Gizmodo: Mods

Xbox Slim: The Console Microsoft Didn't Slow Down to Make

Mark Wilson — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:11:00 EDT

After Microsoft launched the Xbox, they didn't have any intention of releasing an Xbox Lite or Xbox Slim. Instead, they went straight for the next generation with the 360. Meanwhile, one modder, caught in retro Xbox fandom, had to create a fantastic Xbox Slim of his own. Reduced by almost 2 inches in length, width and height, the Xbox Slim has a total reduction in volume of around 60%. But that's just the start of it.

The weight is even more impressive, as it's been more than halved from 8.5 to just 4 pounds. These skinnified reductions were possibly only through new components—a new slimline DVD/CD-R and 2.5-inch drive help reduce bulk and weight, a Wi-Fi adapter makes for easy networking and then a pair of Iceberg4 Pro Chip Cooling fans keep it all from melting.

Sure, it'll play Xbox titles. But it's also fully packed XBMC media center and every emulator around. [Xbox Scene via technabob]

CinematographHD: Two Monitors In One Incredible Case Mod

Mark Wilson — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 09:30:00 EDT

When a video editor became depressed looking at his laptop, he did the only logical thing. He went to the garage, whipped out the welding torch and cooked himself up a portable system that could store a five-drive RAID0 array and two 22-inch monitors. Video is captured via unspecified HDMI-wielding video card and project output occurs through a Blu-ray burner. We don't know what the whole honking system weighs in at, but we do know that this 10-minute spark montage build video puts Rocky !, II, III and IV to shame:

I don't know about you, but I'm gonna go do some push ups. [Modders Inc]

This NES Cartridge Now Stores 250GB of Anything

Mark Wilson — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:00:00 EDT

To the modern modder, the NES cartridge is a tool as versatile as a Swiss Army Knife, or maybe one of those blade-things that fits in the credit card slot of one's wallet. Regardless, the NES-Box is an NES cartridge stuffed with a 2.5" 250GB SATA drive. Connecting to any computer via USB, the drive needs to additional power to operate. And the best part? This baby is actually on sale for $180. We find it hard to believe that the one in stock hasn't been purchased yet, but maybe if you ask the Etsy seller real nice, they'll fashion another just for you. [Etsy via ubergizmo]

XCM Rapid Fire Gear Lite: Xbox Controllers Go Fully Automatic

Mark Wilson — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:30:00 EDT

With the upcoming XCM Rapid Fire Gear Lite kit, Xbox 360 gamers will be able to add machine-gun style turbo buttons to their controllers. Working across multiple games and easily toggled with a top-mounted switch, the kit will also nearly double the controller's D-pad range of motion to 6 degrees in each direction. It will essentially take the stock 360 pad and juice it like [fill in your favorite baseball player here who you are absolutely SURE never used steroids].

The only catch is that the mod will require you to get your hands dirty; soldering is a must. But Extreme-Mods will be offering players the option to send in their controllers and have the magical modding elves do all the hard work. So you can cheat at Halo and COD4 without having any sort of technical knowledge whatsoever. Score!

Neither pricing for the standalone kit nor the install service has been announced. [XCM USA]

The Heat Sink Computer Loves to Sweat

Mark Wilson — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:40:00 EDT

This computer uses 100% passive cooling (read: no fans or liquid chilling systems). So how is that possible? Well just look at the thing. It's like one big freakin' heat sink. We don't have much information on the design, but from what we can tell, copper tubing helps dissipate the heat from hot spots like the processor to the outer casing. Don't get us wrong, we'll take a low wattage fan if it keeps our system running properly. But as a feat of design and engineering, this system is pretty...uhh...well we we're gonna say "hot" but that doesn't work in this case. A few more shots:

Standing up, it looks kind of like a Mac Pro but cooler. That last pun was originally unintentional, but we're leaving it all the same. [Hacked Gadgets]

Bar2D2, the R2-D2 of Failed Space Operas

Mark Wilson — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:30:00 EDT

Remember that time in Star Wars when R2-D2 shot out the lightsaber to Luke Skywalker? Yeah, well the only problem with that scene was that lightsabers don't freaking exist. And until they do, robots of the future must be retrofitted with the next best thing—copious amounts of booze. (Which, as we see in this picture, is something that certain cast members of the ill-fated show Firefly can appreciate).

