Books for Do-It-Yourself Repair Geeks

Chieh Cheng, Auri Rahimzadeh: Hacking Digital Cameras, 2005

Hacking Digital Cameras is the only DIY book for digital photographers on the market. It focuses on customizing camera functionality, increasing flexibility, and adding the convenience to help you produce cool photographs. With this book, you will have fun capturing the images you never thought possible. Whatever your level of photographic experience, you will find that Hacking Digital Cameras is easy to read and quick to understand. With step-by-step instructions, which save you time and money, you will learn to safely modify your camera bodies, lenses, and accessories to achieve desired results.


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Isidor Buchmann: Batteries in a Portable World - A Handbook on Rechargeable Batteries for Non-Engineers, 2001

Batteries in a Portable World fills a definite need for practical information about rechargeable batteries. Quite often, performance specifications for batteries and chargers are based on ideal conditions. Manufacturers carry out battery tests on brand new equipment and in a protected environment, removed from the stress of daily use. In Batteries in a Portable World, Mr. Buchmann observes the battery in everyday life in the hands of the common user. By reading Batteries in a Portable World, you will acquire a better understanding of the strengths and limitations of the battery. You will learn how to prolong battery life; become familiar with recommended maintenance methods and discover ways to restore a weak battery, if such a method is available for that battery type. Knowing how to take care of your batteries prolongs service life, improves reliability of portable equipment and saves money. Best of all, well-performing batteries need replacement less often, reducing the environmental concern of battery disposal.


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Kathie Kingsley-Hughes: Hacking GPS, 2005

"This is the "user manual" that didn't come with any of the 30 million GPS receivers currently in use, showing readers how to modify, tweak, and hack their GPS to take it to new levels! Crazy-cool modifications include exploiting secret keycodes, revealing hidden features, building power cords and cables, hacking the battery and antenna, protecting a GPS from impact and falls, making a screen protector, and solar-powering a GPS Potential power users will take the function and performance of their GPS to a whole new level by hacking into the firmware and hacking into a PC connection with a GPS Fear not! Any potentially dangerous mod (to the device) is clearly labeled, with precautions listed that should be taken Game time! Readers can check out GPS games, check into hacking geocaching, and even use a GPS as a metal detector."


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Mike Outmesguine: Wi-Fi Toys - 15 Cool Wireless Projects for Home, Office, and Entertainment, 2004

From the Publisher: "This ultra-cool volume invites readers to tap into your inner geek and build seventeen ultra-cool wireless devices including a solar powered access point, a wireless picture frame that dynamically changes its own photos, and even a wireless car-to-car audio and video system * With a few simple tools, some off-the-shelf parts, and this book, readers will be creating wireless devices they never thought were possible-toys that certainly can't be found at the local computer store."


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Joe Grand, Ryan Russell, Kevin Mitnick (Editor): Hardware Hacking: Have Fun While Voiding Your Warranty, 2004

"Grand, president and CEO of a product design and development firm, shows how to modify personal computer and electronics equipment at the hardware level. He describes essential tools for hardware hacking and reviews electrical engineering basics, then gives instructions, illustrated with b&w photos, for modifying the CueCat, building a custom Terabyte FireWire hard drive, taking apart the Mac, hacking Atari and PlayStation 2 systems, and upgrading memory on palm devices. Final chapters overview operating systems and introduce basic concepts of coding."


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Scott Fullam: Hardware Hacking Projects for Geeks, 2003

"From How to Hack a Toaster to building Cubicle Intrusion Detection Systems, Hardware Hacking Projects for Geeks offers an array of inventive customized electronics projects for the geek who can't help looking at a gadget and wondering how it might be "upgraded." Beginning with basic hacks, tools, and techniques for those who may not have a background in electronics, the book covers the tools of the hardware hacking trade and basic soldering techniques. Clear step-by-step instructions allow even those with no formal electronics- or hardware-engineering skills to hack real hardware in very clever ways."


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Ben Heckendorn: Hacking Video Game Consoles, 2005

"Loved that Atari when you were a kid? So did Ben Heckendorn so much, in fact, that he successfully resurrected it as a slim, go-anywhere portable. When Playstation and Nintendo aficionados got jealous, he created miniaturized, fully functioning, battery-powered versions of those too. Now it's your turn. Every secret is here complete instructions, materials lists, tool tips, even advice on finding parts. Just wait 'til they see this at the high school reunion."


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Scott Knaster: Hacking iPod and iTunes, 2004

"Put on the headphones and crank up the action! Here's the one and only, ultimate guide for music junkies looking to squeeze every possible bit of potential from their beloved iPods, both Mac and Windows versions. Legendary Mac maven Scott Knaster shares more than 100 hacks, tweaks, and mods that unlock both the musical and non-musical tricks in the iPod's repertoire. Since iPod is the constant companion of music lovers everywhere, they'll groove to the discovery of how to make it download headlines, stock quotes, even driving directions; become a Bluetooth transmitter; or run Linux-and that's before they learn to create and play adventure games with it. In this latest offering from ExtremeTech, readers learn to tweak Gracenote CDDB in iTunes, hack their own iTunes music library and album covers, and more. According to Apple's research, an iPod is sold nearly every thirty seconds. iTunes owns digital music-more than eighty percent of legal music downloads, over seventeen million songs, have come from iTunes since its launch."


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