The Gadgets Page

I have completed an insanely easy hack to create solar light candlesticks. They look great!

I’ve done this before with an old candlestick from the thrift store:

• Gadgets Page » How To Make a Hanging Solar Light

I wanted something cleaner and easier to store in our trailer, so I chose the Ikea Stockholm candlestick holders.

• Ikea – Stockholm Candlestick

This was even easier than my solar light hack before because all we had to do was cut the post with a hack saw and put the solar light into the candlesticks.

They give off a lot more light than one would expect from one dollar store solar light.

I made a couple of really pretty solar lights for when we go camping for only $22. I’m so excited to take them out. I just wish the weather would cooperate!

With a title like 30 Life Hacks Debunked, I thought that all of them would fail, but surprisingly a number of them pass.

I love this video because it started with one of the hacks that I tried out myself before posting here: the toilet paper tube iPhone amplifier. I tried it out on my own and it DEFINITELY failed. Since I only write about awesome things here, I didn’t mention it, but it’s nice to see I’m not the only one who cried, “Wrong!”

When I pre-ordered Animal Crossing New Leaf, I also ordered the Animal Crossing New Leaf game guide. The one for Wild World was really helpful, so I thought this one would help me as well and it has been invaluable. It’s great for keeping track of what I’ve previously purchased for the goal for a complete catalog, but most importantly, it helps me when I’m working part time at Brewster’s Cafe.

Each of the animals walks in and wants me to fix them their “usual” without even telling me what they like. This would be a horrible nightmare of failure instead of a fun mini-game without the guide. Of course, you can also reference this online guide:

• Thonky – Animal Crossing New Leaf – The Roost Cafe

Unfortunately, my guide doesn’t have the favorite coffee for the special visitors who come to town, like Phineas and Gracie. Over the last four months, I’ve been saving the data on them and I finally have it all.

Visitor – Beans – Milk – Sugar

• D.J. K.K. – Blend – None- None
• Phineas – Kilamanjaro – Lots – Three
• Pete – Blend – Regular – Two
• Isabelle – Mocha – Lots – Three
• Digby – Blue Mountain – None – None
• Phyllis – Kilamanjaro – None – None
• Dr. Shrunk – Mocha – Little – Two
• Tortimer – Kilamanjaro – Regular – Two
• Kap’n – Blue Mountain – Regular – None
• Gracie – Blend – None – None
• Pelly – Blend – Little – One
• Mr. Resetti – Blue Mountain – None – None
• Kicks – Mocha – None – One
• Tom Nook – Kilamanjaro – Lots – One
• Don Resetti – Blend – None – Three

It took me a LONG time to gather all this info and then I looked on that website and found it in a second. I should have thought of using the Internet BEFORE I did all that work!

If you would like to visit my town, my Dream Address is 4000-2185-7855.

I’ve been playing Animal Crossing New Leaf constantly for four months now. One of the additions to the game is you can customize furniture with custom images. You can also have your own rooms at the museum, so I wanted an Egyptian exhibit. It still needs a pyramid and a sphinx, but it’s coming along nicely.

Using QR MyDesign Assistant for Animal Crossing on my iPhone, I was able to create these Egyptian QR Codes. (Continue Reading…)

I’ve been playing Animal Crossing New Leaf constantly for four months now. As diverse and varied as the clothing selections are in the game, there aren’t any boring sweaters or cardigans. When I have a brightly colored skirt, I kind of want to tone it down with a simple sweater, so I worked for HOURS on these sweaters so I would have adorable options when I want to wear a cute skirt. You can see all the sweaters after the break.

Update 10-12-11

I realized that I didn’t make pink or blue sweaters and cardigans, so I rectified that problem. Additionally, I’ve added a gray fisherman’s sweater with a blue scarf.

Update 10-18-13

I added a black fisherman’s sweater with a purple scarf and a brown fisherman’s sweater with a teal scarf. I will take requests if you want something different. (Continue Reading…)

I played Animal Crossing Wild World A LOT and I thought that Nintendo wouldn’t be able to improve on it, but Animal Crossing New Leaf is the best of the old games and has even better new features. I’ve been playing for over four months now, and every day is still a joy. In addition to the fishing, bug catching and furniture collecting there are a myriad of new activities.

