Dec 12

Nokia N900 gamepad hack dispenses with beauty, sidles up to sore thumbs (video)

Posted in: controller, hack, mobilepostcross, mod, nokia, Today's Chili, video games, VideoGames

Know what’s kicking and screaming its way into obsolescence? If you guessed the N900, pat yourself on the back with this hack. Nokia’s internetting tablet that simply refuses to quit has already run the multi-purpose gamut, standing in as a brain scanner / replacement, OS dual-booter and Ice Cream Sandwich biter — just to name a few. Now, a homebrew mod from Polish hacker Emeryth, has that soon-to-be retro QWERTY slider sporting a custom gamepad to make those long hours logged into video game emulation that much more thumb-friendly. The exposed overlay is based on an ATmega8A microcontroller and plugs directly into the device’s USB port, giving gamers an eight button solution, plus a PSP-like analog stick. It’s a handy, albeit ugly, add-on that’ll help get your gaming heros of old through well trodden enemy lines. Video demo lies in wait after the break.

Continue reading Nokia N900 gamepad hack dispenses with beauty, sidles up to sore thumbs (video)

Nokia N900 gamepad hack dispenses with beauty, sidles up to sore thumbs (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Dec 2011 23:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 25

DIY e-bike hack gets washing machine motorization, stuck on permanent spin cycle (video)

Posted in: bike, diy, germany, hack, mod, Today's Chili, video

Do all dead washing machines go to meet that lonely Maytag repairman in the sky? Nope, some of’em get their guts repurposed for use in hipster transportation, otherwise known as bicycles. At least that’s what one fed up, frugal Munich denizen did to avoid that German’s city costly PT fees. It’s not what you’d call an elegant hack, as our DIYer’s had to haphazardly rig up his washer’s 300W motor to the bike’s frame and stuff two clunky 12Ah batteries into a sidebag off the back tire. Still, it appears to get the job done, spinning at a max of 3000rpms with an ejector button on / off switch affixed to the right hand brake. We’re not sure how well or reliably this modjob fares on busy roadways, so for the time being we’ll just stick to Vespas. Check out the video after the break for an unmoving portrait of this eFahrrad.

Continue reading DIY e-bike hack gets washing machine motorization, stuck on permanent spin cycle (video)

DIY e-bike hack gets washing machine motorization, stuck on permanent spin cycle (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Oct 2011 03:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 24

Arduino-powered glove brings real sound effects to your make believe gun show (video)

Posted in: arduino, diy, hacking, Hacks, mod, modding, Today's Chili, video
The days of air-punching invisible Daleks and making your own sound effects are over: a team from Carnegie Mellon’s Human-Computer Interaction course have built a glove that does it all for you. The Augmented Hyper-Reality Glove can identify upper-cuts and karate chops using flex and tilt sensors and play the accompanying sound effect using an Arduino-powered Adafruit wave shield. We can see some potential downsides — flirtatious finger-gun fusillades accompanied by the sound of cannon fire might just ruin your date. If you’re undaunted by such social faux pas, see the toy your inner-child always wanted in action after the break.

Continue reading Arduino-powered glove brings real sound effects to your make believe gun show (video)

Arduino-powered glove brings real sound effects to your make believe gun show (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 16

Colorware spills its inks on your iPhone 4S, charges dearly for it

Posted in: Apple, ios, iPhone, iphone 4s, mobilepostcross, mod, mods, phone, Today's Chili
You didn’t think the latest iPhone would be saved from Colorware’s paint-dipped hands, did you?
Lo and behold, the company’s swatches are currently ready for application on the 4S. Similar to its iPhone 4 treatments, you’ll be able to spice up your device — and its earbuds — with a mixture of glossy, metallic and soft-touch coatings (excluding mainly the front face, which remains stock black or white). Colorware’ll gladly sell you a fresh 16 or 64GB model for a whopping $1,500 or $1,700, respectively, or you can mail yours in to get a Benetton-esque makeover for just $250.

Colorware spills its inks on your iPhone 4S, charges dearly for it originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 16 Oct 2011 05:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 13

CyanogenMod for TouchPad alpha released, is surprisingly functional (video)

Posted in: Android, demo, diy, gingerbread, GoogleAndroid, hack, hacking, Hacks, HP, mod, multitouch, slate, tablet, Today's Chili, touchpad, video, webos, wifi





Tired of seeing TouchPad Android demos that you can’t quite get your hands on? Buck up buttercup, CyanogenMod 7.1.0’s unique flavor of Gingerbread has finally made its way to HP’s disowned slate; but beware — they’re calling this one the “lower your expectations” edition for a reason. A new video and forum update belabors the point that the alpha is an early, buggy build that is not intended for the general public. However, if you’re brave enough to install CyanogenMod anyway, you’ll wind up with a neat assortment of usable features, including multiboot support, ten-point multitouch, functional WiFi, camera support for video chat, limited GPU acceleration and a ton of other features that are either working now, or are near completion. The team says there are too many nonfunctional features to properly list at the moment, but advise brave testers to expect app incompatibility and poorly optimized power consumption. Ready to throw caution to the wind? Hit the source link below, as it’s chock full of cautionary tales, installation instructions, and download links.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

