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A Look At Android 3.0 – Honeycomb

Frank — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 01:17:27 +0000

Google gave everyone a sneak peak of the next version of Android (Honeycomb) at CES earlier this year. Today they released the SDK for the upcoming tablet geared OS. Here’s a look at what we all can expect from Honeycomb.

The biggest change is the UI. Older versions of Android weren’t geared towards tablets, Honeycomb changes all of that. You will now have more space on your home screen to accommodate more widgets and icons. As you can see from the image above, you will be able to fit all sorts of things on your home screen(s)

Home Screen(s)

The layout of the screens look much like older versions. There is a new 3D look to all of it that might cause problems with older hardware, the new Tegra 2′s should be able to handle it without much effort.

Notification Bar

The notification bar has been moved to the bottom ala Windows and they have added some new buttons that work like the capacitive hardware buttons on most Android devices. They have also added a recent apps button that will show you the current state of apps running the background.

Keyboard

The new keyboard is a great improvement over the older iteration with larger reshaped keys. They also include keys like “Tab” which should make the transition for desktop users easier. Copy and Paste has also seen some change. Much like iOS, a long press will select a word and you can drag the selector to choose more text.

Over all it looks like a great improvement, especially if you are running 2.2 on a tablet currently (like I am). A welcome upgrade if I ever saw one.

A Look At Android 3.0 – Honeycomb originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/26. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

DIY: Wind-Up Cellphone Charger

Frank — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 17:18:18 +0000

Here is a great project that will keep your cellphone going when you have no outlet to charge it with. Ben Heck from the Ben Heck show took a cheap wind-up flashlight, added a small diode, resister and a female USB port to make a hand-crank charger for devices that charge via USB.

I wouldn’t recommend using this to completely charge your phone as it would take hours of continuous cranking to get it there, but you can easily get enough juice for a call on a cell phone with just a few minutes of cranking. Its perfect for emergencies.

[Link to The Ben Heck Show]

DIY: Wind-Up Cellphone Charger originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/25. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

AirPlay On Linux

Frank — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 03:55:42 +0000

Apple’s AirPlay is a great technology. It lets you stream music and video wirelessly to Apple products like iPods, iPhones and to the Apple TV. It also can be used to stream to Apple approved hardware like speaker docks, AV receivers and stereo systems. The problem with it, like most Apple technology, if your not on the “Apple approved” list your SOL.

The thought of AirPlay being supported in open source software is unheard of, until now. The Totem media player, which installs by default on most Linux distributions, now has an unofficial plugin that will let you stream media via AirPlay.

Instructions

Clone the git repository

git clone http://git.sukimashita.com/totem-plugin-airplay.git

Move the files you just cloned (make sure you create the appropriate directories if needed)

mv * ~/.local/share/totem/plugins/airplay

That’s it. Start up Totem, enable the plugin and start to enjoy streaming media from any other AirPlay capable device. Now that the open source world has nailed down the AirPlay standard, it shouldn’t be too long before we start to see it supported in things like XBMC or Android.

[Link to Totem AirPlay Plugin]

AirPlay On Linux originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/22. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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FlipIt – Never Hog An Outlet Again

Frank — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 05:02:25 +0000

If you spend any time in hotel rooms then already you know how vauable a resource and outlet can be. If you don’t carry a power bar around with you your gadgets have to compete for the one or two outlets that may be free in your room. Nothing is more annoying that swapping around plugs just to make sure you charge up all of your gadgets.

FlipIt is a brilliant design to help you with just that. The idea it quite simple, a normal plug slips through the slots in the FlipIt, allowing both cords to be connected at the same time and using up only one outlet.

Currently they only offer a USB charging device, but hopefully we will see universal AC cords with this brilliant design at the end so we can charge our laptops or other devices.

For $15 you really can’t go wrong, head on over to their site to order one.

FlipIt – Never Hog An Outlet Again originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/21. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Eric Schmidt Stepping Down As Google CEO

Frank — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 04:49:43 +0000

In a bit of a shocker, Eric Schmidt announced today that he would be stepping down from his CEO role at Google.

Why would someone at the helm of such a super power decide to step down? Simple, Larry and Sergei have grown up and are ready to lead Google. The company is as strong as ever. The stock price is up 32% in the last three months, the search end of the business is as strong as ever and in Q4 of 2010 the company made $8.4 billion in revenue.

Larry Page was once CEO, before Schmidt. In 2001, three years before going public Schmidt was named to the post. Wall Street dislikes young CEOSs and being only 29 at the time, Page wasn’t thought to be ready to lead Google. Schmidt was the perfect choice, a former computer scientist who made a name for himself while at Java, and was to later be CEO of Novell. During his his decade long tenure, Schmidt ran the company with Larry and Sergei at his side, never making a single decision with out them.

So now the Schmidt is gone and we may possibly never see Jobs back at Apple, will the two companies kiss and make up? You never know. One other possibility is Steve Jobs and Eric Schmidt getting together to start a new company. I know it’s a far stretch and I’m hoping that Job’s medical LOA isn’t anything serious, but together, no matter what they did, would be awesome.

Eric Schmidt Stepping Down As Google CEO originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/20. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Review: eLocity A7 Android Tablet

Frank — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 04:18:35 +0000

I’ve been playing with this surprisingly fast Android tablet for about a week now and so far I am impressed. Stream TV’s eLocity Android 2.2 powered tablet might not be an iPad killer, but it sure puts up a good fight.

The solid 7-inch tablet is powered by NVIDIA’s dual core Tegra 2 processor, comes with Froyo out of the box, is rooted by default and can output a crazy amount of video formats at 1080p via it’s included HDMI port. Although it shows some impressive stats in the video arena, the eLocity does more than that. 4GB of internal storage, a USB port and a MicroSD expansion slot coupled together with the super beefy Tegra 2, the A7 acts more like a powerful computer in your pocket than a PMP.

Not only is the video playback smooth and crisp, this is the only Android device I have ever used that can actually do Flash well. Even when you are on a website with multiple Flash ads watching a video, the A7 came through without a single hiccup. Mix that in with the fact that the device is rooted out of the box, you have one powerful device that is open and free, unlike the “other” guy’s tablet. The only problem I have seen so far is the unit’s battery life. I’ve been able to get about 4 hours out of it with moderate use and only about 2.5 hours of video play. This is more than likely due to the processor as the dual core Tegra 2 could easily power a full size laptop.

The unit doesn’t come with the Android Marketplace out of the box, but a crafty hacker has already created an alternate ROM that offers the Marketplace as well as Ad Hoc networking support. The eLocity A7 is currently WiFi only, by using the Ad Hoc network you can tether your unit to an existing smartphone’s 3G connection. Stream TV is toying with the idea of partnering up with a carrier and offering a 3G model.

At time of print there still is no word on any accessories for the unit, but it does have an expansion port on the bottom that will probably be used for a dock at a later day. A dock would be greatly welcomed, the fact that it can do 1080p without a problem makes this device a perfect addition to your home theater setup.

