Keychain Pocket Hook

My toolbox is fairly simple, so this can be done by just about anybody. 

Tools:
-Pliers.  You'll need two pair.  I found that it was really handy to have both a regular and a needle-nose.
-Wire cutters.  My pliers have integrated wire cutters.
-File/Sandpaper.  If you don't have, you could use any rough, hard surface you don't mind scratching up.
-Hammer.  Not absolutely necessary, but could come in handy if your wire is particularly thick or hard.

Materials:
-Coat hanger.  That's it.  Any one will do, with any kind of finish.  Mine was old and rusty, yours could be new and shiny, but know that it will probably get a bit scratched by the pliers unless you're really careful.  Edit: My cousin gave me a good idea to wrap the ends of the pliers in electrical tape.  Doing that will avoid scratching, and might make slipping less likely as well.

Safety:
-Safety glasses.  Very important.  You don't want a sharp piece of metal flying into your eye.
-Gloves.  Also very important.  Pinching your skin in pliers could be nasty.

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Best All-In-One Pocket Tool?

Whether it's a pocket knife, a Leatherman, or a Cybertool, many of us carry a multitool in case we suddenly need a sharp edge, a screwdriver, a corkscrew, or another tool to make a quick repair. This week, we want to know which ones you think are the best, most portable, and packed with the most useful tools.

Multitools are a mainstay for those of us who work with tech on a regular basis, those of us who get our hands dirty with DIY projects, or when you need to make a quick repair around the house. The trouble is that multitools come in all shapes and sizes, and at all price points. Some of them are plastic and worthless, featuring dull knives and useless screwdrivers, but others are so jam-packed with tools and widgets that it's hard to carry them around at all. Which ones do you think are the most useful, offer the most bang for the buck, and fit nicely in your pocket or carry-all bag? Leave your vote in the discussions below.

Hive Five nominations take place in the discussions, where you post your favorite tool for the job. We get hundreds of nominations, so to make your nomination clear, please include it at the top of your post like so: VOTE: BEST MULTITOOL. Please don't include your vote in a reply to another person. Nominations emailed to us will not be counted. Instead, make your vote and reply separate discussions. After you've made your nomination, let us know what makes it stand out from the competition.

About the Hive Five: The Hive Five feature series asks readers to answer the most frequently asked question we get: "Which tool is the best?" Once a week we'll put out a call for contenders looking for the best solution to a certain problem, then YOU tell us your favorite tools to get the job done. Every weekend, we'll report back with the top five recommendations and give you a chance to vote on which is best. For an example, check out last week's five best exercise headphones.

The Hive Five is based on reader nominations. As with most Hive Five posts, if your favorite was left out, it's not because we hate it—it's because it didn't get the nominations required in the call for contenders post to make the top five. We understand it's a bit of a popularity contest, but if you have a favorite, we want to hear about it. Have a suggestion for the Hive Five? Send us an email at tips+hivefive@lifehacker.com!

Photo by Karl Baron.

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Pocket Stereo Amplifier

a while a go i came across this instructable: Rechargable pocket sized amplifier
and loved the idea of a pocket sized audio amp but was disappointed but its lack of capability, namely only using mono amplification and only having 1 output option 
hence the idea for the stereo amplifier was born
doing a little digging on  amplifier IC's I found the LM 386 a mono amplifier ic with some extra capability's like bass boost and 200 times gain settings (but more on those later)

So how do you take a Mono amplifier and make a stereo? easy, stack 2 side by side

this amp also contains 3 output modes: internal speakers, external 3.5mm jack and RCA

Materials and components:
(image 1)
2 - LM386 (mono-audio amp)
2 - 8 pin ic holder
2 - 3.5 mm audio socket
2 - speakers
2 - 2 pole 2 throw switch 
2 - 33nF capacitors
2 - 47nF capacitors
2 - 10µF capacitors
2 - 220µF capacitors
2 - 10? resistors (colour bands brown, black, black)
2 - 10K? resistors (colour bands brown, black, orange)
1 - double RCA socket
1 - 2 gang linear 10k potentiometer
1 - potentiometer knob 
1 - 2 pole 3 throw switch
1 - 1 pole 2 throw switch
1 - 9V battery
1 - 9V battery clip
1 - ultra mini experimenters board or other small perf board
1 - project box
- mutli- coloured single strand copper wire, (not shown)
- masking tape (not shown)
2 - screws (not shown)

Tools:
(image 2)
- soldering iron
- hot glue gun
- solder sucker 
- solder
- wire cutters
- pliers
- screw driver set
- multimeter
- dremel or a drill
- ruler (not shown)
- sandpaper (not shown)
- glue (not shown)

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How to Import Instapaper or Readability Articles Into Pocket

There are a lot of great bookmark-and-read-later services out there, but if you want to switch from one to another, you probably want to take your old articles with you. Here's how to import your old Instapaper or Readability articles into Pocket.

All three services—Instapaper, Readability, and Pocket—offer options to export your data, but strangely Pocket is the only service with an import function. Luckily, it's really easy to use:

If you use Instapaper, just head to Instapaper's home page and click the "Export CSV" button in the right-hand sidebar. Choose the "Download HTML File" option, save it to your computer, then head to pocket.com/import/instapaper and click Browse. Choose your Instapaper HTML file, click Import, and you'll find that all of your articles appear in Pocket. It won't be able to "favorite" the articles you had favorited before, but it's still a pretty simple process.

If you use Readability, you'll have to go through one extra step. Head to Readability's Export page and export your list as a JSON file. It'll email you your file when it's ready. You won't be able to import this directly into Pocket—since Pocket's importer is designed for Instapaper only—but you can run it through the Readability 2 Pocket tool.

Open your JSON file and copy the contents into the first box on the Readability 2 Pocket page, then click Convert. Copy the resulting text, open your favorite text editor, then paste it in and save it as an HTML file. When you're done, upload that HTML file to Pocket's Import page using the same instructions as Instapaper users.

Unfortunately, we tried to find options that went the other way around—from Pocket to Instapaper and Readability, or between Instapaper and Readability themselves—but since the others don't have import tools (for whatever reason), it's much more complicated. There are a few scripts that claim to import from Pocket to Instapaper or from Pocket to Readability, but they require a little command line work and we haven't tried them. If you know of any other options, tell us about them in the comments!

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