Mods Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

MacBook Air powers four screens simultaneously

by Dave Caolo (Dec 17th, 2010)

We're going to be agreeable and assume this picture of a MacBook Air powering 4 displays isn't a Photoshop job (It's Friday and we're in a good mood). From right to left, we've got: An old-school, 20" Apple Cinema Display A 7-inch Mimo 720-S USB display The MacBook Air itself An ...

iPad portrait light array for photographers

by Dave Caolo (Nov 9th, 2010)

Here's an interesting way to use 9 iPads. Photographer Jesse Rosten mounted the set on several pieces of plywood, maxed out the brightness on each and had assistants move then around while he shot his model. In fact, the iPad arrays were the only light sources for this particular shoot. Was it a ...

Plex running on a jailbroken Apple TV

by Dave Caolo (Nov 4th, 2010)

That didn't take long. Shortly after the Apple TV was successfully jailbroken, someone has gotten Plex up and running. For now, it's quite buggy (see a video after the break) and limited to video, which means no photos or music. But hey, it's running! Plex is a media center for the Mac, and pulls ...

PhotoFast offers MacBook Air upgrade

by Dave Caolo (Oct 27th, 2010)

While the MacBook Air is turning heads with its good looks and surprising performance, the paltry 64GB of storage on the base 11.6-inch model has some disappointed. Fortunately, PhotoFast has produced a module that boosts capacity to 265GB and tosses in USB 3.0 to boot. Here's how it works. The ...

Metal cover serves as DIY iPhone backplate

by Steven Sande (Oct 19th, 2010)

Worried about the glass back of your iPhone 4 getting smashed? If you have $13 and a few minutes, Hong Kong manufacturer CNN (Cellular Nationwide Network) can supply you with a nice looking aluminum backplate to replace the glass. According to the original "how-to" post on Unplggd, the metal back ...

Hacked MacBook reborn as a tablet

by Dave Caolo (Oct 4th, 2010)

Here's a clever repurposing of an older MacBook. Matt of Enigma Penguin took it upon himself to convert the MacBook into a touch-based tablet with interesting results. After taking the MacBook apart and removing non-functional hardware, Matt ordered a third-party touchscreen. Once it ...

Found Footage: Jailbroken Apple TV 2

by Erica Sadun (Oct 1st, 2010)

Happy Friday, all. As you might have expected, things are moving along quite rapidly on the Apple TV Jailbreak front. Although we're still not close to a public release, it looks like things are moving apace. This latest video demonstrates a 2nd generation Apple TV jailbreak using the iPhone ...

How to kill that Ping drop-down in iTunes 10

by Dave Caolo (Sep 30th, 2010)

Apple recently updated iTunes to version 10.0.1 which, among other things, added drop-down access to Ping, Apple's social network for iTunes customers, into your library. Some of you like Ping more than others, and there are those in the latter group who are completely disinterested. The Mac ...

How to replace iTunes 10's grey with eye-popping black

by Dave Caolo (Sep 18th, 2010)

Several iTunes 10 users were less than thrilled with the new all-grey UI theme. I've gotten used to it, but I agree it was a bit prettier with the color icons in the sidebar. Here's how you can replace the grey entirely with an eye-popping, high-contrast black and white. First, quit iTunes. Then ...

Apple Newton to be reborn as iPhone case

by Dave Caolo (Sep 9th, 2010)

Isn't it nice when siblings get along? Here's an idea for using a dead, hollowed-out Newton Message Pad as an Phone case. Case hacker Charles Mangin has had success with other projects, like the Mac Plus G4, the Mac mini stuffed into an Apple Disk II floppy drive and the iNewt. So far he's only ...

First generation Apple TV owners: checkout aTV Flash

by TJ Luoma (Sep 8th, 2010)

Like many first generation Apple TV owners, I was sad to see that we were being left behind with the advent of the new Apple TV. That said, I have no plans to get rid of my original Apple TV. In fact, Apple's decision spurred me to take action I have been thinking about for a long time: installing ...

Cool mod: iPhone as digital microscope

by Dave Caolo (Sep 6th, 2010)

Here's a great and super-simple mod that turns an iPhone 4 into a portable digital microscope. Using an inexpensive microscope found on Amazon (seven bucks as of this writing), an iPhone case and some superglue, this user has hacked together a stable, portable digital microscope that also takes ...

Found Footage: DIY iPhone 4 guitar cam

by Dave Caolo (Aug 23rd, 2010)

How we love the ingenuity of Apple fans. This enterprising musician took some scissors and a roll of oh-so-useful duct tape to an iPhone 4 box to create the awesome guitar cam you see above. Inside the iPhone 4 box is a section of plastic that separates the phone from the accessories. ...

Apple Trackpad hacked to use USB

by Dave Caolo (Aug 20th, 2010)

The aesthetics and convenience of wireless devices add to their appeal, but buying batteries (no matter how special) is a bummer. MacRumors forum user MarkBog felt so strongly about buying all of those batteries that he hacked his Magic Trackpad to use a USB connection. To accomplish this feat, ...

iPad mod recalls old TV

by Dave Caolo (Aug 10th, 2010)

Here's an iPad mod of questionable usefulness, but it looks nice. Artist Jonas Damon built an enclosure for his iPad that resembles an old cathode-ray television (just like grandma used to have). He only used parts he found lying around his apartment. Even the rear of the case has been built to ...