Building The Banana Jr. 6000

October 30, 2010 by Mike Szczys 15 Comments

[John’s] latest build strikes a chord of nostalgia by realizing the Banana Jr. 6000. The whimsical hardware is the product of the Bloom County comic strip. It first appeared in 1984, the same year as the Macintosh. [John] used a Mac Plus as the case but completely revamped the insides. An 8″ touchscreen takes the place of the original cathode ray tube. There’s also a Mac Mini and a couple of speakers salvaged from other Macs. To get things looking just right he altered the case’s logo, painted it yellow, and even altered the Leopard operating system. Now when you boot up you’ll see a Banana and not a partly consumed pomaceous fruit.

[Thanks Captain DaFt]

Ignore UOP On The OSX Dvd Player

October 30, 2010 by Mike Szczys 13 Comments

If you’ve been frustrated by the inability to skip past parts of DVDs on OSX the here is one solution. It’s a patch script that uses some binary hacking to remove the User Operation Prohibition locks from DVD playback software. Using UOP flags is a way to force users to watch trailers or warnings as part of the DVD experience. This script can patch Tiger, Leopard, and Snow Leopard systems. It also has the ability to generate diagnostic information for other installations that will lead to expanded support in the future.

Mac Tablet Keeps The Look Of The Donor-Macbook

October 1, 2010 by Mike Szczys 15 Comments

[Enigma-penguin] built a tablet computer out of a Core2Duo Macbook circa 2007. The battery exploded, damaging the case and a few components inside. But there was hope for a new life as a tablet computer. He removed the screen and tested to make sure the computer would still function without it by using the video out port.

Putting the whole thing back together as a tablet proved to have some headaches. He worked through problems caused by the addition of a touchscreen between the LCD and the bezel and made the connections work with the screen flipped. The finished product looks so good because the bezel has not been turned around like on other tablet builds. Instead, a viewing window was cut in what would have been the case behind the screen.

There’s a little more to be done yet. The black USB cable seen above is the connector for the touchscreen which he plans to internalize. The magnetic sleep sensor has been relocated to the headphone jack. Inserting a plug (no cord necessary) puts it to sleep for transport. There’s also an on screen keyboard and the ability to change the screen orientation from landscape to portrait. After the break we’ve embedded one of [Enigma-penguin’s] demonstrations. Continue reading “Mac Tablet Keeps The Look Of The Donor-Macbook” →

A Desktop Made Of Air

August 17, 2010 by James Munns 19 Comments

Deskbook Air Guts

[Bart] managed to get his hands on a Macbook Air for free. The catch was that the monitor hinge was broken and the laptop wasn’t in too great of a condition. Rather than scrapping it or using it as a cake cutter, he decided to turn it into a keyboard PC. By removing the internals he was able to fit all of the components with minimal modification. [Bart] has added a few things to make it a functional desktop, such as integrating a USB hub under the the keyboard and fitted the keyboard with a Magic Trackpad. As with any great hack, the project is still in progress, and we can’t wait to see the final touches as it comes together.

Jailbreak Your Apple Products

August 2, 2010 by Jakob Griffith 31 Comments

It’s finally here, after being declared completely legal to jailbreak your iPhone, JailbreakMe 2.0 is released.

Now, any and all iDevices can be jailbroken by simply visiting the URL above; however, before you start your devious adventure in the land of apps not approved by big brother Apple, there are a few issues.

The webpage is being slammed at the moment so you’ll have to wait. There is a chance the jailbreak will not work, and you could brick your phone. MMS and Facetime are having complications after jailbreaking. And finally, carrier unlock still needs to be done with ultrasn0w.

But beyond those small stepping stones, jailbreaking is just a touch away.

IPad Hacked To Include A Verizon MiFi

June 15, 2010 by Caleb Kraft 25 Comments

Finally, some hardware hacking on an iPad. Finding the 3G connection that came with the iPad lacking, this industrious hacker yanked it out and replaced it with the guts from a MiFi. At the cost of his GPS, he’s gained a better connection and is now a wifi hotspot. It wasn’t horribly complex, but he did have to do a tiny bit more than just plug and play.

[thanks Smilr]

VirtualBox Beta Runs Mac OS X

May 3, 2010 by Phil Burgess 37 Comments

A new beta build of VirtualBox, Sun’s Oracle’s free x86 virtualization software, makes it possible to run Mac OS X as a guest operating system…no shenanigans or flaming hoops to jump through, just pop in the $30 retail Snow Leopard upgrade disc and go. This had previously only been possible with some awkward Hackintosh-style maneuvering, or using recent editions of commercial virtualization products.

Continue reading “VirtualBox Beta Runs Mac OS X” →