Bar2 is radio controlled and runs about 8 hours on a single charge. And as you can see in our gallery, he's great with the ladies.

The robot is a fully stocked bar on wheels with compartments for ice, beer and mixed drinks. Grab a beer from Bar2 and its carousel system automatically rotates to present you with the next bottle (15 max capacity). The top carousel holds up to six bottles of hard alcohol and mixers that is programmable to mix the perfect drink.

And Bar2D2 sounds like his fictional counterpart, stocked with the soundboard of an R2-D2 toy. See the full process of building Bar2 over at Jamie Price's flickr page. [flickr via Gizmowatch]

NES Controller Socket Lets You Control Your Mods with Nostalgia

Dan Nosowitz — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 17:30:00 EDT

Parallax has just released their NES controller socket to the delights of modders everywhere. Instead of forcing them to chop up an old NES to get the 7-pin socket, Parallax has made it available for only $2 on their site. The NES controller would be great for all kinds of little projects, from robots to old-school gaming devices, and we're really looking forward to seeing what inventive modders can do with the humble and much-loved controller. [MAKE]

Thermaltake's Xpressar PC Case Uses Actual Fridge Compressor For Cooling

John Mahoney — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:00:00 EDT

Onwards and upwards in the overclockers' heatsink game: The crazed coolant doctors at Thermaltake are now shipping what they're claiming is the first case to feature a DC-inverter micro refrigeration system onboard, which goes beyond conventional liquid-cooled setups by using the same type of compressor/condenser/coolant system found in a refrigerator or air conditioner into your PC case. UPDATE: It is not the first, as Asetek had done this ages ago.

Thermaltake claims the Xpressar gains an additional drop of 20° C below liquid-cooled systems that don't feature an actual fridge compressor. But, as you know, your AC and refrigerator tend to make a lot of noise and suck down a lot of power (Xpressar's compressor is rated at 50W), so you can assume that this is not the most practical of setups. And the crazy ductwork required means only certain ATX and mini-ATX motherboards are supported, but practicality's never really been first on overclockers' minds, right? [Hexus, Far East Gizmos]

Automated Litter Box Powered by Mac Mini

Mark Wilson — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:40:00 EDT

You might call it overkill, but one modder decided to do a little work to his stock litter box. He equipped it with a ventilation system that's triggered by a motion detector. Five minutes after the cat uses the facilities, the fan kicks on for fifteen minutes (as prompted by the Mac Mini home automation system that the litter box is connected to). The result? Less cat smell, but his guests still talk about his strange cat obsession on the way home from the party. [Treehugger Forums via BBGadgets]

Mod Connects Xbox 360 QWERTY Pad to PSP, Fanboy Heads Explode

Jack Loftus — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:00:00 EDT

Modder Giancarlo "Jean" Todone has video of the unholy union of an Xbox 360 QWERTY with a PSP Slim. While the mod works just fine, as you can see in the video, we worry about the fanboys. Seeing something like this in action must be kind of like how Brendan Fraser's character felt we he woke up for the first time in Encino Man. It doesn't make sense. It can't make sense. Because then everything you've based you life on—every waking moment—was a lie.

Here's some of the tech specs about the mod, courtesy of Acid Mods moderator l0rdnic0:

My PSP’s are running CFW 4.01 M33-2, a special version of piKey and a custom flash on the Chatpad. Text input is a breeze and it works with the Sony OSK (on screen keyboard) and the Danzeff OSK under AFKIM. It does not work with PSPWrite and other ZX-81 applications because they are not compiled to do so but Jean is working on a compatible drive to make them work natively.

