Use the hidden secrets of the cosmos to impress your friends and family, see things otherwise hidden to the human eye! All this is within your grasp with  an astounding new tutorial.

Head on over to the How-To section and learn the secret of checking the batteries in your remote control with nothing but a cellphone camera.

A movie is included for your edification and enjoyment.

World’s simplest how-to: Use your cellphone camera to check the batteries in that pile of remote controls you have strewn around the living room:

Why does it work? Your remote controls communicate with your entertainment system with an infrared LED. You can’t see it, because, sorry to break the news, the human eye isn’t built to see infrared light, which sits in the rainbow just below red.

Your camera has the opposite problem. The CCD sensor in your camera is too good at picking up infrared. So good in fact that it requires a special filter to screen out most of the infrared light. Without the filter, your pictures would look very odd. But the filter’s aren’t perfect, and when a strong IR source (like the LED on your remotes) shines at your camera, the camera "sees" the IR source as a white light.

Added Bonus: If you own a Nintendo Wii, point your camera at the sensor bar on top of your TV to see what it looks like in IR:

I have been spending a bit of time with macro photography of late. I have a penchant for crawly critters [ link fixed ], which I have indulged for over a year now.

I’ve always had issues trying to take these photos indoors, or in dark places. Because the subject matter is so close to the lens, the built-in flash will frequently cast the shadow of the lens into the picture.

So, armed with a high-output halogen flashlight, a few bucks worth of supplies, and some junk I had lying about the house, I built a hands-free rig for lighting these tricky macro photographs*.

I documented the project over in the Chrome Cow Labs section. Stop by and take a look, then build your own!

*In the spirit of full disclosure, the wolf spider photo above was taken before I built the rig. I just like that photo…};^)