This is one small computer, actually it looks more like a memory card reader than a computer. Don’t be fooled by it’s incredibly small size, this thing is more powerful that my netbook. CompuLab’s TrimSlice packs one hell-of-a punch for such a small unit.

The unit comes in a solid metal case that can take some abuse, doesn’t need a fan to keep it cool and uses only 3 watts of power. CompuLab will be gearing this unit to the HTPC market and hasn’t announced an OS for it yet, but I’m sure the modding community will jump all over this once it’s released. This would be great for a small server connected to your TV running something like XBMC or a MythTV frontend.

No official pricing has been announced yet, but CompuLab is aiming for a sub-tablet price and it should be shipping sometime in April.

[Link to TrimSlice]

Tiny Computer Looks More Like A Card Reader originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/25. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Diffusing light is the key to warm, soft shots. If you do a lot of portrait photography then you know how valuable a softbox can be, but the cost can sometimes be prohibitive. You can add a white card to your flash to diffuse light, buy a diffusing cap for your flash or you can buy a Komplement collapsable fabric box from Ikea for a few bucks and build yourself one kick ass softbox.

Crafty hacker Thomas from Denmark picked up one of these fabric boxes (they come in various sizes, he used the 20cm x 20cm one), cut a hole in the side for his flash and using a flash cord had himself a cheap softbox.

He added some support to the cut-outs to hold his flash in place and as you can see from the pictures it collapses down nicely for stoarge.

This DIY camera softbox and the DIY FlashRing are a perfect addition to your photography toolkit.

DIY: Camera Flash Softbox originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/10. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Apple just can’t seem to get the Alarm Clock app right on the iPhone; earlier this year people experienced problems shortly after the DST time change. Alarms that were set to repeat went off either an hour early or an hour late depending on where you lived and now in 2011 it doesn’t want to go at all.

Reports are rolling in about one time alarms not going off now that we are in 2011. This could possibly cause chaos for those of us who rely on the device to get our ass up. Independent tests show that the problem should clear up by January 3rd 2011.

Even if the problem clears up after the 3rd it leads to the trust one can put in the app. If you rely on the alarm on a regular basis this might make you worry that it could fail again in the future. After all, the alarm clock screws up twice in one year? Come on guys, you can put a computer in my pocket but you can’t get the freaking clock to work properly?

iPhone Alarm Doesn’t Like 2011 originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/01. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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The latest beta of the awesome XBMC (Windows, OS X, Linux, AppleTV) code-named Dharma has been released and is packed with wonderful new features. Probably the most notable one is built in functionality to make sure that all your plugins and skins are updated automatically and the ability to play back BlueRay movies.

The list is way to long to list, so head on over to their milestone page to find a complete breakdown of everything that has been added or updated.

[Via XBMC Blog]

New XBMC Beta Released originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/09/01. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Microsoft slaves rejoice, you can now migrate your entire company’s database of contact, emails and calendars from Microsoft Exchange to Google Apps. The tool, which is a small download from Google, works with both Exchange 2003 and 2007.

You do need to be a Google Apps Premier or Education Edition customer, but other than that it’s free and easy to use.

Microsoft’s set of web apps are just around the corner, I wonder if Google rushed this out the door in order to start putting a dent in the Microsoft corporate armour.

Exchange To Google Apps originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/03/19. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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This might be nothing more than smoke and mirrors but the Sleep Cycle alarm clock claims to analyze your sleep patterns and chooses the best time to wake you up. You place your iPhone face down on your maters and the app analyzes your tossing and turning and figures out you sleep cycle.

I haven’t tried it yet, but for 99 cents I have already downloaded it and am ready to see if it will work tonight. I’ll keep you posted.

Alarm Clock App Knows When To Wake You originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/03/18. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Let’s face it, terestrial radio is all but dead. Who wants to wade through all the commercials and limited avalability of the FM or AM dial? I listen to internet radio all the time, when at work at my desk and even on my iPhone when in my car and this little baby while now complete my internet radio experience.

The Grace Allegro Wi-Fi internet radio can run for about 8 hours on six AA batteries and streams over 16,000 radio stations from the likes of Pandora, Sirius and Live365. Is has built in 802.11b/g/n support and even has an iPhone remote control app so you can change stations without walking up to the unit.

You also get MP3/WMA/Real Audio/WAV/AAC/AIFF codec support, alarm functions, built-in speaker, 4-line display, standard remote control.

The unit will cost you $170 and is available right now from Grace Digital Audio

Allegro Portable Internet Radio originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/02/25. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Another week another bunch of stuff that we posted. In case you missed any of it we have everything from Videogame Alarm Clocks to Secret Knock Door Openers. Enjoy.

In Case You Missed It: Week 44 Round Up originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/11/09. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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With the massive amount of multi-function “smart” phones out there people tend to loose the focus of what cell phones actually are; phones.

My mother couldn’t care less if her phone plays mp3′s or if it’s got a twitter client. All she wants is a phone and a super easy one to boot. As she starts to approach her twilight years (still love you mom), this generic brand mobile phone with oversize butons with a screen that can be read from across the room might just be perfect for her.

The oginal idea was to design a phone for seniors who aren’t very tech savvy, but you can also use it if all you want is a really simple cell phone.

The 6380 Senior Mobile Phone does actually carry a few handy features, including a flashlight, a massive “SOS” button on the back the can auto dial a pre-set number and emit a loud warning tone (if you think pocket dialing people is bad, just imagine this in your pocket), a phone book, SMS messaging, a calendar, alarm clock and an FM radio. The display is kept to a bare minimum with a massive font and, ready for this, a whopping 128×60 screen resolution.

