Many VoIP systems offer you free inbound calls but then charge you for outbound calls. Although these rates are usually pretty cheap, sometimes you just want things for free. In the guide, we’ll show you how to get a phone number and make inbound and outbound VoIP calls using your computer - for free.

We’re going to be using two services - Google’s Grand Central and Gizmo5. If you don’t already have a Grand Central account you might as well head over there now and reserve a number. Their website can tell you more about the service, which you’ll probably find is pretty awesome. Once Google blesses you with an account, they’ll give you your very own phone number attached to it.

Now head over to Gizmo5. You won’t need to wait to get an account there. Gizmo will also give you a free number (with a Nevada area code) and a client program for your computer - just like Skype. Gizmo5 gives you free inbound calls to your Nevada number, but to make outbound calls you have to buy credits. That’s where Grand Central comes in.

If you haven’t already, download the Gizmo5 client for your computer and open it up. The first time, it will ask you to log in - go ahead and do that.
Go back to Grand Central and log in. Under the settings tab, select Phones. From one of the drop downs, select Gizmo and enter the information for your Gizmo account.

At this point, you can also enter numbers to any other phone you may have and want to use with Grand Central. Take a look around to see what other potential things you could use Grand Central for.

Now hit the address book tab. Here you can import all the numbers from your computer’s address book, or just add a few numbers to try out. Go ahead an add the number you would like to dial out to. Once it appears in the list, click the “CALL” button next to it on the list.

Now simply select your gizmo account as the number to place the call from. Your gizmo account will start ringing.

As soon as you answer the call, Grand Central will then call the number you are dialing out to and connect you. Because Grand Central is initiating the call, it appears on your Gizmo account as a free inbound call. The number attached to your Grand Central account will be the one that shows up on caller ID, completely bypassing your Gizmo account number.

The system isn’t perfect - as you do have to initiate calls from the web interface - but it works. If you happen to have a Nokia N Series device, some enterprising hacker has put together a Grand Central Dialer application that will save you from the trouble of logging into the website each time. With some work, it could probably be made to run on any *nix system.

So there you have it - as much free calling as you want!

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So Lindsey sends us an awesome Theadbanger post:

Newly on Threadheads, the ladies of Compai (which DIY:happy had to look up in the Urban Dictionary) are helping out with a very special viewer request (regarding JACKETS, appropriate for winter), plus they hang out and take a look into their popular DIY book series 99 Ways. So sit back, relax, grab your sewing machine and get comfy.

Sounds awesome.

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Alright folks, the moment all you graphic designers, dabblers, photoshophiles, and avatar-makers have been waiting for!

DIY:happy does not have a logo. Some folks think we do (the little TV-looking thing), but we don’t. However, we’d like one! We’d even be willing to throw in some incentives, because we’re nice and fabulous like that.

Here are the regulations (not rules, for all the Libertarians):

1. The logo has to be a good size. Nothing too small… it has to be made in all kinds of sizes, and we wouldn’t want to distort your masterpiece by resizing it, right?

2. It has to be a-okay for us to print it!

3. We’d rather not having anything offensive, mean, rude, terrible, or violence-insighting. 

4. Those things said, anything goes.

 DIY:happy loves you. So, whomever wins the contest will win:

• A $20 GIFT CERTIFICATE, care of the wonderful LadyAda. Good for anything in her online store (linked here), which is a cornucopia of DIY electronics kits, components, and all kinds of fun stuff for hobbyists, electronic engineers, and weekend DIY fans!
• Buttons with the logo YOU designed on them! Good for a resume, especially for designers!
• Every button you sell will have your signature at the bottom, so you don’t have to convince anyone. Just point at your sig.
• You’ll get three free buttons, as a sample of your work!

The suspense is over, let the games begin!

SUBMIT TO: Kristi@diyhappy.com or TIPS@diyhappy.com!

Projected End Date: September 13th at 11:59 PM (CST).

 UPDATE: 14 SUBMISSIONS AS OF 10:00PM, 08-11-07.

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 No, DIY:happy hasn’t succumbed to spam hackers, we’re actually telling you how to keep your house or life cool without spending a billion hard-earned dollars (or a billion of your parents’ hard-earned ones).

30 Ways To Lower Your Heating Bills
The Dollar Stretcher
Ben’s Tips To Keep Cool
MSN’s 25 Tips
Lifehacker’s Reader Tips

15 Instructionals until the contest!

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As mentioned before, the Subaru WRX we showed at the Maker Faire features a remote tracking and control system. With this system you can:

• Log in from anywhere in the world and see where the car is
• See engine status, RPMs, speed, GPS info, and a bunch of other stats
• See history of location and statistics
• Unlock or Lock the doors
• Start or stop the engine
• Cut power to the fuel pump
• Control Windows, etc.

