John from LinuxSlate.com figured out the Dell Streak connector for sync and charging is nothing more than a PDMI connector.  So John made a nice little USB hack to eliminate the need for Dell’s expensive accessory kit in exchange for a quick DIY mod with a miniUSB cable.

The USB hack allows you to connect the Dell Streak to a PC for synchronizing with your computer, or simply charging the device from any USB charger [or port].

The modification also allows the unit to appear as a normal mass storage device or removable memory.

All of Apple products are designed as a “less is more” philosophy where a user just “knows” how to use the product when they hold it or see it.  The Apple Trackpad is no exception.  Great looking product that works exceptionally well and is bare bone minimum on design features.

One of the beautiful elements of the Trackpad is the wireless freedom you get from using the product.  For the wireless product you need juice.  The Trackpad does this via batteries.  However, some get tired of replacing the batteries [like it's that hard] and did a simple USB hack to power the Trackpad.  This hack is not used for communication, that is still done through Blue-tooth, but this is only for eliminating the need to swap batteries or constantly recharge them.

To accomplish the hack, remove the pad’s batteries, strip a USB cable down to the red and black power wires and attach them to a battery-sized wooden dowel. Finally, push the dowel inside the pad’s battery compartment and presto! It works.

Granted this is a USB hack even my 7 year old could do [less the wire stripping] and I’d recommend making something a bit more elegant.

During the month of July Instructables is running a USB contest for who can make the best mod while incorporating USB technology.  For this reason, we’ve been keeping a close eye on what you creative folks are up to.

Today we bring you the 100% natural, all wood, USB marble machine.

I will admit the name is more impressive then the look, but the cool factor outweighs the look.

The wood USB marble machine is an excellent DIY project and will open up your eyes to all sorts of different ways you can make an automated, electric motor powered marble machine.

Check out the video, it’s well worth it!

Learn how at Instructables.

Several years ago, I reported on a USB wifi extender in parabolic form.  Now, we’ve got a slimmed down version using an empty food can and your USB wifi dongle.

It’s not the prettiest thing, but it works and will boost your signal strength enough to grab the channel from your neighbor who’s barely showing up in your wireless network.

Plus this hack gives you adjustable control both up and down, and left and right.

The concept here is getting the can to increase your signal.  In addition, mounting the can and USB wifi dongle to a portable camera stand.  This will give you the stability you need to keep the signal strength strong while in use.  It will also allow you to keep the position for use from day to day.

There is nothing more satisfying for a finger work-out then using a laboriously slow old school typewriter.  Or on those cloudy days where you feel a bit melancholy and in the mood to write the start of a novel you’ll never finish, you may need to punch down on those exhausting keys of a manual typewriter to get the creative juices flowing.

Today I present you that possibility and better yet, with a touch of technology to  make your craving a bit more current.

A well known steampunk modder [Jack Zylkin] has taken the traditional typewriter and transformed it’s key punching into a digital conversion of letters and numbers.  Using some customized PCBA, a USB connection and a bit of code it’s now possible to sync your great grandmother’s typewriter with your computer, or in this video, your iPad.

Your craving wont go without some minor cash flow issues, as you can purchase a pre-made [or pre-mod I should say] USB typewriter or you can buy a kit and down grade your very own typewriter and keep the family air loom alive and kicking.

To get more details visit the Etsy Shop to make your purchase or gather more information.

The love for Linux is that with a bit of tweaking you can do just about anything. Case in point: Sven Killig took the Nexus One, loaded up some code to control the USB host controller and is now running a full work station.

Now this sounds awesome. Sven can run a digital camera off his phone, stream video from a USB stick to his screen or even run a printer off the USB port. Check out the screen-shot of his work station…

So if you’re like me, this project would be in the advanced level of Instructables for DIY mods, but thanks to Sven’s recording skills, we have a video to tell us how.

The best part of all this? He’s got the whole thing demonstrated for you on video, but not only that, you can hit up the down-loadable binaries from his website. And while he tried all of this on Android 2.2, which means its the only version of Android it’s been successfully tested on (at the moment), Sven believes that it will work on Android 2.1, too.

Source: SlashGear.com.

At one time in most guy’s life, they are nuts for lego’s. It’s usually the 4-8 year range, but for some it continues on. Here is a great example of how this guy never let go of the dream. “Squirrelfantasy” created a felt-tip pen printer out of Legos, motors, a USB print driver and a pile of creativity.

The “Lego Felt-Tip 110″ was designed and coded from scratch. Unlike your typical ink-jet printer, when the ink goes dry or begins to fade, just replace with a new felt-tip pen. Granted it’s only one color, but we all print blank anyway.

Not the most accurate printer, but an extremely accurate Lego printer.

Check out the video. Very entertaining.

Source: PCWorld.