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Chinese Dreamcast portable mod may inspire KIRFs, or already is one
You thought the DreamTrooper would be the last portablized Sega Dreamcast mod you'd ever see? Nah. Turns out some folk in China quietly showed off an Oriental take on the mod -- not too dissimilar from the form factor of the GameBoy Advance -- just before the DreamTrooper's debut. Details are thin here, but we're hoping for a built-in optical drive and a decent battery life. If we're lucky, some KIRF makers might pick up this idea and revive the legendary Dreamcast brand, so don't go selling your dusty game collection on eBay just yet. Go ahead and watch some The King of Fighters action after the break. We know the Swirl still captivates your heart.
Banned Xbox modders get a class-action lawsuit to call their own
You had to know someone out there would try and profit off Microsoft's recent mass bannination of modded Xbox 360 consoles from Xbox Live, and although the eBay scammers arguably got there first, we're awarding the style trophy to AbingtonIP, an Oklahoma law firm that's trying to gin up a class-action lawsuit. Why? Because even though the XBL terms of service expressly prohibit modded consoles, AbingtonIP thinks it's not fair for Microsoft to have timed the ban to coincide with the release Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and it also thinks it's unfair for an XBL ban to affect "Xbox functionality not associated with piracy" like Netflix, arcade games, and DLC. A noble cause, to be sure, but if you're a modder who didn't think there was a chance you'd be booted from Live at some point, you're not a very smart modder -- and Microsoft isn't under any obligation to time its bans for the convenience of people breaking its terms of service. The firm is just at the generating-interest phase and hasn't filed anything yet, so we'll see how far these freedom fighters get -- we'd guess this one dies on the vine.
Celebrity Nerds: Lil' Wayne's got a modded Xbox
Celebrity Nerds confirms what you always knew, deep in your heart of hearts: that stars are nerds like us. Send in your own confirmations of this fact right here. Now, we don't have photographic evidence of this one, so Wayne, if you happen to be a reader, feel free to snap a pic of yourself with the console. Either way, we have enough proof to proudly classify Lil' Wayne a... you know, nerd. GTR has published a video of the New Orleans-born rapper having a conversation with KRS-One during which he says he's got an "Xbox that has every game from A-Z, Atari, Nintendo, pong, movies & even porn." Whoa. Where can we get one of those? Wayne claims that the Xbox was a gift... but we bet he hacked it himself. Video is embedded after the break.[Via Joystiq]
Xbox Micro makes the Wii look overweight
Welcome to Micro Saturday at Engadget! In the absence of hard hitting stories and shocking exposés, we thought we'd turn to the lighter -- and thinner -- side of the news. Enter the Xbox Micro, a 1-inch thick celebration of all that is good and holy about the world of DIY mods. It took six months to make, with a few clever design decisions along the way, but it looks good enough to make even the ninja-black Wii suck its gut in. Comparison pics with the original behemoth are after the break, and hit the read link to see the exposed guts of this little beauty. [Thanks, Matt and Jesse]
Video: WiiNxtBalance tools around, doesn't fall down
This little bot-- the NXTway-GS -- is a self-balancer, and he's pretty cute, to boot. Thanks to some clever modifications, he's now controllable via Wiimote. Using the LEGO NXT system, and some custom firmware, the little dude is connected to a computer via Bluetooth. The video of the robot in action is after the break -- but if you want to see full instructions for making one of your very own -- hit the read link. And may we suggest you slap a powdered colonial wig on yours? [Via Hack A Day]
VHS casette hacked into USB drive? Yes, please
Don't bother asking questions, just admit to yourself that you really might want one (if not several) of these. Using very few materials, you can make yourself a USB storage device which looks just like a VHS tape with a giant wire sticking out of it! It's not a terribly complicated affair -- connecting the USB cable to a thumb drive inside the tape, some simple circuit board wiring -- and presto! If you're willing to spend three or four hours and around $10-15 a pop, you could finally make use of your lonely, disused 227 collection. Check out an informative, educational video of the process after the break.
