The aluminum case not only refaces the 360, but also throws in extra cooling by way of three 120mm fans to help prevent the RROD. Now if I could only figure out how much it costs and how I can order one.

[Industrirepro via technabob]

Well how do you like that? An old Sega SC-3000H from 1983 has been given new life as a fancy keyboard PC. An enterprising modder named Cuzza over in the TechPowerUp forums laid out $4 for the old-timey computer, rolled up his sleeves, and got to work.

The updated internal components include a VIA Nano-ITX board with 1.5GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, 80GB hard drive, and a slot loading DVD/CDRW drive from an old iBook. Cuzza got the actual keyboard on the Sega PC to work, too.

All told, the project spanned at least a couple months. This recently-uploaded YouTube video details the ins and outs rather thoroughly:

[TechPowerUp via technabob]

The modern bits look incredibly incongruous next to the faux stone and stuff, maybe you could paint or distress them. There’s even quotes from the Book of the Dead on the side, in case dread Anubis takes you while you’re gaming and you need to brush up on it so his spectral dogs don’t eat your spirit heart.

More pics at Walyou.

Seriously. This case is insane. Like crazy russian insane. Why in the world would someone take all that time and material to build a solid metal Wall-E computer case?

The whole case is milled out of solid metal and must weigh a ton and a half. I beat you could sell this case at a scrap yard and make enough cash to buy Nissan. Mad props to the builder though. Mad props. Now, who is going to stuff a Mac Cube into a Wall-E body?

CaseMods.ru via EnglishRussia

We want you to send us pictures of your coolest case mod, your most creative lighting job, your best water cooling set up, or whatever else. Send it in and we’ll try to select at least one each week to do a write-up about and interview the creator.

I’m a big fan of case modding, and I’d love to see more of what you creative people can do. I’d love to find the next “BenHeck” modder out there. And who knows, maybe this will help you to find a sponsor. So if you’d like to be featured on CrunchGear, drop an email to casemod@crunchgear.com and we’ll take a look at what you’ve got.

It’s all too easy for us — all of us — to get jaded and tired of yet another cellphone, or just another crazy casemod. But remember, all of these things happen because of the inherent awesomeness inside each of us. That cellphone might not tickle your fancy, but it would never make it to the market without the awesomeness of the industrial designers, technical writers, copy editors, draftsmen, interns, quality assurance folks, human resources professionals, marketing experts, delivery drivers, and security guards.

That guy in his basement slaving away on his casemod is chock full of awesome just waiting to get out. Even if casemods aren’t your thing, take a moment to appreciate the awesomeness it took to think of and make the darned thing.

From all of us here at CrunchGear: be awesome today!

It’s 5.5″ x 7″ x 5″ and has a 2.33GHz low-power Core Duo processor, 2 gigs of RAM, and a 2.5″ 40GB HDD. Not exactly a powerhouse, but it’ll work for the basics.

Created by Widefault, it’s one of the best I’ve seen in a while.

[via Technabob]

Look! It’s a portable Super Nintendo Entertainment System that looks like an oversized Super Nintendo Entertainment System controller! It’s understandably a tad on the thick side – about double the depth of a SNES cartridge – but you get some good old fashioned retro gaming on the go. It was designed by someone in France named Kotomi. Hit the jump to see a few more photos.

[via technabob]

I recently purchased an external drive and was disappointed with the enclosure, this may sound shallow but when you spend money on something, you want it to look and feel exactly right.

From these humble beginnings Nes-box was born, my next task was to see if my plan would work, so I dismantled one of my old nes cartridges to size it up against the drive. The cart was almost a perfect match and the drive fitted quite snugly inside its new jacket.

For less than a dollar per gigabyte you, too, can enjoy the sight of Mario melting as your drive slowly overheats.

via Giz

When I was in high school I had a friend who upgraded from a 250MB to a 1GB. I thought that was a huge drive at the time (it was), at least as far as capacity went. It was a 3.5-inch drive, much smaller than the 5.25-inch drive he was replacing, but sadly his old computer didn’t have a slot to fit the smaller drive, so we improvised. Duct tape and copper wire saved the day, and we were proud of our ingenuity.

These days, the problems desktop users face, especially power users as my friend was, are heat related. TechEBlog has a couple of neat “cases” people have put together to combat the heat problem in the same way we fought space: elbow grease and guile.

I especially love the one with built of string.

Buckle up, this pen also detects Wi-Fi signals
Mouse Phone: It’s only copyright infringement if you use the actual logo… oh, wait
Trailer released for second Futurama movie, The Beast with a Billion Backs
Now people are turning busted gaming consoles into casemods. That’s just crazy talk!
Building your productive workspace: Yes you can!

Sure, they’re not as useful as some purpose-made cases, but these case mods are pretty cool. If your favorite gaming console bites the dust, you too could turn it into a PC with a little wire, glue, solder, duct tape and nerves of steel.

My fave by far is the Game Boy hack, because using the screen for the fan input is just awesome. When someone figures out how to casemod my Blackout Tranformers figure, I’m stoked.

This is one of the most fun casemods I’ve ever seen. Someone — apparently a Frenchman — was able to cram all the guts of an NES clone into a Super Mario Brothers cartridge shell.

It’s got a slot on the top for actual game cartridges, two NES controller ports, and external power button and LED. It even has standard AV outs so you don’t need to use that pesky cable RF converter.

Nintendo should just start selling stuff like this.

Comments are the greasy oil that keeps the blog machine running. Here are three great (and 100% unedited) comments recently posted by your fellow readers.

nofluke69 on First the iPhone gets Spore, now it gets Legos. What’s left?

How about 3G?

John Eddy on Mario Wii casemod: so subtle! so elegant!

And I look and see a goatse.

Tim B. on Kodak EasyShare 5300 All-in-One Printer Review

This is what I’ve learned from my short stint with the Kodak AIO printer.

Kodak AIO Printer Buyer’s Guide:
1) Buy Printer
2) Save Receipt
3) Save packaging
4) Don’t count on it for late night printing.
5) Take it back ASAP.

My printer refuses to feed new paper, saying the tray is empty. You can try to “feed” it paper and pray that you get one page through every 30 minutes. Of course I didn’t save the packaging as I’d had it for two weeks without problems. There may be a homing device on the packaging that makes the printer transform itself into a paperwork after you dispose of the packaging.

Moreover you cannot write to memory cards inserted in the printer. Pure stupidity on their part.

Anyway, Kodak doesn’t respond to emails and I wasted $200. Don’t make the same mistake I did. The best decision you could make would be to not buy one of these printers.

Super Mario Bros. Inspired Wii Casemod With USB Base [Instructables, via BoingBoing]

Zune owners are a proud lot. I know several, and they rightly justify their purchases. At first it was all about “not an iPod”, but now that the Zune Marketplace has matured, the Zune is a great way to go, and you can ask any Zune fan about it.

Take my friend Josh for example, who made this literal casemod from a Belkin Zune case. He wants people to know he has a Zune. That’s pride, friend.

Josh’s photo [Flickr]

Guitar Rising: Like Guitar Hero but for real guitars
Seamour Sheep: Um, a USB sheep lamp. Right.
What is Buzz My Goat?
Competitive eating, coming to a console near you
Rainbow Six Vegas PS3 Casemod: Tactical Pandora Diorama Theory