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.

 

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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: Desktops, Media PCs

DIY Mac projects are always a iffy proposition. Not only does Apple make its products more difficult to rip apart than most, the sight of a dissected MacBook or iPod is often enough to make some of the more faint of heart readers break out the smelling salts. Not so for 123Macmini member Anthony, who looked at a mini and a G4 Cube and decided that they must be made one. The goal being, apart from the deserved bragging rights, to add a TV tuner and an expansive 3.5-inch 500GB SATA hard drive more suitable for a media PC than the mini’s comparatively puny 2.5-inch drive. The TV tuner turned out to be the easiest part, with Anthony simply opting for Elgato’s external EyeTV Hybrid unit, but the rest of the project is definitely a don’t-try-this-at-home deal, with modifications aplenty right down to the power supply cables. Still, for specs like these in a genuine Apple box, it’s about your only option at the moment — at least until Apple maybe, possibly fills in the gap itself. Check out a couple more pics of the action after the break, then click through to the source for the complete blow-by-blow account.

[Via Digg]

 

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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, Handhelds

Many people look upon GamePark’s GP32 handheld console as a revolutionary product in the world of videogames — it was, after all, one of the first platforms to actually encourage homebrew and emulation — and now DCEmu is reporting that the company is poised to launch what it’s calling the GP32′s successor, the “XGP kids.” Shaped more or less like a tiny PSP, this new model is the third in the XGP lineup (following the original XGP and XGP mini), none of which should be confused with the similarly-named GP2X (this latter console is manufactured by GamePark Holdings, a company composed mainly of disgruntled ex-GamePark employees). Although not all its specs will be revealed until September 16th, we do know that it will be powered by a 140MHz ARM processor (probably overclockable), sport a 2.2-inch, 220 x 176 LCD, feature 8MB of RAM and 2MB of flash memory, and support USB 1.1 file transfers, but unlike the GP32, will eschew the old school SmartMedia slot for more modern SD cards. The best part here is the anticipated price (according to Wikipedia, at least); unlike the $300 XGP, $230 GP2X, and $150 XGP mini, the XGP kids is expected to slide in at under a C-note — $75, to be exact.

[Via DCEmu]

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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]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Household

Contrary to appearances, this is not a device for creating giant mutant bread, it’s actually a bread box designed to prevent mold from growing on your run of the mill unmodified loaf of carbs. Based on the same groovy kind of UV light used in food and medical sanitization, the breadbox should be relatively easy to build for anyone with minimal DIY skills — and even if it didn’t work exactly as intended, would be a stylish addition to any mad scientist’s (or fantasy lad’s) kitchen. But according to the folks at InventGeek, it actually does its job, increasing the shelf life of bread by about 50%, and preventing any mold from growing on the exterior of the bread (it may still grow inside, however). They didn’t say what the bread tasted like after being baked a second time in UV, but you want to give it a shot yourself, the total cost of parts should only run you about $65.

[Via MAKE: Blog]

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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]

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Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

If you’ve tossed around the idea of modding your DS, but never bit the bullet due to the ridiculous amount of loopholes you had to jump through to get your homebrew game on, DS-Xtreme has got you covered. While the precise details of how this thing works its magic are a bit scarce, we do know that the company claims this wonder-working cart will allow you to not only run your favorite homebrew applications on your DS without any software / hardware hacks or workarounds whatsoever, but it also rocks a built-in GUI that interfaces with Windows XP via USB 2.0 for some remarkably easy drag ‘n drop action. All this sounds mighty impressive, especially compared to the PassMe alternative that required a old fashion GBA flash card, linker, and a DS game just to get you up and running; the DS-shaped cartridge features 512MB (4Gb) of built-in storage space, USB 2.0 connectivity, a full sized onboard EEprom “complete with some serious custom engineering,” and a snazzy GUI that apparently makes managing your apps a breeze. If you’ve been fantisizing over an easier way to get homebrew material on your Nintendo DS or DS Lite, the DS-X flash cart appears to a dream come true, but considering there’s no specific release date nor price, we’re forced to play the “wait and see” game on this one.