It doesn’t take much imagination to figure out the possibilities. Imagine a script that checks for upcoming appointments in your computer’s calendar. 15 minutes before you leave for the appointment, your script logs in, finds your car’s location and pulls the weather for the area. If the temperature is below 40 degrees, the script will send the commands to start your car. You get in 15 minutes later and everything is warm and toasty!

This is one of many possibilities with such a system. Just imagine if the thing got stolen! “Officer, my car was stolen but I have it’s GPS coordinates. I will cut the fuel pump as soon as the officers arrive.”

You can get such a system off the shelf and installed by a local shop, but in true DIY fashion, we installed our own module from Connect2Car, who was kind enough to sponsor us. The module we used is called the “MFC Anywhere” and will be available soon from their store. We will keep you posted when it becomes available.

The mission was simple. We had only a few short days to get the MFC anywhere and the remote starter installed into the car before the Maker Faire.

See our installation of the MFC Anywhere module after the jump!

(Read the article)

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There’s a post on Wikihow that explains how to celebrate Earth Day, and half of it has to do with the exact same thing we advocate here at DIY:happy. Coincidence? I think NOT, brosephs. 

GO PLANT A TREE,
Recycle your clothes! Make old clothes into new clothes.
Bamboo AGAIN. It’s an epidemic at DIY:happy, here’s how to grow it yourself.
Live without a car. Or at least try to.
Swap or recycle from others, on Freecycle.
Craigslist has a lot of free stuff, recycle everything!
Dumpster dive! We all love dumpster diving, right?
Become a Freegan (NOT for everyone). If you’re hardcore anti-establishment, or anti-capitalism, this is worth a look at. If you don’t dig being cold, hungry, unemployed or vegetarian, Freeganism is something to pass up.
Actually recycle when you’re getting rid of something!
Become a member of a radical environmental organization?

That’s all we can think of right now.
Happy Earth Day!

Any more links? Send them our way!

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I’ve seen a few examples of these on the Internet and decided to give it a try. It turned out great, but I must warn you: Melting plastic creates toxic fumes. Open windows and have a fan running to make sure you don’t knock yourself out/grow a third arm.

Ingredients:

- Plastic beads (I used large pony beads, but any size will work, as long as they’re plastic)

- Metal bowl, cupcake tin, bread tin, etc

- Oven

- Windows!!! And a fan!

To make it:

1. Line the beads in the bowl/metal object. You can also make patterns and arrangements on cookie sheets, or use a cookie cutter and place them inside. They don’t all have to lie flat, but make them only one bead deep. If you’re using a bowl, stack the beads taller than you think you want it; when the bowl melts, they will sink down and it will be much shallower.

2. Preheat the oven to around 350 degrees and pop your creations in. I ended up turning up the oven because I’m impatient, and I didn’t see any big problems with that, but it definitely smells more.

3. Keep checking the beads. It’ll take about 20 minutes or more to melt.

4. When it looks soupy and completely melted, pull the bowl out of the oven and allow the plastic to cool.

5. Flip it over and tap the bottom with a hammer or spoon to dislodge the plastic. It should come out relatively easily.

Here are some other projects I’ve found made of melted beads:

A vase. Melt the beads in a circular pie tin, then lay the disc flat on a soda can and remelt it.

A windchime. Melt them on a cookie sheet arranged in cookie cutters.

Artwork. Arrange the beads on a cookie sheet to form a picture.

Lampshade. Create a tinfoil mold of a standing plastic lampshade, and arrange the beads in it.

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I have spent some time installing a Mac Mini in my car. It’s an ongoing project and far from finished - but the results are good enough to be shown to the discerning DIY:happy crowd now. Features include easy touch-screen media control, war-driving tools, mobile internet (1mbps down, 300kbps up according to my tests), GPS, and more.

I have started working on security features as well - remote GPS tracking of the car as well as the ability to remote execute scripts on the computer itself which automatically uploads it’s IP address to my server each time it connects to the net. Security systems are independent and redundant.

Check it out in a five part series on my personal blog. 1-4 deal with construction, skip to the last post if you just want to see the results.

Carputer 1 - LCD and front panel
Carputer 2 - A tragic tale of defeat
Carputer 3 - Resolution
Carputer 4 - Installation
Carputer 5 - Final Product

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In an effort to create the ultimate DIY toolkit, I have decided to create a list of “DIY essentials.” These are items that come in handy in so many projects that it is necessary to keep them on hand at all times. Often these are simple items that just have a ton of modding potential.

DUCT TAPE

Any respectable list of necessary DIY tools would be incomplete without at least mentioning duct tape (AKA gaffa tape). I decided to mention it first because it was the easiest and most obvious choice.

From wallets to prom dresses to bean bags, duct tape has earned it’s place at the top of the DIY scene. There have been books written on its many uses and websites devoted to cataloging extensive duct tape projects.