The 6380 only works in the 900/1800 GSM bands, so it will work everywhere except for North America (sorry mom). If it’ll work on your home network, expect to pay $74.99 for one.

[Link to 6380 Seniors Mobile]

A Cell Phone For Grama originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/11/06. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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I have seen my share of of really weird USB devices, but a set of breast warming pads that work off of USB? Just imagine plugging in your bra to your laptop as you are working at your desk.

I’m not sure how much good this will do you while your out and about, where keeping your boobies warm might be what you want, but then again you can always have a battery pack or solar panel on the back of your jacket to power it.

[Link to USB Breast Warmer]

USB Boobie Warmers originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/11/05. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Every hardcore gammer should alway emerge him or herself with gaming at all times. Games on your phone, games on your PDA, games on your computer, games on your tv and even gaming to wake you up. The guys over at the TechEBlog have put together a pretty cool collection of “Alarm Clocks Made From Video Game Consoles”.

My personal favorite is the Xbox 360 with built in space for your kleenex. I sure hope whoever made that one picked up a dead system to build it with. If not, that can easily be classified as the most expensive alarm clock anyone person should own.

If you know of any other cool things made from video game consoles, let us know in the comments or in the tech.nocr.at forums

[Link to Alarm Clocks Made From Video Game Consoles]

Videogame Alarm Clocks originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/11/03. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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In case you missed anything last week; we have everything from Metallica on your iPhone right through to a $1200 Mouse. Enjoy

In Case You Missed It: Week 43 Round Up originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/11/01. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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The most awesome guys over at the XBMC project have posted a teaser showing how far along the have come on the ARM port of their media player (Check the video after the break). You can clearly see the package boot up and even play back HD video. There looks like there is still some tweaking to be done on image rendering, but it looks like it’s almost there.

The hardware they used is a Beagleboard which runs a 600 MHz ARM processor, puts out HD via a DVI port, has OpenGL acceleration and best of all, sells for about $150. You can easily connect the 3″ x 3″ (wow, that’s insanely small for an HD media device) to a network by using a USB WiFi dongle.

The port is still a ways away from being stable, but from all of the work they have been doing there shouldn’t be too much more of a wait.

[Link to XBMC on ARM]

XBMC on ARM originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/31. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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The snooze button on my alarm clock has to be the most worn out button by far. I admit it, I am an alarm clock abuser. I tend to beat the crap out of the time telling device every time that annoying buzzer goes off. Now if I had me Mr. Wake which was designed by Vadim Ryazanov of Let’s Make Robots, I would actually have to get my ass out of bed to silence it.

Mr. Wake’s job is to protect the snooze button from abusers like me. By using a homebrew IR sensor to detect anything near it, the robot takes off if you try to even get close to it. Plus, what can be cooler than having a robot that not only wakes your ass up, but has it’s frame made out of heat formed pens. Awesome. Check out the video after the break of it in action.

Mr. Wake – The Uncatchable Alarm Clock originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/30. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Car alarm company Viper (which is owned by Directed Electronics) is unveiling a new app for iPhone users that will let customers control certain aspects of their Viper SmartStart-enabled vehicle from their iPhone or iPod Touch.

The app, which is called Viper SmartStart, acts as a virtual keychain which can do things like lock/unlock your car, open then trunk, enable the alarm or start your car. The app uses the iPhone’s data connection which allows you to control your car from anywhere you have a 3G or EDGE connection.

The only problem I have with this app is what do you do when your somewhere that doesn’t give you 3G or EDGE service like an underground garage? If you can deal with that then you can pick up the app for free. As for the SmartStart module for your car, well that’s gonna run you $499 for a new install or $299 for users who already have a Viper alarm system installed. You will also have to pay for a subscription to Viper’s SmartStart service.

Sounds like too costly for nothing more than a glorified key fob. I’ll keep the little box on my keychain and save the loads of cash.

Unlock Your Car With Your iPhone originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/13. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Following Linux Distros That Don’t Suck from earlier this year here is a comprehensive list of, you guessed it, more Linux Distros that don’t suck. Some of these are more obscure lesser known distros that are quite powerful and very useful. Some of these come from personal use some of them came from the great comments you readers posted the first time I did this.

Remember that this is just a personal list, nothing more, nothing less. I’m not trying to start a holy war since that’s what usually happens when you open something like this up. With that being said, let’s us know in the forums what your list of Linux Distros That Don’t Suck would be.

SLAMPP – A Slackware based Live DVD that can only be described as a one-stop server system. Right off the DVD your up and running with pre-configured services including an HTTP server, FTP server, DHCP server, DNS server and a whole lot more. This is the perfect Distro for those “I really don’t know when I will need a fully functional small network server” times. Best of all, you can run it all without ever having to install anything on the host machine.

Pardus – Pardus, which is the scientific name for the the Anatolian Leopard (watch out Apple), is a Turkish Linux distro which is extremely underrated. It’s wonderfully crafted and has a lot of polish to it. You can tell that the developers have really put a lot of time and energy making this not only run really well but also make it really sexy. I would easily recommend this distro to novices and experts alike.

CrunchBang – Think of CrunchBang as Ubuntu for the advanced. It offers speed and style as well at the bleeding edge of packages. It’s highly customizable and comes with the nimble openbox window manager. No bloated Gnome or KDE here. This is the perfect distro if you really like Ubuntu but don’t like how it’s geared towards linux n00bs.

