Hackosis

Jon Lee tells how he turned his one dollar Ethernet cable into something that looks similar to a five hundred dollar ethernet cable by using TechFlex cable sleeves available at the audio store.

The process involves a 7ft Ethernet cable, 7ft of TechFlex (Polyethelene) cable sleeves, 2in of heatshrink (Shrinktube) tube, and just a little work.

I haven’t tried this yet, but I am sure it would add manageability as well as great looks.

I have to admit that it looks really nice. Congrats and great work to Jon Lee.

How-to: DIY Cheap Ethernet Cable Mod

This modded Eveready flashlight is acually brighter than a $95 dollar SureFire E2:

Why spend $100 on a WiFi repeater when you can make your own $10 super duper WiFi antenna? Retaliate.

Items needed:

• 35-mm foam (like the kind desktop and laptop PCs usually come with)
• Solid-core copper wire
• Small brass plate
• Multiple BNC connectors

Follow the instructions in the video to get started:

Do you have any more nifty WiFi hacks? Let us know in the comments. { via tech.nocr.at }

By using a simple reed switch, you can protect others from turning on your PC.

Have any more sneaky tricks to protect your electronic equipment, please share in the comments. { via gadget-software.info }

Personalize your PC case, whether it be the plexi glass window, or metal. Bit-tech.net covers what you need to get started engraving your PC case.

The method includes a Dremel with some appropriate add-ons, and a print out with some carbon paper to get the initial design onto the case. Neat stuff!

Have you engraved your PC case? If not, what would you engrave on it if you did?

Get the details at Bit-tech.net { via hacknmod.com }

Johnny Chung Lee shows us how to use a WiiMote to produce an effect similar to the movie Minority Report using an led array and reflective tape.

If you have any Wii hacks, leave us a note in the comments.

The chumby is a compact device that displays useful and entertaining information from the web: news, photos, music, celebrity gossip, weather, box scores, blogs — using your wireless internet connection. Always on, it shows — nonstop — what’s online that matters to you.

More info. The store is currently invitation only, but get notified here. Check out details on the software at the Chumby Wiki. Download the source code. And learn some Chumby Tips and Tricks.

via LinuxDevices

Steve @ atbatt.com has 10 battery hacks with videos.

Overview:

1. Batteries Within Batteries
2. USB Battery Hack
3. Laptop Battery Hack
4. Hack the planet – Make a battery from the earth
5. The Capacitor 9v rechargeable
6. DIY Plasma Gun with a 12V Battery
7. Disposable Camera & Battery into homemade taser
8. Linux Battery Load Monitor
9. Lithium Polymer Battery – most dangerous battery
10. Make Your Hybrid Run on the battery alone

http://www.atbatt.com/blog/16/Battery-Hacks.asp

OMG – This is HUGE. 640GB of NAND flash storage on a PCIe card. Not only will this speed up your servers, intern it will speed up the internet and then your home PC. It can transfer 8 DVDs worth of data in 40 seconds. I have been talking about this for a couple of years, but it is not far from reality. Models will be available in 80GB, 320GB and 640GB. NICE.

More videos here.

via slashdot

So you don’t want to buy an Action Replay to hack your xbox? Lets make our own Xbox USB cable with no soldering required. I will even show you how to use Action Replay software with your USB drive.

Before we go any further take a look here to see if your USB thumb drive is compatible with the Xbox. If your USB drive is not listed, just stick in the Xbox after we make our cable and you will know if it is compatible or not.

What you need:

• USB cable with a female end:



• Electrical Tape:



• Scissors:



• And an extra Xbox controller end (You know the part that plugs into the Xbox that you can detach from the controller?) I don’t have a picture, I just used my last one. :)
• A USB jump drive:



• Action Replay Software
• USB View Software

Ok, lets get started. Prepare your USB cable:

1. Take your USB dongle with the female end and cut it about 5 inches from the female end. If you are new to stripping wires you might want to leave some ample room, like 10 inches.
2. Now strip the USB cable about 2 1/2 inches down from where you cut it, and cut off any shielding, etc.
3. You should have 4 wires. Red, black, white, and green.
4. Strip those little colored wires. I find using open scissors works well.

After preparing the USB cable we need to do the same to the Xbox controller dongle. Cut it just before the black lump on the plugin side. You don’t need the yellow wire so just cut it off. Now, twist the matching colors together. After that, test the cord by plugging your USB drive into the Xbox and going to memory management before you wrap it tight with electrical tape.

Format your USB drive for the Xbox:

1. BACKUP YOUR USB DRIVE. IT WILL BE ERASED.
2. Format your USB drive with the FAT32 file system
3. Open USBVIEW.EXE (Download above). Your USB drive should be showing. Note the following numbers: idVendor, and idProduct. The only numbers you have to worry about is the Zs – 0xZZZZ.
4. Install Action Replay
5. Navigate to C:\Program Files\Datel\Action Replay XBOX\drivers. Edit the xbreader.inf and scroll to the [_Devices] sections.
6. Edit only the first line. Replace the digits next to PID_ and VID_ and enter the ZZZZ digits from above.
7. Now, take your formated USB drive and plug it into the Xbox with your cable.
8. Turn your Xbox on and in the default dashboard navigate to your card from within Memory Management.
9. The Xbox will state that your memory unit has been erased. The Xbox has just formated your USB drive with the FATX xbox file system.
10. Take your USB drive back to your PC, open device manager and right click your USB Mass Storage device and click Update driver. Don’t select automatic and point the driver location to C:\Program Files\Datel\Action Replay XBOX\drivers\xbreader.inf. Run Action Replay. You can now transfer game saves onto your USB drive with Action Replay.
11. Take your USB drive back to your Xbox and copy the save games to the HD. :)

I hope you enjoyed making your own USB xbox cable and hacking Action Replay. Let me know how it goes!