tech.nocr.at » hp

DIY: Snail Mail Notifier

Frank — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 18:17:44 +0000

How did we ever live without push notifications? Email, SMS, IM; we get notified each time one of them is updated. What about our old analog world? Make Magazine show’s us just how we can get push notifications for an older form of mail, snail mail.

This awesome project uses an Arduino to trigger a prowl notification. The project can be adapted for any use like a garage door or door bell. A little electronic know-how is needed and if you want the prowl notifications to work you will need a PHP server. You can do away with the need for a server if you opt to have it send you an email or direct twitter message instead.

[Via Make Magazine]

DIY: Snail Mail Notifier originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/03. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Pedal Powered Snow Plow

Frank — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 18:08:26 +0000

Don’t have a snowblower? Need some exercise? The pedal powered snow plow might just be what the doctor ordered. Custom built by Craig, this three wheel bike with a wooden plow is perfect for scraping up that light covering of snow.

The custom 3-wheel bike with sidecar was made years ago, a replica of a bike my childhood friend had. Last winter I added a snow plow accessory. Up to 1 inch of snow doesn’t make it worthwhile to fire up my big 8HP snowthrower. And shoveling my 90′ long driveway by hand can be too much. So my bike plow makes it easy to make a few runs up and down the driveway to make 2 or 3 piles that can then be easily hand shoveled off to the side. A lever pulls up or lets down the plow with a rope and pulley. Pulling the lever all the way back cantilevers the rope and pivot point so it locks in place. The plow blade is hinged with a bungee cord, so hitting a discrepancy in the road allows the blade to flop and give like a real plow. The bike can turn on a dime so raising the plow and returning up the adjacent path is quick and easy. I can do ‘reverse’ by pushing down on the front wheel with my foot to roll it backwards.Totally useless with larger snow falls, but the light ones make snow removal fun. (yes, my neighbors do think I’m odd)

A wonderful way to get the job done without pumping exhaust from a snow blower into the environment.

Pedal Powered Snow Plow originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/12/31. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Windows 7: Will You Upgrade?

Frank — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:02:59 +0000

With Windows 7 officially released, will you be getting up early to purchase your copy?

It has been a long time coming (I really don’t count Vista as a usable operating system), a stable a somewhat decent OS from Microsoft. Let’s be honest, the form and function of the new OS from the boys at Redmond is no big secret. Reviews and betas of Windows 7 have been around since January of this year, hell, I’ve been running it on my HP laptop for the past few months, but the question is will the general public bite? Will they head out in mass to grab their copies and upgrade their systems?

Let’s take a quick look at your options. If you purchase a new machine instead of upgrading your current computer you’ll get away with a free copy, that’s your best bet. If you decide to not go down that route you’ll be dishing out on the high end, $319 for the Ultimate edition and not that much more less for any of the other usable versions of Windows 7. I think they have completely missed the boat again. With Apple selling a single complete version of Snow Leopard for $29 how can anyone justify paying over $300 for an operating system?

It’s not a big secret that I’m not a big fan of Microsoft, but I will give them credit. Windows 7 has a lot of the look and feel of Vista with the stability of a 2000 or XP. They tried to bring their UI into the 21st century with Vista and it failed miserably. It ran sluggish and had it’s issues, but this time I think they have a winner. Welcome back to the game Microsoft, you can now join the usability ranks of OS X, Gnome and KDE.

What will you do? You gonna run out and pick up your copy of Windows 7 today? Let us know in the comments.

Windows 7: Will You Upgrade? originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/22. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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WoW Now 11 Million Strong (and still growing)…

Ryan Yewell — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 05:10:20 +0000

For all you under-rock-dwellers out there, a brief explanation of the phenomenon that is World Of Warcraft. It’s made by Blizzard. It’s a massively multiplayer online role-playing game. It’s been parodied on SouthPark. It’s a big deal, if for nothing else than the cash-cow it’s created for Activision Blizzard.

Well, World Of Warcraft has now surpassed 11 millions subscribers. Doing the math, if you don’t even count the initial purchase price of the game, and just look at the monthly subscription revenue, a WoW subscriber spends between $13 and $15 dollars a month depending if they are month-to-month or pre-paid.

So that means, in subscriptions alone, Activision Blizzard is making anywhere from $143 million to $165 million EACH MONTH. Nice…

Even nicer… In a conference call with industry analysts back in September, Blizzard revealed that, since the launch of Wow in 2004, the TOTAL money spent on everything from servers, to catering, to staff, has been $200 million (which is what they make in revenue every month and a half.)

So yeah, Blizzard has been in the black, like nobody else’s business, for quite some time. You can clearly see why other companies have tried to dip into that market with upstart MMORPG’s like Warhammer Online, Conan Hyborian Adventures, Hellgate London (to be terminated in January 2009), and even EA/Bioware’s upcoming Star Wars The Old Republic.

And BTW, the latest expansion pack for WoW, Wrath Of The Lich King, is out November 13th, just in time for the holiday season. That’ll mean another $40 bucks a pop for any of the existing 11 million subscribers, plus the additional subscriptions it will bring.

Personally, I’d like to know what the forecast from Blizzard’s number-crunchers is, regarding what percentage of existing subscribers they suspect will buy the Lich King expansion this holiday season. Even if you did an extremely conservative estimate of 1 in 10 existing WoW’ers picking up Lich King, that puts another cool $44 million into the coffers. Wow. Big numbers indeed.

WoW Now 11 Million Strong (and still growing)… originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/10/30. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

MSI Wind Modded Into A MacBook Mini

Frank — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 03:18:23 +0000

Adding OS X to his MSI Wind wasn’t enough so he took it one step further and added the ever so familiar glowing Apple logo to the back of the screen. A dremel, six white LEDs, some tape and aluminum foil was all this crafty hacker needed to mod this into a MacBook Mini.

Maybe Apple should take some pointers and actually give us an OS X UMPC. Either that or someone should just get it working on an HP 2133 so that I can use that instead of my big and bulky MacBook Pro.

[Via Gadget Lab]

MSI Wind Modded Into A MacBook Mini originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/10/03. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Dell Inspiron Mini 9 Running OS X

Frank — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 02:50:23 +0000

The UMPCs are become hot little machines to turn into hackintoshes. The latest victim is the Dell Inspiron Mini 9. Loaded with a slipstreamed version of OSX (in a similar manner as the MSI Wind). To top it all off, the ethernet, wireless, and sound work.

