iPhone 3G Modded with Macro

The iPhone 3G’s camera works alright until you want to grab a shot of something within a foot or so (like a butterfly, or unpopped pimple). And to address this dilemma, one modder softened the glue holding in his iPhone’s camera and rotated the lens to macrofy the fovus. He was able to take several shots within 5 inches, but the most impressive is this picture taken just .25 inches away from its subject. For a phone especially, that’s some impressive macro. If only it didn’t require such delicate surgery to implement—ahem—Apple—ahem. [flickr via Apple]

Popularity: 8% [?]

iPhone Hacks: refocusing your camera

Like most phone cameras, the iPhone’s lens is focused for the most general possible use, i.e. nearly at infinity. Apple reader Daniel Forsythe modded his iPhone to focus a bit closer up so he could use it to read bar codes that he shoots from magazines and equipment labels.

The mod involves breaking the glue that holds in the camera module and rotating the lens to bring the focus closer to the camera. With this hack, he can snap photos of close-in subjects. Check out his Flickr photo set for samples and discussion.

He writes that he plans to make a full mod guide should readers express interest in it. The photo seen here is focused to 0.25″.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Mac minis Turned Into Other Fetish Boxes People Drool Over

Apple might neglect the Mac mini more than apparently hipsters do showers in mid-August, but some people love it enough to lavish it with the attention no one else does. Hideo Takano is one of those people, transforming the little fetish block into other boxes people obsess over: an over-sized Lego block for Apple-loving manboys to dream of building a Mac minizord, and a cute little gas can for pyromaniacs. Read the rest of this entry

Popularity: 9% [?]

ColorWare does their thing for the iPhone 3G

If black and white aren’t enough for you, ColorWare is now offering their gadget coloring service for the iPhone 3G. Their iPhone site allows you to customize parts of your phone with 35 different colors on an à la carte basis. Obviously you have to send in your iPhone and the service takes about two weeks.

Unfortunately, it’s not cheap. Just to color the back of the phone is $150 (all prices are US dollars), with additional color options for the frame, home button, SIM tray, earbuds, and dock running $10-$20 each. In fact, if you went wild and purchased full customization, your bill would be $230 — more than the iPhone 3G. On the other hand, can you really put a price on being the only guy whose lilac-colored iPhone has a Candy Apple button?

[Colorwarepc via Apple]

Popularity: 10% [?]

Flickr Find: Macintosh on Nintendo DS

While browsing Flickr this afternoon, we came across a shot of a Nintendo DS running Macintosh System 6 in emulation on reader Ken Fager’s Flickr stream. Of course, we contacted him to ask how he did it. Here’s what he had to say.

First, grab a DS flash card and install MiniVMacDS onto its root directory.

Once that’s done, place the Mac Plus ROM into the “vmac” folder along with a System 6/7 install disk (you can make a blank disk image using Disk Utility).

Finally, turn on the DS and select MiniVMacDS. It will boot the disk images. From there, install (minimal) System 6 onto the blank disk image.

Ken notes that it’s a bit pokey, but hey, this wasn’t done for speed! Have fun if you try this for yourself. Thanks for sharing, Ken! We love it.

Popularity: 17% [?]