Momitsu BDP-899 promises out of the box region free Blu-ray for cheap
Looking for region-free Blu-ray and DVD support? The Momitsu BDP-899 fits the bill, including BD-Live and Dolby TrueHD output. It's not clear whether multi region support is included by default or only due to retailer mods, but the BDP-899 can be manually changed between DVD & Blu-ray regions when there isn't a disc in the tray via a code input by the remote. We found a few reviews indicating its region switching and PAL/NTSC conversion works as advertised, though checking out every possible combination could stress anyone's disc library. At $349, it's the cheapest BD-Live compatible region free player we've seen, although questions about how fast Momitsu will be in providing firmware updates in case of problems might have the region switching consumer eyeing more expensive modded players from other manufacturers instead. [Via CD Freaks, thanks Richard!] Read - Quick review of Momitsu BDP-899 BluRay player Read - BDP-899 (modified) Region FREE Blu-ray player review
DIY SNES alarm clock is kind of cool, truly alarming
Oh, look -- another SNES mod. This one's actually pretty cute and useful in theory -- an alarm clock! The finished product is completely functional, though we're not too psyched on the sound of the alarm. Then again, we've never heard an alarm we were super stoked on, so it's not this inventive chap's fault. Hit the read link for full instructions on how to make your own, and take a peek at the clock-setting action in the video after the break. [Via GoNintendo]
Jailbroken iPhone 3G gets external keyboard, says "Hello"
If you're one of those people always complaining about the iPhone keyboard (the lack of one, that is), then this is probably a vital piece of news, even if it's not totally practical. Or practical in any way, actually. Some very enterprising citizen of the world seems to be running a chunk of Ruby code on his jailbroken iPhone 3G, which allows it to recognize what appears to be a Palm / Visor external keyboard connected via a custom cable. The results of this intense bit of modification? Well -- not much, honestly, but it's still kinda cool. "Hello Keyboard," indeed. Check out the video of it in action after the break. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Sony VAIO UX490 gets Hulkified by U7600 mod
The last VAIO UMPC mod we saw swapped out the UX280 CPU for a 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo U7600, but this new UX490 tweak beats the pants off that by a long shot. According to "computercowboy," a forum member on Micro PC Talk, he's managed to push his handheld to a 45,999 score in Crystal Mark, easily besting the UX280's 30,069. The swap of this CPU into the UX280 results in radically higher FPU and ALU figures, making it the "fastest UX in the world" -- or so says the modder. Now it's only a matter of time before someone comes along and overclocks this thing, a move which will undoubtedly result in badly singed hands and a melted VAIO -- don't say we didn't warn you![Via UMPC Portal]
eeeMac runs OS X on an even smaller portable than the Air
I've heard some great things about the tiny little eeePC, but this is the best thing I've heard so far: it can be a Mac. Twitterer Gregory Cohen has pictures on Picasa of his completed eeeMac, an eeePC transformed (perhaps in similar fashion to this previous attempt -- details please, Gregory) into an OS X-running ultraportable, complete with a tiny little lit Apple logo on the back.Pretty hot. As slim as the MacBook Air is, Asus' unit is even smaller. And it's super cheap, too -- we haven't heard how much this little transformation cost, but considering the eeePC sells at retail for 1/3 of the Air's price, odds are that even tons of modding won't set you back as much as a kitted-out Air. Apple wouldn't be thrilled with it, but you have to admit, that's one good-looking little ultraportable.
Xbox 360 hacked, but quickly patched
Back in January, we reported on a possible Xbox 360 OS hack that came from a German hacker's congress. Today, we learn from a post on SecurityFocus that indeed it was real, because there is proof that those hackers found a way to break Microsoft's iron clad code. As the story goes, back in November a vulnerability was found due to "Unsigned Code Execution in Hypervisor Mode" in the latest kernel update. In the end, this vulnerability could potentially allow full access to the Xbox 360's OS and hackers to wreak whatever hacking havoc they wished. But before you get too excited about running Windows Vista on your 360, the problem has since been fixed. Microsoft was notified back in January about the problem and they quickly released an auto-update six days later to prevent anyone from exploiting the bad code.So ... any uber cool hacker up for teaching the rest of us some l33t hacking skills? We're thinking something along the lines of "Hacking Xbox 360s for Dummies".[Via Xbox-Scene]
Designer analog sticks
Do you look at your PSP's analog stick nub thing with disdain? Do you dream up elaborate Road Runneresque schemes to destroy it and eat it for dinner? Well luckily for you, Divineo.com has replacement analog stick nub things for you to put in your PSP if you have some amount of modding skills or friends with modding skills. The pink one looks sorta dirty to me for some reason. If anyone actually has a modded PSP, you should post a link to an image of it in chat so we can all check out your pimped out handheld. [DCEmu]
Xbox 360 finally hacked to run Linux?
It looks like someone may have finally hacked the 360 to run Linux. Xbox-Scene is reporting that during the German 23C3 Hacker Congress an anonymous presenter came on stage during an "open mic" type session. With 360 in hand, he (or she) proceeds to load King Kong and fiddles around for a minute or two. Then, on the screen appears the Linux penguin and the old Mac logo with the words "Coming soon...". Could this finally be confirmation that the volatile King Kong shaders were exploited and are the key to hacking the 360's OS? Only time will tell, but someone should have warned that anonymous hacker that this little experiment voided his 360's warranty ... joke's on him![Thanks, BlueStar]
Look Mom, one handed 360 controller
The talented Ben over at BenHeck.com has come up with a new take on your standard Xbox 360 controller. Ben must have had the logic that using two hands on your controller is so 2005, why not just condense the control scheme and make it so you only need one hand? This modded 360 controller allows just that, only one hand required! All kidding aside, the inspiration for this mod what so that people with disabilities or those who have function of just one hand could play the 360. This is actually a great mod and very well thought out, gold star for you Ben![Via Digg][Thanks, kade]
