G4TV

Own an Actual Piece of Computing History: Got lots of money and an interest in computers? Now you can spend it at Christie’s auction of landmark computer ephemera.

Giant-Sized Gaming: With Project Blinkenlights, Europeans can play classic video games on the sides of buildings with their cell phones. Why don’t we have that?

“I’ve been hacking since I was 7 years old,” Joe said. “I love opening things up and seeing what’s inside products.”

This has resulted in items such as an Atari 2600 stuffed with a fully functional wireless PC, or classic Atari controllers that are compatible with USB. “I’m a big fan of the 2600 era of classic gaming,” he admitted. “I’m also a real advocate of homebrew video games.”

"Hardware hacking is, to me, a perfect example of 'anti-establishment,’” Joe said. “Make a product do something it was never intended to do, adding a personal touch, and making it your own. Not just buying a product and using it as-is -- which is what The Man wants you to do!"

Besides working on secret projects involving video games, toys, and consumer electronics for his company, Grand Idea Studio, Inc., Joe lives in San Diego where he runs, swims, cycles, plays the drums, and enjoys petting his neighbor's cat.

Quick Links:

Game Console Hacking

Hardware Hacking: Having Fun While Violating your Warranty

GrandIdeaStudio.com 

Justin was awarded a BFG Tech GeForce 5700 graphics card and our hearty congratulations.

Next Week’s “User Created” Challenge: Send us your best comic strip revealing What’s Behind the Orange Door. (You know – that mysterious door at the back of our TSS set.) You can us three panels maximum, and you must use MS Paint.

Email us your entries using the subject line MS Paint Orange Door. Send them to: thescreensavers@g4techtv.com 

Rise of the Sequels: Half-Life 2 and Halo 2 were pretty good according to the DICE Awards.

Hands Free, Brain Free: A cell phone study reveals that headsets don’t prevent your conversations from instantly turning you into a really crappy driver.

Adware Sucks Says Adware Spreader: Documents written by Kazaa’s chief technical officer filed in its current court proceedings reveal that even he thought their adware-ridden product slowed down computers.

The Price of Loyalty: Sanyo asks its workers to buy Sanyo products to pull it out of the red.

“It’s one of those things that we get a ton of email on, and now there’s an easy way to do it,” said Kevin R.

“I’ve done a lot, and each has it own purpose,” said Joe, but he has a special place in his heart for the VaxBar. At one of his jobs, he built a fridge out of an old, giant Digital VAX computer – and then wired it with a PC to tell him who was accessing it.

Nick in Agawam, Mass. tried to create his own “super console” by combining an Xbox and a PS2. But it didn’t work. Why not?

“Without seeing it, it’s hard to say,” said Joe. “But if you want to build one, you’ve got to worry about power supply.” Since each console has different power requirements, you can’t combine them into one; same goes for the video outs. Finally, using a metal case is not a good idea because of its conductivity.