Hasta La Gadget!

Wanna make the Kessel Run in record time, while surfing the internet at the same time? You’d better use this Millenium Falcon computer then. It was the grand prize winner in last year’s Deconstruct for GOOD event sponsored by Good Magazine and Vizio.

This Millennium Falcon has both a PC and a MAC inside. When you and your Wookiee co-pilot can’t agree on an operating system, use both. Builder Ken Swallow removed the insides of a model ship and replaced them with a Mac Titanium G4 motherboard and a MSI ATX motherboard (PC) while keeping the original sound effects from the toy intact.

He added fans, lights and power switches for both computers. So you have a full Windows 7 PC and MAC OSX 10.5.8 system, with Linksys wireless, an Apple airport card and more – all inside of a spaceship. Hyperspace on over to Etsy to get more specs, or buy it for $2,800(USD). If you can’t afford that, you can always borrow some credits from Jabba.

We’ve seen transparent casemods or rear panels for past versions of the iPhone. Now it’s the iPhone 5′s turn to show off its goods, courtesy of the Translucent Mod Kit from iPhone5Mod, the same aftermarket shop who makes the magnetic keyboard and gamepad for the iPhone 5.

Aside from letting you see what your iPhone is made of, iPhone5mod claims that the kit’s plastic parts are more resistant to scratches and fingerprint smudge compared to the default aluminum rear panel. I’m not sure if it’s tough enough that you won’t need to cover your phone with a protective case though.

You can order the Translucent Mod Kit from iPhone5Mod for $40 (USD). As shown in the video above, the kit comes in seven colors; if you have extra money you can get all the available colors for $169. Keep in mind that the kit only comes with the parts and not the tools needed to actually install it on the iPhone 5, so you’d better know someone who can do it for you before you order the kit.

[via Fancy]

I’ve had problems with computers and video game systems overheating over the years, so I’m all for good cooling systems. And while some computer modders have solved the problem by adding more cooling fans and heat sinks, I think this build might just be a bit more than most of us need.

What you’re looking at here is the Wind Tunnel Computer. It was built by Mike Schropp over at Total Geekdom, and it’s nothing short of awesome, if you ask me. Those giant ducts you see on the left and right are air intakes and outputs for the 6-foot-wide system, which is mounted in a contraction chamber in the middle designed to take full advantage of the increased air speed as it flows through.

The beefy Intel Ivy Bridge 3770k powered system is overclocked to a whopping 4.5GHz, along with overclocked Radeon 7970 GPUs running on Sapphire Dual-X cards. But it doesn’t just run fast, look cool and stay cool – Mike built it for a good cause. It’s connected to the World Community Grid project, and its CPU and GPUs spend their days and night crunching numbers to help cancer researchers find a cure. And thanks to the massive throughput of the system, it’s able to push through about 20x the workload of an average 4-core system. While that’s all awesome, I do wish Mike had actually built a small wind test chamber inside of it for other science experiments. Maybe for version 2.0.

He built the system using large MDF wood panels for the vent sections, and there’s a big box fan installed in one end of it to generate the wind. Mike assembled the main computer section using custom-cut Lexan so you can see through to it, and aluminum pieces to finish the look. It’s even got a control panel on the front with LED temperature gauges and key switches for turning the fans on and off.

Using a wind-speed tester, Mike was able to determine that the inlet takes in air at about 0.6MPH, and the exhaust port pushes out air at 1.4MPH. However, it’s the center contraction section where the computer is that really benefits from the design, where the wind reaches 12MPH – or 9MPH with the computer in place. He actually was able to push wind speeds as high as 26-30MPH with the fan set on a higher setting. He even used smoke testing to ensure optimal airflow over the components.

Check out the complete build log, along with many more photos over on Total Geekdom.

How’d you like a sweet Xbox 360 portable? How about if we sweetened the pot even more by making it look like an old Atari 2600? Well if you enter this contest over on Facebook now, you could be the proud owner of such an awesome franken-console.

The guys over at Atari are celebrating the 40th anniversary of PONG by giving away this retro-styled Xbox 360 portable. It’s got a complete 360 system, along with a built-in LCD monitor, and a nifty woodgrain Atari 2600 styling package.

All you need to do to enter is to head on over to this Facebook page, and follow the directions by December 2nd for a chance to win this awesome bit of geeky goodness. Sadly, for our international readers, the contest is only open to U.S. residents.

If size and weight aren’t nearly as important as turning heads at your local coffee shop, then why bother with today’s banal hardware if you’ve got a perfectly good Macintosh Portable lying around? One nostalgic modder with a disregard for luggability has updated Apple’s very first laptop to run OS X, creating what he calls “a great café computer.” Obviously, the software isn’t all that’s changed, as behind the white plastic hides the internals of a Toshiba NB100 netbook sacrificed for the project. The keyboard has been painstakingly rewired through a USB controller, and the ball mouse now houses an optical cousin which connects via the original cable. A cordless drill battery powers the thing, which has also been gifted with all the mod cons — WiFi and USB connectivity — to make it pretty usable. If you’re interested in build pics, the tech-savvy hipster promises to post them soon at the source link below, and for a tour of the finished article, a video awaits you beyond the fold.

Continue reading Self-declared hipster builds Macintosh Portable case mod, reckons it goes well with skinny jeans (video)

Filed under: Laptops, Apple

Self-declared hipster builds Macintosh Portable case mod, reckons it goes well with skinny jeans (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Nov 2012 10:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Ultimate Hipster Tech  | Email this | Comments