Oct 09

Mechanical piano hacked to talk, says nothing you’d be interested in

Posted in: hack, mod, Today's Chili

It’s not exactly the Baroque Vocoder we were hoping for, but an Austrian composer has hacked a mechanical piano to recite text — and recite text it does (even if you need subtitles and some prompting from the voice-over to understand what it’s saying). The video itself is a little skint on technical details — even if the “wow!” factor remains pretty consistent — but apparently composer Peter Ablinger took a recording of a child reading the Proclamation of the European Environmental Criminal Court and converted the frequency spectrum to MIDI, which he was then able to play back using the chordophone pictured above. The gang at Hack A Day seems to think that the actual conversion was done in the Pure Data software package, and who are we to argue? We’re just wondering how Black Moth Super Rainbow will ever fit this thing onto their tour van. See for yourself after the break.

[Via Hack A Day]

Continue reading Mechanical piano hacked to talk, says nothing you’d be interested in

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Mechanical piano hacked to talk, says nothing you’d be interested in originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 05

Acidmods moves a few buttons and a joystick on Xbox 360 controller

Posted in: controller, gaming, hack, Hacks, mod, mods, Today's Chili, xbox 360, Xbox360

Hey, not all mods are outlandish and creepy. Some are just plain old… utilitarian. Acidmods got a request for a modded Xbox 360 controller that would move the X, Y, A, and B buttons and the right joystick. The fully functional finished product looks a little odd to the eyes, of course, but it’s also done so well that it looks like a stock unit. As you’ll see in the video after the break, the modded controller would take some getting used to for most of us, but it sure has character.

Continue reading Acidmods moves a few buttons and a joystick on Xbox 360 controller

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Acidmods moves a few buttons and a joystick on Xbox 360 controller originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 05

Dreamcast-mounted iPhone dock sends VMU into jealous rage

Posted in: hack, iPhone, mod, Today's Chili
Dreamcast-mounted iPhone dock sends VMU into jealous rage

It was just over 10 years ago that Sega made the ill-fated move to release the Dreamcast, taking it down a road that would result in the company ditching the hardware scene entirely — well, almost entirely. Out of the deal we got this wonderful white console, which Jay Hauf has remembered with this bit of simple hackery. He’s popped the D-pad out, removed the controller’s bottom-mounted cable, threaded an iPhone dock through, then, apparently, went back to creating cute little box-headed figurines. It’s perhaps not the most amazingly complex controller mod of all time, but a worthy one nevertheless.

[Via iPhone Savior]

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Dreamcast-mounted iPhone dock sends VMU into jealous rage originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Oct 2009 08:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 04

Video: PSP Go hacked, says ‘hello world!’

Posted in: hack, homebrew, mod, psp, Today's Chili
As you’d expect, as soon as the PSP Go hit the shelves the homebrew community came out in force, looking to see which of its fave hacks and exploits might have made the trip from the original PSP to its UMD-less brethren. And here we are, with two videos posted by YouTube member Freeplay offering us tantalizing proof that indeed, at least one has. Of course, the whole thing is pretty rudimentary, the result of exploiting a known bug in an existing PSP game (which this particular hacker is remaining tight-lipped about rather than see Sony patch the thing). Karl B., who helped us to this one, provides a caveat: “It’s user-mode only, meaning no flash modification, no piracy, no advanced custom themes, no plug-ins — none of that.” All the same, it does our inner geek a sliver of hope, doesn’t it? Videos after the break.

[Via PSP Updates, Exophase]

Continue reading Video: PSP Go hacked, says ‘hello world!’

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Video: PSP Go hacked, says ‘hello world!’ originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 04 Oct 2009 14:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 03

PSP Go scores its first mod job, a handful of white LEDs find a new purpose in life

Posted in: hack, mod, psp, sony, Today's Chili

Who knows what it is about the PSP that engenders such a loyal following of hackers — both on the hardware and software side. Some of the hardware hacks we’ve seen are no doubt more impressive than others, but they’re all united in a common disregard for warranties and for the most part a deep affection for LEDs. The first PSP Go mod we’ve seen, done up by roro3030 over at AcidMods, keeps things simple with some strategic, tasteful white LED placement. It’s all internally powered and pretty seamless, and provides a nice jumping off point for a community that will be no-doubt eager to consume the PSP Go as a new challenge — even if the rest of us are busy making frowny faces at that endlessly derided price tag. Video of the lit-up Go is after the break.

Continue reading PSP Go scores its first mod job, a handful of white LEDs find a new purpose in life

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PSP Go scores its first mod job, a handful of white LEDs find a new purpose in life originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 03 Oct 2009 16:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 01

Video: Comptometer does broadcast controls the steampunk way

Posted in: controller, hack, hacking, mod, modding, Today's Chili

If you build a specialized type of hardware which, by design, rarely arouses emotions of physical desire in the general populace, you can see how you might have a bit of a challenge promoting your wares. How you get around that tiny issue is by pulling off a stunning steampunk mod while retaining the full functionality of the hardware, as British company Hi Tech have done with their Comptometer. The server controller, customized for use in live video broadcasting and editing, has already won a design award for what we understand to be “general awesomeness” and an unmissable video of its obscure workings lays just past the break.

