Fanboy Pimps His Tron-Inspired Segway

It’s surprising to us that it took almost a month since the wide release of Tron: Legacy for a light-cycle–inspired Segway to come, but come it has, nonetheless.

In true fanboy fashion, Ricky Brigante tricked out his Segway i2 Personal Transporter to look like one of Flynn’s grid-gliding beauties, pimping a ride that Xzibit himself would be proud to cruise in.

For something so flashy, Brigante’s method was relatively easy and low-tech. Using only white 2-inch reflective tape, a strand of blue LED Christmas lights and some electrical tape, Brigante took the plain black matte finish of his Segway and artfully applied the design using a mock-up model he made in Photoshop as a guide.

The finished product is simple yet geekishly elegant:

Start to finish, Brigante’s mod time took around four hours. Total cost? About 15 bucks (Segway not included, of course).

Not bad, for a user.

Check out the video below of Brigante’s hog in action:

TRON Segway Mod

Photos: Ricky Brigante/Insidethemagic.net [via Gizmodo]


Nook Color meet Ubuntu, Ubuntu meet Nook Color

Although you won’t hear this through official channels, Barnes and Noble’s Nook has been plenty of fun for hacksters. And what spells fun better than U-b-u-n-t-u? Certainly nothing that we can mention in mixed company, that’s for sure! If you pop over to the always lively XDA Developers Forum, you’ll see a crazy little post wherein the author took inspiration from a Nexus One hack and decided to port Ubuntu to the Nook Color. And by jove, it looks like it’s worked… even if it is by accounts “a little laggy” and not without errors. Please feel free to hit the source link if you’d like to take in the details on what made this work… and to keep abreast of further developments, to boot.

Nook Color meet Ubuntu, Ubuntu meet Nook Color originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Jan 2011 19:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Android 2.3 gets ported to the iPhone 3G, breaks hearts left and right

Android getting ported to the iPhone may be old news by now, but Android 2.3 (a.k.a. Gingerbread) getting ported to the iPhone? Well, that’s something… new, if entirely expected. As before, it’s the iPhone 3G doing the honors, and the port is still based on the iDroid project, which means you can hang onto iOS in a dual-boot configuration so you won’t be left in the cold when the less-than-stable port decides not to cooperate. And, yes, this once again means that the iPhone has gotten the latest version of Android before many Android devices have. Head on past the break for a video.

Continue reading Android 2.3 gets ported to the iPhone 3G, breaks hearts left and right

Android 2.3 gets ported to the iPhone 3G, breaks hearts left and right originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 13:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Xi3: Tiny Modular Desktop

IMG_2675.JPG

The xi3 made a big splash on the show room floor of the Las Vegas Convention Center yesterday–it’s definitely one of those product you’ve got to see to fully appreciate. The above unit was the first model I saw. It was strapped to the rear of a flat screen monitor, which dwarfed it by comparison.
The thing is tiny–palm-sized, in fact–far small than other compact desktops like Apple’s Mac Mini and Dell Zino HD. And unlike those systems, the xi3 is designed to be highly customizable–the “last system you’ll ever need,” says its manufacturer.
The system’s innards are divided into three sections–for RAM and two I/O boards, making it easy to quickly swap out components. The tiny system is also extremely efficient, using less than 20 watts to run.
The xi3 is arriving early this year, starting at $850 for a base unit.

Livescribe hack lets you play Zork with (smart) pen and paper

Livescribe’s pen certainly seems like a hackable enough device, but for some reason we have many hacks or mods that make the smart pen even smarter (or dumber, for that matter). One big one quietly popped up last month, however, and has apparently largely gone unnoticed until now. YouTube user “chipos81” has managed to port Infocom’s Z-Machine virtual machine to the pen (the Echo, specifically), and you know what that means: Zork on paper. Look down. Examine link. Go past break. Watch video.

