Earlier today, CNNMoney broke the news that well-known Googler/YouTuber Hunter Walk and former Googler Satya Patel would be starting a new VC firm called Homebrew. What wasn’t known was whether Walk would be leaving Google to pursue Homebrew full time, but he has confirmed that to be the case. The last time we spoke with Walk, he was passionately explaining all of the things he gets to work… → Read More
Nikon publishes a program called Camera Control Pro, a software program intended to help the studio photographer by allowing them to tether their camera to a computer. The problem is, Camera Control Pro doesn’t support some of the latest cameras, and it has a $150 price tag. This inspired Nikontrol 3K, a free program that does basically the same thing, but for free. → Read More
West of House.
You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door.
There is a small mailbox here.
> OPEN MAILBOX
Opening the small mailbox reveals a leaflet.
> TAKE LEAFLET
Taken.
> READ LEAFLET
“WELCOME TO ZORK ON THE KINDLE!
If you jailbreak your Kindle you can run Zork and other Infocom games natively on your Kindle. If you’re anything like me… → Read More
Back in the dark ages, it used to be if you wanted a computer, you built it yourself. And I don’t mean order the parts and put them together, I mean soldering the chip sockets into a breadboard and assembling all the bits by hand. For whatever reason, computer enthusiast Matt Sarnoff misses the halcyon days of the Altair, and decided to build his own PC the old fashion way: with a hot piece… → Read More
Potentially huge news for Zune HD owners—that means Devin and I. It has been hacked~! Yes, the good folks over at ZuneBoards have hacked the Zune HD to pieces, giving homebrew developers full access to the hardware, access that otherwise lay behind the XNA development kit. The Zune HD isn’t too shabby, so I fully expect to see ports of popular emulators like FCEUX in no time at all. → Read More
After trying to find a way to remotely control their DSLRs, the clever hackers at HDRLabs couldn’t really find anything that would do what they wanted. So what did they do? Built a control of their own, using a Nintendo DS. HDRLabs went on to make the device available, for free. All you have to do is build one yourself. → Read More
While you may be thinking, given my current reviews streak, that the V Vessel involves the genitals and/or aliens dressed up like humans who live among us only to spring out and attack us with the time is ripe, it, in fact, does not. In fact, the V Vessel is a brewing vessel designed to hold up to 23 liters of liquid. It allows you to produce alcoholic beverages in the comfort of your own home and… → Read More
As a homebrewing enthusiast, I’m constantly trying to improve my process and my equipment. I’m busy making a DIY bottle tree to dry my bottles right now. The British, quite probably the world’s best drinkers, have been hard at work improving the vessel of beer delivery, the pint glass. Two new shatter-proof glasses have been unveiled by the British Home Office, designed in collaboration with the… → Read More
Fear not, Wii users who dabble in the dark arts of “homebrew,” Waninkoko has your back. This here is a video demonstrating his new application that lets you run hombebrew software off a USB device. The video is in some strange, foreign language, but it otherwise checks out. → Read More
It’s amazing what a little talent, a little gear and a lot of imagination can accomplish. The Purchase Brothers purportedly spent $500 to produce two episodes in a Half-Life movie series. This isn’t machinima, folks, but real human beings acting this stuff out. Very, very cool. → Read More
Change the system from within! Wiigator has created an app that will load pirated Gamecube games without a mod chip, allowing you to play a number of exciting games including… ummm… Mario Kart? What else was good on Gamecube?
