Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

The Ikea Hacker blog, which captures the joy of folks who love to “hack” Ikea furniture and accessories to make their own unique items, has an interesting on involving a simple end table and a PC. It seems the tables owner wanted a PC in their living room to use as a media center but didn’t want anything conspicious or taking up room so he built it into the end table! Here are the specs:

• AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2GHz Socket AM2
• Asus M2NPV-VM, nForce430+GeForce 6150
• TwinMOS DDR2 PC4200 1024MB
• NorthQ 4775-400, ATX 400W Silent
• Xbox 360 Controllers

It’s a cool hack-if you didn’t know it had a computer in you’d never be able to tell.  Very nice job!  Computers have gotten more and more integrated into home entertainment centers.  TiVo is just a very pretty Linux machine; the Xbox 360 and the PS3 really are just computers in console clothing.  The home theater PC still has not made it to the mainstream.  Microsoft has tried with its Media Center, but people generally are wary about hooking up a computer to their television.  Apple has tried to sneak in its Apple TV into your living room and has not had tremendous success, either.

So what will it take for people to accept computers in their living room?  Maybe this Ikea Hacker had the right idea.  Maybe to get a powerful enough machine that can handle a home theater, you have to hide it in something the public will already accept.

Have any hacks of your own to share? Drop us a comment and brag-we’d love to hear about them!

Read[Ikea Hacker]