Is there any doubt that the PSP is a hacker's dream these days? [AcidMods]

DIY Mini Multi-Platform Console Mod

Sean Fallon — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:00:00 EDT

Retro gaming fans that enjoy a good DIY project will certainly get a kick out of the latest work of a console modder that goes by the name "Bacteria." Basically, he has devised a way to cannibalize those Plug-n-Play TV gaming units into interchangeable cartridges that can be plugged into a single, portable system (he also claims that a GBA add-on is currently in the works). Unfortunately, Bacteria continues to be uninterested in details like aesthetics and ergonomics (as we first noticed in his previous project), but that is something you can probably correct should you decide to take on the mod yourself. Hit the link for the complete instructions. [Modded by Bacteria]

Unreal Rocket Launcher PC Mod Will Blast Your Pants Off

Jesus Diaz — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 15:00:00 EDT

One more IFA, one more gallery of absolutely crazy PC mods by nutty Europeans. The best of the lot was, without a doubt, this menacing Unreal Rocket Launcher. But there are others, each of them more silly, pointless, and horrendous than the previous one.

The worst: that two-headed furry blue monster that moved his heads, feet, and eyes while holding the system's display. [More IFA 2008 Coverage]

Four-Foot SNES Controller Actually Works (For Shaquille O'Neal)

John Herrman — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:30:00 EDT

Taking inspiration as well as construction cues from the massive NES controller table built in May, SCAD Inc., which I will charitably call a garage-based novelty enlargement collective, set out to build a giant-sized SNES controller, complete with functioning buttons. A few months later the build is complete, and it looks, well, huge.

The angular, simply-shaped NES controller lent itself well to humongonization, but the rounded sides and shoulder buttons made the SNES a formidable challenge to accurately build at such a large scale. The SCAD guys sure as hell pulled it off though, getting everything from the curvature of the L and R buttons to the fonts used on the control labels almost perfectly right. The body of the controller is cut from wood, and the buttons are connected directly to the guts of a standard SNES controller, preserving the now hilariously small-looking cable and connector. Matt LaBoone, the primary builder of the project, says that videos (hopefully including some gameplay action) are forthcoming. For now check out the full log of the building process at the SCAD Inc. site. [SCAD Inc.]

16 Circuit-Bent Toys: The Track List to Your Nightmares

Sean Fallon — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:30:00 EDT

From toy guitars to the Furby Gurdy, modders have been taking cute, cuddly kids' toys and transforming them into the demented, terrifying instruments of your nightmares for years now. The folks at OObject have collected a whole album's worth of these twisted circuit-bent toy tunes for your listening displeasure. [OObject]

iPhone 3G Modded with Macro

Mark Wilson — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:00:00 EDT

The iPhone 3G's camera works alright until you want to grab a shot of something within a foot or so (like a butterfly, or unpopped pimple). And to address this dilemma, one modder softened the glue holding in his iPhone's camera and rotated the lens to macrofy the fovus. He was able to take several shots within 5 inches, but the most impressive is this picture taken just .25 inches away from its subject. For a phone especially, that's some impressive macro. If only it didn't require such delicate surgery to implement—ahem—Apple—ahem. [flickr via TUAW]

Mac minis Turned Into Other Fetish Boxes People Drool Over

matt buchanan — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 20:30:00 EDT

Apple might neglect the Mac mini more than apparently hipsters do showers in mid-August, but some people love it enough to lavish it with the attention no one else does. Hideo Takano is one of those people, transforming the little fetish block into other boxes people obsess over: an over-sized Lego block for Apple-loving manboys to dream of building a Mac minizord, and a cute little gas can for pyromaniacs. Or simply other Macs—like a Quadra or a Mac Pro. We really love the bright red gas can:

Do check out the rest of his roundup at Mac Mod Lab. The Pro envy feels a played out, though an actual Pro stuffed into a mini would be worthy of wankage. [Mac Mod Lab via Technabob]

Electronic Sandwich...Thanks Mom?

Mark Wilson — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:00:00 EDT

While the refined carbohydrates of Wonder bread coupled with the classic duo of butter from crushed peanuts and the fruit that comes in a jar have powered America's youth for generations, the digital era has ushered in a new use for food. Namely, not eating it. This "electronic sandwich" transforms the binary bliss of PB&J into pretty much just binary, and when you add a bit of power, the sandwich lights up:

While the LEDs aren't intended for consumption, you'll surely be able to trade a glowing sandwich for a Nutty Bar or at least a Star Crunch. [Electronic Sandwich via MAKE]

Custom Mini ColecoVision Packs Lotsa Upgrades

Mark Wilson — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:45:00 EDT

While the original ColecoVision console would be a fine addition to any gaming enthusiast's home theater setup, this custom Mini ColecoVision has eschewed nostalgia for modern technology, shrinking the console by 50 square inches in its new case all while making some really great hardware upgrades, too.

