Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with hack

can I use an Atom eeeBox as a Media Center "server" for an XBOX 360 "client"?

bartleby — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:21:48 -0800

XBOX 360 as Media Center hackery: what's the minimum hardware I can get away with to serve as the Media Center PC "server" to the 360's "client"? NOTE: I am aware of things like MythTV, XBMC and TVersity that can act as replacements for a Media Center PC, and display content from there. But I'm not asking about those on a full PC as a solution - I'm asking about something minimalist to act as a Media Center "server" and using the XBOX 360 as a "client" that does the streaming and display.

I'm going to do a case mod on my 360 because the thing is so damn LOUD it makes a lousy home theatre. I got a replacement case (Lian Li XB01)that promises to be much quieter.

Opening it up, it definitely looks like there's room for something small and quiet like an eeeBox or a mini(micro?)-ITX motherboard to also live inside the case, running headless and acting as the Media Center PC, adding MCE features to the XBOX 360. But it's gotta be small, very quiet, and have minimal cooling needs.

I already have an eeeBox (Atom N270 @ 1.6 ghz, 1gb RAM) at home. I'm not using it for anything, since I first got it to use as a mini HTPC and found out that it's NOT up to doing something like watching Hulu on an HDTV; between the streaming, processing, and HD output, it's underpowered.

But as I understand it, the XBOX would be doing all the video output processing; so I'd just need something to be the Media Center "backend", on the same router/switch as the 360, and stream from that backend to the 360's frontend.
Do I have that right?

If I could get everything I want, it would:
-enable Hulu watching through the 360, like PlayOn does on a windows box

-allow me to hook up a Hauppauge USB TV Tuner stick or ATI TVWonder unit and record/watch HDTV (since the eee's Atom would have a hard time doing video transcoding on the fly, if it could just capture and then play back after chewing on it for a day, that would be fine - I'm almost never watching anything the day it's on anyway.)

- for super extra bonus points, it would run on Linux. Since it's going to be always-on, internet connected, and headless, I'd like to not have to worry about malware, windows crashes and patches, etc. But that may be asking for too much.

Any Media Center or XBOX 360 experts out there able to advise?

My phone is secretly texting people without my input!

uk_giffo — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 19:51:44 -0800

My mobile phone seems to have sent a text message to my girlfriend without my knowledge. I don't understand how. More details inside. This afternoon, I was walking through a park here in Washington when I got a message from my girlfriend saying "Thanks?". I replied: "What?", wondering what she was referring to. She then sent a message back stating: "You sent me a text 5 mins ago?". I hadn't - my phone had been in my pocket for the previous hour - yet when I checked the previous message it showed that I'd sent one saying "How are you?I love you!Thanks" to her five minutes beforehand. Note the lack of a space between phrases; I've never typed a message like that.

My first thought was that it had been a "pocket text" - that somehow the cellphone had rubbed against something else in my pocket and sent a text to her. But I think the keypad was locked. Then I tried to work out how such phrases could have been entered in a text message and thought it must be some kind of "insert quick phrase" feature on the phone. But when I look closer at that feature and how it works it would have been highly unlikely that the phone could have navigated to it as it's quite convoluted to get to and, besides, the store of saved "quick phrases" is empty (it allows you to add some).

So I am baffled, though quite relieved it wasn't a more inappropriate message to someone else like my boss. Does anyone have any idea at all what might have happened? Is there some way to "spoof" a text message from a phone? Are these phones hackable? Could it have been something to do with Bluetooth (though I have never turned it on to the best of my knowledge)? Could someone have hacked my voicemail account and done something? My Verizon account on the website perhaps - can you send texts from there as if it's coming from the phone?

It's a Samsung U450 and is on Verizon Wireless. Other pertinent details: my girlfriend's name begins with K so she doesn't appear at the top of my contacts list and therefore wouldn't (I'd have thought) been the default recipient of a random pocket text - that'd surely be Adam. She's also on Verizon Wireless here.

