Filed under: Gaming

It’s starting to look like the greatest enemy to PS3 “security” is the PS3 itself. Thanks to that handy OS named Linux, which conveniently comes prepped for the console, we’re already seeing some pretty nifty things being done with the PS3, and now it’s being put to good use to siphon data off of those nifty Blu-ray discs. So far nothing more than a straight transfer has been achieved, but it appears the PS3 game file structure is similar to that of the PSP. We’re not sure how well on the way this puts us towards the ability to create “backup” discs of PS3 games, but at least it’s a start. Oh, and a quick note to the Xbox 360 fanboys: Madden ‘07 barely uses 7GB of that expansive storage medium of Sony’s, so we wouldn’t worry about missing out on content with your dual-layer DVDs just yet.

[Thanks, Tam]

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

---

BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Gaming

Joining the nearly endless amount of Nintendo DS hacks already in the wild is TobW’s DS Sampling Keyboard, which “uses the DS’s microphone and touchscreen” to interface with a software-based sampling keyboard. A close contender to join our Music Thing series, this wonderous hack takes advantage of the wee machine’s excellent X / Y-axis controls as well as its built-in WiFi to beam the MIDI commands wirelessly. The program has been tested with Wifi, GBAMP, and M3, so “it should work on pretty much anything,” and provides a much less expensive alternative to those dedicated offerings. While musical gizmos are always more effective when seen heard rather than just heard about, be sure to click on for a front row seat to the YouTube demonstration.

[Via MusicThing]

Continue reading Nintendo DS doubles as wireless MIDI keyboard / controller

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

---

BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Gaming

If you’re still on the hunt for a PS3 (and haven’t fell for one of those eBay scams just yet), here’s an alternate (and relatively safe) way to finally snag one of your own while earning some bragging rights to boot. If you’re not the savviest camper (or thief), but you’re packin’ the heat when it comes to programming skills, listen up — the “0wn a PS3 and own it” challenge is in full effect, and the one thing between you and a PS3 is a seemingly simple web hack. If you manage to replace the JPEG image (pictured above) on the linked website while abiding by the site rules (no DOS attacks, etc.), you become the proud owner of a modified PS3 which sports a 160GB hard drive, HDMI cable, Fedora Linux pre-installed, and a free game for when you’re not tinkering around in the OS. The site is reportedly running on this very PlayStation 3, loaded up with Fedora Linux and a presumed heavy amount of security around the said picture. So, what are you waiting for? Hit the read link and get to work, because you’ve only got until “the beginning of January 2007″ to pull it off.

[Via Digg]

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

---

BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Cellphones

We’d be willing to be more than one of you know the likeness of Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington, but how many among us would go so far as to try to break into his phone? Apparently a 27 year old woman by the name of Devon Townsend used a machine at a Sandia National Lab in New Mexico to gain access to Bennington’s Verizon account, and obtained call records and cameraphone shots; apparently she also got access to his wife’s email and went so far as to verbally threaten the poor Mrs. Bennington. Like Chappelle before him, we can understand Bennington not wanting someone playing on his phone, but think he should be glad he made it out of this one relatively scot free. Celebs before have faced the wrath and aftermath of leaked sex tapes to leaked A-list phonebooks, so be glad, Chester, that you still have your dignity.

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

---

BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Gaming

As some early Wii adopters have discovered, the Wii’s sensor bar turns out to be far less complicated than it seems at first glance, consisting of nothing more than a couple of standard IR emitters, with that lengthy cord cluttering up your living room supplying nothing but a trickle of power to the device. While even a couple of standard TV remotes can serve as a substitute in a pinch, for a more workable wireless solution you’ll have to bring your DIY skills to bear. Thankfully, as Brian “DoctaBu” Moore explains on his LiveJournal, the process is about as simple as homebrew projects get, requiring only an inexpensive trip to Radio Shack and some minimal soldiering abilities. While it ain’t pretty, the contraption pictured above will let you enjoy a game of Wii Sports bowling (at your own risk) and rid one more wire from your life at the same time. Of course, if you’re still hesitant to get your hands dirty, you can bet that there’ll be more than a few third-party (if not first-party) options finding their way to store shelves before too long.

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

---

BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

If you’re hung up on what to get that special hacker in your life this holiday season, you might want to consider the Zoozen Access Pro Tool Kit, which provides a nice assorsement of useful tools to modders young and old. Billed as “every possible set of tools for both current generation and next generation handheld and video game consoles,” the PR peeps apparently haven’t gotten wind of the PS3 or the Wii yet (which go unmentioned in the press material), but you should be otherwise set for most modern console hacks — without going through all that nasty “work” of building your own tools. No word on price or availability just yet, but zoozen.com should be up soon.

