While you might have thought it would be riddled with bullets, or maybe involve a horse head, it’s really just a massive, powerful PC in an ornate case. Inside, a 1940 Cadillac Fleetwood spins on a turntable as Don Corleone keeps his watchful eye on the mobo, power supply and cooling system, powered by MSI and Cooler Master components.

Under the hood (of the PC, not the car), there’s an MSI Z68A-ZD80 mobo, with a Intel Core i7-2600K Quad-Core CPU, 16GB of DDR3 RAM, a pair of MSI GeForce GTX 550 Ti Cyclone II OC graphic cards, two SATA3 120GB SSDs, 1TB and 2TB hard drives, powered by a Cooler Master Silent Pro M850 power supply, and cooled with V8 and Excalibur fans.

The guys over at Case Mod Blog spotted the Godfather PC casemod at the recent Campus Party event in Sao Paolo, Brazil. The case was made by Omar Majzoub – the same guy who brought us last year’s evil-filled Chucky casemod.

Maybe it’s just me, but I expected more blood.

[via Case Mod Blog and Bahia.com]

The Legacy case was designed by Maxime de Keiser of Les Forges MDK. The design is supposed to be a tribute to the original Mac 128K computer – minus the brick-shaped mouse, black and white screen and 3.5″ floppy drive.

While I like what they’ve done, I wonder if they’ll be able to produce it. If they do, it will probably be quite popular. Would you make your iPhone look like this?

[via Highsnobiety]

The foxLO is small enough that you can hide it behind your desk or even inside the desk without issues. The dimensions of the little device are just 2.5″ H x 4.5″ W x 6.3″ D, which is small enough to fit under the cramped quarters beneath my desk. The gadget has a pass-through output for use with speakers without a subwoofer output, as well as adjustable bass levels.

The sub is able to deliver deep bass from such a small package thanks to its Linear Magnetic Drive, which sounds like a way to launch spaceships to me. The amp inside the box is a 25W unit and there is a passive radiator system as well. It also has a charging port for your iPhone or other USB device on the side too. The point of this is to supplement the low-end for soundmatters’ foxL speaker system. The foxLO will retail for $149(USD) and will hit stores this spring.

Researchers from the University of Virginia and Microsoft Research are now saying (opens PDF) that in the future, people might purposely host small “data furnace” server farms in their home to be able to produce the heat needed to cool the place. I think this would make more sense for data farms or businesses than individuals. According to the researchers, if you had a server that had 40 mainboards and processors inside you could create some serious heating capability.

In fact, they claim that if you had 110 of those mainboards inside a server room in a home you could heat the entire place, as well as a furnace from the server heat alone. The downside is that if the room temperature reaches 95F or higher you would have to shut the servers off to prevent overheating.

[via NYT]

Selling for under $300 (USD), the PlayBase is also more affordable than an iPad. You get a 7-inch screen, and a 1.2GHz Rockchip RK2918 Cortex A8 processor with 3D acceleration. It runs on Android 3 and has 1GB of DDR3 RAM. It measures just 9.7mm thick, and has a shock-absorbent silicone cover that will prevent scratches, but it can also be folded back to function as a stand. There’s also a front-facing camera, and an accelerometer.

The Karuma PlayBase is selling for £170 ($270 USD) and will be available for pre-order on November 15th. Retail sales start on December 1st.

[via Ubergizmo]

For now, the Motorola Photon 4G and Motorola Atrix are the only smartphones that will work with the Lapdock 100, but that’s better than the older models which each had a different dock. It’s a bit chubbier than previous models, weighing about 2.2 pounds, and offers a 10.1″ screen. It’s a nice concept, but I doubt that the current crop of phones are truly fast enough to replace a decent laptop.

For now, the pricing of the new Lapdock hasn’t been announced, but the outgoing models sold for around $500 (USD). It will need to be a lot cheaper than that for more people to adopt it, especially when you can pick up decent netbooks for under $300.