I am really puzzled by this, and I understand technology fairly well, so if anyone can offer any insights I'd be very grateful.

e_SEmD e-sluthing

ChefQuix — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:31:43 -0800

I was browsing a favourite blog of mine, and inserted seemingly randomly was this text: e_SEmD. Being curious, I did a quick google search and found that tag littered throughout thousands of sites. Anyone have any idea what this is?

Hack my table, please.

eunoia — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:41:39 -0800

I need advice on changing the color and leg length of an IKEA table. I've had this table from IKEA for almost two years. In my current apartment, I've used it in the eat-in kitchen, but the apartment that I'm moving to has an open layout. Because of the lack of space in the kitchen area, I'd like to turn it, most likely, into a sofa table or, much less likely, a crafts table. For either of those purposes, however, I don't like the [lack of] color or the overall height.

The sofa we will be purchasing is 34 5/8" high, and the table is 35 3/8" high so I'd like to take an inch from each of its four legs. Which would be less likely to leave me with a wobbly & uneven disaster, a saw or a sander? Maybe a combination of the two?

I also want to change its color to something else- perhaps a light-ish blue or green. The table is made of a solid birch wood & covered with a clear acrylic lacquer. Do I definitely need to sand it first or can I just spray paint (or regular paint or lacquer) over the acrylic lacquer? What about wallpaper or a sturdier paper on only the top? Bad idea?

Any help is appreciated!

How can I fix my email?

malibustacey9999 — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:45:25 -0800

After years of trouble-free computer use, it appears that my email account has been hacked. It seems to be more annoying than dangerous, but I realise the potential for danger is there, and I'm losing sleep over it. How can I fix it? A couple of weeks ago, I discovered that my email (Hotmail, on Windows XP, and yes I have anti-virus software) had been 'reset' to send automatic vacation replies which are an advertisement for a Shanghai businessman. Insert panic here.

I deleted the text, unchecked the 'send vacation reply' box, ran an anti-virus scan (which found nothing), and have had no problems since.

Until this morning. It's happened again. But this time, the emails contain a WMV file (which I'm not brave enough to open) and the vacation reply box is still unchecked text-free. It has attempted to send to a small number of my contacts, but they've bounced back to me (as have the genuine emails I've just tried to send too). I'm unable to find out yet if the recipients had emailed me first, thus generating a kind of 'vacation reply' - it's a bit early in Oz to make panicked phone calls to friends.

I've googled and metafiltered and asked random strangers in the street (nah, not really), but every reference I can find to hacked email seems to be about changed passwords and keystroke-remembering programs and whatnot. This doesn't appear to be that serious. (But I'm still worried enough to not do any net-banking.)

So, as a newbie to the whole cyber-violation thing, can the hive mind please suggest how I can fix this? Or am I destined to call everyone I know and advise them of a new email address?

How can I use technology better to bypass this disability?

Augenblick — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 02:36:10 -0800

My condition has slowly stopped me using the keyboard and mouse, and now the pen. I need some help thinking of ways to finish my PhD and to live somewhat of a normal life. Hive mind, what can shiny technology do for me? Over the last six months I have gradually lost the use of my hands for computer and pen related purposes. I'm in the second year of my PhD and being very well supported by the disability services at my institution. the hope is in the next six months I will get a laptop with voice recognition. I'm using Dragon 9 software, at the moment I only have a PC, so am home bound for working. I should hopefully be able to borrow a high spec digital recorder from next week.

But I need ideas and help to work out how technology might help me on a daily basis. Things I'd particularly need help with include diary planning, ways to use audio recordings of meetings without having to listen to them again in full, and any ideas about how I can make things happen without writing or typing them down. (At the moment, I can use a pen for writing a time and a name down, but anything more is too painful). I can also still use the iPod touch as long as it's not clicking motions (though that may be a case from my cold dead hands...)

