Author: peterjang73

DIY isn’t always the easiest way to do something, but it’s usually the most informative and educational one. This week, let’s check out some great DIY tech projects that’ll teach you a ton about the tools you probably use every day—and protect your privacy and give you control over your own data in the process.

10. Build Your Own DIY Amazon Echo

It may not be the most cost-effective option, but building your own Amazon Echo using a Raspberry Pi will not only teach you a lot about how the Echo works, but also how the Raspberry Pi works, and how you can unlock even a part of its overall potential.

We’ve shown you how to do it before, and even shared Amazon’s official guide for doing so, and how to set a wake word for it. The beauty of this project though is that unlike an Echo, which you can buy and just let it work, you make use of a Pi, which can then be repurposed and reused for whatever you want in addition to being an Echo. The whole project is something you can do in an afternoon, and you’ll learn a lot in the process.

9. Add Wi-Fi to Your DSLR Camera

If you have a DSLR, or even a mirrorless camera, you probably love using it but have to remember to transfer the photos or video from your SD card to your computer manually for processing or sharing. You can cut out the middleman by giving your DSLR a Wi-Fi upgrade. All you need is the right SD card and a little setup time.

Even if that model isn’t right for you, there are plenty of others in the guide that work just as well, and in the process will teach you a good bit about backing up your photos and streamlining the editing process while you make sure you never miss a shot. Alternatively, you can always pair your camera with your smartphone instead, both on iOS and over on Android.

8. Build Your Own Private, Syncing Cloud Storage Service

Dropbox is simple and easy, and everyone has an account, but whether you prefer to have complete control over your own data at all times, or you just want to understand how cloud services like Dropbox work, it’s not hard to roll your own Dropbox clone. If you have a web host, you could do it there, or you could roll your own with a Raspberry Pi and learn about the apps that make file sharing possible and about the Pi in one fell swoop.

You’ll just need to expand your knowledge of networking and file sharing a bit, and try out a couple of apps to help get the job done. You could also use Resilio (formerly BitTorrent Sync) to do the job too, and there are tons of other options. The important thing is that you’ll learn a lot in the process, do your own thing, and protect your own data.

7. Roll Your Own Image Hosting Service

Services like Google Photos and even Facebook are certainly the most popular places to host your images, but like everything else, they put your precious memories beyond your true control, and put you at the mercy of someone else’s terms of service, privacy policy, and so on. So consider rolling your own! We have a bunch of great tools to help you do it, including the Gallery Project, JAlbum, and more—assuming you want to still be able to share those photos on the web when you want.

If you’d rather control your own galleries and keep them organized on your own, you could always auto-sync with the app or tool of your choice and then manage locally only, but keeping a solid backup offside is a good idea just in case you lose your own data. Even if that backup is something you also own, set up yourself, and own personally.

6. Build Your Own Streaming Dash Cam

Dash cameras aren’t the near-necessities here in North America as they may be in other countries, but they’re fun to watch and can capture some amazing moments. Best of all, they’re not difficult to make on your own, and you can learn a ton about electronics, mobile recording, and more in the process. You could just grab an old smartphone you’ve upgraded from to do the job.

If you’re willing to put a Raspberry Pi to good use, grab one of those and give your dash cam live streaming capabilities. Then, when you’re ready, you could make your setup even more elaborate with a pair of cameras, GPS capabilities, and even status LEDs. Start small and work your way up.

5. Roll Your Own Home Theater PC

Building your own home theater PC is one of the ultimate tech projects you can tackle. You combine an understanding of software, storage, online and streaming media, downloadable music and movies, and the sources for all of that stuff right along with the nuts and bolts of building a system that’ll fit in your living room or connect to your TV and serve it all up when you want to sit down and watch TV.

Sure, HTPCs have fallen by the wayside now that tiny, cheap set-top boxes are available, but for the ultimate in control—and learning everything you could possibly want to know about your media collection, home network, and PC gear, there’s nothing like doing it yourself. We have a ton of guides on how to do it, including our recommended (if not dated) setup, and some tips to help you even after you’re all set up. This just all reminds me we should update our own HTPC recommendations, and do it ourselves, too.

4. Roll Your Own VPN

We talk a lot about how valuable a good VPN is, and how you can find a trustworthy one that actually meets all of your needs—but sometimes the best option is the DIY option. In this case, you’ll still need to trust your ISP, but no more than you do now, since you’ll run your VPN from home, connect to it when you’re out and about, and hide your surfing from prying eyes wherever you go.

If you have an old Mac, it’s super easy to do with macOS Server, and if you have a Raspberry Pi, you can use one of those too. You can even combine your Pi VPN with Tor for added anonymity with your security. If you have neither, grab an old PC or laptop and try Amahi, it’ll get the job done too.

3. Build A Fully-Functional Arcade Table or Cabinet

If you’re interested in learning not just a lot about tech, but about carpentry and DIY woodworking, an arcade cabinet is your best bet. We have a couple of starter guides on how to make one out of your coffee table, and some tips to inspire you to tackle it, but if you don’t want yours in the center of the living room, this IKEA hack will get you a good-looking one off on the side of your office or game room., and this one is even two-player.

As always, if that’s not your style, you can always turn an old PC into your personal arcade, even if you don’t stand it up in your own cabinet or anything. As always, if you have a Raspberry Pi, it’s perfect for that too. Just make sure you pick the right software for your needs, and you’ll have fun making it, and then even more fun playing it.

