Hacks

Midiator Kit Converts a PS2 Controller Into a MIDI Controller

Yesterday we came across a DIY hack that helps you turn your Guitar Hero instrument into a MIDI controller and today we have a kit that will help you covert your old PS2 controllers (standard, knockoff, or wireless) for a similar purpose. When hooked up, it will allow you to do things like control pitch…

Tech News Sean Fallon May 20

Turn Your Guitar Hero Guitar Into a MIDI Controller

I can’t tell you how many times I have looked down at my Guitar Hero guitar and wished that it could be used like a real instrument. The only problem was that I lacked the ability to build one. Oh, and I have no musical ability whatsoever. Fortunately, it appears that someone with skills has…

Tech News Sean Fallon May 19

Air Force Wants to Use Every Computer They’ve Got to Build Massive Botnet for DDoS Attacks

China has been semi-famed for launching DDoS attacks and poking around the US’s secure networks generally. One Air Force colonel’s solution? Build a massive botnet to DDoS the Commie bastards (or anyone else) right back. Because we’re on the Light side, our bigass botnet wouldn’t infect new computers, but the plan would press millions of…

Gadgets Matt Buchanan May 14

DIY Party Button: For Emergency Use Only

You never know when a partying emergency will strike—which is why you must always be prepared. If you have the know-how, you can build one of these Emergency Party Buttons and launch the fun in a matter of moments. When the key is turned and the button is pressed, the blinds will close, the lights…

Gadgets Sean Fallon May 7

The Ultimate Geek Scooter is a Rolling Entertainment Center

One would think that owning a normal scooter outside of Europe would be geeky enough, but the guys behind this project simply were not satisfied with a run-of-the mill vehicle. In fact, they managed to cram a PC with a 1.2 GHz Mini-ITX motherboard, 1GB of RAM, a 2GB SSD, Bluetooth, and wireless internet into…

Tech News Sean Fallon May 7

DIY Glowing Video Tape USB Hub: Put an Old VHS Tape to Good Use

Have any old VHS tapes lying around? Really? What the hell is wrong with you? That stuff should have been tossed ages ago. Anyway, since you have one, it might be a good idea to repurpose it into something useful—like a USB hub. As far as DIY projects go, this one should be simple enough—even…

Tech News Sean Fallon May 2

My MacBook Cable Replacement Tip at Kevin Kelly’s Cool Tools

After years of wanting to, I finally submitted a Cool Tools entry, and my friend Steve Leckart edited it for me. It’s about using a spare Playstation cable, which one of the smart readers at KK.org recognized as a IEC C7 cord, instead of the nub or grounded garden hose that comes with a Mac…

Tech News Brian Lam May 2

Hacked MacBook Air With Built-In 3G Wireless

This is what every MacBook Air needs: built-in 3G wireless. In order to get this goodness into the MBA, Jordan Bunnell busted up a Verizon USB727 Air Card and soldered it up with the MBA’s unused USB controllers on the motherboard and used a little bit of voodoo to get power flowing to the card.…

Gadgets Matt Buchanan Apr 29

Audio Ping Pong is a Pain in the Neck…Literally

The arduino platform has been the basis for a lot of bizarre gadgetry over the years, and the audio ping pong project by Mike McCracken certainly stands up to the best of them. The game is essentially the classic Pong with one major alteration—instead of using your hands and eyes, the game is controlled with…

Gadgets Sean Fallon Apr 25

Put Some Age On Your Cheap Booze With the Help of 15,000 Volts

Why get drunk on cheap booze when you can get drunk on cheap booze that actually tastes good? That is the question Jon Sarriugarte asked himself when he and a buddy set out to solve the problem of how to artificially age brandy. Inspired by a single sentence in a book from the 1930s, they…

Tech News Sean Fallon Apr 24

Build Your Own Keyport for 20 Bucks, Save $280

You could pay $300, send Keyport all of your keys and wait for months for your sweet keyfob and get nothing back, except for maybe your money. But then you’re still out a Keyport. Or, you could build your own for about $20 and an hour of time your time, using a Leatherman Micra modded…

Gadgets Matt Buchanan Apr 18

Bazooka-Like Wi-Fi Predator Snags Distant Wi-Fi Signals

The Wi-Fi Predator is like a Wi-Fi swiping sniper rifle, capturing distant ethereal Wi-Fi signals for your internets. Basically it tosses a directional antenna with the relatively easy (and awesome) DD-WRT router firmware hack, which will let you boost your router’s power to 200dB and set it to feed off other wireless signals. The instructions…

Gadgets Matt Buchanan Apr 15

Ben Heck’s Latest Wonder Project: PS3 Laptop

Click to view It looks like the PS3 is finally getting some hot mod love from console modding’s reigning wizard, Ben Heck. We don’t really have all the details since he hasn’t announced the project yet, but the display looks like it’s the one he used for the Xbox 360 Elite laptop, for a true…

Gadgets Matt Buchanan Apr 10

Homemade Conan the Barbarian Booby Trap Almost Stabs Verizon Agent to Death

Long Island is a dangerous place, filled with bad accents and crazy people wandering around, like Verizon technicians. Eric Stetz knows mere deadbolts won’t keep them out. No, you’ve gotta get medieval, Conan the Barbarian style. So he built a booby trap out of a massive knife, crutch and elastic trip-cord to poke intruders in…

