Projects-to-do

Paper clips and any kind of power adapter that gives 5 volts will do the job for charging your phone battery. Video: . Make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel for more awesome videos from the macobt projects!

If you have a modern iPhone, you have an excellent video recorder at your disposal. Every iPhone since the 6S has the ability to shoot in 4K resolution, and each new iteration has brought new capabilities to the table. But even the best mobile shooter can use a little extra he ...more

Last post, the Sonobe unit was introduced as a way to use multiple copies of a simply folded piece of paper to make geometric objects. In this post, we are going to explore that concept further by making two more geometric models. The first is the truncated icosahedron, which ...more

MyFitnessPal adjusts your calorie goal for the day according to your activity level. The more active you tell the app you are, the more calories it tells you to consume — simple, right? Unfortunately, MFP doesn't tell you to consume fewer calories when you don't work out. Howe ...more

There is a vast amount of knowledge out there on computers! In fact, it is so vast that no single person could ever possibly ever learn everything there is to learn about hacking or computers in general. People usually specialize in a certain field: cryptography, computer secu ...more

Did you know Kali 1.0.8? You probably did, and you probably know about the EFI boot option that has been added. That's a very interesting new feature because it allows Kali to be easily booted on Mac too, and every EFI-supported device. First three preview lines gone? As alw ...more

In a previous article, I demonstrated an Arc Welder made using parts from old microwave ovens. Video: . Here is part 1 of 2 on how that arc welding machine was made, and how you could make one too! This is the first of two parts on building it, focusing on the modification of ...more

You'll see a lot of Linux action going down here at Null Byte. We use Linux for hacking-related stuff because it provides a more relaxed programming environment, making it easy to write exploits and tools. Linux has many features Windows is lacking, such as full control over t ...more

Smartphones and laptops are constantly sending Wi-Fi radio signals, and many of these signals can be used to track us. In this guide, we'll program a cheap IoT device in Arduino to create hundreds of fake networks with common names; This will cause nearby devices to reveal the ...more

Samy Kamkar, the security researcher known for the MySpace Worm and his combination lock cracking skills (using an online calculator), is back—and this time, he's after your credit cards! Well, not really, but his latest project, dubbed MagSpoof, can spoof any magnetic stripe ...more

We've all made them. I remember making hundreds of paper snowflakes when I was in elementary school. You take a piece of paper and fold it in half, then fold it in half again. You now have a piece that is one fourth the size of the original. Now you fold it in half diagonally. ...more

If you have a good food processor or blender, there's no reason not to make your own nut butters, whether you like almond, cashew, sunflower, or the perennial classic, peanut. Not only can you control the taste, sweetness, crunchiness, and oiliness of the butter, you can also ...more

Minecraft is not just a game. It is a creative tool. Over the past year and a half countless epic builds, servers, and community projects have been undertaken. I'm sure some of you have seen the one-to-one scale recreation of the Starship Enterprise from Star Trek or the epic ...more

You're alone in the wilderness. Stranded. Hungry. Cold. What do you do? Naivety could be your downfall, but you don't need to be an Army Ranger to survive. The five most basic survival skills are fire, shelter, signaling, first aid, and food and water. Learn them. Know them. ...more

Minecraft was first released just a few years ago, but when a paradigm-shifting piece of media comes along the rest of the world is quick to take inspiration from it. The absolutely terrible XBLA knock-off FortressCraft was the first, and last month a much more interesting gam ...more

While modern browsers are robust and provide a lot of functionality, they can be unlocked to do some pretty spectacular things with browser extensions. For hackers and OSINT researchers, these tools can be used to defeat online tracking, log in to SSH devices, and search the i ...more

Google has a habit of starting on new projects for Android, then hiding them away if they didn't quite complete them in time for a major release. We saw this with multi-window mode last year (which is now an official Nougat feature), and this year, there was the hidden night m ...more

Smartphones are crazy awesome. You can do your banking, track your children, find directions, and even pretend to have a mustache. The only thing that these personal supercomputers are missing is physical interaction with the environment. I wanted to be able to call my house ...more

Now that we've got all of our software installed, we're going to proceed with the next step in our HoloLens Dev 101 series—starting a fresh project and building it into a Holographic application. Then we will output the application to the HoloLens Emulator so we can see it in ...more

It's once again Monday, which means it's time to highlight some of the most recent community submissions posted to the Math Craft corkboard. I also thought we'd take a look at building a model that has appeared in numerous posts. It's the simplest of the intersecting plane mod ...more

Etching your own circuit boards is tons of fun, but etching requires strong chemicals to dissolve the copper plating on blank circuit boards. The normal ferric chloride solution works well, but can be expensive and leaves permanent stains. Luckily, we can whip up our own etcha ...more

Thanks to its open-source platform and easy-to-use hardware and software, there's literally thousands of Arduino projects detailed online for anyone to make—a magic mirror, DIY polygraph machine, and hotel-hacking dry erase marker just being a few examples. Hell, you can even ...more

You may remember string art from your elementary school days. If so, it probably makes you think of the 2D geometrical designs that took every ounce of patience you had as a kid. Or those laborious curve stitch drawings, which string art was actually birthed from. But thanks t ...more

In a previous article, I showed how to make a powerful airsoft BB machine gun with a portable air supply using about $50 worth of PVC and air fittings. For this project, I have simplified the design to make a machine gun out of only 4 parts totaling about $15 that runs directl ...more

