Sprite uses a Raspberry Pi board to run the MAME from Linux, and then uses use an SPI-controlled 2.4-inch TFT display instead of dealing with video outputs. Sprite also wanted to have the cabinet run off of batteries in order to make it portable, so he used old mobile phone batteries along with a cleverly-designed charging circuit. So, when the power supply is connected to +5V, the batteries charge up, and when that power is removed, an ATtiny85 microcontroller provides 5V of power to the cabinet using the mobile phone batteries.

Sprite even added a marquee to the MAME cabinet, which is a tiny 128×32 white OLED display, in this case. The display will show the logo of the game currently being played on the cabinet. Everything in the system is set up to be completely seamless when switching between games, and it automatically re-configures the controls and marquee when switching to a new game.

While this may not be a permanent and dedicated arcade solution for most gamers, the ingenuity behind this tiny Raspberry Pi-powered MAME cabinet is one of coolest mods we’ve seen recently, bar none. The video above shows Sprite himself testing out the machine by playing some Bubble Bobble and then switching to Nemesis later on.

[via Hack a Day]

Yes, unfortunately CD Projekt Red won’t just be unleashing REDKit and letting modders go nuts, as it has to make sure it has a good platform to offer modders first. That’s where you come in: if you’re a modder, CD Projekt Red wants you to sign up for this beta and help it develop a better set of tools to eventually offer to everyone. Beta sign-ups start today and run through September 30, so make sure you get your application in before then.

In a statement today, CDP studio head Adam Badowski explained what makes REDKit so great. “We have our own vision for RPGs, they should present an exciting story and give players lots of choices that really matter,” he said. “The REDkit is designed to create adventures that way – mature, non-linear and engrossing stories set in vivid worlds filled with believable characters.”

The Witcher 2 is already an amazing game on its own, but with modders constantly providing new content, it stands to become even better. We don’t know when CD Projekt is planning to wrap up this closed beta, and for that matter, we’re not sure when the studio will be releasing the finished toolkit. When it finally does, however, it’ll be big, so be sure to keep an ear to SlashGear for more information!

“That’s right, this is actually happening,” Hall wrote on the DayZ blog. “This is the fairy-tale outcome for a mod that many would have said impossible four months ago.” Hall says that development on the mod will occur alongside development of the game, so those currently playing the mod can continue to enjoy it. He likens the development process of the full DayZ game to that of Minecraft, meaning that the game will be released very early in the development cycle (for a discounted price, of course) and will be getting frequent updates after that.

This has to be exciting news for those who have been playing DayZ since the start. With Bohemia Interactive backing it, Hall will be able to make the game he envisions at a much faster pace, and we’ll likely see additional features in the full game that probably wouldn’t have made it into the mod. More importantly, it’s good to see a developer that’s eager to support a team of modders who are clearly very talented.

Hall apologizes for the lack of details in his announcement today, but promises that more updates about this full DayZ game will be coming shortly. We don’t have a launch date for this planned DayZ alpha yet, but we expect that to be one of the first details Hall and Bohemia part with. Get excited folks, because if this full game is as awesome as the mod is, then we are all in for a treat (a bloody treat, but a treat nonetheless).

Heck modeled his Raspberry Pi keyboard after a BBC Micro-inspired keyboard with a custom wood closure. The keyboard has cartridge slots and an add-on experimenters kit. The top cover over the keyboard has hinges and can flip open giving the machine vintage look. The DIY computer has an on-off switch, Ethernet connectivity, and video/audio composite ports.

Other features include a 5 V DC output and a USB hub so you can attach peripherals like flash drives or amounts. The experiment kit attached to the device uses C++ programming language. If you’ve wanted something unique to do with your Raspberry Pi, this might be the ticket.

The team took a Nike Fuelband and attached it to a customized motor using Arduino. Whenever someone follows, mentions, or retweets the StinkDigital Twitter account, the motor spins the Fuelband to generate points. The number of rotations depends on the activity as well as other custom metrics, so a new follower may end up generating more fuel than a retweet.

Just like the the activities that the Fuelband was designed for, the team found that an average day’s worth of Twitter activity generated around 2,000 points. Now that Tweetfuel is properly in place, the team wants to try and boost that number by 25%. You can follow the progress of Tweetfuel on this website, which shows that the team has already shattered their target goal of 2,500, yesterday collecting a total of 4,316.

