1. DIY Multi-Room Wireless Music Remote

   
   With the help of some external hardware and a handheld wireless device such as an iPhone or iPod touch, you can build your own wireless music remote. It’s a bit spendy if you don’t already have an Iphone/iTouch and a router, but there’s a step by step tutorial to guide you through the setup build.

2. DIY iPhone Controlled Car (Complete Control)

   These guys took an iPhone and using a special app, the onboard GPS and Wifi along with some serious modding they managed to make a life size R/C car. I bet it was difficult to drive using the six-axis in the iPhone but it’s still a great mod. Learn how it was done in an upcoming post. Subscribe so you don’t miss it.

3. iPhone Controlled Mazda (without gas and break)

   By tapping into his car’s onboard wifi and diagnostic systems, this hacker can control his car from anywhere in the world.  He’s able to start the engine, pop the trunk, lock/unlock, and view all vehicle diagnostics from his iPhone. As seen in the video, electronic controls are housed in the trunk along with an Arduino to help process commands.

4. How to View your Webcam on your iTouch or iPhone

   

   In this tutorial, we’ll be showing you how to watch a live feed from your webcam on your iPhone or iPod touch from anywhere in the world. Setup is pretty simple, basically just download and install a windows program and the necessary app and you’re ready to stream live.

5. Build a Solar-powered iPhone Charger

   

   How many times has your cell phone died in the middle of the day because of its lousy battery life? You have several options: you could recharge via wall socket, via USB, through an external battery or the green way, with a DIY solar iPhone charger. Don’t forget to pick up any needed supplies for this build (including solar panels) at our store!

6. Make a Laser Matrix Projector for the iPhone

   
   The idea is to add some kind of projector capability to mobile phone (e.g. iPhone) that isn’t too complex or expensive. Instead of using an expensive mini projector, I decided to use lasers instead to any bitmap font using a matrix of laser points, which is controlled by iPhone.

7. How to: iPhone as a Wireless Router for your Laptop

   Transform your iPhone into a wireless router, allowing you to connect your wifi deprived laptop to the internet anywhere phone service is available. It’s also perfect when you’re browsing the web but the small screen is too cramped. Now you can easily switch over to your laptop for a larger viewing window.

8. RC Car Controlled Via the Web

   

   Strap on a standard Linksys router to an RC car and you can wirelessly control it through the web from up to 1640 feet away. It’s also equipt with a webcam and operates through a brain comprised of PIC microcontrollers or the Arduino’s ATmega168. The in depth tutorial will guide you through the build.

9. Home Automation Using the iPhone and X10

   Like most people, we’re huge fans of home automation. We’ve even covered quite a few ways people have used Twitter to automate your home. This time, however, we’ll be automating our homes by managing SmartHome’s X10 home automation modules using the iPhone.

10. The Rockband Robot iPhone.

    This guy obviously wanted to break a world record in Rockband because he built a robot to attach to his iPhone that plays it perfectly for him. It works by light sensors telling the prosthetic fingers when a note is coming up and driving a motor to press the screen and thus play the note.

Honorable Mention: How to disassemble the iPhone and unleash your hardware hacking skill.

More iPhone Projects:

• Jailbreak and Unlock iPhone 3.1.2
• iPhone Controlled USB Missile Launcher
• How to Build a Simple iPhone Tripod Mount

Even taking simple photos for items we’re tying to sell on eBay can be tricky. Most of us want to have a certain degree of professionalism to our photos that say something out us.  You have to have a fancy, expensive setup, right? Nope: Learn make a DIY photography studio in your closet.

The Setup

This guide shows you how to set up a small but completely functional DIY photo studio in a space no bigger than a closet. It works by using some basic framing and material which could be soured from a hardware shop or even your tool shed.

Above is the inside setup with a watch on a reflective surface on top of a black cloth.  For such a simple setup, the results are astounding!

The Final Result:

Superb quality photos!  There are also instructions to set up the different kinds of lighting which are nothing more than basic domestic lights you can but at your local home furnishings store.  Overall, the guide is very well written and has great illustrations and pictures to help you along the way to building your own photography studio in your closet!

