You’ll have to get your hands (virtually) dirty to get the functionality for free though. Matlo’s program only works on debian-based Linux distros, so you’ll need a computer with that installed. You’ll also need a PS3 Sixaxis controller and a Bluetooth dongle, but not just any dongle will do – its Bluetooth device address has to be modifiable. Unfortunately Matlo doesn’t provide any specific models or brands of dongles, so it seems like you’ll have to rely on trial and error on that one.

So how does the hack work? From what I can understand, the software lets you copy the device address of a PS3 controller and use it as the dongle’s address, tricking a PS3 into thinking that the signals it’s receiving are from the controller. Here’s the hack in action:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Check out Matlo’s blog for the full tutorial. The software is still in its early stages – it’s at version 0.21 as of this writing – so don’t expect everything to run smoothly. But as I said earlier, if you get it to work, not only will you save money, unlike the Eagle Eye solution you’ll be able to use other PC peripherals to play on the PS3, not just mice and keyboards. I wonder if it’s possible to use an Xbox 360 controller with the PS3 with this hack.

[via Hack A Day via Ubergizmo]

Since the Linux-based DreamPlug doesn’t have a video card, it can’t drive an external monitor, which means that it’s best used as a web or application server. It has a 1.2GHz Marvell Sheeva processor, 1GB of RAM, and a bunch of ports including 2 Ethernet, 2 USB, 1 eSATA 2.0, 1 SD slot. It also has 802.11b/g WiFi, and Bluetooth 2.1 built in. It’s also got analog and digital audio outputs if you want to use it as a tiny music server.

The DreamPlug will cost $149 (USD) and it looks like something pretty cool for specialized applications, but has limited uses for the everyday user.

[via Ubergizmo]

HomeSeer has unveiled a new home automation gateway at CES this week that is tiny and cheap. The device is called the HomeSeer HomeTroller-Mini and it is a tiny little 1GHz Linux gateway that works with just about any brand of home automation hardware out there. The device supports Z-Wave and other protocols.

It will work with modules and hardware from more home automation firms like Cooper, Schlage, Kwikset, Lutron, Leviton, Russound, Microsoft, Centralite, DSC, Aprilaire, ACT, RCS. The HomeTroller-Mini will ship in Q2 2011 for under $300 (USD).

Fortunately, SelfControl can be set to only block access to certain websites or email. At least if you set it to allow email to go through, you can still tell your boss that your SelfControl is preventing you from working.

SelfControl was originally made for OS X only; you can download it for free at Steve Lambert’s website. A Linux version is being developed by a third party and is in version 0.9 as of this writing; download it here. Think you can improve Steve’s SelfControl? Get the code at github and mess with it.

[via Cool Tools]

The Linux Foundation credit card has no annual fee, low starting APR (although as Forever Geek’s Noemi Twigg pointed out, the APR inflates from 0% on the first month to 12.99% on the 7th month), and most importantly, funds raised from the credit card will be used in technical events for the Linux community, as well as travel grants for open source community members. Cardholders will also enjoy the perks that come with standard, penguin-less Platinum Visa cards. Go to CardPartner to apply.

[via Forever Geek]

Here’s a quick rundown on the specs for the Caanoo, courtesy of the guys at MaxConsole:

• CPU ARM9 533MHz + 3D GPU
• RAM 128MB
• Display 3.5” LCD 320*240
• NAND memory None
• External memory SD/SDHC (sold separately)
• Fun Factors Vibration Motor
• G-Sensor
• Dimensions: 146(w) x 70(h) x 18.5(d)mm
• Weight: 136g
• OS: Linux
• Game Open Platform
• Video Formats: MPEG4, Xvid, Divx, Avi
• Audio Formats: OGG, WAV
• Photo Formats: JPG, BMP, GIF, PNG
• E-book TXT
• Network Wi-Fi (via USB dongle)

While it’s not going to trounce the technology found in today’s higher-end smartphones, I’m happy to see that the Caanoo has a reasonably fast CPU and a dedicated 3D GPU, something not commonly found in handheld Linux devices. The built-in Wi-Fi is a nice touch too. (It turns out that the Wi-Fi requires a USB dongle, boo.) That said, I am concerned that they’ve moved from a digital control pad to an analog stick – which won’t be great for playing old arcade games.