If you have a Mini 9 and want to get OS X running on it then UneasySilence has everything you need.

I just wish some crafty hacker could come up with a kernel that would run on the HP Mini Note. I have been banging my head for months trying to get OS X on it.

Dell Inspiron Mini 9 Running OS X originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/10/02. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

OS X On A MSI Wind

Frank — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 05:31:54 +0000

Seems that install Linux on computers is so yesterday. Now everyone wants to put OS X on their machine (I still run Linux on my MacBook Pro, go figure). The latest computer to fall into the hackintosh realm is the MSI Wind. A crafty hacker on this forum has laid out everything you need to do in order to get OS X running on your Wind.

I wish someone would get OS X running on my Hp 2133 mini-note. No luck as of yet with it.

OS X On A MSI Wind originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/09/20. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

New Commodore Laptop, Yes I Said Commodore

Frank — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 17:56:18 +0000

With Asus having such great success with their UMPC the eeePC, why not have everyone jump into the game? Commodore (the machine that brings me such great memories of my hacking youth) seems to be jumping into the small laptop market. This tiny laptop was spotted at IFA. Not much is known yet about the machine, but I so want one. I’d put a C64 emulator on it and run around playing Summer Games or better yet, run my old Color64 BBS on it.

I think I just want to be spotted walking around with a laptop that bares the Commodore logo on it. Imagine the geek-cred you’d build with this in your backpack.

UPDATE

We have had some of the specs of the unit sent to us. They include:

10-inch screen
1.6GHz VIA C7-M processor
80GB hard drive
1GB of ram
built-in WiFi
optional Bluetooth

The specs are very similar to HP’s mininote and around the same price point of $600

[Via Crunchgear]

New Commodore Laptop, Yes I Said Commodore originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/09/01. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Skype With Style

Frank — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:45:26 +0000

Using VOIP has become quite easy, so much so that my mother has dropped her landline and gone strictly VOIP. Now more and more people are adopting VOIP, microphones and headsets are a way of the past. Take the Tatung VOIP handset, it features bluetooth, WIFI and has a touchpad design.

It’s currently only a prototype, but if this hits mass production I can see it becoming one hot item.

Skype With Style originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/08/28. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Opentape

Frank — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:08:21 +0000

I had never heard of Muxtape until it was shut down by RIAA. Thanks RIAA for brining such an awesome service to my attention and thanks for moving the open source project Opentape to the forefront so we can continue to enjoy this fantastic product.

Opentape isn’t affiliated with Muxtape, but it’s similar in functionality and best of all it’s open source and can be run by anyone who has a server that’s running PHP5.

Lifehacker has a great detailed step-by-step on installing Opentape on your own server so you too can go old school and build your very own mix tapes.

[Link to detailed Opentape step-by-step]

Opentape originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/08/27. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

TV-B-Gone Goes Pro

Frank — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:37:08 +0000

Makers of the uber-geek popular TV-B-Gone (which is a keychain device that allows you to turn off all TV’s in the immediate area with a single button) have beefed up their units and are now offering an extra-strength version of their gizmo which can turn off almost any TV set from hundreds of feet away.

Nestled inside of a case that’s made to look like an iPhone, the TV-B-Gone SHP (Super High Power) will shut off about 90% of all TV’s worldwide with the push of a button. The unit features 8 ultra-powerful infrared emitters that are sure to knock out any TV within hundreds of feet. Image all of the fun you could have inside of BestBuy with this unit. Check out the video of the unit causing some havoc.

TV-B-Gone Goes Pro originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/08/19. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Dev Kit For Your HP 20b Calculator

Frank — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:58:33 +0000

Yes, you heard me, a dev kit for a calculator. I’m sure that only financial nerd have the HP 20b calculator in their arsenal of financial tools, but until know all you could do with it was, uhmm, calculate. Now that HP has released a dev kit that the say is “designed for developers who want to re-purpose the HP 20b and reuse the platform for other purposes.”

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.

How To Speed Up WordPress With Nginx And WP Super Cache

Frank — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 03:43:16 +0000

Edit: Fixes suggested in the comments have been applied to this howto

We recently moved tech.nocr.at over to a bunch of VPSs in order to achieve some decent load balancing and speed. Even though SliceHost isn’t a sponsor, I’d like to give them a quick plug. SliceHost is easily the greatest VPS provider bar none. You pick the Distro you want, you tweak it, you set it up, all ports are available, you do as you wish. If you setup multiple VPS with them you can even have private IP’s between them in order to load balance or cluster. Prices start as low as $20/month. If you use them, click this link so that I can get some referral love. Now on to the article..

WordPress can be a blessing and a pain at the same time. It’s great for displaying dynamic content yet it’s displaying that exact dynamic content that can put a massive stress load on your system. WordPress’s query routines aren’t exactly the best. Let’s not even go into how much of a hog Apache can be, but for running dynamic content and prettying up your url’s, mod_rewrite can’t be beat. By using WP Super Cache to help reduce the load on your SQL queries and by placing Nginx in front of Apache as a reverse proxy, you’d be amazed and how quickly your site will load and respond, even enough to withstand a digg of slashdot effect.

Here’s what you are going to need.

This how-to system assumes that you have your Webserver running under a debian style distro like Ubuntu, but It can easily be modified for other distros like Fedora or CentOS.

Assuming that you already have WordPress running under Apache the first thing we are going to do is install the Wp-Super-Cache plugin and active it under your plugin folder of your WordPress installation. Pay close attention to the installation steps in the included readme.txt file, you have to follow each step properly in order to ensure proper caching.

Wp-Super-Cache creates static html files of your pages lessening the load on your SQL queries. Once you have it running and working let’s move on to our next step, reconfiguring Apache.

Apache can be a resource hog, especially when it has to span multiple child processes in order to serve up content. We are going to have to do some tweaking to apache’s conf file so that it will work behind Nginx.

Open up your /etc/apache2/ports.conf file

sudo nano /etc/apache2/ports.conf

We need to change Apache from port 80 to 8080 as Nginx will be server content to the real world via port 80.