If your looking for an alternative to the iPad and don’t want to pay a monthly cost for something like the Galaxy Tab, Stream TV’s eLocity A7 is perfect. Priced at $350 it’s a great deal for such a powerful little unit.

[Link to eLocity A7]

Review: eLocity A7 Android Tablet originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/12. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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DIY: Mini MAME Cabinet

Frank — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 01:47:14 +0000

We have showed you in the past how you can build your own MAME arcade cabinet, but if you are lacking space for a monster arcade machine this mini MAME cabinet would be perfect for you.

Modder Ed had an old netbook lying around and decided to slap this together as a Christmas gift for some family members. Using an Asus eeepc 901, some Happ Controls buttons and a joystick, and an iPac 2 Player controller Ed drafted up some plans and started cutting.

The mini cab runs Maximus Arcade which an awesome front-end for multiple game emulators, not just MAME. It makes running a cab a snap; it installs on Windows and does everything for you including auto starting and hiding the Windows interface.

Check out the video of the mini MAME cabinet in action. I don’t have the space for a full size cab in my house with all the kids toys but I defiantly have space for this.

DIY: Mini MAME Cabinet originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/09. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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10 Weird USB Drives

Frank — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 04:17:43 +0000

With CES going on this week and the tech media flooding the blog-o-sphere with reports of new gadgets and technology I thought I’d brake the mundane stream of press releases and “first looks” at gadgets that might never make it to market.

Here are 10 really weird USB drives that are sure to make you laugh.

The sperm drive. When you pull this out of your pocket you are going to have people wondering exactly what you were doing with your hand in your pocket in the first place.

The typical food item converted to a USB drive. Just don’t try to eat it, no matter how much wasabi you add to it.

I guess this is where the name “Thumb Drive” originally came from. Kinda creepy actually.

For those that just can’t let go of old technology. I just hope this USB drive has a greater storage capacity than it’s case did.

The clothes pin drive is creative and different, plus it’s great for hanging your shirts up to dry.

Maybe when you pull the sperm drive out of your pocket you can pull this poop drive out of the other one. That should really get the conversation going.

It’s the old “Teddy Bear jammed it’s head into the USB port” trick. You can’t fool me!

Probably one of the weirdest ones on the list. Not sure why would would want a spoonful of cereal to have a USB drive attached, but then again this is the Internet.

The eraser drive is perfect for fixing mistakes, just don’t try to run out your red underlines in MS Word.

This humping dog drive is sure to get the ladies. Plug it in and it actually starts to hump the side of your computer.

10 Weird USB Drives originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/06. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Open Source HTPC’s That Don’t Suck

Frank — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 21:30:11 +0000

In our next installment of Distros That Don’t Suck we will be looking at open source HTPC software. Sure you can load up VLC or even use Windows Media player, but having a dedicated solution with a UI that is made for a TV is a lot easier and pleasing. I’ve left the PVR-centric software like MythTV and Freevo off the list since their main purpose is to act as a PVR. I’ll be reviewing open source PVR software by itself at a later date.

XBMC – The Xbox Media Center Project started as homebrew software for the original Xbox gaming system and has since been ported to Linux, Windows, OSX, AppleTV and even as a standalone Linux based LiveCD/LiveUSB image. It offers a clean UI, intuitive interface and can play just about anything you throw at it. It offers a plugin system with a huge repository of community plugins to enhance the experience. It’s real easy to setup and it’s configuration is portable across operating systems. If you have an old Xbox laying around this makes a great HTPC that is powerful and best of all cheap.

MediaPortal – This is a Windows based HTPC software so technically it’s not 100% open source since it requires Windows and doesn’t offer a Linux port. If offers everything you would expect in HTPC software; Video streaming, DVD playback, Internet Radio, Picture Gallery and it’s own plugin system. You will need a compatible TV Tuner card to enjoy PVR features and to watch TV but it’s not needed to run the software. If you are a Windows fan and are looking for an alternate to Windows Media Center this is as close as you can get without the cost.

Element – Element is an open source HTPC system that comes pre-loaded with XBMC and the ability to play back just about any media locally or over the Internet. Element also has it’s own framework for offering add-on modules that allow you to play content from services like Hulu, Cooliris, Boxee, Clicker, Amazon on Demand and Youtube. They have adapted the UI’s of popular open source software like Firefox and Pidgin so that it fits the TV experience better than their native desktop versions. They also offer an Android app that allows you to use your Android phone as a remote control; definitely a neat idea for the times you can’t find the remote anywhere.

GeeXboX – A Gentoo based fully functional media center that can be run from LiveCD, LiveUSB, or be installed on a hard drive. GeeXbox is a very lean distro that doesn’t require a lot of processing power so it’s perfect for older hardware. It uses Enna as it’s primary media center application to play your music, videos or look at your pictures. This is the perfect distro for the no-frills experience when you just want to play your media and aren’t looking for any additional functionality.

Open Source HTPC’s That Don’t Suck originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/06. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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DIY: Skate-wheel Dolly

Frank — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 18:22:30 +0000

Looking for an inexpensive dolly for your smartphone or small camcorder? Flickr user eok.gnah put together this dolly by using some skate wheels and a GorillaPod tripod.

As you can see from the video it offers a nice smooth shot, perfect for those aspiring filmmakers who don’t have big budgets.

[Via Make Magazine]

DIY: Skate-wheel Dolly originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/05. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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.

PSP Keys Hacked

Frank — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 02:54:40 +0000

First is was fail0verflow crippling the PS3 security and now Mathieulh has revealed that he has found the KIRK encryption/decryption keys that are used to sign PSP code.

What does all of this mean? Much like the PS3 keys that were discovered last week during a presentation at the CCC, any piece of software for the PS3′s little brother the PSP can now be signed as if it was actually from Sony. Sony and the PSP homebrew community have been playing a cat and mouse game for years and it now looks that it will all come to and end.

Homebrew for the PSP can now be signed with the proper keys and therefore make it look like legitimate software. No more custom firmware or loaders needed in the near future, a homebrew modders dream come true.

PSP Keys Hacked originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/02. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

iPhone Alarm Doesn’t Like 2011

Frank — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 08:41:12 +0000

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.

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.

Eavesdropping On GSM

Frank — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 05:30:07 +0000

Speaking at the Chaos Computer Club on Tuesday, a pair of researchers demonstrated a method of eavesdropping on encrypted GSM calls and text messages by using a few cheap pay-as-you-go cellphones and a variety of open source software.

The ability to listen in on cellphone calls has been available to law enforcement agencies for a while, but even if the average person could they would have to invest in about $50,000 of hardware to do so, until now. The modern day phreaking takes advantage of security flaws in the GSM network and puts the power within the reach of almost any tech-savvy user.

By using custom firmware that they built in a few cheap Motorola cellphones, they created a bunch of cell phone "sniffers" that send real time raw cell network data back to a computer via a USB connection. By sending a target phone an SMS, they were able to determine what random network ID number belonged to the target.

