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More ingenious hacks for problems you didn't know you had
It's the Fourth of July and while that light show in the sky honors US independence, why not shine a little light on our DIY perseverance? To help celebrate this holiday, we've put together a collection of (even more) ingenious hacks that incorporate party essentials: lights, nighttime, fireworks, music, drinks and a bit of wild imagination. Want to watch the celebrations on TV like it's still the '80s? Will pumping up the volume help you fight fires? And just how do you innovate something as simple as sliced bread? DIY fanatics and gadget hacker extraordinaires have already done the legwork. All you need to do is sit back, relax and enjoy the (slide)show. [Image: Styropyro / YouTube]
iPhone headset socket hijacked to power DIY peripherals (video)
Apple's proprietary dock connector may keep would-be peripheral manufacturers at bay, but if you want to build your own iOS companion devices, there's another way. You might have noticed that the Square credit card reader uses Apple's 3.5mm headset jack to transmit power and data at once, and gadgeteers at the University of Michigan are busy open-sourcing the same technique for all the DIY contraptions you can dream of. Project HiJack has already figured out how to pull 7.4 milliwatts out of a 22kHz audio tone, and built a series of prototype boards (including working EKG, temperature, humidity and motion sensors) that transmit data to and from an iOS app at up to 8.82 kbaud -- using just $2.34 worth of electronic components. See the basic principles at work in the video above, and -- as soon as the team updates Google Code -- find out how to build your own at the links below.
Macintosh Plus celebrates 25 years by becoming ultimate DJ headgear (video)
Don't have $65,000 and / or seventeen months to build yourself a Daft Punk helmet? Here's the next best thing: crack open a Macintosh Plus, add an iPad, an old bicycle helmet and some electroluminescent gear, and get to soldering. Originally a school project for design student Terrence Scoville, this visualizer helmet now sits atop the cranium of DJ Kid Chameleon. Because there's nothing like a few digital fireworks to celebrate an old computer's birthday. Video after the break.
Ben Heck creates the 360 Laptop mk2
Of all the wonderful things that can be said about the Xbox 360, "portable" doesn't usually come up. With a sizable case and a monstrous power brick, the 360 takes some effort (and preferably a comfy backpack) to haul around. Always there to heed our call, the venerable Ben Heck is at it again with the 360 laptop mk2. Many will recall his previous laptop effort, and we have to say the mk2 is definitely an improvement (the keyboard should come in handy for IM). There's no word yet as to how much the beast must have cost (HD screen = expensive), nor are there any "making of" pictures, but Engadget promises to reveal the whole process in the coming weeks. So, if you'd like to build one for your very own, stay tuned.In the meantime, hit the "read" link to check out some images and video of the 360 laptop mk2 in action.[Via Joystiq]
Best DIY arcade stick evar! (it's wireless)
We've seen some pretty nifty do-it-yourself controllers here at X3F, ranging from ugly but functional Saturn controllers to massive arcade sticks, but this one takes the taco. The stick was created by DH020, whom we're assuming is a big Street Fighter fan. The stick was created with top quality arcade parts and the guts of an Xbox 360 wireless controller. Yes, it was created with a wireless controller, and yes, the stick is wireless. It even has a USB plug built into the back so that the stick can be charged via the internal Play and Charge kit. It even has a headset jack. Simply put, the thing is freakin' sweet. Check out the guts of the beast and a video of it in action after the break.
How not to spend $179 on a 120GB hard drive
An X3F regular, AoE, has reminded us about a nifty little trick that lets you use SATA hard drives with the Xbox 360. We reported the story back in January. Just as a refresher, here's how it works: using a bit of software from Xbox-Scene, you essentially trick your Xbox 360 into thinking any Western Digital BEVS drive is actually an official 360 drive. Of course, you'll have to possess some hardware and software savvy to get everything humming along.Before now, the software would work only allow for 20GB of space, because the ID located on each official HDD says as much. Now that official 120GB hard drives will be hitting the market, it should be possible to grab the ID file from a 120GB drive. Of course, we don't condone such things, nor would we have any idea where to find such a file, but there it is. So, if you've got the technical knowhow, you may want to wait a while before laying down 179 smackers for 120GB of space. We'll let you know as soon as this comes to pass (or not).
X3F readers show off custom 360 equipment
Yesterday we asked you, our beloved readers, to submit your custom faceplate designs, and you guys delivered. Our inbox has birthed forth plenty of great custom designs and we would be remiss in our fanboy duties not to share them. The above design was created by qbix. It seems qbix has been designing faceplates for a while, as his flicrk site is full of them. He even got recognized by Joystiq for his excellent work. Visit his flickr gallery to see lots more.But wait, there's more. We received some other great designs too. Check 'em out after the break.
Hello World! Hacked homebrew on 360
Looks like the Hypervisor vulnerability we reported earlier this week has led to the first real homebrew code running on an Xbox 360. It's nothing to write home about just yet. Created by a hacker known only as Crawler360, all the code does is display the words "Hello World" on the screen. Still, this is the first unsigned code running on an Xbox 360 not utilizing XNA. As usual, the hacking language eludes us, but essentially the "Hypervisor vulnerability" was "exploited" using a "shader hack" found in the game "King Kong". Users will need the game and one of two specific kernels. Chances are, if you've been connected to Live, your kernel has already been updated.So, what the hell does this mean? It means somebody managed to run code on an Xbox 360 that ain't supposed to be running on an Xbox 360. Hackers, it would seem, have their proverbial foot in the door. Let the PSP-like cycle of new-hack-firmware-update-new-hack begin.[Via Engadget]
Video: Wii remote working on 360?
While we were busy speculating about Wii style motion controls on the Xbox 360, waruwaru was busy making it happen. As you can see in the above video, waruwaru has rigged up an XNA demo using the Wii remote, a project he has dubbed Waru360. Due to some limitations in the current build of XNA, there is a very noticeable lag in the control output. According to the demo's creator, the program can read input from the remote approximately 5 times per second, which results in the lag apparent in the video. Skeptics that we are, we must point out that the video could be fake, but overall it looks like the real deal. It looks like the 360 is getting motion controls whether Microsoft does it or not. Of course, it won't be the first time that's happened. Waruwaru promises that more is coming, we'll be sure to keep an eye on it.
