet is still there—somewhere. This is called ...more

Dear Jackass Guys well i am John Fears and i am 27 years old and i already met some of you guys but it would be nice to meet the whole cast on the epic event. That is why i am trying out for this contest. you are rock and i have been a fan from the start of your quest for bein ...more

There's only three weeks left until the spookiest holiday of the year, which means stores and costume shops everywhere are bringing out their Halloween inventory full force. So now's a good time to start prepping your Halloween costume—because you really don't want to do it la ...more

Welcome back, my hacker novitiates! Now, and more so in the future, wars will be fought hacker v. hacker. The number of soldiers, guns, tanks, and ships will be less important in your success in warfare than the number of well-trained hackers you have. Every nation and every ...more

It's that time of year where you need to break out the grill and cook food over red-hot coals, whether it's the beginning, middle, or end of summer. Even if you're not a grill master extraordinaire, you can use these hacks to fool your friends and family into thinking that you ...more

Sure it's been done before, but it never gets old. There's something magical about dry ice, bubbles, and especially the result you see when they're combined! Video: . For this experiment, I filled a bowl about half full with warm water, and placed a few chunks of dry ice insid ...more

If there's anything I've ascertained from all my candy-eating, it's that Pop Rocks are singularly the most awesome candy ever. The carbon dioxide gas that's mixed with the hard sugar forms a load of tiny, 600-psi bubbles, which vigorously release when they melt in your mouth. ...more

You can do a lot with liquid nitrogen, including freeze and shatter gummy bears, make homemade Dippin' Dots, and scare the crap out of your friends by dipping your hand in it! If you can't get your hands on any, you can even make it yourself. Or, if you want to try something a ...more

According to the UK's Daily Mail, a group of ladies have lovingly knitted their entire village. "...A small group of very twinkly ladies started 23 years ago with a couple of cottages and some pigs, and ended up creating more than 60 properties, complete with wheelie bins, ou ...more

While there aren't as many ways to customize your iPhone like there is on Android, there are still a lot of apps out there that can help streamline and enhance your experience beyond Apple's own default options — and we've hand-picked over 100 essentials. No matter if you've ...more

When the Google Maps web app got a massive redesign earlier this year, I was pretty excited to try it out, but it was a fairly disappointing update for me. The slower load times, confusing street view, and bicyclist neglect are just a few of the reasons I don't enjoy it over t ...more

The point of ice in your cocktail is to make it cold, right? Yes and no. Obviously, ice does lower the temperature of your cocktail, but it also does other things: enhances certain flavors while masking others (handy if you're drinking less than stellar booze or wine). As Sim ...more

Google largely helped to pioneer the concept of a steering wheel- and pedal-free self-driving experience when it began testing its Firefly pod-like vehicles a few years ago. Largely in reaction to Google's disruptive entry into the automotive world before Waymo was spun off a ...more

If you've ever wanted to see a selfie stick in centuries old works of art, now's your chance. The Art Gallery of Ontario is launching an exhibit called "ReBlink." The exhibit uses augmented reality to give modern updates to their paintings which visitors can see through their ...more

As Alfred monologued in The Dark Knight, "Some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn." Or, they just want to watch random objects burn on Instagram. Video: . ...more

It's nearly impossible to keep a stovetop clean when cooking, at least, in my experience. No matter what I do, liquid and solid food bits fall to the surface and around the burners every single time, creating a hard-to-clean mess. Scrubbing away the stains and crusty charred ...more

Whether you live in foggy California or icy Massachusetts, you've more than likely struggled with a cloudy, vision-impairing window that makes even the shortest commute impossible. While you can get rid of fogged up windows pretty easily using your vehicle's defogger system, ...more

The high limit thermostat can be found in gas and electric dryers and serves as a safety feature that helps to prevent the dryer from becoming too hot when it’s running. The thermostat is designed to shut off power to the dryer’s heater when the dryer vent is blocked or clogge ...more

The origins of vodka are shrouded in mystery, with both Russia and Poland laying claim to its invention. Some say Genovese merchants brought vodka (then known as aqua vitae, or the water of life) in the late fourteenth century to Russia. For many years, vodka wasn't just an al ...more

Aluminum foil is one of those things that every cook, experienced or just starting out, has in their kitchen. And while we may think we know how useful this handy material can be, there are hundreds of ways we could be utilizing tinfoil to make our lives a whole lot easier. 1 ...more

If you've been to a farmer's market during tomato season, chances are you know that heirloom tomatoes are pricier (and funnier-looking) than their hybrid counterparts. Heirloom tomatoes, bursting at the seams.. These eccentric tomatoes have become a sought-after alternative to ...more

Hello, all. In this article, I will be showing you how to make one of the most useful products known to man. I am talking, of course, about charcoal. You might be surprised at just how many uses this stuff has. You can use it to purify your drinking water, replace your aquari ...more

Do you know what your smartphone is made of? I've had smartphones for years, but if you asked me that question I'd probably respond with "Wi-Fi." For uninformed consumers like myself, it may shock you to know just how much goes into creating a smartphone. Materials must be co ...more

Everyone starts their mornings differently, but one common thread amongst the masses tends to be the consumption of coffee, albeit in many different forms—instant, pre-ground, K-Cups, Nespresso, and so on. And I'm sure that we all have our own preferred methods, as well. Don' ...more

One of the most mind-blowing meals I ever ate occurred when I was 12 years old. The main course and sides were good, if unmemorable, but my jaw dropped during dessert when my friend's mother whipped out a blowtorch—as in a bona fide welding torch from the hardware store—to fin ...more

Having someone send you flowers will almost always lift your spirits. Wilting, dying flowers, on the other hand, aren't so great to look at and smell even worse. While there are time-honored tricks to keep flowers alive longer (change the water regularly, put a penny in the bo ...more

Salad greens are a staple in my house and for good reason: they're cheap, nutritious, and work as a base or an accompaniment for almost all meals. However, it's all too easy to forget about them and then pull out a bag filled with sludgy dark goo or yellow, inedible leaves. T ...more

A man once told me to never complain about gas prices. With the average price of regular unleaded gas at $3.34 a gallon, it's hard not to, even if it is the holiday season. Since my car averages about 22 mpg, the man offered me this proposition: "If I offered you $3.34, would ...more

Hello! I invite all the readers, interested in space, to discover the origin of the names of the planets in our galaxy. Just simply follow my words,... Step 1: Planets and Stars Eleven planets represent our Solar System. They are named after gods. The names of the planets ar ...more

Over the past week, companies took a variety of approaches to investing in augmented reality. Lampix is backing its own effort to build an ecosystem for augmented reality platforms. Nokia and Xiaomi are teaming up on numerous fronts, potentially including augmented reality. ...more

For this project, I sacrificed some of my kids' clothes and a can of tuna to make some high-quality fire starter! Here's how to make a great batch of char cloth to add to your emergency survival kit. Video: . WARNING: This project should not be attempted without adult supervis ...more

For those of us without rice cookers, conventional wisdom tells us that the stove is our only real option (unless, of course, you dabble in microwavable rice). However, if you're only using the stove for cooking rice start-to-finish, you're missing out on the easiest way to ma ...more