There’s no denying the engineering and building skills of YouTube’s The Practical Engineer. But it’s the “practical” claims we feel the need to question because as impressive as this invention is, does anyone actually need a handheld blaster that can hurl playing cards at speeds over 120 miles per hour? Read More >>

The smartphone changed the world, but it wasn’t all for the better. Mobile devices are packed full of endless productivity-killing distractions, and the ability to actually make a phone call almost seems like an afterthought now. A frustrated Justine Haupt came up with an unorthodox solution: she designed and built a mobile phone with a rotary dial that looks like it’s 40 years old. Read More >>

How many times have you gotten to the checkout at the flight simulator store only to remember you don’t actually have $12 million in your pocket? Lacking a military-sized budget, André Pointner built his own three-axis flight simulator at home that can spin and rotate in 360 degrees, plus a few other clever tricks. Read More >>

If you spend your life living under a rock you might have missed one of the recent obsessions amongst the young’ns: sequin-covered pillows, plush toys, and even clothing that change colour when you rub your hand across them. It’s a completely pointless experience, but also an incredibly satisfying one that’s actually inspired a clever hacker to make a clock that tells the time in sequins. Read More >>

If you prefer racing games like Gran Turismo and Forza over Super Mario Kart and Crash Team Racing then you’re probably after as authentic a (simulated) driving experience as possible. And what’s a more authentic experience than the car you drive to work every day? With this $10 (£7/65) breakout board – and a couple of slightly pricier components – your daily whip can become the ultimate racing game controller. Read More >>

Dimitar Tilev has created what is possibly the most realistic remote control car we’ve ever seen, and it has nothing to do with the toy’s paint job or immaculate detailing. Underneath the hood is a simulated suspension system that makes the whole car appear to accurately rock and wobble in response to its motor revving and the vehicle accelerating and braking. Read More >>

Making your own digital camera sensor isn’t as complicated as you’d think, as YouTube hardware hacker Sean Hodgins discovered. But you’ll need a solid understanding of electronics, an immense amount of patience, a steady soldering hand, and very low expectations of how your homebrew hardware will perform. Read More >>

If you’re on the hunt for a new 4K flatscreen TV to hang on the wall, you’re thinking far too one-dimensionally. YouTuber Theremin Hero (aka Greig Stewart) rightfully realised that four screens are better than one, and hacked together this spinning LED-wrapped cube that provides a dizzying way to play classic retro games. Read More >>

Even the most expensive robot vacuums – like those capable of emptying themselves so they can run autonomously for weeks – lack the ability to climb up and down stairs in order to clean multiple floors of a house. YouTuber Peter Sripol came up with a solution to that problem, but it’s a hack you probably won’t see as an official feature from companies like iRobot any time soon. Read More >>

A hacker broke into one Mississippi family’s Ring security camera and used its speaker function to scare their 8-year-old daughter, local CNN affiliate WMC reported this week. This incident marks the latest in a recent series of reported Ring hacks wherein strangers terrorise users through their devices, and demonstrates reason number 1,467 why you might want to forego a Ring camera. Read More >>

Mark Rober, a former NASA JPL engineer, recently teamed up with James Bruton, an ex-toy designer and all-around expert hacker, to become two of the world’s most talented bowlers. But instead of spending years practising and honing their skills, they turned to science and engineering to cleverly hack a bowling ball to go wherever they steered it. Read More >>

Netflix customers who cancelled their accounts months previously have found themselves mysteriously reactivating subscriptions and paying for the wall of content once more, thanks to criminals hacking their access credentials and using Netflix's love of holding on to payment data to their advantage. Read More >>

To help sell people on its new console after the 1983 video game crash, Nintendo branded the NES as a complete “Entertainment System”, which included a robotic accessory that could play along with gamers. Thirty years later, some hackers at Croxel have found a clever way to revive that long-forgotten accessory. Read More >>

I rarely use an external monitor with my laptop for the simple fact that I don’t want to get used to all the extra screen space which isn’t available when I travel with my computer. My ideal solution to this problem would be exactly what Matt from YouTube’s DIY Perks channel has created: a laptop with an extra screen that flips up to eye level to double the size of your desktop. Read More >>

It only takes a few weeks of living in a busy city where the streets and pavements are crammed with tourists to appreciate the genius behind Yosef Lerner’s Pedestrian Horn invention. It makes the most useful feature of a car – its blaring horn – available to those who prefer to walk. Read More >>