Bohack

I recently replaced my Blackberry Curve with a Verizon Incredible. I soon found that the battery life was the only thing that wasn’t incredible about the phone. Owning a smart phone like the Incredible, Droid X, Apple iPhone or even a Windows Mobile is a paradox; because the more you use the phone the quicker the battery drains. Newer smart phones make the phone more useable than ever before, which means after a few hours the phone is dead.

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In part 1 of the Xbox Media Center article I explained the hardware modifications, basically the mod chip installation. The purpose of the mod chip installation is so that you can use unlocked hard drives in the xbox. The locking mechanism of the ATA specification was to stop people from poking around with the contents of the drive. Even after unlocking the hard drive the format of the drive is not FAT or any recognizable partition scheme. The second reason for a mod chip is to load an alternate dashboard or the software you see when you start it up. The third reason for the mod chip is large drive support, the original xbox comes with only an 8GB hard drive.

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The original Xbox was released in November of 2001 by Microsoft and it created a new age of console gamers. Since the Xbox 360 came out the original Xbox has been thrown in the corner. However after 7 years this console still has a very important function for video junkies and ROM junkies. The Xbox Media Center is the ultimate use for the old Xbox console platform. The units can be purchased from GameStop for less than $50 dollars and for less than an hour of work plus a modchip, you too can have the ultimate media center. No other multimedia product can come close to the Xbox Media Center or XBMC.

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I always find it frustrating when my soldering iron tip gets scaled with the oxidization of solder. It is the leading misuse of flux and the cause for frustration, because it creates an insulation layer between the tip and the component. So you either use flux to make the solder melt or you overheat the component.

I was very amazed to see a solution from Hakko that addressed this problem. It is a small metal container that has brass windings inside for cleaning the soldering iron tip. The tip cleaner can be purchased for about $10 dollars from various online vendors or you can do like me and build one.

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