Well my life has been busy as all get out and I do have a new post in the works however I’m taking a quick break because I have a new toy that makes for a far better story.

I have recently gotten my hands on a new Samsung Moment on the Sprint network. Within the next few days, I will post all the gory details from this Android n00b and will be offering a comparison against the other smartphone I have, the Palm Pre.

In this post, we’ll be going over the basics of using an old regular PC-gameport joystick with Parallax’s Basic Stamp powered Boe-Bot.  This howto will have all the information you need to get started including code, schematics and a parts list.  We will be covering how the joystick is wired and how to go about interfacing it with the Boe-Bot for an easy to use and easy to expand analog control method for your Boe-Bot.  Next step, world domination! (continue reading…)

When I’m not wielding a soldering iron or slinging parts around my workbench, I like to get my frag on just like many other gamers out there.  So imagine my sadness when in the midst of the heated battle to protect the planet from the likes of an invading alien force in the original Half-life, my pursuit of alien destruction came to a screeching halt by way of a serious game glitch. This glitch occurred on the map called “Questionable Ethics” and was readily reproducible.  Read more for details about the game glitch and a video that shows how you can get past the glitch and continue on. (continue reading…)

In the first post for the new “Hardware PrOn” category, we will be dissecting a common point-of-sale barcode scanner.  This particular victim is the MS700 laser scanner manufactured by Metrologic (now owned by either Honeywell or Gilbarco) which reveals a very nice discovery inside.  So, grab your screwdrivers and let’s take a look. (continue reading…)

I’ve realized that I don’t have as much time as I’d like to post my hacks, mods, discoveries, and the like on here so I have decided to create a new category in order to be able to have a wider range of subjects to post on.

The new category is called “Hardware PrOn” and will include pictures of teardowns of various devices that I encounter as well as some ideas on what you could do with one if you happened to find one.

(Ok, innuendo aside…)

Well, the Christmas/Yule break is over with and it’s time to get cracking.   If you were like me this holiday season, you were either placed in the position if needing to do a hard drive upgrade for someone else or you received a new hard drive of your own that warrants upgrading.  The CloneZilla site didn’t contain very clear instructions for what to do so I decided to write this howto documenting the process. In this howto, I will cover using the free application “CloneZilla” to perform a hard drive upgrade on a test installation of Windows XP from 4GB to a 10GB drive.

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From all of us here at YWIV, wishing you and yours a blessed and happy Christmas this year.

Look for a new post within the next few days that might help with any yuletide hard drive upgrades. 🙂

Hello Everyone!

A review of my stats shows that I’ve been getting increasing traffic to my site from mobile users with iPhones and Android based phones at the top of the list.  I know the site’s a bit slow on mobile devices so I went ahead and uploaded a new theme called WPTouch for those of you on the go that still like to drop by.  All major functions of the site are available through WPTouch so you can still comment and view all the information here, it’s just now in a considerably faster mobile-friendly format.  If you have any issues, please let me know in the comments so I can address them.

Well here’s the seccond post as promised.  These posts should also proves that you don’t have to know sick computer skills or mad hardware to be able to pull off some bad ass hacks. In this post, we will address the Nerf Nitefinder and it’s so-called light sight.  While the verbage does get around the expected/anticipated lack of a good lasersight, this post will walk you through adding a real laser sight to your Nitefinder.  Read on for more details along with lots of pictures. (continue reading…)

Well, I will admit that I’ve been slacking a lot.  There are posts that need to be posted, and I’ve been extremely busy at work.  So, to make up for it, today’s going to be a two-post day!.    In this post, I’ll demonstrate how to modify the Nerf Maverick chamber to work properly like a real revolver.  Read on for a complete step-by-step guide to this basic Nerf mod.

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