[Via MaxConsole]

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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]

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Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

If you’ve been waiting around for an easy way to play homebrew swag on your Nintendo DS or DS Lite, then prepare yourself for the stealthily-named Ninjapass. Like a handful of other solutions already on the market, this device lets you load up your games and play them directly from the DS cartridge slot — no flash cart required. There’s only 64MB of onboard memory, but you do get passcard functionality to boot content from the GameBoy Advance slot, along with a multi-game menu, convenient system for saving games, and bundled USB 2.0 adapter for hassle-free file transfer. The Ninjapass is currently available to pre-order — it will ship when “stock arrives” at an unspecified date — for $52, or a little less if you order in bulk.

[Via DS Fanboy]

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Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

So if you made the “mistake” of upgrading your PSP to firmware version 2.5 or 2.6 just to find out that your precious homebrew would no longer load, it seems you now have a questionably-legal way to downgrade back to version 1.5 and all the emulation fun that goes along with it. Several forums dedicated to Sony’s portable console are reporting that hackers using the handles Dark_Alex and Hitchhikr have succeeded in creating a workaround that exploits files from the 1.5 updater to overwrite the current firmware, although owners of so-called “TA-082″ PSPs are warned not to attempt the procedure unless they fancy a bricked device. Furthermore, since you’re required to either download the necessary 1.5 swag or get it from a friend, you’re probably breaking some anti-piracy laws here, so of course we can’t put our stamp of approval on this hack. That’s all for now, but the battle between Sony and the homebrew community is far from over, so keep your eyes peeled for the next installment in this exciting saga.

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Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

Good news for GP2X owners: Gamepark Holdings (not to be confused with Gamepark, makers of the similarly-named XGP) has just released a breakout board that will turn your handheld console into a fully-functional, albeit underpowered, home PC. The board plugs into the EXT port on your device and features audio and video outs for hooking up an external monitor and sound system, four USB ports for attaching keyboards, mice, and joysticks, and RS232 and Jtag connectors for reflashing your firmware or running a debugging script on software you've developed. Although the kit -- available now for just $46 -- can be employed to create a home DivX or digital audio system, it will probably be most widely used in building emulation cabinets around the open-source, Linux-powered player.

[Via DCEmu]

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Filed under: Features, Misc. Gadgets

Do not look at the man behind the curtain.
Marque Cornblatt is at the controls of Sparky 1.0, the bot
pictured above. Sparky 1.0 is a ‘roving self portrait’ , another in a series of art projects by Marque.
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href="http://graffitiresearchlab.com/">Graffiti Research Lab brought their portable lab (AKA matte black school
bus). They used conductive paint to create traces to power LEDs mounted in strategic locations. Pictured is one of
their programmable controllers for cycling the LEDs.

href="http://www.pacificpuzzleworks.com/">Lee Krasnow showed off his sweet modified table saw he uses to create
precision wood puzzles and boxes.

If you find the rising cost of gas
alarming, you might consider modding a diesel van to run on vegetable oil like href="http://makezine.com/pub/ev/85">Brandon Woll. His van features his own custom made oil pre-heater dubbed the
"hot potato veg oil heater."

Now you don’t have to wait for your pictures
to come back to see those red eyes. The light from the LEDs in the goggles built by href="http://rebeccahinden.com/">Rebecca Hinden reflects in others eyes making all your friends look posessed. />

The rear end of href="http://www.damienstolarz.com/">Damien Stolarz’s MP3car Toyota has just a few aftermarket bits. We couldn’t
pry people out of the inside to grab photos of the passenger area.

href="http://brainwagon.org/">Mark VandeWettering built his own enigma machine out of his old Atar 2600. He even
put vintage graphics on his ENIGMA MACHINE cartridge.

This uh, slightly overbilt
reading lamp was covered by hack-a-day recently. It’s
touchpad controlled, network enabled and could probably jack up your car in a pinch.

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