[via Ubergizmo]

So when you see this strangely-shaped device on NBC’s The Office, you probably won’t think it is, out of all things, a tablet. But it is. It was launched last Thursday on the show, becoming the first ever tablet to harness “pyramid power.” It’s release was sort of overshadowed by that of the Amazon Kindle Fire, which is why you might not have heard of it – until now, that is.

Sabre’s triangular tablet weighs a little less than three pounds if you don’t attach the optional battery pack and memory booster. Dunder Mifflin’s Dwight Schrute presented the new tablet to the crowd, and while it doesn’t look like it has any cameras whatsoever, it does have a 50L memory capacity.

[via Gadget Lab via Dvice]

This German-made chalkboard “laptop” is also a good way to poke fun at people hiding behind their laptops during meetings. There are two surfaces you can use as a chalkboard, one is situated where you’d find the “screen,” and the other is where you’d find the” keyboard.” The “trackpad” is hollow and allows you to stash extra chalks.

You can buy the i-Wood chalkboard laptop at Rasselfisch for €35 (~$47).

[via Swissmiss]

The MegaPad was hacked together by Martin Drashkov. He believes that there is room for a touchscreen device as large as this, citing two-person computing and gaming as one example (Arthur Nishimoto’s awesome set up comes to mind). Drashkov used Android for his device because he believes that the “openness and flexibility make it the only modern touch-based OS that is able to be adapted for uses beyond what’s currently available in the market.” He didn’t mention which flavor of Android his MegaPad is on though.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

As I said earlier, this thing is relatively cheap – Drashkov claims he put it together using off-the-shelf parts with a total cost of less than $600 (USD), less expensive than high-end versions of some tablets. I’m still not totally sold on a device this large having a touchscreen only interface. Also I think it would be better if Drashkov made it so the MegaPad could be positioned horizontally or at least at an angle so you can work on it like a desk and make it easier for more people to use it simultaneously. I’ll update this post when Drashkov releases the MegaPad’s specs, but if you want you can also directly keep an eye out for the details on his blog.

[via Gizmodo via Dvice]

But before you start hoarding computers and drooling at the prospect of earning money without doing anything, know that CPUsage will “only” pay you $10 (USD) a month for every four hours of daily work – or about $10 for 120 hours monthly – that your silicon slave does. I’m pretty sure that that’s not even enough to cover the cost of electricity that your computer will consume in that same time period.

Edit: CPUsage co-founder and CEO Jeff Martens corrected my assumption in his comment below, saying, “I’d like to address the electricity usage. In our analysis, the most power hungry Dell dekstop would consume about $7/month in electricity if the CPU was pinned at 100% utilization for the entire month…every minute of it (depends on your state’s electricity costs, of course). While it is unlikely that CPUsage would utilize your computer every minute of every day for an entire month, that same Dell desktop would earn you in the area of $75 in rewards. For $7 in electricity.” Learn more in this shaky-cam interview with Martens:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

As Martens said in the video, the longer you lend them your computer’s power, the more money you’ll earn. Also, the more power you lend, the more money you’ll earn. But still, I don’t think people should expect to earn big money from being a CPUsage participant. Speaking of earnings, it’s not clear yet whether CPUsage will pay people with actual money or with gift cards.

Still, if you frequently use your computer anyway, then it would be nice to get the most out of it and earn a few bucks or items. Then again I’m no computer expert – who knows, there might be a way to game this system and earn lots of money from it. Check out the CPUsage website for more information.

[via The Next Web]

Playing and winning solitaire in real life is more laid back and relaxed than that–until now.

The designing duo known as Skrekkøgle (who also brought us the decidedly weirder pet ash portraits) took it upon themselves to create a physical version of the mesmerizing animation that displayed whenever you won a round of Solitaire. Recreating the entire animation in 3D wasn’t easy, but somehow the duo was able to pull it off.

The entire sculpture required the use of around a thousand cards that were printed out (so they looked just like the cards on you screen) and then pasted onto black foam boards that were then taped together to mimic the cascading animation.

[via FAZED via Oh Gizmo!]

The HAF X Mini Bike casemod is actually both a fully-functional gaming PC and a gas-powered mini bike, capable of carrying its builder along for a ride.

