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It may seem a little Rube Goldberg-ish but a University of Michigan professor has devised a do-it-yourself air purifier that he claims cuts indoor allergens by 90 percent. Made of a cheap box fan and a furnace filter, the contraption costs far less than some of the pricey air purifiers on the market. “This is a filtration system that you can put together with items from your local hardware store for $25 to $30 and use in your home to cut indoor allergens by about 90 percent,” says Jeffrey E. Terrell, M.D., director of the university’s Sinus Center.

As you can see in his video demonstration, Terrell tapes a 20- by 20-inch whole-house air filter (MERV 13 or higher), which sells for $15, over a 20-inch-square box fan, which you can find for about $12. Using a particle counter, he found that his homemade purifier rid the air of particles nearly as well as an $800 machine.

We haven’t tested Dr. Terrell

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When Facebook launched a new form of advertising called “Sponsored Stories” earlier this year, some folks weren’t buying the plot. The new ad unit, which takes content generated by Facebook users and turns it into ads, seemed to be crossing some kind of line.

Six months later, it looks like Facebook actually might have hit upon a powerful new form of advertising. The ads, which grab actions users perform on the Facebook platform (like Liking a brand page or checking in to a restaurant) and turn that into an ad that gets displayed only to the user’s friends, are in fact amplifying word of mouth.

According to Vice President of Advertising and Global Operations David Fischer, the units, which cost the same as standard Facebook ads, are performing, on average, twice as well.

“The key reasons it works is that it is engaging, it is social, and it is reflective of what brings people to Facebook overall, which is to share and connect,” Fischer tells Fast Company.

As for users, Fischer says, they aren’t complaining.

“Intuitively that makes a lot of sense,” he says. “Th

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Bianca is some sort of very wealthy daughter of some fancy family in Europe with scads of cash and her boyfriend is the heir to the Fiat fortune.  Makes it a lot easier to be an “it” girl, but beyond that upper hand I do actually like her style.  She embodies sexy but not trying too hard style….and loves leopard print as much as me! Hard to

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Happy Friday, folks. Its been beautiful here at the home office in Baltimore County, Maryland. We hope its been grand in your own spot on the globe.

We dont often publish deals and specials outside of our coupon pages where we normally feature coupons from companies like Home Depot and Sears. But with Ethan hanging out at the the Shaw HGTV Carpeting debut this week (have you been following Ethans tweets on our Twitter feed?), we havent had a lot of time to drum up the next inspiring project to share.

Since Lumber Liquidators was kind enough to send me a few coupons via e-mail, I thought Id pass them along in case you just happen to be looking for hardwood flooring. The coupons are codes that can be plugged in at LumberLiquidators.com. If youre considering purchasing a brand new hardwood floor, LL is hoping these will push you over the edge. Wer

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Whether guys go for that rough and scraggy look or the smooth, suave appearance of a debonair actor, keeping up with facial hair can be a chore. Making the task even more complex: The range of electric razors—from cheap $10 models to others that cost more than 20 times as much! To find out which shavers really cut “as smooth as a razor,” Consumer Reports uses an interesting item: Sandpaper.

For the most recent test of men’s shavers, our experts engaged a panel of volunteers to try out 13 electric razors. T

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Playfully modeled after the curved and shiny metal aesthetic of circular UFOs, this Beach Rock Resort treehouse is perched precariously at a splayed juncture of branches high up in a Japanese forest canopy. 

Kobayahsi Takashi wanted to build something that could act as a beacon for alien life a residence high and bold, standing out against the night sky. 

A series of wooden platforms and staircases wrap a central truck, depositing temporary dwellers into this sky-oriented display case for extraterrestrial perusal. <

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