[via Tweetfuel]

The mod comes to you courtesy of a geek over on XDA Developers going by BroBot175. The mod gives you the look and feel of Windows 8 on the Galaxy Tab 10.1. The theme is flashable to your device using ClockworkMod recovery. It’s worth noting that the theme is in beta, but there is a website with instructions for installing the mod. Apparently, the mod will also work on the Asus Transformer tablet as well.

The beta release supports tablets running Android 4.0 and there are widgets under development just for the mod. If you don’t own either of the two tablets specified for support right now, another theme is coming that will support more tablets. If you are a hard-core Android user, let us know what you think about this mod.

[via Gottabemobile]

Their idea was somewhat different from past attempts: previously their mods have allowed you to remove the iPad, but this new proof-of-concept makes the new iPad totally unremovable from the dock. The logic is that the iPad is a “$700 radio” thanks to iTunes Match and iCloud, with the 4G LTE connection proving fast enough to handle realtime streaming.

Mounting the iPad provides several other benefits other than streaming music, like turn-by-turn navigation, not to mention the wealth of apps at your disposal. The large screen also makes it relatively easy to interact with while in the car. The iPad has also be made to work with Ford SYNC, which allows users to control music with voice commands.

Since this is just a proof-of-concept, there’s no word on exactly what this will set you back if you want a similar setup in your own vehicle. In the meantime, check out the full video below to see the full modification from inception to install.

[via Gotta Be Mobile]

Try this on for size: an enthusiast from Russia has created a replica of Doc Brown’s DeLorean from Back to the Future, fully capable of flight thanks to the included Turnigy 2204-14T motors. The car has been pimped out with plenty of LEDs, with the wheels doubling as propellers. It even has a Mr. Fusion unit on the back, although the model is really powered by a lithium polymer battery.

How exactly is it all controlled? With the guts of a Wii Remote. Thanks to the MultiWii project, stabilization is handled by the gyroscopes and accelerometers found inside the Wii MotionPlus adaptor and Nunchuck.

It’s an extremely faithful replica, and seems to fly very well too. Don’t take out word for it: check the embedded YouTube video below to see it gracefully ascend to the skies.

[via Technabob]

What CyanogenMod will use these servers for is compiling nightly builds of their software so that community members around the globe can help test and work to improve said software, and up until very recently, they already had what they needed. Unfortunately and for reasons the team has declined to discuss, they’ve lost access to the cluster they had in the past. Nearly the entire earth uses CyanogenMod at the moment, and even a couple bucks will help the team out and allow nightly builds to continue to be pushed.

The alternative to having donations in this manner (through their PayPal link at the bottom of the page) is charging cash for each build each time a build is released. It also appears that at least one fellow by the name of Bloch is contributing in an alternate manner: “I’m the MD of Bytemark Hosting in the UK, and noticed that you’d asked for donations for a CyanogenMod build farm. We have a few machines that would meet your requirements (or can easily upgrade a couple) and increasing numbers of our staff think it is a very cool project.” So get ready for some speed once again from the team!

For obvious reasons, the new Skyrim Workshop and Creation Kit are available exclusively on the PC version of Skyrim. The former, the Workshop, is a digital storefront where users can browse mods that other users have created. There is also a rating and feedback system in place so users can find the best and most popular mods in an instant. The best part – they’re all free.

And for those who would rather be the ones on the creation side of things, the Creation Kit for Skyrim makes the process much easier. Previously, it was possible to make custom mods for the game but it was somewhat of a pain. With Creation Kit, there’s a scene editor that makes it easy to create high-quality interactions between players and NPCs, and add create much more professional custom content. Bethesda is known for opening its doors to modders, so we knew this was only a matter of time. And now, that time has come.

[via PC World]

If you have young kids, you probably know My Little Pony as the small horse toys that little ones play with. The ponies also have their own cartoons and DVDs as well. In the Pony Dragon Mod, those ponies replace the dragons and fly around terrorizing the world of Skyrim.

The mod comes from a geek going by “zdzichorowerzysta” and it is specifically for the PC version of the game. The dragons are replaced with the My Little Pony named Fluttershy. The mod has been downloaded 416 in the last two days. Check out the videos to see the pony horror in action.

