<I>Tech Upgrades</i> is for anyone who’s ever wished they could build their own touchscreen, brew up and use conductive ink, rig a mouse that you can operate with your feet, or make a rad engraved computer tower that glows in the dark—essentially, it’s for fun-loving nerds everywhere.<P>Used to be, whenever you had a computer problem or techie glitch, you went and found the nearest geek to help fix it. But now, there’s a new movement afoot—a band of inventive and self-reliant geeks who hack computer and software to solve problems (and, in some cases, just to have fun). From building your own computer out of a cereal box to modifying safety goggles to see infrared rays, from skinning your laptop with steampunk trimmings to divising a foxhole radio, and from setting up a projector for your iPhone to working out with a dumbbell of old CDs, this book makes being a nerd, well. Cool.<P> <P> <P> Activities include: <P> Rig a DIY Polygraph<P> Listen in on a Foxhole Radio<P> Tack Up a Dipole Antenna<P> Craft a Cell-phone Cantenna<P> Hang HDTV-Antenna Art<P> Mod an Xbox Controller into an iPhone Case<P> Make Your Smartphone “Bounceable”<P> Set Up an Electric Home Secretary<P> Rig a Smartphone Projector<P> Charge a Phone with Solar Rays<P> Make a Tennis Ball Smartphone Tripod<P> Turn Your Old Netbook into a Touchscreen Tablet<P> Fashion a DIY Stylus for Your Touchscreen Device<P> Protect Your Touchscreen with Thin Vinyl<P> Stash a Flash Drive in a Cassette<P> Make a Pink-Eraser Flash Driver<P> Fake It with a Sawed-Off Flash Drive<P> House a Flash Drive in a LEGO<P> Hack a Foot-Operated Mouse<P> Trick Out Your Computer Tower with Engraving<P> Turn Your Laptop into a White Board<P> Dye Your Laptop<P> Make a Steampunk-Inspired Laptop Case<P> Turn on Your Computer with a Magnet<P> Shield Your Screen from Prying Eyes<P> Print in Invisible Ink<P> Keep Your Laptop Cool with Copper Coils<P> Connect a Junked Out Typewriter to Your Computer<P> Make Keyboard Thumbtacks<P> Rig a Superportable Keyboard<P> Create a Glowing Mousepad<P> Put an Old Circuit Board to New Use<P> Make a Laptop Stand froma Three-Ring Binder<P> Build a USB Hub into Your Desk<P> Stash Your Printer in a Drawer<P> Mount Office Supplies Behind Your Monitor<P> Organize Loose Cables<P> Make a Floppy-Disk Box<P> Get Pumped with a CD Dumbbell<P> Assemble a Cereal-Box Spectrometer<P> Make an External Hard Drive<P> Build a Computer out of a Cereal Box<P> Transform an Everyday Lightbulb into a Plasma Globe<P> Light Up Sketches with Home-Made Conductive Ink<P> Hack Infrared Goggles<P> Decimate with a DIY Laser Cutter<P> Create Glass Objects out of Sand<P> Shine a Mini Flash Light<P> Brighten Up a Standard-Issue Flashlight<P> Beam a Batman-Inspired Spotlight<P> Get Techie with Aluminum Foil<P> Improvise a Tripod<P> Mount a Camera on Your Bike<P> Build a Time-Lapse Camera Stand<P> Rig a Plastic-Bottle Diffuser<P> Make Your Camera Waterproof<P> Create a Peephole Fisheye Lens<P> Adapt a Manual Ring to Your DLSR<P> Snap a Self-Portrait with a DIY Remote Shutter Release<P> Set Up a High-Speed Flash<P> Build a Ginormous Camera