“Cyber Monday.” You probably couldn’t pick a worse name for a day of conspicuous, retailer-defined consumerism, but you’re welcome to try. SanDisk decided to forgo the Black Friday insanity and instead run with three days of Cyber Monday sales, with up to 60% off those boring, ever-necessary flash memory products it’s so well known for — and Sansa players aplenty.

Filed under: Portable Audio, Storage

SanDisk slashes some prices for the weekend, heading into world’s worst-named Monday originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Nov 2008 13:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Update: Our apologies, support for Windizupdate has been discontinued. For a current non-Microsoft Update way to keep your Windows install up to date check out AutoPatcher. Windows only: If you’re not particularly fond of the official Windows Update system provided through Internet Explorer, whether your reason being a distaste for the Windows Genuine Advantage software or the insistence that the next upgrade of Internet Explorer really is a mission critical system update, there is an alternative way to update your system. WindizUpdate is a Firefox plugin which mimics the official Windows Update application. The key advantage of using WindizUpdate is that you have complete control over what gets installed and what doesn’t. The system never forces you to install an update you don’t want and will skip updates that aren’t necessary for your system.

The downloader has error correction and auto resume should you lose your connection to the servers while updating. In my test run of WindizUpdate on a laptop running Windows XP Professional that hadn’t been updated for several months the only issue that came up was the latency between the releases on the official Microsoft server and the WindizUpdate server. If you can tolerate some lag time between the official release of a patch and the push to the WindizUpdate servers then the deal is sealed. For other methods of securing Windows updates without updating using Internet Explorer and Windows Update, check out AutoPatcher to download update bundles and learn how to slipstream updates into your Windows install with nLite.WindizUpdate is a free Firefox plugin, Windows only.

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Admit it. You’ve got an old GameCube from yesteryear laying around, and the slow economy (and fear for your life) is holding you back from running to your nearest brick-and-mortar to pick up a Classic Controller for your Wii. You know you want to play Super Mario 64 to work off that turkey, but you can’t justify laying out the cash. Fret not; YouTube user marcan42 has you covered, courtesy of a PIC18F4520 microcontroller and makeshift GameCube connector, along with a chopped off Nunchuk extension cord. Of course, you could just pick up a different model, but that would be way too easy. We didn’t say it was pretty, but if you’re still intrigued, check the full vid after the break.

Update: As a bunch of commenters have pointed out, this can be done already by plugging the GameCube controller directly into the Wii. However, this mod lets you do it wirelessly — err, if you don’t count the big microcontroller and mess of wires.

Continue reading Man hacks GameCube controller for the Wii with tremendous effort

Filed under: Gaming

Man hacks GameCube controller for the Wii with tremendous effort originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Nov 2008 12:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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