n64iphone is available to jailbreakers in Cydia for $2.50—ROMs not included, obviously—which would be a fair price for a full-fledged N64 emulator, but feels a little high for what currently amounts to a very neat party trick. [EsferaiPhone]

The previous design was a lot sleeker, and placed the controls on the side. But it didn't have those awesome nubs. A test run of those units were shipped to selected people in February, and early feedback, plus a "sleepless night", lead to the updated, bigger look.

You'll need to Jailbreak your iPhone, but the iControlPad is supported by some of the biggest iPhone devs (including ZodTTD's PSX and GBA emulators). If you're interested in placing a pre-order, sign up for the newsletter over at: [iControlPad]

There's also an mp3 player, movie player and an FM radio receiver. The video out is also intact, meaning this little guy can be used to play on the big screen.

Games in action below:

To answer your question, yes, this mod is very similar to one we've featured before. This one is cleaner, boasts more features, and plays Game Boy games too, so it gets the nod today. Nice work.

Oh, and the answer to the headline question, by the way, is unicorns. They would exist. [Ben Heck Forums via technabob]

Jailbreak stalwart ZODTTD has ported GBA and PSX emulators to the 3GS (which isn't quite jailbroken yet), and the results are stunning, even in light of the promising benchmarks we've already seen. Most impressive? As you can see in the video above, Final Fantasy VII for the Playstation runs perfectly. For reference, it absolutely crawled on the 3G and iPod Touch, to the point that is was irritating to use, even as a novel HEY LOOK AT THIS tech demo. [ZODTTD via Nowhereelse]

Why the rejection, you ask? Here's Apple's take, form letter style:

Thank you for submitting C64 1.0 to the App Store. We've reviewed C64 1.0 and determined that we cannot post this version of your iPhone application to the App Store because it violates the iPhone SDK Agreement; "3.3.2 An Application may not itself install or launch other executable code by any means, including without limitation through the use of a plug-in architecture, calling other frameworks, other APIs or otherwise. No interpreted code may be downloaded and used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple's Published APIs and built-in interpreter(s)."

Right. All well and good, except that there are plenty of accepted apps floating around out there that do the exact same thing (including the Zork-tastic Frotz).

Worse still, the publisher, Manomio, had secured all the licenses to run such an app from Killoo Apps, the current owner of the Commodore 64 license. But that's not all. How about another kick in the nuts, just for good measure? You see, not only did Manomio have the license, it also had the blessing of Apple Europe, which was "really excited" about the app, said Manomio CEO Brian Lyscarz.

That blessing got misplaced, apparently, as Manomio learned this week. Lyscarz and others, myself included, still hold out hope that the app will be accepted in one form or another. [Touch Arcade- Thanks, Ponies]

The crazy thing is Matthias claimed this was his first attempt at such a hack, and that he was really surprised at how easy the project turned out to be. The commenters at Hack A Day were unsurprisingly excited about the ramifications of such an invention.

Six-slot multidrive reader featuring support for NES, SNES, Mega Drive, Game Boy, Genesis, and N64 ROMs, anyone? [Hackaday]

As mentioned above, the "fiddling" actually requires you to gain root access to the Pre. This important step is followed by compiling FCEUltra and an adjustment or two to the display settings so that the NES games run at a somewhat squished 320x480.

Understand Linux better than breathing? Great. Should be easy then. Full instructions in the Pre Dev Wiki link. [Pre Dev Wiki via CrunchGear]

Now, the driving may be terrible, but the video itself answers a question about the emulator regarding sound support. Short answer: It looks like it has it!

Update: As is painfully obvious in the demo (and noted below by beloved Gizmodo commenters), there's something wonky going with the touchscreen, which looks to be anything but sensitive. Bad form.