A new coat of paint is an easy, cheap way to make your home look instantly better, but dealing with paint fumes for days afterward isn't so fun, especially if you have kids or pets. Most household paints have VOCs (volatile organic compounds) in them that release fumes as the ...more

Microcontrollers are great. You can do anything from water your garden to catch wildlife trash diggers in the act—and on the cheap. I prefer to use the Arduino microcontroller because of the large and helpful community built around the website. Though it is my favorite, there ...more

Kali Linux is established as the go-to operating system for penetration testing, but in its default configuration, it's less than ideal for regular desktop use. While in many scenarios, a live boot or virtual environment can resolve these issues, in some situations, a full ins ...more

This is the third part of my electromagnetic pulse series (see Part One and Part Two). By now, I've covered the hardware and general concept of electromagnetic pulse generators, but how exactly do they disable electronics? How can an invisible field of energy have such a catas ...more

Coinhive, a JavaScript cryptocurrency miner, was reportedly discovered on the BlackBerry Mobile website. It was placed there by hackers who exploited a vulnerability in the site's e-commerce software that allowed them to anonymously mine cryptocurrency every time the website w ...more

If you're dressing up as someone iconic for Halloween, having the right voice can make or break your costume. Think about it—having a Darth Vader lookalike walk up to you and start talking like Alvin the Chipmunk would probably ruin the effect (and possibly be a little creepy) ...more

The concept and structure of Christmas hasn't changed much since its inception. In its infancy, Christians recruited Roman pagans by associating Christmas with the Saturnalia, an ancient Roman festival in honor of the deity Saturn (also held in December). The pagans had long w ...more

I love this project. It involves fire, projectiles, electricity, and is easy to put together from commonly available parts. This mini cannon fires airsoft pellets, is fueled by alcohol, and is made almost entirely from parts found in a standard BBQ lighter. The total cost is u ...more

This week, I've been working on a project that sort of takes a spin off an old-style potato gun. Using PVC pipe and the rapid combustion of hairspray, we can launch a rocket hundreds of feet into the sky. As usual for my projects, I tried to use only materials and parts that a ...more

You've seen his explanation of a combination lock's inner workings. You'll never lose another game of Jenga, thanks to his winning wooden pistol. And nearly 4 million YouTube users have marveled at his wooden marble machine sculpture. He's Matthias Wandel, and he's accomplishe ...more

There's no reason to wait for Halloween to play with dry ice. It definitely creates a creepy fog-like effect when you add a little water to it, but there are some other really cool things you can do wit dry ice. Here are just 5 non-Halloween ways to use dry ice for tricks or p ...more

Solar panels are an amazing invention. Catching energy from the Sun before it even enters Earth's food chain, photovoltaics are like an all-natural nuclear power plant. Unfortunately, the constituted parts of a solar panel are rare, valuable, and subject to the coercive forces ...more

The Operative Framework is a powerful Python-based open-source intelligence (OSINT) tool that can be used to find domains registered by the same email address, as well as many other investigative functions. This reconnaissance tool provides insight about your target through ex ...more

Lurking inside your old junk microwave is an abundance of useful parts that can let you melt metal, spot weld, and make electrifying Jacob's ladders. You can even make a powerful AC arc welder, perfect for making hard-to-solve puzzles and even makeshift weapons for the zombie ...more

When you forget you charger,you can use this dynamo charger to charge the phone with your hand. I convert the dynamo LED flashlight into charger just adding bridge rectifier, capacitor and USB female plug. Video: . Make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel for more awesome ...more

Knitted balls can be used for all sorts of projects. The obvious is a Christmas ornament, but knitted balls can also be the basis for knitting toys or snowmen. And of course, they can be used simply as balls which make a lovely gift for a baby. They can be all one color, strip ...more

Google's new Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones are available for pre-order right now, but the general public won't start to get their hands on these devices for another week or two. Tech reporters got some hands-on time at Google's launch event on October 4th, but camera testing ...more

Mad Science is looking for more hackers, makers, and DIYers to participate in our community madness. If you've recently designed or made a project, we want to see it! Share with the other Mad Scientists out there by posting up a how-to of your pet project on our community cork ...more

In photography, stereographic projection is a geometric technique that projects a sphere onto a plane, which is mostly used in the mapping of spherical panoramas. The most popular type of stereographic panorama is the "tiny planet," where the center view of a panoramic image ...more

Contrary to popular belief, augmented reality apps have been available for a while now. I remember using the Layar app (still available for iOS and Android) to explore nearby businesses and landmarks with varying success via an early-generation Android handset. It would be ha ...more

Having a custom Linux distro can be the coolest thing ever. Most of you will probably be satisfied with any particular Linux distribution, but I know I'm not the only one out there who wants it to have custom configurations and programs preloaded while leaving the bloatware be ...more

Don't panic the next time you pull an empty tub of butter from the fridge. If you have some heavy whipping cream, save yourself a trip to the grocery store and just make your own. When heavy cream is shaken violently for a long enough duration, it turns to butter—and if you're ...more

Fans of Doctor Who know that the sonic screwdriver is the ultimate tool. It can unlock doors, turn on lights, detect life forms, solder wires, and sabotage weapons. Presumably, the sonic screwdriver creates sonic vibrations to achieve whatever the doctor wants by vibrating th ...more