Last year I did a cigar box guitar project with my son and I’ve been building them ever since for my family and friends. After building my latest cigar box guitar for a friend I decided to put a pickup in it, but I had no way of testing if it was working right or not.

I looked at small practice amps on the internet but they are anywhere from £30 to £100, so I looked at the homemade amp scene and came across the Noisy Cricket amp from Beavis Audio. This little amp can be battery operated and uses readily available electronics; it pumps out around ½ a watt of sound and can be plugged into a speaker cabinet for a bigger sound.

I got a list of parts of the Beavis Audio website and took a trip to my local Maplins and low and behold found everything on the list, even the LM386 chip! The only thing I didn’t buy was a soldering iron as they didn’t have any cheap models in.

I ordered a soldering iron kit off Amazon and it arrived today so I think I’ll build the amp this weekend. All in all, the parts (enough to make two amps) and the soldering iron cost me just over £25.

Hope I can remember how to solder (think I’ll be looking up videos on YouTube tonight).

The HTC Radar is an ideal choice for those looking for an attractive phone that offers plenty of features.  Offering a sleek, aluminium finish and running Windows Phone 7.5 Mango, the HTC Radar is a budget-friendly smartphone that is sure to make a suitable choice for those looking for a phone that is easy to carry around. 

Although the HTC Radar offers a smaller screen than other HTC models, the phone still provides plenty of decent features, including a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash, a high-quality video player and Internet Explorer 9.  The phone does not support Flash, but users can still watch videos by downloading apps. 

The HTC Radar is ideal for those looking for a phone that offers plenty of social networking features.  Users can easily access Facebook and Twitter, and there are a number of improved messaging features that enable users to easily keep in touch with their contacts.  YouTube can also be accessed, though users may need to download an app in order to play the site’s videos. 

The HTC Radar is also the perfect choice for those looking for a phone that offers plenty of music features.  The phone comes with Windows Media Audio 9 and Zune software and supports MP3, MP4 and WMA formats.  Users can also access their Xbox account, as the phone offers Xbox Live integration. 

If you are looking for an affordable phone that looks stylish and offers a good web browser, music player and social networking features, then the HTC Radar is the perfect choice.  The HTC Radar is available in a wide range of deals and can be found on a selection of price comparison websites to help you find a deal that is right for you.  There are a wide range of review sites that provide a detailed HTC Radar review as well as information on the best HTC Radar deals available.

Ski holidays are increasingly popular and affordable.  There are lots of cheap ski deals available and even those who have not taken a ski holiday before will find it possible to get help and guidance at lots of resorts. Beginners will find it useful to go to a ski area that will co-ordinate all the things necessary for a good experience such as transport, equipment, access to the slopes and instruction.

Before you go, consider the benefits of watching instructional videos, DVDs or games that can help you learn to ski.  Some include basic but useful information about how to use a ski lift, for example. When booking a ski holiday, choose a resort where the instructors are flexible enough to adapt their lessons to individual ability and skill: it helps if they are able to offer useful tips and pass on their own techniques.

A good ski school will both teach beginners the rudiments of skiing and also boost confidence. Staff should be expert at the sport and available to help and advise on selecting the right lesson programme, access to all parts of the resort, buying lift passes and getting the right clothing and equipment for ski or snowboard hire.

Remember that the standard of tuition can have a major impact on the enjoyment of a ski holiday. Excellent quality of service, access to instructors who speak fluent English and learning as part of a relatively small group will all go to enhance the beginner’s ski experience.

I went round to my friend’s house the other night and he introduced me to his new toy, the Iolite Original Vaporizer. He had an older version as well, which I have used on many occasions but he broke that so got this new one.

The Iolite Original has been fully upgraded with a new ignition system making it more reliable and a better build quality which is evident when you pick it up. It works in the same way as the standard vaporizer and come with an array of accessories including some pipe cleaners and a handy little carry case to keep it safe.

The Iolite Original is still highly portable and runs on lighter gas instead of batteries, so can be taken almost anywhere; it is available now for around £159.99 and is a great little device.

I was searching around on a few of the gadget websites I like and found the Justin Bieber singing toothbrush. Seriously!, is there nothing that the Bieber won’t put his name too?

