Homemade 16TB NAS dwarfs the competition with insane build quality (video)

From the man that brought you the OS Xbox Pro and the Cinematograph HD comes… a cockpit canopy filled with hard drives? Not quite. Meet the Black Dwarf, a custom network-attached-storage device from the mind of video editor Will Urbina, packing 16TB of RAID 5 magnetic media and a 1.66GHz Atom N270 CPU into a completely hand-built Lexan, aluminum and steel enclosure. Urbina says the Dwarf writes at 88MB per second and reads at a fantastic 266MB per second, making the shuttlecraft-shaped 12.7TB array nearly as speedy as an SSD but with massive capacity and some redundancy to boot. As usual, the DIY guru shot a professional time-lapse video of his entire build process, and this one’s not to be missed — it showcases some pretty spiffy camerawork as well as the man’s welding skills. See sparks fly after the break.

Continue reading Homemade 16TB NAS dwarfs the competition with insane build quality (video)

Homemade 16TB NAS dwarfs the competition with insane build quality (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 May 2010 04:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Hack A Day  |  sourceWill U. Design  | Email this | Comments

How to create your own Micro SIM card using a chef knife and some scissors


We told you you could shave down your old and busted SIM cards and turn them into minty fresh Micro SIMs, didn’t we? An industrious Londoner by the name of John Benson has gone and proven that concept with the help of some cutting implements and an original Micro SIM to use as a reference. His saintly patience resulted in his being able to negotiate the Vodafone SIM you see above into his iPad 3G (imported from the USA) and riding the waves of Voda’s network as if Apple never decided to encumber its portable device with a silly new standard. The 3FF (Micro) SIMs and the bulkier original ones are electrically identical, so there’s no threat of harm by using them interchangeably, though we can’t say the same thing about the tools that get you there. As always, we advise trying to rope someone else into doing the work for you — less chance of hurting yourself that way. Hit the source for more.

[Thanks, Brandon]

How to create your own Micro SIM card using a chef knife and some scissors originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 May 2010 08:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceJohn Benson  | Email this | Comments

World struggles to find a reason for the existence of the Juke Boxee Box

Modders love making things really, really small — or ridiculously large. It’s arcade game consoles that fit on your bookshelf one day, and the Juke Boxee Box the next. When the interface designers at Feng GUI decided they couldn’t wait for their Boxee Box, they built their own — at five times the height. Essentially a PC, speakers, IR receiver, and monitor crammed into a wood box, this is definitely one of the more pointless mods we’ve encountered in a long time — but we’ll be damned if it doesn’t look good! Hit the source link for plenty of glamor shots.

World struggles to find a reason for the existence of the Juke Boxee Box originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 May 2010 13:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceFeng GUI  | Email this | Comments

iPad merges with kitchen cabinet, sacrificing portability for utility

From the moment we saw the so-called “magical device,” we knew the lucrative digital cookbook market would never be quite the same, but it’s one thing to imagine an iPad as the centerpiece of one’s kitchen, and something else entirely to see to see it in the flesh. TUAW reader Alan Daly built his directly into the side of a kitchen cabinet, and set it to work doling out Epicurious recipes, streaming Jamie Oliver, and surfing some of the world’s best websites (in our oh-so-humble opinion) well out of the way of troublesome meat splatter. In lieu of flying toasters, his screen displays a virtual aquarium when it’s not in use, and the whole assembly seems to be a simple matter of cutting a hole and affixing a pair of wooden strips for support. It’s not clear, however, how he keeps it charged. Maybe that’s the magic Steve keeps talking about. Video after the break.

Continue reading iPad merges with kitchen cabinet, sacrificing portability for utility

iPad merges with kitchen cabinet, sacrificing portability for utility originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 May 2010 13:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TUAW  |  sourcemykitchenipad (Flickr)  | Email this | Comments

Wooden Level Eleven PC gets inspiration from Thermaltake Level 10 chassis

Let’s face it — if you had a never-ending stack of cash and a computer room with no particular size constraints, you too would own a Thermaltake Level 10 enclosure. Regrettably, both financial and square footage constraints do indeed play major roles in most of our lives, including one Jeffrey Stephenson. This fine gentleman is quickly becoming the Ben Heck of wood-grained mods, this time cranking out a lovingly crafted iteration of the aforesaid chassis, but with that special wooden flair. The Level Eleven gets its inspiration from the gargantuan Level 10, but rather than taking things even bigger, Jeff decided to scale things down a notch; in fact, he constructed a fully functional PC within the handmade enclosure, all based around a VIA Pico-ITX mainboard and a 1.2GHz VIA Nano CPU. Thanks to the onboard VX855 media processor, this (comparatively) diminutive machine boasts an HDMI output and enough horsepower to pump out 1080p sans lag — but it doesn’t seem as if this bad boy is officially for sale. Not that he’d reject a five-figure offer or anything…