Gadgets Matt Buchanan Apr 8

Adobe Knew of Vista PWN 2 OWN Hack All Along

The PWN 2OWN contest, as we all know, saw the Mac OS X weed crumble first, with Vista following soon after. Ubuntu was the only OS that was impenetrable to attack, but news is surfacing that Vista should have had a longer lifeline, if only Adobe had patched the flaw they knew about all along.…

Tech News Haroon Malik Apr 6

Kid Brings Camera Taser to School, Almost Gets Tased by Cops

Remember that camera modded to shock anyone who used it? Some genius thought it would be absolutely hilarious to use it at school. (Okay, it would be.) Anyway! The mischievous little bastard didn’t even get the chance to zap the schoolyard bully before the cops swooped in and busted his ass, though they deprived us…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Apr 4

iPhone Pwnage Tool to Be Released Tomorrow Someday

The iPhone Dev Team’s Pwnage tool is set for public release tomorrow. The tool allows you to upgrade any iPhone with the latest firmware from Apple, modified to make it work with any compatible carrier in any part of the world, and install any application, as well as adding custom payloads, additional software like SSH,…

Tech News Haroon Malik Mar 29

It’s Time V1.0 Brings Leopard Theme, Usable Dock to 5G iPod

Apparently, the It’s Time hack provides iPod classic users with a proper Leopard theme, complete with a usable dock and other added OS X inspired fun stuff, including a Front Row-esque Now Playing screen and Finder-styled progress bars. We haven’t confirmed this one ourselves and the images certainly are rendered, but if you’re up to…

Tech News Haroon Malik Mar 29

How to Get Your Hacked Obsolete Object on Gizmodo

Chase Sechrist and Dan Weatherford went to work on Toshiba’s HD-A1 HD-DVD player and, while it’s pretty much only good as a doorstop now, at least it says something nice. [Doom9’s Forum—thanks Mazyar!]

Gadgets AddyDugdale Mar 28

Digital Billboards Hacked in Southern California

A well known 18 year old graffiti artist that goes by the name “Skullphone” has expanded his repertoire of vandalism to include 10 digital billboards around L.A. Earlier this week, onlookers were treated to Skullphones’s calling card in between the normal ads running on the display. Nice work dude, let’s hope that the police and…

Tech News Sean Fallon Mar 25

Midiator Kit Converts a PS2 Controller Into a MIDI Controller

Turn Your Guitar Hero Guitar Into a MIDI Controller

Air Force Wants to Use Every Computer They’ve Got to Build Massive Botnet for DDoS Attacks

DIY Party Button: For Emergency Use Only

The Ultimate Geek Scooter is a Rolling Entertainment Center

DIY Glowing Video Tape USB Hub: Put an Old VHS Tape to Good Use

My MacBook Cable Replacement Tip at Kevin Kelly’s Cool Tools

Hacked MacBook Air With Built-In 3G Wireless

Audio Ping Pong is a Pain in the Neck…Literally

Put Some Age On Your Cheap Booze With the Help of 15,000 Volts

Build Your Own Keyport for 20 Bucks, Save $280

Bazooka-Like Wi-Fi Predator Snags Distant Wi-Fi Signals

Ben Heck’s Latest Wonder Project: PS3 Laptop

Homemade Conan the Barbarian Booby Trap Almost Stabs Verizon Agent to Death

Adobe Knew of Vista PWN 2 OWN Hack All Along

Kid Brings Camera Taser to School, Almost Gets Tased by Cops

iPhone Pwnage Tool to Be Released Tomorrow Someday

It’s Time V1.0 Brings Leopard Theme, Usable Dock to 5G iPod

How to Get Your Hacked Obsolete Object on Gizmodo

Digital Billboards Hacked in Southern California

This Portable Dual Foldable Monitor Hits Its Lowest Price on Amazon, Making Triple-Screen Setup More Affordable Than Ever

With Artemis 2 Flying Home, NASA Is Already Teasing Artemis 3

Artemis 2 Day 9: Follow the Mission With Our Live Updates 🔴

Laptops Are About to Get Very Exciting Again… Thanks to Nvidia

Bose SoundLink Flex Bluetooth Speaker (2nd Gen) Matches Black Friday Discount, With Even Limited Edition Colors at Record Low

Go Titan Hunting in a Clip From This Week’s ‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ (Exclusive)

In Medical First, a Single Therapy Knocked Out 3 Autoimmune Diseases at Once

Gen Z’s Use of AI Is Plateauing as Youth Feel Less Hopeful About the Tech

Asus Zenbook A16 Review: Start Considering Snapdragon on PC, for Real

Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 Review: Almost Better than My Ecobee

HP Omen Max 45L Review: 4K60 Gaming Has Never Been So Easy

Ecovacs Winbot W3 Omni Review: Window Cleaning Robots Have a Long Way to Go

AirPods Max 2 vs. Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen): Which ANC Headphones Win?

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Let us help find what you are looking for...