The first difference is the fact that you are now the mayor of your town. With this added responsibility, you get to do Public Works Projects and Set Town Ordinances. The town tree shows your town’s progress.

I’ve been playing Animal Crossing New Leaf constantly for four months now. I always get a HUGE amount of enjoyment and play time from an Animal Crossing game, but this one has been particularly joyful for me. I’ll talk about that in the days to come, but for now, I have a fun item for you: QR Codes for Wil Wheaton’s Clown Sweater.

If you are unfamiliar with this particular piece of clothing, here is an image of the original: WWdN In Exile – undone (the sweater post)

Photo credit: Loren

A fan of Wil’s (from Stand By Me, Star Trek Next Generation, Eureka and Big Bang Theory) asked him to wear this sweater and he was gracious enough to do it, despite its ghastly appearance. It has come to represent Wil Wheaton on many levels and I wanted one to exist in the Animal Crossing universe, so I created it.

Here are the QR Codes: (Continue Reading…)

I was too enamored with the blue iPhone 5C to really be distracted by the iPhone 5S in gold, but after watching this funny clip from Conan O’Brien, I’m pretty sure I ordered the wrong phone!

It has been two years since I updated my phone, so I immediately jumped on the iPhone 5C. I’m counting down the days until it will show up on my doorstep. How does Apple do it? How do they make a phone that fills me with such excitement and joy?

I just wish the cool camera was in the 5C as well as the 5S. It was the only thing that attracted me away from the beautiful blue of the iPhone 5C. Honestly, I’ve been pretty happy with the camera on the 4S, but I liked the new features like image stabilization and the dual color LED flash.

Of course, how do I argue with “Gold Is The Best! Best! Best! Best!”?

Video via: Conan O’Brien talks with designer of Apple’s gold iPhone 5s | TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog

I LOVE this TED talk with AWESOME time-saving tech tips. Not all of them were new for me, but there were enough new things that the video should be here:

Here are his tips:

• When browsing on the web, do not scroll using the control on the right side. Use the Space Bar on your keyboard to scroll down one page. Use Shift+Space Bar to go back a page.
• When filling out forms, use the Tab key to move from box to box. When filling out a drop-down menu, type the first letter of item. If there are multiple items with that letter, keep pressing it to get to each one. i.e. Press “T” twice to get to Texas on the states list.
• To magnify a website, use Control (or Command for Mac) and press the “+” key. It will make the text larger. To reduce the size, use Control and the “-” key.
• When you’re typing on your Blackberry, Android or iPhone, you can press the Space Bar twice to add a period, space and turn on capitalization for your next sentence.
• To redial on your cell phone, just press the call button without typing in a number and your phone will call the last number you dialed.
• To jump past the directions when you’re leaving a message, press the following: * for Verizon, # for AT&T, and 1 for Sprint.
• Google is also a dictionary if you type “define” and the word in question, it will bring it up for you. Additionally, if you type the airline and flight number, Google will tell you where it is and whether it’s on time. It will also convert units and currency for you.
• When typing text, double-click to highlight one word. You don’t need to delete. You can just start typing over it. Double-clicking and dragging will highlight text in one-word increments. Triple-click to highlight an entire paragraph.
• Hold down the button on your camera to calculate focus and exposure to prevent shutter lag.
• When you’re presenting using Keynote, press the B key to blackout the slide and make everyone look at you. Hit the W key to whiteout the slide.

He forgot the BIGGEST time-saving tech tip:

Don’t sit around all day, watching TED talks. Get some stuff done!!!

I love this little video from Player One[s]. After saving the world, the council questions the hero about how many side quests he completed. It highlights EXACTLY what I hate about some games.

I love how the hero defends himself:

Look guys, I saved the world! What else is there for me to do? This is just busy work that you guys have me doing!

YES, YES, YES! That is exactly how I feel with some games. Then, with other games, I can go on side quest after side quest and just LOVE it. I don’t know what the difference is between the two, but there are definitely some times when I feel like my enjoyable game is just busy work.