I don't particularly need medical advice at the moment as I am being seen by good doctors, really this is a life hacker meets disability question.

How do I use an iPod as an information display?

dantodd — Fri, 29 May 2009 23:45:41 -0800

I have a 1st gen iPod Nano that I don't use. I want to use it to act as an information display like an external LCD display on a mac. Can I do it?

Why isn't 1 photo/second an option on high-end consumer cameras?

IAmBroom — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 08:51:54 -0800

What's the cheapest way to take a long, automated series of photos (time-lapse photography) on my Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50? Difficulty: ultra-cheap! Sure, I could slave a computer to the task, but that is hardly a cheap solution - nor portable. I think the ability to set up a camera, focused on the dance floor of a wedding, would make a cool stop-motion film. Or just use it to test shoot a bunch of self-portraits, once I get focus & lighting where I want it. Gawds, a zillion fun uses come to mind...

Log Browsing History

phrontist — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 06:32:00 -0800

How can I get Firefox (3.0.1) to log my browsing history to plain text files (preferably XML, but any that isn't essential)? At a minimum I'd like the URL, page title, and a timestamp for when I loaded the page. It would be nice to have how the page was accessed (via a link? direct entry?) and how long was spent on it.

Two fingers are better than one.

Nonce — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 23:06:13 -0800

Tell me how to make this laptop, running Vista 64, do the Mac two-finger scroll.

Hacking a Navman F15

rossination — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 21:34:09 -0800

I have a Navman F15 (US version) that I'm thinking about hacking to run different GPS software on, but I have a few questions/concerns. -- the F15 doesn't have an SD card slot, and there isn't a lot of space on the unit itself (500 MB?). Is this enough to do anything with? I'm not looking to run games or applications other than a different GPS program.

-- I'm looking for "trip progress" functionality. Basically, I'd like to be able to tell it that I'm going on a trip from, say, Seattle to San Francisco and throughout the way give me my progress (miles driven, not just miles until destination). It would be even cooler if when I was done it could spit out a bunch of data about average speed, where I stopped and for how long, etc. Is this the kind of thing that I'd be able to get if I ran different GPS software?

I know about Navman Unlocked and I've read their tutorials, but I still haven't been able to find answers to my questions.

I sound like an air raid; do not want.

pseudostrabismus — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:58:59 -0800

Built-in MacBook microphone records an annoying buzzy/overloaded tone on loud vocals- is there a cheap fix? I've been practicing singing to YouTube karaoke tracks, recording it with PhotoBooth or GarageBand on my MacBook (the 13" aluminum one). Whenever I belt, it records my voice as a buzzed-out feedback sound, like I'm spiking the level or something. My old PowerBook G4's internal mic did not do this, nor does my friend's white 13" MacBook.
How to fix this?

I'm usually standing about 1 metre away and my head is about a foot above the computer. Overloading happens even if I back off the mic on loud notes. I'm a little limited in that I also want to record video of me singing so I can watch my breathing and jaw, so whatever I do can't involve me covering the whole screen or standing somewhere other than in front of the laptop. I know I could get an external mic, but I want it all to be as streamlined as possible so I'll be more likely to do it often (if I have to pull out gear I just won't do it, from experience).

I've tried:
changing the height of the laptop; putting it on a hard desk or a soft vinyl kitchen chair seat; adjusting the angle of the screen (in case it's reflecting back the sound weirdly into the mic); placing a Tshirt around the mic part of the laptop to absorb some of the sound; and putting a tiny piece of dense foam (an earplug) on the mic holes to dampen the sound a little. None of those have worked.

The mic holes look like this: ~10 teeny holes in the aluminum, at the top left of the keyboard, near the hinge that attaches the screen. The webcam is top centre of the screen frame.

Any simple hacks I could try? Putting some kind of tape or other soft stuff on the hole? Putting the laptop on a different kind of surface to affect vibration? Any ideas welcome, feel free to think creatively or come out of left field. And I guess, as a final resort, recommend a cheap but decent peripheral mic I could buy?
Thanks!