Wooden Level Eleven PC gets inspiration from Thermaltake Level 10 chassis originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 May 2010 06:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceJeffrey Stephenson  | Email this | Comments

Secrets of the Chumby One: it can be turned into a 3G router

Need another reason to plop down a hundred bucks for a Chumby One? How about the fact that it can be turned into a 3G router without so much as a few minor tweaks? Of course, you’ll also need a 3G USB modem, but the only other modifications required are a few changes to the Network Config settings, and a quick command in the drop-down console to configure the Chumby One as an access point. Add in a rechargeable battery and you’ve got a genuine MiFi alternative — albeit perhaps the bulkiest one ever, which may or may not last for more than an hour. Hit up the link below for the complete details.

Secrets of the Chumby One: it can be turned into a 3G router originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Apr 2010 13:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Make  |  sourceBunnie Studios  | Email this | Comments

Cyanogen 5.0.7 experimentally brings Eclair to G1, myTouch 3G — caveats apply

After a brief delay, looks like CyanogenMod 5 is now out for the HTC Dream, Magic and Sapphire, also known as the T-Mobile G1 and myTouch 3G. The release is labeled as experimental, so take care not to flash it onto your work phone, and G1 owners should back up their data as they’ll need to install a little something called the DangerSPL (which has phone bricking potential) and perform a full wipe. If you’re the kind of individual who doesn’t shy away from software explicitly labeled “danger,” get cracking on that rooted Eclair at the source link.

Update: Can’t get through? That’s because the sheer willpower of Android early adopters is crushing websites hosting the CM5 ROM like so many stale pretzels. Cyanogen is retweeting alternative options if you simply can’t wait for things to quiet down.

Cyanogen 5.0.7 experimentally brings Eclair to G1, myTouch 3G — caveats apply originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Apr 2010 23:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceXDA-developers, @cyanogen (Twitter)  | Email this | Comments

Canon AE-1 Program SLR gets a digital retrofit

A classic SLR film camera gutted and given a digital upgrade — blasphemy? Maybe, but there’s no denying that this mod by Diego Monge is plenty impressive. He started out with a Canon AE-1 Program SLR, and apparently simply stuffed the guts of a compact digital camera of some sort inside, resulting in what he calls the AE-1 Program Digital — a 9-megapixel camera complete with image stabilization, a functional flash, and 4GB of memory (non-removable, it seems). Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any details on the build process, let alone a how-to, but you can at least get a glimpse of it in action in the video after the break.

Continue reading Canon AE-1 Program SLR gets a digital retrofit

Canon AE-1 Program SLR gets a digital retrofit originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Apr 2010 17:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceUnplggd  | Email this | Comments

Cyanogen ports Android 2.1 to G1 and MyTouch 3G (update)

Droid, Milestone, Eris, Moment, Spica, even the Hero, all have had their Eclair, one way or another. G1 and myTouch 3G? Not so much. But don’t worry, Android early adopters, because Cyanogen‘s got your back. Most all the bells, whistles and hardware-accelerated graphics of Android 2.1 are coming to the HTC Dream, Magic and Sapphire in CyanogenMod 5.0.7, and you can see a video of a T-Mobile G1 running the new build after the break. Twitter buzz indicates the ROM will be out any minute now is nearly ready; the dev himself tweeted that it’s good to go and just needs G1-friendly bite size packaging.

Update: Don’t stay up all night waiting — Cyanogen says he’s got “two more bugs to kill” and is “hoping for a test1 public beta tomorrow night.”

[Thanks, Philosophics]

Continue reading Cyanogen ports Android 2.1 to G1 and MyTouch 3G (update)

Cyanogen ports Android 2.1 to G1 and MyTouch 3G (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Apr 2010 00:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  source@cyanogen (Twitter)  | Email this | Comments

8-bit arcade guitar sounds (and looks) like a little piece of nerd heaven

The hand built, 8-bit “arcade guitar” that you see above is the result of a DIY senior project, and it’s a pretty cool accomplishment. There’s not a ton of detail about how it was constructed, but we know that it’s got an FPGA (field-programmable gate array) for logic and function, strings and a joystick for adjusting the pitch, and it also boasts selectable waves and save banks. Most importantly, however, the final product sounds really, really good — and we’d advise you to check the video below.

Continue reading 8-bit arcade guitar sounds (and looks) like a little piece of nerd heaven

8-bit arcade guitar sounds (and looks) like a little piece of nerd heaven originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Apr 2010 22:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Slashgear  |  sourceYouTube, HackADay  | Email this | Comments