My Sweet Ride
$50–$60
boardpusher.com
I got to try out
boardpusher.com, where you design your own
skateboard deck and they create it and send it to you. It was
super cool. It’s really great how you get to download images from
your computer straight onto your board, to really make it your
own. The choices of full-color backgrounds and designs were
pretty good, and you can choose from six different board shapes,
from old school to mini. You can also put your own message on
the board (team name, maybe?), using one of 60 different fonts.
BoardPusher is great for skaters of all ages. My dad said I almost
peed in my pants with excitement when I found out I could get my
own custom-made deck that could be whatever I wanted it to be —
I’m not sure about that, but it is very cool!
—Kindy Connally-Stewart, age 12
Bananas for Bananas
$7
bananaguard.com
Bananas, so nutritious and yummy, make for a perfect grab-and-go
snack. But their elegant, naturally biodegradable and compostable
wrappers cannot protect them from the ravages of my backpack.
How many times had I scraped banana guts off the pages of a
thick book or the vents of my laptop when I’d carelessly tossed
them in with that vulnerable tropical fruit? Too many! That is,
until I discovered the Banana Guard. Now, I no longer fear the big
squish. Two of my friends had each mailed this clever carrier to
one another at the same time, tickled by its, er-hem, suggestive
shape. That shape can fit 90% of all bananas, and I’ve never had
a problem sliding my packs o’ potassium into its universal curve.
Cubicle dwellers are advised to keep the BG in a bag or propped
open to reveal its cargo, or else be ready to raise a few eyebrows.
—Michelle Hlubinka
Sky Calendar
$11
makezine.com/go/skycal
Sky Calendar comes as a one-page-per-month subscription from
Abrams Planetarium at Michigan
State University. The front of the
page is a calendar that’s packed
with information about planets,
moon phases, and other sky events
during the month. The back has a
map showing major constellations
and planet locations during the
evening throughout the month.
When you subscribe, you get three
months of Sky Calendar at a time.
It’s been around for years and
continues to be a great resource for
casual sky watchers and amateur
astronomers alike. —Terrie Miller
Getting Junk Mail
Stopped?
Priceless
Sometimes a real present is the kind
that involves nothing at all. Spam is
a pain, but it’s gone with one click.
My heart sinks as I see postal junk
mail fill up my recycling bin day
after day. And once you get on one
mailing list, it’s all over. But there
are a number of sites that give you
tips on reducing postal junk mail
(try
ecocycle.org/junkmail or
obviously.com/junkmail), or you
can give the gift that keeps on not
giving, at
greendimes.com.
—AO’R
Gareth Branwyn is a contributing
editor at MAKE.
Kindy Connally-Stewart is a
12-year-old geek-in-training.
Unblemished fruit fuels Michelle
Hlubinka’s work as an illustrator,
designer, educational consultant, and
Maker Faire’s community manager.
Kevin Kelly is the publisher of Cool
Tools and is Senior Maverick for Wired.
Tim Lillis is a San Francisco-based
illustrator, designer, musician, and
aspiring professional zombie actor.
Bruce Stewart is a geek dad who
blogs at
geekdad.com.
Have you used something worth
keeping in your toolbox? Let us know at
toolbox@makezine.com.
Make: 173