All that was left was to decrypt the raw information they captured. This was easily accomplished with the use of a 2 GB rainbow table.

I’m sure with time, the software and firmware that was used in the demonstration will make it’s way into the average Joe’s hands and we will all be doomed. It’s not really modern day phreaking, back then all of us were just curious. There is no other use for this besides grabbing peoples personal communications.

Eavesdropping On GSM originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/12/31. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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iPhone HTC GB Mutant

Frank — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 03:05:44 +0000

What do you get when you mash together a fake white iPhone 4, and HTC Aria and an old Game Boy? You get this cool yet useless mashup.

Hacker Goteking hollowed out and old Game Boy and dropped in his Aria. Wait, now it looks like he also has a fake white iPhone in there as well.

Alright, I’m utterly confused now as to what this does, maybe this video below can explain what Goteking is up to with this unholy creation

Nope, I’m still completely lost, but as someone who is always trying to make things do what they are not suppose to I can appreciate the work that was done here. Granted, the LED matrix in the fake iPhone is pretty cool.

[Link to Goteking's GB/HTC/iPhone Mutant]

iPhone HTC GB Mutant originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/12/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

DIY: Word Clock

Frank — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 20:17:35 +0000

Have you looked at the qlocktwo word clock yet? It’s a sleek time piece that displays the time using words. The only problem with it is that it costs well over $1000, not really an affordable way to tell time.

scottbez1 put together an affordable version of the qlocktwo by using an Arduino and a whole bunch of LED’s. The whole thing should cost you just under $70 and the full build plan is up on Instrctables.

Inspired by drj113′s great instructable on making a word clock , I wanted to make my own. After seeing the (extremely overpriced) commercial “qlocktwo” word clock, I decided to borrow its smooth glossy black design while basing the innards of my clock on drj113′s design.

[Link to Sleek word clock]

DIY: Word Clock originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/12/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

VLC For Android

Frank — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 05:51:46 +0000

The one app I use the most on my iPhone and iPad is VLC. It makes watching video on my portable devices a lot easier to do since I don’t have to spend a bunch of time converting video and soon all you Android fans will enjoy it as well.

Sure there are other video playing options for all you Android users but has there ever been a better video player than VLC? It will play anything you throw at it, at least on the PC side.

Keep an eye out for it in the Android Marketplace.

VLC For Android originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/12/28. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Skype Video On Your iPhone

Frank — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 05:31:55 +0000

Sure you have facetime on your iPhone, but wouldn’t it be cool to have video support for Skype on your iPhone? After all, there are only 6 facetime users in the world and billion of Skype users.

Seems that a document that was released a bit too early points to Skype’s CES announcement as being video support for iOS devices with cameras. I’d be willing to bet that the supposed upcoming iPad 2 will also have a front facing camera.

I wonder if the mobile carries will allow these video calls to cross their network or if it will be wifi only, never-the-less this will be a great way to make a video call when your on the go.

Skype Video On Your iPhone originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/12/28. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

NoseDial App

Frank — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 23:39:37 +0000

We have all done it. Drive down the highway with a coffee in hand, the other hand fumbling with the iPhone trying to call someone. Alas, we are now saved by a simple $0.99 app that will let us make that call with our nose!

NoseDial is easily is the weirdest iPhone app I have ever come across. For less than a buck this app will create some big icons on your screen of contact and allow you to use your nose to select them. I know that there are people out there that have a limited ability of use with their hands, but to dial with their nose?

You will still have to unlock your phone with your fingers and actually tap the icon of the app to load it, but I guess it’s a step in the right direction.

NoseDial App originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/12/26. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Nano Watch

Frank — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 18:05:11 +0000

You knew it was bound to happen. Ever since Apple announced the new redesigned iPod nano everyone has been referring to it as a watch and now you can turn it into one. I’ve been using the new nano for about a week now and love it. It’s perfect for the gym and it really motivates you to reaching that 10,000 step-a-day goal, and with this wrist watch band from Incipio this might make the perfect all the time watch.

Keep in mind that you will have to change your ipod daily and be okay with hitting the sleep button every time you want to check the time. If your okay with all that then you can pick them up in a variety of colours for $24.99 and they should be ready to ship sometime in October.

[Incipio Linq Nano Watch Case]

Nano Watch originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/09/14. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Sonic Screwdriver Wiimote

Frank — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 03:17:24 +0000

Playing Dr. Who in a game is cool, but playing one while using a Sonic Screwdriver is even better. Later this fall the Wii will be getting a title called Doctor Who: Return to earth and the BBC has teamed up with a peripheral maker to create a Sonic Screwdriver Wii controller.

Playing the game which will feature the likeness of the current Doctor (Matt Smith) and his sidekick Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) should be fun whilst holding the infamous Sonic Screwdriver. I bet it would be even better if you could get a Tardis in your living room as well.

[Via Official Nintendo Magazine]

Sonic Screwdriver Wiimote originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/09/07. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Heat-Seeking Nerf Gun

Frank — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 04:38:29 +0000

The awesome heat-seeking Nerf gun won Make’s Gadget Freak Design Contest. The mod consists of a Nerf Vulcan Blaster hooked up to a few Devantech TPA81 Thermal Sensors and is controlled by an ATMega 168 processor.

The unit acts exactly as it should, it tracks you via your heat signature and fires nerf bullets at you. No word yet on whether chaffs/flares will work to confuse it, but one thing is for sure, the Disintegrator Rubber Band Gatling Gun could use this heat-seeking mod.

Currently you can’t buy the mod at your local Toy’s R Us, but you can head on over to the creators website and build your own.

Heat-Seeking Nerf Gun originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/09/04. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Holy Surge

Frank — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:49:21 +0000

Although this is still a concept, this holy power bar might just work when you need a prayer to keep your gadgets from being fried by power surges. With a full 12 outlets, this will be perfect for oversized power bricks and adapters, it’s the catholic way!

If these actually make it to production, I’m sure the various archdiocese’s across the world will be lining up to buy them. You know that every church will want one to power their circa 1970′s PA system. It’s the holy way to power your sermon.

I’m going to stop making all sorts of jokes about this or I very well might be the way who gets hit by lightening.

Holy Surge originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/09/03. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

New XBMC Beta Released

Frank — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 05:14:42 +0000

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.

Steampunk Optimus Prime

Frank — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:47:59 +0000

As someone who grew up in the 80′s there is nothing more I love than some good old 80′s cartoons like G.I. Joe and Transformers. As an older fellow I also have a great appreciation for modern geeky art like steampunk creations. What happens when I find someone who mashed the two together? I run out and try to purchase it.

The Encline Design team did just that, created a very detailed steampunk version of the famous Autobots leader Optimus Prime, best of all is the fact it transformers into a steam engine.

The paint scheme looks awesome; while still maintaining Optimus’s Red and Blue, they managed to add just the amount of buff to it to make it realistic to the steampunk style.

Make sure to check out their site for some more picture and some other great steampunk designs.

