Xbox 360 laptop brings retro looks to an eBay near you

If you thought only a semi-deity like Ben Heck could splice consoles into laptop-shaped cases, here’s some evidence to the contrary. This week, CollinE from Ben’s forums put the finishing touches to his own, rather professional looking, Xbox 360 laptop. Adorned in a red and black color scheme that features a throwback giant X on the top lid, his 360 stays true to the original console in almost all respects — including the “wind tunnel” noise generated by Collin’s five fans. The fact he also consulted our guide on how to do this is just a cherry on the top for us, and you can find a video tour of the hardware after the break. Should it take your fancy, the machine’s now on auction with all proceeds going to the “make Collin’s Christmas merrier” foundation.

Continue reading Xbox 360 laptop brings retro looks to an eBay near you

Xbox 360 laptop brings retro looks to an eBay near you originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Dec 2009 08:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon Kindle gets its DRM stripped (for the time being)

If there is one near universal gripe folks have with the Kindle, it’s the DRM-laden files. It’s no wonder, then, that the thing has been a lightning rod for the “information wants to be free crowd,” almost since the beginning. Sure, we’ve seen Mobipocket, .epub, and .pdf files used on the device, but if you really want to bedevil Bezos the thing to do would be to altogether circumvent the DRM from your Amazon e-books — and it looks like an Israeli hacker named Labba has done just that. For the time being, the hack, which allows you to convert your legally obtained e-books to unencrypted PDF files, is available as a Python script. We’re sure that the process will be streamlined for us civilians soon enough — let’s just hope that it happens before the hole gets plugged and your e-reader auto-updated. This is one way to keep hold of your legally purchased Orwell, eh?

Amazon Kindle gets its DRM stripped (for the time being) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Cliq gets rooted by the Dude

Motorola Cliq gets rooted by the Dude

Sick of Motorola meting out Android firmware updates when it chooses? Trust in The Dude — TheDudesAndroid, to be specific, a user over at ModMyMoto who has posted The Dudes Root for Cliq (following up an earlier and similarly unkempt version for the G1). The install process looks about as complicated as you might expect, so make sure you keep Walter away while you’re re-flashing lest your handset go all nihilistic on ya. At this point it’s just another 1.5 ROM being installed, but the hope is for a 2.1 port coming in the not too distant future. Unless you’re really pining to get full control over your handset we’d go ahead and wait for that version of the Dude to abide.

Update: The Dude mentioned in comments that credit is also due to fellow Android magicians danation, Skilrax_CZ, and others. We can’t think of any funny movie references for those names so we’ll just leave it at that.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Motorola Cliq gets rooted by the Dude originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Dec 2009 09:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Droid now just a (hacked) firmware update away from WiFi tethering

Motorola Droid now just a (hacked) firmware update away from WiFi tethering

Add one more item to the “Droid does” column — unofficially, at least. WiFi tethering from Motorola’s hottest is now possible straight from the phone itself, over WiFi even. PDANet already enabled the thing to share its connection, but relies on an external driver installed on a Windows or Mac device. This latest fix does away with that, but does require the installation of a hacked version of the 2.0.1 firmware. The process, laid out at the read link by DroidForums.net user webacoustics, doesn’t sound that bad, but warnings like “if your phone stays at the white Motorola logo for longer than a minute or two, you probably bricked [it]” will leave many users sticking with PDANet or waiting for the official Verizon solution — and paying out the nose for it.

Motorola Droid now just a (hacked) firmware update away from WiFi tethering originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Dec 2009 08:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Gadgets  |  sourceDroidForums.net  | Email this | Comments

iPhone in iPhone app is useless, but mesmerizing

Here’s the premise: you take a good old fashioned augmented reality setup, the likes of which we’ve seen all over the land, and attach a three-dimensional, rotatable iPhone to it. Not impressed yet, are you? Neither were we, but there’s some secret sauce to this one: you can actually launch apps on the simulated iPhone. That extra layer of interactivity makes the video after the break a lot more fascinating than it has any right to be, though it’s worth pointing out that we don’t think the apps are actually usable — they just give the illusion of launching. Anyhow, don’t wait around while all the cool kids are watching it, go have a gander yourself.