[via Eurogamer]

Electric Sheep is able to allow the user dynamic access to the phone systems to allow the creation of apps and accessories of all sorts. The kit will allow the smartphone to interface with a microcontroller like Arduino. The Electric Sheep boards can be used with anything running the Android OS.

The tech inside the electric Sheep boards is based on an ATMega2560 microcontroller and bootloader. The boards have a USB-host connector for on-board connection. The board supports Arduino IDEA and HandBag and is Arduino-shield compatible. The Electric Sheep board costs $79.95 each and are available now.

What she needs is a real digital camera that can survive drops. A modder has taken a normal digital camera and created just that using the Sugru material to ruggedize the camera. I have never heard of Sugru before, it’s a material that is like modeling clay that won’t slump over and is bouncy because it’s made from silicone.

The builder took the material, molded it into bands that would protect the camera, yet leave controls accessible, and then gave it to a kid. Apparently, the Sugru material is bouncy enough to keep the camera alive if it is dropped. The builder says that the only tricky part is making the Sugru bands for the camera. Check out the finished product in the video below.

[via Instructables]

The bad part is that parents aren’t always up for a drive. Ben Heck has come to the rescue with a motion simulator he has built that goes onto a car seat to help the fussy baby get to sleep. Heck used the Google Android Open Accessory Development Kit (ADK) in the build to create a car seat from a viewer request that simulates the motion of a car seat in the car. The cool part is that the simulator actually captures the feel of the movement of the user’s car and plays it back using simulation.

The motion is added to the car seat using test servos. I would have loved to have something like this when my son was little. It would have really saved me from some 2 am drives to get him to go to sleep only to have him wake up again when I pull into the driveway.

What’s a Jailbreak and why should I be interested?

Basically, it’s a way of modifying the software running on an Apple phone so that you can do things with it that Apple either didn’t envisage or isn’t keen on allowing. The most common reason to jailbreak your iPhone is to run apps that otherwise you couldn’t get. Apple is reasonably strict about what third-party software it lets into the App Store, and many developers have fallen foul of its rules.

An iPhone which has been jailbroken, however, can access unofficial app stores, the best known of which is Cydia. That works very much like the official App Store, with a range of free and paid applications, but it doesn’t have the same restrictions for inclusion. Apps range from themes that change the appearance of the iPhone’s icons and menus, to tools that allow you to wirelessly synchronize with iTunes or replace Apple’s standard apps with different versions.

Does it mean I can use my iPhone on something other than AT&T?

No, there’s a difference between jailbreaking your iPhone and unlocking it. A jailbreak is a way to modify the iPhone software to gain more flexibility in what you can do with apps, broadly speaking. Unlocking, however, is a way to use your iPhone on a network other than the one you bought it with. In the US, that might mean using the iPhone 4 which AT&T sold you on T-Mobile USA’s network. We’ll cover unlocking in a future SlashGear 101.

Is it legal or will Apple take its revenge on me somehow?

It’s legal, but Apple doesn’t like it. A court ruling last year found that jailbreaking your iPhone was considered to be “fair use” and not something Apple could prosecute you for. However, Apple responded by highlighting that it would void owners’ warranties should they require a repair. Basically, if your iPhone ended up a non-functioning brick in the process, Apple’s Genius Bar wouldn’t be interested.

Meanwhile, Apple has been working hard to close off each potential jailbreak hole as quickly as the hackers can discover them. Each iOS update generally shuts down one or more routes, though some are harder to block than others.

Okay, so how do I do it?

If you’re willing to take the risk, there are a few different methods to jailbreak an iPhone or other iOS-based device. Best known for their work are the iPhone Dev Team, an unofficial group of programmers who collaborate on modifications for Apple phones, tablets and other gadgets. Some of their jailbreak software is “tethered” but the preferred methods are “untethered.” With the former, every time you restart your iPhone you’ll need to have it plugged in via USB to your computer, or you’ll lose the jailbreak. An untethered jailbreak doesn’t suffer the same limitation. Usually it’s just a case of plugging in your phone, running an app and then restarting your freshly jailbroken iPhone.

We’ll cover the mechanics of jailbreaking in a future SlashGear 101.

A dude showed off the prank he played on his wife on April Fool’s day. He took his name on her iPhone, changed it to AP Mobile, and then sent a text saying that the Pentagon had confirmed the Roswell crash was alien. The Asus Eee Pad Transformer got its official product page Monday. The official product page turned up cementing the final information missing for consumers, though we already knew all there was to know about the Transformer.

