You may remember around six months ago we published a piece about the Nintoaster - a fine, if somewhat pointless, piece of engineering ingenuity where the innards of a Nintendo Entertainment System were crammed, still working, into the shell of a toaster. Given there was a five-year gap between Nintendo releasing the NES and the SNES, it's pretty impressive stuff that the same modder has a toaster based on the newer hardware already.

Other than the step up from 8-bit to 16-bit gaming, it's more of the same from the modder. You still switch it on by pushing down the bread switch (technical name that, I'm sure) and it still gives you a nice warming glow even if you can't use its original function of cooking bread.

If you're the type of person who wished that The Onion's piece on Sousaphone Hero was genuine, then you're probably also the type of person that this wonderful Guitar Hero mod is squarely aimed at.

The fans of small computers over at Liliputing - who must be well happy about the rise and rise and rise of the "netbook" and the impact it's having on their Adsense earnings - have sourced a rather insane guide that shows a technically adept person how to build a MacBook Mini.

So, if you can't get approved for a mortgage to buy a MacBook Air, you can have the next best thing - thanks to a German user on the MSI Wind forums. Yes, that's just a lovely MSI Wind, with an Apple logo cut into the lid and six LEDs stuffed into the case to make it glow.

Quite a lot of effort, especially as the maker even created a superb parody of the MacBook Air advertisement as well. Some people are officially TOO TALENTED.

(Via Liliputing)

Related posts: New MacBooks on October 14? | Numerous new iPods

This one fits firmly into the hobbyist category, but a bloke on a set of message boards has managed to create a little mini-Segway using parts worth about thirty quid or so. All it consists of is some Lego and an Arduino.

This kit, aimed at couriers and delivery drivers with safety in mind, will integrate with a embedded computer on your bike and show everyone exactly how fast you're going using electro-luminescent wire.

You've got to build it yourself, but it's not too tough if you've ever soldered before and you know which end of a needle is the sharp one. It'll apparently run for up to six hours on a single AA battery.

Rather than enhancing safety though, I can only see this increasing accidents as people race each other to see who can get the highest number on their back. Hit the jump to see a video of it in action.

Given that you can pick up a four port USB hub for about five quid these days, there's no economic value in converting an old VHS cassette tape into one (particularly as you need to buy a USB hub to make it work anyway, but for sheer nostalgia, and for the dream of clogging up your desk with a great big hub rather than a tiny one, this project could be for you.

Mention "hot glue" and "soldering equipment" and I'm running -- at least for a small project like this -- but if it's your thing, head over to the Instrucables web site and give it a go.

The new NEC/Aida Engineering portable DNA tester can perform full DNA analysis in as little as 25 minutes, should you fancy staging Jeremy Kyle-style DNA paternity tests at your next office party. Here's a smashing photograph NEC sent out to illustrate the device. It features a lady actively testing some DNA, just in case you were wondering how it's done:

Luckily for her, the results confirm that Wayne IS the biological father. Relief all round!

Via (Pink Tentacle)

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We've posted a lot of odd clocks here over the years, but here's your chance to not only design your own, but to have it be part of the Furni catalog. To enter, download a cut-fold-and-paste PDF of their LED digital clock kit, place it in the peculiar clock formation of your choosing, and email a graphic back to Furni. Submissions so far are heavy on clocks embedded in showers, but I really like the one that appears to be a tape degausser or maybe a primitive Geiger counter. You can never have too many ambiguous clocks. [GT]

Furni's online shop: "Show us your Skills" (via Moco Loco)

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Yes, you can send a paper airplane 30 meters -- if it has a battery-powered motor on it. Popular Science has a supercharged eAT-6 paper airplane DIY that uses bristol board and a salvaged capacitor to make a paper airplane that leaves the rubber-band blasted variety in the dust. Their total cost is £7, but that assumes £2 for 4 AA batteries and you can probably just steal those from your boss's pager. [GT]

supercharged eAT-6 paper airplane DIY

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DIY: Green Lantern ring -- it even glows!