Built by René Grau from CM Storm, the system is based on an CoolerMaster HAF X chassis, with an Intel Core i5 CPU, and a 4GB GeForce GTX460 graphics card, running on a Mini-ITX mobo. Storage is provided by a 300GB SSD, so the guy who built it doesn’t have to worry about bumps in the road damaging a hard drive. It also sports dual exhaust and a two-stroke engine, with a top speed of about 40MPH – unusual stats for a PC.

Looking for proof that it actually works as a PC, and as a bike? Look no further than this video clip, which shows it handling double-duty.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

What’s the last time you saw someone pouring gasoline into their computer? And before you even ask – no, you can’t use the system while riding – unless you’ve got a really long extension cord.

[via Case Mod Blog]

So what does a grand buy you? A 3.1GHz Intel Core i3 Dual-Core processor, 21.5-inch LCD screen, AMD Radeon HD 6750 with 256MB, 2GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive, a Superdrive and OS X Lion. The next cheapest iMac that’s available for the mass market costs $1,199.

Instead of the Thunderbolt port, this iMac has a simple mini Display Port.  For $200 more, you can get a 2.5GHz Quad-Core i5, 4GB of RAM, and 500GB of storage. While some people might perish the thought of getting this sub-$1,000, a lot of students will purchase this because of the price-point.

[Apple via MacRumors]

This mouse that looks like a giant hand cursor doesn’t have any tails nor can it be used as a fashion accessory; however, it is a clever take on the usual computer mouse that we see and use today.

At first glance, the Pixel Mouse doesn’t really look like a real mouse, but take a closer look and you will see that it has everything that a normal, run-of-the-mill computer mouse has: two buttons and a scroll wheel. But with its pixelated design, it’s ten times cooler and a zillion times geekier.

It doesn’t come with any programmable keys and it might not make for a very comfortable mouse, but its extremely geeky look more than makes up for all that. I think.

If you’re interested in grabbing one for your desktop, the USB Pixel Mouse is available online from Perpetual Kid for $19.99(USD).

[via Foolish Gadgets]

This LEGO computer not only looks cool and runs fast, it’s being used as a folding farm to help with medical research.

Mike Schropp built this awesome beast of a machine using about 2000 individual LEGO bricks, but it’s what’s on the inside that’s equally as impressive. Under the hood of this machine are a trio of overclocked quad-core Sandy Bridge 2600k CPUs, mounted into ASUS P8P67 Micro ATX mobos, and chilled by Thermaltake Frio CPU coolers.

So basically, what you’re looking at here are three complete computers in a single box. In addition to the CPU coolers, it’s got 8 Aerocool fans to keep the temp under control. Amazingly, the whole 12 core system runs on a single Antec 1200 high current power supply. It’s really an impressive rig, even if it weren’t made from LEGO bricks.

While it’s primarily used for the medical research, Mike admits that he also uses the computers inside for use in his own home as well.

To read more about the build and to see more pictures showing how Mike’s LEGO folding farm PC came together, head over to Total Geekdom.

This tiny little notebook is sort of like a cross between a netbook and a rugged smartphone. It’s quite small and has a roughly smartphone sized screen at 5.6-inches that can be read in the sunlight. It has a VGA port and a dock that will let it offer higher resolution in the office or at home. It has a Celeron M processor at 1.2GHz and 2GB of DDR3 RAM.

The rig stores to either a 64GB SSD or a 128GB SSD and it has a small 77-key QWERTY keyboard for typing that is backlit. The battery is good for up to six hours of use and is hot swappable. The coolest part is that it meets military specs for water and dust protection and will survive drops and more. It’s even waterproof.

Despite all that, you probably shouldn’t use it to surf the web while skydiving.

[via GD-itronix]

Over the years, the company released a variety of machines, with the last being the A7000 series,  first released in the mid-1990s. While the A7000 and its later A7000+ models were fairly substantial desktop systems, one modder figured out a way to turn the A7000+ into a portable.

Derbyshire, UK modder Sam took the old RISC OS based computer and managed to make a rather nice little portable system with it. Sure, it's a little boxy, but to put things firmly into perspective, this is what an Acorn A7000+ originally looked like.

