Back in February, we posted a link to a beautiful iPhone case mod that used a matte black TiAIN finish. iPhoneclub community member Jo Croiman has gone in the opposite direction, creating a polished metal beauty complete with LED logo.
The Psycho iPhone Mod, as he calls it, is the result of manufacturing his own rear case pieces, polishing them for hours with a Dremel and affixing LEDs -- taken from another dead iPhone -- underneath a plexiglass logo (the LEDs only pull an additional 50mAh from the battery).
Finally, he sandblasted his own logo into the back of the case. We think it looks fantastic! Great work, Jo.
This isn't the first time we've seen someone take macro photographs with an iPhone, but it is the most involved.
Last time, someone just held a pocket magnifying glass against the lens. This time, blogger Colin Devroe attached the lens from a dead digital camera to the back of his iPhone McGyver-style and produced some nice results.
But what about low-light situations? Colin has got that covered, too. He mounted a small, giveaway light he picked up at last year's SXSW's keynote to the iPhone and found that it functions as a nice flash.
Good job, Colin! You've demonstrated the answer to the question, "Why are you holding on to those old things?" (Answer: "Because I might need it some day").
We all know that the iPhone is beautiful (OK, not all of us). The only thing I dislike about its appearance is the chrome band that separates the top and bottom halves. The iPod touch is much more attractive without it.
General [M]ayhem forum user KnightKrew felt the same way, and did something about it. Check out this beautiful iPhone mod. With its entire body encased in black TiAlN, it is the Sith Lord of iPhones.
What the heck is TiAIN? It's a ceramic coating used to improve the performance of cutting tools. KnightKrew decided it would be the best material for his project after examining the composition of the phone's external surfaces with an electron microscope (see the pictures here). He states that it's now even more durable.
That's some serious modding. It looks great, KnightKrew.
Personally, I'm an Adium user at heart -- iChat is super nice (especially for a built-in chat program), but it just doesn't have the features and customizability that that Adium does. But if you have to use iChat for whatever reason (easy video conferencing comes to mind) despite your love for Adium, then this mod, sent to us by reader Philipp, will probably come in handy.
It's called iChat Pro, and it basically simplifies your iChat window, squeezing out the borders and cutting the buttons at the bottom. I don't think you can change the colors and design of the display the way you can in Adium (it's been a while since I used iChat, and a quick browse through the preferences didn't reveal any options for that), but at least it looks a little more professional than the, let's admit it, a little goofy, default iChat GUI. iChat Pro is a free iChat mod from Infinise Design.
David Clausen decided to celebrate the Mac's longevity by making something special. So, he gutted the case of a 512K Mac (the case is in great shape, by the way), then inserted the workings of a Mac mini and a grayscale monitor. Add to that a LS-120 floppy disk drive and a custom-built USB microcontroller (to use the original mouse and keyboard), and you've got one badass compact Mac. For more detail, check out the Flickr Set.
All because he wanted to "...experiment with creating a custom USB device." That's one heck of a device. Hey Dave, if you decide to sell these, let me know.
Here's something completely silly: An 18K gold iPod nano. For a fee (oddly, I couldn't find pricing information. Hmmm), EXEOO will remove your iPod nano's casing and replace it with one made of 18K gold.
But wait, there's more! They'll do the same with your 5th generation iPod (back side only), universal dock, earbuds and iPod remote. Why? Because who doesn't want to place their golden iPod in a golden dock while listening to golden headphones?
If you've got more money that you can handle, buy a golden iPod. Because, you know, muggers only like the original models.
Scott Walker sends in his seriously cool Mac mini mod which, after careful deliberation, we declare our Rig of the Week. Scott is the assistant managing editor at The Birmingham News (Alabama), and decided to build a Mac project around an old newspaper vending machine. As you can see, he's basically mounted a 17" LCD in the newspaper window. Using a Mac mini, GraphicConverter, PhotoPresenter and some AppleScripts, it displays the top half of newspaper front pages as gathered each day from the Newseum. A big TUAW 'attaboy to Scott for combining new- and old-school technology in such a clever way!
This week's rig comes from reader nash_h, who modded a Cube to look like a tiny Mac Pro. First of all, we love Cubes and secondly, this is one sweet mod. Nice job, nash_h.
If you'd like to see your own rig featured here, simply upload photos into our group Flickr pool. Each Sunday we'll comb through the most recent entries and declare a "Rig of the Week!"
Posted Feb 5th 2007 10:00AM by Dave Caolo Filed under: Mods
We've seen laptops modded into picture frames before, but this one really caught our attention. Flickr user theducks used parts from two Pismos, some plastic and a bit of creativity to make this photo frame. It has a real cool mod look that we love. The only thing is that theducks is a little skimpy on the details (hint, hint, theducks).
Remember, you can add a shot of your Mac(s) to our Flickr pool at any time.