See: A Million Uses for Duct Tape, 101 Uses For Duct Tape, Packing Tape Sculptures, CD Cases Galore.

FILM CANISTERS

Film canisters are another handy item that can be made into all sorts of crafts, bombs, and containers/organizers. The fact that they are readily available to anyone who takes pictures (okay, not so much nowadays with digital cameras and all) makes them even more useful.

See: Remote Camera Trigger, Soldering Wire Holder, Film Canister Rocket.

LEDs

Any project or craft, electronic in nature or not, can be made better by attaching a few LEDs. With their low power consumption, wide availability of colors and styles, and small size, LEDs can be put in almost anything, anywhere for some added aesthetics. They can truly turn any project into an every day DIY to a feature in the next issue of MAKE.

LEDs can be purchased inexpensively or pilfered out of existing electronics. They have a long life and are fairly resilient to the elements.

See: LED Throwies (ghetto version), Wearable Pixels, Pimp Bed, Shake Light, Bright LED Flashlight.

Tip: A great way to find more DIY projects involving any tool like film canisters, duct tape, or LEDs, is to do a google image search. You may be surprised with what you find!

There are many more items that belong on the list. Send us your ideas for DIY essentials part 2 in the comments or at tips@diyhappy.com

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Doing a solvent transfer is probably the quickest, easiest way to get an image onto a T-Shirt, Moleskine, or other surface. Like screen printing, the image is applied directly the surface. Unlike screen printing, this can be done quickly, cheaply, and without any extra equipment.

You start with a photocopy of the image you want to transfer. Apparently it can be color or black and white. Whether or not inkjet printouts will work is unclear (update: Printouts from an inkjet will not work), but printouts from a laser printer are likely to work. The copy is laid over the surface, face down, and a solvent (xylene or lacquer thinner) is applied to the back. The image is then simply rubbed onto the surface.

The resulting image is a mirrored copy of the original. Simple black and white images such as stencil outlines transfer over very nicely while complex color images will result in a “worn” look (which is all the rage these days).
Xylene works best and can be purchased at your local paint store. You can also use a blender pen from an art supply store (in which xylene is the active ingredient) to achieve this effect. Using a pen works best on smaller transfers while a rag moistened in solvent is suitable for large transfers.
Resources and more information:
Xerox Transfers (Using lacquer thinner)
Blender Pen Transfers
Gallery of Moleskines decorated with this method

Edit: As many people have pointed out in the comments, caution should be used when working with solvents. Always read and follow the guidelines that are printed on any specific solvent and work outdoors or in a well ventilated area (preferably with a respirator). Solvents can pose a serious risk to your health, and we want our readers to continue being not dead.

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As the saying goes, what better way to celebrate this land of freedom than blowing up a small piece of it? Be prepared for the 4th of July this year with your very own explosives. i-Hacked has posted a how to on making your own M-80-type fireworks with formulas for several types of flash powder.

I have never used the ingredients to make flash powder that are listed in the article, so if you are interested in my own recipe for flash powder and how to make smoke bombs, read on.

(Read the article)

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Relive the glory days with this NES Controller that has been modified into a cellphone. Everything is original - the buttons and casing. This modification uses a Nokia 3200 radio and electronics because it’s so easy to get the casing off and get to the good stuff. This is probably the only phone I’d ever wear on one of those nerdy hip-holsters.
Read on for instructions on making your own NES Controller phone.

(Read the article)

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When the giant sub sand-which or 20 pizzas are no longer appealing its time to do something a little different for your party guests. With a little creativity you can make your party giant size. No, this isn’t an article on super-sizing at the local fast food joint, we’re talking a giant burrito. Whether you’re really hungry or just want to mock third-world countries by making more food than you could possibly eat, the answer is: Giant Burrito.

Read on to learn how to make this glorious burrito that could feed a village.

(Read the article)

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AOL recently made some huge cutbacks, including trimming back on the amount of people they employ and (gasp!) sending out less free CDs. This may mean an end to AOL CD DIY (phew - that’s a lot of acronyms!) projects like the CD chair and various art projects. We’ll all be a little sad to see the big guy go under, if it comes to that, but while we’re still graced by AOL’s presence, we can use their free coasters CD cases to our benefit.

Read on about fashioning a durable CD case from an AOL CD mailer and some duct tape.

(Read the article)

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Now that you’ve tackled the Bluetooth Handset, it’s time to make a good ‘ol fashioned wired handset for your cellphone.  This modification is almost just as easy as the bluetooth, except you need to deal with four wires instead of two.

There are actually two ways of doing this; Wiring a 2.5mm jack onto an existing cable or creating an adapter that will allow you to use any handset with your cellphone.  I will cover them both in this article.
(Read the article)

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