Special Report: Real or Ridiculous?

Pop open a bottle of wine with your shoe?

We've all seen the crazy how-to videos online. But do these internet tips actually work? 7News wanted to find out if the claims are believable or bogus.

Opening a bottle of wine, when there's no corkscrew in sight? This video says don't get blue, use a shoe.

Man

"With a shoe?"

Student

"That sounds almost a little risky."

The video shows how the shoe, acting as a cushion, keeps the bottle from breaking while you bang the bottom.

Amanda Grace, 7News

"But can you really uncork your vino this way? Let's give it a try. Hey! It worked!"

We'll raise a glass to this one.

Don't blink or you might miss this internet trick. It's folding a t-shirt in two seconds. Here's a slow-mo version we found online. It looks surprisingly simple.

Keven Snider

"I've seen it done, but I've never done it."

In the video it's just two steps. But is it really that easy? These folks gave it a go.

John Floyd

"I think if I had a little more practice, I think I would have been able to get it down just fine."

The verdict: practice could make perfect.

From folding to fixing; fixing a wet cell phone to be exact. This video claims a bowl of rice could save the day. The reasoning is that rice is absorbent and pulls the water out of the phone.

Student

"I was a little wary about that one."

We submerged a cell phone in water for a few minutes, until the headset stopped working. Just like the in video, we first took the phone apart, dabbed it dry, and buried it in a bowlful of uncooked rice.

The next day this phone was good as new.

Now, not all our viral videos were a smashing success.

One claims you can charge your iPod using just an onion and Gatorade. It says the electrolytes in the energy drink can juice up your device.

When we tried it out, it was a bust.

And when it comes to repairing scratched and skipping DVDs, CDs and video games, we saw people use everything from toothpaste to peanut butter to bananas.

Kelli Phillips

"Ew!"

We rubbed and scrubbed these sticky solutions on our discs, but all we got was a mess and still skipping CDs.

So while the internet can be a treasure trove for hidden tricks and how-to secrets, it also teaches the lesson you can't always believe what you see.

(Copyright (c) 2010 Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)