Aside from a completely refurbished chipset, this Mini ColecoVision features newly-added composite and S-Video out that promises that Donkey Kong will be more beautiful than ever. A dedicated analog audio output should ensure clearer sound as well.

PLUS—oh, we aren't done yet—an "intro skip" BIOS chip has been added to allow users to skip past the ColecoVision's obnoxiously long title screen.

There's a bright-ass blue LED switch that's been added as well.

The Mini ColecoVision is currently bid to $374.99 on eBay. The auction ends this evening. [eBay via technabob]

What the Wiimote Needs Now: More LEDs

Mark Wilson — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 10:02:00 EDT

Now that Nintendo's solving their Wiimote control issues, we can finally focus our intentions on superficial improvements. It's required some major soldering, but one modder has added all sorts of LED-based tweaks to his Wiimote. The first, seen here, Skittles-izes the player indicators by swapping out the now-drab blue LEDs for those of multiple colors. Our cup of tea? Not really. But the kids will love it. The second notable mod utilizes the Wiimote's rumble signal and maps an LED pulse to the shaking:

For those interested in actually doing this stuff to your Wiimotes, head over to Wiimotemods for their complete guide of step-by-step projects. [Wiimotemods via MAKE]

MIT Student Hackers Revealing How to Get Free Subway Rides Is National Security Threat

matt buchanan — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 11:30:00 EDT

"Want free subway rides for life?" teased the description of the talk "Anatomy of a Subway Hack" by three MIT students at DefCon this past weekend, where they planned to explain security flaws in the payment system for Boston's T subway. Live! They were going to demo how they cracked the system's CharlieCard smartcards and the mag-stripe on its paper CharlieTickets and offer up open source tools they made while conducting their research, among other gaping holes. Apparently, however, that “constitutes a threat to public health or safety,” and “affects a computer system used by a government agency for national security purposes.”

At least, that's what the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's lawsuit against the students, their professor and the university claims. They argue that the students actually ran afoul of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act because one of the fare cards "constitutes a computer," and that because the MBTA works with the Department of Homeland Security, national security, yadda yadda. End result, the judge agreed and gagged the students for at least 10 days, so they couldn't give their talk (you can still check out the presentation here though). The students say that they believed the matter had been resolved before the restraining order was filed, and didn't realize that the MBTA wanted a full copy of the presentation.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is currently repping the students, and says that the judge came to "a very, very wrong conclusion" and that the decision "has a tremendous chilling effect on sharing this sort of research. . . . And we intend to fight it with everything we've got." [Wired, WSJ, The Tech via Alley Insider]

The Lego PC We Knew Existed Actually Exists

Mark Wilson — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 11:15:00 EDT

The other day we posted a mean-looking, black as night Lego PC that didn't resemble the iconic toy in the slightest. Then we described the picture that the term "Lego PC" painted in our mind's eye, a "vivid red, yellow and blue case topped with a small army of minifigs and maybe a pirate ship." Well, a reader spotted this system over the weekend, and it comes darn close to our description. So...uhh...are we making things happen with our mind? Because in that case, we're seeing Scarlett Johansson topped with a hot fudge and bacon sundae (and maybe a Lego pirate ship). [Thanks Jared!]

Modder Adds Working Touchscreen to PSP

John Mahoney — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 19:00:00 EDT

PSP modder jube808 has equipped his PSP with a DIY touchscreen, as part of his efforts to add features he feels Sony dropped the ball on with his beloved handheld. The on-screen keyboard looks pretty responsive, and can be used with fingers or a stylus. Such a mod is probably making PSP homebrewers salivate with PSP/DS hybrid potential. Another video has a closer look at the whole rig.