Listen 8080

Next we are going to turn KeepAlives off on Apache since Nginx will be dealing with all of the actual browser connections. This will ensure that all of the child processes in Apache die quickly and don’t hang around chewing up memory

Find the KeepAlive entry in your /etc/apache2/apache2.conf file and set it to off

KeepAlive Off

Now that we have made the needed changes in apache we need to restart it so that they take effect.

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Next we are going to install Nginx which is a powerful and extremely lightweight http server that is perfect for reverse proxying or load balancing to backend servers like Apache.

sudo apt-get update | sudo apt-get install nginx

Once nginx is installed we are going to need to modify it’s config file located at /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

sudo nano /etc/nginx/nginx.conf

Your conf file should look like this.

user www-data;
worker_processes  2;
 
error_log  /var/log/nginx/error.log;
pid        /var/run/nginx.pid;
 
events {
	worker_connections  1024;
}
 
http {
	include       /etc/nginx/mime.types;
	default_type  application/octet-stream;
	access_log  /var/log/nginx/access.log;
	sendfile        on;
	tcp_nopush     on;
	keepalive_timeout  3;
	tcp_nodelay        on;
	gzip  on;
	include /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/*;
}

Now we need to move on to the actual site config file for our Nginx setup

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default

Your file should look something like this (replace domain.com of course)

server {
        listen   80;
        server_name  domain.com www.domain.com;
        error_log   /var/log/nginx/domain.com.error.log;
        access_log  /var/log/nginx/domain.com.access.log;
 
# Main location (path to you blog, relative to your domain root)
        location / {
            proxy_pass         http://127.0.0.1:8080/;
            proxy_redirect     off;
 
            proxy_set_header   Host             $http_host;
            proxy_set_header   X-Real-IP        $remote_addr;
            proxy_set_header   X-Forwarded-For  $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
 
            client_max_body_size       10m;
            client_body_buffer_size    128k;
 
            proxy_connect_timeout      90;
            proxy_send_timeout         90;
            proxy_read_timeout         90;
 
            proxy_buffer_size          4k;
            proxy_buffers              4 32k;
            proxy_busy_buffers_size    64k;
            proxy_temp_file_write_size 64k;
        }
 
    # Static files location
        location ~* ^.+\.(htm|html|jpg|jpeg|gif|png|ico|css|zip|tgz|gz|rar|bz2|doc|xls|exe|pdf|ppt|txt|tar|mid|midi|wav|bmp|rtf|js)$ {
            root   /;
        }
	# if the requested file exists, return it immediately
	if (-f $request_filename) {
	break;
	}
 
	set $supercache_file '';
	set $supercache_uri $request_uri;
 
	if ($request_method = POST) {
	set $supercache_uri '';
	}
 
	# Using pretty permalinks, so bypass the cache for any query string
	if ($query_string) {
	set $supercache_uri '';
	}
 
	if ($http_cookie ~* "comment_author_|wordpress|wp-postpass_" ) {
	set $supercache_uri '';
	}
 
	# if we haven't bypassed the cache, specify our supercache file
	if ($supercache_uri ~ ^(.+)$) {
	set $supercache_file /wp-content/cache/supercache/$http_host/$1index.html;
	}
 
	# only rewrite to the supercache file if it actually exists
	if (-f $document_root$supercache_file) {
	rewrite ^(.*)$ $supercache_file break;
	}
}

The above (especially the if statements) help Ngnix pass the static html files that are created by WP Super Cache directly to the users thus freeing up Apache to do nothing more than handle the dynamic requests.

Now it’s time to restart Ngnix and get the whole ball of wax working

/etc/init.d/nginx restart

What we have essentially done is taken the load of serving static files like images, css, and js files off of apache and passed it on to Ngnix which runs a lot faster and leaner than apache for serving static content. All requests for any dynamic content like php still gets passed on to apache. Clean and simple.

In closing let me mention that this is just what works for me, i’m sure that there might be a better way to use WP Super Cache and Ngnix to speed up WordPress, but what you see above has really helped with the load on both of the tech.nocr.at front-end web servers.

How To Speed Up WordPress With Nginx And WP Super Cache originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/08/11. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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11 WordPress Plugins For Professional Bloggers

Frank — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 04:35:13 +0000

In a world filled with enough plugins to make your head spin, it can be quite frustrating looking for that right plugin to do that job your after. Most bloggers have spent countless hours sifting through google or wordpress.org looking for a plugin to do something they are after but just can’t come up with the name that they need.

Everyone can probably name their favorite plugin. The trick is to name the plugins that are worth installing, ones that can actually add something useful to your blog. Remember, plugins tend to slow down wordpress blogs, so it’s a good to keep an eye on performance and only activate what you actually need.

Once we switched tech.nocr.at over to wordpress some time ago we too spent countless days tweaking and installing plugins, looking for the right combination to do the job. So here I present to you, the list of must have plugins for any pro-blogger. All of them are installed and activated right here.

The List

Of course, these plugins don’t make your blog an instant success, but they do add some important and needed feature to a blog. Concentrate on content if you want to attract readers and let the plugins do their jobs and help you along the way.

Must Haves

The following plugins should be install on any blog no matter what type of content you have or how popular your blog is. No exceptions.

Akismet
This one is a no brainer, I mean, who the hell wants spam on their site?
WP-Super-Cache
Once one of your posts hits the front page of Digg or you become popular on StumbleUpon you are going to be thankful of this puppy. This plugin stores a static file of each page in html, which is easier to show than dynamic content. It lowers the processing of PHP and the database hits that can kill you.
All in One SEO Pack
Want to have your site indexed properly on search engines? Let this puppy take all of the hard work off of your hands.

SEO & analytics

Google Analytics for WordPress
Probably the worlds most used analytics package. Install this one and you will be greeted with more stats than you can handle.
WP-UserOnline
Does exactly what it says, tells your how many people are on your site right now. Even gives you referring URL’s and spiders too.
Google XML-Sitemap Generator
Search engines just love sitemaps, especially google. This plugin will create a XML-Sitemap for you automatically and keep it up-to-date.

RSS Plugin

Feedburner Feedsmith
Feedburner is probably the industry standard for rolling out your feeds. This plugin will ensure that any link on your site to your RSS feed is redirected to your feedburner account.

