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xbox 360

PC-XB01 Aftermarket Xbox 360 Case First Impressions (Verdict: Quieter...Sort Of)

The guys over at bit-tech have got there hands on one of those aftermarket Lian-Li PC-XB01 cases for the 360 and offered up a few initial impressions. One of the major criticisms of the design was that it seemed to add a lot of bulk to the already large console. Bit-tech noted that it appeared smaller in person and could fit comfortably under one arm. They also claim that the Xbox was whisper quiet after installation, but it still made too much noise when a game was running. More »

modding

Bloo Balls Custom PC Case Mod is a Whole New Kind of Punk

This custom case mod made for Bit-Tech is just eye-grabbingly bizarre... from the outside alone. Built by a guy called Craig, Bloo Balls was over a year in the making, which included and a whole lot of careful design, redesign and fabrication. There's a mass of careful plexiglass-carving in there, including a hand-made, custom-crafted liquid cooling system for both P4 processor and northbridge. Plumbing and CPUs don't often mix, which is why the build included one fried motherboard. Check out the gallery: it's amazing, inside and out. So amazing, it almost warrants its own genre name... we're just wondering what to call it. More »

muzak

Low-Tech Bluetooth Hack Puts Callers to Your Cellphone On Infinite hold

This video demos what an Instructables team call a "quick down and dirty hack" that uses a Bluetooth headset to prank callers to your cellphone with an infinite hold pattern. It involves nothing more sophisticated than a cheapo Bluetooth headset, a few components, a modicum of soldering, and some amusing tunes and message creation. Your callers will then be treated to a "you are in a XX minute queue" message and your choice of irritating music. Now this wouldn't amuse me: It would piss me off, as I've listened to enough hold muzak for real... but your mileage may vary. Check out the Instructable if you want to DIY. [Instructables]

army tech

British Army Competition Yields Bomb-Dropping, Hi-Def Video Taking, Unfortunately Noisy Flying Robot

One of the front runners of an ongoing British Army-sponsored competition for new military technology is this miniature spaceship-looking thing, which is designed to inconspicuously drop bombs and listening devices behind enemy lines. The external blade-less shape allows the machine to enter buildings through windows or doors, and an HD camera feed lets it double as a surveillance bot. More »

diy

Wiimote Mod Adds IR Targeting To USB Missile Launcher

Using the Wiimote's IR sensor elegantly duct taped in place, Instructables user toelle was able to mod everyone's favorite USB toy to launch precision, infrared-guided attacks, just like the big boys (kind of). Using a custom script which looks for IR sources to aim at, you can lay down precision fire by, say, putting your TV remote with the buttons taped down next to the cat. Or attach a small remote to the cat—now we're talking. [Instructables]

boom!

Steve Jobs Bobblehead iPhone Dock Brings A Jobsnote To Your Desk In Creepiest Way Possible

Apparently not satisfied with keeping Bobble Steve confined to an app inside the phone, an intrepid bobblehead sculptor has constructed this mighty fine looking iPhone dock, complete with a super-detailed Steve-o frozen in "keynote reveal" stance. No word on whether Bobble Jobs's focused product announcement energies will interfere with any radio or magnetic fields on your desk, but just looking at this I'm having to fight back the urge to liveblog something...anything!. See a couple more shots of this masterpiece in progress after the jump. More »

music

Jumbo-Sized MIDI Sampler Let's You Muscle Out Beats Like Mario in Giant World

No matter how good the music is, musicians look kinda lame tapping out little beats on tiny samplers on stage. What is emphatically not lame though is pounding them on 16 giant pressure-sensitive pads with this 750-pound sampler rig. It was built for the Warped-tour band Family Force 5 by a musician named bwack, and it packs a 22" monitor, 10 control knobs, two pizza-sized pitch wheels and a Mac running Ableton to control the whole game. Check it out onstage at the Warped tour below. Giganto-rock! More »

weapons

Megatorpedo Sinks Destroyer in One Hit

This is a US Navy Spruance-class destroyer sinking in mere minutes after being hit by the latest version of a Mk 48: a heavyweight torpedo which, as you can see in this video, can wipe a whole ship out of the water in a single strike. This version, developed by the US and Australia, has new sonar enhancements that make it an "effective weapon in shallow water and in a countermeasure environment." The footage was taken to demonstrate its capabilities during the Rim of the Pacific 2008 naval exercise. Obviously, with frightening success (at least for someone who is looking to go to NYC in a freighter ship soon.) [Ares and BBC]

case mod

Famous Batmobile Tumbler Case Mod on eBay

About a year ago, the Batmobile case mod lit up the internets with a design crafted from a Wal-Mart R/C Tumbler. The mod still kicks ass, but the specs were lame a year ago and are now...one year lamer. Still, it would make for a unique web surfing device and a great way to celebrate the opening of the new movie. Plus, its pretty cheap at the moment (although there is still a week left). [eBay via Geekalerts]