Anonymous has hacked Playstation.com and Sony.com as part of its retaliation against the legal action with GeoHot and other hackers by Sony. I am sure this will only lead to more legal action by Sony. What may be the coolest Wii mod ever turned up Monday called the Wii UNLimited Edition. The hack out the Wii components inside a different case that is liquid cooled.

Hackers have accessed the database of one of the largest email marketing firms out there called Epsilon. The hack opened up email addresses belonging to customers of JPMorgan Chase & Co, Kroger, Capital One Financial, and TiVo to more spam. Nikon unveiled a cool new DSLR camera this week called the D5100. The camera is reasonably priced at about $900 in kit form, records HD movies, and has up to ISO 102,400 when extended plus lots more.

Ubisoft Battle Tag has crossed the FCC. This is sort of like laser tag for the kids of today. Developers of Android apps are saying that fragmentation in the Android market is a huge problem. The fragmentation is thanks to a bunch of different OS versions and different handsets with vastly different capabilities.

A prototype leaked that is supposed to be a 5th generation iPod touch with 128GB of storage inside. The image also shows that the physical home button on the device has been replaced with a capacitive one. A strange product that is likely fake surfaced called the RE-35 that looks like a can of film for 35mm. The device supposedly has a sensor that makes your 35mm camera into a digital camera to print digital prints.

Analysts are claiming that the Motorola Xoom and Atrix 4G are failures. The claim comes after the analyst did channel checks and found sell-through to be low thanks to stiff competition on the market. A cool all-touch HP webOS flavor called Stingray leaked mid-week with the Verizon Pre3 smartphone. The OS would make the keyboard free smartphone work better and might get HP back into the smartphone market if the Pre3 doesn’t suck.

We put up our review of the T-Mobile Nokia C7 Astound this week. We think it could be a contender, but has less mindshare than Apple and Android devices. GameStop has confirmed plans to offer a gaming tablet later in 2011. Right now, the company is still trying to decide on using its own design or another slate design available via OEMs.

Apple has rejected an iPhone app for lack of functionality that offered all iAds in one place. The crazy thing is that Apple later offered its own app that does the same thing. Michelin has developed new inner tubes for bicycle tires that can repair their own punctures. The tubes use a special design and air pressure to seal the puncture and have a fluid inside to seal the puncture as well.

The BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 has been spied in the wild. It has a touchscreen and the QWERTY keyboard that BlackBerry is known for. Android is expected to own 49% of the smartphone market by the end of 2012. As Android is growing fast, Symbian will be shrinking nearly as quickly.

Geeks around in the 80′s will remember the Commodore 64 computer back then that was cool and really expensive. The Commodore name is back on a new computer that has Intel Atom power inside. Reports came in that a student is making $50,000 yearly jailbreaking iPhones. He started for friends and then put ads on Craigslist and turned it into a profitable business.

The FCC mandated new data roaming rules for AT&T and Verizon this week. The new rule forces the big carriers to open up their data networks to smaller carriers just as they do with voice networks. Apparently a geek picked up a very cheap 500GB HDD that was a Chinese knock off of a real HDD with 500GB of storage. Unsurprisingly the thing didn’t work and when it was opened it has short-term memory inside not HDD storage.

AMD has been trying to round up some new Andorid talent for its operations. The company is looking at offering chipsets and other hardware with support for the Android OS. If you are a fan of the video game Portal, you will be glad to hear that Portal 2 is almost here. The game is set to come out on April 19.

An elementary school in Main is issuing iPad 2 tablets to Kindergarten students for free. A teacher found with her own iPad 2 that the tablet helps kids having trouble learning significantly and the school board was so impressed that they voted to purchase the tablets for all kids. Thanks for reading this week’s edition, see you next time!

So, you could hook up the IOIO for Android and a couple of heat sensors, and whip up an app that measures room temperature and then emails you if it’s getting too hot. Thanks to a range of I/O choices – including Digital Input/Output, PWM, Analog Input, I2C, SPI and UART control – you could also connect your home thermostat to automatically adjust the heating in response.

