Jan 26

Portable Wii mod renders this Wii portable, modded

Posted in: mod, modding, portable, Today's Chili, wii

Better keep an eye out, Mr. Heckendorn — we know that the modding community is pretty cut throat — just like the Ice Pirates in that movie, uh, Ice Pirates — and now it looks like there’s another young hotshot on the scene. Fifteen year old modista Xteaphn (that’s pronounced Steven, folks) has a little sideline going on custom-made portable hardware, with several mods to his name — including this pint-sized, battery-powered Wii. The thing is tiny — it’s dwarfed by a 13-inch notebook — and a full charge will give it about an hour of play. Stunning video after the break.

Continue reading Portable Wii mod renders this Wii portable, modded

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Portable Wii mod renders this Wii portable, modded originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Jan 2009 13:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 21

Left 4 Dead PC Wiimote hack for the gamer who has it all, hates zombies

Posted in: hack, mod, nintendo, nintendo wii, NintendoWii, Today's Chili, wii

Sometimes inspiration hits when you’re shooting zombies — and often times, that inspiration is in the form of new, better ways to shoot zombies. Since this sort of thing (shooting zombies) is one of our passions here, we were pretty psyched when we ran across this video. Summoning all of his worldly resources — including GlovePIE, PPJoy, and about a gazillion lines of code — this guy is able to rock Left 4 Dead PC in split-screen mode with two Wiimotes. He’s even added shake controls for reloading and spinning 180 degrees. The only catch? As it stands, the only way to power the sensor bar is by turning on the Wii — a condition that should be remedied shortly. Hit the read link for instructions and code, and be sure to check out the video after the break.

[Via Nowhere Else]

Continue reading Left 4 Dead PC Wiimote hack for the gamer who has it all, hates zombies

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Left 4 Dead PC Wiimote hack for the gamer who has it all, hates zombies originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Jan 2009 10:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 19

Handcrafted Scrabble keyboard could stand to be commercialized

Posted in: diy, hack, keyboard, mod, Retro, Today's Chili

Um, can you say “sell like hotcakes?” Datamancer‘s incredibly amazing Scrabble keyboard is one of the slickest, most ready-for-market DIY projects we’ve ever had the pleasure of eying, with each letter key being constructed from an actual pre-owned Scrabble game piece. The USB keyboard itself was built with an aluminum casing for an “industrialized twist,” but obviously it’s the top that keeps us drooling. Oh, and there are even LEDs hidden beneath the Num Lock, Caps Lock and Scroll Lock keys, suggesting that a completely backlit iteration isn’t too far out of the realm of possibility. A few more images are tucked away in the read link — you owe it to yourself to check ’em out.

[Via SlipperyBrick]

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Handcrafted Scrabble keyboard could stand to be commercialized originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Jan 2009 02:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 16

Matrix WiiZii mod hooks to external SATA HDD for speedy ISO loads

Posted in: hack, mod, Today's Chili, wii

Though only a small fraction of Wii owners will ever mod their console, there’s something strangely comforting to our status as a species that it’s imminently doable. The latest in this long line of Wii hacks is the WiiZii, which is termed a “plug and play” no-solder method of playing Wii backups and other fun modchip-style stuff. WiiZii has an upgradable firmware, and is being touted as “future proof” against any forthcoming attempts by Nintendo to block it, but what’s really exciting is the external SATA connector for extra-speedy ISO loads off of your favorite SATA hard drive — no more dinky USB keys. Right now WiiZii is in prototype stage, but we’re sure somebody will be hitting us up for cash for the mod in the near future — if you’re feeling a little stingy, just remember: hacking consoles that we’ve already paid money for to be able to do what we want with them is the only thing separating us from the apes. That and Hulu.

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Matrix WiiZii mod hooks to external SATA HDD for speedy ISO loads originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Jan 2009 09:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 15

Wiimote + pens + coffee cup + office putting toy = deadly coil gun turret

Posted in: hack, mod, Today's Chili, video, wii
Wiimote + pens + coffee cup + office putting toy = deadly coil gun turret

Inside a mild-mannered toy golf cup, the kind that pop the ball back at you when you sink a putt (and make you go walk for it when you miss), lurks a lethal weapon — a tiny rail gun just waiting to serve. Modder Jay took one of those induction coils to build himself a small but fierce turret, also using a little inspiration from the Serv O’Beer, an ioBridge module, two ballpoint pens, two wooden spoons, a coffee mug, and — the pièce de résistance — a Wiimote liberated from someone’s console. By twisting the controller left or right the weapon rotates accordingly, honing in on threatening textbooks and launching a screwdriver bit with deadly force. Alas, you can’t fire the turret by pressing a button on the controller, but that’s said to be entirely for safety reasons — we wouldn’t want some poor kid trying to play a little My Horse & Me and accidentally shooting themselves in the back.

