Simple hack turns the Magic Trackpad into a USB-powered affair

While many hacks we feature on these virtual pages are terrifyingly complex, this one is anything but. Even more surprising, it’s actually useful. Mark Bog decided to tether his Magic Trackpad to the sweet, endless power supply of his computer over USB, instead of swapping out AAs endlessly. To do this he merely pulled out the black and red power wires of a USB cable and attached them to a battery-shaped dowel, which slots easily into the Trackpad. The best part is that this seems basically non-destructive to the trackpad (if the 5 volts coming from the USB cable isn’t too much for its precious internals), so Mark shouldn’t have much trouble switching back if he suddenly misses the wireless freedom for a stationary desktop object that so far seems lost on him.

Simple hack turns the Magic Trackpad into a USB-powered affair originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Aug 2010 19:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Freekade, the iPad arcade cabinet, goes up for auction (video)

What’s the date today, middle of August? Great, so we can now say with scientific certainty that it takes four and a half months to bring an excellent April Fools’ idea to market. That’s the total gap in time between the unveiling of the jokey iCade by the writers at ThinkGeek and the “for auction” sign going up on the Freekade arcade cabinet. This nostalgia-infused iPad accessory has now added a veneer of style to its retro control scheme, with “walnut effect” sides and a matte black finish. It interfaces with your slate via Bluetooth and (provided you’ve danced the jailbreaking jig) will play along with NES, SNES and PSX emulators obtainable from the Cydia store. You’ll find its latest demo video after the break and can track the auction’s progress at the source link below.

Continue reading Freekade, the iPad arcade cabinet, goes up for auction (video)

Freekade, the iPad arcade cabinet, goes up for auction (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Aug 2010 06:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sprint Pre Plus hack detailed in step-by-step guide

WebOS device hacking has reach some considerable heights recently with a mod to bring WiFi to a Sprint Palm Pixi, but it looks like even that’s now been topped by this hack that finally brings the Pre Plus to Sprint. As you can probably guess, that involves a Sprint Palm Pre, a Pre Plus (from either AT&T or Verizon), a slew of software tweaking, and plenty of tricky hardware modding to get the Sprint Pre coms board into the Pre Plus. Will it actually work? We can’t say we’ve gone so far as to try the mod ourselves, but PreCentral forum member livinofframen says his modded phone behaves perfectly, right down to the stock Sprint applications. Hit up the link below for the complete details to try it yourself — at your own risk, of course.

[Thanks, Ken M.]

Sprint Pre Plus hack detailed in step-by-step guide originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Man attempts to turn MacBook Air into keyboard PC

The attempted revival of keyboard PCs may not have exactly caught on in a big way, but it looks like modder Bart Reardon is certainly a fan — so much so that he ripped apart a perfectly functional MacBook Air in an attempt to make his own. While he’s not quite finished yet, he has managed to get all the main components to fit under an Apple keyboard and Magic Trackpad, and he’s apparently almost ready to replace all the tape holding it together with something more permanent. Hit up the source link below for a look at the complete build process.

Man attempts to turn MacBook Air into keyboard PC originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 15:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink MacStories, Engadget Spanish  |  sourceMacBook Air Project  | Email this | Comments

Techknott’s Dreamcast Portable inspires musings on art, life, and Bomberman Online

A portable game console mod is like a still life: sure, it’s been done before, but it’s very satisfying when it’s done well. Or, to take the analogy further: where a still life lets the artist arrange the design elements with in a composition any way he wants, the modder works with elements necessary for game play, but is free to arrange them in the manner of his choosing. Our man Techknott, who once thrilled us with his Wireless Visual Interface for the PS3, is back on the scene with the third iteration of his very own Dreamcast Portable — and it just might be a work of art in its own right. This bad boy features: a PSone LCD display, both a built in VMU and a removable VMU slot, CD drive, SD card slot, A/V out, and original Dreamcast controls — all in a custom CNC acrylic case. You want one, right? Peep the video after the break to see it in action. And be sure to check back next week, when we’ll trace the origin of the Bomblympics back to the worship of Zeus in Ancient Greece.

Continue reading Techknott’s Dreamcast Portable inspires musings on art, life, and Bomberman Online

Techknott’s Dreamcast Portable inspires musings on art, life, and Bomberman Online originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 11:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Technabob  |  sourceBen Heck Forums  | Email this | Comments

New Xbox 360 hacked to play ‘backup’ discs, public release underway? (video)

If you’re looking for video proof of the latest and greatest Xbox 360 firmware mod, you won’t find it in the video after the break, but we’re almost willing to take it on Team Xecuter’s word and long-standing reputation that they’ve hacked the new Xbox 360. Banding together with Team Jungle and commodore4eva — the hacker who brought backups to the original console in 2006 — the group says they’ve successfully patched the DVD drive to play burned discs. Better still, they’re promising that a public release of said patch “will be available shortly” to help you unlock a Stealthbox by your lonesome. Just remember, kids, circumventing DRM isn’t always legal, even if you’re copying games that you bought right off the shelf.