case mod

Double Case Mod: Xbox 360 and HDTV Mashed Up

It's not often that a case mod involves modding two cases into one, but it's not often you get to see an Xbox 360 stuffed inside an LCD HDTV. PvP LostKnight has done just that to save space, creating what's perhaps the world's first Xbox console console. Not only does it work but it looks really nice, something I'd put in my living room without having to make excuses to my parents when they come to visit. And it's fully functional. [PSPMod]

consoles

Multi-Platform Universal Console Mod Plays Everything Modularly

This game console mod does things slightly different from older mods we've seen. Instead of taking an old console and shoving it into a smaller body, this guy made a universal body and modularizes consoles—in effect, turning consoles like the N64, NES, Megadrive, Jaguar, GBA, and PlayStation into insertable "cartridges" that can be played on this main unit. He's only got the N64 working (he says it's the hardest one), but will keep working on other systems until he can pretty much play everything made before 1998 on this thing. [Modded By Bacteria]

nes mod

NES Cartridge Modded into NES System With Screen, Space-Time at Risk Again

I've changed my mind: this has to be the most jaw-dropping NES mod ever, beating April's one. And this time the space-time continuum is at risk of ripping. Modder Darkeru over at Ben Heck forums has twisted reality around by including an entire NES emulator system, plus controls, plus an LCD screen into an original NES cartridge. It got a tiny bit beaten-up during the mod work, but I think we can forgive that because it's so ingenious. If I was wearing a hat, I'd doff it in Darkeru's direction. [Ben Heck Forums]

eeepc

EeePC 900 Gets a Touchscreen Mod That's So Good We Want It Standard

If we didn't know that this was done by a user, we'd swear that this touchscreen Eee PC was made by Asus themselves. The video shows a super sensitive and responsive screen, flicking quickly up and down on a web page with either the finger or stylus. On a laptop of 10-inches or smaller—what we like to call "tardtops"—a touchscreen fits just perfectly. Why get a Kindle when you have a light, touchscreen laptop that can be carried with you and supports lots of colors? Nice work jkkmobile. [JKKMobile]

iphone

iPhone Gets a MacBook Air Keyboard Mod

You may disagree, but we think this MacBook Air keyboard mod for the iPhone looks super neat. The package installs directly from Installer.app and gives your on-screen board the black separated look that the standard MacBook and the MacBook Air both feature. It's just cosmetic, and doesn't affect your typing performance in any way—unless of course you type faster when you see black plastic. It also uninstalls without destroying your phone, which is a plus. Grab it now, but you might have to add this repository (http://planet-iphones.com/repository/) first. [Just Another iPhone Blog via Into Mobile]

casemod

HybRed PC Casemod Gives the iMac a Severe Inferiority Complex

Before we get into the details of this compact HybRed PC casemod from modder Ville "Willek" Kyrö, let's set the scene, shall we? An iMac sits comfortably at a local coffee shop, its wifi at 100%, eagerly sucking down megabytes of the latest Natasha Bedingfield mp3 from iTunes when all of a sudden, the HybRed bursts through the door and orders *gulp* a medium coffee, black, and pays with cash! Que the scratching record as the iMac wets itself and shorts out. And... scene. More seriously, the all-in-one design is really all the Hybred shares with the iMac, because as you'll see this is one serious gaming rig. More »

xbox 360

Aftermarket Xbox 360 Case Reduces Noise, Heat and Design

If the Xbox 360 is simply too loud, hot and small for your taste, the Lian-Li PC-XB01 case mod can help. The case can silence the disc drive with sound-proofing foam and keep things cool with improved airflow, a single 120mm fan or optional water cooling system. Plus, it is four times the size of the 360—so you know it will take up that extra space you have been meaning to fill. A price point has not been made available, but we do know that you can get your hands on this hulking beast sometime this August. [Lian-Li via Xbox Scene via Hack a Day via Boing Boing Gadgets]

xbox laptop

Portable Gaming Solutions Will Cram Your 360 Into a Suitcase for $550

Sometimes it's nice to just sit and consider exactly why you don't do so many of the things that you don't do. (That's why I don't tie my nipples to doorknobs! Of course!) This is a useful exercise that the guy behind Portable Gaming Solutions has apparently never tried. As a result, he is offering to convert your perfectly functional Xbox 360 into a strange-looking laptop for more than the cost of the original console. More »

casemod

Geiger Counter PC Casemod Looks Good In Places That Can Kill You

This Russian Geiger Counter casemod (technically an Ion Detector) won't let you know if you're standing waist deep in nuclear radiation, but flick the power switch and the meter jumps to life, letting you know the relatively weak CPU housed inside is working properly. As for the specs inside the box, there's a 300 MHz CPU, 256MB of RAM and a 4GB Compact Flash card for storage. That's more Pong than Half-Life, but it still looks sharp. Just be sure not to mistake it for your real Geiger counter when you're packing for that vacation trip to Chernobyl. [Modding.ru via Technabob]