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]

Other than the ugly logo for HOMADE, the company that makes the thing, it’s a dead ringer for the old Macintosh 128k model which took the world by storm back in 1984. It’s even got a 3.5″ floppy stuck in the disk drive. Just don’t try and use a paperclip to get it out, unless you want to scratch the back of your iPad. The case fits around the backside of your iPad 2, and has cutouts so your Smart Cover, camera and speaker still work.

I only wish that it came with an app that let you run original Macintosh apps on your iPad. I think it would be fun to play with MacPaint, and watch some flying toasters drift by on the screen in between rounds of Dark Castle and working on a Hypercard deck using that awesome San Francisco font.

If you’d like to convert your fancy new iPad 2 into an old Macintosh, head on over to USB Fever, where you can grab this cover for $36.99 (USD). If it weren’t for that stupid logo, it would be perfect. I think I’d buy one of those old rainbow Apple stickers to cover it up.

That’s right kids – people wore what amounted to bags and drapes back then. Just volumes of cloth hanging and sagging all over, burying whatever figure one might have. The Macintosh looks mighty ancient too, far from the sexy profiles of its great-great-grandsons.

If you’re that proud of your love for Apple, you can get this shirt at Mighttees’ Etsy shop for $24 (USD). You might want to consider getting one that’s a size larger than your usual because the shirts that Mighttees use seem awfully tight. The guy’s nipples look like they’re about to pop out.

[via Chip Chick]

LA-based Kid Chameleon created this visualizer helmet with his friend Terrence Scoville using an old Apple Macintosh Plus, a bicycle helmet, and an iPad. This was combined with an electroluminescent display, to get all those cool flashy lights.

The helmet is controlled by an iMac running Resolume Avenue, a MIDI Keyboard, and a Wiimote! It looks cool for sure, but it must get hot and uncomfortable in there.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

[via DVice]

These very same icons were previously available as little notecards, but this time they’re available in sizes up to 30″ x 40″.  Being of generation OS X, I don’t have hands-on experience with any of these icons, but judging from their descriptions I’d think twice before buying the bomb icon, because it signified a system failure.

You can order these and more classic Mac icons from Susan Kare’s website. They each cost $89 (USD) up to $499 depending on the size. Each print will be signed and numbered by Kare in pencil. I bet none of the people who first used the Macintosh ever thought that the icons would be considered as works of art.

[via Switched]

From what I can tell, only about 10 of these machines were ever made, and they lived within the walls of Apple. Now, if you’ve got deep enough pockets, you could be the proud owner of one of these extreme rarities. Apparently, these machines were built for the Macintosh R&D team at Apple to verify the placement of internal components, and never were intended for production.

This particular see-through Mac SE is being offered over on eBay with a starting bid of a whopping $25,000 (USD). For that price, you could buy a pretty nice car. Or 50 iPads. And this transparent Macintosh doesn’t even boot up properly. The guy selling it says it’ll boot off of the 800k floppy drive only. And being such a rarity, I’d doubt that cracking it open and fixing the hard drive would be good for its resale value.

Imagine if they had actually released this thing back when it was made. What if it came out and bombed? Would the transparent iMac have ever seen the light of day?

While the concept is simple, it’s the execution that’s just so perfect. The iPad screen fits neatly inside the old monitor frame of the Mac Classic.

About the only thing I’d do differently would be to add on a wireless keyboard and then you’d have a complete desktop computer system. I love the retro mac desktop the modder has running on it to keep things feeling extra retro.

Here’s a quick video of the iPad Mac Classic in action:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Time to get working on one for myself.

[Site Hirac via Nowhere Else]

Originally awarded back in 1996 to Edmark software (now defunct), this trophy is a great conversation piece for any computer geek. The 18-inch tall, 7.5 lb. trophy features a gold-plated metal statuette holding a classic 68k Macintosh above his head. And from the looks of this photo, it comes with a can of diet A&W root beer (in German, no less).

Sure, the award was handed out for some kids software called “Trudy’s Time & Place House,” but you could always replace the plaque with your own award. I’d want to put something like Duke Nukem Forever on there if I bought it.

The Eddy Award has a Buy It Now price of $999.99 (USD), and can be found over on eBay now.

Without fiddling with a Leopard installer’s disk image and throwing some stuff out, you’ll need at least an 8 Gb SD card to make a portable Leopard installation.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Wasn’t that easy? Now all you need to do is wreck your internal disk so you’ll have a reason to boot from the SD! I’m kidding. And before anyone asks, no, you can’t boot a PC with this card.