DIY Photograph Articles:

• Incredible DIY Aerial Kite Photography
• DIY Macro Photography Kit on the Cheap
• How to build a simple iPhone 3GS Tripod Mount

By using an Arduino, GPS, and an accelerometer, this group put together the “Urban Defender” – A hyper-local geolocation based game which allows users to “claim” various districts of a city by throwing the ball against a wall to claim the territory.  The ball tells you whether you’re in friendly or enemy territory through it’s built in speakers and LEDs. The concept video below does a great job of demonstrating the project.

The map above is how the users can track which geo-locations are owned by different groups.  It’s just a concept for now, but it would make for a great iPhone app to use to monitor which territories are owned by each team.

The Concept:

The Execution:

The Plan: The entire project is incredibly well documented, full of flow charts, diagrams, concept photos and videos so you can learn how to recreate the build.

The Code: Full details including flow charts, initial sketches, and source code can be obtained under their coding section.

The Build: Pictured above is their first prototype with all the electronics stuffed inside the ball, comfortably protected by foam.  You can view a walk through of the entire project build if you’d like to learn more.

Final Results:

The final result reminds us a lot of Foursquare, a popular location based game.  Full project details can be found at the links above at the project build site.  Be sure to subscribe to HacknMod for free to stay in the loop on future projects.

Since Apple’s newest upgrade, not even the iPhone dev team (the group who is famous for jailbreaking the iPhone) has been able to crack it…Until now.  Now you can crack the newest version of the iPhone OS 3.1.2 and you can jailbreak previous versions as well, allowing you to use the iPhone with Verizon, Sprint, T-mobile, or any network of your choice.  If all else fails, you can actually unlock the iPhone by hacking the hardware, but that’s quite a bit more complicated.

*Update* Correction: You can jailbreak it and not unlock it quite yet.

You may also enjoy:

• Build a Solar-powered iPhone Charger
• How to: iPhone as a Wireless Router for your Laptop
• How to View your Webcam on your iTouch or iPhone

1. Ripped DVD Videos on your iPhone
2. iPhone Controlled RC Car
3. All of our iPhone projects

Stay tuned and subscribe to HacknMod for more exceptional hacks, mods, and DIY projects.

Super Nintendo (SNES) still has fans worldwide – Who doesn’t love the retro consoles? Thanks to SNES emulators, the Super Nintendo is still alive and kicking in some corners of the game world.

Emulation of the SNES is now available for a number of console platforms. Snes9x for example is a portable, freeware SNES emulator. Snes9x is coded in C++ for Linux and Windows. Many ports of Snes9x are easily available. SNES 9xGX specially, is a Super Nintendo emulator for the Wii based on the SNES9x.

But this hack could be the very first homebrew emulation for the Xbox360. The innovative project used the SNES9X GX emulator ported to the Xbox360. OS dependence was bypassed by using Libxenon (which is a library for writing programs for the Xbox 360). The end result, as the video shows is a success. The GUI may not be eye pleasing but you sure can get those old games back into action on your Xbox360.

Go back in time with some of our retro-hacking emulation projects –

• How to Build a DIY Nintendo Arcade
• How to Hack and Customize a Retro Atari Game
• NES Emulator on the iPhone

Don’t we all wish that at least some things in life be free? Wi-Fi is on most wish lists. Wi-Fi is an inherent part of airwaves around us. The only problem – It’s not obvious, it’s shut tight and it’s not free to access.

But just like free parking, there are a few places where Wi-Fi can be accessed without spending a penny. That’s the easy part. The difficult part is scanning the airwaves in search of Wi-Fi hotspots. Thankfully, the first is accessible thanks to some public hotspots and the second, using software tools and Wi-Fi firmware.

We have cleared a lot of air with our own collection of Wi-Fi how-tos. Lifehacker’s The Definitive Guide to Finding Free Wi-Fi is also an important add-on for your Wi-Fi bag of tricks. The guide takes you through three levels of need in the search for free Wi-Fi. Just how extreme is your need?

The Easy Way: Using Public Hotspots

Locate public Wi-Fi hotspots around libraries, Barnes & Noble bookstores, McDonald’s, the airport, university campus, independent coffee shop, or hotel lobbies. These are probable places which offer free Wi-Fi as a utility. Check out our Free Airport Wi-Fi Hack or our Become a War Driving Pro – Hack WEP and Wi-Fi post.