2. Host Your Own RSS Feed Reader

Feedly is great, don’t get us wrong, but many of us still lament the death of the simple, elegant, just-right-feature-wise Google Reader. For those folks, there’s no getting around it: You just have to do it yourself to have the kind of control you want.

Of course, we showed you how to roll your own using Tiny Tiny RSS, and it even has a mobile app so you can read on the go. It’s not alone though, and you’ll learn a lot about how the web works and keep up with your favorite blogs (like this one!) if you try it out.

1. Build Your Own Computer

There’s nothing like building your own PC to teach you not just about how computers work, but also how to troubleshoot your own computer problems and be self-sufficient if you have issues.

You’ll learn all about the internals of your PC by building your own rig, and if you’re a gamer or video producer or YouTuber, or audio enthusiast, you can customize your computer to suit your needs specifically. It’s way better than buying off the shelf—and depending on your needs, may even be more cost-effective too. Stick close to our PC build guides (we’re updating them right now), and keep these first-timer tips in mind to make the most of the experience.

Illustration by Angelica Alzona. Additional photos by Shinichi Haramizu and ayaita.

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Lifehacker’s Weekend Roundup gathers our best guides, explainers, and other posts on a certain subject so you can tackle big projects with ease. For more, check out our Weekend Roundup and Top 10 tags.

At a time when sea ice should be expanding, it’s actually shrinking

Sea ice in the Arctic has been trending at record low levels since the third week of October — and now, something really crazy is happening up there.

The Arctic is heading into the dead of winter, and across a vast swath of territory, the polar night has descended, with 24 hours of darkness each day. This is when temperatures should be plunging, and sea ice should be expanding rapidly.

Instead, temperatures are soaring, and sea ice is actually shrinking. 

This shouldn’t be happening.

Visualization of #seaice from 9/19-11/19/2016. Outer lines indicate the average sea ice extent in the 1980/1990/2000s. Watch the Kara Sea: http://pic.twitter.com/xRqaCJFV0c

— Zack Labe (@ZLabe) November 20, 2016

To be clear, sea ice is growing in some areas. But since Nov. 16th, the overall trend has been downward.

That’s largely because sea ice has been contracting significantly in the Arctic Ocean adjacent to the island archipelagos of Svalbard and Franz Josef Land. You can watch it happen in the Tweeted animation above, and also in the animation at the top of this story. Both are based on data acquired by the AMSR2 instrument aboard Japan’s GCOM-W satellite.

What the heck is going on?

Against the backdrop of human-caused global warming — a phenomenon that has caused the Arctic to warm twice as fast as any other region on Earth — the region is having a particularly difficult time cooling down this winter. As Bob Henson puts it in an in-depth story titled “Crazy Cryosphere” at Weather Underground’s Category-6 blog:

Temperatures north of 80°N smashed records for warmth throughout the winter of 2015-16. Now they’re on an even more torrid pace.

Here’s one way to think of what’s happening: Natural variation has long brought both cooler and warmer than average temperatures to the Arctic in all seasons. But now, we humans are putting our finger on the scale, tipping the balance in favor of excess warmth.

And right now, we’re talking crazy warm:

In the map above, the brightest red tones are indicative of temperatures that are more than 35 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than normal. For areas of the Barents Sea near Svalbard and Franz Josef Land, that has meant above freezing air temperatures near the surface.

A complex set of factors seems to be at play.

Back in August, two large storms in the Arctic helped break up sea ice and may have stirred up warm water from the depths, according to Ted Scambos, a senior research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. This helped drive Arctic sea ice to a near-record-low in September.

SEE ALSO: Arctic sea ice trends near a record low for this time of year

In fact, record lows have been set for Arctic sea ice on 160 days so far this year, according to Zack Labe, a PhD student studying Arctic climate at the University of California at Irvine.

Current record low #Arctic sea ice is not uncommon for 2016, in fact 160 days this year (~49.5% YTD) have broken new record lows (JAXA) http://pic.twitter.com/wc9VI3wAoy

— Zack Labe (@ZLabe) November 20, 2016

This means vast swaths of the ocean surface were exposed to sunlight for a longer period than normal. Ice is very effective at reflecting solar energy. But dark surface waters absorb it readily. So water already warmed by the stirring action of the storms was able to get warmer still, thereby hindering formation of sea ice.

Now, those waters are giving off some of that energy to the atmosphere, probably accounting in part for the unusual air temperatures at the surface right now. At the same time, atmospheric circulation patterns have been pumping warm air into the region from the south, apparently slowing the cool-down of ocean waters.

The result: a truly bizarre situation in the Arctic.

Meanwhile, a large portion of Eurasia has been crazy cold and snowy. You can see this in the blue and purple colors in the temperature anomaly map above. As Bob Henson of Category-6 explains:

It’s as if the hemisphere’s entire allotment of chilly, snowy weather has been rounded up and consigned to one area, albeit a big one. For this, we can credit or blame what’s called a “wave one” pattern, where the upper-level circulation around the North Pole is dominated by a single elongated loop, shunted in this case toward the Eurasian side.

Meanwhile, at the other pole, Antarctic sea ice is also trending at record-low levels. Head over to Henson’s post for more details about that. Here’s the link again: http://bit.ly/2eUJrG1