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

---

BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

If you’re looking for a minor practical joke to play on your family over the Thanksgiving holiday or are searching for something fun do do when you’re off work on Friday but are strung out on turkey and stuffing, look no further than this rockin’ apple mod. Our pals at Instructables have put together a series of steps on how to build a USB-powered apple (Apple Computer optional) that will vibrate when someone tries to reach for it, and will stop when the person backs away. This mod doesn’t appear all that difficult, but you’ll need to get a “capacitance sensor chip,” some copper foil, a vibrating motor and a few other things. Still, if you know your way around a circuit board and a soldering iron, you could probably put this together in an hour or two with no problem — that is, assuming all the apples in the house haven’t already been turned into apple pie.

[Via MAKE: Blog]

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

---

BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

So you’ve got one of them nifty Wii GiftCards, do ya? Don’t feel bad, neither do we. But from what we’ve read, the little Target card can be used to buy anything in the store, which doesn’t really have much to do with the Wii other than to promote it. If you press the power button on the top of the card, the sides light up like a Christmas tree (that is, assuming your Christmas tree glows solid blue for 10 seconds). Well, those crazy cats at Instructables have put together a series of instructions as to how to disassemble this card, and what you might be able to do with it if you did. They discovererd exactly what types of timers, resistors and batteries are in this little number, and gave some suggestions as to what to do with ‘em, including changing the LED colors, altering the logos on the top, or our favorite: attaching a lanyard. Because if you’re going to go to the trouble of taking apart a card like this, nothing says classy geek style like a lanyard.

[Via MAKE: Blog]

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

---

BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Peripherals

Dheera Venkatraman, a crafty MIT student, has just completed the latest iteration in a series of upgrades to his dorm room door lock. Now because MIT’s administration doesn’t like it if you hack the door locks or the strike plates, Dheera needed an innovative way to enter his own room without using a key. He’s gone through a series of various door-opening mechanisms over the last couple of years — our favorite one required scanning a barcode on a box of EZ Mac to gain entry — but he’s finally settled on the simplest design, a computer-less setup that involves a microcontroller, a motor, and a PS/2 (waterproof) keyboard. (He’s got a much more technical explanation, including a circuit diagram and drivers on his website, in case your SO / parents / kids also have rules about messing with your house). We’re now taking bets on how long it takes his MIT classmates to crack his password.

[Via MAKE: Blog]

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

---

BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Rocking Linux on your iPod and hacking the firmware to change the on-screen graphics are certainly nifty tweaks to distinguish your otherwise commonplace Apple gizmo, but tossing a screensaver on there definitely ups the ante. While you may have seen video loops running on 5G iPods displayed at your local Apple Store, you probably figured a genius from the service bar rigged it up using a soldering iron or proprietary software, but the simplicity behind the secret is quite refreshing. To fancy up your own 5G (and likely 5.5G) iPod, simply create a folder dubbed “Demo Mode” and rename any video clip “Demo.” After 2 minutes of stagnation while on charge, the device will automatically begin looping your recently renamed file, which is (presumably) sure to bring pure geek elation to even the most imperturbable PMP junky.

[Via MAKE]

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

---

BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Filed under: Portable Audio

Remember how yesterday when we posted about the iPod nano dock fashioned from its own hollow husk, and we said what we really wanted to see was an iPod dock made from an old iPod? You can imagine our surprise when reader Andrew Monks did just that, and emailed in to give us photographic evidence of him tearing open his existing iPod dock, jamming it through the top end of his 2G iPod (which we really hope wasn’t still functional), pushing it through a slot he fashioned in the glass of his defunct screen, and properly securing it to make an iPod dock out of his old freaking iPod. We’re still a little dumbfounded, but we think this could be the start of a very wonderful, very cannibalistic trend in consumer electronics.

 

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

---

SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.

Filed under: Desktops, Robots

Sure, those infernally cute desktop-bound Mac minis might get all the ladies, but this here Mobile Mac mini bot hopes to make something of himself in the big city. His wheels are made for rolling, and that’s just what he’ll do, but he’s also got a free-roaming video camera for beaming grainy webcam shots back to mission control. Along for the ride is a 7-inch touch screen, spiffy headlight, and IR range sensors to keep from bumping into things. The bot can be controlled via WiFi or Apple IR remote, and while there isn’t much AI to speak of yet, there’s plenty of potential with that plucky Mac mini at the helm.

