I’m not about to open the debate about expensive audio cables. There are definitely two camps when it comes to expensive cables; One run by Monster Cable and the other run by everyone else and these $8450 speaker cables prove which side is right!

These baby’s are made of “Solid PSS Silver” and feature “Dual Star-Quad Geometry”. WTF is that? Ohh, I know, it’s bullshit talk so that people with way too much money can be fooled into buying these. They are currently on sale at Amazon for $6800, maybe you should run out and buy two! Check out the following comment from a satisfied user on Amazon:

If there is one cable I would whole-heartedly trust to my Chimera-hunting needs, this would be the cable. No other cable has the tensile strength to properly and efficiently garrote a lycanthrope, asphyxiate an Esquilax or even gag a mermaid. Last week, using my trusty AudioQuest K2 (retrofitted with lead weights, bright orange latex paint and a generous coating of crushed glass stolen from the window of an abandoned church at midnight), I managed to snuff 3 golden unicorns in swift succession!

Pros: Quickly tears through scales, fur, bone, and adamantium with ease
Coils and uncoils from hip holster (optional) quickly and quietly
For a product fabricated from 1,000 Onyx Dragon fetuses, the price is unbelievably reasonable!

Cons: Shipping from the R’lyeh took far too long
Doesn’t come in 10′ lengths (which would be perfect for hydra, cerberii and other multi-headed creatures)
After every use, I can feel 6 ounces of my soul slipping from my core into the ether. But this may be due to the fact that I prefer to work without gloves. YMMV.

Overall, I would recommend that any hunter buy one, nay, two, of these immediately, and experience the difference that upgrading to the K2 will make in your next quest!

If you want one you can get it here, otherwise, I’ll sell you a version that’s just as good for a mere $4000

$8450 Speaker Cables originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/08/26. 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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You might want to sit down before you read this. Nokia has announced that they will be stopping all support for it’s plagued portable gaming platform, the N-Gage. Yes, I know, you might be saying “Dude, didn’t Nokia stop supporting this thing like years ago?”.

The move really isn’t a huge shock, the platform has been begging to be put out of it’s misery for a few years now. Although Nokia has officially announced that no further games will be published for the unit, it also said that it will continue to sell currently available games in the Ovi Store until September 2010.

Although purchased games will alway continue to work on the unit, any of the connected community features will also cease in 2010.

On a side note, anyone wanna buy a slightly used N-Gage? Cheap.

Nokia Kills The N-Gage – Are You Shocked? originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/31. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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After much pressure from the community, Apple has finally decided to drop the NDA from released iPhone software. According to the company the NDA was an unnecessary obstacle for developers.

To our developers

We have decided to drop the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) for released iPhone software.

We put the NDA in place because the iPhone OS includes many Apple inventions and innovations that we would like to protect, so that others don’t steal our work. It has happened before. While we have filed for hundreds of patents on iPhone technology, the NDA added yet another level of protection. We put it in place as one more way to help protect the iPhone from being ripped off by others.

However, the NDA has created too much of a burden on developers, authors and others interested in helping further the iPhone’s success, so we are dropping it for released software. Developers will receive a new agreement without an NDA covering released software within a week or so. Please note that unreleased software and features will remain under NDA until they are released.

Thanks to everyone who provided us constructive feedback on this matter.

Now I wish they would drop the gag order around iPhone app rejections so that developers can actually talk about it.

Apple Drops NDA originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/10/01. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Syndication

Some of you might have already noticed the new syndication images off to the right sidebar.

Since I have received many emails asking if we have an RSS feed for the site, I thought I might as well layout the fact that we do prominently in the sidebar. For those of you heavy twitter addicts we also have an automatic tweet system that will notify you every time we have a new post on the site. Click on either of them to join the fun.

Comments

It’s hard to build a good community without an active user base, and there is no better way to build an active user base than through commenting. Every month we will be offering “dofollow” links to the sites of the top commentators on our home page. Please don’t just post for the sake of getting listed. This like “first post” or “up” don’t count. Be engaging and we will be rewarding.

