OStatic

One of the best things about technology and its innate hackability (intentional or otherwise) is the endless variety of seemingly mismatched hardware and software that end up working (logically, even) once a hack is finished. The combinations are limitless -- using a stationary bike to power your NetBSD toaster, installing Linux on an XBox 360 -- and range from useful, to potentially useful, to just because I can.

There have been some hacks done to the Nintendo Wii, enabling people to create and test homebrew applications and travel the globe, virtually, via balance board and Google Earth. The Wiimote has been configured to control a few open source applications, such as MythTV. Now, as CNet's Eric Franklin reports, Google software engineer Matt Cutts has gotten his Wii Fit balance board to communicate with his Linux box (he's using Ubuntu) via Bluetooth and roughly 200 lines of Python code.

There are rumors cropping up that Microsoft may unleash an open source strategy surrounding Danger, the mobile software/services player that it acquired last year. Danger got a lot of kudos in its early days for its innovative Danger Sidekick mobile phone featuring pull-out and flip-up components, but it mostly floundered after that. Part of the cause for the Danger-goes-open-source rumors is this post, which shows a recruiter looking for a talented NetBSD developer interested in working on the next generation of Danger Sidekick. With Windows Mobile facing wolves at the door in the form of the iPhone, Android phones, and the Blackberry Storm, would an open source Danger strategy make sense for Microsoft?

Sam has recently written a few excellent posts about open source software being used in unusual ways. He's also covered a few open source hardware projects.

Though it may not be as epically geek as the NetBSD toaster, there is a certain appeal to Chumby, the Linux alarm clock. The hardware and software are open and hackable, for the hands-on type.

For the rest of the population, it's still an interesting and functional little device.