Basically, your programming abilities are the limit, and as we’ve seen with Android developers there’s no shortage of clever ideas out there. SparkFun have tested the IOIO for Android with the Nexus S and Nexus One, T-Mobile G1 and Motorola DROID X, as well as an unspecified tablet, but it should play nicely with anything running OS 1.5 or above. It’s available for pre-order now, priced at $49.95.

[via Android Community]

Two coolant reservoirs flank the central, CNC-machined console housing, each standing 22cm high and filled with suitably tinted liquid. The water pump itself is hidden at the base of the left tube, and all the piping is fed through aluminum panels with Wii etched into them. On top is a digital thermometer to keep track of temperatures.

Finally, the mechanics of the console are visible through the glass panel at the front, with discs loading through a slot on the top. No word on quite how much the whole project cost, but we can’t help but think it was all worth it

[via Case Mod Blog]

It’s the handiwork of Koush, who had to compile a Tegra 2 compatible kernel from third-party sources – since Motorola hasn’t released the XOOM kernel yet – and then figure out a root from that. Now it’s a relatively straightforward 15 step process.

He also took the time to build a recovery for the XOOM, but thanks to the non-functioning microSD card slot, which is waiting on a firmware update to enable it, it’s not been made public yet. Now, let the Honeycomb hacking begin.

[via Android Community]

According to BriefMobile it’s the handiwork of AT&T developer DesignGears, who has sent out images of his ATRIX 4G with Superuser access and running Titanium Backup to show that the phone has been modded. Right now the instructions on how to actually gain root access aren’t public, but then since the phone itself isn’t either that’s probably no great issue.

AT&T confirmed earlier in the week that the ATRIX 4G would arrive earlier than expected, dropping into stores from February 22 (and reaching pre-order customers on February 21) rather than in early March as originally suggested. More details on the phone in our full unboxing and hands-on.

[via Android Community]

Video demo after the cut

Usually the GR-001 is controlled via a PlayStation-style remote, but this new Kinect hack makes it a whole lot more direct than flailing your fingers around. No word on when – or if – they’ll be releasing the software publicly, but it’s just another sign of Kinect’s flexibility.

[via Robots Dreams]

Some have speculated that if a user hacks their PS3 using the Geohot or other hacks to bypass security, as long as they don’t connect to the PSN Sony will have no way to know that the console has been hacked and therefore won’t be able to ban the console. As it turns out there is evidence that this is not the case.

A user going by the name NeoGAF has posted that when port sniffing his machine he found that the PS3 contacts Sony servers if there is a web connection as soon as the machine is turned on. That would allow Sony to know that the console has been hacked and ban the machine if wanted. There is also some speculation that Sony could push updates to all consoles as well. Sony has already said that it plans to fix the security breach these hacks take advantage of with a series of updates.

Via Computer and Video Games

That might come as some relief to Sony, who were facing the possibility of pirated games being run on PS3 consoles no matter which firmware version they were running, but it seems only a matter of time until someone less copyright-conscious comes along with an alternate hack.

[via Kotaku]

Exact details of the Android install are unknown, so we don’t know exactly what’s running and what isn’t at present. Since the Cr-48 lacks a touchscreen, control will have to be done via the trackpad; as we saw on the Toshiba AC100 that’s not ideal.

[via Android Community]

The MD-5 is a little like a touchscreen coffee table, with an onboard power pack keeping the Lenovo IdeaCentre A700 running while you move it from room to room. Other mods are more subtle, like Alex Wiley’s luxury Lenovo IdeaPad U160 with a platinum-plated top cover and diamond-studded, backlit Lenovo logo.

Unfortunately we don’t think Lenovo is going to actually carry any of these ideas over into production models; instead the company will be showing off the modded PCs at CES this week. More details of all the mods pictured in the press release below.

Press Release:

PC MODDING – AN ART FORM UNTO ITSELF

Most people think of musicians, painters and photographers when it comes to art. As part of Lenovo’s recent “What’s Your Idea of Fun?” campaign, we wanted to shine the light on a very different kind of artist – one who uses soldering irons and dremels as their paint brushes. The kind of artists we’re talking about are called PC “modders,” extremely talented and imaginative people who modify and/or customize typical notebook and desktop PCs into technological works of art.

