These are good ressources about embbeded systems and computer architectures:
http://www.professorandpat.org ( This one is more oriented for children learning so it's very easy to understand )
They cover hardware hacks in a dizzying array of applications, the hacks are generally very well documented, and their archives go way, way back. One of my old favorites is the robotic sentry gun (http://www.hackaday.com/2005/09/21/robotic-sentry-gun/).
Yeah how stuff works is good, but I would like to have a really product differentiating 'under-the-hood' peak. I want to know the h/w difference between Broadcoms Router and Linksys or something to that effect[just for an example]. But HSW will only tell how generic routers work...