[PSPzProject via Kotaku]

Someone's Dragon Collection Melted on this Gears of War Xbox 360

Mark Wilson — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 20:30:00 EDT

Sure, we like the design, but we love that despite the muddy, spontaneous pewter finish of this homemade Gears of War Xbox 360, the creator very carefully negotiated all of the Xbox's machined ventilation holes. All-in-all, it's a pretty decent-looking mod, and those red lights are actually pretty quite when they're not signaling a melted 360. [Llama's]

Scrapwood Electric Guitars Expose the Illusion of Rock

Mark Wilson — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 08:36:00 EDT

I'm not saying that we'll see Springsteen rocking a one-string, DIY electric guitar any time soon. But I'm pretty sure that he could if he wanted to, because these homemade guitars aren't too shabby—seeing as they were constructed in an afternoon by a group with little to no guitar crafting experience.

As for Springsteen, it would be worth sacrificing perfect intonation for one song, just to see the crazed look on Jesus' face in his blurry iPhone snapshots. [Core77]

An Xbox 360 Controller Crammed into a PS3 Dual Shock Controller's Body

Adam Frucci — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:40:00 EDT

A clever modder on the Ben Heck forums managed to cram an Xbox 360 controller into the shell of a PS3 Dual Shock controller. What resulted is an unholy union of the two consoles, bringing a controller for people with smaller hands to Microsoft's great grey beast. There's no headphone jack, although it may be added in the next go-around, but it looks pretty awesome to me. [Ben Heck Forums]

Flasher Goes Hi-Tech By Projecting His Junk on Buildings (NSFW)

Sean Fallon — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:00:00 EDT

Jaime del Val isn't your average flasher. Old-fashioned flashers lurk around in trenchcoats, praying on women walking the streets alone—but not Jamie. Nope, he is a new breed—a high-tech pervert that strapped a projector to his shoulders, powered it with a car battery and proceeded to walk the streets of Madrid, projecting his "manhood" on buildings for all to see. Why? Because he claims it's a "means of power." But, as you will see after the break, I'm pretty sure that he is trying to compensate for certain...shortcomings.

[Metro]

Hack Your Point-and-Shoot into a Time Lapse Camera

matt buchanan — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:00:00 EDT

CamTim is a hack that'll let you use any digital camera with a remote control for time-lapse photography. It's not super-easy, but it won't make you cry (probably). It's basically a board you program to buzz the camera's remote button at whatever interval you want. Using a ZigBee module, you can also set it up to run wirelessly, which is pretty handy for long-term spying... on birds. [ZigGrid via MAKE]

A NES Console Gets Stuffed Into a Light Gun

Sean Fallon — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:40:00 EDT

Modders these days seem to be fascinated with putting the old school NES where it doesn't belong—like controllers and cartridges. At least those mods made sense in some way—I mean this version isn't even the official NES light gun. It's a Super Joy knockoff. Still, kudos to the modder for stuffing your big NES into a tiny cavity. We are all soooo impressed. [Ben Heck Forums via Technabob via DVICE]

DIY NES USB Controller Plays Games, Contains Emulator For Playing More Games

Jack Loftus — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 17:00:00 EDT

This DIY hack does what modders have been doing with NES controllers for years, and then adds an awesome twist. First of all, it's a USB controller that lets you play classic Nintendo games on your laptop. The cool part is there's an emulator crammed inside the controller and it contains all the software and ROMs you need to have a pretty intense retro Nintendo party all by yourself. So far designer Jay Kaye has made three; how about a couple thousand more?

From the look of the finished result pic below, I was reminded of Club Nintendo SNES Classic Controller (Japan only), and became insanely jealous all over again. [Ed's Howto]

Cheese Wheel PC, Because...We Actually Don't Know

Mark Wilson — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:52:00 EDT

We're not sure what drives one to put a PC in a cheese wheel, but we're glad that such outlets exist for those who are so inclined. For what would man have done, say, 100 years ago if he wanted to run TurboTax from a pile of aging dairy product? He would have lived a sad life and died alone, his hands reeking of yogurt. [forum.modding via technabob]