Steampunk Optimus Prime originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/09/01. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Homemade Conductive Play-Doh

Frank — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:20:51 +0000

Here’s an awesome idea. Let’s take some homemade Play-Doh, change the recipe around a bit and make it conductive. You could make all sorts of cool circuits, like say wrap some of it around a cell phone to act as an insulator and then try to bring it on a plane. As someone who once shut down a major airport with a home made battery powered usb charger I don’t recommend bringing the cell phone wrapped Play-Doh experiment on a plane.

Squish Circuits, as they are refereed to, were developed at the University of St. Thomas by undergrads Samuel Johnson and AnnMarie Thomas and essentially are nothing more than homemade Play-Doh recipes that make the Doh either conductive or insulate.

With a small battery pack and something else that can use that power like a small motor or an LED you could make tons of fun circuits.

You can find both the conductive and insulating recipes here.

Homemade Conductive Play-Doh originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/08/31. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

$8450 Speaker Cables

Frank — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 05:50:40 +0000

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.

Samsung Galaxy S Unlock

Frank — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 05:20:40 +0000

Users of the Samsung Galaxy S will be glad to hear that unlocking the unit is now easier than ever (alright, there are a lot of steps, but it’s easy to follow) and best of all, the unlock codes are right on the phone. This currently works on the the TMobile Vibrant and AT&T Captivate units as well as the international versions.

Just as a quick warning, check with your local laws to make sure unlocking a phone is legal. I know that laws in certain countries have quickly caught up with legalizing unlocking phones, but if you live in North Korea this might get you sent to a labour camp for the rest of your life.

I haven’t tried this myself since I don’t own a Galaxy, but from what I have heard this works quite well and it’s quite painless.

[Link to Galaxy S Unlocking Steps]

Samsung Galaxy S Unlock originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/08/24. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Boost USB Port Voltage

Frank — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 00:49:16 +0000

Most larger gadgets that recharge via USB require at least 10 watts of power like Apple’s iPad. The iXP1-500 dongle claims it will allow devices to recharge from underpowered USB ports.

I’m not quite sure how they accomplish this for $5, but I assume it must have some sort of capacitor inside that stores juice from these underpowered ports and then sends it down the USB port.

XMultiple Technologies (the makers of the iXP1-500) say that its “100% guaranteed to work”. Hocus pocus or simple electronics? I’m not sure, but if anyone out there gets one be sure to let us know.

Boost USB Port Voltage originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/08/20. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Replace Batteries With USB Power

Frank — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 23:32:24 +0000

If you can avoid using disposable batteries then you should. Landfills are full of them and we are doing nothing more than killing our environment by using them. I know that rechargeable batteries are better, but there is always the hassle of having to recharge them and then you eventually have to toss them out as well.

When Apple recently released their desktop trackpad I was surprised to see that it was using batteries as opposed to USB power. Apparently others thought the same thing and did something about it.

Markbog over at the MacRumors.com forums did just that. He crafted together a battery size dowel and stripped down a USB cable to make it all happen.

I’m assuming the trackpad must have a voltage regulator or voltage step up since 2 AA batteries only give off 3V and the USB power spec if 5V. Either way, it seems to be working just fine for him.

Replace Batteries With USB Power originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/08/20. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

RTCW Open Sourced

Frank — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 19:37:56 +0000

During the recent QuakeCon festivities id released something that should make the modding community super happy; source code. People can now access the source to Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory and Return to Castle Wolfenstein via id’s FTP.

The code is being release under the GNU license which allows for both free and commercial use as long as credit goes to id and no one tries to claim it as their own.

I wonder how quickly we will see some awesome game modded off the source.

RTCW Open Sourced originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/08/19. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

RTCW Open Sourced

Frank — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 19:37:56 +0000

The code is being release under the GNU license which allows for both free and commercial use as long as credit goes to id and no one tries to claim it as their own.

I wonder how quickly we will see some awesome game modded off the source.

RTCW Open Sourced originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/08/19. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Verizon and Google: Bed Mates

Frank — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 04:05:51 +0000

Earlier today Google and Verizon issued a joint policy statement surrounding net neutrality or what they refer to as a “Policy Proposal for an Open Internet”. I can’t even begin to lay out how wrong this is.

First, what the hell Google? Were you not one of the champions of an open a free internet? Did you not side with the masses in fighting for an internet that remained free from multiple tiers? What happened? Sleeping with Verizon will only lead to morning after regret.

Sure, you both state that this keeps the wired world free from your tyranny and it will only effect wireless networks. That’s like opposing fascism then coming around and saying it’s okay to be fascist in rural areas but not urban ones.

This does nothing more than open Pandora’s box, today wireless, tomorrow we will only get Google content on Verizon and Yahoo content on AT&T. WTF? Can you say AOL all over again.

I’m not sure how much money was exchanged or what drugs were smoked when you two got together but I sure do hope that the FCC and policy makers realize how detrimental this can be to the free and open internet we all enjoy.

Verizon and Google: Bed Mates originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/08/11. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Modded PSP Includes LEDs, Camera And More

Frank — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 04:53:42 +0000

What do you get when you take a stock PSP Slim 2000 and add a second joystick, 32GB of flash memory, a second port for charging, and a built in camera? A usable PSP, that’s what.

Of course the unit is running custom firmware so you can easily run every emulator under the sun and make the PSP usable. Check out the video after the break of the modder explaining what he did.

Modded PSP Includes LEDs, Camera And More originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/03/19. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Arduino Powered RC Lawnmower

Frank — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:04:25 +0000

As a male who owns a home with a lot of grass there is nothing more I hate then cutting the grass on a hot sweltering day. Since my son is only three and he can barely reach the mowers handle I’m SOL with getting him to do it.

Maybe I should build this awesome radio controller Arduino powered lawnmower? I can just sit in a lawn chair and drink a beer while the Lawnbot 400 does all the heavy lifting for me. I would quickly become the envy of all the males who live on my street. Check out the video of it in action after the break.

This instructable will show you how to make your Arduino into an R/C interface that you can use for just about anything requiring remote control. I will also show you how I built an R/C lawnmower using my Arduino, a cheap R/C transmitter and receiver pair, and a couple of electric-wheelchair motors from Ebay. I have used this interface to control anything from basic LED’s to Bipolar stepper motors, mini-robots, lifeless R/C cars from the thrift store, and even a 100lb lawnmower (all with appropriate motor controllers). It is very flexible and easy to change and very simple to set up.

[Link to Lawnbot build tutorial]

Arduino Powered RC Lawnmower originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/03/18. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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WiFi Door Opener

Frank — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 04:41:26 +0000

We have seen our fair share of door opening hacks. Remember the secret knock door lock? That was pretty awesome, but what if I tell you that you can unlock your door from any wifi device?

The guys over at Sunlight Labs have done just that. By using a WRT54GL and some creative hacking that have wired up their wireless router to buzz open their front door.

