Here is a great gift idea that includes a splash of tech…give the gift of millefiori glass with a USB stick tucked inside.  Granted, the picture is what caught my eye for this article, but the bottom line is that:  it IS a good gift idea.

Personally an image like this might work even better…but who am I to judge.

To create the millefiori USB drive can be done in several simple steps.  If you haven’t heard of millefiori then let me tell you: Millefiori is a glass work technique which produces distinctive decorative patterns on glassware.  The term “millefiori” is a combination of the Italian words “mille” (thousand) and “fiori” (flowers).

The millefiori technique has been applied to polymer clays and other materials. Because polymer clay is quite pliable and does not need to be heated and reheated in order to fuse it, it is much easier to produce millefiori patterns than with glass.  And this is what we are going to do today.

In seven steps you can produce a nice looking USB necklece.  The detailed how-to is over at Instructables but here is the general idea.

Get a small USB flash drive and take it apart.  Get some polymer clay, such as Fimo Soft or Fimo Effect.  Prep the millefiori material into a cane like shape.  Include a core in the cane shape as this is where the USB stick will go.  Cut the cane so you have (more…)

Sometimes you need a USB stick to always use the same drive letter.  Whether it’s backup software needing to point to a specific storage device, or you use a Windows Office application which requires a specific drive letter - sometimes it is just needed.

Given that Windows will assign a drive letter as a first-come, first serve basis to removable media it can get frustrating to always try for the same drive letter.  Here is one way to assign a specific drive letter to a USB drive.

Before you can assign a drive letter to a USB device, take a look at what drive letters you have available.  This will vary depending on what’s connected, networked drives and mapped drives in your system.  Simply go to START > MY COMPUTER and take a look.

Next, plug in your USB drive to your computer and let Windows enumerate it [see it].

Navigate to:  START > CONTROL PANEL > ADMINISTRATIVE TOOLS > COMPUTER MANAGEMENT >

An alternate way to get to the same spot is START > RUN > “diskmgmt.msc”

In the left panel expand the Disk Management icon.  On the right side you’ll see all the drives available.  Right click on the Removable drive and select “Change Drive Letter and Paths”

Click the Add button and choose a drive letter not already in use from the drop-down list.  Click OK.

Now exit or close all the dialogue windows and you’re set.  Now, each time this specific USB stick is plugged in, Windows will assign it the same drive letter.

Note:  Windows is associating the serial number of the device to the request you’ve entered above, SO, you’ll need to perform this same process for different flash drives.

Spread the word and enjoy.

How about a real Cigar that glows when connected and stores data on the USB memory?  You can build this authentic smelling USB Cigar flash drive yourself in jest 10 or so easy steps.

Before you get started, here is a list of items you’ll need: (more…)

How To Make a Favicon for a Flash Drive

In the heat of getting a new site launched over the weekend, I needed an .ico Favicon for the website.  I came across this free on-line tool which made everything a snap.  No software download, no .exe to load…just down and dirty ico creator.  Today I thought it would be a great review [from original post] to go over How To Make a Favicon for a Flash Drive.

It’s just several easy steps.  Lets begin.

1. Using a program to create an image file, make a jpeg for what you want the ico to look like.  You can use something as simple as Microsoft Paint or something as fancy as Photoshop.  When you make the jpeg, make the overal shape square.  Try and keep the logo simple - simple will translate best into an ico file.
2. Browse to Chamie and click the “Favicon from Pics” link.  Upload your file.  Chami will automatically generate your ico file.  Chami gives you some great options for the USB favicon file.  You can get a static image or an animated .gif file.
3. Once you have the .ico file, save that image to the root of your USB flash drive.
4. Next, open Notepad in Microsoft [or any plain text editor] and type the following:

[autorun]
icon=favicon.ico

Save this to the root of your USB stick as “autorun.inf”

Once you’ve done all the above, (more…)

Today I was doing some research for a good solar powered iPhone charger.  I went the direction of a DIY [Do It Yourself] project then realized this is all a waste of time.  Maybe there are a select few that would jump on a DIY solar powered iPhone charger project, but considering the complexity of the tutorials I found, very very unlikely my average reader would actually do it.

So to save yourself the 30+ minutes of looking for a good tutorial, just spend 3 minutes and buy one that will A) work better, B) look better and C) be cheaper.

The project directions can be found here and you’ll quickly see it’s a complex project that requires some tools you might not have, plus supplies you’ll surely need to buy.  All in all, it’s about a $70 project, (more…)

The world is going Green.  This is your chance to keep those USB gadgets, yet charge them without consuming electricity and leaving your carbon footprint.  The idea behind this USB tutorial is taking the kinetic energy of your bike and turn that into re-powering any USB gadget.

I found this fun little project off the Instructables website.  Apparently the author received some grant funds from Lemelson-MIT program and put together a team of 6 students to create this solution.

The team got their idea from shake-up flashlights which are based off the Faraday Principle - which is a type of electromagnetism reaction to generate energy.

You will need to get a bread-board and create a small circuit to capture the energy produced by the bike and turn it towards your USB gadget.

Next, you’ll need a motor provider that will actually “capture” the energy, feed it through your newly made circuit.  There are many options for this, check (more…)

So lets clarify exactly what I’m talking about here…a TV spy remote is a device that allows you to control someone else’s TV without being around, thus wreak havoc in their life.  After all, what could be more upsetting then turning off the TV at your neighbors house during American Idol or watching Jack Bower kick a$$ in 24?  I don’t think there is a greater pleasure.

Since you can’t buy a TV spy remote at buy.com or Amazon, or anywhere else, check out this TV Spy Remote tutorial I found at Instructables.

The tools and materials you need could be found anywhere, as this hack was done at a college dorm room and you know those kids have not $$ or resources.

Required materials include: (more…)