[Via Hack-A-Day]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Wireless

Despite maybe, possibly being illegal in some parts (but not many), fearless DIY-er Adrian Smith has gone forth and out-MacGyvered all other cantenna makers with his steerable, WiFi-sniffing rig. Using the requisite tin can, along with a PIC microcontroller and a couple of servos, the cantenna is able to be controlled by a custom Visual Basic program that can automagically sniff out the strongest wireless signals and zero in on them (complete with satisfying bzzzzz, whizzzz sound effects, we’re sure). Unfortunately, he hasn’t provided detailed step-by-step plans for the more engineering-challenged among us, so you’ll need some reasonable skills of your own to put one of these to use “sharing” your neighbors’ bandwidth.

[Via Hack a Day]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Misc. Gadgets

Sure, you could just buy one of the many, more capable, ready-made, USB microscopes, but if you’re lacking for geek cred, you can also build your own with nothing more than a webcam and a lens salvaged from a CD or DVD drive. This hack courtesy of Kalanda is about as simple as can be, just carefully remove the tiny lens from your optical drive and affix it in place on the webcam with some cardboard and tape (they apparently didn’t remove the webcam’s lens). The lens is able to double as a microscope because of its very short focal length, which proved to be just right for getting disturbingly close shots of the intrepid DIY-er’s hand. We’re building one right now, too, because we’ve been having a hell of time keeping track of our micro-dice during those regular after-work craps games.

[Via Make]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Digital Cameras, Wireless

Nikon’s WiFi-equipped Coolpix P1 introduced last year seemed to be a step in the right direction. Decent enough as a camera, the P1’s big selling point was its WiFi transfer capability — anything that lets us pull one more cable from our desk immediately gets our attention. And while we were hoping for some hacks to expand the functionality a bit, this isn’t exactly what we had in mind. According to Informit, in addition to sending your vacation pics flying through the air, the P1 can also open up your PC to a whole range of attacks, including DoS attacks and infected JPGs and executables, not to mention allowing others to potentially intercept your photos. The bad news, if that wasn’t bad enough, is that there apparently isn’t any easy fix outside just not installing Nikon’s WiFi software on your PC — thus killing the camera’s only wireless functionality. So, unless you can somehow scope out everyone with nefarious intent within WiFi range, you might wanna go back to that trusty SD card reader until further notice.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Gaming

Ben Hartland's so-called handheld GameCube here isn't quite in the same league as the homebrew wonders from that other Ben, our hero Ben Heckendorn, (though really, what is?) but we've still gotta give him a few points for effort. Unfortunately, the biggest drawback is that it just ain't all that portable, basically consisting of a full-size GameCube console stuck on an over-sized but well-engineered controller and screen -- and made even less portable by the fact that you still have to plug it in. If you can live with that, following Ben's lead should cost ya about $370.

[Via Joystiq]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Wireless

In case anyone needed more proof that we’re all living in a Philip K. Dick novel, a pair of hackers have recently demonstrated how human-implantable RFID chips from VeriChip can be easily cloned, effectively stealing the person’s identity. Annalee Newitz and Jonathan Westhues showed off their handiwork at the HOPE Number Six conference in New York City this weekend, with Newitz herself playing the role of guinea pig, implanting a VeriChip RFID chip in her right arm. To clone the chip, Westhues first red Newitz’s arm with a standard RFID reader, then scanned it again with a homebrew antenna connected to his laptop, which recorded the signal off the chip. He then used the same RFID reader to read the signal from his laptop, which promptly spit out Newtiz’s supposedly unique ID. For its part, VeriChip has only said they haven’t yet had a chance to review the evidence but still insist that “it’s very difficult to steal a VeriChip.”

[Via Techdirt]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Gaming

If you’ve got a flair for retro gaming, or you just hate the design of the Xbox 360 controller, you’ll be interested in this clever adapter project that give your old Sega Saturn pad, which is revered by fans of 2D fighters, the ability to control your brand new 360 games. The job required a gutted wireless 360 controller - that’s right, it’s wireless - a few common electronic components and about 2.5 months of work. From the video provided in the thread, it looks to function solidly, avoiding expected problems like the nightmarish button lag that could’ve rendered the whole thing completely useless. We know not many of you are going to be rushing to your workshops to try this, but every 360 mod we see gives us a little more hope that the hack (and accompanying tutorial) we’ve all been waiting for is coming sooner than later. But, until then, you’ll have to watch out for this guy and his new rig on Xbox Live Arcade — unless you have one of these on your coffee table.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Further proving that nothing in life is truly easy, or at least venting some pent-up frustrations at that certain office supply store, Al Cohen has turned the once cute “Easy Button” to the dark side. Although it showcases a pessimistic demeanor at first glance, the evil button is blackest at heart; by replacing the innards with a recording circuit and a 1/8-inch line-in jack, you can channel your angst into the device and unleash your rage with a simple smack. If hard times catch up to you while away from your mic, you can record directly into the button for instant gratification. Al was kind enough to provide step-by-step instructions of how to create your own in hopes of dispelling the myth that business is easy, and if you can’t decide if it’s worthwhile, take a peek at his in action.