Sabayon – Sabayon promises to transform your computer into a powerful Gentoo Linux system in under 5 minutes. It’s a livecd (with the option to install) of the uber geek popular Gentoo. It’s very powerful and very polished like you would expect from any Gentoo system, but best of all it still acts like an other Gentoo system allowing you to use portage to pull from the Gentoo repositories.

PC-BSD – Alright, I know it’s technically not Linux, it’s BSD based, but it tries really really hard to be Linux. If you are more of a BSD fan but like the Desktop functionality that a standard linux distro offers then PC-BSD is perfect for you. Much like any out of the box distro you can listen to music, watch some video, work with office documents and you can even install applications with a gui. Best of all, it’s a rock solid BSD core that powers everything.

CentOS – Based on the rock solid RHEL, CentOS is one of the most reliable distros you will every find. It offers quick errata, package management that offers stable applications and has a very strong community behind it. They even get upstream fixes from RHEL. If you want a solid server based OS you can’t do much better than CentOS.

Slackware – The oldest of the bunch. Created in 1992, Slackware is the oldest surviving distro. It orginally came on 24 floppy disks as was built on top of kernel 0.99 and it was one of the hardest things to install. Thank God that things have changed. It’s now a highly technical and clean distro. No fancy tools for settings, you have to do everything by editing text files. You know what they say, if you learn Ubuntu you know Ubuntu. If you learn Slackware you know Linux.

There you go, another list of distros that don’t suck (according to me). You millage may vary. I really don’t want to start a holy war so I open it up to you to add to the list by visiting our forums and letting us know what you like.

More Linux Distros That Don’t Suck originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/06. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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At first glance you might think that this is a small set of steel drums or maybe just two tin cans stuck together but in reality these metal cylinders will impress you with with the sound they put out.

Each cylinder has midrange drivers mounted at each end with a ribbon tweeter mounted between the cylinders that reflects off of the aluminum surface for omnidirectional output. The two units are mounted on an arm that resembles a desk lamp with a third cylinder on the floor which acts as a subwoofer.

Production for the unit starts in a few months and all the speakers including the arm will be sold as a kit. With a massive $4000 price tag this unit better impress.

RAAL Coffee Can Sound originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/04. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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The world’s most popular Linux Distro just got a bit older. Ubuntu 9.10 code named Karmic Koala is quickly reaching it’s maturity date of October 29th when a full stable release will go out.

If you have never used Linux Ubuntu is one of the easiest distro’s to use. It’s quick and easy to install plus it’s probably the most Windows like experience you will get if your coming from a machine running a Microsoft OS. If you are a Linux n00b then you might want to wait till it comes out of beta before you dive in.

Link to Ubuntu 9.10 beta

Ubuntu 9.10 Beta originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/04. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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We have all heard of the fiasco Amazon caused when they took it upon themselves to reach into peoples Kindle and delete books. Well it has finally come around to bite them in the ass. When Amazon decided to wipe purchased copies of 1984 from peoples devices they also took a kids homework with them.

What did this kid do about it? Naturally what anyone who has grown up in the age of the internets, sue Amazon. Although Amazon has decided to settle out of court it ended up paying out $150,000 to make this go away, by far the most expensive homework assignment ever.

That’s not all. To top it all off and to really seal this deal as a win for the little guy, Amazon will not be allowed to do anything similar again. Here’s what the statement says:

Amazon will not remotely delete or modify such Works from Devices purchased and being used in the United States unless (a) the user consents to such deletion or modification; (b) the user requests a refund for the Work or otherwise fails to pay for the Work (e.g., if a credit or debit card issuer declines to remit payment); (c) a judicial or regulatory order requires such deletion or modification; or (d) deletion or modification is reasonably necessary to protect the consumer or the operation of a Device or network through which the Device communicates (e.g., to remove harmful code embedded within a copy of a Work downloaded to a Device).

Good on them. This should teach some of the other massive companies out there that they can’t just do what they want when they want.

$150,000 In Amazon Fiasco originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/03. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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At the time of this post, further details were yet to be announced, but it appears official, Viacom and MTV Networks (owners of “Rock Band”) have licensed Beatle songs for their Rock Band game.

This is a pretty big deal, since even major players like iTunes don’t even have Beatle songs yet. In fact, no subscription/download service has landed the Beatles yet, so this is a first. I’d say this is just another sign that gaming is becoming a big deal.

Rock Band and Guitar Hero are currently battling it out in your living room and on your entertainment consoles, so this could help cement Rock Band as the winner, we’ll just have to wait and see.

As mentioned, I’ll have more details later today on as many of the specifics as I can (i.e. what songs, if they will be downloadable, or a stand-alone disc, etc.) At that time there should be official press releases from both MTV and the Beatles record label.

UPDATE: As promised, here are some more details on the Beatles Rock Band deal.

First and foremost (and maybe obvious), this project has the full blessing of, and input from, surviving members Ringo Star and Paul McCartney, as well as from Yoko Ono (on behalf of John Lennon) and Olivia Harrison (on behalf of George Harrison). Hopefully that means great vibes/design all around for when you’re playing Beatles music on your plastic instruments in front of your TV.

Also, the Beatles music will be in a stand-alone game (not via downloadable content, at least not for now) and most likely won’t be in your hands until sometime late 2009 (i.e. just in time the holiday season, surprised?)

