MacGyver of the Day: Electronics Hacker Jeri Ellsworth

"Hi Lifehackers! MAKE is best known for sharing all the goodness of making things for yourself, learning new skills and many times, voiding warranties... Marcus Chan of the San Francisco Chronicle said we're the "The kind of magazine that would impress MacGyver" - and that's what this week is about. It's a little known fact, but MAKE even has the creator of MacGyver writing at MAKE: Lee D. Zlotoff! Lee is a writer/producer/director among whose numerous credits is creator of MacGyver (you can see his articles here). Let's dive in and meet today's MacGyver - Jeri!

"Jeri was hacking, modding, and running her own computer store in the late 1990s—and more.. Quick, to the Wikipedia!

"Jeri Ellsworth is an American entrepreneur and self-taught computer chip designer. She is best known for, in 2004, creating a Commodore 64 emulator within a joystick, called Commodore 30-in-1 Direct to TV. The "computer in a joystick" could run 30 video games from the early 1980s, and was very popular during the 2004 Christmas season, at peak selling over 70,000 units in a single day via the QVC shopping channel. She is a pinball machine aficionado and owns over 60 full-sized pinball arcade games."

Complete Story

Related Stories:

• GNOME Activity Journal Shows Your Recent Computer Work(Jan 28, 2010)
• Thunderbird 3 Officially Released with New Features, Improved Look(Dec 09, 2009)
• Before and After: The Linux Lover's Lair(Dec 04, 2009)
• Build a Silent, Standalone XBMC Media Center On the Cheap(Nov 05, 2009)
• Weekly Ten: Best Smartphone Browser, CodePlex Cooties, Using Math to Choose a Wife(Sep 17, 2009)
• GNOME-Do Adds Docklets to App Launching Bar(Jul 17, 2009)
• AutoKey Does Customized Text Replacement for Linux(Jul 10, 2009)