Simple hack turns the Magic Trackpad into a USB-powered affair

August 21, 2010 · Posted in Technology · Comment

While many hacks we feature on these virtual pages are terrifyingly complex, this one is anything but. Even more surprising, it’s actually useful. Mark Bog decided to tether his Magic Trackpad to the sweet, endless power supply of his computer over USB, instead of swapping out AAs endlessly. To do this he merely pulled out the black and red power wires of a USB cable and attached them to a battery-shaped dowel, which slots easily into the Trackpad. The best part is that this seems basically non-destructive to the trackpad (if the 5 volts coming from the USB cable isn’t too much for its precious internals), so Mark shouldn’t have much trouble switching back if he suddenly misses the wireless freedom for a stationary desktop object that so far seems lost on him.

Simple hack turns the Magic Trackpad into a USB-powered affair originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Aug 2010 19:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Modder, brother-of-the-year candidate crafts one-handed GameCube controller (video)

August 12, 2010 · Posted in Technology · Comment

It’s not that we haven’t seen a one-handed controller before — we most certainly have — but the only significant one on record was done by one Benjamin Heckendorn, the greatest modder of the modern era. In other words, whipping something like this up takes more than a strong will and a boatload of vacation days, making Hasse’s hack all the more impressive. As the story goes, his brother is incapable of playing video games due to needing two hands to work the controls; rather than chalking it up to tough luck, this guy completely re-engineered a GameCube controller for single-handed operation. After cracking it open and relocating a few bits and pieces, he then shoved an ATtiny44A, an accelerometer and a digital-to-analog converter within. Crazier still, he even included a toggle switch to select the analog stick or D-pad, depending on preference. Head on past the break to see this thing in action, and tap that source link to leave a handful of kudos.

Continue reading Modder, brother-of-the-year candidate crafts one-handed GameCube controller (video)

Modder, brother-of-the-year candidate crafts one-handed GameCube controller (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Aug 2010 12:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVO 4G’s Android 2.2 update starts trickling out tomorrow, loads of new features and fixes in store?

July 29, 2010 · Posted in Technology · Comment

We’re not certain that this date is going to hold — things like this have an uncanny tendency to slip at the last possible moment — but we’re at least hopeful to see some internal Sprint communication that they’re trying to get the EVO 4G updated to Froyo as soon as tomorrow, July 30. It’d be the perfect way to kick off the weekend, wouldn’t it? Turns out this is no mere 2.2 upgrade, though — they’re making a bunch of changes, too, including a host of new preloaded widgets, a flashlight mode for the camera’s LED flash, light-assisted 720p video, and “improvement” to the quality of said video capture (something we specifically complained about in our review). Unfortunately, it looks like the hotspot hack might be sealed off with this update, but that really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. As we said, we’re hopefully the date sticks, because Sprint has identified it as a “high priority for competitive reasons” — in other words, these guys must be feeling the Droid heat — but the PR is apparently going to identify the week of August 1 as the first push, so the devices getting the OTA tomorrow might just be a very small, select group to ensure that nothing spectacularly bad happens. We’re pulling for you, EVO owners.

Gallery: EVO 4G getting Android 2.2, loads of new features and fixes tomorrow?