[Via TechnaBob]

Gallery: Comptometer broadcast controller

Continue reading Video: Comptometer does broadcast controls the steampunk way

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Video: Comptometer does broadcast controls the steampunk way originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 01

Video: Ben Heck’s 17-inch PS3 Slim laptop makes hearts race

Posted in: console, hack, laptop, mod, playstation 3, Playstation3, ps3, Today's Chili

Is it us or has Ben Heck outdone himself with the minimal clean design of his latest gaming mod? This laptop sees Sony’s PS3 Slim stuffed into a monochromatic chassis with 17-inch Gateway 1775w LCD throwing a 1280 x 720 pixel resolution. There’s even space inside to tuck away the power cord when traveling. The pinstriped result is nothing short of elegant, sporty even, especially when compared to his PS3 laptop from 2008. Not much in the way of detail yet, but really, this one’s meant to stimulate the heart, not the frontal cortex. See it throb to life in the video after the break.

Continue reading Video: Ben Heck’s 17-inch PS3 Slim laptop makes hearts race

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Video: Ben Heck’s 17-inch PS3 Slim laptop makes hearts race originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Oct 2009 04:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 28

$38 Zipit Wireless Messenger receives Linux injection, becomes $38 netbook

Posted in: firmware, hack, Linux, PMP, Today's Chili
$38 Zipit Wireless Messenger receives Linux injection, becomes $38 netbook

Poor Zipit. As a $149.99 instant messenger client nobody got particularly excited about you. Even now, as a $38 IM client you aren’t exactly in high demand — but as a $38 portable Linux machine, well, that’s another story altogether. The machines have been tweaked before, but the latest and greatest is this hack from Hunter Davis, who can turn a virgin Zipit Z2 into a full-featured Linux machine in under five minutes, as shown in the video below. To do the same all you need is Hunter’s hacked firmware and a microSD card to throw it onto. Once completely tweaked you’ll get full mouse support, WiFi connectivity, and even audio output so that you can rock some tunes on the go — though the command-line interface won’t make it the most compelling PMP ever. With only a 300MHz processor and 32MB of RAM we wouldn’t go compiling our COMP-SCI 101 homework on here, but this little firmware refresh certainly makes for a tastier experience than before.

[Via lilputing]

Continue reading $38 Zipit Wireless Messenger receives Linux injection, becomes $38 netbook

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$38 Zipit Wireless Messenger receives Linux injection, becomes $38 netbook originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 26

Computer scientist mods Xbox 360 to detect heart attacks, girls still mysteriously elusive

Posted in: gaming, hack, Hacks, Medicine, mod, mods, Today's Chili, xbox, Xbox360


We’ve seen so many mods around here that sometimes it’s truly hard to get excited over the minor stuff. Well, this doesn’t fall into that category in any way. A computer scientist at the University in Warwick has developed a method to use Microsoft’s Xbox 360 to detect heart defects and help prevent heart attacks. Based on a demo created by Simon Scarle a few years back when he worked at Rare studio, it’s based on a modded chip that — instead of producing graphics for the game — now produces data tracking how the electrical signals in the heart moves about damaged cells, creating a model of it. The model can then be used to help doctors to identify defects and disturbances in the heart’s beating. This significantly decreases the costs and complications of creating a model of the heart, which is currently done by supercomputers and is very expensive. Scarle’s project and findings were just published in the August issue of the Journal of Computational Biology and Chemistry. Looks like we’ll all have a response the next time someone tells us that gaming is good for nothing, right?

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Computer scientist mods Xbox 360 to detect heart attacks, girls still mysteriously elusive originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Sep 2009 15:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 23

Video: WODE module allows disc-free, wide-open, heavy metal Wii gaming

Posted in: hack, nintendo, nintendo wii, NintendoWii, Today's Chili, wii
Video: WODE module allows disc-free, wide-open, heavy metal Wii gaming

What you see above is not a Tibetan sky burial for a dearly departed console, nor an attempt at extremely modern art. It’s a Wii that has been… augmented with a Linux-running module called the Wii Optical Disc Emulator, or WODE. It clips onto the system board where the machine’s optical drive should go and allows it to read Wii and GameCube ISOs directly from USB storage devices. It sports a small LCD and four-way joystick for setting options and scrolling through your assuredly legally acquired game images, while a future iteration is said to allow for direct-to-device torrent downloads — a feature that we won’t even bother to say could be used for anything other than piracy. There’s no mention of availability or price for the thing, but we’re guessing it won’t be showing up in retail storefronts. Oh, and while the Sisters of Mercy track accompanying the video after the break is totally awesome, it is rather unsafe for work. So, put on those headphones before clicking through.

Continue reading Video: WODE module allows disc-free, wide-open, heavy metal Wii gaming

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Video: WODE module allows disc-free, wide-open, heavy metal Wii gaming originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Sep 2009 08:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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