Lenovo recently approached several of the world’s top PC modders and asked them to transform Lenovo PCs into some of the wildest laptops and desktops ever created. The mods, described in further detail below, will be showcased at CES 2011 at Unveiled, Digital Experience and at Lenovo’s booth space in the Aquaknox restaurant at The Venetian Hotel.

For more information visit WhatsYourIdeaofFun.com

MODDER: Dean Liou
MOD NAME: The Arcade Dock
WEBSITE: Envador.com
MOD DESCRIPTION: Dean Liou finished his first mod—a computer case made out of PVC pipes and Plexiglas—during the summer of 1998. For his Lenovo mod, Liou create a customized arcade cabinet that allows users to dock their Lenovo IdeaPad Y560 and use as a mini arcade. Liou’s goal with this mod was to create something that would enable users to mix work and play. Once you’re home from class or work, all you need to do is hook up the laptop in the dock and it’s time to play!

MODDER: James Fislar
MOD NAME: Lenovo Ice
WEBSITE: WhatsYourIdeaofFun.com
MOD DESCRIPTION: James Fislar enjoys working with epoxy, fiberglass and carbon fibers. For his mod, James created an IdeaCentre K320 that appears to be completely encased in ice. The K320 Ice is created from a custom acrylic mold, special lighting and a custom water cooling and reservoir to keep all the components cool while running. The mod also features an ATI Eyefinity System with custom Acrylic 3 Monitor Bracket.

MODDER: Jeffrey Stephenson
MOD NAME: Level 12
WEBSITE: SlipperySkip.com
MOD DESCRIPTION: Jeffrey Stephenson has been building custom computers as a hobby since 2002. This Lenovo build marked his twenty-ninth project. Jeffrey’s modding M.O. typically consists of creating smaller-sized computers that fit into the decor of executive offices or home living spaces. He does all of his work by hand with basic household tools such as cordless drills, a dremel and the occasional jigsaw.

The Level Twelve mod is a performance-upgraded Lenovo H320 micro tower-style computer embedded within a stylish wooden enclosure. The enclosure — made from Birdseye maple and teak and featuring chrome accents — is equipped with additional fans and supplemental vent ducting. It also features four front-mounted USB 3.0 ports via an internal USB 3.0 hub. The underlying H320 chassis is heavily modified for additional cooling capacity and is fully self-contained. The chassis can be withdrawn from the back of its wooden enclosure even while it is operating.

MODDER: Chris Blarsky
MOD NAME: MD-5
WEBSITE: AbsoluteExtremes.com
MOD DESCRIPTION: Chris Blarsky began modding in 1995 out of necessity; he wanted a computer case that held two working PCs. When he couldn’t find one, he created himself. This time around, Blarsky created a robot-inspired mod, the “MD-5”, from the IdeaCentre A700. The mod’s name is short for mobile desktop while the 5 is a tribute to “Johnny 5” from Short Circuit, a 1986 science fiction film. The MD-5 is able to move from room to room and has a battery pack for added mobility. Additionally, its multitouch screen is attached to an articulating arm that provides ample range of motion and use.

MODDER: Brian Carter
MOD NAME: Lenovo Sensei
WEBSITE: Bods-Mods.com
MOD DESCRIPTION: Inspired to help his son’s school receive a much needed technology upgrade, Brian Cater developed the “Lenovo Sensei” – a unique teaching aid that allows teachers to instruct their classes more dynamically. The Lenovo Sensei boasts an integrated HD DLP projector with 1280 x 800 resolution, hybrid laser technology and a HDMI connection between the A700 and projector. The A700 itself is touch screen controlled and the entire unit has been modified with a well-ventilated cooling system to keep internal components running smoothly. With the new device, teaching possibilities are virtually endless!

MODDER: Alex Wiley
MOD NAME: UberLux
WEBSITE: Computer-Choppers.com
MOD DESCRIPTION: Alex Wiley, owner of Computer Choppers, has been customizing computers since 1996. With more than a decade of modding experience under his belt, Wiley has created a unique niche developing luxury customizations, and the UberLux is a prime example. For this mod, Wiley outfitted a Lenovo IdeaPad U160 with a platinum-plated top cover and diamond-studded Lenovo logo that lights up from behind when the laptop is powered on.

