Why should the latest trends, gadgets, or even simple cool stuff around the house have to cost the earth? The answer; they shouldn’t, and there is now a way in which you can get all of these things without shelling out a month’s salary and while having a bit of fun along the way.

That might seem too good to be true, but it is in fact the main motivation behind the world of the DIY hack. DIY hacks are projects, ideas, and tasks which allow you to make your own DIYgadgets, solve household issues in an innovative way, or just make some really cool stuff.There are hundreds of these so-called DIY hacks posted online almost daily and below are four of the coolest to appear on the internet in the last couple of weeks.

1. The ‘Smart Cap’

If you’ve been following all of the news and buzz surrounding head mounted displays and seemingly science fiction type new technologies like the Google Glass, then the chances are that you will want a piece of that action. This brilliant, if somewhat complex hack, found on the diy hacking website offers you the chance to “make your own head mounted, virtual reality or augmented reality displays”. The hack instructs you on how to produce a system that includes a webcam, video sharing capability, and even voice recognition to keep the whole thing entirely hands free.

2. A red, blue, green colour combination door lock

Some of the very best hacks that produce the best looking results are LED hacks. One of the coolest in this area to have been posted recently is this tutorial talking you step by step through the process of creating your very own personalized electronic lock. The hack takes you through every stage required to produce a truly epic red, blue; green color combination lock where, instead of typing in numbers, your entry code is a specific set of colors.

3. The Raspberry Pi Webcam Robot

Anyone who’s watched any kind of sci-fi show will have at one stage or another thought that it would be pretty cool to have their own robot, and this DIY hack offers you the chance of creating one. Using the Raspberry Pi single board computer, the hack offers the opportunity to produce a robot complete with USB webcam. When the instructions are followed correctly, the finished result of this hack gives you a robot that can record video, take photos, and that even has live streaming capability!

4. An Interactive Glowing LED Desk

This hack is ideal for anyone who wants a truly awesome desk to impress their friends and colleagues. The DIY Hack takes an Ikea desk and a bundle of electronics and turns them into an unbelievably cool glowing LED desk which lights up to alert you of incoming emails or instant messages. As if that wasn’t enough, the desk includes individually addressable lights, allowing for different patterns to be programmed for different alerts.