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CONFIDENTIAL © OCTOBER 2012 WELDON OWEN INC.

The Big Book of Hacks264 Amazing DIY Tech Projects from Popular Science magazine

WORLDWIDE/NORTH AMERICA SALES OFFICESarah Mattern

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REFERENCE

SPECIFICATIONS256 pages

Flexicover

240 x 190 mm

9½ x 7½ inches

60,000 words

700 photographs and illustrations

Fall 2012

Ever wanted to wield your own personal light saber, just like in Star Wars? Or drink booze out of a watermelon keg? The Big Book of Hacks is here to help you assemble these hilarious and life-altering gizmos, plus 262 other rad DIY projects for tech-savvy makers. Straight from Popular Science’s How 2.0 column, this collection of tech crafts is far from your average computer manual. Chapters include:

Geek Toys: Be the life of any party with off-the-cuff musical instruments (DIY theremin, anyone?), a life-size Operation game, and LEDs that are synched with music of your choice.

Home Improvements: Be the master of your domain with a lawn mower that goes on its own, a Roomba that patrols for prowlers, and organization tips that are too cool for Martha.

True Tech: Build your own touchscreen, transform a laptop into a steampunk masterpiece, and deck out your camera with a DIY fisheye lens. Go ahead, void that warranty!

Things That Go: Get your speed demon on with rad bike hacks, funny car mods, and rockets that leave everything else in the dust.

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GADGET upGrADEs

cost $$

time

easy hard

Turn Your old neTbook InTo a Touchscreen TableT

BUILDIT!

Cobble together a stylus and keep your greasy fingers off that tablet.

STEP 1 Measure and cut a piece of thin, nonadhesive vinyl sheeting to cover the phone’s touchscreen.

STEP 2 Wipe away any dust on the vinyl and on your phone’s screen.

STEP 3 Line up the vinyl with the touchscreen and slowly apply it, smoothing out air bubbles as you press it down.

5 mInUTeprojeCT

ProTecT Your Touchscreen wITh ThIn vInYl

STEP 1 Use the small scissors to cut a piece of conductive foam to a cube shape about ¼ inch (6.35 mm) in length on all sides.

STEP 2 Trim the conductive foam down further to create a rounded tip.

STEP 4 Drop the piece of foam into the lead holder and use the plastic ink tube from a ballpoint pen to push the foam down until it protrudes just out of the tip of the holder. Discard the ink tube.

STEP 5 Pinch the holder’s tip to secure the foam in place. Try it out on a tablet near you.

• • • ° °

fashIon a dIY sTYlus for Your Touchscreen devIce

mATerIALSNetbookScrewdriverPutty knifeTouchscreen overlayEpoxy

Moldable silicone, if neededFlash driveKeyboardMouseRetractable stylus

mATerIALSSmall scissorsConductive foam2-mm drafting lead holder

Plastic ink tube from a ballpointpen

Forget dropping big bucks on a fancy new tablet—just hack your own.

STEP 1 Turn off and unplug your netbook, then use a screwdriver to remove its bezel and the display’s backing so that the LCD panel and its cables are exposed. Then remove the keyboard and trackpad. (This may involve removing screws from the base of the netbook and prying off the top case with a flat tool, such as a putty knife.)

STEP 2 Place the netbook’s exposed LCD panel over the area where the keyboard and trackpad used to be, taking care to avoid damaging the panel’s cables. Don’t cover any areas that the netbook uses for ventilation.

STEP 3 Remove the paper on the back of the touchscreen overlay to reveal the adhesive backing. Place it over the LCD panel.

STEP 4 Plug the touchscreen overlay’s USB cable into the netbook’s USB port. It will be either an internal port on the motherboard, or an external port as on most computers.

STEP 5 Reattach the bezel to the front of the converted netbook with epoxy. If parts of the bezel cover the touchscreen, remove them before reattaching. If there is too much space between the bezel and the base of the netbook tablet, fill the gap with moldable silicone, sealing the two parts together. Let dry for 24 hours.

STEP 6 Copy the drivers that came with the touchscreen overlay onto a flash drive and plug the drive into the newly modified netbook tablet. Connect a keyboard and mouse to the tablet and install the drivers.

STEP 7 Run the calibration tool and use the stylus to calibrate the touchscreen overlay.

STEP 8 Touch away on your new ad hoc touchscreen tablet, and chuckle at suckers who spent a bundle on a brand-new one.

LCD panel covered with touchscreen

overlay

Netbook base with keyboard and trackpad removed

Screen bezel

Draf ting lead

holder

Conductive foam tip