Sega Master System Dock

A while ago I posted this, a iPhone Dock made using a classic NES controller. I thought damn Stephen you need to gets you one of those, so today I've had been trying to put together my very own classic controller docking station. The main deviation from the linked guide is simply the choice of what pad to use, I was always a SEGA kid and since my old Master System gave up the ghost I have kept it around not really wanting to throw it away, this gave me the perfect opportunity to stop it collecting dust and re-purpose part of it.

What you need is a few basic tools such as, a small screw driver, Knife and a small hacksaw. In addition you'll need a iPhone USB lead and a Control Pad.

fig, 1

First unscrew the small screws on the back of the control pad, usually four or five, and remove the contents. Keep the screws safely to one side we will be needing them later, they are small so you don't want to lose them.

fig, 2

Cut the wires connecting the flex to the two chip boards, keep these boards safe as they will need to go back into the unit in order for the buttons to still press in and out. Clean out the top half of the unit and cut a hole with a knife, once you have an opening big enough you can remove the hacksaw blade pass it through the hole in the controller, re attache the blade and cut the plastic to shape. Knives and saws are sharp, so please be careful with this step. Once the hole is wide enough you can thread the lead through (fig, 3).

fig, 3

Now in order for the pad to look ultra cool we want the flex to fit through the hole in the pad originally meant for the lead that plugs into the console. This is fiddly but realistically quite easy to achieve, there should be a screw peg on the inside of the case, the flex will be able to snake around this and run through the half circle at the back (fig, 4).

fig, 4

Once this is in place you can insert the buttons and chips, make sure everything fits nicely and screw the back of the pad back into place. Congratulations you now have one awesome iPhone dock.

Finished dock from the front,

and from the back.

And with an iPod plugged in and charging, had to use my phone for the pics.

Paper Geek

Boredom in the office and access to the internet leads to terrible things, terrible but creative. Today I came across this, a paper iPod dock, which i thought was pretty cool indeed. I rustled up a quick version, however paper doesn't really work quite as well as card should. Very collapsible.

Template for the paper dock, A PDF is available Here

 This got me looking for other alternative paper docks, the German website DATENSTRUDEL offers this take on a paper dock. I really like this version, though it requires a digital clock app to get the full on effect, no free PDF's for this either.

I found a few, different lo-tech variations on the docking theme, including this rather cool Lego creation and an ingenious new use for the iPhone box itself,

But the master and king of all DIY iPhone docks has to be without doubt this, a classic NES controller upcycled into a docking station, instructions can be found here, It really genuinely doesn't look to complex to create and it almost looks like it was made with this in mind. This is one project that I think I'm going to have a serious go at re-creating.

Also worth mentioning because in the future I really want to have a crack at it is this bad boy,

Yeah that's totally a Gameboy external hardrive, how to do this unbelivable act you ask? Go here.

Lust

I want this perhaps a little too much....

Quarter exceeded

On Friday I became twenty five, doesn't sound to bad but lets think of it like this, I'm now a quarter of a century old. Yeah, it's super. 

Anyway, to celebrate I spent the day in Birmingham, and odd choice to some I know but having spent a few years universing at Wolverhampton it was a nice little slice of nostalgia. Birmingham, for all its bad press is actually a really nice city, sort of like a Manchester in the Midlands. You have the obvious tourist spots like the Bullring (its good, not quite as good shopping wise as say, the Arndale but I will say that Birmingham's Selfridges is far, far better than Manchester's. It's also home to my new favourite and most awesome shop in the entire cosmos, Pedlars.) and the Sea Life Centre (what more do you need other than sharks and otters).

The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery is always worth a visit, and it's currently showcasing a glimpse of the fairly recent Safford Saxon hoard. Unfortionatly there really wasn't much Saxon treasure to see, but the craftmanship that would of gone into each of the individual pieces was incredible.

Another place I made sure to visit was the IKON gallery, set in a refurbished church up in Brindley place, it is a fantastic building and i was perhaps an awful lot more interested in the building its self rather than its exhibits. On I did like was this piece.

It captured the moment that a lamppost falls and collides with an awning, not pictured is the explosion of paving slabs surrounding the base of the post. iPhone cameras are only so wide.

Due to the rain we didn't stray to far from the centre, which meant missing out on the excellent custard factory and the vintage market on Digbeth Road. And then we left for home, the end.

This is a Turtle

Pix'n Love Rush

I am very enamoured with an iOS game at the minute. It's called pix'n rush and it is simply the most addictive thing since gamefreak invited you to catch them all.
The game offers you four different modes of play, several awesome plinky plonk tunes and graphics and a whole lot of pixels. Though it must be said I only really play the 'rainbow rush', a neat little timed game. You have one minute to collect as many pick ups as possible running back and two across a stage, suns during day and moons during night, the nice little mechanic being that when you hit a stage wall the day switches to night. You gain extra time and points by picking up the symbols, every ten or so netting you five more seconds. It is absolute zen bliss. Frankly there's no other reason to own an iPhone over than to play this game.

It's made by pastagames and is in the app store now. And it's free.

this post has no name, or an app a day keeps luddites away

This post has no name, although that’s mainly due too me being cheap and running open office at home, forgetting to save as a .doc and having accessibility problems on this machine.

Anyway, you’ll see the intended post soon enough, a serial it shall be too. But this really needs a new post and this is it tada!. Okay so that’s a messy sentence.

I need to really post at least once a week, but I have been so busy doing, well nothing tbh, looking for a job takes time and is incredibly frustrating.

One thing I have been meaning to talk about for a while now is apps, I have an iPhone and with that come applications. Usually I hate trying to draft up review articles, mainly because I’m nice and rather easily pleased, but plunging into the murky world of the app store can be confusing and overwhelming due to the sheer quantity that’s out there (several trillion billion thousand, true story) so I thought I would help you out by suggesting a few I like,

Instagram

 

Instagram is a nifty little camera app that allows you to see your and your friends photo’s as they stream. This has to be my favourite photo-sharing app and according to its user info, 7 million agree.

You can upload your pics to bookface et al with a few taps but in all honesty the built in news feed works best. Coupled with a slightly rehashed ‘like’ feedback on each pic it allows you too talk and comment on each picture. Perhaps its main selling point is the filters included allowing you to edit new and old photo into something much nicer.

The popular page is a good way to find other users you like and too nab inspiration, as with all photo platforms your going to find a lot of crap among the goodness but there is some genuine talent in there.

Come find me @stephen_green 

Hipstamatic

Hipstamatic is a very, very nicely done camera app and although I have started using Instagram more, it is in some ways far better. Although you have to pay for this one, and there’s a lot of inapp stuff too, it is pretty good quality software. Unlike Instagram you choose from a variety of films and lenses before shooting making for a more realistic app and a plethora of customising opportunities and scope for playing around, extending the life of this app nicely. You also get a cool onscreen camera complete with viewfinder (while cool, this can be annoying when trying to get a shot, luckily you can disable it).

Synthetic Corp, the makers, is also pretty generous when it comes to bringing out special edition freepaks once in a while.

More to follow,