However, as our tipster Travis points out, this "wonkiness" is most likely due to the nature of the emulated OS:

First off I'd like to point out that this is an emulation of the classic PalmOS running on top of the new WebOS. The classic palms uses a resistive touchscreen and as such would require a stylus with a much smaller point of accuracy. Now you're trying to replicate that on a capacitive touch screen. The emulator doesn't know that though and its still looking for that stylus tip.

You can actually see on the video one of the ways that Palm tried to work around this discrepancy. When she touches the screen there is an after effect of where she touched. If you watch again you'll see that she's just not touching in the right place. Instead of noticing where the emulator is registering her touch and re-adjusting appropriately she's just poking in the same spot over and over. The 'wonky' thing that's going on with the touchscreen is that you've got a capacitive touchscreen designed around finger based input trying to replicate the input in a way that the PalmOS software looking for a 'push' on a resistive touch screen from a stylus will recognize.

Good form. [MotionApps via Engadget]

Emulating NES/Famicom, Gameboy, Gameboy Color, Super Famicom and Sega Mega Drive/Genesis titles, the GAME-800 is a crudely controlled but effective looking pocket emulator with a 3.5-inch screen and 4GB of expandable storage. It also doubles as an MPEG4 player, eBook reader (with Chinese/English text to speech) and a low fidelity camera.

The GAME-800 is available now for an $80 import. [China Grabber via technabob]

Constructed from one large HDTV and a smaller LCD monitor, this machine, called HyperPin, makes for a surprisingly convincing pinball experience. The trick is in the software, Future Pinball. It's a real-time 3D pinball simulator for the PC, with which enthusiasts can recreate and play on their favorite tables in a simulated arcade. Builder BadBoybill (indeed!) took this all a step further, adapting the app to display on two screens, giving the appearance of an actual table. Bumping, shaking and drink-resting are not recommended. [HyperPin via Digg]

The OS, developed by Named Fork, is based around that found on the Mac Plus (v3.0, presumably). If you can stomach the god-awful nu-metal soundtrack (or whatever they're calling it these days), the video runs through a demo of the different control schemes for using the OS with a touchscreen.

Admittedly, it looks like more work than it probably is, especially since you have to track down and convert the retro software yourself (more info here). But if I can play some Number Crunchers, and maybe a little Lode Runner, I'd gladly suffer some tedium to revisit my childhood technological awakening. [Named Fork via Nowhere Else via CrunchGear]

Also check out more images at Nowhere Else

It's a cool use of an emulator, sure, but the combination of the look at that guy's face and the fact that you basically have to manipulate his crotch to make the blocks move is a bit off-putting, to say the least. [technabob]

While some of the photos here clearly show a real device, you can see that modesty has inclined lil' Oppo to only be shown from the rear, save for in chaste rendering form. So hopefully the d-pad and traditional SNES/PlayStation four-button config makes it to the final stages of production. News today is pricing: 1099 yuan, or $160. That only appears to buy you a paltry 4GB, but throwing together a true emulation platform along with some pedestrian MP3 playing capabilities into decent-looking swivel-screen hardware doesn't sound like a bad idea to me. [Zol (translated) via PMP Today]

There are nearly endless ways to bring a USB stick out of retirement, and they're not just gimmicks: virtually all USB sticks, 32MB USB 1.1 dinosaurs included, can be repurposed into anything from a lifesaving troubleshooting tool to an entire portable OS. Here are your best options:

Turn it into a physical "key" for your computer
For security freaks or the extraordinarily literal-minded, Vista has built-in software to convert your USB key into an actual key, such that your PC won't boot without having it inserted. It might not be ideal if your key may be old enough that it is likely to fail on you, if you have a propensity to lose tiny things, or if your laptop only has one or two USB ports to begin with, but it definitely offers a special kind of peace of mind. For Macs, Rohos essentially does the same thing, but at $30, it's not particularly recession-friendly.

