Hasta La Gadget!

The original Cray supercomputer, the Cray-1, is an iconic piece of computing history, so big it had a ring of padded seats around which engineers could sit and contemplate esoteric questions of life whilst the machine humming behind them answered the more finite ones. This semi-hexadecagon shape has been brought back to life, scaled down quite a bit, by case modder and woodcrafter Daryl Brach. The original 5.5 ton behemoth is now a desktop-friendly size, and though those seats are now too small for human behinds they’re still leather-covered and padded, hiding a pair of DVD-ROM drives connected to not one but two motherboards. We’re not sure what other hardware Brach populated the thing with internally, but given that original Cray-1 had 8MB of memory to work with we’re guessing this modern version would have no problem computationally wiping the floor with its inspiration.

Honey, Daryl Brach shrunk the Cray-1 supercomputer originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oh sure, VoIP on the iPod touch is hardly breaking news these days, but what if you could actually slap on a regular SIM card and make calls on said device? That’s what Yosion’s appropriately named Apple Peel 520 claims to do. Powered by an Infineon baseband chip, this adapter not only offers voice calling and text messaging (presumably requiring a jailbroken iPod touch for the apps; GPRS not possible yet), but it also doubles up as an 800mAh battery and provides 4.5 hours of call time or 120 hours of standby juice. We’re told this cheeky hack’s coming out in China as early as this week for somewhere between ¥300 ($44) and ¥500 ($74), although the lack of an official website, full spec sheet or compatibility list means we’ll have to remain skeptical with this potentially vaporware company. Maybe the demo video after the break will keep us believing.

[Thanks, Bong]

Continue reading iPod touch becomes iPhone using Yosion’s Apple Peel 520?

iPod touch becomes iPhone using Yosion’s Apple Peel 520? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 07:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wooden computer cases? We’ve been there before, but few offer the simple elegance of this “Modern Danish-styled PC enclosure” photographed by slipperyskip at Collectors Weekly — who jokingly indicates it wouldn’t look out of place on the set of Mad Men. We think an integrated ash tray is a necessity before it could make the cut at Sterling Cooper, but it does appear to have plenty of room on top for scotch glasses. The case is said to be 85 percent complete, and hopefully some of that last 15 percent includes actually putting some hardware in the thing. Pretty as it is, an empty case won’t do you much good.

A modern, Danish case for your modern, Danish computer originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This one’s been kicking around the interwebs for a few weeks now, but it has managed to grow into something of a beast during that period. Frankly, we couldn’t think of less fitting way to send the glorious Nexus One out than to completely deface it and ruin what Google has worked so hard to perfect. But regardless of what we think, that’s exactly what has happened here. One rolle3k over at xda developers clearly has a masochistic gene or two planted inside of his skull, but at least his APK doesn’t require your N1 to be rooted before providing you access to a TouchWiz user interface. Feel free to hit the source if you’re up for seeing what you’ve been missing out on, but only if you literally cannot think of a single better thing to do with your time.

Tweaker ports Samsung’s TouchWIz UI onto non-rooted Nexus One for reasons unknown originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Jul 2010 05:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hardcore Android fans have been leery of the Motorola Droid X because of the chip and bootloader combination in the device that could potentially brick it if custom versions of the Android operating system are loaded on it.

But now, they are a step closer to doing just that. The Droid X forum has posted step-by-step directions for rooting the Droid X–the Android equivalent of jailbreaking a device to get complete control. Rooting the device also lets users get rid of bloatware on their phones and tweak some of the features that they wouldn’t have access to otherwise.

The $200 Droid X (after a $100 rebate and with a Verizon wireless contract) hit retail shelves on July 15. The phone has a 4.3-inch screen and a 1 GHz processor. It launched with Android 2.1 operating system. It is expected to get an upgrade to Android 2.2 Froyo in the summer.

But last week, Android geeks found that Motorola has made it difficult for hackers to mod the Droid X by using a bootloader and chip combination that could potentially brick the phone if it is broken. The Droid X’ processor includes a feature called “eFuse” that’s intended to make it easier to tweak the chip’s power and memory after it is shipped.

However, eFuse only allows the device to start up when Motorola’s software is installed, squashing hackers’ hopes that they can quickly get custom ROMs on the device.

Rooting the Droid X is the first step towards being able to port a custom ROM on the phone. So far, based on the feedback in the forums, the Droid X root seems to work well. It will be interesting to see how soon the Android community can break the eFuse lock and port a custom ROM on the Droid X.

See Also:

• Motorola Upgrades the Droid With Droid X
• Motorola Droid X Gets Dissected
• Hands On With the Motorola Droid X
• Droid X Gets a Fix For Its Flickering Screen
• Droid X Gets a Fix For Its Flickering Screen

Photo: Droid X (Stefan Armijo/Wired.com)