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Tech News: Upgrading The Mac Mini And More

Modding A Mac Mini For eSATA Support

Infinite Loop reports on an interesting Mac Mini modification. The admin at erbos.net has come up with relatively non-destructive technique for adding a high-speed, high-capacity external SATA drive. To make this work, he added a connector to the Mini’s interconnect board and hacked up a Newer MiniStack to hold the 3.5″ SATA replacement drive.
from MacSlash.

Adding eSATA (yes, eSATA) to your Mac mini

This chap decided that FireWire and USB just weren’t going to cut it for the storage needs on his Mac, so he got himself an eSATA adapter, rounded the cabling, and routed it through the security lock hole.
by Erik Kennedy.

Build your own gaming console – XGS Micro Kit

It’s not a big secret among my friends that I aspire to create video games some day. I’m still a long way off from reaching that goal. But it’s also not a huge secret that I love modding and DIY projects. Now I’ve found something that could satisfy both of my hobbies.

The XGS is basically a DIY game console kit. Now don’t get too excited, its hardware isn’t quite up to snuff with todays consoles. Ok, it’s not up to snuff with the consoles of 10 years ago, but it’s still cool.
by Chris Scott Barr.

Intel shows off 80-core processor

ntel has built its 80-core processor as part of a research project, but don’t expect it to boost your Doom score just yet.
by Tom Krazit.

Automating interactions with your netgear router

Here is how I wrote some code using Perl to automate controlling my router. I have a NETGEAR DG834 ADSL router and I wanted to control it via ifup/ifdown so, with the help of sudo, I can allow my home users to connect/disconnect to Internet from a debian box.
from Debian Administration.

Review: Myvu Personal Media Viewer
Watch iPod-hosted video anywhere, hands-free…if you don’t mind strange looks from passers-by.

MicroOptical’s original Myvu Personal Media Viewer was introduced at the 2006 Macworld Expo, and since then, the company has incorporated a number of enhancements to make the latest version the best choice for fifth-generation (5G) iPod users looking for a goggle-style video display.

Made of shiny black plastic, the Myvu is thin enough that you can still see under and over; in addition, thanks to translucent windows inside the goggles, you can even see straight through, increasing your situational awareness dramatically compared to other iPod-compatible goggle offerings.
by Peter Cohen.

MIT scientists detail breakthrough in optics-on-a-chip device

It promises to solve a problem that’s long plagued fiber-optic networks: Light waves gradually weaken over distances as they become polarized, or randomly oriented horizontally and vertically. The tools available to fix it are expensive to deploy on a massive scale.
by Jordan Robertson.

The Landscape of Parallel Computing Research: A View from Berkeley

Krste Asanovic, Ras Bodik, Bryan Christopher Catanzaro, Joseph James Gebis, Parry Husbands, Kurt Keutzer, David A. Patterson, William Lester Plishker, John Shalf, Samuel Webb Williams and Katherine A. Yelick
EECS Department
University of California, Berkeley
Technical Report No. UCB/EECS-2006-183
December 18, 2006

Top 5 Creative Uses for a Mac mini, Sort Of

TechEBlog’s editors have put together a list of the top five creative uses for the somewhat underexposed Mac mini.

While I suppose they’re all creative, one of them is pretty useless, so it’d probably be more apt to call it the top four creative uses for the Mac Mini, since the word “use” implies that it has some sort of purpose.
from TechEblog.

Upgrading the CPU of a Mac mini

The Mac mini, as well as the iMac and the Mac Pro, is powered by an exchangeable CPU (socket). During the Apple Expo 2006, we recorded a video showing how to upgrade a Mac mini (CPU, RAM modules and HD): MacBidouille_Upgrade_MacMini_H264_200Kb_320x240_15i.mov.

Perhaps because the video is in French, many readers requested an article providing a more step-by-step procedure with closer views and photos.
from HardMac.

A Review of the Apple Mac mini 1.66 GHz Intel Core Duo (Late 2006) MA607LL/A

In September of 2006, Apple updated the Mac mini line by providing the low end model with a 1.66 GHz Intel Core Duo processor ($599).

That improvement moved the entire Intel Mac mini line to a Core Duo processor. This article will examine the performance characteristics of the Intel Mac mini 1.66 GHz and discuss some of the upgrade options that are available for it.
by Michael Bean.

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