Install a portable OS
This is actually simpler and less esoteric than it sounds—installing a wide array of Linux systems is pretty easy nowadays, and will more importantly net you a fully functional desktop that you can take with you wherever you go. Lifehacker recently assembled a useful comparison of popular USB-able Linux distributions, in which they recommend the fantastic UNetbootin or creating the bootable keys in the first place. It's worth noting that two of these distros will work on keys at less than 128MB capacity (DSL is just 50MB, total) and all carry a legitimately useful range of apps.

Use portable apps to create a pocketable user profile
Most free software now comes in a portable variety, meaning that at least under Windows, programs that normally extend their tentacles into your user profile and registry can be installed completely—user data included—onto a USB stick. All you do is insert the stick and find the desired .exe, and you're good to go.

The most obvious advantage to this is profile portability—in other words, your portable Firefox (or Opera or Chrome) isn't just the app, it's your favorites, history, user preferences and cookies too. The portable version of Pidgin, a multiprotocol IM program, can hold your account data, transcripts and settings. Most of these installations are quite small—Firefox is just 8MB, for example—so you can build an extensive user profile on all but the oldest keys.

The very best one-stop shop for portable apps is the, well, aptly named PortableApps.com.

Create a powerful troubleshooting toolbelt
Portable antivirus and file recovery apps are convenient, but a USB key can be loaded up with much more powerful software. Ultimate Boot CD for Windows is a sort of software panacea which, in addition to including a selection of Windows maintenance apps, carries a veritable treasure trove of low-level troubleshooting programs, made accessible by booting into a sort of temporary "Windows Lite" desktop. It can manage disk deletion and partitioning, software and hardware diagnostics and a huge variety of lifesaving recovery functions. Despite the "CD" part of its name, Ultimate Boot CD for Windows can be loaded onto a USB key, though it requires a Windows installation disc from which to build the aforementioned "Windows Lite" environment. If you don't run Windows but still want a basic DOS-based suite of hardware diagnostics and disk tools, the vanilla Ultimate Boot CD has you covered.

Convert it into a tiny SNES, Genesis, MAME, etc.
Emulators are tiny, and most ROMs are even tinier; a USB key, no matter the size or speed, can probably hold more vintage console games than you can find the time to play. Many popular emulators come in a portable flavor, so your display settings, saved games and cheats will follow you everywhere. Without the need to install anything, this potentially opens up work, school or other public PCs to most pre-PlayStation gaming. Popular portable NES, SNES, Game Boy, Genesis, and arcade emulators. As for ROMs, that's on you. (Pro tip: GOOGLE).

Carry a portal to your home computer
Virtual Network Computing (VNC) sounds more complicated than it is—it simply lets you see and control your computer screen remotely. Whatever OS you run (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux), VNC servers are simple to set up and, if configured correctly, plenty secure. While many provide web interfaces to be accessed through a browser, they're almost always clunky, Java-based monstrosities. A simple VNC client (download the binary archive version) will carry your settings, run responsively and offer more quality, speed and transfer options than its bastard HTTP brother, transporting a home computer's desktop to wherever you happen to be.

Donate it to charity
If you're some kind of ingrate who doesn't see the potential in any of the above options (or you're just a good, charitable person), InVineo, a non-profit tech outreach organization will find someone who does. They'll gladly take your 64MB Cruzers and send them to developing countries to be used in schools or local governments.

Hat tip to Lifehacker and Portable Apps.

Dealzmodo Hacks are intended to help you sustain your crippling gadget addiction through tighter times. If you come across any on your own that are particularly useful, send it to our tips line (Subject: Dealzmodo Hack). Check back every other Thursday for free DIY tricks to breathe new life into hardware that you already own.

Hanging out at sites like Giz may have instilled in you an insatiable, pocket-emptying gadget habit. But now we're entering a new era—the old guys on the TV are saying that soon we may not even have pockets, let alone money for them. Don't panic though: You've probably got a wealth of gadgetry sitting underutilized in your living rooms, closets and basements, just waiting to be given powerful new (not exactly authorized) features. For free.

