Hasta La Gadget!

This may not be Amazon’s next version of the Kindle, but this rad mod does fill a very unique purpose. Glenn, an electrical engineer, created what he’s calling the Frankenkindle for his sister, who has cerebral palsy. This e-reader features controls that are much easier for her to use than the stock buttons on the factory offering. Using the keypad from a children’s reader and Amazon’s pride and joy, the fully functional device is only lacking a permanent mount for the hacked digital library and some wire organization. In between the buttons and the Kindle, he’s customized a Teensy USB microcontroller to interpret and pass along the proper input commands. While fully aware the device will need some user testing, Glenn intends to tailor this bad boy to his sister’s specific needs — and if that wasn’t enough he’s got more tricks up his sleeve that will help others with physical disabilities. If you’re wanting a quick walk through, check out the video after the break.

Continue reading Engineer hacks a Kindle, creates easy to use prototype for sister with cerebral palsy

Engineer hacks a Kindle, creates easy to use prototype for sister with cerebral palsy originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Aug 2011 07:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After HP announced it would discontinue production of its TouchPad tablet last week, it looked like early HP tablet adopters spent $500 on a dud. If you’re an enterprising software hacker, however, there could be an opportunity to make your money back — and then some.

A hardware-modification web site is offering a $1,500 cash bounty for the first person to successfully port a full version of the Android operating system over to HP’s TouchPad.

Hacknmod.com offers a tiered bounty system for would-be TouchPad hackers: Just getting Android to run on the TouchPad without taking full advantage of the tablet’s hardware will win you a cool $450. But the more you’re able to integrate the system software into the device, the more cash you’ll earn. Get the Wi-Fi, multitouch capability, audio and camera up and running, and you’ll add another $1,050 to the pot.

While the bounty is characteristic of the Android-modding crowd which basically wants to slap Android onto anything with a circuit board and touch screen, it’s also an admirable effort to breathe new life into a dying piece of hardware. After reports of dismal sales and third-party retailers sitting on hundreds of thousands of unsold TouchPads, HP decided to kill production after a mere 49 days on the market.

It was bad news for current TouchPad owners. No more HP hardware gives little incentive for webOS app developers to continue producing applications for the platform. In turn, TouchPad owners miss out on the latest popular applications to come to mobile devices. And of course, it gives potential customers no incentive to buy the remaining TouchPads retailers have in stock, costing HP and retail stores hundreds of millions of dollars. Everyone loses.

But if the porting plans work, it could mean bringing a slew of Android apps over to HP’s tablet. If the TouchPad can be made capable of running thousands of Android apps, the device may not be obsolete.

This isn’t the first time the Android-modification community tried to port the operating system over to non-Android devices. Android modders have run the operating system on Barnes And Noble’s Nook Color e-reader, certain Nokia smartphones and even an iPhone.

If you don’t want to go it alone, Android-modification-enthusiast site RootzWiki created a team specifically to work on porting Android over to the TouchPad, christened the TouchDroid team. The plan is to get Android version 2.3 (Gingerbread) up and running, then install a version of CyanogenMod, the most popular modification software available for Android devices. Eventually, the team wants to get Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) onto the TouchPad, Google’s tablet-optimized version of the software. The coders will post updates to a thread on a message board devoted to Android development on the TouchPad.

All of the Android hacking mania raises the question: If all you want is an Android tablet, why not just go out and buy one?

First, you may be able to get a TouchPad for even less than you would a proper Android tablet. HP, Best Buy and some U.K. retailers slashed prices on their TouchPad inventories over the weekend, dropping the price as low as $100. Sales skyrocketed, and the TouchPad reached the top of the electronics sales charts on Amazon.com. Android tablets that boast hardware similar to the TouchPad average $400 to $500.

Second, the future of webOS is unclear. HP says it will continue to support the operating system despite discontinuing its tablet, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll see tablet-optimized updates to webOS in the future. And of course, HP could sell off the operating system for its patents to a competitor like Google or Apple, which would all but secure the system’s demise.