[Via Make]

Continue reading Wiimote + pens + coffee cup + office putting toy = deadly coil gun turret

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Wiimote + pens + coffee cup + office putting toy = deadly coil gun turret originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Jan 2009 08:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 09

Steampunk monitor initiative goes awry, out pops wooden enclosure

Posted in: diy, mod, monitor, Today's Chili

The monitor you see above was awfully close to becoming exactly like this, but thankfully, the wood gods spoke to Scuba_SM’s heart before he could round up another batch of Victorian-era tubing. The 22-inch wooden enclosure completely covers up the fact that an awkward looking LCD monitor is sitting on the table, and the solid maple top / base caps, light cherry stain and light coat of satin finish polyurethane make for something that’s actually enjoyable to gaze at. Overkill? Maybe. Classy? Yes, please.

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Steampunk monitor initiative goes awry, out pops wooden enclosure originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 05

Famicom cart camera provides its own smile-catching technology

Posted in: diy, mod, Today's Chili

BenHeck.com forum member goteking apparently built this camera-in-a-Famicom-cart a little while back, but this is one instance when we’re more than happy to catch up a little late, even if we may quite not be able to bring ourselves to gut a cart of our own. As you can likely imagine, this mod mostly depends simply on choosing the right cart-sized camera, and goteking found that a standard Sony Cybershot point-and-shoot fit the bill quite nicely, though there’s certainly plenty of other possiblities out there (bonus points for anyone able to make an Game Boy cart camera). Hit up the link below for a few more pics of the camera, plus a glimpse of some of goteking’s other projects, including a VAIO DS and a VAIO Eee PC.

[Via technabob]

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Famicom cart camera provides its own smile-catching technology originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 05

Aeeeris kit turns Eee into UMPC, is later killed by Seeephiroth

Posted in: mod, tablet, tablet pc, TabletPc, Today's Chili, UMPC
Aeeeris kit turns Eee into UMPC, is later killed by Seeephiroth

Eee-branded tablets and UMPCs may be coming, but if you want one right now your only option is to do it yourself. You could go the duct tape DIY route, but those looking for a more aesthetically pleasing path should instead think about ordering up an Aeeeris conversion kit. It’s basically a $60 reverse-facing replacement bezel for a 700-series netbook, providing indentations for the touch-screen LCD, its controller, and a pair of speakers (all sold separately). Supposedly the conversion is a “breeze,” but after watching installation vids we’re not so sure we’d agree with that — nor the marketing spiel on the site that labels this as a low-cost solution for small businesses. Still, if you’re looking for a tablet on the cheap, missed out on the $600 tx2500z last month, and don’t have any qualms about dissecting your Eee, hit up the read link and order today.

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Aeeeris kit turns Eee into UMPC, is later killed by Seeephiroth originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 09:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 05

Serv O’Beer pours when iPhone accelerometer tells it to

Posted in: diy, hack, iPhone, mod, Today's Chili, video

Now that the holiday season is officially over (CES notwithstanding), there’s officially no better time to get inebriated and wash away the sorrows of not having another government-recognized holiday for like, ever. After you’ve drug that dead tree out to the roadside and filled a few buckets with tears, why not try constructing your very Serv O’Beer in order to bring just a sliver of that joy back into your heart? Put simply, the project pictured above utilized Construx as the mechanical platform, a servo driving the action and ioBridge controlling the system; a so-called “perfect pour” was executed by linking an iPhone accelerometer to the system and turning it up. Have a look at the demonstration vid just past the break — dollars to donuts it’ll make you smile.

[Thanks, Hans]

Continue reading Serv O’Beer pours when iPhone accelerometer tells it to

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Serv O’Beer pours when iPhone accelerometer tells it to originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 05:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 05

PowerBook G4 Titanium inelegantly modded into desktop

Posted in: Apple, diy, Mac, mod, Today's Chili

We’re all for taking lemons and making lemonade, but at least clean up the mess before you showcase it to the world. All kidding aside (sort of…), Sir Bibin and Nick Lee found something better to do with their jacked up PowerBook G4 Titanium than fetch a few pennies on eBay. When the hinges finally cracked, they decided to just fold ‘er on over, epoxy a pair of totally lackluster speakers on the side and add a wired Apple keyboard in to create a makeshift PowerMac (er, iMac, we suppose). Truthfully, we’d be way more into this if not for that very apparent spitball and the circa 1991 telephone cluttering up the masterpiece, but you know what they say about an artist and his / her studio.

[Thanks, Michael and Nick]

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PowerBook G4 Titanium inelegantly modded into desktop originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 04:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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