Here’s a brief video from Gamepark, showing off some of the console’s more prominent features – along with Engrish translations like the tagline “The Extream Handheld Online Game Console”.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

And here’s another clip where you can see the Caanoo playing OutRun on MAME4ALL, and using its motion sensors to steer the car.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Yeah, not all that exciting. Still, it might give my 2 year-old Dingoo (which also has a weird name) a run for its money. If you’d like to upgrade your Dingoo to a Caanoo, you can pre-order one over at Play-Asia for $149.90 (USD) now. They ship this August.

[via Engadget]

Here’s a closer look at the games included in the bundle. Prepare for horrible rapping:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

This promo is only good until May 11, so go to Wolfire to buy the Humble Indie Bundle now. Now I’m not saying you should pay the full $80, but be a dear and don’t just pay a penny okay? Remember – these are all cross-platform games with no DRM, plus you can donate all or part of your payment to non-profit organizations. It’ll be a cold day in hell when the likes of EA and Ubisoft make deals like this.

With a ginormous 5-inch screen, the BPhone actually looks more like a UMPC than a smartphone. The 800×480 touchscreen display should look great playing back your video files, and is definitely big enough to display web pages with greater readability than smaller devices. It’s also got a unique 180-degree flip capability, so you can view content on the screen whether you’re using the keyboard or not.

Speaking of keyboards, the BPhone has a full QWERTY ‘board when you flip it open. It runs on a speedy Marvell PXA310 CPU, running at 624MHz, and has built-in WiFi, Bluetooth, and a GPS (although the included CARELAND GPS app only works in China). And since it’s a quad-band unlocked phone, you can use it pretty much anywhere on the globe, with any carrier you want.

While it’s definitely not as stylish or svelte as, say, an iPhone 3GS or Nexus One, the BPhone definitely looks powerful in terms of its hardware. If you’re thinking about getting your hands on one, head on over to Chinagrabber, where it retails for $569 (USD).

Palro gets its ingenious name by combining “pal” and “robot.” I know, what will those crazy Japanese scientists think of next, right?

This little humanoid ‘bot stands about 16 inches tall and weighs 3.5 lbs. It’s got 20 joints, five mics, voice recognition, mono speakers, a 3MP camera, Wi-Fi, a USB port, a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom processor, 1GB of internal memory, and 4GB flash memory. It runs on a version of Ubuntu Linux, and has a built-in  gyro-sensor, accelerometer, eight pressure points in its feet as well as a distance sensor.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Fujisoft plans on selling about 1,000 Palros to start out with on March 15 at $3,300 (USD) a pop. These will first be offered to research institutions, but don’t worry, if you’ve got the dough, you’ll be able to get one later in 2010 for yourself.

[via CrunchGear]

Marvell just launched the newest version of its Plug computer, the Plug 3.0. It’s based on the Armada 300 processor, and draws less than 1/10th of the power that a typical PC uses. However, it still manages to run at a 2Ghz processor speed and has WiFi, Bluetooth and a built-in 1.8-inch hard drive. Not too shabby, eh?

The case is a lot nicer looking than the previous editions. It’s been rumored that a few big-name brands are working on upcoming releases on this platform. We’ll see how relevant the Plug Computer 3.0 really is later this year. Still, it looks pretty cute.

[via Ubergizmo]

Even though the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project had a bunch of setbacks and price hikes, it doesn’t stop getting more ambitious. Apparently this third version of the OLPC will be a thin tablet that will be released in 2012.

It also comes with wireless charging and an 8.5″ × 11″ touchscreen and is supposed to cost just $75 (USD). After seeing the spectacle of what happened to the CrunchPad or the JooJoo, I doubt that this will happen in this time frame. I think something like this will most likely happen sometime between before 2015, though.

