Snap a photo of a house to learn everything about it
When we were searching for a house, Zillow was a GODSEND. It makes so much relevant housing data available at your fingertips. But I’ve found something even better: HomeSnap — an iPhone app which uses GPS data, combined with the nifty hardware inside your smart phone like readings from the gyroscope and accelerometer, to give home shoppers instant access to data on a neighborhood, a home’s value, its trending value…all based on a photo you snap of the house.
Hack junkmail, take power naps, and ring doorbells: there’s an app for that
If you have a smartphone, do you use any apps for your home? I’ve loved the new Reminders feature iPhones got with the last major update — I have it set to remind me every day through April 20 to turn my grow lights on and off in my makeshift nursery.
Here are three apps you can use to make household life easier: one zaps junk mail, one programs power naps, and one is a magical doorbell.
Meet my new creepy/cute kitchen art from Cuddly Rigor Mortis
Thanks to a blog called Super Punch, a few weeks ago I stumbled across the adorably creepy art from Cuddly Rigor Mortis. The above print (called “L’amour Or Less”) is now hanging to the right of our stove, its cock-eyed little lovers tempting me with their delicious-looking little heads.
Cuddly Rigor Mortis’ online shop is filled with adorably off-kilter food-related prints that feel like the perfect pop-art for kitchens…
How to get what you want from Freecycle: etiquette and getting started
I love Freecycle. This means that I always recommend it to anyone looking for new furniture. However, my friends often try it out then turn around a few weeks later saying either they couldn’t work out how to use it, they got fed up with how many emails they got, or they kept missing out on the good stuff, because it would go too quickly. Sound familiar? Never fear. I am here to help.
Butt bench: A party in your bathtub for your butt
I am a complete bath junkie. I know now that this is a type of person, but I didn’t always understand there are others like me. One who, for fun, takes frequent, long, pointless baths. This person reads in the tub. This person is jealous of Marat's bathtub setup, horrible skin disease be damned! This person buys furniture for the purpose of enhancing bathtime.
You, my fellow bath people, will want a Butt Bench.
Where can I get truly bad-ass fabric for home projects?
I’ve been super inspired by some of the DIY projects on Offbeat Home, but I have no idea where to get fabric that would make my home decor crafts really fucking awesome. When I go to Michaels or other big box fabric stores, it seems like I can never find anything that excites me.
Any suggestions for great online sources for bad-ass fabric?
Pi-inspired kitchen backsplash
The way I see it, there are three ways to celebrate Pi Day: with math, with pie, and with pizza pie. I don’t need any more convincing: let’s do Pi Day! I’ve got kitchen tools, a nerdy clock, and the best math-related tiling work you’ve seen.
How to buy a car using data: Part II — the final decision and epilogue of our adventure
In our previous blog post we identified 27 cars based on a list of features, and then narrowed our list down to 3 based on Internet data and test drives. Now, it is time for more data!
DEEP DIVE
With a list of cars this small, we can do more in-depth research. We found out the cost of car insurance, average maintenance costs, vehicle crash ratings, accident data, and insurance data. We also tried to estimate how much each model would cost to own over 5 and 10 years.
However, the most interesting data was about crash test ratings and accident statistics. Vehicle crash-test ratings are designed to be predictive, which means they try to imitate real-world conditions. Accident data is far more interesting, because it shows what actually happened.