I spend most of my life chained to a laptop. Though it wouldn't seem
like a physically demanding lifestyle, I've got the burn marks (from
overheating computers resting on my legs) to prove that technology can
be a little rough sometimes. So to soften the burden of carrying around a
hunk of metal at all times, I thought I'd round up 35 of my favorite ways to dress up technology: laptop covers!
The Flip is a popular handheld digital video camera used by many to
capture precious family moments and create stunning viral videos for
display on the web. While the cameras themselves are super simple to
use, the results are often less than glamorous. With the help of the
experts, we share 6 ways to make your Flip (or any other brand of
camera) clips look like a pro handled them!
Modern technology makes home automation an easy task for just about anyone. From the basics of controlling lights and appliances to more advanced home automation, your life can be easier than ever before. Kipkay for Make Magazine, a DIY (Do It Yourself) technology magazine, shows you how to automate your home in this video.
Your iPad is so shiny and delicious, until you trip and it skids across the sidewalk. Here are a few of our favorite options for protecting your iPad without ruining the pretty.
The garage sale is the classic low-tech moneymaker: put your stuff on the curb, sell it to passersby. Success has everything to do with weather, location and the effectiveness of homemade signs nailed to telephone poles.
With over 400 million active users around the world, Facebook has become for many people the go-to place for managing both personal and work connections. But the site's tendency to change their privacy policies every few months makes it difficult to ensure that information you want to keep private (or semi-private, at least) isn't shared with everyone who has an Internet connection. 
With all the noise online these days, it's tough to know who you can trust when it comes to recipes that work. There are few things more frustrating than searching for a recipe, shopping for the ingredients, and putting the time and effort into making it, only to discover that it doesn't deliver as promised. As a professional recipe developer, it's my business to know the (mostly) friendly competition. Here are the online sources you can count on for consistently great recipes and ideas.
Getting indoorsy family members outdoors: it's my annual summer
challenge. I'm proud to report that, despite a number of lost battles,
I'm winning the War of the Air Conditioned TV Room. My next quest: THE
HIKE. 
The Android
Market may not be quite caught up to its Apple App Store counterpart
just yet, but it's certainly no slouch either. Gamers looking for
a free fix on the go won't be disappointed, as a number of fun and
entertaining apps are available, with more being introduced all the time.
Frankly, there's no reason for a boring iPad case. Not with the amazing
and unexpected assortment of cases out there. Don't get me wrong, there
are a bunch of boring sleeves, zippy things and more out there too - you know which ones I'm talking about. But let's forget about
those for now and look at the awesome and inspiring options out there!
From surprising materials - to even more surprising things to hide or
transform your iPad... 
For the creative types, decking your home in the latest technological
finds, especially those that feed your artistic hunger, is a must.
Surround yourself with today's notable home devices that are sure to
provide inspiration and motivation for whatever artistic path you
choose. Got a full family? These devices are both family-friendly and
super-popular with the kids, although the concept of sharing may have to
be reinforced from time to time.
Just because bringing meat to an
open flame is the most primitive form of cooking doesn't mean that
there's
no room on the back patio for even the most hardcore techie to show
off some gear. Here are five tools that will help you, the
spatula-wielding,
burger-flinging, bartwurst-downing egghead get your nerd on at your
next BBQ (and I meant that in a good way).
Kipkay for Make Magazine, a DIY (Do It Yourself) technology magazine, shows you how to use your cell phone to monitor your home in this video. With the advent of smart phones and now hundreds of thousands of applications available to everyone, all you need is the right application to monitor your home from anywhere in the world. In this video we'll take a look at monitoring your home with iPhone and an Android. You'll never need to worry about leaving your house again! 
In this first episode of an Epic Fu series on living your life on the web, we give you 7 simple steps to building your online identity. From the planning stages straight to your public internet presence, we show you how to construct an ID that will last in the constantly changing social web. We also show you examples of who's doing it right, so you can borrow some tried and true ideas.
Some folks think that travel is the antithesis to living a green
lifestyle. After all, driving
and flying hundreds or thousands of miles creates a huge carbon
footprint. Still, there are many ways you can tread a little less
lightly while
hitting the open road . Check out our guide of handy online tools,
apps, and services that can help you plan and green your summer
vacation.
