The Engadget Show: Inside Ben Heck's magic kingdom
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted Oct 19th 2009 12:22PM
posted Oct 19th 2009 12:22PM
If you're a reader of Engadget (and let's be honest -- you're reading this, right?) then you surely know Ben Heck's work. The master modder has been the source of some of our favorite tweaks, hacks, and flat-out crazy gadget manipulations over the years. We recently had a chance to take a peek inside his workshop and hear straight from Ben about what drives him to create the madness we've see on our pages. It's a phantasmagoric adventure you won't likely forget -- so sit back, crack a cold one, and enjoy the ride!
Note: Don't forget, our next full length Engadget Show is happening this Thursday, and our guest is Steve Ballmer!
Update: Video is now live! Sorry about that!
Host: Nilay Patel
Produced and Directed by: Chad Mumm
Edited by: Michael Slavens
Music by: Bit Shifter
Titles by: Julien Nantiec
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Wait, he's in Madison? I should pay him a visit. Or something.
yeah i'm sure he'd love that...
That's what I was thinking, maybe he could turn my Amiga A500 into a portable...
Same here. I could have met Ben and Engadget staff at the same time.
At the Olympia Resort in Oconomowoc some time in March (was the 21st and 22nd last year) is the Midwest Gaming Classic. I'm pretty sure this year he's going to have a booth again like last year, so yeah. He's a pretty cool guy, and attract swarms of people with his projects.
...the dude found... the cake...
the cake exists! the cake exists!
Shit, if I had know that he was there I totally would have gone. I had no idea he was from Wisconsin!
Speaking of whoring it up, who does the music for the Engadget show intro? I love it, I think he writes the music for my keygens.
dude has an MC Escher poster, nice.
Benheck knows how to whore it up!
Whore up Engadget's background music, Ben. They need it.
That Crystal Head Vodka he was sippin' is intense!
Somebody make it into a shirt!
Ben Heck FTW
He's way beyond cool! :)
Whore me up Ben!
wait..
can you imagine him getting kidnapped for a secret meeting and a MS exec came out of the shadows and said:
"I heard you know how to whore it up."
That was pretty cool I liked it.
Would it be wrong for me, as a straight man, to propose to Ben?
nilay should talk more, he's too static. and the short shows should be longer-like 10 minutes.
and they totally need to whore it up.
ben heck of all people deserves an HOUR
Doesn't the fact that the straight guy gay comment is highest rank just make your head hurt.
haha hilarious, is he drinking brandy near the end there?
"i know how to whore something out, and make it cool, you know what i'm saying?" haha
I think maybe it's his coffee cup?
Looked like Crown Royal to me..
Looks like the bottle from Crystal Head Vodka, which Dan Aykroyd has been hawking.
Crystal Head Vodka bottle, but it wasn't vodka in the bottle. The liquid was dark in color.
We all need to whore it up more!
Lol @ his tshirt :D
What does it says? The cake is a lie?
It's this shirt: http://www.jinx.com/men/shirts/video_games/the_cake_is_a_lie.html
Anyway you guys could check the RSS M4V feed? I'm not able to add it into my podnova account.
thanks for the great show,
-Scott
duh duh duh duh duh duh eeeep burp eeeeep burp eeeeep burp THAT THEME TUNE IS SO CATCHY! the end ruins it tho :D
Well, you should really check out more of Bit Shifters music, it's all really catchy http://bit.shifter.net/audio.php
The visual in the intro may be a bit, different... but for some reason i love it.
He is always doing some amazing mod, one after another. Pretty impressive stuff.
*in butter's voice*
"Yes, I do believe I know what you are saying."
XD
DAMMIT
meant for cjwild
haha just watched that episode last night dude. golden.
Maybe he should be called Ben Hack!!
groan!
Meant hack in a good way. You know, moding and hacking. Ben Heck, Ben Hack? Get IT???
One of the many reasons I heart Engadget. Keep it up, dudes!
I'd love to purchase a 360 laptop from him.. for reals.
Ben Heck - Whoring It Up Before Whoring It Up Was Cool!
ben heck is the pooo..take a whiff...bill paxton pinball snip was epic
Thanks for making available on Zune.
Seconded.
ben heck whore's it up ftw!
What camera was this shot with?
I'm still laughing, that was epic!
What's that purple drink he's holding?
Cool Segment. Good job guys.
Ditto. He seems like a genuinely cool, down to earth dude. Makes me want to rip apart my PC...
@ digitalh
If I didn't know what you were talking about, that remark would have sounded totally bizarre to me. As it is, I just found it oddly funny for that very reason.
Whoring it up, the greatest line of all time.
Ben is totally right about people getting away from being able to take stuff apart. The computer and electronics are going the way of t he automobile. There was a time when a 17 year old could take apart an engine with the help of their dad, uncle or grandpa. Now you couldn't find a kid who could tell you the first thing about their car other than their stero.