Comment Plugins

Move Comments
This plugin in will give you the ability to move comments from one post to another. Keeps your commenters on track.
CAPTCHA
Just incase Akisment didn’t get em, this one will help you out.

Miscellaneous Plugins

Related Posts
Shows a number (set by you) of posts that relate to this post a users is one. This is a great plugin for giving people a choice of similar content on your site and having them dig deeper.
Maintenance Mode
If you ever need to tweak or upgrade your system, this plugin will allow your to show a static HTML page telling people that you are down for some upgrade and tweak love. The best part is if log in, you can still access your site to test those tweaks and upgrades.

Well there it is, this list of wordpress plugins that are must haves. There is always room for improvement though. If you have a must have plugin in that we should know about then let us know.

11 WordPress Plugins For Professional Bloggers originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/08/02. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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HP iPaq 900 Set To Ship

Frank — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:56:50 +0000

The HP iPAQ 900 will ship starting on Jun 30th. The long over due “Blackberry Looking” unit will be powered by Windows Mobile 6.1, have a tri-band UMTS/HSDPA and quad-band GSM/EDGE radios. In addition, GPS navigation, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and a 3 megapixel camera.

This unit sure looks like a Blackberry, but will it function like a Blackberry. Probably not.

HP iPaq 900 Set To Ship originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/06/11. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Sub $100 Blu-Ray Drives By Xmas

Frank — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 13:18:48 +0000

Looks like we all might just have Blu-Ray drives in our PC’s come Christmas. Sony and HP have jointly said that by this coming holiday season Blu-Ray drives for desktops should be under $100. Laptop models should be about $150 OEM. This is the perfect marketing strategy for ensuring universal adoption of the Blu-Ray standard.

Remember, this units are readers only, you will be also to burn DVD’s and CD’s with these units but not Blu-Ray discs. Imagine being able to take your HD movies with you when you travel, brilliant.

This sure beats the $500 I had to dish out some 15 years ago to get a first generation CD burner.

Sub $100 Blu-Ray Drives By Xmas originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/06/07. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Printer Pranks

Frank — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 14:03:53 +0000

Office pranks, probably the single reason everyone goes to work (okay, so itâ€™s probably a close second to a pay cheque). Most office pranks can become quite competitive, co-workers always trying to outdo the other, etc.

I have created my fair share of pranks over the years, but this one takes the cake. HP printer LCD hacks. I warn you now, this is for the serious hardcore since it involves a lot of coding and isn’t a point and click solution, but you will get hour of entertainment.

What would be your favorite saying? Turn me on, look out behind you, or as the picture states, feed me a cat. Let us know in the comments.

Link to HP LCD hacking

Printer Pranks originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/02/11. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Business Card That Calls For You

Frank — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 02:30:49 +0000

Tom Ward who designs electronics for a living wanted to create a lasting impression on people who he meets so why not create a business card that dials his number for you?

To use the card you simply hold the corner, which contains a small speaker over the phone’s mouthpiece. The card then emits a series of DTMF audio tones to dial the number for you.

Although a single card might not be that cheap you can get you costs down to about $2 a card if you produce them in large batches. At $2 a card you might not hand your card out to each person you meet, but if you want a lasting impression then it would make quite an impact.

Tom posted a very detailed step by step of this process over on Instructables. I wonder what they would say at airport security when you passed your card through the X-Ray.

Business Card That Calls For You originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/01/07. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

About

Frank — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 05:13:28 +0000

tech.nocr.at, founded on July 1, 2007, is a weblog dedicated to bringing you an unbiased clear cut view on all things related to technology. In addition, we bring you reviews of the hottest gadgets and gizmos. tech.nocr.at is edited by Frank Linhares and is currently seeking contributing editors. If your interested drop us a line with some sample work to jobs@tech.nocr.at

Frank Linhares (Founder, Managing Editor)

Frank Linhares, born and raised in the big smoke, Toronto, Ontario. ever since his younger years running around with a 300 baud modem he has always been at the bleeding edge of technology. be it the original newsgroups back in the day to bbs message networks. from good old school vax and unix hacking via war dialing, to being a 2600′er he’s been there doing what he can to advance the cause.

In 2005 Frank started the techPhile podcast and the simple reboot podcast. Since then he has moved on to co-host and produce a video show all about technology, Digital Underground.tv. Its a monthly tech based show covering news, view, and reviews in the world of tech. Frank has had the pleasure of interviewing many of the movers and shakers in the tech-world; Leo Laporte, Kevin Rose, Amber Macarthur, John C Dvorak, and Andy Walker just to name a few.

Frank has made guest appearances of the following programs talking about technology, new media and hacking: command-N, hak.5, This Week in Media, This Week in Tech, Lab Rats, and the Computer America radio show. Frank was also the regular hardware hacker on the Call for Help and Lab with Leo television shows which aired on TechTV in Canada and the US and on the How-To network in Australia.

Ethics

The tech.nocr.at editorial staff is bound by the following code of ethics:

Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error. Deliberate distortion is never permissible.

Diligently seek out subjects of news stories to give them the opportunity to respond to allegations of wrongdoing.

Always question source motives before promising anonymity. Clarify conditions attached to any promise made in exchange for information. Keep promises.

Make certain that headlines, news teases and promotional material, photos, video, audio, graphics, sound bites and quotations do not misrepresent.

Never plagiarize.

Give voice to the voiceless; official and unofficial sources of information can be equally valid.

Distinguish between advocacy and news reporting. Analysis and commentary should be labeled and not misrepresent fact or context.

Distinguish news from advertising and shun hybrids that blur the lines between the two.

Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.

Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.

Disclose unavoidable conflicts.

Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence news coverage.

Be open and honest about product reviews.

Be wary of sources offering information for favors or money; avoid bidding for news.

Admit mistakes and correct them promptly.

Abide by the same high standards to which they hold others.

About originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2007/12/24. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Duracell Mobile Charger

Frank — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 14:50:55 +0000

It was only a matter of time for battery companies to get in on the business of charging you gadgets on the go. With that said Duracell has launched it’s Mobile Charger for charging any devise that is powered by USB.

Link: iLounge

Link: Duracell Press Release

Duracell Mobile Charger originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2007/10/04. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Cut your Electricity Bill in HALF

Frank — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 09:55:43 +0000

Disclaimer: Like the video states, this is illegal is some states and countries.