So how does this all work? Well, let’s start with the router. It’s a Linksys WRT54GL, a still-Linux-friendly descendant of the WRT54G, the router which jump-started the custom firmware scene. There are a lot of custom router firmwares available — DD-WRT, Tomato, Gargoyle — and they can all make your consumer-grade router do some professional-grade things. For this project I used OpenWRT, the system on which many of those other projects are based. It’s got a much steeper learning curve than those other distros — you definitely need to be comfortable with the command line — but it lets you build a custom firmware with exactly the components you want. With some tweaking I was able to create a firmware that included a stripped-down version of Python, but which still fit into the WRT54GL’s meager 2MB flash memory. (Like the Arduino, Python turned out to be overkill, but at the time I expected to need it — and it’s always nice to have it handy.)

Link to Door Opener Science Project

WiFi Door Opener originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/02/24. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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DIY RJ-45 Cable Tester

Frank — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 05:14:00 +0000

Cable testers can be super expensive, but if your trying to trouble shoot a cable drop or run then you know how valuable one can be.

Our favorite kids over at Instructables have a great how to on building your own on the super cheap. A quick trip to your local big box home improvement store and your favorite electronics store (hell even radio shack should it all) and a few bucks is all you will need to build this.

Besides your basic DIY hacking tools you will also need the following …

8 LED’s
20cm of Cat5 Cable
9V Battery Clip and Battery
Wall Mount Box
2 RJ-45 Female Jacks
220ohm Resistor
Female RJ-45 Mount Plate

Once you have all your components assembled head on over to Instructables and make your way through all the sets.

DIY RJ-45 Cable Tester originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/02/21. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Solar Powered Cellphone

Frank — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 05:05:07 +0000

Ever been caught with a dead cellphone and no source of juice anywhere to power that puppy up? Come on now, you know you have. Well, Sharp is ready to settle that problem once and for all.

By dropping your conventional backlit LCD and using a passive matrix LCD screen the SH6230C will use a lot less power than a conventional phone. The passive matrix screen can display the time and SMS/e-mail all the while using an incredibly small amount of power. Don’t count on too many features either. Besides offering your standard dumb phone features the only extra bell you get is a 5-megapixel camera, but if you spend a lot of time outdoors this phone should never leave you high and ~~dry~~ dead.

The phone will run on GSM networks and is set to make it’s debut in China sometime this month with a $500 price tag.

Solar Powered Cellphone originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/02/21. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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iControlPad: Gamepad For Your iPhone

Frank — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:13:06 +0000

Since the release of the iTunes app store the iPhone and iPod touch have really been pushed as the next great portable gaming platform. Game developers have really started to push the limits of the device but the one major stumbling block has only been the “touch only” interface.

The iControlPad looks to change all of that. It’s a case for your iPhone that offers dual analog nubs, a gamepad controller and of course a few buttons. There is also an internal battery that charges your iPhone while you play.

Bad news is that you will need to jailbreak your iPhone to use this since it’s not an official Apple licensed product, but the iControlPad is supported by some of the biggest devs like the boys that make all the cool emulators. If you’re interested in the device, you can can place a pre-order by signing up at their site.

iControlPad: Gamepad For Your iPhone originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/11/13. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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iSteady Shot: Camera Stabilizer For Your iPhone

Frank — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:01:06 +0000

If using your iPhone 3G S to shoot a movie is in your plans you will quickly learn that such a small and light weight device won’t be the easiest thing to keep stable. Gladly someone has got your problems covered.

The iSteady Shot is a camera stabilization unit for your iPhone 3G S. Although this won’t improve the video quality of the video that the iPhone produces, it will defiantly make it a lot smoother (check the video out after the break). It can be adjusted if your iPhone has a case and comes with a two-axis gimbal for real smooth 360 degree movement.

The unit will run you $149.99 and can be pre-ordered right now from their site.

iSteady Shot: Camera Stabilizer For Your iPhone originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/11/13. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

DIY: Pirate TV Station

Frank — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:14:42 +0000

Miss the good old Analog TV days? If so, you can build you very own low-power analog television transmitter and join the underground. I’m not too sure on the legality of it, but now that all the networks (at least in the US) have vacated the analog spectrum you might not be harassed.

Tired of the blocky, JPEG-like resolution of digital television? Do you long for the days of RF modulation and regulated-yet-unregulated content? Do you simply have the desire to toss your converter box out the window and make use of those rabbit ear antennae that are just lying around? If so, then you might be interested in becoming a savior of analog television! This Instructable will show you how to create your own fully-fledged low-power analog television channel, with any video source(including your computer) as a source of content.
We created one that went live the minute analog tv went dead. We’re still the only analog station in NYC, but please join us in making more!!

[Link to Instructables via Make]

DIY: Pirate TV Station originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/11/12. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

DIY: Star Trek Bluetooth Communicator

Frank — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:15:24 +0000

How could a week go by without us talking about some sort of Star Trek reference or gadget? Now if you really want to ~~be singled out as a dork~~ show your love for Star Trek why not build yourself this bluetooth Star Trek communicator? I’m not talking about those wussy TNG communicators, I’m talking about the old school plastic molded with mesh screen original series communicators. (Check out the video after the break).

Makezine has a great detailed write up on build your very own super geeky handset.

I thought it would be fun to have a Star Trek: The Original Series Bluetooth communicator for a cellphone. I worked with Dave Clausen to hack one together from a toy Star Trek communicator, a Bluetooth module, and a microcontroller.

If you pair this us with a phone that does voice dialing then you could easily walk around town with you phone nowhere to be seen. Imagine all of the ~~beatings~~ looks you will get as you walk down the street talking into this iconic device.

[Link to Make a Star Trek Bluetooth Communicator]

DIY: Star Trek Bluetooth Communicator originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/11/07. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Google Voice Invites

Frank — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:37:09 +0000

With all of the hoopla surrounding Google Wave most people have forgotten about Google’s last hot product, Google Voice.

If you haven’t heard of Google Voice, let’s look at wikipedia ….

The service provisions a U.S. phone number, chosen by the user from available numbers in selected area codes, free of charge to each user account. Inbound calls to this number are forwarded to other phone numbers of the subscriber. Outbound calls may be placed to domestic and international destinations by dialing the Google Voice number or from a web-based application.[2] Inbound and domestic outbound calls (including calls to Canada, Alaska and Hawaii [3]) are free of charge, while international calls are billed according to a schedule posted on the Google Voice website.

It’s an awesome service and it currently in closed beta. Much like gmail of many years ago, you can only join Google Voice if you have an invite, and I just happen to have 3.

The first three people who post a comment will get an invite. Make sure you use your real email since that’s the only way to send out the invite. Enjoy.

Google Voice Invites originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/11/06. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

DIY: Auto Tracking Sentry Gun

Frank — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:22:08 +0000

Every wanted to build you very own auto tracking sentry gun? No? Me either, but now that I take a look at it I do want to build one. Not one that fires bullets or anything, but one that would have a water gun on it to keep people out of my office.