The guys over at Computer Choppers are now offering a custom Mac Mini anodizing service, letting you really give your computer a new look. The great thing about the anodizing process is that it’s highly scratch resistant and doesn’t chip off like paint can, plus your machine keeps that great metal look that paints often cover up.

Colors run the gamut, including such lovelies as blood red, a sapphire-like deep blue and emerald-esque dark green among others. Exotics like a hard black, graphics, custom logos and even a camouflage finish are also available for an up-charge. Prices for the service start at $199 USD, and go up from there. For more information, contact Computer Choppers here.

While not running on official Apple hardware, the Hackintosh Jr. gets its looks from the big tower Macs, but at 5.5″ (h) x 7″ (w) x 5″ (d), it’s not much bigger than a Mac Mini (although it is quite a bit taller).

Modder Widefault (the same guy who gave us the Geiger Counter PC and the Lunchbox Firewall),  built the Hackintosh Jr. from hand-shaped mesh and sheet aluminum. At the heart of the Mac Hack Jr. is an Aaeon GENE-9310 sub-compact mobo, sporting an Intel Core Duo T2500 processor, 2 GB of RAM, integrated Wi-Fi connectivity and a 2.5″ Seagate Momentus hard drive.

Of course, when I first heard the name “Hackintosh Junior,” I thought that Widefault was talking about this system…

Mac modder Charles Mangin really did an amazing job seamlessly integrating Macs from both the 20th and 21st centuries. At first glance, the machine looks like a stock Mac Plus, but look closer and you’ll see all the detail work that Charles did, like adding a hidden Superdrive (from an iMac G5), a pair of USB ports underneath, as well as a third one tucked away behind a sliding door inside the floppy drive slot.

Thanks to improvements in miniaturization, all of the newer technology fit neatly inside the old case, leaving plenty of room to spare.

He even went so far as to swap out the innards of an old Mac ADB mouse with a modern optical USB one.

The Frankenstein’s monster of a machine is nicknamed “Marvin” after the paranoid robot Marvin from The Hitchikers’ Guide to the Galaxy. If you want to see more of how Marvin came to be, check out photos of  entire build over on Charles’ Flickr album. (The mouse mod is documented separately here).

Now all we need is to figure out a way to cram this whole thing inside a Commodore PET, and we’ll be all set.

[via MacMod]

The mutant offspring of an old G3 iMac and a VHS deck, Cory Baker’s iVHS casemod is one of the ugliest Mac designs I’ve ever seen. Heck, even the original iBook toilet seat design was more attractive.

I guess the only good news here is that this bastard child didn’t get its start as an actual iMac. Cory actually purchased an a la carte iMac motherboard off of eBay (for about 20 bucks) and modded it to fit into the case of his old VHS deck. With the addition of an ATX power supply, a few cables, a VGA connector and some electrical tape, this Frankenstein’s monster of a Macintosh was born.

At least he could have used a Betamax deck, couldn’t he?

All it took was a little orange paint for the “pumpkin”, and a JPEG viewer application for the face. This is the best use for old Macs since the original MacQuarium.

Got a great geeky holiday craft idea? Send us a tip!

[MAKE via Mike Ballan]

Apparently a computer shop had about twenty old Mac IIs and IIfx computers lying around gathering cobwebs and decided to build a sofa out of the technological dinosaurs.

Since each Mac II was originally designed to hold a heavy 20-inch CRT on top, the couch has no problem supporting the rear ends of numerous couch potatoes. Regardless, my ass hurts just looking at the thing.

[The BradLands via TechEBlog]

Now, Esslinger’s son, Marc, has put together a never before seen gallery of designs that Apple never released.

My personal favorite has gotta be the Phone Mac, complete with a touch-sensitive screen. Maybe that’s where they got the idea for the iPhone (although I thought this was.) The caption from the gallery even says that it was a collaboration with AT&T if you can believe it!

In addition to the Phone Mac, the gallery features a variety of interesting machines, including some wild early Macintosh and portable computer prototypes. There’s even a 1984 design for a wireless wrist communicator which wasn’t far off from predicting today’s technological marvels.

Be sure to hop on over to Fudder to check out the entire collection. You won’t be disappointed.

[via Ministry of Tech]

All of your favorites are there: the smiling computer, the watch, the paint bucket and the dreaded bomb among others. The cards come in a pack of 10 and are available from the MoMAstore for about $4 a pack.