MATERIALS
Safety goggles
Large piece of cardboard
Pencil
Craft knife
Tape
Smartphone
STEP 1
Lay the safety goggles on the cardboard so that they’re facing forward. Trace around the shape, adding at least 2 inches (5 cm) in front.
STEP 2
Roll the goggles up so that they’re resting on an end. Trace around that side, adding extra space again.
STEP 3
Using the craft knife, cut out your tracing as one piece, then fold it so you have a four-sided rectangular tube that fits perfectly around your goggles. Secure it with tape and slide the goggles just inside.
STEP 4
On a separate piece of cardboard, trace the cardboard box’s front, leaving 1-inch (2.5-cm) tabs on either side. Cut it out, then trace your smartphone onto its center. Cut out the shape of your phone, making a window, and insert this cardboard piece into the rectangular tube opposite the goggles.
STEP 5
Dial up Google Street View and locate a place you’ve always wanted to go and tape your phone over the window.
STEP 6
Don your virtual-reality glasses, and take a walk someplace far, far away.
This project was excerpted from The Big Book Of Hacks: 264 Amazing DIY Tech Projects, a compendium of ingenious and hilarious projects for aspiring makers. Buy it here. And for more amazing hacks, go here.
Five amazing, clean technologies that will set us free, in this month's energy-focused issue. Also: how to build a better bomb detector, the robotic toys that are raising your children, a human catapult, the world's smallest arcade, and much more.


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It would be blurry and you'd go cross-eyed trying to focus.
I'm not sure if you are doing more harm or good in terms of selling your 'Hacks' book. Based on the snippets I've seen so far, I wouldn't buy it because the projects are either 'duh' simple (like the solar recharger) or just silly (like this one).
Just my $0.02 worth ...