Hasta La Gadget!

It’s hard to believe that BUG Labs has been helping tinkerers thinker for two whole years now, particularly when you realize that its BUGbase has been operating sans WiFi all along. At long last, after a painful battle with the licensing overlords connected to WiFi and Bluetooth, BUG has finally received approval to ship the BUGbase WiFi (which does BT as well) both here in the States as well as in Europe. Aside from those two huge additions, BUG also upgraded the device with a friction-fit docking connector and improved power management, not to mention a few subtle “under the hood” tweaks designed to make everyone’s lives a little easier. Oh, and for existing BUGbase owners? A special BUGWiFi module will be shipping in a few weeks, and yes, all of BUG’s other modules will be compatible with either base. Once you’re done hopping around like a jovial schoolgirl, feel free to order your own BUGbase WiFi now for $449.

Filed under: Peripherals

BUGbase WiFi finally overcomes, ships in the US and Europe originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia has been handing out the N900 for selective “artsy” uses lately through its “Push” program, and the folks at Tinker it now! sure seem to have put their model to good use. They’ve paired the device with all matter of nostalgia, including a Rolodex, FM radio and a 3D Viewmaster. Our favorite by far, however, is the Speak & Spell hack, which puts the gargantuan Speak & Spell keyboard to good use in penning text messages for the N900 — which displays them in the classic font and even articulates your words with a speech synthesis engine. It’s all a testament to the flexibility of Linux, hacker ingenuity and of course liberal application of Arduino, but it’s also a little advertorial-ey, so you might want to leave your gag reflex at home for this one.

[Via Nokia Conversations]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Peripherals

N900 hacked to replace the innards of a Speak & Spell, can never bring back your childhood originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jeffrey Stephenson is to case mods what Benjamin Heckendorn is to console mods. There, we said it. After watching the former pump out wood-grained mod after wood-grained mod, Sir Jeff has issued yet another — wait for it — wood-grained mod. The black walnut mission-style side table is actually a full-blown PC in disguise, with a standard ATX mid-tower within that’s equipped with an Intel Core i7 CPU, NVIDIA graphics and dual stage temperature-controlled exhaust fans. He notes that it’ll be available next Spring for those with fine tastes, though we’re sure he’d customize it to fit your living room suite for the right price.

Filed under: Desktops, Household

Mission-style PC casemod easily slides into your La-Z-Boy collection originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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magicJack may still be sorting out its own fairly ambitious cellular plans, but it looks like some folks are taking it upon themselves to put the cheap phone call-making device to some exciting new uses — like this crafty modder who crammed his trusty “MJ” (as those in the know call it) into his Eee PC 1000HE netbook. That mod apparently took a full day of tweaking to get working just right, but it does indeed seem to work as promised, and will let you make dirt cheap phone calls simply by plugging any old phone directly into your netbook (via a headphone jack). Unfortunately, there’s no step-by-step how-to just yet, but you can check out some pics of the process at the link below and do your best to follow along.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Laptops

magicJack gets hacked into a magicNetbook originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Okay, so maybe this here mod isn’t nearly as extreme as shoving an entire PC into the case of a classic Game Boy, but it’s still pretty fantastic in its own right. Completed at some point during the dog days of summer, the 80GB Game Boy had its innards stripped and replaced with parts that enable a 2.5-inch 80GB SATA HDD to operate beautifully as a standard USB hard drive. The display you see here is (unfortunately) an illusion, as it’s simply a professional-looking still insert that merely gives the impression of it paying Game Boy titles while offloading spreadsheets. Now, if someone could figure out how to make it pull double duty…

[Via technabob]

Filed under: Handhelds, Storage

Original Game Boy repurposed as external hard drive originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 12 Sep 2009 14:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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