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What Can You Do With $100?

Posted by Cliff on from the frugal-hacking dept.

An anonymous reader asks "I was recently gifted with $100 and thought, 'What's the coolest geektoy--new, used, cobbled together, hacked--that one hundred clams could buy?' Home automation? Older PDA streaming client? Bathtub ROV? Basic stamp robotic kit? Something fun, something useful, something educational, something that says 'Look what I put together for $100.' Lemme know!"

10 of 223 comments (clear)

  1. Swiss Memory USB! by SouperIan · · Score: 2, Interesting

    A 256 Swiss Memory USB! Now that is a kickass gadget.

    --
    http://unelite.freelinuxhost.com - Rock/Scissors/Paper and RPGs shouldn't mix.
  2. 512MB iPod Shuffle by objekt · · Score: 5, Interesting

    http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/ doubles as a flash drive.

    --
    -- Boycott Shell
  3. Three year subscription to by Anonymous+Cowdog · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Keyhole.com

  4. Brew your own beer! by warpSpeed · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Get a complete kit to start brewing beer at home here

    It is only $70, you can use the other $30 for a Brew ingredients Kit

    Nothing beats home made beer.

    1. Re:Brew your own beer! by pclminion · · Score: 4, Interesting
      I strongly agree. Brewing beer is kind of like biological hacking -- can you learn to use living organisms (and not those big ones that think, that's cheating) as a tool to accomplish what you want?

      The number of variables and parameters that can be tweaked throughout the beer brewing process is a hacker's dream come true.

      Plus, it helps to relieve some of the general ignorance that most people have about what beer actually IS. I actually read here on Slashdot once that different beers are achieved by, get this, roasting the hops in various ways. My gawd.

  5. wifi detector, the canary by way2trivial · · Score: 4, Interesting

    with SSID detection
    http://www.canarywireless.com/
    leaves half your cash in pocket.

    --
    every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
  6. RC Car by Intron · · Score: 2, Interesting

    or boat, plane or submarine. I know of only one RC hot-air balloon, so that might be interesting.

    --
    Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.
  7. For about $100... by cr0sh · · Score: 5, Interesting
    You can build a video rocket camera.

    What I mean by this, is that you can buy the rocket (D thru F engine model), launch kit (launch pad, controller, engines, igniters, batteries), and wireless video camera - and do something that while it has been done before by others, is still a cool thing to do for yourself.

    First - the camera: For about $30.00 (approx. $10-20.00 for the camera, and $10-15.00 shipping, depending on seller), you can buy off of ebay drop-shipped from hong-kong a miniature 900MHz-1.2GHz wireless "sugar-cube" camera and receiver combo, which runs off of 9 volt batteries. The camera is designed to transmit a few hundred feet thru walls in a security setup - but outdoors up in a rocket you can expect around 1000 ft or so. This is the cheapest way of getting these cameras - don't bother with an american dealer, they will charge you $80.00 minimum, plus s/h - not a good deal at all.

    The rest of your money will go into the rocket and launch needs - a larger scale Estes rocket will be perfect - you might even be able to get away with one of the egg lofters if you want (you might want to try a different/lighter battery tech for the 9V camera, though). Anyhow - you won't spend anywhere near $70.00 on everything - the rocket kit will be about $20-30.00, everything else will fill (or not) the rest of the cash.

    Then - spend your time to build the thing. Remember to pad/protect the camera, and mount it securely (but make it airodynamic, too!). Mount the battery securely as well, so it won't rattle around and change your C/G mid-flight. You are going to want a rocket made for payload lifting or similar - something designed for the extra weight (unless you want to experiment!).

    Take it to a field, set it up, check your camera feed (heh - maybe some extra cash could be thrown to a 12VDC video recorder - you want to record your first flight, right?), install the engine and igniter, begin your countdown - and get ready to enter an interesting aerial photography hobby!

    --
    Reason is the Path to God - Anon
  8. Cool Tools by DoctaWatson · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools never fails to give me ideas for spending my money.

    http://www.kk.org/cooltools/index.php

  9. Or just the Cybertool by gabe · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Get the Cybertool. It doesn't have USB, but it's still a great utility tool to have around. I use mine at least once or twice a day. I can't believe I ever got along without one before.

    Bonus, it fits in that little pocket on the right side of your jeans. You know, that one that you never have any use for?

    --
    Gabriel Ricard