[Via Hack A Day]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Laptops

Some of the best do-it-yourself projects are ones that give you the functionality of an expensive commercial product on the cheap, and such is the case with RafkeP’s MoMoLight “Movie Mood Light” mod, which lets you endow your laptop or PC monitor with the same type of peripheral lighting found in Philips’ Ambilight displays. Unfortunately, also like many of the best DIY projects, this one requires no small amount of electronics knowledge and programming skills, as you have to modify your own micro-controller, procure and install your own cold-cathodes or LED strips, and then tweak the necessary software to get the effects synced with the on-screen action. Luckily RafkeP has taken at least some of the hard work upon himself and posted the directshow filter he wrote for real-time analysis of on-screen colors, making the build a lot easier once you’ve assembled all of the hardware components. It’s still not gonna be a cakewalk to get everything functioning properly, but when you consider that a real Ambilight set costs several thousand dollars, being able to get similar results for under $90 is probably enough incentive to give this project a shot.

[Via Hack-A-Day]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Handsets, Nokia

For Nokia users it doesn’t get much easier than this: just hit the site below, plug in your phone’s vital deets and you’ll be handed a code that’ll let you take your phone to places it’s never been before — another carrier, that is. Unlocking methods for both DCT4 and DCT3 phones are provided, just don’t be surprised if your latest and greatest handset proves a bit harder to unlock. We’re sure that’s just a matter of time, though.

[Via Digg]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Handsets, Nokia

Some people have quite a bit of spare time on their hands, some have an undying obsession with all things Apple, while others profess their appreciation of the customizability of Symbian devices. Apparently these all came to a head in the Mac phone, the resulting collision producing quite a little hack on the 6680 if we ever saw one. Ok, now who’s gonna make us a Windows phone? Oh, wait.

[Via Bienvenue a Kyoto]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Home Entertainment

We promised ourselves the TV-B-Gone hat was going to be the last TV-B-Gone hack we presented our dear audience, but when the Ultra TV-B-Gone power blaster found its way in our tip jar, we knew something had to be done. No longer confined to a mere singular IR blaster, Instructables has the skinny on making the Ultra, a super cheap mod which utilizing a matrix of 20 LEDs (though a larger matrix and use of high-powered LEDs is also possible) to achieve a whopping 90-foot line of sight TV outage effect. But basically what sold us on this whole thing -- the B-Gone having failed us in the past in its sole purpose -- was the following quote: "Using this in a regular sized room you are pretty much guaranteed to kill the TV no matter where you point it." You just can't argue with that.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Handsets, Peripherals

While mobile companies are doing their best to make cellphones as sleek and futuristic as possible, retro junkies keep taking them apart and turning them into ironic, yet functional, pieces of art like these. The first mod, from Grooveking.com, makes an old Motorolla DynaTAC 8000X or “Zack Morris phone” into a Bluetooth headset, that’ll get 8-times the juice of a normal battery. The second project, from DIYHappy.com, takes an old NES controller (which has already gotten the Bluetooth treatment in the past) and fills it with the guts of a Nokia 3200 - yes, the American Idol phone. You need a little technical know-how to make these for yourself, but after you get the hang of it, all of your gadgets might end up crammed into NES controllers. Sadly, the Nokia 3200 doesn’t have Bluetooth so you won’t be able to use these two devices together, but we look forward to the future when our Xbox 360 controllers and Treos are turned into seemlessly-integrated retro kitsch.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

So, maybe you weren't quite ready to set you lap on fire with that JoyTech LCD portable Xbox 360 setup -- we understand. Might we recommend a slightly more portable way to get your old school Xbox out and about? Hacker extraordinare "Dave" has managed to squeeze that beast into a custom case, along with a battery, screen, and front mounted controls. We can't say we've discovered our new commuting companion, but for sheer leet-ocity, this really takes the cake. We aren't spying a drive bay anywhere on here, so we're guessing this is one those modded Xboxen all the kids are talking about these days. There's even an Ethernet jack for subway LAN parties and other frivolities. Has Ben Heckendorn met his match?

[Thanks, Tom]

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments