Mods - TechEBlog

HeroTech’s Impossible Lightsaber with Retractable Hilt Could Pass for an Actual Movie Prop

By Bill Smith November 7, 2025

Most Star Wars fans have probably held various lightsabers over the yaers, whether they be the plastic toys that hum like dying bees, or the $300 aluminum tubes that light up like airport runways. None of those ever seem to just vanish into thin air… until now. HeroTech’s third generation of retractable lightsabers – or should we just call this one the “Impossible” – has finally cracked the code on something that every prop maker, Disney Imagineer and crafty inventor has been trying to pull off for decades: to make one that lives inside a perfectly accurate Graflex hilt, snaps out to full length quick as a wink, glows like a star and then without warning sucks itself back in with a mechanical whirl.

Open-Source Ploopy Nano 2 Trackball Project Has One Button That Could Change Everything

By Jackson Chung November 7, 2025

Ploopy has just launched the smallest trackball mouse device you’ll actually use. The Nano 2 retains the original’s palm-sized design, but adds one button that feels like a secret handshake with your cursor. Roll the 38mm ball with your thumb, and the pointer will travel exactly where you desire. Holding the button causes pages to scroll as smoothly as a wheel. When you release, you’re back in control of your aim. There are no unnecessary clicks or clutter—only one switch that you program yourself.

Modder Unveils Water-Cooled PS3 Pro That Sony Never Made

By Bill Smith November 6, 2025

Zac Builds removed the lid from a dusty old Sony PS3 and peered down at the two ancient chips that had been resting there for 15 years. The thermal paste beneath has long since become dust. He pulled up a hot-air gun and gently tugged on the GPU’s cover, which popped right off like an old rusted hubcap. In that instant, he knew that Sony had left a lot of power on the table, and Zac was about to cash in.

Custom Handheld Windows 98 PC Becomes a Pentium You Can Actually Carry

By Jackson Chung November 6, 2025

Back in the late 1990s, people who spent their evenings fiddling with their motherboards and looking for the latest driver updates frequently fantasized about the day when a full-fledged PC could fit in a backpack. Laptops did exist, of course, but they were similar to carrying a little anvil and running hot enough to give you a warm glow, almost like a space heater. The goal was to create something far more portable, light enough to fit into an everyday carry without hesitation. Fast forward to 2025, and that dream has finally come true thanks to modder Changliang Li, who converted a surplus Pentium processor into a handheld system that boots directly into – you guessed it – Windows 98.

Modder Uses Real Microwave to Build What Could be the World’s Strangest Gaming PC

By Bill Smith November 4, 2025

SignalRGB just proved that a real microwave can be transformed into a Battlefield 6 gaming beast capable of running at 120 frames per second – but only if you open the door of your white countertop microwave and discover a 16-inch monitor gazing back at you, framed by the original glass window. Close it up, hit the “Start” button, and watch as the turntable spins the entire motherboard around like a lazy Susan for silicon – you can transform a $40 thrift store microwave into a $2,000 gaming system with a single move.

Toyota Debuts Scion 01 at SEMA 2025, a Rugged Side-by-Side with a Tacoma Heart

By Bill Smith November 4, 2025

The lights of the Las Vegas convention center floor were ablaze as Toyota pulled the covers off a machine nobody saw coming: Scion is back and this time it’s on a four seat off-road beast designed to take a beating in the sand, rocks and stillness of the wilderness. Make way for the Scion 01, a side-by-side that takes the Tacoma heart, wraps it in super tough steel and dares you to leave the pavement behind.

Forget the Tesla Powerwall, this Engineer Used 500 Disposable Vapes to Build His Own Version

By Jackson Chung November 3, 2025

A peaceful workshop in the English countryside has gone off the grid, using the same plastic tubes that end up on every sidewalk – those disposable vapes you see littered all over the place. Chris Doel, a 29-year-old engineer who enjoys getting his hands dirty among the solder fumes and 3D printers, believed the world was throwing away millions of perfectly good batteries simply because. So the guy saved 500 of them, arranged them like soldiers/dolls, and somehow wired them all to a wall, which now powers his kettle, microwave, and editing system.

Joel’s Lap-Top Time Machine Combines the Switch 2 and CRT Screen Into One

By Bill Smith November 2, 2025

Joel Creates spent his childhood staring at Nintendo 64 game displays, believing that the luminous box led to another world completely. Thirty years later, he was able to distill that universe into a handheld gadget that is a true trip back in time: a portable game system with a color CRT screen and a Nintendo Switch 2 that slides straight into the front, much like a tape does into a VCR. The end result is a beast that weighs more than a laptop, lasts approximately an hour on a single charge, and looks like it came directly from the 1996 assembly line (which most likely never existed).

Tiny PS5 Redux Becomes 6-Liter Console That Outcools the Original

By Bill Smith November 2, 2025

Erick from Not From Concentrate spent months shrinking Sony’s PlayStation 5 into a 6-litre aluminum box. He calls it the Tiny PS5 Redux. Builders can now download his guide and build their own. The finished machine sits between two full-size PS5s like a child flanked by parents, yet it plays the same games at lower temperatures.

Handheld Pi Zero 2 W Computer Fits in Your Palm and Runs Code Anywhere

By Jackson Chung November 1, 2025

Photo credit: Stopdesign
Modder Stopdesign needed a way to write code from his couch – or even the bathroom. Laptops just felt too bloated and phones too cramped. So he went ahead and built a clamshell computer the size of a PS5 controller. Flip open the lid and you’re greeted by a 5-inch screen – right below that sits a tiny keyboard that lets you fly across letters and symbols with both hands. Under the hood, a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W is sipping on a battery that’s capable of keeping it running for a whole day of typing – an 8000mAh battery to be exact.