4 Cheap and Easy Ways to Bring Old Tech Back to Life

Today’s household junk-drawer is usually filled with more than just paper-clips and old Baskin-Robbins punch-cards. You’ve probably got tangled charging cords, a long-forgotten flip phone, maybe even a tablet that’s “still fine, just slow.”

Please, please don’t dump that stuff into a landfill; e-waste is a huge environmental problem. (Batteries especially.) And, really, wouldn’t you rather extend the return on your investment? You probably paid a lot for all that gear, so why not squeeze more life out of it?

Good news: There are lots of overlooked ways to repurpose old tech, to “upcycle” products you probably thought had outlived their usefulness. And the best part is, these ideas are cheap and easy. Heck, some are even free.

Turn an old tablet into a family calendar

Got an early-generation iPad lying around? Or any other tablet that’s collecting dust? Stand it on your kitchen counter and run DAKboard, a service that turns the screen into a shared family calendar and a digital picture frame.

Standalone family calendars are hugely popular right now; DAKboard merely leverages the screen you already have instead of making you buy a new one. You can color-code each person’s schedule for easy at-a-glance reference, build out a chore list that kids can access and manage themselves, plan out weekly meals, and more. Think of it as a family command-center, one with a display you can customize to your liking.

And if you want to see cherished memories when the calendar’s not in use, the software can connect to Apple Photos, Google Photos, and the like to create a custom slideshow.

There’s a free version of DAKboard that supports up to two calendars; a $5/month subscription bumps that to five. Oh, and it’s not limited to tablets; it works across a wide range of devices — just about anything with a screen.

Turn an old PC/laptop into a Chromebook

This one’s a personal favorite, because it really can make an old computer feel brand new. ChromeOS is the Google operating system that runs on Chromebooks, but it can run on just about any PC or laptop. Doesn’t matter if it’s outdated and slow, because ChromeOS requires significantly less horsepower than Windows. (The key requirement is Wi-Fi, so it can connect to the Internet.)

The broad strokes of how this works:

1. Using an existing PC, you’ll install ChromeOS Flex on a USB flash drive.
2. On the old PC, you’ll boot from that newly created drive. (Note that this might require a trip to the boot menu, a.k.a. BIOS, to make this possible.)
3. You’ll have the option of temporarily running ChromeOS from the drive (to kick the tires, as it were) or wiping the hard drive and making it permanent. (If you do this, make sure to first offload any files you want to preserve.)

If any of that sounds overly complicated, you can also buy a flash drive with ChromeOS Flex preloaded; it’s just $10.95 from Back Market.

Trust me, you’ll be amazed at how quickly that poky old laptop runs now. Just remember that ChromeOS doesn’t run Windows software; it can run Android apps and do anything within the confines of a Web browser.

Turn an old monitor into a TV

Before you toss that old flat-screen monitor, check the ports. If there’s an HDMI input (the same kind used by all modern TVs), you’re in luck: That monitor is ready for its second life.

Because anything you can plug into a TV, you can plug in there as well. So, for example:

• Game console: Connect a Nintendo Switch, Sony PlayStation or whatever. (Many monitors have low refresh rates, too, making them especially well-suited to gaming.)
• Streaming device: Plug in something like an Amazon Fire TV Stick or Roku Ultra and you can stream Netflix, Hulu, and all the other stuff. (One caveat: If the monitor doesn’t support HDCP — High-Bandwidth Digital Copy Protection — some movies and TV shows might not stream properly.)
• DVD or Blu-ray player: See where I’m going with this? A monitor works much like a flat-screen TV, so you can plug in nearly all the same devices. Cable box, too!

So here’s the big catch: audio. Not all monitors have built-in speakers, in which case you’ll need to make other arrangements for sound: headphones or a speaker plugged into the monitor’s stereo jack, headphones connected via Bluetooth to the console or streamer, and so on.

Turn an old phone into a backup/emergency phone

When I travel, especially out of the country, I don’t worry about the language barrier or lost luggage; I worry about something happening to my phone. Forgotten, stolen, dropped down a sewer grate; whatever the circumstances, the results would be pretty disastrous. I’d no longer have access to maps, flight and hotel info, translation tools, and so on — let alone my ability to reach anyone by voice or text.

That’s why I’ve taken to packing a backup phone, something that can see me through the trip if needed. The best option for this, of course, is your previous model, the one you used until its successor arrived. It already has copies of your apps and data, and nearly everything should stay up to date as long as you connect to Wi-Fi once in a while.

And speaking of that, you probably don’t need to keep a service plan for it; should the phone be needed, any hotel or cafe Wi-Fi will get you back online, at least temporarily.

Failing that, it’s not unthinkable to spend $100-$200 on a dedicated emergency phone, something you can keep synced to your important accounts. (Bank, airline, e-mail, etc.) At that price, it would likely need to be an Android phone — but don’t worry if you’re a longtime iPhone user. There are subtle differences in the user interface, but all the apps are largely the same.

The ultimate goal here is to have a spare phone available just in case. It doesn’t matter if it’s a few years old or a budget model; as long as it can run the necessary apps and get you online, it could be a lifesaver.