[Thanks, Tito]

Continue reading New Xbox 360 hacked to play ‘backup’ discs, public release underway? (video)

New Xbox 360 hacked to play ‘backup’ discs, public release underway? (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 Aug 2010 17:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Modder, brother-of-the-year candidate crafts one-handed GameCube controller (video)

It’s not that we haven’t seen a one-handed controller before — we most certainly have — but the only significant one on record was done by one Benjamin Heckendorn, the greatest modder of the modern era. In other words, whipping something like this up takes more than a strong will and a boatload of vacation days, making Hasse’s hack all the more impressive. As the story goes, his brother is incapable of playing video games due to needing two hands to work the controls; rather than chalking it up to tough luck, this guy completely re-engineered a GameCube controller for single-handed operation. After cracking it open and relocating a few bits and pieces, he then shoved an ATtiny44A, an accelerometer and a digital-to-analog converter within. Crazier still, he even included a toggle switch to select the analog stick or D-pad, depending on preference. Head on past the break to see this thing in action, and tap that source link to leave a handful of kudos.

Continue reading Modder, brother-of-the-year candidate crafts one-handed GameCube controller (video)

Modder, brother-of-the-year candidate crafts one-handed GameCube controller (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Aug 2010 12:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Flash ported to iPhone 4, available for download (video)

Cydia is a great place to hang out, and we’re sure unlocking is pretty swell, but it’s quite possible you and your freshly-rooted iPhone 4 have already run out of fun things to do. In that case, might we suggest giving Frash a try? That’s right, Comex’s Strong Bad-inspired port of Adobe Flash 10.1 has been compiled once again, and though it’s still an alpha build there’s nothing keeping you from experiencing the joys of animated advertising on your iOS 4 device. Instructions are exactly the same as in our Flash how-to for iPad — jailbreak, download the .deb, upload it to a folder deep inside your phone via SSH, restart and you’re done — but if that sounds like too much work or you’re worried about your phone asploding prematurely, you can watch from a safe distance as Homestar Runner struts his stuff. You’ll find that and more in a video after the break, and a pre-compiled alpha build is available at our source link.

Continue reading Flash ported to iPhone 4, available for download (video)

Flash ported to iPhone 4, available for download (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 08 Aug 2010 16:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceGrant Pannell, Frash (Github)  | Email this | Comments

Apple Peel 520 gets reviewed: turns your iPod touch into an iPhone, but quirks exist

No one expressly said that the Apple Peel 520 would change your life, but if you play your cards right, that’s not entirely out of the question. The mysterious doodad — which wraps around your iPod touch and holds an extended battery and SIM card — has caused quite the stir since being revealed late last month, and now it has undergone a full review overseas. Put simply, the device does work as advertised, turning one’s iPod touch into a device fully capable of making / receiving calls as well as texts. ‘Course, you’ll need to jailbreak your device first, and you’ll have to deal with a static (read: impossible to adjust) call volume, quirky SMS delivery and blanked messages for missed calls, but hey — a small price to pay for the upgrade, right? Hit the source link for the full skinny and a video to boot.

Apple Peel 520 gets reviewed: turns your iPod touch into an iPhone, but quirks exist originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Aug 2010 21:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Engadget Assembles the Ultimate Weapon: Wii Laptop

This article was written on January 19, 2007 by CyberNet.

Wii Laptop There is no doubt that the Wii causes enough damage as it is from arms being whipped through the air as excitement builds in a game. Heck, there is even a site, Wii Have A Problem, that is dedicated to sharing everyone’s stories on how they got injured or what objects they have broken. All of this commotion comes from one little video game system that has motion sensitive controllers.

So now Engadget decided to go all out and assemble the Wii console into a laptop…thereby forming the ultimate weapon. I’ll get into that in a second, but first checkout this video of the Wii laptop:

It has everything from a 7-inch screen to a built-in power supply, which gives you nearly everything you need to play your favorite Wii games no matter where you are. So what’s the problem? Swinging arms! I could only imagine the number of people that would get hurt when they are on a airplane or a bus traveling somewhere with a portable system like this. With the Wii controllers it would feel natural to swing your arms and I’m sure it would be tough to hold yourself back. Thank goodness this isn’t a mass-produced device. :D

I do have to admit that this “laptop” was very well designed and they plan on revealing all of the juicy design details next Tuesday. With the Wii’s small size the whole package measures just 8.5 x 7.7 x 2-inches, but what I really want to know is how much it weighs. Maybe they’ll divulge that detail later on.

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