Electric Meter Hack! How To Cut Your Electricity Bill In Half! – The best video clips are right here

Cut your Electricity Bill in HALF originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2007/10/04. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

SecURLs: Daily dose of security

Frank — Unknown, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

There are tons of places to get RSS feeds and security information, including right here, but this site includes RSS feeds from security blogs around the world, and the latest security podcasts all wrapped up in a nice splashpage-like package.http://www.securls.com

SecURLs: Daily dose of security originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2007/09/19. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Top 10 Windows Errors

Frank — Unknown, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I love it when Windows errors pop up when you least expect them. They guys over at Newlaunches.com have compiled a Top 10 list of the Biggest Windows Errors. If any of you have snaps of any Windows errors at the most inappropriate places drop us a line.

Top 10 Biggest Windows Errors Via Newlaunches.com

Top 10 Windows Errors originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2007/09/15. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

iPod Touch Factory Menu

Frank — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 18:48:49 +0000

A new iPod touch owner stumbles across a test/factory Menu which shows a bunch of status icons, most intriguing of all of them is the Bluetooth icon. Could the unit have the capability for bluetooth? Only time will tell as these units start to hit store shelves.

[via Gizmodo]

iPod Touch Factory Menu originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2007/09/14. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Hack your remote control

Frank — Unknown, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Have you even been sitting on your couch and had to stretch your arm out until your tendons creaked? Ever lean forward in your armchair and fallen off because you were trying to get your remote control to work? Ever have to arm the remote at the TV and wave it around like an aerosol paint can?

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.

Skype on your iPhone

Frank — Unknown, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Shape Services has announced its IM+ Skype service for the iPhone. The service is actually web based in order to get around the lack of third-party application support, but otherwise works just like a regular client. You can chat, as well as do Skype to Skype calls, and you can even call regular phones if you have a SkypeOut account.

There is a catch, though. Unlike PC based calls, you’ll need to pay even if calling another Skype user: IM+ places the free VoIP call as usual, but then calls you back on your iPhone at SkypeOut rates. Still, if you are making calls abroad, it’ll be a lot cheaper, and the service is free while in beta testing.

Skype on your iPhone originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2007/08/14. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Great Laptop battery hack

Frank — Unknown, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The one thing I love about the web is the amazing things you stumble across and the many things you learn. I stumbled across this laptop battery hack when I was trying to figure out what to do about the dead battery on my old Toshiba laptop that my wife and kids use from time to time. Forget about forging over $100+ to get a replacement battery, this little video will show you hoe to do it for less that half of that. Not only will you look good by saving money, but it will make you a hero for doing it yourself.

Great Laptop battery hack originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2007/08/12. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Star Wars Characters Now Hassle You From the Dashboard of Your Car

Frank — Unknown, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

In addition to all those saints and Jesuses you have on your dashboard protecting you from god-knows-what, now you can add Yoda, Darth Vader and C-3PO, blurting out an assortment of thirtyStar Wars sayings with every bump and jostle. Take the jump for a video showing these characters nagging the driver, along with a further description of each one of these new sacred figurines.

At 5 inches tall, Yoda is the shortest of the three, and he utters 11 various phrases from theStar Wars movies. The annoying C-3PO is 6 inches tall and talks the most, of course, blurting out 14 inane phrases at the most inopportune times. Darth is 6 inches, and he says just eight things, probably reminding you that he’s your father and so forth. Each is $9.99. [Think Geek]

[Gizmodo]

Star Wars Characters Now Hassle You From the Dashboard of Your Car originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2007/08/01. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Rumours: Zune 2

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Gizmodo’s got shots up of the new Zune 2 and Zune Flash players. Not to sure if these shots are real or not, but the above image shows an 80GB version and 4GB and 8GB flash models. If these indeed are real, has Microsoft not learned it’s lesson with the original Zune? The iPod killer Not!

[Via Gizmodo]

Rumours: Zune 2 originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Cassette Mp3 Player: Smart, Very Smart

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

You can easily walk into any electronics store in the Western world and pickup a cassette tape adaptor to connect your mp3 player to your car stereo (why do you still have a cassette player in your car?). But this gadget wins the award for ingenuity. Not only will this gadget let you play your MP3s through your old school cassette player, but the cassette is the MP3 player.

Chinavision’s MP3 Cassette Player is a self-contained digital audio media player that just happens to slip inside of your tape deck for easy playback through your car stereo. It’s not very feature packed might I warn you, only plays MP3s and has no on-board storage (you’ll have to add your own memory card through the players SD/MMC slot), but at least you can easily just slide it in to your car’s cassette player. Ahhhh, mix-tapes all over again.

Cassette Mp3 Player: Smart, Very Smart originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Windows home server pricing leaked

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Amazon.com today listed two HP MediaSmart Windows Home Server systems on their site.

The two models being offered are, the HP EX470 and EX475, both have a 64-bit 1.8GHz AMD Sempron and have 4 slide-out drive bays that use standard SATA drives; the EX745 come preloaded with two 500GB drives already installed. Systems will run about $596 and $745 respectively. Both systems will come preinstalled with the Windows Home Sever operating system.

Network analysts have always believe that the home networking market is too complex for many consumers, the hope here is that these products will take some of the difficulty out of setting up a home network.

If making home networking easy is the goal here then why would they install a Microsoft based product? Why not install something simple that work and is free like FreeNAS?

Windows home server pricing leaked originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

A basic server for under $100

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

If your looking for a second computer to run some basic tasks around the house like a small web server or a file server and don’t want to hack your way into a Slug box then look no further than this compact system from Data Evolution Corporation.

The decTOP computer system comes with 128MB of RAM, a 10GB hard drive (both of which are upgradeable), and is powered by a 333MHz AMD processor. If your looking for a rendering machine or cluster node this isn’t for you but it’s more than powerful enough to run a firewall appliance or a file server for the home. It’s got built in VGA, Ethernet, USB, and even has audio.

This bad boy comes without an OS on it but this simple tutorial shows you how to slap Ubuntu on it. Best of all, you can pick this puppy up for $99

[Via Lifehacker]

A basic server for under $100 originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Altoids Robot

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

I’m still on my Altoids kick. I must have purchased 100′s of Altoids tins this past year and probably have 30 or 40 ziplock freezer bags full of Altoids mints (It’s such a shame to toss them out.