Click through for video. → Read More
Homebrewer Ben decided that existing handheld systems just weren’t cutting it, so he went about creating a portable version of that venerable PS2. However, instead of hacking a controller onto a display and putting it all together, he appears to have put his PS2 Slim in a bag with a battery and is selling it for $500. → Read More
This Arduino-based homebrew security solution takes the input from an NES controller (mounted, I suppose, anywhere you like) and passes it to a little string detector. If you enter the right sequence (Shoryuken!), it ejects or recalls a CD tray, which locks or unlocks the deadbolt respectively (reminds me of this great IT admin story). If you enter the wrong code (tatsumaki senpukyakuu) it makes… → Read More
The Nintendo DS Lite has already been hacked to pieces, meaning that you can buy one of those shady flash carts and load all the ROMs on there you want. The DSi, however, had been incompatible with those same cards… until now! Yes, the Aekard 2i, which comes from a long pedigree of of such cards, is now fully compatible with the DSi. In short, you copy over a bunch of files—games and… → Read More
In a move that’ll surely cause a bit of controversy in the Nintendo Wii homebrew scene, a gent by the name of Waninkoko has released the above video of the Wii booting a copied-and-cracked ISO off of a burned DVD, no modchip necessary. Though it wouldn’t be all that difficult to fake a video like this, we have no reason to believe that it’s anything but legit. The Wii homebrew… → Read More
This homebrew N64 console – JonJandran’s Darth 64 – contains a complete N64 motherboard and controller in a case that looks pretty damn nice. He has a list of features including a headphone jack and a Gamecube style joystick and D-Pad. He reports that you can actually take this thing apart with a screwdriver, which is impressive for a piece of homebrew hardware. → Read More
Even without a modified system, you can now get DVD playback on your Wii. Mosey on over to HackMii where bushing and his band of cohorts have been working on the DVD Access library. The DVDX installer instead will install a small, hidden, channel on your Wii that allows you to read DVDs on an unmodified system. It is not an installer for a patched IOS. You may however need one, depending on your… → Read More
From the “Preposterous Headline” Dept: This looks like fun. This guy has put together a C# program that takes input from a Wiimote and passes it to a Lego NXT car with a wireless interface. The program looks pretty powerful and customizable and the car certainly responds right (although there is a little lag). I’d like to think these are the projects I’d do if I were a… → Read More
Since the launch of the new Zune store and the advent of XNA development for Zunes, there has apparently been quite a lot of activity. I’ve been waiting for a nice omnibus post like this one to point me in the right direction. You’ve got your tetris, you’ve got your solitaire, you’ve even got a chat app — although if your Zune is close enough to another Zune that you… → Read More
As long as one can steer clear of traffic (as the driver in this video does not demonstrate), this little homemade kart seems like a great way to get around. It’s got a battery for propelling itself, and pedals for extra speed, powerless propulsion, or charging the battery (I assume). Modest, low-power vehicles like this are also prime for being solar-powered; imagine if everyone in the US… → Read More
If you doubted the power of the iPhone’s wee processor, I dare you to download Yeti3D or 3DPacman for the iPhone. I tried them out last night and the graphics are incredibly smooth and acceptably detailed. Considering this is a completely homebrew product, I’m fairly excited for the future prospects for gaming on the platform. → Read More
I saw a concept like this a while ago that was considerably slicker, but was of course just a CGI rendering. This is much more real and much more steampunk. Looks pretty awesome, in addition to being useful and interesting as well. I like to know how much processor each of my applications is using, why not extend that obsession to everyday objects? Of course, this thing is not actually buyable, it… → Read More
This is not what the latest firmware looks like. Feelin’ frisky? Not that we condone piracy or hacking of any sort, but I’m sure homebrewers out there want to get going on the latest firmware update for the PSP. Well, you needn’t fret any longer. Team M33 has already done it for you. Click on over and check it out. If you’re feeling uneasy about the whole thing then check… → Read More
A message posted over at TehSkeen.com apparently details an exploit for the Nintendo Wii that can be run using The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. The exploit basically involves crashing the game and then injecting code into it. So far, only four custom lines have been run but I have a feeling it won’t be long until this gets broken open even further. → Read More
I’ve veered away from doing anything to my gf’s precious Wii because the chances of me breaking it are quite high and then she’d kill me, seriously, but I’m thinking this time around I’ll have to give it the ole college try. Of course I’ll have to mod the Wii before attempting this simple, yet, clever hack that requires me to boot up from a CD and switch to the… → Read More
This is not the iPhone “Hello World” App NightWatch at the Free iPhone project has compiled and run the first “Hello World” application for the iPhone, a move that could mean homebrew and third party apps for the iPhone in the next few weeks. They keep saying their server is too slow to handle lots of linking, so we won’t link. Just look for “Toolchain_Project… → Read More
Some crazy kid over at MAKE recently crafted this little mutant flash drive. It required some grinding and filing and sanding, but in the end, he was able to fit the guts of a 2GB flash drive into the ChapStick tube (I presume the balm was removed). The LED even shines through the base. In situations like these, we often ask, “Why?” I believe this time the answer is, “Because he… → Read More
This is totally mind-blowing. Some guys have developed a way to use the Nintendo DS as a MIDI controller wirelessly. DSMIDIWiFi uses the Nintendo DS’ touch screen as a controller and sends the signals wirelessly to a host program on your computer, like Garageband, Ableton Live, or whatever you use for creating music. The creators have written three different programs for your musical pleasure… → Read More
Austin, TX
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
Boston, MA
Disrupt Europe: Berlin Hackathon
Berlin, Germany