If you’re like me and wanted to make one of these you would probably ran into the same issues I have. So to help all you poor suckers out the software we developed is open source and freely available on the website. The only reservation we have is that you make it a point not to hurt anyone or anything, we take no responsibility for anything.
The point of making it open source is to encourage joint development of the software and hardware possibilities.
If you follow the instructions properly you will end up with exactly what you wanted. After collecting all the hardware you will probably spend a long weekend putting it together. It doesn’t take a genius but it helps to be able to solder and do some basic handcrafts.

You can head on over to his website where he has detailed instruction on building one and all the software you will need to make it work.

DIY: Auto Tracking Sentry Gun originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/11/06. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Build A Real Working Tricorder, Sort Of

Frank — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:49:35 +0000

No self respecting trekkie would ever be caught dead without his or her tricorder. So if your that much a trekkie or have no friends and find that people of the opposite sex are repulsed by your presence, why not kill sometime and build yourself a real working tricorder?

The words “Real” and “Working” are someone deceiving. See, if you really want this thing to “Sort of work” then you’ll need to sacrifice an iPhone. Also, the term “Working” only refers to what the iPhone can do, like send email or surf the web. If you cool with giving up your iPhone to make it look like you have a working tricorder then go nuts, but might I suggest getting some fresh air or professional help from a doctor as well!

[Link to Building A Real Working Tricorder]

Build A Real Working Tricorder, Sort Of originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/11/03. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Build An Annoying Beeping Thing

Frank — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:24:30 +0000

I’m always up for a good practical joke, especially the kind that involves electronics and can drive people mad. Get your soldering guns out kids, this is a good one.

The Annoying Beeping Thing is a simple circuit board that is powered by a single 9-volt battery and outputs a high-pitched whining sound through a tiny speaker or piezo buzzer.

As you can see from the pictures above it’s hidden inside of a transformed but this thing is so tiny that you can practically hide it anywhere. Make sure you don’t let the joke run on too long as it might really get on someone’s nerve who might not think it’s all that funny. Check out the video after the break of it’s construction and to hear it in action.

[Via Make]

Build An Annoying Beeping Thing originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/11/02. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Mr. Wake – The Uncatchable Alarm Clock

Frank — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:23:00 +0000

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.

Nintendo DSi Get’s Bigger

Frank — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:14:42 +0000

The Nintendo DSi just got a whole lot bigger. The DSi XL was officially unveiled yesterday by Nintendo. The new handheld is a lot bigger, which is one of the things that fans have been asking for. Instead of dual 3.25-inch displays the bigger brother will now come with 4.2-inch displays. It might not sound like a lot, but if you do the math that’s close to 30% bigger. The unit weighs 314g which is 100g more than the DSi and the overall size is 161 x 91.4 x 21.2 mm.

Besides the size and the new battery that claims to offer 13-17 hours of game play when minimum brightness is used, everything else stays the same. The DSi XL will cost about $220 in Japan where it will be available November 21st. The rest of us shmucks will hopefully see the unit sometime in 2010. It would have been nice to have this unit in time for the holiday season, but like most decisions that Nintendo makes wil releases, North America is always last.

Nintendo DSi Get’s Bigger originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/30. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Remote Controlled Tissue Box

Frank — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 04:05:27 +0000

Yes, you read it right, a remote controlled tissue box. You never know when you might need to blow your nose and feel way to lazy to get up and get the tissue box that’s like 2 feet away. Actually, now that I come to think of it, how many people actually keep their tissue boxes on the floor? I mean wouldn’t this thing need to be rugged if you say, keep your tissue box on a end table or on the coffee table? I’m just asking here.

If you do keep your tissue box on the floor and are interested in purchasing this remote controlled unit it costs $25, it has a maximum range of 8m and it’s 250x65x123mm so make sure your kleenex box fits inside. Oh yeah, and it’s only available in Japan.

Remote Controlled Tissue Box originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/30. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

3D Video With One Camera

Frank — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:57:54 +0000

3D video has really started to make a strong comeback. I remember being a kid when the paper glasses with red and blue lenses were all the rage. Technology has changed a lot since then. The cost of creating 3D videos is so expensive that it prohibits the aspiring film maker from considering the option, but if you happen to have a CNC machine that you can access your on your way to brining that dream to life.

Gabriel, the crafty hacker, is using a SketchUp to plot the camera paths, a plugin to export those paths and automatically adjust them for perspective and a CNC machine to preform all of the movement. You take a pass at something for the left eye then the CNC machine takes a second pass at a different perspective for the right eye.

Simple eh, well it does have it’s drawbacks like the inability to shoot anything that’s moving. Although this isn’t the perfect setup, it does show you how creative some people can be. Maybe this would be perfect for stop motion 3D. Check out the two videos after the break. The first is the actually 3D video and the second shows a behind the scene on how the whole rig works.

[Link to 3D with CNC]

3D Video With One Camera originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/28. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

DIY: Tesla “Spooky Spirit” Radio

Frank — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:01:06 +0000

A crafty Instructables user has written up a how-to on creating Tesla’s Spirit Radio, it even creeped out Tesla himself. The Spirit Radio uses a simple crystal radio circuit that us connected to a line-in jack of a computer to generate spooky sounds from all kinds of electromagnetic sources.

“My first observations positively terrified me as there was present in them something mysterious, not to say supernatural, and I was alone in my laboratory at night.” – Nikola Tesla 1901
“The sounds I am listening to every night at first appear to be human voices conversing back and forth in a language I cannot understand. I find it difficult to imagine that I am actually hearing real voices from people not of this planet. There must be a more simple explanation that has so far eluded me.” – Nikola Tesla 1918

Check out the video and decide for yourself if it’s science or supernatural. Halloween is around the corner, this will make an awesome party toy.

[Link to Spirt Radio How-To]

DIY: Tesla “Spooky Spirit” Radio originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/27. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Phaser Boasts 300mW Laser

Frank — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:15:23 +0000

Since you can’t walk into to your favorite weapons store and pick up a phaser just yet, hacker Luke decided to build his own. He picked up a toy phaser from Amazon for about $20 ripped out the internals only choosing to reuse the trigger, top switch and battery pack.

The phaser contains two laser diodes which were pulled from a 6x BD-R burner. I sure hope that the burner was broken since purchasing a unit just for the sake of pulling the diodes out to put in a toy gun is very expensive. The two diodes are mounted on a swiveling carriage which can be turned 180 degrees to switch between the diodes. A boost driver is used to bump up the 3v that the batteries provide to 7v to drive the diodes.

Although you won’t be killing Kingons with this unit it does make one cool looking toy. Remember, don’t go firing it in peoples eyes, that will hurt. Check out the video after the break.

Phaser Boasts 300mW Laser originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/26. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Sucker Alert: Wattgate 381 “Audio Grade” Socket

Frank — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:23:22 +0000

Wow, there really is a sucker born every minute, but is there anyone out there stupid enough to spend $147 on a so called “Audio Grade” electrical socket?