Green thumbs across the country are about to get a whole
lot greener. A host of new iPhone apps, online tools, and gadgets aim to
help gardeners eco-fy their growing experience. So whether you're an avid
vegetable producer and more of a flower aficionado, check out our picks for the
best tech to help green your garden.
Whether hopping time zones for business or pleasure, or both, you can
beat the jetlag international travel brings with a few simple tricks ...
and some help from your tech.
It's not often that I find myself transferring large chunks of data from one computer to another, but when I do, I like to have fun doing it. So I thought it would be fun to compile a list of great USB drives that will make your data transferring process a little bit cooler. Whether you're looking to keep things natural and want a wooden cover, or want to go completely retro with an old cassette tape, there's something here for everyone. Have a favorite that I missed? Please feel free to share yours below- I'm always in the market for something fun and unexpected that will make the tech aspect of my day-to-day life more interesting.
Americans spend an average of 50 minutes a day commuting to and from work. That's about 200 hours a year wasted in traffic jams. With telecommuting, you can reclaim that time, get work done anywhere, protect the environment, and help your employer save some big bucks.
It's been a long year, but summer is finally here. For many of us, the warm weather brings the perfect time to rest, kick back, or take a much-needed vacation. Fortunately there's lots of ways to relax while going light on the earth, and we've assembled several green tech goods that are designed to help you unwind. Read on for our picks of the best technologies to help you relax.
Is the laptop case the new briefcase? It's starting to seem that way, at
least in certain (high tech) circles. We've noticed a proliferation of
sleek, stylish storage (and toting) options for your laptop, whether
you're a Mac maven or a PC loyalist. Here are five great options for
toting your laptop in style. 
As soon as Portland's damp, grey Winter
loosens its grip and Spring
brings color (if not sun) back to our neighborhood, I start hatching
improbable garden schemes. I've had months to sit inside fantasizing
about my dream garden, and in early Spring, reality hasn't had a chance
to temper my ambitions.
When it comes to organizing my desktop computer, cleanliness is usually the least of my worries. In fact, I've been known to wipe down my keyboard with a baby wipe every six months and call it a day.
Do our kids really need more encouragement to play electronic games?
I'd be one of the first to say "no." Already, a multitude of screens are competing for our kids' attention,
and the non-electronic world is being rendered increasingly pokey and
boring. A neighborhood stroll? Monopoly with Mom and Dad? Snooze. Sure,
there's the Wii, and we have great fun playing together. But the fact
remains that we're still all staring at the TV.
Read any good books lately? Maybe you're actually reading MORE since you've gotten that new smart phone? We've got a few super apps designed to help you read more on the go, get more from the text you do read, and make each juicy word more enriching.
Working is typically a lot of, well, hard work. With all the
responsibilities everyone has on their plates every day, it's easy to
understand why we live in such a stressed-out society. But necessity is
the mother of invention, and there's been a ton of innovation in
technology that can help you work more efficiently while also lessening
your carbon footprint. From iPhone apps to web sites to gadgets, several
new products and services can help worker bees save time, money and the
planet. Read on for our top picks for eco-friendly tech that can help
you work smarter and greener.
Our furry friends are well taken care of in the App Store, with tons of animal-themed iPhone apps available. But which ones should you choose? We've pulled together a handy list of ten of the best, so whether you're dog mad, feline fancy or just a bit Doctor Dolittle, you should find an app to suit you and your pet(s).
Some folks feel that savoring nature requires leaving all material
possessions at home. Others need a little help from technology. If you
fall into the latter category (and let's face it, most of us do), you're
in luck: A number of iPhone apps are designed to enhance our
experiences in the wild. No matter what outdoor activity you prefer,
there's an app for that.
Summer's almost here, and your child is still surgically attached to the nearest glowing screen. If you'd like to nudge your kids outdoors without the ensuing drama, these gadgets for kids will hold their attention while they take in a little fresh air.
