The Latest from Gadget Hacks: Page 286

An electrophorus is a type of capacitor that generates electrostatic energy. Most of you probably know this force as static electricity, the domain of door handles and polyester shirts. It can be used for all sorts of other fun science experiments though, and this video will show you how an old hard drive, some plastic, Styrofoam, foil, a cat, and other simple materials can be used to make a a simple functioning electrophorus.

If you'd like to connect to your shell any time you please, you're going to want to check this video out. Using a bevy of tools, including IPv6, Metasploit, Microsoft, Mubix, and Meterpreter you can learn how to traverse firewalls and maintain persistence.

If you're looking for a way to get info on your YouTube channel, check out this video and learn how. If you have AT LEAST 20,000 subscribers to your YouTube channel, you'll want to use VidStatsX and, if you have less, you can use ChannelMeter.

In this informative video series, Jeri Ellsworth explores several methods that can be used to detect greenhouse gases, including building a homemade mass spectrometer and mid-Infrared absorption. Jeri provides a comprehensive overview of the science behind IR absorption, the mass spectrum and ion filtration.

Send text messages on your LG Cosmos Touch cell phone! Whether you're the new owner of an LG Cosmos or merely thinking about picking one up, you're sure to enjoy this video guide from the folks at Wireless Zone, which presents a complete overview of how to use the phone's various messaging tools.

This is an easy and fun project that will add a little light to any night time celebration. Take a few LEDs in any color you want, some basic electronics gear and a hot glue gun. This will be more vibrant than any glowstick you can find in the store, and will last much longer

So your friend started humming "Who Let the Dogs Out" and now you CAN'T get it out of your head. Oh yes you can! This helpful little video shows you what unhearit.com can do for you. This website generates random catchy tunes, so you can dump what's in your head and move on to something fresh. Here comes Lady Gaga!

Beat the twenty-fourth level of Angry Birds Seasons with three stars! On December 1st, Rovio released their version of an advent calendar—Angry Birds Seasons (aka "Angry Birds Christmas"). Each day leading up to the Christmas holiday, a new level will become available to Angry Birds enthusiasts worldwide. Stuck? No problem: YouTube's 23hathman has pledged to post a three-star walkthrough for each of the game's levels. In this, the December 24th installment, we learn how to beat level 24.

We've all been waiting for it, and now it's finally here— Video Skype for the iPhone 4.  It's no longer just a voice over the phone, now you can finally see those rosy-red cheeks of your fellow Skyper, and maybe even their underwear.  Check out the official Skype for iPhone - now with video commercial:

Gizmodo has compiled a list of the 8 best free texting apps for a variety of smartphones. Their favorite pick? Google Voice. No charges, no ads, and doubles as a second phone line.

Yes, there are endless iPhone apps out there (and some are pretty ingenious). And yes, it does seem like the iPhone can do just about anything (truly... anything!). But the magical device failed a would-be robber last week.

Block Facebook scripts on sites that you visit with Safari, Chrome and Firefox by installing an add-on called Facebook Blocker. This removes the "Like" buttons, "Recommended" lists and prevents Facebook scripts from tracking your browsing history. Veronica from Tekzilla Daily demonstrates the features of this new add-on.

Edit images directly from Google Chrome and see how they look directly on the page itself. GooEdit, a plugin for the Google Chrome browser, lets you rotate, flip, tweak the brightness, sepia, and more. You can then save the modified image to your local harddrive or upload to Twitter. Patrick from Tekzilla Daily explains the cool features.

Firesheep is a packet sniffing browser exploit that can access the exposed accounts of people on Facebook and Twitter while they use public Wi-Fi connections. This video shows what steps can be taken to protect yourself against someone accessing your Facebook account.

All hail artist, programmer and human electrocution music-machine, Daito Manabe. He's back, and better than ever:

When you think of robots, you probably think of things that have more than three parts. Not this robot! If you want a robotics project to try that doesn't require an MIT degree, watch this video for instructions on how to build a 'Dizzy Robot' out of only some thin tin, a pager motor, a button cell battery, and this template.

For most people, learning how to work with electronics is far from intuitive. Getting the diodes in your hands and working with them is the best way to go about it, and this video will teach you a great lab for learning about diodes, potentiometers, capacitors, photo cells, and power supplies.

If you want to start making a basic electronics project by placing power sources and such on a breadboard, you should make sure that the breadboard will work first. You can do this by using a multimeter to perform a continuity test on your breadboard, which this video will teach you how to do.

Welcome to part 2 of robotics teacher Scotty's introduction to electronics! the first video taught about the basic tools and components we need to start working with electronics. This one will cover the basics of electronics, from a primer on electricity and how it works to making a basic circuit and working with breadboard, the canvas of circuitry.

Forget backpacking through the Himalayas— Google lets you enjoy the vistas from the comfort of your own home with Google Earth.  Forget about snorkeling on your next trip to the Bahamas— you can go under the sea without even getting wet with Google Ocean.  Forget about stargazing with your portable telescope— Google Sky brings a million stars to your fingertips.  Forget about that application to NASA— you no longer have to be an astronaut to enjoy the terrain of nearby planets, thanks to Google...