Here’s a great little project to do using an Altoids tin. An Altoids robot that will avoid obstacles on the ground. If you were ever thinking about getting into robotics then this is a perfect little starter project. You can put this puppy together in less than an hour and only spend $5-$10 doing so. Sweet.

Link to project

Altoids Robot originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Worlds Tiniest Single Chip Camera

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

So Tiny: World’s Smallest Single Chip Camera Is REALLY Small

TDC‘s new OV6920 CameraChip is the world’s smallest CMOS chip at just 1/18-inch (1.4mm). This means that the attached camera setup is just 3.2mm in total size or in layman’s terms never change outside of your own bedroom again.

Shooting at a low resolution of 328 x 250, the chip is configurable for NTSC output and can automatically control color saturation, exposure and gain. Sipping from a low 3.3V DC power supply, the chip will be useful in low power applications from medical pills to spy gear to toys. While the practical applications for tiny cameras are limitless, technological breakthroughs like this just reinforce the inevitable future: We will all be on camera all the time…and that Futurama’s fabled UltraPorn is on its way. [TDC via therawfeed]

Worlds Tiniest Single Chip Camera originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Why StumbleUpon is better than Digg

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Before I go on my observations between digg and stumbleupon let me just say that I am happy with digg and stumbleupon equally, as a user. This is just a numbers crunch that explains on paper why traffic referrals from stumbleupon are better for your site than numbers from digg, in the long run.

Back, which seems so many moons ago, I ran a small podcast called the techphile podcast, which from time to time, received its fair share of traffic. After doing some serious data mining from the logs of the old podcast and from this site there seems to be some clear patterns that form with regards to traffic that is referred from both digg and stumble upon. Lets break this down and take a look.

Traffic

August of last year I had Kevin and Alex from Diggnation on the podcast, the story was quickly dugg to the front page of digg, which brought some insane traffic to the site.

Day 1 – Digg, 6,800 hits, StumbleUpon 143
Day 2 – Digg 11,340 hits, StumbleUpon 221
Day 3 – Digg 4,832 hits, StumbleUpon 289
Day 4 – Digg 132 hits, StumbleUpon 498
Day 5 – Digg 31 hits, StumbleUpon 732
Day 6 – Digg 0 hits, StumbleUpon 1184
Day 7 – Digg 0 hits, StumbleUpon 2132
Day 8 – Digg 0 hits, StumbleUpon 1932

You can clearly see the pattern. Digg will bring you an insane amount of traffic right off the bat, and probably kill your server like it did mine. StumbleUpon will lessen the load off the bat and spread the traffic over time.

Bounce Rate

This is the butter that makes StumbleUpon sooo smooth. Digg users generally crawl digg’s frontpage looking for stories. StumbleUpon’s users crawl looking for interesting sites. This translates into repeat users, which for a blog is a lot better than a single hit on a single story. Think of it as a target focus. SU users are looking for fun and interesting sites. Digg users are looking to read a static page. I much prefer having people land on the site looking for something new as opposed to someone hammering the site for a specific story.

Remember, I’m a heavy digg user; the experience is great, but as the managing editor of a blog looking to generate traffic. Static traffic is great but if we can keep people coming back that’s even better. StumbleUpon wins this round!

Why StumbleUpon is better than Digg originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Lab with Leo: 100th Episode Party

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

The wacky kids in Vancouver that produce the Lab with Leo TV show are having a meet-up to celebrate their 100th Episode. If you’re local to the area you should make the trek out and meet the cast and crew of the Lab. If you are wondering, yes Leo Laporte will be there, as well as the entire crew of the show; Matt, Kate, Sean, Ryan, and the bunch. I have also been told by the powers that be that Victor Lucas from Electric Playground, Alex Lindsay, the guys from Tiki Bar TV, and me, Frank Linhares.

Where: The Alibi Room – 157 Alexander St, Vancouver, BC
When: Thursday Sept. 6th – 7pm – 10pm
RSVP here on Facebook

Hope to see all of you there!

Lab with Leo: 100th Episode Party originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Lightning Bolt Hits Plane

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Bet you thought that a lightning bolt hitting a place would cause mass destruction, nope. Here’s a snap of a plane getting hit by a lightning bolt while taking off from the Osaka Airport. Lightning is not dangerous to commercial airliners, as the electricity flows around their aluminum skin. It’s real easy for us on the ground to look at the scientific fact that no one would get hurt, try telling that to the people on the plane, I would have soiled myself.

[Via Gizmodo]

Lightning Bolt Hits Plane originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Microsoft puts the smack down on AutoPatcher

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

AutoPatcher.com has been a safe haven for Sysadmins who don’t know how or want to deploy a WSUS “Windows Server Update Services” server (and all the headache that comes along with it). For those who don’t know, AutoPatcher was a portable “Windows Update”+. You could literally take it around on a thumb drive, (or the Switchblade) and get your machines up and patched. So, this way, if you have more than one computer at home, you no ling have to wait for each to download all the updates from Microsoft. Another instance where AutoPatcher came to the rescue? What if you have a network that isn’t connected to the internet, like a lab or private network? Neither Windows Update nor WSUS have a modular version that is as streamlined as AutoPatcher was. Something tells me that the recent release of “The Microsoft Catalog” has something to do with it. Antonis Kaladis posted the take down notice on their site. You can sign the petition that the Neowin community started (petition)

Microsoft strikes again.

Update:
Neowin posted two great articles, one says how you can help fight back.
Microsoft Remains Silent on AutoPatcher
Community fights back for AutoPatcher

Microsoft puts the smack down on AutoPatcher originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Clean up cable clutter

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

How many of us have a cables cluttering up desks, tabletops and nightstands. Below is a video showing a simple and easy way to clean up the cable clutter. I would warn you that almost every powerbrick produces heat so make sure you don’t end up with a neat box that catches fire and burns you house down.

How To Make A CHARGER BOX Very Easy – No More Cable Mess! – Funny videos are hereLink: How to make a Charger Box via Lifehacker

Clean up cable clutter originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Vista Powered Super Nintendo

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Now this is what I call a serious case mod. Some guy in Japan has taken his old Super Nintendo (known as the Super Famicom over there) and turned it into a Windows PC.