The Yves Behar designed XO-3 looks gorgeous though, but I don’t think that technology will develop that quickly for a thin, waterproof tablet to exist, that’s supposed to be half the width of an iPhone and contain an 8GHz processor.

[via Engadget]

The Katamari theme is only the beginning. Look closely–there’s  Linux shirt! Way to elevate the geekiness of the cake. That’s taking it to an all new level.

It’s always nice to see a cake topper like this, for such a special day, that really goes the extra mile in collecting the little details that make the couple unique and special. Geek-themed cakes (or really, any themed cakes) already do a lot to celebrate individuality, but a Linux shirt? Totally raising the bar.

Now I have never used any Linux OS, but even if it’s true that there are fewer major software that are compatible with the system, I am pretty damn sure that there at least 2 Linux apps that provide video chat – Skype and Pidgin. As for the printer and scanner compatibility GodofGrunts adds, “I’ve yet to see a printer that doesn’t have a driver. You might have to download it from the products website though (gasp!).” GodofGrunts also adds that there are Linux distros that offer official technical support, contrary to what the table above indicates.

I like how Microsoft lists “Free downloads” as one of Windows’ strengths when in fact people can legally own a Linux OS for free; same with Linux programs. Is Windows free? Is Microsoft Office free?

Again, I don’t have sufficient knowledge about software so I can’t comment on that claim – note that the training program doesn’t really claim that Windows is safer than Linux – but this forum lists a couple of advantages that Linux is supposed to have over Windows. If this training program is really being used to “teach” Best Buy employees, it means that Microsoft is just breeding technological ignorance.

Why can’t they just talk about how Linux systems aren’t that user-friendly? At least that’s still somewhat true. The original images that GodofGrunts posted were taken down by Photobucket because of bandwidth limits, but you can go to Electronista to see some of the other screenshots.

The compact box can play full high-def (1920 x 1080) files in popular formats such as MP4, H.264, DivX HD, MOV, VC-1, FLV, VOB, WMV and AVI as well as less common formats like MKV, AVC-HD, RMVB and Minus VR. Of course, it can also play a variety of audio formats like AAC, WMA, OGG, MP3, and M4A with aplomb.There’s even support for subtitle formats including Advance Substation Alpha – which has the best file extension ever – .ASS . (There’s a full list of supported formats and codecs here).

In addition, the Ultio can connect to the Internet via a built-in Ethernet port or through a Wi-Fi network (if you plug in an optional USB networking dongle). Once connected, you can download media files using the system’s built-in BitTorrent client. Since it has an integrated Samba server and UPnP, you can use services like PlayOn or Tversity to stream video from Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and other web-based video services.

The Ultio has a nice array of video outputs, including HDMI 1.3, component video, optical audio, analog audio (yuck) and composite video (double yuck).

Keep in mind that the Ultio doesn’t come with any built-in storage. For best performance, you’ll need to drop in a 3.5-inch SATA hard drive (up to 1.5 TB). Otherwise, you can play files from a USB 2.0 hard drive or a flash drive. You can also stream media stored on your PC if you’d rather store files there. And the guys over at Mvix are even encouraging users to download all of the system’s open source and GPL sourcecode to see what else they can do with this little box.

You can find the Mvix Ultio over at ThinkGeek for just $169.99 (USD). The 802.11N Wi-fi dongle will set you back another $39.99. BYO hard drive.

The oddly-named Marvell Sheevaplug (I think I went to college with him) is about the size of your average gadget’s power adapter, but it actually contains a complete computer (sans video output). The device has a 1.2GHz CPU, 512MB of flash memory and 512MB of RAM, which should be plenty for running a web server or other Linux applications. It’s got a built-in Gigabit Ethernet port for network connectivity, and a USB port, so you might even be able to hook up a DisplayLink device without any video card.

The compact PC uses very little power (just 5 watts), and (of course) doesn’t require any sort of external power adapter. It looks like Marvell is going after larger distribution relationships at this point, but they are selling developer kits if you want to tinker with one for yourself. You can get your hands on a SheevaPlug developer kit (which looks a bit more clunky than the svelte production model above) over at Globalscale Technologies for just $99 (USD).

