I’ve recently developed a philosophy of using things to their fullest potential: originally, I was forced to replace my older gadgets with new versions repeatedly. It wasn’t until a short while ago that I decided against my consumption for a variety of reasons:

• It wasn’t a healthy way of gaining happiness (an interesting topic on its own).
• It wasn’t a wise way to spend my money — I already had an iPod Video, why did I need an iPod Touch? I could be saving up for that Macbook I always wanted.
• It wasn’t satisfying me anymore. I think I’d exhausted all satisfaction that I might’ve gotten originally from buying gadgets. That’s the problem with consumerism.

Don’t get me wrong — I still buy new gadgets: but now, my new gadgets typically are used to replace something thats been lost/broken/malfunctioned, or for the sake of convenience (combining two gadgets into one). Or to introduce a whole new concept into my life (I’m looking into getting a PSP…we’ll see how that works out, haha).

But I’ve discovered an alternative to the constant consumption and re-consumption of gadgets — using basic computer knowledge, a keen eye, and a spirit of adventure to find out how to leverage your gadgets and use them to their fullest potential. I’ve done what I’d thought was previously unimaginable — my deeds (so far) include:

• Putting Leopard 10.5.2 on my Dell Inspiron 6400 (I don’t advise you do it if you are of the faint of heart — I should also mention that it’s against Apple’s agreement you have to click in order to use Leopard, because you’re installing Leopard on non-Apple hardware). Don’t get me wrong — it wasn’t easy, and I only recently figured out how to do it to near-perfection, with sound and dual-monitor support.
• Installing Android on my HTC Touch. That one turned out to be a fail (fail used as a noun — yep: an event where one fails miserably and hilariously at an attempt; http://failblog.org), as everytime I tried starting Android up (I installed it as a .cab file so it can be easily installed and removed) I was left with a white screen or my phone would turn off. Fail.
• Tweaking my iPod Video 5.5G so I could play Pokemon Red on it. I also installed other themes on my iPod 5.5G so I could make it look ‘fresher’ — like an iPod Touch, if I may. Both using custom firmware (which might void iPod warranty, so be careful with that — I figured since my iPod was so old anyway, I might as well give it a shot, haha).
• I’ve also managed to make my Wii play .mp3 files, .mp4 files, homebrew games (that should give the secret away), and even — DVD’s. That’s right — and I didn’t even have to touch the hardware.

photo credit: You Are The Conductor..

I’m no expert. I’m just an ordinary guy — probably a bit nerdier, but still pretty ordinary. And if I can do it, you most definitely can — so here are a few lessons that I learned along the way.

• Google will be your best friend. That’s right. You’ll get by just typing in ‘(insert gadget name here) modifications’ or ‘(insert gadget name here) hacks’.
• If you fail once, brush yourself off and try it again. And if you fail again, then change something. Or Google it again.
• Forums will be your second-best friend. Register if you have to (I registered anonymously on InsanelyMac). Use their search functions regularly, because you probably won’t have been the first person to experience a certain kind of problem.
• Don’t try modding new gadgets. Unless you can afford to replace it — because typically warranties don’t cover that kind of stuff.
• Don’t be afraid to push it! I remember when I was installing OS X, I installed a bunch of incorrect drivers that eventually required a format. It was discouraging, and I had to start over again, but I remembered that I used to live without it just fine, and so I can continue to live without just fine. If you can’t live without it, then you might want to pay for it (legitimately — not that leveraging is usually illegitimate).
• Not all gadgets can be leveraged — here’s the Herbert rule: if it has a screen/screen output, it can be leveraged.

I’m not sure if anyone’s ever associated the term ‘leveraging’ with ‘gadgets’, but I recently learned of the term in a business course and I wanted to use it. That and the word ‘synergy’ really jumped out at me. If the public demands it, I will begin posting general guides on how to leverage gadgets, so it can be a learned process (these won’t be step-by-step though, I don’t like writing comprehensive stuff — sorry). And even if the public doesn’t demand it, I think I just might.

It’s not exactly what I wanted it to be, nor expected it to become: Nintendo’s new DSi is still one pleasant surprise.  Where do I begin?

Source: http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/kotaku/2008/10/dsi3.jpg

It’s got a camera.  0.3-megapixels.  Whatever, right?

SD-card for MP3 playback.  That sounds pretty interesting, especially considering the possibilities now that storage is available on the DS officially.  If you’ve heard of R4, you’ll know that this opens up for piracy — basically, you can play ROMs of games on your DS that you can download for free.  SD cards make this much more budget-friendly (as opposed to smaller MicroSD cards), but also open up much more storage (SDHC is going up to 32GB, although I’m not 100% sure whether or not the DSi will be fully compatible with SDHC).