He started off with an MSI Axis 945GM bare-bones system and jigged it to fit into the Super Nintendo’s case. He even relabeled the game cartridge (which houses the hard-drive) to look like it contains the Windows install. Very nice.

Now all he has to do is get a Super Nintendo emulator running on it so that we can play some Donkey Kong Country.

[via Akihabara News]

Vista Powered Super Nintendo originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Build your own laser listening device

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

This is one of those “it works, and it’s scary” hacking projects. Build your own laser listening device for about $3. Video after the jump.Via Funditor

â€œIn a microphone, sound waves (differences in the pressure of air) cause a diaphragm to vibrate back and forth, altering its resistance to an electric current. When an electric current passes through said diaphragm, the output forms a complex signal that can then be reinterpreted by speakers or a recording device as sound. The device shown here works in a very similar way. Sound bounces off of a window, causing minuscule vibrations (acting like the microphone’s diaphragm). When a laser is trained on the window, its reflection will vibrate with the sound. The laser’s reflection, if converted to an electrical signal can now be recorded as sound. I will outline how I made my own (cost me $3, hope yours is the same or less) – the technically savvy among you will spot the countless variations possible on this basic idea.â€

Build your own laser listening device originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

© tech.nocr.at 1999 | Permalink | Comments | Read more in Hacking And Security | Explore more in: ac, air, bounce, bra, car, convert, ea, flash, hack, hacking, hp, ical, id, images, ir, laser, listening device, lock, Mac, macro, microphone, mid, mod, os, phone, plugins, press, rc, ring, signal, sound, speakers, tor, train, ui, video, wind | Add to del.icio.us | Stumble it | Reddit

Learn to Hack

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Every blog about security needs to post an article like this, as sort of a RTFM reference. Without further ado:

First and foremost, hacking is knowing how something operates inside and out, and then making it do something that it wasn’t intended on doing. Now, that could be anything from exploiting DCOM on an unpatched machine, to adding LEDs to your DefCon 15 badge. And if you are like most hackers, you have already stopped reading so here are some videos to get you started:

Virtual Training Enviroment at Cert.org
Learn Security Online’s Videos
Youtube entries by SANS

Also you have podcasts such as Hak.5, Pauldotcom Security Weekly and many others, that publish new content on a monthly or weekly basis.

Today also marks the day of the newest release of Hak.5. In this release I do a guest segment on anonymous enumeration or information gathering. The following are links to all of the sites that I cover in this segment, plus a few more that I don’t:

The main portion of the segment is over Evolution by Paterva. Downloadable at MegaUpload: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=11LK7HH3 The windows version at least. If the Linux version creeps up, I’ll let you know.

Domain Dossier w/ Service (Banner) scan
http://www.centralops.net/

Submit a file to be virus scanned by 17+ different scanners to help identify the virus, and to see which pick up the virus
http://www.virustotal.com/

Submit a file to be analyzed by the CWSandbox software. It even can give DNS lookup information and network connectivity requests
http://research.sunbelt-software.com/Submit.aspx

Using known transforms, this site give you a great bit of detail about any particular site, based on the details gleaned from the source
http://www.builtwith.com/

Great site that has a lot of tools. My favorite being “File-Info” in which the serversniff servers download and hash dump a file of your choice with the option to attempt a string dump. (Couple this with Virustotal.com, and the CWSandbox link, you will know everything there is to know about a file, without ever having to have it on your box.
http://www.serversniff.net/

An online front end for NMAP. It is restrictive so that you can only scan the IP you are coming from. However, this is form information that is being passed.
http://www.nmap-online.com/

Probably the best whois site on the planet.
http://www.whois.sc/

The default site that everyone know for looking up information on anything with a host name or IP
http://www.dnsstuff.com/

A good amount of tools that the other sites have, but centrally located
http://www.network-tools.com/

Network Query Tool
http://www.windowspms.com/

Can’t go anywhere without Sam Spade
http://www.samspade.org/

Learn to Hack originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Fix a Wet Cell Phone

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Here’s a great little how-to video if you’re ever in a jam with a wet Cell Phone, actually this will work with any piece of electronics that gets wet. So you now know what to do when you drop your cell in the toilet. (Video after the Jump)

Fix a Wet Cell Phone originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Changing traffic lights

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

I’m a bit of a skeptic about these whole “Making elevators come fast” or “Changing Street lights quickly” kind of hacks. KipPlay has brought us some interesting videos in the past that have been quite useful, like the Laptop Battery Hack and the Hack Your Remote Control video, but this one leaves me guessing so I put this to you to see if this hack actually works. I haven’t been able to get it to work in the streets of Toronto but maybe some of you out there might get it to work in your town(s). Post your success in the comments section.

Changing traffic lights originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

© tech.nocr.at 1999 | Permalink | Comments | Read more in Hacking And Security | Explore more in: ac, amp, battery, blog, comments, control, ea, fast, flash, hack, hacking, hacks, hp, id, laptop, light, lights, Mac, macro, make, mod, os, plugins, rc, remote, remote control, security, server, tor, traffic light, ui, video | Add to del.icio.us | Stumble it | Reddit

How To: Make a USB Air Conditioner

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

The Internet never ceases to amaze me. In this video you will learn how to make your very own USB powered Air Conditioner with an empty coffee can and a fan. I’m not sure how powerful this sucker will be but it looks like a neat idea. Make sure you have plenty of ice cubes! (Video after the Jump. Sorry, no audio)

How To: Make a USB Air Conditioner originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

How To: Build a Night Vision System

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Here’s a great and cheap way to create your own Night Vision system for your video camera. You will need some cellophane and an old digital camera to pull it off, but once you do it’s quite impressive.

How To: Build a Night Vision System originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

How To: Build a USB Laser Air Purifier

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Here’s something for all the cleanliness freaks roaming the Internet, a USB powered air purifier using 4 lasers. You’ll need a mini DVD disk, a PC fan, USB cable, and some laser pointers. The idea behind the design is that laser destroys the bacteria in the air. If that doesn’t work it at least makes a really cool desk lamp.