MODDER: Peter Freudenberger
MOD NAME: Lenovo Slice
WEBSITE: http://sliceproject.wordpress.com
MOD DESCRIPTION: Peter Freudenberger is an IT engineer from the greater Boston area who restores vintage motorcycles in his spare time. Using an IdeaPad Y560, Peter created the Lenovo Slice – a desktop PC that combines cutting-edge performance with a form that is elegant and modern. In order to create the mod, Freudenberger used low-profile laptop components and passive cooling, quality construction without exposed edges and minimal aesthetic, including high quality glass and laser cut aluminum.

With a borrowed kernel from the Ubuntu for HD2 project, Steve managed to get the HD2 booting into MeeGo 1.1. It’s not all plain sailing, however; so far the touchscreen doesn’t work, which certainly makes actually using it as a phone somewhat tricky, and the WiFi and graphics acceleration also need to be fixed.

By installing Android’s adb daemon, Steve was able to get a shell over USB and thus load some apps, and it sounds like he’ll be working on smoothing out the other wrinkles. MeeGo’s UI is different enough to be intriguing, and with the first official Nokia device running the OS not expected until sometime in 2011, this might be the best way to get your hands on a MeeGo smartphone until then.

[Thanks Steve!]

The hack paves the way for various Nexus S modifications, and with early complaints including glitches over GPS performance it can only be a matter of time before the mod community is polishing Google’s rough edges. If you picked up a Nexus S yesterday and want to open up the handset to the world of unofficial ROMs and other tweaks, you can find step-by-step instructions to rooting the smartphone here.

[via Android Community]

There are eight game modes and teamplay combinations, along with a total of 80 achievements. There’s no shortage of detail, either; among the changes made in 4.1 are resizings of the PPK bullet casings, which players had complained were slightly too small in the previous beta. Unfortunately for those with a particular fondness for the GoldenEye story mode, GoldenEye: Source is multiplayer-only. You can find the download torrent here.

[via Slashdot]

Video demo after the cut

The lights themselves are the GE Color Effects GE-35, available in 36 or 50 bulb lengths. On their own, each bulb consists of three LEDs allowing for multiple color combinations, with 14 preset patterns to choose from; however, thanks to some judicious hacking of the LED data bus, they can also be addressed by your choice of microcontroller.

Unsurprisingly, Kyselica opted for .NET, and his lights now show the various statuses of each of his IM friends (complete with Post-It notes labelling each individual). Of course, that’s just one potential application.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/17699178[/vimeo]

[via istartedsomething]

Some guys over at XDA forum have added Ubuntu to the Galaxy Tab. The user that did the deed first goes by the handle dviera88. He used directions that were posted by another user going by BThomas22x for installing Ubuntu on the Samsung Epic.

Before you can follow the directions for installing Ubuntu on the Epic with your Tab, you need to root the Tab. You will also need Busybox, Superuser, the Android SDK, AndroidVNC, and Terminal Emulator. Once you have all that software you are ready. Dviera88 says the instructions for the epic worked perfectly for the Tab. Let us know if you pull this off.

Via Android Community

So far, the easiest way appears to involve reflashing the Tab with the European firmware; that loads the necessary software and drivers for the voice component of the T-Mobile Tab’s modem. Unfortunately, it also means you lose 3G support: the guess is that’s down to the European and T-Mo models supporting different 3G bands.

Work is underway to maintain 3G while also enabling voice calls, and of course then there’s the matter of the CDMA versions for Sprint and Verizon. It also remains to be seen what T-Mobile will do in response; so far people who’ve completed the hack have been using different SIMs, since the one the carrier supplies is only activated for data and messaging.

[via Android Community]

Video demo after the cut

Until now, OpeniBoot has been limited to the first-gen iPhone and iPod touch, and the iPhone 3G. It allows unsigned code to be loaded on a device, such as an Android ROM, with a simple graphical switcher to flick between iOS and Android.

So far there’s no public release to try yourself, but the video below shows that OpeniBoot certainly runs on the iPad (you can see it booting into iOS just prior to the stage in the screenshot above) so it seems we’re almost there. This probably won’t be entirely worthwhile on the iPad until Google’s tablet-centric work on Honeycomb is released, but we certainly won’t argue with having it ready before then.

[via Android Community]

“Right now, about all you can do is command-line stuff via ssh” the Dev Team explains, “you also have afc2 available, so you can use tools like ifunbox to move files around.”  The next step is waiting for the iOS developer community to jump on board and start playing around with the new-found access; then hopefully we’ll see custom apps and more.