The official press release states “the game will be an unprecedented, experiential progression through and celebration of the music and artistry of The Beatles”.

So, it appears the game will span the entire Beatles legacy, taking select songs from start to finish. As a bit of a side note, it looks like the music created by the members of the Beatles when they went into their solo careers will not be in the game, so no “Imagine” for us… At least not this time around. For those keeping score, the Beatles disbanded in 1970… Wow, nearly 40 years ago.

With all the hype, and legacy, that is the Beatles, I really hope Harmonix makes something at least borderline bleeding edge, because just slapping a coat of paint that is the Beatles onto a game design that is a few years old won’t do this project justice. We’ll all just have to wait to see how it turns out.

UPDATE – Beatles Make It Into Rock Band originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/10/31. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

© tech.nocr.at 2008 | Permalink | Comments | Read more in Gaming | Explore more in: ac, arm, band, beatles, bra, car, cart, console, design, ds, ea, game, Gaming, guitar, guitar hero, id, ir, iso, itunes, loa, make, music, nes, network, os, pda, press, ring, rip, rock, rock band, rockband, service, time, ui, update, wow | Add to del.icio.us | Stumble it | Reddit

If you own an Xbox 360, PS3, or decent PC, and can appreciate top notch audio/visual production values in your video games (along with some solid gameplay and storyline), then you owe it to yourself to check out “Dead Space”, Electronic Arts’ new survival horror game.

Dead Space is getting scores in the mid to high 80′s on Metacritic, which doesn’t really tell the whole story, as EA has created one of the most stunning visual and audio experiences you’ll have in a video game this year.

BTW, for those that aren’t familiar with metacritic.com, it’s a site that mashes published scores of games, movies, music, etc. from mostly
well-known and respected sources into one overall “meta” score. When I worked at Electronic Arts, the metacritic score of a game was used as a measuring stick internally within the studio, so you can be rest assured that metacritic is highly regarded within the industry as an objective way of scoring a game, if you believe that’s possible.

Anyway, more to the point of this posting, in an interview with Variety, Dead Space executive producer Glenn Schofield mentioned how
EA is working on a Dead Space sequel (not all that surprising), and that the intellectual property (IP) that is “Dead Space” is getting shopped around for more comics, movies, and probably anything else EA can put its stamp on. This mandate isn’t only reserved for Dead
Space, of course, as Army of Two is another IP that is getting shopped around for other mediums and is likely getting a game sequel as well.

http://weblogs.variety.com/the_cut_scene/2008/10/army-of-two-seq.html

Why I find this interesting is that, as we move forward day by day, year by year, the gaming industry just keeps getting bigger, and our
entertainment is starting to truly spread into all kinds of mediums, from movies, to comics, to just about anything.

We’ve seen music move into games with Rock Band and Guitar Hero, we’re seeing game IP’s move into comics and movies, though the movies have been mostly disappointing so far (but anyone interested in a Gears Of War movie, no doubt it will arrive someday).

We’re on the cusp of what will soon be, if not already, a melting pot of all mediums, and Electronic Arts is poised to be a major player
(they are already the biggest software entertainment company in the world, if you don’t include those that also manufacture the hardware… Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo.

As the current generation of consoles create experiences and stories that rival that of TV/movies, we’ll see who becomes king of the hill
when it comes to consumer’s choices and consumer dollars (my bet is on the gaming industry).

More Dead Space, More Of Everything originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/10/28. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Are you a fan of the uber geeky and cool show MythBusters? If so then here is your chance to send them some of your ideas. Adam and Jamie are using YouTube (as in the video above) to reach out to their fans and ask for ideas for the show. You can reply to the video above or in the MythBusters forum. I think we should get them to test the myth that WiFi access point cause harm. Alright, so it’s not a myth, but it would shut a co-worker up who drives me nuts on a daily basis about how back WiFi network are for your brain.

Send Your Idea To The MythBusters originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/09/30. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Looks like the EFiX USB dongle that is suppose to relive all of the hackintosh headaches isn’t living up to expectations. The EFiX is designed to let you install and run OS X unmodified on x86 hardware, not any hardware, but the hardware that EFiX claims is compatible. You should even be able to run OS X updates without fear of breaking your system.

The product has been delayed several times, but now seems to be shipping in select European countries (no luck in North America just yet). The hackintosh community is up in arms since they claim that the device uses technology that has been developed by the community. Let’s not even go into the legal issue of this either.

There have been some reports in the InsanelyMac forums of users with both success and failure (both on unsupported hardware), but I’m sure as these things ship more and more people will be piping in with their results. If the device works as it claims, it could be a cool way to building a fast and cheap dual boot system without the limitations of Apple hardware.

OS X Mod-Chip EFi-X Spotted In The Wild originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/09/12. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Meet the Peek, a $100 device that will deliver you your email anywhere you can get cell coverage for $20/month. Think of it as a poorman’s Blackberry. This looks like the perfect device to pick up for some fun hacking projects.

• OS – Peekux
• CPU – CPU is an embedded 104Mhz ARM7 that is part of the Texas Instrument Locosto chipset
• Bands – US Triband GPRS (800, 1800, and 1900 Mhz)
• Data – GPRS (Packet Data standard in GSM)
• Memory – 8MB of user memory
• Display – 2.5 inches (320 x 240 pixels (QVGA), 65k colors)
• Dimensions – 4.0 x 2.7 x 0.4 in (102 x 68 x 10mm)
• Weight – 3.8 ounces (109 gm)
• Battery Life – 4-5 days under typical usage

I hope they decide to roll out this device in Canada. I’d love to get my hands on one and make it do something it’s not supposed to do.

Meet The Peek originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/09/12. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Every night I fall asleep listening to my iPod, and every morning I wake up with it dead as a door nail. This cleaver hack actually came to me via my wife. She said “You put USB ports in everything else, why not the alarm clock”. So I did. As you can see from an old episode of The Lab With Leo some time ago I demonstrated exactly how you go about adding some powered USB ports to your alarm clock to keep everything from your cell phone to iPod fully charged.

Here’s what your gonna need.

• Alarm Clock with an internal power supply of 9–12V DC
• PCB Mounted USB Port
• +5V Fixed Voltage Regulator (7805)
• Multimeter

First thing you want to do is open up your alarm clock and make sure that the internal power supply is giving out 9–12V DC using your multimeter.

Once we have satisfied those requirements, your going to want to find a suitable location to house the usb port, something that will not interfere with the internal componets of the alarm clock once you put it back together

With the USB port mounted you are going to want to wire the USB port and the 7805 as per the instructions that come with the voltage regulator. Make sure to leave enough slack with regards to wiring if you ever need to open the alarm clock back up again.

Voila, power to your usb device via your alarm clock.

DIY: Add USB Ports To Your Alarm Clock originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/09/08. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

© tech.nocr.at 2008 | Permalink | 2 Comments | Read more in Hacking And Security | Explore more in: 7805, ac, alarm, alarm clock, arm, cat, cell phone, clock, dead, diy, door, ds, ea, fix, hack, hacking, house, id, ipod, ir, iso, lab with leo, lock, make, open, os, pc, pcb, pen, phone, power, ring, tag, time, tor, ui, usb, volta, wire | Add to del.icio.us | Stumble it | Reddit

$300 million dollars and two guys who are retired and this is what you get? If Microsoft is really serious about taking on Apple’s switch ads then they are going to have to do better than this. I’ve watched this ad 10 times now looking for a message and all that I have been able to take from it is that computer might become warm and chewy. With ads like this it’s no wonder that Apple is still kicking their behinds in the marketing department.

First Microsoft Seinfeld Ad originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/09/05. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Just the other day we talked about building your own Water Gun Alarm Clock today we bring you the opposite, sort of. The Gun O’Clock allows people to shoot their alarm clock with a special gun when the alarm goes off. The contraption comes with two modes.

The first mode is the “Time Mode”. In this mode the alarm goes off like any old alarm clock except it has an extremely annoying beeping sound, raises a shooting target, and mocks you with a voice message that says “Come On”. The taunting and beeping will continue until you pick up the special infrared gun and shoot the target.

The second mode is the “Attack Mode” and my personal favorite. In this mode you must shoot the target in a given amount of time and you must try to hit the bulls-eye. If you succeed the alarm clock will praise you. Just like having your own carnival game in your bedroom.

The unit is only available in Japan and sells for about $34.

Gun O’Clock originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/09/03. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Having trouble waking up in the morning? If you are anything like me then anything short of an earthquake just doesn’t cut it. I know that shooting yourself with a water gun to wake you up might not be the smartest of ideas, but then again you could always keep some soap near the bed and shower at the same time.

To build your very own Water Gun Alarm Clock you will need the following …

• battery operated alarm clock
• motorized water gun
• some 16 gauge wire
• wire strippers
• voltage relay switch
• breadboard circuit
• soldering gun

You could really clean this design up if you have some soldering skills by soldering the wires right to the relay switch, but you have to have some nimble hands to make sure you don’t short anything out.

How To: Make A Water Gun Alarm Clock originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/08/31. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

© tech.nocr.at 2008 | Permalink | 2 Comments | Read more in Hacking And Security | Explore more in: ac, alarm, alarm clock, arm, avi, battery, circuit, clock, design, ds, ea, follow, gun, hack, hacking, id, ir, irc, lock, make, motorized, rc, ring, rip, switch, tag, time, tor, ui, volta, water, water gun, wire | Add to del.icio.us | Stumble it | Reddit

*WARNING – This can do serious harm to someone, it gives out 450 volts and can cause serious pain

Wanna jolt your friends? Why not build the worlds smallest shocker. A 15 year old hacker has posted a step-by-step on how to do just that on Instructables.

This project does require some soldering skills so be forewarned, but it’s a great way to give someone a jolt when they need a wake-up call. Just imagine wiring this up to shock someone who wanted to rummage through your desk, I bet they would think twice about ever doing that again.

[Link to building the worlds smallest shocker]

Build The World’s Smallest Shocker originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/08/28. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Billix is a multi-boot Linux based distribution that is more-or-less a swiss army knife for system administrators.

You copy Billix onto a CDROM or USB stick and voila, a multitude of bootable/installable Linux distributions. You boot your CDROM or USB key and Billix boots to a boot menu that allows you to book or install the following distros:

• Damn Small Linux
• Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn)
• Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft)
• Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Dapper Drake)
• Debian 4.0
• Debian 3.1
• Centos 5
• Centos 4.4
• memtest
• DBAN

You can download a copy of Billix from their project page.

Billix – Linux Swiss Army Knife originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/08/27. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Archos is getting ready to release their next series of PMP devices, and this time they are coming packaged with some 3G love. The new lineup will include an ARM Cortex processor, and 3G/3.5 HSDPA connectivity.

The units look slick too, but where this series of PMP’s rocks is in it’s storage; the majority of the units will start with a 160 GB of storage and go up from there. It’s more than likely not going to a SSD packed in there so you might want to be careful with it and not throw it around.

Since there are no official specs released yet we a speculating, but in the past the Archos line of PMP’s have supported a massive range of codecs; FLAC, OGG, xVid, and DivX to name a few. They have also been pretty platform agnostic, so you can run the unit on Windows, OSX, or Linux.

Expect to see these babies hitting store shelves over the next few months.

Sleek New Archos PMP originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/08/21. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

© tech.nocr.at 2008 | Permalink | Comments | Read more in Gadgets | Explore more in: 3g, ac, archos, arm, car, codec, ea, id, ir, linux, os, pmp, proc, rc, rock, time, tor, wind, windows | Add to del.icio.us | Stumble it | Reddit

The HP 20b comes with an Atmel 30MHz, low-poer AT91SAM7L128 ARM7 System on chip processor and has a bootloader and JTAG interface to allow user applications to be written and downloaded.

As of the time of writing I haven’t seen any examples yet of the HP 20b being re-purposed, but there is an HP-20b Repurposing Project wiki already up and running that includes specs of the calculators hardware, what tools you will need to tinker with the unit and a handful of downloadable software demos.

Maybe someone could turn this into a Twiiter client.

Dev Kit For Your HP 20b Calculator originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/08/18. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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It’s time for another Mac bundle deal, this time MacBundleBox is offering 15 Mac apps for $49.95. That’s an 85% discount overall. The apps included in the package are:

• Headline – A full-featured RSS/ATOM feed reader with an ultra-minimal UI.
• Mac Pilot 3 – A system optimization and customization utility.
• iConquer – A game not unlike Risk.
• Mahjong Forests – A traditional mahjong game.
• Shoebox Express – A solution for organizing all your photos by content.
• Caboodle – A way to collect random snippets of text or images on your machine.
• Narrator – A program that will read out stories in multiple voices.
• WriteRoom – A distraction-free word-processor, and possibly the most popular app in the bundle.
• Scribbles – A simple drawing utility.
• Money – An accounting app.
• Operation – A simple project management application.
• Aurora – An iTunes-integrated alarm clock.
• Compositor – A CoreGraphics-based image editor.
• Sofa Control – Allows you to control your applications remotely, using an Apple Remote.

You can head on over to their website to pickup the package if anything tickles your fancy.

MacBundleBox: 15 Apps, $50 originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/08/15. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

© tech.nocr.at 2008 | Permalink | Comments | Read more in Mac | Explore more in: ac, alarm, alarm clock, apple, apps, arm, atom, bundle, cat, clock, control, ea, game, graphics, images, ir, itunes, lock, Mac, mac apps, macbundlebox, machine, mini, nes, os, photo, pickup, press, proc, remote, ring, rss, text, time, tor, ui, writer, writeroom | Add to del.icio.us | Stumble it | Reddit

A low-tech solution to a hi-tech problem, I love it. Japanese accessory maker Thanks has come up with a physical padlock for anything with a USB end on it. Sticks, connector cables, mice, you name it, if it has a usb end on it, the it can be protected.

Other than making access to the USB device difficult, it really doesn’t offer much else on security, but for $7 what do you expect. People who live outside of Japan will have to hope that they put it up for sale on their English online shop.

When it does, you can enter “rarmono5″ as a coupon code and get an additional 5% off.

Thanko’s USB Padlock originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/08/07. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

© tech.nocr.at 2008 | Permalink | Comments | Read more in Gadgets | Explore more in: ac, accessory, arm, cable, connector, ea, ical, id, ir, japan, live, lock, make, nes, online, padlock, security, thanko, tor, usb | Add to del.icio.us | Stumble it | Reddit

Alright, WTF, $1000 for an iPhone app? It must make you money right? Maybe get you laid? I know, it will bring you fame and fortune, that’s got to be it.

Nope, none of the above. It simply puts a rotating red gem on the screen, nothing more. The app, called I Am Rich, was developed by Armin Heinrich. I wonder if anyone has actually purchased it, then again, rich people will spend money on anything. Apple seems to have pulled it off the app store already, but one question comes to mind, how the hell did it make it there in the first place?

I Am Rich iPhone App Costs $1000 originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/08/06. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

© tech.nocr.at 2008 | Permalink | One Comment | Read more in Mac | Explore more in: ac, app store, apple, arm, ea, id, iphone, iphone 3g, ipod touch, ir, led, Mac, make, os, pen, phone, rc, rich, ring, stupid, tor | Add to del.icio.us | Stumble it | Reddit

Who really needs to see the cars behind them anyway? Thanks to this alarming new trend in China, rear view mirrors will soon display TV or GPS maps instead of the constant need for checking behind you for that car that just might slam you from behind.

Models range from a basic LCD monitor to an advanced touch screen with Bluetooth integration (for dialing your “hands-free” phone of course). While some models do offer integration with backup camera so you can actually see what’s behind you, and most act as a basic mirror when turned off, why the heck I ask do you want one of these in your car unless you plan on having it turned off while your driving?

The real scary thing is that these aren’t just some one off item. Check out CnBuyNet and you’ll find an entire page of these things raging in price from $50 to $100. Long go the days of people using the rear view mirror to apply make-up, now you have to deal with them watching Survivor too.