The Wattgate 381 and claims to bring you crystal clean sound. I’m no electrician but doesn’t the quality of your sound actually come from the components inside your amplifier? WTF does electricity flow have to do with it? It’s not like this is some surge suppressor that cleans your power and makes sure that you don’t have power fluctuation. It’s a freaking socket.

I’m sure this will go perfectly with the $400 Monster Cable you bought and that $500 Denon Ethernet Cable.

If your stupid enough to buy one, you can pick it up here

Sucker Alert: Wattgate 381 “Audio Grade” Socket originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/25. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Remote Control That’s Impossible To Lose

Frank — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 06:43:25 +0000

This is gonna be one of the easiest hacks you’ll ever do, at least from an electrical standpoint.

Most electronics like digital camera and cell phones have a loop attached to them so that you can slip a lanyard on to it which in turn makes it easier to find or harder to lose. This guy came up with a similar idea, albeit a tad too extreme in my opinion, but still an excellent way to ensure that his remote control never gets lost. Actually, by looking at the picture, he is now ensuring that his remote control will never move again, period.

If your not a blacksmith or if you don’t happen to have a massive I-beam laying around, this hack will probably cost you a lot more than a replacement remote control would cost.

[Link to Dad's Lost The Remote]

Remote Control That’s Impossible To Lose originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/24. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Project Eagle Claw: Taking Out The Scammers

Frank — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 06:31:11 +0000

Looks like the Nigerian government is actually doing something to stop email scammers that are giving their country a bad name. Project Eagle Claw is an effort to shut down Nigerian scammers. The project has netted 18 people and shut down 800 sites.

Previously the government would use “Cyber Raids” and petitions (WTF, how do you bust someone via petition?) to deal with scammers. Now they are going full out commando style and busting people left, right, and center. They say that when they are all done up to 5000 scam emails will be offline.

Someone in Hollywood should make a kick ass action movie depicting some elite commando group that’s sent in to Nigeria to take out these scammers.

[Via Ars Technica]

Project Eagle Claw: Taking Out The Scammers originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/24. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Skype And Chrome Go Portable

Frank — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 05:13:34 +0000

The guys over at PortableApps.com have been turning out great portable apps for years now. Apps that you can easily put on a USB flash drive and run from any machine. All of the software that they offer is open source, until now that is.

PortableApps has decided to add a handful of closed source apps like Skype and Chrome to their list of offerings. Project lead John T. Haller offered a number of reasons for the move, ending with “it’s the right thing to do. Keeping an open platform and allowing all software to compete on a level playing field just makes sense.”

Besides fan favorites Chrome and Skype, Free Commander, SpyDLLRemover and 2x Terminal were added. IcoFX, XMPlay and a few others are expected soon.

[link to PortableApps.com]

Skype And Chrome Go Portable originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/23. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

B&N Nook Officially Released

Frank — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:30:16 +0000

Barnes and Noble today officially revealed today their e-book reader, the Nook. So what does it have to offer? It measures 7.7 x 4.9 x 0.5 inches and it weighs only 11.2 ounces. It comes with two screens, a 6-inch grayscale e-in display and a 3.5-inch colour touchscreen that sits just under the main screen. It’s got 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi connectivity as well as AT&T 3G support. It comes with 2GB of internal storage (that doesn’t sound like a lot, but in reality that should hold about 1500 ebooks), microSD card support for additional storage, what they claim is a battery that only takes 3.5 hours to charge and will give you 10 days of usage, headphone jack, USB connectivity and MP3 player support.

Not only does the Nook let you read your favorite books but it also lets you take notes, highlight passages, listen to music, and create your own screen savers. They will also offer e-book lending and free Wi-Fi when your inside a Barnes and Noble store.

All of this sounds like a Kindle killer but there is one small problem. Not only do we not have Barnes and Noble stores here in Canada, it doesn’t look like the device which can now be pre-ordered for $259 will be offered to us Canadians. Looks like i’ll have to make a trip into Buffalo to pick mine up once they hit store shelves.

[Link to Nook.com]

B&N Nook Officially Released originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/20. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Open Source DS Bluetooth Adapter

Frank — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:58:31 +0000

Gordan Savicic and Gottfried Haider of DSbrut have just released their open source bluetooth adapter for the Nintendo DS. The adapter will allow the DS to interface to other bluetooth devices like GPS units and keyboards. This should really open up the homebrew scene.

Almost two years in the making, we’re happy to finally release our DS Bluetooth adapter. The tiny Slot-1 cartridge allows you to hook up the Nintendo DS wirelessly with other devices such as GPS-receivers, robots and so forth. Today we’re making all materials of the project openly available, including the schematics and a GPL-licensed software library for the Nintendo DS, because we believe in open hardware design and want to encourage collaboration in the hardware hacking community.
In our design, we use a tiny ATmega168 microcontroller to make the Nintendo DS speak to the RN-41 Bluetooth SMD module by Roving Networks. Using this piece of hardware the Nintendo DS can scan its neighbourhood and establish connections to other Bluetooth devices (supporting SPP). The module can also be remotely connected to, allowing for a range of interesting applications. We also developed a software library for the Nintendo DS, making it easy to use this new Bluetooth interface.

[Link to Open Source Bluetooth DS Adapter]

Open Source DS Bluetooth Adapter originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/20. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Super Fast Robot Hands

Frank — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:02:04 +0000

I was blown away when I first saw this video. This robot hands moves so quickly that they had to slow the play speed of the video just so you can make out what the robot is actually doing.

This is just more proof that someone somewhere is building SkyNet and these robots will be taking over the world. Remember the lesson we all learned while watching BSG? Forget the upcoming zombie onslaught, we have to be worried about these fraggin robots.

Super Fast Robot Hands originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/19. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Jailbreak Resistant iPhone

Frank — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 05:15:12 +0000

Reports are flying around the internets that Apple is now shipping iPhones with a new bootrom that is resistant to the 24kpwn exploit that was used by the iPhone Dev-Team to jailbreak the iPhone. To be really honest with you I’m surprised it took Apple this long.

MuscleNerd, who is a Dev-Team member, has confirmed that the latest bootrom, iBoot-359.3.2 makes jailbreaking the iPhone impossible for the time being. People thought that the original iPhone would never be jailbroken when it was released too.

There has always been a cat and mouse game between manufactures and hackers. Take Nagravision, the company who creates the client access cards for the parent company of Dish Networks, Echostar. Hackers and Nagravision has been playing this game for years. A new encryption is release and shortly (some times not so shortly) there-after the encryption is broken. I’m sure it will only take some time and some crafty hacker will find another exploit that can be used to jailbreak the iPhone.

Jailbreak Resistant iPhone originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/17. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Portable Data Center

Frank — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 05:04:13 +0000

A pioneering Dell employee has create a prototype portable data center. This won’t be replacing any of the big shipping container data centers that the likes of Google or Sun are building, but this is a great start to of things to come. This would be great in a disaster recovery plan to bring systems back up on a temporary basis after a catastrophic event.

