#Goodtimes

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We all have gadgets that do neat things, but those gadgets can usually do even better things if you learn to hack them a little bit. In this first installment of Random Hacks, I’ll point you to some great guides and give you some tips on how to modify your Wii to let you install homebrew applications like SNES & Genesis emulators with full libraries of games, modify your PSP to do the same for on-the-go old school action and show you the magic of automatic TV torrenting so you can finally ditch that expensive cable connection.

Warning: By doing this stuff, there’s a slightest possibility that you’ll cause a horrible chain reaction of destruction and be left with an unusable piece of plastic. I’ve never had that happen yet, but I’d just like to be very clear that it’s not entirely safe and I can’t be held accountable for broken gadgets. But if you’re feeling dangeresque, read onward and walk into the wild side!

Hacking the Wii

Requirements:

• SD Card – I recommend at least 2 gigs, but anything over 512 megs should do the trick
• SD Card Reader – You’ll need a card reader for loading the appropriate files onto the card.

Previous Wii hacks required a copy of Twilight Princess and some really strange instructions, but we’re going to be doing this like a Ninja, with a Banner-Bomb exploit which is just a few files downloaded from the internets and loaded onto an SD Card. It’s not very hard to do at all, no stress involved.

For an extensive guide on loading up the Homebrew channel, just head over to Lifehacker’s Wii Homebrew walkthrough and you’ll be up and running in no time.

Hacking the PSP

Requirements:

• Memory Stick Duo
• USB Cable

This one is a bit more difficult than the Wii, but essentially works the same way, and you end up with the same result: The ability to run homebrew applications such as emulators on your handheld, great for playing Secret of Mana on the move.

For this one, you’ll need to install Custom Firmware on your PSP such as Dark Alex Custom Firmware 5.00 M33. You’ll basically just have to copy the firmware onto your PSP’s memory stick using the USB connection, then run the firmware updater just as you would launch a game and the PSP should take care of the rest. I must warn you though, there’s a higher chance of failure with this hack and it could lead to a broken PSP if the update isn’t performed correctly.

For a complete guide on how to complete the PSP custom firmware hack, follow this How-To on Stylemo.com.

Hacking your TV Shows

Requirements:

• BitTorrent Client (uTorrent for Windows, Transmission for Mac & Linux)
• User Account on ShowRSS
• Mac Users Only: Automatic

For this simple and useful hack, we’re going to setup an automatic RSS feed so the shows you want to watch will automatically download to your computer without having to press a single button once it’s setup. First, you’ll want to install either uTorrent or Transmission, depending on your computer. These programs are used for actually downloading the shows via bittorrent.

Now for the super-neat part, you’ll want to setup an account on the ShowRSS website. Once you’re registered there, you can start choosing which shows you want to watch. Once you have a list of shows created, you can click over to the “Feeds” page  and click “Generate” on your personal feed which will give you a wacky website address. That’s your personal RSS feed of the shows you’ve chosen.

Now for Windows users, you’ll want to open up uTorrent and click the Add RSS Feed button, add your custom RSS feed and then make sure “Automatically Download items” is checked. That’s it! You should be good to go now, as soon as a show is posted online, it will download to your computer. For a more extensive guide on auto-downloads in uTorrent, just head over to SimpleHelp’s Tutorial.

For Mac users, there’s a few extra steps involved. You’ll need to install Automatic, open it up and then add your personal RSS feed there. In the options, tell the program to download torrents into your “Downloads” folder (or any other folder you might want to use, just make sure it’s the same folder in the next step…).

Once that’s setup, you can open up Transmission and go into the Preferences. There you’ll see an “Auto Add” field and you have to turn on the “Watch for Torrent files in:” option, make sure it’s set to the “Downloads” folder or whichever folder you set in Automatic. All done!

Now you just need to make sure you keep your uTorrent/Transmission application running, and everything else should work on it’s own. If you have any questions, or if I screwed anything up, just let me know in the comments and I’ll try to help you out. Enjoy your new gadget fun!