Rear View Mirror TV originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/08/03. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

© tech.nocr.at 2008 | Permalink | 2 Comments | Read more in Gadgets | Explore more in: ac, alarm, arm, avi, backup, bluetooth, camera, car, display, ds, ea, gps, ir, lcd, make, mirror, mod, monitor, os, phone, stupid, tor, touch, watch | Add to del.icio.us | Stumble it | Reddit

Most guitarists will tell you that nothing sounds better that a tube based amplifier. The warm tones that a tube amp gives you has yet to be properly emulated with modern day mosfet amps. Gmoon over on Instructables wrote a 22-step how-to on constructing your very own sweet sounding tube based amplifier.

Be warned, this project isn’t for the faint of heart, but if you stick with it you can build an amp that will play those warm sweet tones that you just won’t get with todays modern amps.

Link to Guitar Tube Amp via Instructables

Build Your Own Tube Amplifier originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/06/30. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Joren has slapped together a great DIY article for all of you aspiring directors on building your very own low cost jib arm.

“I don’t know if the proper name is jib arm, boom, or crane. Like everything else in the world, there are at least three names for this. The basis for this design is a four-link system so no matter what the angle of the actual arm is at, the camera “basket,” as I call it, is always parallel with the ground. However, I designed a way to tilt the camera up and down, so you can get bird’s eye shots that change to be low angle shots, etc. Basically, I tried to anticipate any need I might have of a jib arm and make it as versatile as possible.”

Link to making your own jib

How To Make A Jib originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/02/02. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

© tech.nocr.at 2008 | Permalink | Comments | Read more in Hacking And Security | Explore more in: ac, arm, bird, boom, camera, crane, design, diy, ea, filmmakers, hack, hacking, ical, ir, jib, make, os, ring, tor, ui | Add to del.icio.us | Stumble it | Reddit

Authorities found $23,758 USD jammed inside of four game consoles that belonged to a man suspected of running an illegal PSP memory card and chipping outfit. Videogamer is reporting that during the bust at the man’s home in London England, cops started taking apart consoles with the hopes of finding illegal mod chips; to their surprise the found bags of cash where the hard drive should have been.

All monies were found in an original Xbox and 2 PS2s. No next-get consoles were harmed during the raid.

Modchipper Hides Cash In Gutted Colsoles originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/01/31. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

© tech.nocr.at 2008 | Permalink | Comments | Read more in Tech News | Explore more in: arm, bus, car, cash, console, drive, game, gamer, hard drive, id, ir, memory card, mod, modchip, ps2, psp, raid, ring, video, xbox | Add to del.icio.us | Stumble it | Reddit

Fear not fellow geeks your pick-up tool is here. The Pick Up Line Generator has 40 of the worlds most effective pick-up lines for you to either get slapped or love. You’ll be surprised how many women laugh at pick-up lines which is a great ice-breaker for a real conversation (I mean the weather, current events, etc., not some hardcore geek chat). A little Charisma and a sense of humour goes a long way. Mind you, so does a shower and deodorant.

All you have to do is hit the bathroom and consult with your little device then walk up to every woman and give it a whirl. It’s a lot better than asking them if they prefer KDE over Gnome. What’s the worst thing that can happen?

It’s only $20 so what’s the harm?

Pick-Up Line Generator originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/01/25. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Are you up for something evil? You know, something that isn’t harmful but can easily drive someone right up a wall. The Wrong Number Generator is an absolutely perfect way to do just that.

You plug one end of this unit into your victims phone and the other end into their jack and the unit will intercept any numbers that are dialed and replace them with other digits. It will get annoying quick for the unsuspecting victim, but to throw them off the unit will let the correct number go through 1 out of 4 times, making them think that it was all in their head.

This amount of fun will cost you dearly, $89 to be exact.

Wrong Number Generator – Brilliant originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/01/24. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Most mornings I have to keep myself from throwing my alarm clock half way across the room when the buzzer goes off. My luck is that i’m still half ass asleep and can’t actually grasp it to throw it, so what makes me think I will be able to pick up a handheld laser gun and aim it at a bullseye?

If your actually interested in this then you can pick it up here but I forewarn you guys now, if you think you’re going to impress any female you might one day bring into your bedroom with this thing, you’re dead wrong.

[Via Gizmodo]

Laser Target Alarm Clock originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/01/18. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Many a days I sit around the office popping people with rubber bands. You know, just like you did as a kid. Wrap the rubber band around your index finger and thumb and let it launch. Imagine launching 40 of them a second. Composed of 479 pieces, the Disintegrator shoots 40 rubber bands per second and as far as 22 feet. 24 revolving barrels hold up to 288 standard #36 sized rubber bands.

You can table mount it like a turret or shoot off the hip. As the video below shows, you really don’t want to be caught in the cross fire when this bad boy is fired. You will only get about 7 minutes of fire-power from a 5 hour charge, but I’m sure that will be more than enough time to get your point across.

I wonder what the kind people at the TSA would say if you walked into an airport with it? It only shoots rubber bands, and it’s velocity is well below the limit for a firearm.

The gun isn’t for sale, it’s a hack-together project that took over 2 months to pull off. However, the creator has the constructions details on his site

Link

Disintegrator Shoots 40 Rubber Bands Per Second originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/01/17. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

© tech.nocr.at 2008 | Permalink | 6 Comments | Read more in Gadgets | Explore more in: ac, air, arm, band, cross, ds, ea, elocity, evo, finger, fire, gun, hack, id, ir, mit, nda, office, os, power, rubber band, time, tor, video | Add to del.icio.us | Stumble it | Reddit

The uber-ly popular MacHeist is back, and you only have 12 days left. For those of you who don’t know what MacHeist is, it’s a way to purcahse a bunch of apps together at one low price.