Keyboard Haptics Mod Turns Shrill PC Speaker Into Soothing Vibration

John Mahoney — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Modder and frequent terminal user Matt was getting mighty tired of his piercing PC speaker going off with every typo, so he rigged up a nifty DIY haptics setup using a Microsoft keyboard and an old cellphone vibrator triggered by the scroll lock LED. Unless you're playing Oregon Trail in your elementary school's computer lab 15 years ago, you probably haven't heard your PC speaker in a long while, but if you're frequently using the terminal (especially under Linux) for command line tasks, this is the mod for you. [CiboMahto via MAKE]

IKEA + Apple = Mamebook Cocktail

Mark Wilson — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:00:00 EDT

A MAME (arcade) cabinet will easily cost you several hundred to several thousand dollars. But one modder used a little ingenuity to take an old PowerBook with snapped hinges and fit it into an IKEA RAMVIK shelving unit. The result is a tabletop arcade machine á la Galaga and Pac-Man that fits in a modern home. Here's the funny shot that tells you it's an Apple:

But the best part may be what the designer used to create the sleek black frame around his computer screen—it's just plain old black cardboard. And to further the simple mod theme, the joystick simply pulls out from the table's built-in drawer. There's no mounting, but maybe that's actually a good thing. [Mamebook cocktail via Unplggd]

Busted iPod Modded Into a Mouse; Could Be So Much More

Adam Frucci — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:15:00 EDT

If your old iPod is suddenly about to become useless when you acquire an iPhone 3G, why not repurpose it as something else? One enterprising modder took an iPod that had been accidentally run over by a car (yeah, I hate it when that happens) and turned it into a fully-functioning mouse, with the buttons on the trackwheel all functioning as mouse buttons. Unfortunately, due to the car smashing the crap out of the screen, it just has a piece of paper that looks like an iPod screen in its place.

I'd love to see this taken to the next level, with the screen working as a secondary screen for the computer. Imagine, being able to see your RSS feeds or new emails on your iPod mouse and saving screen space. It would be cool-looking and impressive and make you king of the nerds. Get to it, modders. I demand satisfaction. [Craftster via Technabob]

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

Jason Chen — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:59:59 EDT

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 Gets a MacBook Air Keyboard Mod

Jason Chen — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:40:00 EDT

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]

Caption Contest: The Poor Leopard PC

Mark Wilson — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:10:00 EDT

My attempt: "Hunting season really needs to start earlier this year."

Surely, you can do better. [MetkuMods via Unplggd]

Pro First-Person Shooter Xbox 360 Controller Mod Won't Actually Help Your CoD4 Skills

matt buchanan — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:40:00 EDT

We've seen a couple Xbox 360 controller mods that supposedly make it more first-person shooter friendly by shoving extra buttons on the back. F00 f00 at Acid Mods goes a step further and actually moves the buttons to the back, making for a butter smooth front and action-packed back, the theory being you never have to take your thumb off the joystick. (Still no substitute for a keyboard and mouse.) Yes there's a video of this thing working. No, it won't actually help you beat me in a Domination match in Call of Duty 4.

[Acid Mods via BBG]

HybRed PC Casemod Gives the iMac a Severe Inferiority Complex

Jack Loftus — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 13:00:00 EDT

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.

Inside the glowing custom-built aluminum chassis of the HybRed Gaming PC is an Athlon64 3500+ CPU. Graphics are handled by an nVidia GeForce 6800GT on a PCI-e bus. The power supply, as you can see, is kept separate in its own illuminated case. Red LEDs (HybRed, get it?) keep the rig illuminated when the lights go down low. [Metku Mods via Technabob]

Hacked Region-Free Blu-ray Players For Sale

Mark Wilson — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:10:00 EDT

While Sony was smart enough to make PS3 games region-free, they still insisted on putting those pesky regional restrictions on Blu-ray discs. Now Blu-ray Mods is selling a modified player that can run all of the world's Blu-ray films and still accept firmware updates. A turnkey hacked Panasonic DMP-BD30, their system runs a steep $781. That's about $300 over list. But if you've got a soldering iron and a bit of patience, the kit alone only costs $108. Whatabargain! [Blu-ray Mods via Engadget]

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

Jack Loftus — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 21:00:00 EDT

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]