CyanogenMod for TouchPad alpha released, is surprisingly functional (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Oct 2011 04:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 10

CyanogenMod 7.1 brings support for Xperias and 20 other handsets

Posted in: galaxy s ii, GalaxySIi, homebrew, mobilepostmini, mod, modding, rom, Today's Chili, xperia

All it took was a little love from Sony Ericsson and now CyanogenMod’s latest official release includes support for a happy cohort of 2011 Xperias as well as the X8. The same goes for Samsung, which doled out a free GSII and some employment and now finds that the Galaxy smartphones are on version 7.1’s list too. Wondering if your particular Droid, Optimus or Incredible can run the cyan shade of Gingerbread and its attendant perks? Then check the source link for the full roll-call of newly supported devices — but remember, despite the increasingly friendly overtures from manufacturers, installing a custom ROM comes with certain pitfalls and can void your warranty. Got that? Now go and play some juicy FLAC files on that Arc.

CyanogenMod 7.1 brings support for Xperias and 20 other handsets originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Oct 2011 20:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 03

Arduino-powered modder recreates ‘first PC’

Posted in: arduino, hack, Hacks, mod, modding, mods, Today's Chili
Before the Altair 8800, before the SCElBI, there was the Kenbak-1 — considered to be the first personal computer by the Computer History Museum. Designed in 1970, it used Transistor-Transistor logic instead of a microprocessor — which is one of the reasons only 40 of the units were ever sold, of which 14 are known to still exist today. That’s what prompted modder funnypolynomial to produce his own using an Arduino. It may look a little more functional than the gloriously retro hexagonal design of the original, but it wouldn’t take much to copy that look, too. What are you waiting for? Get ordering your blinkenlights!

Arduino-powered modder recreates ‘first PC’ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Oct 2011 12:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 28

When Guitar Hero and Nerds Collide

Posted in: Gadgets, Games, gaming, mod, Today's Chili, videos

This article was written on April 23, 2008 by CyberNet.

It’s pretty crazy the things geeks can come up with when they get an idea. A group of undergraduate students over at Texas A&M have obviously been playing too much Guitar Hero, and decided that they could make a robot to conquer the game for them. After much thought they have named their dubious creation Slashbot. They even started a blog for people who want to follow the progress of the project.

Slashbot is able to jam with the best of the best thanks to some actuators, wires, code, and of course a guitar. It’s actually using what appears to be an unmodified guitar, and literally “presses” the buttons while strumming by using actuators. The video below shows just how crazy fast you have to be if you want to become a Guitar Hero expert.

How well does it work? On expert mode it was able to achieve 96% on “Cliffs of Dover” and 97% on “My Name is Jonas.” Unfortunately the system isn’t able to maximize its score because it has a hard time keeping multiplier streaks. Disappointing, I know, but it’s still a sight to see. Here’s a video that demos Slashbot’s ability to tear up the Cliffs of Dover song:

Slashbot [via Engadget]

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Sep 27

RunAsDate: Run an App with a Specified Date

Posted in: Freeware, mod, Software, Today's Chili

This article was written on September 03, 2007 by CyberNet.

RunAsDate

Some shareware applications only give you a short period of time to try an application out before the time expires. A program called RunAsDate can solve that issue by letting you specify a "simulated" date and time to run an application. It’s almost like setting your system clock back, except that your clock is not actually affected by this (meaning the time in the System Tray will still be correct).

This can also be used to see what happens when a trial will expire. To do that you just have to set the date past the expiration of the trial period, and then start the application using RunAsDate.

You can create a shortcut on your computer that will always run a program at a specified date. The syntax for the shortcut would look something like this:

RunAsDate.exe 22/10/2002 12:35:22 "C:/Program Files/Microsoft Office/OFFICE11/OUTLOOK.EXE"

Using this program could probably be considered a time trial crack for shareware programs, but I think there are some reasonable instances where you can use this. One that comes to mind is when a program goes into restricted functionality mode after the trial has expired, and you no longer have access to your data. This would give you some extra time to extract your information.

RunAsDate isn’t going to work with all programs though…it all depends on how the app accesses the current time (they could be remotely accessing the time through the Internet).

RunAsDate Homepage (Download Mirror) – No Installation Necessary

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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Sep 27

Ben Heck cooks up proximity sensor for cyclists, still no substitute for keeping eyes open

Posted in: arduino, mod, safety, Today's Chili

Ben Heck’s been busy — again. In the latest episode of his bi-weekly show he puts his considerable brain power to work on cycle safety. He uses Parallax ping sensors connected to an Arduino to measure whether you’re in any danger from nearby obstacles and traffic. The red and green LED indicators are hooked up to ambient light sensors so they don’t blind you while riding at night — looks like Mr. Heck’s thought of everything. This week’s episode also includes more secrets behind the prolific modder’s Android APK-based baby seat. Check out both projects after the break.

Continue reading Ben Heck cooks up proximity sensor for cyclists, still no substitute for keeping eyes open

Ben Heck cooks up proximity sensor for cyclists, still no substitute for keeping eyes open originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Sep 2011 21:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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