Statistics we've just made up show that the perceived superiority of
Apple devices for storing, managing and playing MP3s is one of the
leading causes of iPhone envy. If you're an Android user, there's no
need to suffer in silence while your iPod- and iPhone-owning
counterparts wallow in glorious sound. The Android Market holds a
treasure trove of apps for music fans like you -- apps that can do
everything from downloading free music to syncing your Android phone
with iTunes.
There are few things that I consider myself an expert in, but finding
great home goods online is one of them. I've spent the last 6 years
building a design blog based entirely upon the idea that great design is
right is just a mouse click away from your front door. Whether you're
looking to shop, decorate, or renovate, the internet has got you covered
these days. There are sites to help you build online inspiration and
mood boards, apps for you phone to help you match paint colors, and
entire websites dedicated to coming up with color palettes that fit your
mood.
No matter what type of home business you're running, it's crucial to be able to leave the house sometimes. Whether you're heading out for client meetings or something more fun like an afternoon at the park, the problem is always the same: who's going to take care of things while you're gone? 
The proliferation of cords and chargers has given birth to a new group of accessories to help detangle this mess; here's a roundup of our favorite contraptions that do the job of controlling unsightly cord entanglements.
One of the greatest things about the iPhone is the App Store. The slogan, "there's an app for that" exists for a reason -- there is an app for almost everything. Sometimes the hardest part is actually finding the best applications in a certain category.
Camping is the ultimate vacation experience for environmentalists. It allows both city dwellers and suburban folks to reconnect with nature. Plus, it's relatively low impact-most sites are totally off the grid, so as long as campers make sure to clean up after themselves, it's one of the most eco-friendly trips out there. Luckily, there are a number of techie goods to make the adventure even more enjoyable. Before you hit the great outdoors, check out our list of green gadgets and services for campers.
Any great chef should be able to whip up a fantastic meal with nothing more than a knife, some high quality ingredients, and a fire. But a few high-tech toys seem to consistently make their way into all of the top kitchens in the world. Some give chefs better control over their finished product. Some improve efficiency or consistency. Still others are just plain cool.
Could you be having more fun with your camera? Always. Here are seven great options for getting started:
Most people peg
techies for indoor types. But in actuality, much of the
latest technology is meant to improve user experience in the
great outdoors.
We have a drawer at our house with a collection of slightly broken things -- a fully functional iPhone with a shattered screen, a point and shoot that sometimes deletes entire memory cards on a whim, etcetera. 
The average desktop computer has a useful life of five years (on an asset sheet, anyway). Real-life experience has shown that many of them don't even make it to two years before their owners trade them in or give up on them completely.
The weather is warming, which means the time
for spring cleaning is here. Traditional cleaning
products and services often use noxious chemicals like
bleach,
glycol ethers, nonylphenol ethoxylates and a host of other
potentially toxic substances.
Before ditching expired electronics
like laptops, cell phones and televisions, know this: All those gizmos are loaded
with toxins like cadmium, mercury and lead. When those electronics sit
around in landfills, substances can leak out into soil and waterways, wreaking
havoc on ecosystems. As for recycling programs, much of consumers' electronic
waste, or e-waste, gets shipped to developing nations with lax laws. Workers
disassembling the devices expose
themselves to all kinds of noxious poisons. But just as e-waste's dirty
secrets continue to come to light, many safe, eco-friendly disposal options
also appear. Read on for the best ways to get rid of old electronics.
We're a completely connected family. We have a business from home, homeschool our kids, and center much of our entertainment around digital and web-based content. Not only does staying "online" keep us current on what's going on around us, it has helped keep some of the best resources affordable to our remotely-located rural family. So what does it take to set up an effective home network for work and entertainment in your household? These 5 tips and not much else!
The iPod Touch is known for two things: its ability to store and play back music, and its large library of apps. The iPhone is the same device but with phone functionality and a 3G data connection. If you have either, you've probably guessed that they're great for apps that enhance your music-listening experience.
There are many of us who are bound to a Dilbert-like office setting and only occasionally get a chance to stretch our legs and work outside of the break room. If you're lucky, however, you may be able to freelance, telecommute, work from the road, or manage an occasional "work from home" afternoon. These 7 tools can help make that dream a reality - and may put your productivity on par with those who never leave their desks!