Bigger screen — 17% bigger, making it a “whopping” 3.25 inches.  Not too bad — I could always use more screen real estate.

NO GAMEBOY ADVANCE SUPPORT. Unfortunate, considering how I still have many GBA games I’d love to play on my DS (Pokemon Sapphire and Final Fantasy: Tactics Advanced come to mind).  For a split second, it makes me concerned, but I realize that it would have to eventually be purged — out with the old, in with the new.

Last thing to be considered: connection with the Wii, which I thought was the main selling-point.  It’s got some Photo-sharing feature — nothing big, in my opinion (how many photos have you got on your iPod?  thought so).  Not to be ignored is its DSiWare Store: similar to WiiWare, DSiWare is downloadable content for your DSi.  This somewhat excites me, as this sounds like a more legitimate way to be using the SD storage.

All in all, the DSi is shaping into a very interesting contender.  However, I would’ve liked its connection with the Wii to be stronger, somehow.  Sadly, we in the North Americas will have to wait until late 2009 to be able to pick the DSi up off a shelf, so don’t hold your breath.  Or, fly over to Japan and pick it up next month.

• Video via Kotaku: http://kotaku.com/5057889/first-look-at-the-new-nintendo-dsi-in-action
• PC World Hands-on: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/151781/hands_on_with_nintendos_dsi.html

When the Nintendo Wii comes to mind, we can’t help but think that it’s a new way to burn calories. So when WiiFit comes to mind, it just reinforces our belief. But contrary to what the name suggests, Nintendo’s new game for the Wii called WiiFit doesn’t actually make you fit, says Shigeru Miyamoto, designer on the project.

“I forgot to mention something important earlier: I don’t think Wii Fit’s purpose is to make you fit; what it’s actually aiming to do is make you aware of your body,” he said. “That’s why we wanted people to talk with their families about Wii Fit, and become aware of these things together as a group. If you’re standing still, and it tells you “Your body is swaying”, you can see on the training results screen that your body has been shaking. But I think you’d never realize that your body is shaking in day-to-day life. I think becoming aware of things like this about yourself is quite interesting.”

Source: http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/news/miyamoto-wii-fit-is-not-designed-to-make-you-fit/19355

I’m willing to admit it myself – I’m a bit upset, but also a bit relieved. Let me explain: I’m as health-concerned as the next guy, but I still don’t think that video games will ever help you to stay fit (prove me wrong). I was just pleasantly surprised as, a few months ago, the folks at Nintendo wow-ed me with such a production – however, with such a statement from the designer, I feel a bit let down. Alas, I also feel as though things are the way they should be – you should have to go outside or to a gym or something else to stay healthy – not down to your basement to play the Wii. Sure, it’s fun, but it’s still a video game nonetheless, just a new way to interact it.

Source: http://e3nin.nintendo.com/_img/media/wiifit_sslg3.jpg

What Miyamoto said was what I’d consider a pretty wise observation. I think that the Wii would help more with hand-eye coordination than with physical fitness – training the connection between the mind and the body, as opposed to making the body healthier and stronger. Of course, this does provide advantages, but it still doesn’t exactly make you fit. A game of Wii Sports tells you this – you can play Wii Boxing as much as you want, you’ll never actually become as strong as a boxer that trains: because there’s no physical resistance, and because it’s just detecting motions, not the actual depth. However, you do have to make the right gestures in order to hit the right way, meaning the mind will learn even better how to hit in order to do maximum damage – on the Wii anyway.

Source: http://blogs.sun.com/ChrisM/resource/wiifit.jpg

For example, why was the news about doctors using Wii’s so significant? The Wii’s didn’t make them superhumanly strong. They didn’t get much healthier, or fitter. No, what happened was they gained more control over their body – specifically speaking, their hands. This might not seem too important to us average joes, but when you’re a surgeon operating on people and you’ve been away from work for a long time, the Wii’s a much better way to recuperate your operational skills rather than with an actual victim person.

What does WiiFit do? It does what the Wiimote and Nunchuk do with hand-eye coordination – it improves your leg-eye coordination (sp?). It also allows for a whole new dimension and layer to be added to the realistic physicality of the Wii gameplay, making it ever so valuable. One thing would be nice – why not change the name to…WiiBoard or WiiBalance or something? WiiFit just seems pretty useless now that the designer said what he did.