Add A USB Port To Your USB Optical Mouse

Posted by Devin Categories: Mods / Hacks, PC / Laptop, Peripherals,

If you’re like me, sometimes you’re just not in the mood to reach over and plug something into your USB port.  Thankfully, we’re not the only ones who are lazy - check out this hack that puts a USB port right in your mouse. Say goodbye to all that annoying reach-around!  Like the author says, “Amazing how laziness spawns some of the best ideas, eh?”

Read More | I-Hacked

ROKR < RAZR + Nano

Posted by Sparky Categories: Smartphones, Mods / Hacks, Portable Audio / Video,

A number of people are complaining about the Motorola ROKRs ridiculous limitation at 100 songs. Analysts are saying Apple insisted on this limit so as not to cut into the sales of the rest of their iPod line. Luckily, some creative folks have figured out a way to create your own iTunes phone with a Motorola RAZR, an iPod Nano, and a roll of duct tape. I really have to admit that this is a rather clever solution to having 1000 songs + your phone line in your pocket, while not having to worry about using your mp3 player and draining your phones battery.

Read More | Apparent Horizons

Video Tombstones

Posted by Kristin Wenzel Categories: Misc. Tech, Mods / Hacks, Portable Audio / Video,

  Think traditional grave markers are a little too “low tech?”  Well, you’re in luck.  A company called VidStone,  LLC has just the thing to make your afterlife (or that of a loved one) a little bit more high tech.  The company’s “Serenity Panel” features a 5-10 minute, multimedia memorial presentation which can include video, music, speech and text.  It is solar powered and features a weatherproof LCD panel to display the montage, at the site of the grave itself, built into the tombstone.

The company produces the presentation from material supplied by the client, and provides a proof for final approval before producing the final product, meant to last and provide the living with a way to remember the deceased.  The panel can be attached to just about any grave marker, even in a mausoleum.

Creepy?  Cool?  You decide.

Read More | Vidstone, LLC

The AppleCrate: An Apple II based Parallel Computer

Posted by Kristin Wenzel Categories: Misc. Tech, Mods / Hacks, PC / Laptop,

Now this is a stroke of genius. Basically, this guy has taken a number of Apple IIe logic boards and packaged them together, minus the peripherals. He then put them into a wooden crate, and configured everything to run as one unit. Pretty impressive! The site is a bit technical, but it’s very fascinating if you’re into retro tech and innovative things people can do with it.

Read More | The AppleCrate Webpage

How to Turn an Old Hard Drive into a Wall Clock

Posted by Kristin Wenzel Categories: Smart Home, Mods / Hacks,

This is a cool mod to try out if you have an old hard drive laying around that doesn’t work anymore.  Turn it into a fancy piece of wall art!  Here are all the directions you need to recycle your dead drive into something slightly more useful - more useful, that is, than a dead hard drive, not more useful than having a drive that functions. Give it a try, this one looks awesome.

Read More |  Alan Parekh

Blu-Ray May Deal Out “Punishment” to Hackers

Posted by Alex Grahmann Categories: Corporate News, Home Entertainment, Mods / Hacks,

According to Reuters, hackers or modders that tinker with their Blu-ray players may be subject to their devices being remotely disabled.  The feature, operated through a required connection between the player and the internet, could monitor the device and shut it down if any changes are made to hardware or internal firmware.  While this may not affect the mainstream user, having an outside entity attempting to control and monitor yet another component of home entertainment is sure to cause waves in the tech-savvy community, especially for those used to tampering with regional coding in their current DVD players.  In the battle against HD-DVD for format legitimacy, the mention of this feature will certainly put a damper on Blu-ray.

Read More | Reuters

Legos + Floppy + CD = Cool Mod

Posted by Edwin Soto Categories: Accessories, Mods / Hacks,

Time to tear down your R2-D2 Lego masterpiece, and grab your “Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?” floppy for yet another cool mod. Follow these simple instructions and you will end up with a CD/DVD rack that any uber-geek would love.

Read More | Ready Made via Gizmodo

Intel OS X: Convergence with Windows Applications?

Posted by Sparky Categories: Mods / Hacks, PC / Laptop, Software,

The open source developers behind WINE, the Windows library emulation layer for Linux are working to make their libraries work with the Intel version of OS X. If they succeed then you would be able to run Windows applications from within OS X - no need for emulating a Windows VM - just run the application natively. If they can really pull this off I’ll be compressed - it will have taken away the last reason for people to run Windows over Apples popular operating system by enabling all Windows enterprise applications and games to run seamlessly within the Aqua GUI.

Read More | OS X86 Project Forums

Eager To Use Google Talk?  Here You Go

Posted by Devin Categories: Internet, Mods / Hacks, Software,

If you can’t wait until Google releases Google Talk to the masses, it seems you’re in luck.  All you need is a Jabber-compatable IM client like Audium, iChat, GAIM or Trillian and a Gmail account.  Point your server setting to talk.google.com and simply sign in using your Gmail username and password.  You’ll be online using the latest instant messaging program in no time. Okay, not quite - but you are using the server. That’s cool, right? If you’re having a problem getting on, compare your configuration settings with these.

Read More | Smash World

Installing OCZ Platinum RAM in iMac G5 Makes Me Mad

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Mods / Hacks, PC / Laptop,

Boy, am I glad that’s over. What a freaking ordeal. You see, a few days ago I continued my Mac switch (which, up to that point, included a Mac mini and 12” PowerBook G4) with the purchase of a 20” 2.0 GHz iMac G5. The thing costs about $2,000 after taxes are said and done, and maxing out the RAM would have cost an extra $400. Of course, I have upgraded RAM in many a computer - heck, I have built plenty of computers from scratch. Looking on Newegg, I saw a great deal for 2 sticks of 1 GB OCZ Platinum PC3200 RAM. With that purchase, I saved about $200 doing it myself instead of having Apple do it. The RAM arrived today, and the war between me and my iMac began.

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