It follows, then, that most of us are also fascinated by cool hacker-style projects that deliver solutions in unexpected and novel ways. I just found a site, run by the High-Low Tech Group at the MIT Media Lab, that has a load of cool, hacker-style, craft-oriented projects.

The project that first caught my eye was the . This is a fully working albeit basic cellphone in a veneered plywood enclosure and so ugly that you wouldn't want to be seen with it in public unless you were wearing a pocket pen protector.

The project creators explain: "By creating and sharing open-source designs for the phone's circuit board and case, we hope to encourage a proliferation of personalized and diverse mobile phones. Freed from the constraints of mass production, we plan to explore diverse materials, shapes, and functions. We hope that the project will help us explore and expand the limits of do-it-yourself (DIY) practice. How close can a homemade project come to the design of a cutting edge device? What are the economics of building a high-tech device in small quantities? Which parts are even available to individual consumers? What's required for people to customize and build their own devices?"

The circuitry, case design, and software are on the . So, for $150 in parts and a bit of labor you could have your own geekphone.

Other projects on the site include a which I don't know how I've managed to live without, and