Hacking IKEA stuff: From stool to bedside table

I wanted to convert these IKEA stools to bedside tables. The reason was that they match the rest of the bedroom furniture abd there was limited space near the beds, so we could not really  use normal bedside tables. 

INGOLF is a great basic stiol from IKEA  

To add a shelf to it, I just got an extra shelf of KOMOLEMENT  and cut two pieces at the right size, using my table saw.

  

 I decided to remove the diagonal support pieces, to make it look more like a bedside table and less like a stool.

    
   
  

it was then easy to fit the custom shelf using a couple of plastic fittings:

   
I used iron-on tape I bought on Ebay to hide the cut sides of the shelf. I got 5cm, to cover both the shelf side and the horizontal support piece. The tape was a but wider than required, so I removed the excess using a chisel. It was the first time I used this simple iton-on tape and I think it worked pretty well.  

    
    

And here is the final result. One extra shelf where we need it!

 

4G & Frequent US trips

The following setup has worked for me in the past. I’m sharing it online in case someone else find it useful too.

First I bought and activated a hotspot jetpack from Verizon. I got the card from a Walmart while I was there. Before you buy a hotspot, check online to see which companies cover the area you are planning on visiting.

  
i pay $100 for 10GB and that’s active for 2 months.

 

  
Recharging it is a bit if a pain. Verizon won’t accept a non-US credit card, and I don’t really like the scratch cards, so what I do is to use the Recharge.com service.

Looks dodgy (come on guys spend $100 on making your site a bit better!), but it seems to work. There is a max limit, so it takes a few paypal payments to get it to the limit I want. Still!…

  

EE vs Virgin

I recently got a 4G phone and realised that my then provider, Virgin, did not support 4G. I started looking for alternatives and EE was the obvious choice.

I ran a speednet test before I removed the Virgin simcard and one with the new EE simcard installed.

   
 

I just couldn’t believe the difference!

Clearly this is a 3G vs 4G comparison, but still!…

In the UK we have been bombarded with EE ads that tell us how great their service is. They should show examples of their speed tests compared to other networks. Had I seen a test similar to the above I would have switched earlier!

My new mobile!…

  
it’s tiny, but sadly not mine… My RaspberryPi called dibs!

This little Fona board from Adafruit will allow me to water trees in a remote village in Greece from London. Full project update to follow…

Dear Rhodia

Dear Rhodia,

First let me say that I love your products, especially the dot pads. The dotted page pattern helps me be creative and work very efficiently.

But… Your pads need hacking before they can actually be used! I used to carry around the black A4 and A5 dot pads. It’s not easy to cleanly tear a page. After a few pages I used to end up with horribly torn pages. I hated it.

I’ve developed the following process to help me use the pads.

Step 1: Get a pad  
Step 2: Remove the cover page 
Step 3: Loosen the staples 
Step 4: cut the staple in half   

Step 5: remove the staples (it’s easier when they are cut in half)

Step 6: insert the “bare” pad in a leather cover.

I have A4 and A5 covers for that purpose.

   
 
With the staples gone, it’s much easier to tear the pages.

If someone from Rhodia is looking online for product improvement ideas, I strongly suggest you lose the staples!… 

Thanks 

Arkadian