"In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight! Let those who worship evil's might, beware my power: Green Lantern's light!" Make your own GL beams complete with healthful green glow courtesy of Instructables' How to make a Green Lantern ring. The original GL DIY was sterling silver, but this one is transparent green resin, since most people don't have access to silver casting, and since making a resin-made ring glow is much easier. [GT]

How to make a Green Lantern ring- including a glowing version! (via MAKE)

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RedPost/Kit is a DIY photo frame which comes with a 19" LCD monitor, a USB flash drive running Damn Small Linux, built-in 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi, and a 200MHz fanless x86 CPU with 128MB on board memory. You can either load pictures to it over your network via Samba, or point it at a photo web site. Comes in six colours (if "unpainted" is a colour; they felt some would want to customize the frame personally) and is VESA mount compatible. $549. I want. [GT]

RedPost/Kit’s birth announcement (via Engadget)

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Drugs are so passé. The 21st century way to turn in is by hacking your brain - and the hack itself is a DIY. The resultant machine flashes LEDs in your eyes and blips sound in your ears to sync your beta, alpha, theta, and delta brainwaves, allowing you to take a trip whenever you like, legally, and without the traditional destructive effects associated with controlled drugs. It'll be interesting to see how governments respond as devices like this become commoner and finer-tuned. [GT]

Make your own Brain Machine [via MAKE]

Why plug your USB devices into your computer to charge them when you can save that electricity and use your own hot air? Just follow the instructions at Instructables and you too can strap a motor to your chest which should get you some very interesting looks at security checkpoints. As the inventor says, building this requires a wide range of maker skills, so simply being able to breathe may not be enough of a qualification. [GT]

Breath powered USB charger [via OhGizmo]

You can combine the geekiness of Dr. Who with the geekiness of an arcade machine with simple tools like linux, Valium, Charles Bronson and a newt (at least according to the pictures) by building your own TARDIS MAME console. The MAME console is powered by a HP Vectra VL400 1GHz Pentium with 512MB of RAM and an ATI Radeon 9550 video card, plus custom joystick and buttons so it feels like the real thing (and, the TARDIS lights up like the real thing, though its dematerialization circuit seems to be on the blink). [GT]

TARDIS MAME console [via MAKE]

Considering the virtue of biodiesel is that it's derived from purely animal-or-vegetable sources, you won't be surprised to hear that you can make your own biodiesel in the comfort (provided you don't mind the smell) of your own home. Bear in mind this does involve actual diesel so you may want to take this one outside, but the prospect of making your own car fuel is probably appealing to the geek in you in spite of yourself. [GT]

Make your own biodiesel [via MAKE]

MAKE Magazine just sponsored Ignite Seattle's first annual egg slam. The rules? Use materials on hand to try to maximize the survival of eggs being flung from a catapult into a brick wall. The flickr photos are pretty interesting, the funny quotes are indeed funny, and there's some video at peoplegeek. [GT]

Egg slam makes gooey mess

Made of canary wood, copper, lead and stained glass, the Stained Glass PC is transparent enough that you can see all the compu-entrails as it hums along. It also has the appropriate sliding areas for maintenance or upgrades. While it is a one-of-a-kind item, the details here can help you to build your own. [GT]

Custom stained glass PC case [via MAKE]

The plans for the LED Bike Light System can be used just to make a headlight, or for the full headlight-taillight system giving a bright white light on the front and modest (but prominent) red on the back. The rear light even blinks! It's not quite as bright as a 15w Nite Rider headlight but it is brighter than the 10w, and gives you the satisfaction of knowing how the technology goes together. The author of the plan also reports he used it in a 45 minute pouring rain and it passed with flying colours. [GT]

LED Bike Light System

If you're the kind of Hippyshopper that has a computer but no television, the Sharp Pencil Quality TV will be right up your alley. Instructions are pretty straightforward: download the template, cut it out, glue it together, wrap the ribbon around two pencils, and enjoy. Available already are templates for Dr. Strangelove, Dirty Harry and Kill Bill Vol 1, but you're encouraged to get their template and create your own. [GT]

Sharp Pencil Quality TV [via Shiny Shiny]

Instead of leaving those ancient slabs of vinyl to moulder in the space above your car port, you can pop them in the oven until supple and then mold the now-limp record into a satin-candy crinkled fruit bowl. (You can turn your old 45s into snack bowls.) This project allows you to melt plastic on the good cookie sheets in the name of cleaning up junk. [GT]

The Record Bowl - How to Make It Yourself