I've collected the best firmware replacements, software mods and homebrew hacks from the DMCA-flouting, EULA-hating frontiers of gadgetland that'll breathe new life into your stable of hardware and maybe—just maybe—let you feel that lusty new-gadget rush again.

Turn Your Xbox, Old PC or Apple TV into a Genuine Media Center

Xbox Media Center is about as refined as an unauthorized hack can get, playing back virtually any audio and video format, running a bevy of console emulators and still playing your Xbox games. To be honest, this should almost be viewed as a natural update for every Xbox, which at its core is a slow but functional PC with an easy TV connection. (Any actual PCs you have lying around can run a PC-ported version of XBMC.)

Boxee is a very slick fork of the XBMC project for Mac, and it's available for Apple TV. As shipped, the Apple TV works fine within the closed iTunes ecosystem, but Boxee's support for virtually every video codec and free online video like YouTube, CNN, BBC, and Revision3 will suit your new, more destitute lifestyle a bit better.

Difficulty: Easy to Moderate. Installation is pretty straightforward in most cases, with simple Boxee and XBMC setup programs available for Windows, Mac and Linux. Before you load XBMC, though, you have to mod your Xbox with one of these methods, many of which require a specific game. After that it's all install wizards and lollipops.

Installing anything on the locked-down Apple TV used to take some serious finagling, but there are now tools that will create an automated Boxee installer on a flash drive. Just plug the drive in, restart and you're good to go.

XBMC Online Manual

Boxee

Make Over Your iPod, Archos, iRiver or Sandisk with Rockbox

It's hard to look at the current generation of media players and not admire their diverse capabilities and extensible software platforms. That's not to say that your 5th-gen iPod doesn't play back music perfectly well, or that your iRiver H10 still isn't a kickass media player, but they do feel a bit dated. Rockbox replaces your MP3 player's operating system with something more substantial, effectively making it a completely new device. You get endless codec support, advanced audio options, dozens of games, useful apps like a calculator and a text editor, plus you can choose from tons of different interface skins for a unique look and feel. Rockbox's tweaking possibilities mean you will earn admiring "what is that?" questions from friends, and it won't cost you a thing. If your player isn't supported yet just hold on—everything from the Zen Vision:M to the Toshiba Gigabeat S has a fairly active dev team.

Difficulty: Easy. Rockbox has an automated tool called the Rockbox Utility available for Windows, Mac and Linux. It does the work for you. Even better, it often automatically configures your player to dual boot with its original OS.

Rockbox Official Site

Convert Your PC or Notebook Into A Much More Expensive Mac

It's undeniable that Macs are too expensive. For many, they are considered a luxury item whose added cost doesn't justify the benefit. Luckily Apple's switch to an Intel platform opened up a world of unauthorized OS X installations which can turn your existing PC into a powerhouse Mac Pro workstation, or morph your MSI Wind or Asus EeePC into the Mac netbook that should be in their goddamn product line anyway. Check the hardware compatibility list to see if your PC is eligible for the upgrade.

Difficulty: Moderate to Hard. If you're not morally opposed to downloading iATKOS and Kalyway, which are pre-patched Leopard install DVDs (this is bit torrent territory), then the process is much like installing any other OS. If you insist on building your own patched install from a DVD you own, then, well, good luck. Always check hardware lists first, though, because driver support is everything.

OSX86 Project Page

Flash Your Crappy Router Into a Top-Line Piece of Hardware

The DD-WRT project exists for a simple reason: Most routers are physically very similar, but are priced differently because of functionality derived from software. The DD-WRT firmware unlocks the potential of the most basic routers out there—too many to name but damn if yours isn't on the list. As it turns out, your budget model is kind of impressive: Program-specific traffic throttling, professional level wireless security and radical signal boosting are just a few of the dozens of new features that can be enabled.