Bookmarks for webcomics, blogs, and other websites of a serial nature

Busoni — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 12:43:43 -0800

I sometimes like to read webcomics or blogs from the first post. I could use history or bookmarks each time, but any other way to have a simple set-up so I don't lose my place?

Comcast cable internet hacked?

rbf1138 — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 22:03:16 -0800

I'm asking this for a friend. He's been using Comcast cable internet for at least a year now, and as of tonight he cannot access any websites (on either his PC or ipod), and is redirected to the following URL: actsvr.comcastonline.com/nocache/realactsvr.html It wants him to install software, and he can click on either customer or technician. What is going on? Does this sound like a virus, spyware, etc. or some sort of issue with the cable itself? Maybe an attack on the router he's using? How can he solve/fix this mystery?

Hackintosh + MSI Wind?

loquacious — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 14:20:36 -0800

Anyone have any recent experience with Hackintosh or OSx86 on the MSI Wind netbook? I'm preparing to try out OS X on an MSI Wind, which has recently released hardware drivers for OS X negating the wifi hardware swap required for it to work.

I'm looking for links, personal experience and information about pitfalls.

How can I set my TV so that it's mute whenever I turn it on?

scazza — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 06:52:16 -0800

How can I set my TV so that it's mute whenever I turn it on? I have a Vizio EcoTV and a Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HD cable box. I've looked in the settings for both and I can't find anything. There's a "Power-on Channel" but not a Power on Volume. Is there any way to hack this?

Hacking an IKEA Galant into a standing desk

andreinla — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 20:24:26 -0800

How can I convert my IKEA Galant desk to a standing desk? It has black straight round legs with gray plastic screw-like ends that extend a little bit but not enough. Any ideas? I'd like to get it to about 40-43" off the ground. I can provide a photo if necessary.

As the legs are perfectly round and pipe-like, I am considering buying pieces of pipe with inner diameter as close as possible to the outer diameter of the legs, then getting them cut to the final length I want and just slipping them over the legs.

My engineering experience is nonexistent and I'm sure there's someone with a better solution.

Any suggestions?

Easy On/Easy Off

Heatwole — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 11:18:57 -0800

Can a Staples "Easy" button be used as an on/off switch for a desktop computer? If so, how?

Hacking a Bad GPS for a good outcome

rileyray3000 — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 15:08:50 -0800

I got a crap refurbished GPS for my girlfriend - a clarion NICE 430 because it was on sale for a low price. But it's got old maps, no updates and less support. I'm buying her another one, but what can I do with THIS one? Besides chucking it at the clarion building. Okay this one is all my fault. Let me state this right up front.

My girl was constantly getting lost and Newegg had the Nice 430 on sale for, I think 50 bucks. Feel free to check the specs. For 50 bucks, I figured, how bad could it be?

I should probably not say that stuff in the future.

The software wouldn't load because it's vista. The maps are from 2003. There's no support on the website for the product. And the interface could only be more complicated if it was in chinese.

So, I got her another one - a tomtom I think. And she gave this one back to me. It's refurbished so I can't return it. I tried calling Clarion to see if they'll do anything and I got an answering machine message in spanish. And I think I missed my window to file an AMEX claim about it being broken.

So. Now it's sitting on MY desk. And not doing much.

It's got a windows CE interface and it is pretty peppy when you're in those windows. It's got bluetooth, a card reader and a pretty responsive touchscreen. If the program inside wasn't junk created by a company that abandoned it at birth, it might be okay.

So what can I do with this thing?

1) Is there any way to load a competing software (tomtom, garmin, microsoft, etc) onto it to make it a good GPS?
2) Can I hack it in some way to make it do something really cool that is worth the 50 bucks I paid?
3) Or, barring both of those, is there some creative way I can eliminate the device that will make up for the boner purchase I made with sheer juvenile fun?