Meanwhile PwnageTool 4.1 also works on the iPad (firmware 3.2.2), iPod touch 4G, iPod touch 3G, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G.  It’s available to download here.

It’s the handiwork of Anh from Micro PC Talk, and it’s certainly not as straightforward as upgrading your average desktop.  For a start, replacing the stock 1.2GHz Core Solo CPU with a 1.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U7700 required reballing the new processors pins, and then in order to connect up all the various internal peripherals a tiny USB hub needed to be crafted.

Externally the UX looks just like it always did, which means you get a 4.5-inch 1024 x 600 touchscreen, slide-out QWERTY keyboard and WiFi b/g, only now Anh can use it to watch TV while on the move, hook up to 3G mobile data and more.  No word on what the new components have done to battery life, however.

That board is soon going to be commercially launched as part of the Tower Robot/Sensor board from EMG, working with the company’s RobotSee and Robot Vision Toolkit to make for easy vision-based navigation and control.  It’s also apparently easy to code for, using the same sort of language as BASIC.

Video demo after the cut

The prototype shown here has a cluster of touch and vision sensors, but the Tower Robot/Sensor board will also be able to control generic RC servos, read various types of sensors, and interface to i2c or spi devices.

[youtube uBMvGDectjk]

[via bunniestudios]

By tweaking the compression routines, which normally produce a 12-megapixel image around 2MB in size, hyperX has managed to get the N8 to output 11MB stills.  So far the results of the mod aren’t entirely clear – he needs to shoot some more pictures so that we can compare and contrast – but you can certainly zoom in on details with minimal blurriness.

You can download the 11MB sample photo and the 30fps HD video file from hyperX’s site, and hopefully he’ll be releasing some public ROMs or at least instructions on how to tweak the N8 to replicate his results.  We’ll have our own Nokia N8 review very soon.

[via The Handheld Blog]

Video demo after the cut

It’s still not perfect – battery life is a mere 4hrs, primarily it seems because Ubuntu isn’t giving any thought to ultraportable frugality, there’s no sound, video, 3D graphics or webcam support, and it’s prone to crashing – but considering the progress over just a weekend it’s all impressive stuff.  Carrypad is also wondering if the same hack will work on the upcoming Toshiba Folio 100 slate.

So far this has all been the handiwork of a few dedicated third-parties, but it seems Toshiba has woken up and taken some interest itself.  The company has tasked “Mr. AC100″ to look into an official Ubuntu port for the AC100 including drivers for graphics, sound, functions keys, and outputs like the HDMI port.  No promises at this stage, but it’s all looking pretty hopeful.

Video demo after the cut

The end result is an Apple TV onto which you could load third-party apps; the Dev Team says there’s nothing on the box in its stock state apart from Lowtide.app – which we’ve already seen running on an iPod touch – and with no official App Store access that’s not going to change anytime soon.  Still, early rumors suggested Apple were planning to bring the App Store across at some point so, if jailbreaking doesn’t appeal, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll never be able to load new software onto your Apple TV.

Video demo after the cut

Hexxeh’s ongoing Chromium OS “vanilla” builds seem to be the basis of his mod, though it’s at some cost to the donor iPad itself.  According to one comment, the new ROM is described as “a totally different build, different arch etc. You can’t use it as a normal iPad without a restore sadly though.”

Although there are plenty of ways the mod could have been fabricated, there’s arguably little reason for Hexxeh to have done so; it’s not like he’s unknown and trying to make a name for himself in the hacking community.  Whether or not Chromium OS has any place – or makes the iPad experience any better – is probably the real question.

[via Engadget and via Chrome OS Site]

Video demo after the cut

It’s the handiwork of the Chronic Dev Team, and as can be seen in the video below is enough to jailbreak a fourth-gen iPod touch.  The video was created by the iPhone Dev Team, who loaded SHAtter into their PwnageTool as a proof of concept.

However, they’re also saying that doing so is “overkill”, and that SHAtter will really come into its own as a tool to enable iPhone 4 users to take advantage of Apple’s official iOS updates while still preserving their baseband and ultrasn0w carrier unlock.  The bad news is that fettling SHAtter to deliver that isn’t a simple process, and so there’s no timescale as to when we might see the exploit arrive in the wild.