Impressed now, right? I sure am. Dubbed the A7Kp, Sam's A7000+ portable is built into a case made from MDF, with a 10.4" front-panel LCD set behind a layer of clear perspex. It uses an original A7000+ mobo, with the circuitry necessary to run it on an internal 9.6v NiMh battery. Yes, this thing truly is portable. It'll run for just under 3 hours on a full charge. Warning, gory insides splayed out ahead...

Wait, that wasn't gory at all. As a matter of fact, it's one of the tidiest custom builds I've laid eyes on. Nice job keeping things so neat and clean. I bet the original A7000+ didn't look that nice under the hood.

Other updates include 4GB of flash-based storage, and a modern keyboard and mouse. Sam says he mostly uses the A7000+ plus for classic games like Lemmings, Lemmings 2, Zool and Overload, and that there are tons of old 16-bit Acorn titles that play on the system.

Sam worked on the mod over a period of about 7 months, although he says that if he had worked on it straight through, it would have taken about a month and a half. Regardless, it looks like it was well worth the effort. Check out more details on the build over at Sam's Modifications. Can I please have a portable Atari ST now?

[via Bacteria's Site]

Swedish artist Love Hulten built the Sputnik 0667 as a labor of love, giving it a retro 20th century feel inspired by old wooden “hi-fi” radios. Actually the more I look at it, it feels like the love-child of an old radio and a Commodore PET computer, with those sharp angular lines and its trapezoidal display housing. The wooden keyboard and mouse surface folds up when not in use, and the back of the system even has that old-school perfboard ventilation found on older electronics.

Hulten refers to the Sputnik 0667 as a “concept computer”, but from the looks of the screen there, there is a complete PC lurking somewhere inside there. As a matter of fact, under the hood is a Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3 Mini-ITX mobo, an Intel Core i3 550 3.2GHz CPU, a Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 GPU, 4GB of RAM and a 500GB WD hard drive. Here’s a screen of it running what surely looks like a Windows XP screensaver. Retro, indeed!

Perhaps my favorite thing about the Sputnik 0667 is the accompanying retro advertising campaign that Love took the time to create, echoing the style of the computer perfectly. If this were an actual system you could have purchased, this is exactly what the ads would have looked like:

Gotta love that typeface and the old game of Asteroids on screen. Sure, Asteroids wasn’t around during the days of Sputnik, but that’s okay. The vector graphics are a perfect fit anyhow. And the Pièce de résistance…

“Bye baby, I’m going space hunting!” And that goldfish bowl helmet? Priceless. Love, kudos on a brilliant job on the mod and it’s accoutrements. More details about this excellent mod can be found over at Sweclockers (in Swedish, of course), with the build log here.

[via Geeky Gadgets]

The detachable touchpad is capable of controlling multimedia playback from afar. The computer comes with Acer’s clear.fi media sharing platform, allowing you to store media on any clear.fi-ready device in your home network.

The 8951G model has five built-in speakers and a subwoofer for watching movies. It’s got an 18.4-inch screen that will play videos in full HD, 1920×1080 resolution. The 5951G has two built-in speakers and an Acer bass booster with a 15.6-inch screen that has a 1366×768 resolution. Both displays offer Corning Gorilla Glass to protect their screens. The battery in these models is supposed to last three times as long as conventional laptops, whatever that means. Both models will be available later this month.

[via PCWorld via designboom]

Can it still be called a desktop if it fits in your hand? My guess is no. This “palmtop(?)” is made out of laptop parts so that its form factor remains tiny. These computers are made out of 3 components: the processor module, the primary I/O module, and the secondary module. The processor module holds the processor and the RAM, the primary I/O has the ports and coms, while the secondary module has Ethernet, video, and power connections.

These mini computers were previously made to work with Windows, Linux, Unix, Ubuntu, and other open source-based OS. Now they will support the Chrome OS. The ChromiumPC’s price will be announced later this year, and it’s supposed to be available in the second half of 2011. It will be available in different colors, and yes, there’s even a chrome-plated version.

[via Businesswire]