[via Boing Boing Gadgets]

Judith looks like an old DOS adventure game, and it’s only a “game” in the sense that it’s somewhat interactive. The visuals aren’t going to blow you away. The story isn’t literature. But there’s something compelling in the overall package that makes this a worthwhile experience.

Perhaps best of all is the fact that Judith is available for just about every computer under the sun, so operating system is no excuse.

[Judith via 1UP]

Now Mac and Linux users can get in on the polychromatic action thanks to the new Luxeed U5 keyboard, which improves on the original Luxeed by adding multi-platform support. Now I picked up the original Luxeed over at Think Geek about a year ago, and am still enjoying my colorful keyboard every day. I’ve actually programmed a bunch of color patterns to suit my mood or the current season. Purple, green and gold for Mardi Gras, all red when I’m feeling mad, pure white when I actually want to read the keys.

The Luxeed L5 also makes changes to the LED system to reduce ghosting (this was a relatively minor issue with the original Luxeed, IMHO). They’ve also added a firmware updater utility and improved the overall responsiveness of the keys. Hopefully they’ll fix some of the issues with occasionally sticky keys too. Or maybe that’s just because of the crumbs I’ve dropped between my keys during lunchtime. But does it really matter anyway? You’re not buying one of these because it’s the most responsive keyboard out there. It’s all about the bright candy-like colors. And while I don’t have any video of the new keyboard in action yet, the original footage never gets old:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

No word on a North American release date yet, but Luxeed is taking pre-orders for the L5 in Korea for KRW 99,000  (just $77 USD).

Brian gutted the old ZX Spectrum and replaced its innards with an updated motherboard, running Debian Linux. In order to keep within the constraints of the machines’ form factor, the system runs off of an 8GB SDHC memory card instead of a hard drive. He even managed to get the old ZX chiclet keyboard to work as a proper USB device by rewiring it to the controller circuitry of a new keyboard.

Amazingly, Brian was able to fit not only a full PC motherboard inside the case, but a 4-port USB hub and even HDMI video out. The trick was to use the diminutive 3″ square Beagleboard mobo at the heart of his system. There’s even a little bit of room to spare inside the case. He even managed to power the system with the same old power brick that the original ZX Spectrum used back in the day (with a little voltage step-down wizardry).

Here’s a little shakycam video comparing an original ZX (or as most of the world knows it the “zed X”) to the upgraded Linux ZX Spectrum, complete with the requisite demo of a Sinclair ZX emulator running under Linux, thus completing the circle of life.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

For more pictures of Brian’s nifty ZX Spectrum casemod, head on over to Flickr and check out the complete build gallery.

Dell is offering a one-day only deal for the base model of their highly-rated Inspiron Mini 9 netbook computer for just $199 bucks! The Mini 9 runs on Ubuntu Linux and features a crisp 1024 x 600 resolution 8.9″ color LCD screen, wireless connectivity, an ample Intel Atom N270 processor, and a 4GB solid state drive (plenty for surfing the web, checking e-mail, office apps).

The special deal is good from 12:00am to 11:59pm Central Time, today, 2/27/2009. To get the $199 deal, follow this link to the Dell Home site .

The chaos that ensues in ROM CHECK FAIL! is one that really needs to be seen to be understood, but basically, the virtual arcade machine starts out with a failed startup sequence, and proceeds to land you in a warped 8-bit game mashup, where worlds continuously collide.

One second, you’re controlling Mario as he navigates the Mushroom Kingdom, and the next minute Pac-Man is getting killed by tumbling Asteroids. To give you a better idea of the mayhem, here’s a video clip of the game in action:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

This is truly a must-try for anyone who loves retro gaming. You can grab both Windows and Linux installers for ROM CHECK FAIL! over at Farbs.org. See if you can spot all of the different classic games that are packed into this crazy thing.

[thanks for the tip, John!]