I await your recommendations. I'm hoping for a decent GPS that I can loan to people who come to visit in LA who weren't smart enough to bring one. But I'd settle for something really clever or fun but stupid.

SEO word salad pornography?

jepler — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:49:39 -0800

What in the world is going on with this website (subject of a recent askme)? Have a look at these google results: site:carolscookies.com inurl:locator. Is this an indication that the website's been hacked, or is this the kind of disgusting behavior that passes for SEO these days? I tried to google the site for nutrition information to answer the original question, but my query turned up all these pages. Rather than derail the original thread, I'm asking a fresh question.

Should we switch from domain hack to dot com?

jrholt — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:07:21 -0800

Should we switch from domain hack to dot com? For a year we've been blogging about concerts (posting reviews/photos) and for the last 6 months I've been learning a lot about SEO. However, our traffic is still pretty dismal. We're averaging about 120 visits/day.

One of the biggest problems is that it doesn't seem like we can get any traction on Google. Immediately after we publish a post it will rocket to the top for our keywords, but after 24 hours it's fallen away to page 3.

I'm starting to think the problem could be our domain hack. It's a .be (belgium) site that uses a subdomain, domain, ending to form a word, so essentially something like: met.afilt.er

The thing is we own the .com domain for our word, so we could switch it to metafilter [dot] com.

Will we rank higher in Google if we switch? Are .coms inherently more trusted domains? Compelling reasons for switching/staying?

Thinking about hacking a PSP

l2yangop — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:27:49 -0800

i'm thinking about getting a PSP. i want to hack it and be able to play downloaded games and movies. what do i need to know before proceeding? (i.e. difficulty, what not to get, etc) dont bother with legal mumbo jumbo. i already know the risks

Giant Roomba robot hacking?

loquacious — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:28:37 -0800

Giant Roomba - I'm looking for any information concerning hacking the Roomba's brain into something... bigger. I've acquired a thrown-away Roomba and I would like to give it a bigger chassis, wheels and battery for the purposes of light duty industrial sized cleaning.

The ideal form-factor would be about as wide as a 55 gallon drum. It can be taller - having the feature to scoot under furniture isn't required. Wheels about 6 to 8" in diameter. 12V car battery, a small shop vac, larger hopper, possibly re-engineered brushes.

What I'm particularly looking for and having trouble finding is any Roomba hacking projects that totally rebuild the drivetrain and chassis into something larger and more robust.

I'm also looking for any personal experience or tips about Roomba hacking, or advice on how to translate the control and sensor signals for use on larger motors and rebuilt or replaced sensors.

PSP Hack/Mod advice needed

Ponderance — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:13:00 -0800

I need advice with modding/hacking my PSP. I have info and have tried and failed. Help! Okay, so I have a PSP, the old one, not the slim one. And I have a kid and no money, therefore I was contemplating selling it as I can’t afford cames, and thought I wasn’t clever enough to explore the cool homebrew options.

Then, I saw this article

http://gizmodo.com/5034551/how-to-hack-your-psp-slim-for-homebrew-apps

I ordered the TOOL battery and followed this instructions up to the point where you install the battery and put the new OS on the machine. However, with the battery installed, the green power light shows power, but it doesn’t access the memory stick. What am I doing wrong.

Some clever hive minder has done this, and the various blogs that discuss these issues are written in gibberish. Please help!

If there are details I am not disclosing that are relevane and would help you give adivce, let me know and I’ll post them.

Whose dumb idea were demihuman level limits, anyway?

Pope Guilty — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:17:38 -0800

My brother and I loved the AD&D Gold Box gams when we were kids, and a recent playthrough of Pool of Radiance has left my brother with a party of multiclass characters that he's not eager to take into Curse of the Azure Bonds because as demihumans, they're all already at the highest level allowed for their class and race. I've heard of a hack or patch that removes the racial class limits from these old games, but Google turns up nothing. Does anyone know of such a hack or patch, and where I might find it?