Based on the number of packages that are purchased more applications are unlocked for your loving. For example once they hit 5,000 bundles sold they will unlock CSSEdit. As for Snapz Pro and Pixelmator we will only know the number of bundles require after the 5,000 for CSSEdit has been hit.

Confused yet? I was, but if you stroll on over to macheist.com you’ll get a better flavour for how all of this works. It has been greatly successful in the past and you get some awesome software for $49. At the time of this release here are the packages that are already available.

• 1password – Password Manager
• Coversutra – iTunes Controller
• Cha-Ching – Money Management
• iStop Motion – Stop Motion Video
• Awaken – Alarm Clock for your Mac
• Speed Download+ – Download Manager
• AppZapper – App Uninstaller
• TaskPaper – Task Management
• CSSEdit (5,000 buys) – CSS Editor
• Snapz Pro (Locked) – Screen Capture
• Pixelmator (Locked) – Image Editor

If you haven’t jumped on this great bundle of software then do it now. I want my Pixelmator.

MacHeist – 12 Days Left originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/01/11. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

© tech.nocr.at 2008 | Permalink | Comments | Read more in Mac | Explore more in: ac, alarm, alarm clock, amp, apps, arm, bundle, cat, clock, control, controller, ea, id, ir, itunes, loa, lock, Mac, macheist, nes, number, os, pixelmator, rc, speed, time, tor, ui, unlock, video, zap | Add to del.icio.us | Stumble it | Reddit

Some crafty hackers have successfully gotten Google’s java based Android software stack to run on actual hardware. The first hardware platform to run the Android stack seems to have been the Atmark-Techno’s Armadillo-500, which is a development board based on Freescales’ i.MX31L mobile applications processor.

Next, getting Anroid running on my ASUS EEEPC. How cool would that be.

Android Hacked To Run On Actual Hardware originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/01/10. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

© tech.nocr.at 2008 | Permalink | Comments | Read more in Hacking And Security | Explore more in: ac, android, arm, asus, asus eeepc, cat, eeepc, google, hack, hacked, hackers, hacking, id, ir, java, mobile, pc, proc, scale | Add to del.icio.us | Stumble it | Reddit

This isn’t exactly what I’d call a very productive gadget, but it sure can be some fun. The USB Missile Launcher has a 5 meter range and an armament of three missiles so you’re going to have to take careful aim when pointing it at your co-workers. The really cool part of it all is that it functions with MSN, allowing you to take aim at people. The MSN functionality works thanks to a webcam retrofitted onto the unit.

If you want to be hated (or loved) around the office these units start shipping later this month and will run you $49, while an additional set of missiles should hit you for about $3.

USB Missle Launcher originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/01/05. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Don’t you just love that warm feeling of a toilet seat after it’s been used by someone else? No, me either, it’s actually a tad weird. Enter the Thermochromatic Toilet Seat that will change colour when someone sits on it. The colour changes depending on how warm or how long someone sits on it. If your creeped out like I am to that warm toilet feeling then you can wait till the colour goes back to normal before you sit your business end on it, unless of course you just have to go.

Toilet Seat That Warns Of Use originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/01/04. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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I knew that the case to my old G5 was more than just a cheese grater. This super cool hack turns your old G5 desktop into a digital clock, an alarm clock no-less. No drilling is needed (hence the comment above about it being more than just a cheese grater) and if you live in crammed space you can toss your old alarm clock out the window.

Link to How-To

G5 Clock Hack originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/01/04. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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• iTunes Movie Rentals? (Frank)
• iPhone: User racks a $4,800 bill (Frank)
• How To: Add RAW support to low end Canon camera (Frank)
• Mouse Danger in Vista (Frank)
• Hacking an Alarm Clock (Frank)
• Un-Portable Nintendo DS (Frank)
• Urine Powered Batteries (Frank)
• DS gets VOIP (Frank)
• iPhone firmware 1.1.1 may break soft unlocks (Frank)

Best of the week – Sept 10 – 16 originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2007/09/16. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Do I ever have the hack for you (Video at the end). This little quick hack will let you boost the range of your remote control. If works so well that I can now use my remote as a lightsaber and slice cheese, okay maybe not cheese, but I can aim my remote at the TV with clear line of sight and change the channel from across the house! Awesome.

Hack your remote control originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2007/08/15. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Here’s something that I’m sure will catch on like lightning, at least is should somewhere in the world. Charms for your earphones, what a brilliant idea, why didn’t I think of that. The first one’s to hit the market are Hello Kitty ones, no necessarily my first choice, but then again someone somewhere will eventually buy them.

iPod earphone charms originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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It’s all fun and games until someone breaks an arm. Game developer Atlus has decided to recall all if it 150 “Arm Spirit” arm wrestling simulators from arcades in Japan. Despite only being in arcades for the past month, the video game has already broken 3 arms. “The machine isn’t that strong, much less so than a muscular man.” said Ayano Sakiyama, Spokeswoman for Atlus “Even women should be able to beat it.”

In the game players lock down in arm wrestling matches against the likes of a french maid, a drunken martial arts master, and even a professional wrestler. Now that’s what I call one bad ass video game. Me wants one.

Kicking Ass and Breaking Arms originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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