Most important, hackers hack because they can. Android was built using open source software principles, a favorite of the modification community that codes for the fun of it. If you propose the challenge of running an operating system on a piece of foreign hardware, expect the DIY community to take you up on it.

If nothing else, do it for the money.

The creator of one of the most popular Android software mod programs is now an employee of one of the largest Android smartphone manufacturers in the world.

Samsung Mobile has recruited Steve Kondik, creator of the highly popular CyanogenMod software, to work as a software engineer for the company.

“I will be working on making Android more awesome,” Kondik wrote to tech blog AndroidandMe.

A Samsung spokesman confirmed Kondik’s new employee status, but could not provide further details on the modder’s position or duties.

Kondik refused a request for further comment. According to a screenshot of Kondik’s Facebook page, however, his CyanogenMod software side project won’t be a part of his new gig at Samsung.

For phone geeks, one of the biggest draws to Google’s platform is Android’s customizability. As Android emerged as the true competitor to Apple’s iPhone over the past two years, the platform’s “openness” became one of Google’s main selling points. Unlike iOS, Android is available under an open-source software license, which means anyone who wishes to see the code behind the software can do so.

Kondik’s CyanogenMod software was a perfect fit for Android. Essentially, CyanogenMod replaces the stock Android software with a custom build, allowing for adjustments to your phone that you wouldn’t be able to make otherwise. From custom wallpaper to wireless tethering to even CPU overclocking, CyanogenMod became the official program for phone hackers since it was first released in 2009.

While Kondik says CyanogenMod and Samsung won’t have anything to do with one another, it’s easy to think his background in user interface tweaking and phone customization will influence Samsung’s software design. Especially after the company sent Kondik and a number of other CyanogenMod hackers free Galaxy S2 handsets well before the wide release of the phone.

And Samsung has proved willing to experiment with its own Android software interface. The company’s TouchWiz UI is also a custom version of Android, markedly different than the stock versions that come on other phones. In hiring Kondik, the company may go further with tricking out its own flavor of Google’s mobile platform.

If you like flying unicorns, you probably love giant flying unicorns, right? Well, the white iPhone 4 has officially gone from myth to reality, but it seems some folks are still chasing the dream in a BIG way. Case in point: iTableous, an outsized tabletop bearing a striking resemblance to the long-awaited iOS handset. Unlike previous iPhone tables we’ve seen, this one doesn’t support multi-touch — a wireless keyboard and mouse hold the keys to navigating this behemoth — but it does offer 4GB of DDR2 RAM, 500GB of internal storage, a 5.7 megapixel camera, 720p video recording, as well USB, HDMI and a good old 30-pin connector for hooking up the real-deal. What’s more, this iPhone’s a dual-booter, capable of running Mac OSX 10.6.7 (via Hackintosh) and Windows 7 Professional. If you’re living at the tip of a beanstalk and need to shake that tired old 3GS, check out the video of iTableous in action after the break.

Continue reading iTableous is a white iPhone 4 fit for a giant (video)

iTableous is a white iPhone 4 fit for a giant (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Aug 2011 18:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The myth of the unhackable Wii has long since been put to rest, but that hasn’t stopped intrepid homebrew enthusiasts from coming up with new exploits. Case in point: LetterBomb. This particular Wii hack is a follow-up to BannerBomb, which was billed as a replacement for Twilight Hack — all of which are capable of launching the homebrew channel sans hardware mods. BannerBomb stopped short at Menu 4.2, but LetterBomb is carrying the exploit banner, so to speak, for the next generation. Utilizing the console’s Message Board, the hack requires an SD card, a Wii running System Menu 4.3, and a Wii MAC address. If you’re looking to get your game-free Wii hack on, check out the source link for the full rundown.

LetterBomb does game-free Wii hacking for System Menu 4.3 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Aug 2011 21:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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