Display Photos with a DIY Digital Frame

Before disassembling the laptop, download the Slickr screensaver. Make sure the laptop is Wi-Fi enabled. If it’s not, get a USB adapter or a PCMCIA wireless card (find either online or in tech retail stores).

Take apart enough of the laptop to get at the ribbon cable that connects the LCD (usually found under the keyboard), and carefully unplug it. Be careful when removing the plastic border from the screen—there are several thin cables, and if you rip one, the LCD is useless.

Measure the bare screen and order your frame, making sure it’s deep enough to provide 1 inch (2.5 cm) of room behind the LCD so it can breathe. Skip the glass.

Cut two self-adhesive mounting boards—one to strengthen the frame’s mat and one on which to mount the laptop bottom. Poke ventilation holes in the board that will go between the LCD and the laptop bottom.

Assemble the pieces in a sandwich—frame, mat, mounting board, LCD, mounting board, and laptop bottom—using tape. Hot-glue it all together.

Reattach the LCD cable to the laptop and reassemble the keyboard. Attach the second piece of board at an angle to the back of the frame as a stand.

Give it to Mom. Start it up. Add shots to your Flickr account for Mom to see.

Excerpted with permission from " The Big Book of Hacks: 264 Amazing DIY Tech Projects" by Doug Cantor and published by Weldon Owen.