So it seems like Apple has been going backwards in notebook materials. I remember when Uncle Steve was telling us that all the cool kids had titanium notebooks, and then along came the aluminum PowerBooks. Come on! Clearly recycled Coke cans can't hold a candle to the coolest airplane of all time. Seeing as how the AlBooks have been around (first as PBs and then MBPs) since 2003, it's about time for a revision and the obvious next material is carbon fiber (especially since those G5 PowerBook rumors never panned out). Well while we wait for Apple to get off its collective keister we can marvel at Rogotoko's amazing black MacBook mod, the "World's First Carbon Fiber MacBook." Now it's true that this "mod" basically consists of a sticker, but hey it looks cool, and as we've already established, that's all that really matters.
When Leah Culver needed a new laptop, but had no money with which to buy it, she got creative. In exchange for $150 toward the purchase of a new machine, Leah offered local companies one square inch of advertising space on the back of the MacBook. What at first looked like a feeble attempt to raise the required funds soon evolved into a successful exercise in the power of the community at large, and Leah quickly had enough cash to buy her laptop.
The final product looks pretty damn good, especially when compared to projects like The Million Dollar Homepage. Unfortunately, some of the images given to Leah were too low contrast to be rendered properly by the Epilog laser etcher. In any case, though, Leah has a shiny and unique new machine on which to work, and the companies who contributed have a presence wherever she takes the notebook out.
Who doesn't love a clever mod? I still have yet to see a deep-fried Mac, but looks like the Halloween festivities were too much for one warranty-killer, and have yielded the Mac-O-Lantern. It's a Mac mini stuffed inside a medium-size pumkin. Some fun tidbits include a speak in the mouth, a webcam in the eye and a splash of color thanks to those little faux neon cords the kids love these days. The little glowing Apple logo on the side makes me want to do that with all my computers... Clever mod or too much time on someone's hands? You be the judge. And is it just me or does this guy look a little like the original HHGTTG Marvin?
I've long been of the opinion that Thinkpads are the PowerBooks of the PC world, and if not for the fact that they don't run OS X, I'd be very tempted to consider one when it came time to buy my next computer. Make points us to an enterprising Thinkpad owner who was having some trouble with a flaky DC-in port on his notebook, and decided to take matters into his own hands when it came to fixing the problem.
Instead of simply replacing the connector (which is a total pain to do, I know this from personal experience) he decided to one-up every other PC notebook owner out there by constructing his very own magnetic power connector. While this may not, in the strictest sense of the term, be "Mac news," it shows once again that the innovations Apple introduces into its products are not only handy to those of us who actually use Macs, but stimulate the greater computer market to further innovate and build on the ideas of Apple's design team. Check out the instructable to learn how to make a ThinkSafe adapter of your own.
This is brilliant. Absolutely awesome. Simon realized that begging for an iPod Hi-Fi probably wasn't going to get him anything but scorn and pity from his friends, so he decided to take matters into his own hands. Armed with two ceiling speakers used for sorround sound systems, two original Mac cases, and some powertools, Simon went to work on one of the coolest Mac mods I have seen in a very long time.
A few hours, some cans of white spray paint, and you have the two coolest desktop speakers ever. Complete with battery power, line-in, and carrying handle, the new iPod Hi-Fi mini will be the rage all all of your summer parties.
This is cool. At my repair job, when someone brings in a broken eMac which turns out to have a bad analog board, we don't think twice about telling then that all is lost. Replacing an analog board on all but the newest machines would cost more than the machine is worth. This guy, however, decided not to give up so easily. He picked up a cheap LCD display at Sam's Club and went to work turning his old broken CRT eMac into a functioning LCD eMac. Some elbow grease and a scavenged power supply later, and our intrepid hacker has the lightest, least power hungry, and coolest running eMac in existence.
Despite the fact that this process requires fully disassembling your eMac, for someone who feels comfortable working on the insides of machines, this is a great way to salvage what would otherwise be a very heavy shiny white doorstop.
Back in February, we posted a link to a beautiful iPhone case mod that used a matte black TiAIN finish. iPhoneclub community member Jo Croiman has gone in the opposite direction, creating a polished metal beauty complete with LED logo.
We all know that the iPhone is beautiful (OK, 
Personally, I'm an 
Forget the 
Here's something completely silly: An 
This week's rig comes from reader 
So it seems like Apple has been going backwards in notebook materials. I remember when Uncle Steve was telling us that all the cool kids had 
Who doesn't love a clever mod? I still have yet to see a deep-fried Mac, but looks like the Halloween festivities were too much for one warranty-killer, and have yielded the 
I've long been of the opinion that Thinkpads are the PowerBooks of the PC world, and if not for the fact that they don't run OS X, I'd be very tempted to consider one when it came time to buy my next computer. 