I’m a big fan of getting your kids to brush their teeth but this has to take the biscuit. I’m sure the toothbrush is quite adequate at brushing teeth, but do we have to suffer listening to Bieber for two minutes twice a day?

Just buy an ordinary toothbrush and teach your kids how to brush their teeth properly.

Vauxhall has released the first images of its Mokka small sport-utility vehicle, which goes on sale in the UK at the end of the year after being unveiled at the Geneva motor show in March.

The Mokka will be offered with a choice of front- or all-wheel drive. Power comes from two petrol engines and one diesel, all equipped with fuel-saving stop-start systems. The petrol units are a naturally aspirated 1.6 with 113bhp or a turbocharged 1.4 developing 138bhp. The 1.7-litre turbodiesel has 128bhp. Both more powerful engines will be offered with a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission.

Front-wheel drive is standard, although four-wheel-drive versions will have a system that automatically transfers drive to the rear wheels.

Vauxhall is keen to promote the car’s practicality, claiming a generous cargo volume of up to 1,372 litres and the latest generation Flex-Fix bicycle carrier that is fully integrated into the rear underbody, allowing the carriage of up to three bicycles.

All models will have electronic stability and traction control, hill start assist and hill descent control systems as standard. Front- and rear-facing cameras will also be offered, the former incorporating lane departure warning and forward collision alerts, as well as traffic sign recognition.

I’ve been thinking of getting a garden room installed for a while now and really want it to be installed before summer so we can enjoy it throughout the warmer months. You can of course use a garden room all year round as it has double glazed windows, heating and electricity points, but I think summer is where it comes into its own.

Primarily we would use the garden room as a chill out spot, somewhere you could read a book or listen to music, but I’ll probably install a bar in there too so we could use it for parties and have a sheltered area for eating and entertaining.

There is a spot at the end of the garden that would be ideal for this, although it’s a bit over grown, but I’ll clear this in the coming months in preparation.

The best thing is that you don’t need planning permission as it is classed as a temporary structure, so all I need to do now is persuade the wife and get some money together, which is easier said than done.

I didn’t have high hopes for yesterday’s FA Cup game between Manchester United and Manchester City after United had lost their last two games, but the lads bounced back and put Manchester City back in their place (at least for the moment).

The game ended 3-2 to Manchester United, but it wasn’t without its controversy. Vincent Kompany was sent off early in the match after a reckless challenge on Nani, but should it of been red? Although he didn’t hit the player Kompany’s challenge was two footed and dangerous. The referee made his mind up quickly to send the play off. I think it was at least a yellow card offence, but have seen red cards for those tackles before.

Manchester |United capitalised on the man advantage and rose to a 3-0 lead at half time. Manchester City rallied in the second half as United took the foot off the gas and brought it back to 3-2; the last 20 minutes were edge of your seat, but at least we won in the end.

Hopefully the team can kick on from here and put a decent run together; bring on Liverpool in the next round.

For many people this year their New Year’s resolution is to lose weight, I’m lucky in that respect because I’m quite active anyway (I cycle to work and work out in the gym three times a week), but for those that want to lose weight, stay fit and have $2,000 burning a hole in their pocket I’ve found the perfect solution.

The Virtual Reality Treadmill is no standard treadmill; it comes with a High-Definition video player with different terrains and adjusts its incline so you really feel like you’re there. The video contains trails, hills and city scapes to virtually run through including landscapes of Italian towns and US villages.

The treadmill automatically raises and lowers to mimic the landscape on the television screen and includes 15 workout modes, a built-in heart monitor and chest strap, an audio port for connecting an MP3 player up to and an LED control panel.

So if you’re looking to lose weight or stay fit in your own home then the Virtual Reality Treadmill may be just up your street.

With the New Year coming, I have decided that my blog needs a re-style to freshen it up. The hosting runs out in January so I have been looking for a dedicated Wordpress hosting site that is reliable, easy to use and install, and can provide me with expert support when I need it.

I found a site called 34SP.com that specialise is website and Wordpress hosting with rates starting from just £3.95 per month. They have dedicated servers and even offer custom free Wordpress themes to add style to your blog.

I have a few ideas on how I want my blog to look, as its pretty standard at the moment and with the week off I’m sure I could knock something out.

So stay tuned for the New Year to see what I come up with.