If you’re tired of using a big, separate box to open your garage door, DIYer Lou Pradio shows us how to mod your garage door to open with your smartphone, with only a Bluetooth headset and a $1 transistor from RadioShack. More »
Blog Archives
Control Your Garage Door Opener with Your Smartphone [Video]
Posted on June 16, 2011
Make an Adjustable Car Dock for $2 [DIY]
Posted on January 21, 2010
Car mounts for GPS gadgets and smartphones are usually pretty costly, and they often only fit one device. DIY website Instructables features a simple guide for building your own that will fit virtually any—and for only about $2 in materials.
Especially now that smartphones are beginning to replace our dedicated GPS devices, you might need a new dock for your car—in fact, you may find yourself needing a new one every few years. Save yourself the cost by building one that will fit multiple devices, using just a few household materials.
The mount relies on a small nook or niche in your car to fit the base into, which shouldn't be hard for a lot of cars. All it requires is some PVC piping, sheet foam (preferably of the self-adhesive variety), and a little heavy-duty plastic-coated wire. Building it is a cinch—it shouldn't take you more than 10 minutes to hack one together, and doesn't require anything more than some scissors and pliers. And, you'll never have to plop down $30 for a mount again, no matter how many smartphones you go through in a year. Hit the link for the full instructions.
Make a $2 Adjustable Smartphone Car Mount in 10 Minutes [Instructables via MAKE]
AccidentSketch Helps You Create Detailed Accident Reports [Driving]
Posted on October 28, 2009
Accidents happen to even the most cautious drivers. If you find yourself in one, AccidentSketch is a simple web-based tool that can help you draw up a picture and generate a report to give to your insurance company.
AccidentSketch uses a simple template system. Cars, road segments, signs, pedestrians, and more all snap to the grid and in the case of small objects like signs can be moved from there. You can change the colors of things, zoom in and out to get as close or wide as you need, and even assign information to parties involved like the license plate numbers of the cars in the accident.
Once you create a diagram you can also generate a text-based report to fill in details that can’t be easily conveyed by the picture. When you’re done you’ve got a tidy accident sketch and report to submit to the interested parties. The service is free and requires no registration.
Have a handy tool and tidbit for dealing with insurance companies and life after a fender-bender? Let’s hear about it in the comments.
AccidentSketch [via MakeUseOf]
BestParking Helps You Find Cheap Parking in Major Cities and Airports [Parking]
Posted on July 29, 2009
You need to park your car and you’re crunched for time. You’re not in a position to comparison shop parking rates. Thankfully BestParking has already crunched the numbers for you and can help you find the best rate.
How much can you save by comparison shopping? In our tests there was a surprising disparity between the highest priced and lowest priced parking area. In the screenshot above, for example, we searched for parking around Detroit Metro. Among the airport parking garages there was an almost 100% difference between the highest price and the lowest price for parking.
That kind of price gap isn’t a big deal if you’re only parking for a single day and are willing to pay a little surcharge for convenience but if you’re plunking your car in long term parking for a week you could save yourself some serious cash by picking the right lot.
If you didn’t plot out which parking garage to use ahead of time, fire up the browser on your mobile phone and head to the mobile version of BestParking to get a last minute rate check. Have a trick or two for scoring cheap parking while traveling? Share them in the comments.
BestParking [via MakeUseOf]
Recharge Your Car’s Air Conditioner [Beat The Heat]
Posted on July 16, 2009
If you have a car that isn’t showroom fresh anymore, there’s also a good chance it’s lost a little of its air conditioning mojo. Get things icy cool again with this simple fix.
Photo by Dan Bock.
First, a disclaimer. If your air conditioning is completely dysfunctional and doesn’t cool the air at all when it’s on, it’s probably best to brave the bill and go get it checked out by a professional. On the other hand, if your air conditioner is functional but lacks the frosty punch it used to have, you can easily recharge the coolant and get things back to their previous knuckle-freezing glory.
How-to site wikiHow features a step-by-step guide to recharging the refrigerant in your car's cooling system. The tutorial includes some pretty stern (and justifiably so) warnings, but speaking from experience—I've recharged around a dozen vehicles both for myself and friends—it's a really straightforward tune as long as you follow the instructions.
A few things we’d recommend should you decided to recharge your air conditioning: Put a meat thermometer in the vents to get a baseline temperature so you can see if your recharge job lowers the temp enough, and spend the extra few bucks to get a pressure valve so you’re not left guessing if you’re under or overpressurizing your system.
If a simple top off doesn’t do it, make sure to read this primer from the EPA before taking it in to get looked at by a professional. Tuned up your own air conditioner before? Let’s hear about it in the comments.