How To: Build a USB Laser Air Purifier originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

6V Battery hack

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

I go through AA batteries like it’s going out of style. With all the audio equipment we need to power when we shoot Digital Underground, AA batteries are bought by the box. The problem is that it gets very expensive. This little hack will net you 32 AA batteries from a 6V battery. Why spend $20+ for a box of AA’s when you can get 32 of them for about $5.

6V Battery hack originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

One big storage unit

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

I’m all about big storage. You know how the old saying goes, you can never have enough money and you can never have enough disk space.

The Lanner NS04-3100 is a 4-Bay Media Storage server. The box allows you to share media files such as music, pictures, and video. The unit has 4 internal SATA drive bays and supports RAID 0, 1, 5 and JBOD across all drives. User’s can select their required level of data integrity for their personal requirements.

Some of the features include â€¦

DHCP and FTP Server: Easy network integration
UPnP AV and iTunes Server: Stream music directly to iTunes or network media device
OS Support: Windows 2000/XP/Vista, Linux and Mac OS X
System backup and restore: Optional software package for business orientated clients

Although the unit hasn’t started shipping yet Lanner says that it should be on shelves by next quarter.

One big storage unit originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Solar USB Goodness

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

In my never ending quest to find suitable for every day use USB chargers so that I no longer have to carry a multitude of brick chargers around with me (Ok I’m done my rant) I stumbled across this little gem, the Solar Charger. Since there are many places in this world that can’t offer you electricity, nearly every square inch will give you some form of sunlight. This little puppy will set you back about $47 USD but with 8 hours of sun you can charge a plethora of electronic gizmos 2 at a time that charge via USB like you iPod or cell phone.

The perfect gift or the perfect emergency toy to have in the glove compartment of your car.

Solar USB Goodness originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

USB Mini Battery for instant power

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Like I’ve said in the past, there is nothing like a good solid usb charger to help you along the way when you have no electrical outlets available to you to charge all that electronic goodness, which is why the USB Mini Battery from Brando gives you portable, instant power whenever there is no power outlet in sight. It is compatible with the iPhone, a variety of smartphones, digital cameras, cellphones, portable media players, the iPod, MP3 players, CD players, and even portable game consoles like the PSP and Nintendo DS and DS Lite. Just make sure there is a USB charging cable compatible with the device you’re going to charge before picking the USB Mini Battery up. The li-ion battery has a capacity of 2200mAh, and measures 70mm x 35mm x 21mm, making this an essential portable item to bring on your travels. It retails for $36 a pop.

USB Mini Battery for instant power originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Mixpanel: They like goats, what about you?

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

There’s only one main component to this site that the site begs from you as soon as you sign up: “So…we like goats, what about you?” Mixpanel quickly asks you your interests and forms an ever-changing tag cloud to quickly find content suited to you.

The most important and largely unnoticed feature with mixpanel is that it is a semantic news search engine. As words change and people take different meaning to things, mixpanel will recognize that. As time goes on, it also will learn what words mean in relation to each other. So for example, if you search for “Programming”, it has the potential of knowing that Programming also encompasses: PHP, Python, C++, C#, Java, etc.

Mixpanel also contains several other features including meeting people with similar interests, categorization, the ability to favorite articles you like, and the highly intuitive feature “Sense.” Sense offers you the ability to let mixpanel decide what you like as you mark content that interests you.

There are a lot of features to explore on mixpanel. But why even bother it looks like digg right? Actually, mixpanel was created to correct a major flaw in social networking sites like digg, reddit, etc. It aims to be personal and not necessarily a huge popularity contest. We found that many sites feature content completely unrelated to the user, mixpanel is trying to correct this by de-emphasizing search, aggregating content, and stopping users from having to surf.

[Via digitalwarfare]

Mixpanel: They like goats, what about you? originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Apple Now Thirds Biggest Laptop Vendor

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

I was at the local Apple store in Yorkdale mall here in Toronto yesterday to pickup a replacement power supply for my Mac Book Pro when I noticed that almost everyone walking around in the mall was caring a box with a shinny new MacBook or MacBoook Pro. This came to me thinking about the rise in popularity of the Mac.

Today I find out that market researcher NPD release notebook sales figures and put Apple in third place overall, HP and Toshiba take number 1 and 2. The numbers are for brick-and-mortar store sales only, not taking into account online sales.

One of the serious possibilities for the increase in sales is that the Mac is the only machine that will run all major operating systems: OS X, Unix, Linux, and Windows. Even if you’re not a big OS X fan, the Mac is the perfect machine for running Vista.

Apple Now Thirds Biggest Laptop Vendor originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Apple’s market share hits 17.6 percent

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

With all of the iPhone hype over shadowing Apple’s primary financial source, their notebooks and desktops, consumers are clearly still interested in the company’s bread and butter. Data from one market research firm shows Apple’s notebook business broke 17 percent while another research firm says that Apple is now in third place among computer manufactures.

Dell comes out on top with HP coming in a close second of total unit sales. Apple takes number three; Gateway and Acer round out the top five.

Only 10.6% of tech.nocr.at users use a Mac (including me), while 82.9% use Windows and 5.7% of you use Linux. Amazingly 0.02% of you use an Amiga (okay come out and show yourselves). Where are the other 7 percent of the Mac users? Maybe they are running BootCamp or VMWare Fusion.

Apple’s market share hits 17.6 percent originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Multi-Touch Macbook

Frank — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Patent filings usually aren’t that big a deal, but when Apple steps up to the plate with goofy and innovative designs people generally pay attention.

The latest filing for Apple to become public is the “Wide touchpad on a portable computer” (It’s a continuation of an earlier patent filed in early 2004). Much like the iPhone, touchpad computing might just be around the corner for your next MacBook.

Special sensors will determine the positioning of the hands and fingers relative to the touchpad and software will figure out your intentions:

Whether you are just typing and the touchpad should be disabled,
Are you using a finger to move the cursor and other fingers are just accidentally resting on a touchpad
Are you trying to manipulate objects on the screen with several fingers and Multi-Touch should be enabled
Etc;

With the success of the iPhone touch screen keyboard this might be a great advancement in the way we use our computers. Imagine being able to switch keyboard layouts on the fly, or the ability to switch to software keyboard shortcuts right on the display. Only time will tell.

Multi-Touch Macbook originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.