Gizmodo: customization

120 New Designs for Dell's Laptop Art Studio

Andi Wang — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:30:13 EDT

Attempting to erase the line between art and technology—and also make the laptop less "cold and impersonal"—Dell has added 120 new designs to their Laptop Art Studio.

The new skins bring the total to over 200 different designs from a collection of artists. Here are a few of my favorites from the new batch:

[Dell via geeksugar]

Hi-Tech Shoes For Ladies Have Heel Height Extenders

Matt Hickey — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:00:00 EDT

Thankfully just a concept for now, the Goodie 2 Shoe is an idea in function, and definitely not in form. They're ugly, sure, but they have a neat trick: the heel is adjustable with magnets and hidden hinges, so a 1.5-inch heel suitable for work gets extended to a come-hither 3.5-inch for going out. Other parts can be customized, much like the latest Sidekick. Personally, we'd be confused if we saw an attractive lady in these shoes. It shows she's got a geek's mind, but also a geek's taste, which is not always what we're looking for. Still, we hope these appear on Lady Robocop in the 2010 remake. [Crave]

Zing Laser Brings Laser Cutting Goodness to the Average Guy

Elaine Chow — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 11:00:00 EDT

Fans of laser engraving can now prettify all their stuff with Epilog Laser's new Zing Laser, a machine that's roughly about the size of a bulky office scanner. The Zing Laser, one of the first fully functional low-cost laser etchers on the market, has 25 watts of cutting power and can engrave designs into wood, acrylic, plastic, leather, cork, glass, treated metals and more.

When hooked up to a personal computer, the Zing is recognized as a printer. Put whatever you want to etch on a 16 by 12 inch engraving area and then use Corel Draw to calibrate where the design will go before starting the cutting process. Get to customizing every Mac thing you own for $7,995.

Here's a video of an iPhone getting carved and the laser cutting through wood.

[Gearlog]

Limited Edition Xbox Elite Consoles Bear Smashing GTA Branding, Not for You and I

Haroon Malik — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 11:30:00 EDT

Grand Theft Auto IV is coming, and with it Microsoft are dropping an awesome, limited edition, Xbox Elite console, which features GTA branding all over. The gaming beast will not be launched to the public, but instead will be given away as press kits to promote the new title, which kinda sucks. Only 500 units will be produced, and each will carry a unique identifier etched on.

The artwork is apparently inked on with genuine, automotive-quality paint and the console will also ship with a snazzy, all metallic case, housing a number of different peripherals. Now, why haven't we received our unit yet? Did we piss someone off by accident? Hit the link to checkout some more cracking images. [Complex via Kotaku]

D-Link Skins Let You Skin Your Router Like a '70s Porn Star

Jason Chen — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:40:06 EST

Would you like your D-Link router to look like this? Or perhaps a more flaming/square/butterfly motif fits your style? Head to D-Link and customize away. [D-Link]

Nexus Psile Quiet Media PC, Ripe for Your Own Self-Expression

Charlie White — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 11:40:00 EDT

When we last showed you the Nexus Psile Quiet Media PC, we didn't have a whole lot of additional information about it, but now it has your choice of Intel Core 2 Duo processors inside and is readily available in the US at prices starting at $1599. We like the designers' attention to detail with this unit, keeping it as quiet as possible with an external fanless power supply, a fanless copper CPU cooler, a quiet hard drive and a positionable silent 80mm fan.

Beyond that, its clean shape lends itself to design modifications. Nexus makes it easy, offering a variety of perfectly fitting stickers that can be attached to the PC's case, and also Photoshop and Illustrator design templates that you can modify to your liking. Create your design using that template, send the file to Nexus and it will make you a custom skin to stick onto your Psile. You can even customize the color of the LED pilot light. Neat. – Charlie White

Product Page [cooltechpc, via Sci Fi Tech]
Psile Site [Nexus]

iMac in a Mercedes CLS

Travis Hudson — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 15:00:07 EDT

You may have a pearly white interior in your Mercedes CLS, so you obviously need a pearly white computer to go in it. Luckily one smart car customizer, Mattes Interieurtechnik (awesome name), realized that one company does make a pearly white computer.

Mattes plopped an iMac into the backseat of this CLS. He wasn't very happy with the color matching, so he even wrapped the iMac in leather to match the interior a little better. There is a slight problem, though. He installed it directly in front of the vents. That would be fine during the summer because the air conditioning could also cool the iMac, but during the winter ... can you say overheating? – Travis Hudson

Customizer puts iMac in Mercedes CLS [Left Lane News]

CeBIT '06:Testa Motari Customized PCs

Travis Hudson — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 10:20:17 EST

This company makes fully customized PCs, laptops and media centers. This laptop caught our eye because it was as bling as bling can get. It is the Rio model that is constructed out of gold and rosewood. Every part of the PC or the laptop is customized including all of the components inside and especially the design and paint job. Check out some more photos after the jump.

Product Page