Continue reading iPhone in iPhone app is useless, but mesmerizing

iPhone in iPhone app is useless, but mesmerizing originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Modder mods new fangled wireless keyboard to look like old timey one

Before you laugh awkwardly at the weird sense of nostalgia this keyboard dredges up in your mind, let us introduce you to its wonders. Apparently modded by a Dutch man or woman courageous enough to admit that (like us) they prefer the pretty much extinct, giant, tactile-as-all-get out keyboards to newer, more streamlined models, this mod takes away the only gripe we ever had with such peripherals — namely, their wiredness. The enterprising DIYer’s taken a Logitech wireless Wii keyboard apart, mapping all the key codes along the way, thrown in a little basic soldering, wedged everything into the old keyboard and voila! Pretty magical, right? Well, okay — not really, but still — we sort of dig it. There’s a before shot after the break, and hit the source link for the poorly machine translated how-to.

Continue reading Modder mods new fangled wireless keyboard to look like old timey one

Modder mods new fangled wireless keyboard to look like old timey one originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nook 1.1 doesn’t affect hacks, root still possible

The NookDevs team hasn’t wasted any time poring over the recently-released Nook 1.1 update, and there’s good news: 1.1 can still be rooted, and rooted 1.0 devices will stay that way after the update. In other news, nookdevs team member robbiet480 just sat down with Nookaholic for an interview, and he dished a few tidbits: the Nook’s Android build is called “Bravo,” the internal WiFi had to be tweaked to stop turning itself off every three hours, and Bravo itself is basically Android 1.5. Nothing major, but we’re definitely getting the feeling the Nook is going to be leading a double life as both a mom-friendly ebook reader and a happy-hacker hardware playground from here on out, you know?

[Thanks, Cameron]

Nook 1.1 doesn’t affect hacks, root still possible originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceNookDevs, Nookaholic  | Email this | Comments

Stable Android 2.1 hacked onto Droid, speeds through those extra home screens

Staying warm out there? Got a cup of hot cocoa in hand? Good, because Mr. Greek35T over at AllDroid has a stable version of the (previously rough-around-the-edges) Android 2.1 ROM ready for all you Droid users to play around with. It’s officially “super fast,” and probably the best thing to happen this weekend outside of that wicked jump you built on the neighborhood sledding hill before you went and watched Avatar with all your old high school friends. Hit up the source link for the full install instructions, and there’s a video of 2.1 in action after the break.

[Thanks, Brandon]

Continue reading Stable Android 2.1 hacked onto Droid, speeds through those extra home screens

Stable Android 2.1 hacked onto Droid, speeds through those extra home screens originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Dec 2009 15:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Starlight 64 stakes its claim for ‘world’s smallest’ N64 mod

Until that iPhone N64 emulator guy makes with the goods, it looks like folks wanting the full Nintendo 64 experience “on the go” are going to have to turn to the generous talents of the modding community. Claiming to be “officially” the world’s smallest (we don’t know who the sanctioning body is for this title, so we’ll let him duke it out with the N64Mini guy), YouTube member spiritwalker47’s portable console is quite a number: featuring a 5-inch display, polycarbonate case with all the necessary controls, and a presumed battery life of three hours or so, the Starlight 64 is perfect for all your portable retro gaming needs. In addition, this guy has a docking station that throws composite video, S-Video, and up to four controllers into the mix. Ready to see the thing in action? Of course you are. Video’s after the break.

Continue reading Starlight 64 stakes its claim for ‘world’s smallest’ N64 mod

Starlight 64 stakes its claim for ‘world’s smallest’ N64 mod originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Milestone firmware coaxed into Droid, multitouch ensues (video!)

If you thought it’d be easy to move code back and forth between two nearly-identical Motorolas running Android… well, you’d apparently be right. Unfortunately, taking clear video of the completed task proves, as ever, to be an insurmountable task. Of course, the Android hacking community has overcome pretty much every other roadblock it’s encountered so far, so it shouldn’t come as any surprise to learn that the Milestone’s firmware has been successfully ported today over to its big, loud American cousin, the Droid, thanks to the work of AllDroid’s Eugene and Barakinflorida who risked their own device for your gain. Our understanding is that the ROM’s cooked in some regard — it’s not bone stock, which makes sense if for no other reason than the fact that the Droid’s got a completely different radio — but fortunately, that all-important multitouch support carries over from the Euro side. We’re hearing direct from AllDroid‘s founder, Brent Fishman, that the ROM should drop in a couple of days. Until then, follow the break for a video of the build in action.

P.S. Don’t worry Droid owners, Google Navigation is still functional with this build.

Update: Better video added after the break! Man, these guys learn fast.

Continue reading Motorola Milestone firmware coaxed into Droid, multitouch ensues (video!)

Motorola Milestone firmware coaxed into Droid, multitouch ensues (video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 05:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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