Rating: 
Summary: Major Hardware Hacks for the Hacking Inspires
Review: The book contains 15 amazing projects that range from the truly useful to the legendary and wacky. You'll learn how to connect toasters and coffeemakers to a network; upgrade radio-controlled cars and talking toys such as the Furby; and build car-mounted periscopes and home video arcades. You'll see how to turn a classic Mac machine into an aquarium and harness ordinary batteries to power your laptop. You'll learn how to build an intruder-detection system for your office cubicle and how to track remote objects as they move around. There's even a project for hacking a 12-story building to use its windows as elements of a huge display screen.
Each project includes step-by-step instructions that even a novice hacker can follow, while also providing the necessary detail to satisfy an experienced hacker. The knowledge gained by building each project can easily be applied to your own projects. If you are unfamiliar with basic electronics, you'll find sections that teach you how to use the tools of the trade; you'll also learn how to read schematics and do basic soldering.
So, whether you're an electronics hobbyist who likes to learn by doing, a software hacker who wants to learn how the other half lives, or a neophyte who has only dreamed of hacking, "Hardware Hacking Projects for Geeks" will inspire you to tinker with all kinds of gadgets and gizmos, and will serve as a jumping-off point for new and clever hacks.
Rating: 
Summary: Hard core hacking
Review: The subtitle about voiding your warranty is only half joking, if even that. Most of the projects/hacks described will probably do just that.To the tinkerer in you, perhaps the best allure of the book is the chance of serendipity. Surely some hacks will not be of interest, or not relevant to you. The latter may be in part because the authors provide hacks for a wide range of hardware; from a recent Playstation 2 to the venerable Atari 5200 (which dates from 1982) to 802.11 to an iPod and others. So if you lack an iPod, say, and have no intention of getting one, then the chapter on it may be purely theoretical. But the sheer range of hardware increases the odds that there will be somethings to pique your fancy. The final chapter sticks out. It is not a hack but the modicum of programming. A minimal walkthrough to let you get the gist. But if you find that this chapter is new to you, perhaps you should either pick a hack that does not require it, or consult a programming book for more comprehensive coverage. The 8 (!) authors and presumably you seem to be hardware fanatics.
Rating:
Summary: A very cool book if you've got the guts
Review: The title explains it all: how to get your hardware to do things it wasn't designed to do. This is a really cool book, a very interesting read, and a primer in basic electronics. It covers topics as varied as how to install a bigger hard drive in your iPod, how to add more memory to your PalmPilot, and how to build your own media center PC. But the book gets into some really interesting modifications, like re-housing your old Macintosh into an entirely Lego case, updating the audio and video outputs of your Atari 2600 system, and how to make your Atari 7800 play 2600 games. Since you're dealing with sensitive electronics, which damage very easily, the theme carried through this book is "do not have fear". Once you overcome any fear about damaging any of your equipment, these hacks become very entertaining and a good way to pass the time. Moreover, if your hack is actually successful, you've got something to brag about to your buddies. What's more, the various hacks covered will provide the skill to move to increasingly complex projects. The book begins with a very useful introduction to basic electronics. You learn the difference between capacitors, transistors, resistors, etc. The chapter then proceeds to discuss the basics of soldering and other electronics basics. This is a very fun book to read, and it contains a lot of fun projects. If you like taking things apart and have no fear, this is a book you certainly want to get your hands on.
Rating:
Summary: A very cool book if you've got the guts
Review: The title explains it all: how to get your hardware to do things it wasn't designed to do. This is a really cool book, a very interesting read, and a primer in basic electronics. It covers topics as varied as how to install a bigger hard drive in your iPod, how to add more memory to your PalmPilot, and how to build your own media center PC. But the book gets into some really interesting modifications, like re-housing your old Macintosh into an entirely Lego case, updating the audio and video outputs of your Atari 2600 system, and how to make your Atari 7800 play 2600 games. Since you're dealing with sensitive electronics, which damage very easily, the theme carried through this book is "do not have fear". Once you overcome any fear about damaging any of your equipment, these hacks become very entertaining and a good way to pass the time. Moreover, if your hack is actually successful, you've got something to brag about to your buddies. What's more, the various hacks covered will provide the skill to move to increasingly complex projects. The book begins with a very useful introduction to basic electronics. You learn the difference between capacitors, transistors, resistors, etc. The chapter then proceeds to discuss the basics of soldering and other electronics basics. This is a very fun book to read, and it contains a lot of fun projects. If you like taking things apart and have no fear, this is a book you certainly want to get your hands on.
Rating:
Summary: More Fun Hacking Your Toys
Review: This book in effect carries on where the O'Reilly book Hardware Hacking for Geeks leaves off. Not only does it detail a number of interesting products to hack, it also contains detailed instructions, figures and pictures to further illustrate its how to directions. Among the projects listed here? Hacking your old Atari computers, or the Playstation 2, or replacing the battery on your Apple Ipod, or even turning your old ClueCat into a bar code reader. There's also a chapter on electronics basics. And near the end of the book are chapters on the basics of various operating systems and programming concepts. This is another excellent book of "hacking" projects for those who enjoy tinkering with products to improve or tailor them for a user's particular needs.
Rating:
Summary: something for every hacker
Review: While this book might not have helped Kevin Mitnick evade the FBI (contrary to the brazen front cover citation), it will help you to earn the respect of your techie and non-technical friends alike. Hardware Hacking is an inspiring handbook of hardware modifications. It's pages are filled with step-by-step photos, labeled illustrations and reference material (there's even an intro-to-programming section in the back!) You'll learn how to change the battery in your IPOD (and save yourself the costly service charge), to get stereo sound from your old Atari 2600 and to upgrade the memory on your palm. It's a great repository of handy hardware projects for experimenters of all levels. Chapter three (page 47), for instance, describes how to "declaw" a CueCat. For those in the know, a CueCat is a special barcode scanner Radio Shack used to give away (to motivate signing up for a paid-service.) Some time later, the CueCat company folded and hackers discovered how to modify the scanner to scan ordinary barcodes. I sent off a few emails to friends until I rounded up a couple old CueCats (eBay sells them for a couple of dollars.) A few cuts with an Exacto knife and a little soldering later, I was the proud owner of an unencrypted output barcode scanner. I then used Amazon's API to barcode enable the open-source software program OpenBiblio. Now, when I get a new book, I simply swipe the CueCat across the bar code and instantly OpenBiblio retrieves all of the book details such as the name, title, summary, author and even a photo of the cover. That information is then stored away nicely into a searchable database. It's been a great way to manage my growing library of books - all thanks to a hacked CueCat. If you are interested in "going under the hood" of your electronic equipment, then this book might well be up your alley. It's light reading, and the explanations are very clear. Have fun hacking!
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