He's also right about competition being good. More people can come up with more ideas.
i agree to a point...there is also a bit of difference between an old muscle car and something like an acura - if you looked under the hood of an old car, you can see straight down to the ground under it and there were simple, and few parts, nowadays you can't even see the engine, just some huge cover they put across the whole thing and it's all run by electronics
@JOSH, you are right, but anyone who knows cars knows all that plastic is removed to find a bunch of basic components. Any shade tree mechanic nowadays knows you just need to add a laptop to your tool kit now. When I go to my mechanic the first thing he pulls out is a laptop and plugs in to see what's going on.
It all just boils down to how interested people are to do this stuff I guess.
Where's his CNC machine?
Where's the magical little elves?
Working now! And yes the best quote was "Ben Heck knows how to whore it up!" XD
I can't wait to get home and watch this... Stupid corporate streaming media block!
can't you just download the hd version from the link?
Nope. they have that blocked too... argh!
Ben Heck is such an awesome guy.
Cool video, but I gotta ask... what is with that Engadget intro? It's all over the place... why the triangles, why the moon, etc. Feels way too long. The audio is perfect though. Maybe the whole intro just needs to be edited down a bit for a little segment like this one. Just an idea.
I have a feeling it was made so that some text could be thrown in between all of the flashies, like "hosted by Joshua Topolsky," or "live from New York."
that makes sense Tim, but I was thinking... why not have something like wire-frame gadgets sooming in and out with the pulsating shapes coming off of their features (like the "e" in the logo) instead of triangels and planets. I just don't understand the outer space reference. It absolutely makes a nice background, but something is missing.
because theyre inspired by mac. suprised it had planets and triangles instead of furry little animals
I'm not an engineer but I'm pretty sure that Vaseline on the shelf isn't used for soldering.
when you don't want two things to stick to eachother, a film of vaseline is perfect to serve as mold release.
Or masturbation, whatever.
;)
Little wonder he has so much time to work on this stuff. Madison has to be one of the most boring places I have had the misfortune to spend time in.
Gotta get one of those 0 latency Xbox controllers..
maybe it will improve my gamerscore.
Really? That's what you thought? that's not what it is. it's a tool for measuring latency.
Please get the bitrate of your HD video under control! It's way higher than necessary. Also, how 'bout an HD podcast feed?
it's 5mbps 720p. the sweet spot IMO. do you want youtube 720p? that's a pitiful 2mbps
This guy should be teaching a course at Univ. Wis-Madison on design/UI/Whoring it up. I live in Boston and I would commute in for that course.
Im pretty sure Ben lives right near me. I never knew he lived here in Madison.
Yeah same here haha
http://i33.tinypic.com/6h8gw0.jpg
lol
Can we have a banner saying that at the next MGC, Marshall?
I love him...
Ben's Apple II GS portable is my favorite. I'd love to have one.
Ben Amazing please whore more for us.
What an awesome guy. Super bright and good sense of humor. Made my day.
Ben Heck is most defiantly one of my favorite people now, more then before!
Is there something wrong with the iTunes version? It doesn't seem to download in 720p...
I usually hate nerds and will put their head through plate glass at the soonest opportunity, but this ben heck is uber cool.
You say you hate nerds, yet you're on a gadget site and use the word "uber."
i been had a bill paxton pinball machine.
this guy is nasty. i have never been disappointed by one of his projects.
also, i love that t-shirt. i literally started laughing out loud when i saw it. he clearly has good taste in games.
didn't know we shared the same state, weird
turn that irritating music down a little bit near the end.. it's louder than his voice! jesus
Can Ben Heck or Engadget please post a video of the Bill Paxton pinball machine saying "GAME OVER, MAN...GAME OVER!"
Please and Thank you ;)
Happy Birthday Josh! Great show and great read! :P
Really coool guy, he is like adam savage and jamie hayman, but in electronic.....He should probably get......build him self a girlfriend. That blinks....
Dude I live like 20 minutes away from his house! Awesome! =D
@PMJ I've started buying Haynes manuals for my cars as soon as they're available. It's amazing how much money it saves in the long run, though the amount of sensors and electronic junk that you can disturb unintentionally makes me a little cautious during work on the car.
One rip-off garage wanted to charge me over $200 to replace the "HT Leads" in my car, most of which was labor charges. Looked in the manual, saw how simple a task it was, and told them where to shove it. At least they'd figured out why the engine warning light kept coming on, and what that had to do with a stalling automatic. In hindsight I should have checked the leads myself..
That was a really cool Video, keep up the good work!
I like these short 5-10min videos a lot better than the 1 hour ones, because I actually have the time to watch them.
I should have went I live 2 hours from their in Milwaukee
Milwaukee is only 1 hr from here...