It’s only been a week since the Super Gameboy’s boot ROM was dumped by [Costis] and he’s already at it again. This time he’s managed to grab the Gameboy Color’s boot ROM. He found the newer Gameboy Color’s hardware is able to cope with a clock speed up to 100MHz, so the original clock increase trick he used on the Super Gameboy wouldn’t work again.
Instead he discovered a quick disconnection of clock and power before 0xFF50 would make the Gameboy jump to a random area within the ROM. Then it was only a matter of entropy, luck, and…
Hack
Gameboy Color boot ROM
Business
Unsecured lenders increase loan rates for new customers
According to a recent press release from uSwitch.com, since the start of September, several unsecured lenders have increased the rates they charge on loans for new customers. The increase in rates could see the interest paid on a typical loan of £10,000 jump by £322.There are currently just 36 personal loans available to consumers, compared with 57 this time last year (a fall of 37%), while the average loan rate has moved from 9.04% to 9.08%.Louise Bond, personal finance expert at uSwitch.com, said: “As consumers struggle to make ends meet and manage their finances, loan providers are looking to offer…
Internet
Making Sense of the Internet Job Search… Fine-tune your job
When I first started job hunting on the Internet, I would spendcountless hours searching for anything and everything. I wouldsearch one site, then jump to another, and search some more. Oneof the most frustrating things about job searching on theInternet is that most of the same job postings are duplicatedacross hundreds of job search sites! It’s like having threehundred Houston Chronicles from the same day on your desk!— Why so many? —Monster.com http:www.monster.com and Headhunter.nethttp:www.headhunter.net contain numerous newly posted jobopportunities. Out of those opportunities, the webmasters of ahundred or so telecommuting sites search for work-at-home jobsand post those jobs on…
Business
India to turn world’s third largest steel producer this year
Going by the production of steel in the country so far this year, India is on its way to becoming the third largest steel producer in the world. With an output of 55 million tonne (mt) last year, the country was ranked fifth in the world after China (501 mt), Japan (119 mt), United States (91 mt) and Russia (69 mt). Germany, Ukraine and Brazil followed India at the sixth, seventh and eighth positions, respectively. India, which had earlier set itself the target of becoming the world’s third largest steel producer by 2013, is also aiming to produce 124 mt…
Tech Support
Are You Serious You Just Want to be Able to Make Money From Home? Here’s Your Door of Opportunity Open it
Looking to work from home is not an easy task. Finding the perfected home job or business that will give you that security of financial freedom is hard work. With the recession, getting a stable work from home job is now more of a necessity than ever. When you work from home, you want guaranteed monthly and residual income. You want a company that is going to pay you what you are worth.
I am introducing you people, to a business that is phenomenal. Once you join this business, you are set for life! It is so effective that it…
Hack
Hand of Man Mechanical Claw
[Christian Ristow], a former Muppet creator, has created a much larger puppet that has caught the attention of Popular Mechanics. His Hand of Man is a 27 foot long remote control mechanical claw. Powered by a 90 hp diesel engine, the hydraulic system can be controlled by a glove worn by the operator. This started as a demonstration for a robotics fair, but has recently made appearances at Burning Man, Maker Faire, and had the Grand Champions seat of Popular Mechanic’s Backyard Geniuses Award. While not as practical as some robotic human augmentations, it can crush a car. [Christian]…
Hack
Fire Horn
Artist [Ariel Schlesinger] has managed to replace an air horn’s compressed air tank with butane fuel. This hack manages to change the pitch of the horn slightly, as well as making one very noisy flamethrower. While not as impressive as other flamethrowers, this would probably take the cake for most achievable. Currently the site containing the how-to is down, but we would have to recommend not doing this at home anyway. Video after the jump.
[via todayandtomorrow]
Hack
Update: Foundation PC Cooling
[gigs], whose foundation-based PC cooling project we covered earlier, has posted his initial test results. There was a large debate going back and forth in the comments as to whether or not this would work, and hopefully this should clear most of it up. He used a 150W fish tank heater to simulated his system’s heat output, and used a quiet fish tank pump to keep the water flowing. Over 8 hours, he was able to maintain a constant temperature 16° C (61° F). While not quite frigid, this would definitely provide ample cooling for normal operation with some headroom for…
Hack
C64 Visual Debugger
Root Labs wrote about ICU64, a Commodore 64 emulator with a couple unusual features. The most special of these is the ability to show the entire working RAM of the system. Each RAM address lights up when accessed. The user can also zoom in or change the values at each address if they want. This sounds complicated, but the demo videos demonstrate the power of these abilities. This would also serve as a great primer on lower-level code’s memory management. Unfortunately [mathfigure], the author of ICU64, hasn’t released this out to the public yet, but should be released soon.
Videos after…
Finance
U.S. Mortgage
U.S. Mortgage Requests Jump Down as Refinancing Loses Steam
By Julie Haviv. NEW YORK, July 29 (Reuters) – U.S. mortgage requests dropped for the first time in four weeks, caused by a decreasing in need for home refinancing loans because interest rates climbed, data from an industry group showed on Wednesday.
Requests for loan to purchase a home, a basic pointer of sales, were flat. Lack of interest for buy loans does not bode well for the hard-hit U.S. housing market, which otherwise has been showing signs of stabilization.
The U.S. Mortgage Bankers Association supposed it seasonally adjusted index of…
Hack
Vacuum gloves for climbing buildings
Suction is incredibly powerful and can be put to use in several different ways. [Jem Stansfield] built a set of vacuum gloves for a BBC TV series to show how powerful suction really is. He climbed up the side of a 100 foot building, yet had to rely on his safety line near the top. The video of his daring ascension after the jump.
[via DVICE]
Hack
Self-portrait machine
[Jen Hui Liao] created a device that guides the user into drawing a portrait of themselves. Dubbed Self-Portrait Machine, it comments on how much in society is created by machines and we are dependent on them. Unlike previous drawing robots, the user is part of the sketching process. The machine holds the users hands and uses stepper motors and servos to move them around like a LOGO turtle. Liao promises to have more details available soon. Video of the machine after the jump.