[Thanks, Charlie]

Continue reading Livescribe hack lets you play Zork with (smart) pen and paper

Livescribe hack lets you play Zork with (smart) pen and paper originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Jan 2011 12:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remote HD brings AirPlay to your first-gen AppleTV

It seems that Apple’s AirPlay streaming is ripe for moddery and hacksterism, and if the recently (very recently) released AirMediaPlayer wasn’t proof enough, the kids at Remote HD have released a plugin that adds the AirPlay to your first gen AppleTV. That’s right! Just install the plug-in and the Remote HD iOS app, and you’ll soon be streaming movies, podcasts, photos and more. What are you waiting for? Hit the source link for instructions, and make sure you let us know how it all works out for you.

Remote HD brings AirPlay to your first-gen AppleTV originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Jan 2011 18:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kinect hack turns you into a punching, waving MIDI controller (video)

If you’re looking for an awesome, impractical way to make music with your computer (and who isn’t?) please direct your attention to the following Kinect hack. Shinect, the brainchild of a YouTube user named Shinyless, uses motion detection to turn you into a MIDI controller! The current implementation gives the operator two virtual pads that can be activated by the old Jersey Shore fist pump — and if that ain’t enough, the sounds can be pitchshifted by raising / lowering the other arm. Pretty sweet, huh? This thing uses OpenNI, and while he’s demonstrating it using FruityLoops it should work with any MIDI device. Things are pretty rough’n ready at the moment, although he promises big things in the future. In the meantime, check out the proof-of-concept in the video after the break.

Continue reading Kinect hack turns you into a punching, waving MIDI controller (video)

Kinect hack turns you into a punching, waving MIDI controller (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Jan 2011 17:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DIY telepresence robot uses PrimeSense Kinect drivers for extremely awkward push-ups (video)

From enhancing your WoW game to putting you in Tom Hanks’s shoes, DIYers the world o’er really do seem to love Kinect. And what do we have here? Taylor Veltrop’s Veltrobot remote telepresence ‘bot uses the PrimeSense open source Kinect drivers for tracking the user’s skeleton, with a modified Kondo KHR-1HV mirroring the operator’s movements (which are received via 802.11n WiFi). Right now he is only controlling the arms, but with any luck we should be seeing complete control over all the robot’s movements soon enough. Once the thing is finalized, Veltrop plans on releasing an open source development kit. And then? That’s right: robot avatars for everyone!

Continue reading DIY telepresence robot uses PrimeSense Kinect drivers for extremely awkward push-ups (video)

DIY telepresence robot uses PrimeSense Kinect drivers for extremely awkward push-ups (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Jan 2011 14:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gresso classies up the iPad with 18k gold logo and ancient wood case

We’ll openly admit we never knew what African Blackwood was until Gresso started applying the stuff to its line of extremely luxurious cellphone mods, but now we can’t imagine a new product from the Russian company without the 200-year old timber making an appearance. And sure enough, the Gresso iPad’s rear is composed almost entirely of Dalbergia melanoxylon, broken up only by the insertion of an 18-karat gold Apple logo. Strangely, in spite of its extravagant constituent materials, this design is a very restrained, dare we say, classy, affair. It goes on sale on New Year’s Eve at an unannounced price, but you know what they say: if you have to ask or you have to work for a living, you probably can’t afford it.

Gresso classies up the iPad with 18k gold logo and ancient wood case originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Dec 2010 18:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wii Laptop mod ditches the disc, gets ultra portable (video)

The famed Ben Heckendorn concocted the first Wii Laptop of note way back in 2007, but ever since, the modding community at large has been toiling away on ways to improve it. ShockSlayer, a member over at Mod Retro, has accomplished just that, with his predictably titled Wii Laptop relying on a 7-inch LCD, an integrated sensor bar, a couple of polycases and inbuilt speakers. There’s hardly anything here that couldn’t be found at your local Radio Shack, save for the SunDriver — that particular product has enabled him to ditch the DVD drive and install a SATA HDD within. From there, he burned his Wii game discs and loaded ’em all inside, making the whole thing extra mobile. Oh, and did we mention that it’s powered by rechargeable batteries? Because it is. Marvel at the completed device in the video after the break.

Continue reading Wii Laptop mod ditches the disc, gets ultra portable (video)

Wii Laptop mod ditches the disc, gets ultra portable (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Dec 2010 17:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Technabob  |  sourceMod Retro  | Email this | Comments