Forums

I have been asked by many readers why I don’t setup a forum on the site so people can interact and ask questions about hardware hacking and the such. Forums are great and plentiful but we like to do things differently here at tech.nocr.at. Why not get a BBS going for interaction?

What’s a BBS you ask? Wikipedia defines a BBS as:

A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a computer system running software that allows users to connect and login to the system using a terminal program. Originally BBSes were accessed only over a phone line using a modem, but by the early 1990s some BBSes allowed access via a Telnet or packet radio connection.

BBSes were where the entire hacker scene started in the early 80′s, and many years ago I too ran run (and still run it today). The Diskshop BBS still has some of the great hacker networks that started it all like zeronet and fidonet, plus we have some of them old time great BBS door games like LORD and Tradewars.

To access The Diskshop BBS you will need an ANSI telnet client. SynchTerm is one of the best and it works on Windows, OS X and Linux. Download it and install it. Once you have that done just telnet over to bbs.diskshop.ca and you will be on your way. For those of you who might be afraid to use an old school telnet interface you can always use the http interface at http://bbs.diskshop.ca

Enjoy.

Change Can Be Good originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/09/01. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Yummy Yum!. Nokia has just unveilled the N79 and N85 (pictured above). The N85 has a 2.6″ AMOLDED screen, GPS, 5 megapixel camera, is N-Gage compatable, 8GB of microSDHC storage, WiFi, and a battery that claims to go for 28 hours when listening to some tunes.

The N79 replaces the N78, similarly bumping the cam to the big five em-pees with a dual-LED flash, GPS, 4GB microSDHC storage, WiFi, swappable back covers, and a 24-hour music playback battery life.

These are all good and great but when will we actually see something that will knock off the iPhone?

Nokia N85 originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/08/26. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Do you hate it when someone comes by and asks to borrow your pen only to never have it come back? I have a drawer full of cheap bic pens for that exact reason. I can guarantee that when you lend this pen out it will make it’s way back. Instead of shocking someone of squirting ink like your standard gag pen, these ones are branded with certain businesses that can potentially ruin someone’s reputation if they are caught with them.

If pen’s with names like Stuffed With Love Taxidermy or Howie’s House of Hair don’t ensure that you get you pen back then ask for something as collateral, like their car, or youngest son. It might be excessive but it will leave you with one hell of a bargaining chip.

8 “Borrow My Pen?” pens will run you $6.99 from Perpetual Kid

Pens That Make Their Way Back originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/06/15. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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RIM (you know that tiny company in Canada) announced some highly anticipated features today for their flagship product, the Blackberry. Many of these new features make it easier to work and collaborate with your coworkers.

I’m a heavy blackberry user so I’m excited to see all of these new features. Now if RIM would only make the screen bigger, give me a touch screen, synch with iTunes, and make the unit skinnier i’d be happy. Either that or Apple should just get a Microsoft Exchange connector for the iPhone.

Here’s a quick wrap up of what to expect.

• Download and edit Microsoft Office documents: BlackBerry users have been able to download and view Office documents, thanks to the Documents to Go suite, but soon BlackBerry users will be able to edit these attachments as well.
• Free-busy calendar lookup: This will give you the heads up before you schedule a meeting to see who’s free.
• HTML and Rich Text Email rendering: Rich text emails will now maintain their formatting on the smartphone, including bold, italic, tables, bullets, or whatever formatting your co-workers throw at you.
• Integration with corporate IM and Presence applications: By utilizing Lotus Sametime and Microsoft Live Communications Server, you can use the “click to call” feature to engage with co-workers and IM Session “convert to call” automatically takes an IM conversation and makes it a voice one.

New Exciting Features For The Blackberry originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/01/24. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Since Apple announce earlier this week new Desktop machines, and since I’m due a new Desktop to work on, I figured what the hell lets hit the Apple store online and see what I could build.

They offer so much, so many options, so many toys, so many bells and whistles. I figured let’s load this baby up, I mean let’s really see what type of bang we can get. I was floored when my sub-total hit over $23,000, that’s about the same cost we paid for our Xserve and XRaid unit combined!

I know I was dreaming, but I really did want to see how far I could push the envelope, how much Apple greatness could I get in a single box. So you must be asking, what the hell do you get for $27,000? I’m so glad you asked because here’s the list of all the goodies.