The Medium Way: Using Apps

Many free Windows, Mac and mobile OS apps enhance Wi-Fi scan and seek. The Lifehacker guide recommends NetStumbler and WeFi for Windows, iStumbler for Mac, JiWire Free Wi-Fi Finder (iPhone), WiFiFoFum (Windows Mobile) and WeFi again for the Android.

You can go online with a smartphone and check out a few web apps to find a Wi-Fi hotspot using WiFinder, Hotspot Haven, JiWire, Wi-Fi Hotspot List and Hotspotr as bookmark worthy. Also, check out Ekahu HeatMapper (Windows only) for wireless signal strength mapping.

The Hard Way: Hacking

Learn how to hookup your smartphone as a wireless router. And also the really acute way of hacking into a WEP-secured wireless network with Backtrack. Check out our own post on the topic – How To: iPhone as a Wireless Router for your Laptop.

Even More Wifi Hacks:

• Make a DIY Wifi Repeater/Range Extender
• How to: Blazing Fast Internet Speed with Dual Band Wifi
• Get all the Wifi you can handle

School is back in session shortly for most college students.  While you could be an average Joe and and buy all your back to school goods, you’ll be far better off building your own DIY projects to pimp your bland dorm room.  These fantastic tutorials will walk you through creating custom, outstanding dorm rooms to show off your DIY skill.

Incredible Lighting:

1. The Emergency Party Button will help make friends quickly.
2. How to Display Audio as Light (Make LEDs Flash to Music)
3. Make Custom RGB Mood Lights
4. DIY Abilight for your PC, TV and more
5. Need more inspiration? See all of our LED and Light projects.

DIY Security:

1. How to Use RFID to Protect your Beer, Valuables
2. DIY Motion Sensing Laptop Security Cam
3. Build your own Laser Security System
4. RFID Door Lock Mechanism
5. All of our security projects

Save Money:

1. DIY Continuous Ink Printer = Unlimited Free Printing
2. Get Free Internet by Making a Wifi Repeater
3. Build Your Own Open-Source DVR

Gaming Hacks:

1. Rapid Fire Mods Make you the Halo King
2. Burn copies of PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360
3. Play all your favorite NES games online, and emulate the Wii and other consoles.
4. Select a console from the categories on the right for more.

Custom Transport:

1. For the outgoing types:  Setup and make your own custom transportation like the Enicycle and iShoes.
2. Video Tutorial: Build your own Self-Balancing Segway
3. Build a Speedy Motorized Shopping Cart

DIY Entertainment:

1. Make your own HD Projector (another version)
2. Stylish High Quality DIY iPod and iPhone Speakers
3. Stream any Video to your PS3, Xbox 360, or Wii
4. DIY Wireless Music Remote

Extra Awesome!

If you’re ready to go all out and stand out you need to go the extra mile:

• Beer Launching Fridge
• iPhone Controlled USB Missile Launcher
• Shut Down your PC with a Cell Phone

Helpful Tips:

1. Hack College always has plenty of great tips to help you survive the year.
2. Check out this fantastic dorm layout and use of space for inspiration
3. Put all those extra beer bottles to good use. (another option)
4. Access your PC from Anywhere on Campus for Free

As always, be sure to subscribe for free to receive our hacks for daily.  Be sure to send in your projects and earn cash too!

1. The Outdoor Repeater:

When the network is across the neighborhood, sometimes a weatherproof repeater is necessary. Learn to build your own with this detailed range extender tutorial.

2. Universal Wifi Repeater:

Learn to build another universal wireless repeater – A device that you can place anywhere and it will wirelessly repeat the strongest signal, onto another wireless network (with or without security).

3. Low Budget Solution:

The method is an approach to form the omni-directional radiated signal into a beam signal.  The goal is to increase both incoming and outgoing signal strength on the antenna.  A simple, affordable wifi repeater.

Our Similar Outstanding Projects:

1. Play Xbox Live in your Car
2. Make your own hand held wifi detector
3. Use the iPhone as a wireless router

While iPhone’s have just about any feature you could possibly want, they may not always produce crisp photos.  By using a few parts from an old Nikon camera mount, this modder created their own tripod for their iPhone 3GS.  Full build details are available for you to follow and we have plenty of other camera and photography projects for you to enjoy:

• Incredible LED and Laser Photography
• DIY Heltmet Cam Inside Ski Goggles
• EyeBorg: False Eye Camera Implant