Difficulty: Easy. If you can't manage this one, then you don't deserve a router—installation just takes a few clicks on the device's default configuration pages. A word of caution, though: Make sure your router configuration page is totally compatible with your browser before the operation, as some choke on Firefox and can botch firmware upgrades. Stick to IE if you have the choice.

DD-WRT Project Page

Download Updated Maps For Your Old GPS

I'm referring of course to capital 'D' downloading here, mainly because at the moment GPS map updates are a racket. You could spend hundreds of dollars on map data that is freely available on Google Maps, Microsoft Live and MapQuest, among others, or you can just, you know, not. Map packs for Garmin, TomTom and Magellan units are floating around torrent sites and usually don't require much more than a simple CD image mount and run routine to set up. (Guilty conscience sold separately.)

Difficulty: Easy to Moderate. If you're just running a copy of a CD, then you'll be able to use the installation wizards. Some more involved methods for Windows CE-based devices require some SSH file transfers, but these are relatively rare.

Jailbreak Your iPhone for Wi-Fi Internet Tethering

Two internet plans are enough, but to sign on to a mobile internet contract when you've already got unlimited iPhone data feels kind of stupid. Jailbreaking your iPhone is now about as easy as performing a firmware upgrade, and there are actually multiple tethering apps. PDANet and iPhoneModem both work a treat, but keep in mind that excessive usage could draw AT&T's attention and ire: Tethering is not allowed on the data plan, even though it works fine. Both apps are available in Cydia, where you can also find a limited assortment of other apps that don't have a place in the app store.

Difficulty: Moderate. Jailbreaking can be managed through the Dev Team's fantastic Quickpwn tool, but it does take a few minutes and can go wrong if instructions aren't followed closely. After jailbreak, Cydia and Installer fill the role of the gray-market app store, functioning as simple package managers that are arguably as polished as their more legitimate younger brother.

PDANet and iPhoneModem take different approaches to tethering, but neither requires more networking expertise than it would take to, say, set up a router.

iPhone Jailbreak

PDANet

iPhoneModem

Turn Your Wii Into a Free Emulation Machine

It's more than a little infuriating to have to repurchase your childhood library of console games from the Virtual Console, especially when free PC emulators and accompanying ROMs abound on the old intertubes. All you need is a copy of Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess, an SD card and an SD reader and you're ready to install A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia, which is pretty much all anyone has ever really needed since this whole "Video Gaming Television Machine" thing got under way in the first place. Throw in extended media playback and some helpful widgets for an extra value-add.

Difficulty: Moderate. This is one of the only hacks here that needs additional hardware to work, even if it's basic. The good news is that once you find a copy of Zelda and load up your SD card, the process pretty much takes care of itself. Further app installs are taken care of through a intuitive dedicated channel.

WiiBrew WIki

A great resource for similar projects is our industrious sister site Lifehacker, where you can find a veritable treasure trove of tutorials and tricks. Have you postponed any gadget purchases until you're sure your bank is solvent? Have any other budget hardware resurrection techniques that we missed? Let us know in the comments.

But since it's a modern build, Martijn popped in media-player functionality for audio and video, a 2 x 90W audiophile-quality amp/speaker system and a 24-inch 1080p flat-screen monitor. Lovely, in a retro-futuretastic way... but why oh why did he choose yellow? Good enough for bananas and custard, but arcade machines need to be more sober. You should be able to buy one sometime, price on application. [Retrothing]

So far, they've confirmed about 200 titles. How will you get the emulation software? Glad you asked:

What I m really proud to tell you and your readers is that it s easy to get the emulation software, and it s free. We ll give gamers a choice—you can get the latest software updates from Xbox Live, burn a CD from xbox.com or sign up on Xbox.com for a CD that can be delivered to your home at a nominal shipping and handling fee. Once you get the CD, put it in your Xbox 360 and you re ready to go.

Q & A: Backward Compatibility [Xbox.com]

XBox 360 on Amazon [Ships Nov. 22, 2005]

Sign Up for XBox 360 Availability Alert [CNET]