• Two 3.2GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon (8-core)
• 32GB (8 x 4GB)
• Mac Pro RAID Card
• 4 x 300GB 15,000-rpm SAS
• NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 1.5GB (Stereo 3D, two dual-link DVI)
• 2 x Apple Cinema HD Display (30″ flat panel)
• 2 x 16x SuperDrives
• AirPort Extreme card
• Quad Channel 4Gb Fibre Channel PCI Express Card
• Apple USB Modem
• Apple Wireless Mighty Mouse
• Apple Wireless Keyboard
• Mac OS X
• Mac OS X Server (Unlimited-Client)
• iWork ‘08 preinstalled
• Final Cut Express preinstalled
• Aperture 1.5 preinstalled
• Logic Express preinstalled
• Canon PIXMA MX700 Office All-in-One Printer
• AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac Pro

I really don’t think this one is going to get by the wife.

Maxed Out Mac Requires A Mortgage originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/01/12. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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The devices cost about $4 a pop and deliver a tiny charge of current to whoever is holding them. The laser pointer actually functions as well, but don’t expect to play and games or music on the other devices.

Shocking Gadgets originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2007/12/31. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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I should precursor this by saying, this may be my first trip to Defcon, but this is by no means my first hacker con. I have gone to and assisted with ShmooCon two years running. So here is my list of DO’s and DON’Ts for the con you go to:

DO:

1. Bring at least one extra pair of clothes. You never know when you can be pushed into a pool unexpectedly.

2. Bring a laptop. Most people will recommend against it, but if you properly prepare your laptop, you’ll be glad you have one if you need it.

3. PREPARE you laptop.
a. Wipe it
b. Reload it with your choice of OS
c. Choose the SLOW formatting/partitioning options
d. Pick a different user name than you usually use
e. PICK A DIFFERENT PASSWORD THAN YOU USUALLY USE

4. Bring an extra charger or power supply for every electronic you have (USB cables that charge as well, will do)

5. Check out the weather patterns for the area the con is held. Dress accordingly, but remember, hotels have AC and heat.

6. Offer the free space in your hotel room up on boards, you’ll not only meet new people and interesting people. But be wary of thieves.

7. Carry a light bag. If you check to huge bags of luggage, make sure you stuff a small one in the fold, a small back pack will suffice.

8. Leave extra room in your bags. Hacker conferences are to hackers, what Disney Land is to little kids.

9. Bring a disposable camera. Yes it’s crappy quality, but if you loose it, or it’s stolen, meh, no big deal. Loosing a Canon EOS1D because you turned around for a split second sucks, even more so if it is a company camera.

DO NOT: (For each of these I have reitterated the fact that you should not do them. Just in case anyone gets confused)

1. DO NOT run up to “Hacker celebrities” and start acting like they know you. They are not from Hollywood and might not react kindly. Kevin Mitnick is used to it, run up to him all day.

2. DO NOT connect to Wireless of any kind around this cat (Render Man):

3. DO NOT expect to see everything you want to see. It is impossible and there is no right or wrong answer to what you should be doing.

4. DO NOT bring anything back from the conference that could get you stuck in Vegas. Lockpicking kits are one example of such items. Know the laws of where you are traveling from and to. Trust me, it is very hard to explain to whoever is paying for your travel (even if it is just your pocket book) why you have to pay an extra $200 just to adjust your flight because you had a nice little chat with the authorities.

5. DO NOT connect to ANYTHING personal. This means instant messengers of all types, your blog, personal email, your bank account.

6. DO NOT CONNECT TO WORK EMAIL. OWA IS OFF LIMITS

and lastly, DO NOT miss out on the night life. If you’re a geek/hacker, these are your people. And, if you can’t make it to Defcon, here are some other conferences that you can look into:

Black Hat
Interz0ne
Outerz0ne
Notacon
PhreakNIC
ToorCon
ShmooCon
SummerCon
Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE)

One final DO: Do what you want, it’s your money, your time. You should have fun.

Hacker Conference: Before originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2007/08/02. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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