Casemodding

[andygates]

You know, there are no decent casemods for the Nokia 770?  There are ghastly Dremel hacks to remove bits of the slip-shell that users find offensive, and there are weird fusions where the device serves as the brain in a homebrew laptop, or the face and brain of a robot puppy (weirdly creepy), but there are no really stylish mods like the steampunk laptop or the plethora of glow-in-the-dark games engines out there in PC-land.

Just sticking the 770 into an Aquapack or Otterbox and velcroing it to the nose of a surfboard (for browsing between sets) isn't sick enough, though taking a board and cutting a socket into it to flush-fit a device mouth might qualify as sick in extremis.  But what I really want to do is play with the incredibly bland form-factor - it's just a little oblong book thing with a flat face.  It shouldn't be too tough to concoct a nicely bound antique book (from, perhaps, a nicely bound antique book) or to replace the existing slip-shell with something much more sexy and steam. Since there are theme tools available, the look can be carried across to give, say, creamy vellum backgrounds and serif fonts with Beatrix Potter-style icons, or some nice rust and rivets.

Mmm, rivets...

Comments

[justoneway.livejournal.com]

The guy who shaped my board and Nick's, Jools from Gulfstream in Woolacombe, has already done the wi-fi browser board thing:

http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/news/news.phtml/368/1392/view.phtml

If you want chunky leather bound books to ruin, don't use antique ones, they deserve a better end. Buy a new one from some 'by the yard' seller that knocks them out for psueds who want to pretend they are well read. A few months in your courier bag will have it looking suitably worn.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Bastard beat me to it! Slick job though, very nice, just don't walk the board and tread all over the touchscreen!

I was never going to ruin a really worthwhile book, that's just blasphemy. The 770's a slightly funny shape so I'll probably have to make a bespoke binding. Charity shops are a good source for things like Reader's Digest hardbacks, which are traditional - we've used 'em as spellbooks for LRP ;)

[jonnycowbells.livejournal.com]

I mean, I consider myself to be a man of the world with my finger on the pulse of both popular and non-popular culture de jour, but occasionally I read your posts twice and still don't really understand what you're on about.

That said, you've said that about my posts before, and it all reads nicely, so I really can't complain, and therefore shan't.

[ravenbait.livejournal.com]

I know just enough about what he's writing to be able to say:

S.

A.

D.

Gods I feel righteously smug that my head isn't polluted with crappy time-wasting notions like this and is far more productively concerned with such burning issues as how to get the face recognition on EyeToy to work effectively and how to get those DAMN ROLLING BALL sections of Aeon Flux to stop being so DAMNABLY FRUSTRATING.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Sad with sprinkles, darling :)

Is Aeon Flux any good? Or is it as iffy as the film?

[ravenbait.livejournal.com]

Take the original cartoon, remove some of the intelligent bizarreness, cross it with I Ninja. Without the humour but with Charlize Theron (tight suit but insufficient polygons). And with controls that are harder to master.

Some of the fight scenes require as many stimulants as Team Buddies.

Most disappointing are the graphics - we've been spoiled by Mr Leapy and were expecting something of a similar standard. No such bloody luck.

[justoneway.livejournal.com]

I would rather stab myself in the eyeballs with red hot forks dipped in salt than sit through the remaining 40 minutes of the movie that I have so far not seen because of the nausea attack watching the first half induced in me forced me to stop watching and kill puppies instead.

It is the closest thing to awful there is. Only Batman and Robin squeezes into the asymptotic gap that remains.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

But it had Pete Postlethwaite in it!

[flitljm.livejournal.com]

I hope they were Nokia-powered puppies like that travesty Andy linked to.

[jonnycowbells.livejournal.com]

So, you've not seen Congo then? After Freddie vs Jason, it only took us 5 minutes to conclude that it wasn't as bad as Congo. Even Alien vs Predator doesn't scrape so far through the bottom of the barrel. It's a pretty close call with Catwoman though.

[justoneway.livejournal.com]

Any one else would have learnt the lesson by now but you still seem to be beating your head against the wall. All those films are the sort of thing you should avoid like the plague. Irrascible cack that has a big hollywood budget to spend trying to excuse its existance. They are not even bad in a good way like Troma movies or the all time classic "The Refrigerator" (http://imdb.com/title/tt0102767/).

[jonnycowbells.livejournal.com]

Ah, but occasionally one has to beat one's head against the wall in order to turn up the rubies in the dust. And obviously I'm a sucker for punishment, I chose to live with Skean for a year.

Actually, Catwoman is kind of worth watching as a study in how to destroy something. Half way through I was thinking "Gosh, this really isn't as bad as people made out" and then it just disintegrates before your very eyes, incredibly quickly. In this sense it surprised me more than almost any other film I've seen.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

That almost makes me want to watch it.

Congo... I like Congo. It's dripping with Rider Haggard schlock-drivel and an ape suit and Tim camping it up, and that just makes me smile. Aeon was just thin - made with half a spoonful. They made the mistake of trying to create a workable world, and the Aeon Flux animation is contradictory and unworkable like that, so it can't fit right.

I still want a tesseract harness though ;)

leather...

[(Anonymous)]

Why break a book? more fun to do from scratch, and guaranteed unique.
Tools from Bowstock (http://www.bowstock.co.uk/)
Leather and tools from ebay (http://crafts.listings.ebay.co.uk/Leathercraft_W0QQfromZR4QQsacatZ75565QQsocmdZListingItemList), advice from Kingsmere (http://www.kingsmerecrafts.com/)

Something to keep you occupied on the cold winter nights.

L
:)
I'll bother to join the crowd one day, then I won't be permanonymous. Or not.

[andygates.livejournal.com]

It's such a bad idea it might have to be done!

[andygates.livejournal.com]

Knight Rider-style ultraviolet chase LEDs around the case, perhaps? :)