Pike has crammed two servers running dual-core, 2.5 GHz Intel processors (Harpertown), 32 GB of memory, 4 TB of disk space for storage, a power supply, a 5-port Gigabit Ethernet Switch and even some solid-state drives into a metal box. The box consumes about 325 watts, is relatively portable and provides enough performance to act as a DNS server or a data center for a small business

With those specs this thing would make one awesome war driving machine, lol.

[Via GigaOM]

Portable Data Center originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/17. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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B&N E-Reader Photos Leaked

Frank — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:03:24 +0000

Pictrues and some suspected specs of the upcoming Barnes & Noble e-book reader have already started to make their way through the interwebs. The upcoming eBook (seems that’s what it will actually be called) will have a 800×600 6-inch monochrome e-ink monitor and a 480×144 colour LCD that will be used for browsing book covers and other content. The smaller screen will also double as a keyboard.

If your holding out on an e-reader because your waiting for a colour screen you out of luck here but the dual screen and one of them being a colour touch pad is a neat idea. E-Ink does have it’s advantageous like no eye strain while reading. The unit will have a light at the top to make it easier to read in low light environments.

This device looks like it will give the Kindle a run for it’s money. Here is to hoping that they offer this one here in Canada. (Yes, I’m pissed over the Kindle still not being available here).

B&N E-Reader Photos Leaked originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/16. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Vulcan Flash Drive

Frank — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 04:47:02 +0000

Now this is only for the Trekkie hardcore. The IMM Vulcan 2GB USB Flash Drive comes in the shape of a hand throwing down the traditional Vulcan gang sign (i’m trying really hard here to make this sound cool). If your not a trekkie you might not want to be caught dead with one of these in your computer bag. On the other hand this could be used as a female pleasure device (it would have to be bigger) so it might actually help you score instead of sending women running the other way.

If you want the geek cred then dropping $35.99 for this isn’t going to be a problem.

Vulcan Flash Drive originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/16. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

USB Prankster

Frank — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 04:40:50 +0000

This $32 USB device can easily cause some great laughs or it will cause you to be beaten senseless. Plus this flash drive looking USB device into an unsuspecting users computer and your victims computer will look like it’s possessed. Random mouse movements, caps lock turing itself off and on, or random garbled text and phrases. The Prankster also features a time delay switch so that you have time to make a getaway before all of the mayhem begins.

Although the unit is annoying it will never save a document or close out of anything. Still, make sure you know your victim well enough to know that he or she won’t be calling in the cops to investigate some terrorist action being performed on their computer.

You can try to pick this unit up (they are currently sold out) at Thumbs Up!

USB Prankster originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/13. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Cocaine Dealers iPhone App

Frank — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 04:24:13 +0000

Okay so there really isn’t a specific app on the iPhone for your cocaine dealers out there (although i can imagine how any one of the million converter apps could come in handy). But there is this cleaver fake looking iPhone spotted in the Netherlands which is really a digital scale.

Now I have seem my fair share of fake looking iPhones but this one takes the ~~coke~~ cake. All jokes aside, and I have been waiting to make that one since I first laid eyes on this picture, drugs are bad. Stay away from them.

Cocaine Dealers iPhone App originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/08. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

More Linux Distros That Don’t Suck

Frank — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:56:37 +0000

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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$150,000 In Amazon Fiasco

Frank — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 04:32:25 +0000

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.

Linux Distros That Don’t Suck

Frank — Fri, 15 May 2009 20:44:43 +0000

I, much like every other hardcore geek on the face of the earth, have multiple linux based distro iso’s laying around. Some of them are for testing and some of them contain tools that I use on a daily basis. I have had many people email me about the best distro out there. The only answer I have for them is “depends on what you want to do”. I have spent sometime working on a list of Linux distros and what they are good for.

Now, before I start. Discussion distro’s with people is like discussion religion. Everyone has one and everyone feels something different towards other people who aren’t of the same faith. I just want to remind everyone that this list is just what I see, and how I feel about each distro. It’s definitely not a “what’s right and what’s wrong” type of list. Enjoy.

Knoppix – The one that started it all. Knoppix was the first major LiveCD based distro to hot the scene and open up a whole new world of bootable operating systems. This is probably the best known and most complete LiveCD distro out there. It contains everything you need to act as a full production replacement system. Word Processing, graphics editors, media players, browers, mail clients. You name is, Knoppix has it.

SystemRescueCD – This one I keep with me all the time. SystemRescueCD is a massive collection of tools to help you get out of a bind. It aims to provide an easy way to carry out admin tasks on your computer, such as creating and editing the partitions of the hard disk. It contains a lot of system tools (parted, partimage, fstools, …) and basic tools (editors, midnight commander, network tools). It is very easy to use. Plus, it can also be booted via a USB flash drive. A must for anyone’s collection.

Dynabolic – Billed as a complete media distro, dyne:bolic is shaped on the needs of media activists, artists and creatives as a practical tool for multimedia production: you can manipulate and broadcast both sound and video with tools to record, edit, encode and stream, having automatically recognized most device and peripherals: audio, video, TV, network cards, firewire, usb and more; all using only free software!. Just boot off the CD and your ready to go.

BackTrack – The king of all penetration testing and security distros. If you’re worried about security or exploits then this is the one for you. With more than 300 different up-to-date tools which are logically structured according to the work flow of security professionals. This structure allows even newcomers to find the related tools to a certain task to be accomplished. New technologies and testing techniques are merged into BackTrack as soon as possible to keep it up-to-date.

NimbleX – This is one of my favorite all around LiveCD based distros. It’s full featured but a lot smaller than something like Knoppix. With everything you need to act as a Desktop replacement in a 200 MB CD image, what more can you ask for.

Gentoo – The hardcore Linux distro. What makes Gentoo unique compared to other distros is the need to manually compile every part of the OS. I know that their are gui installers now and pre built packages for the mindless, but having the ability to tweak and optimize every aspect of the OS will not only give you a stable system, but one hell of a quick one too. Mind you, all of this compilation could easily take you days before you have a base system, especially when you make Xorg and a windows manager like KDE or gnome.

Debian – My day to day OS. Debian is one of the oldest and most stable distros around. The core to a bunch of other distros like Knoppix and Ubuntu. If your looking for something that will give you no headaches and carries a very stable branch of applications, Debian is the distro for you.

Ubuntu – Ubuntu is Debian to the next level. It’s a fork of Debian that has quickly become the most popular Linux distro in the world. It’s easy to install, easy to use, and is probably the best Windows replacement OS that is Linux based. Ubuntu’s software repository contains applications that are more recent than say Debian, but the down side to that is the fine edge you walk on when it comes to stability.

Fedora – The big boy on the block, and by big boy I don’t mean popularity, I mean in size. Fedora comes chalked with what seems like every application ever made. Although to some this might be nothing more than bloat, to others it’s a full and complete experience. Install Fedora and you pretty much have every open source application that is useful at your finger tips. If you have never experienced Linux before this is a great distro to get your feet wet with.

I know there are other great distro’s like Slackware, DSL, and OpenSUSE, this list is just a collection of distro’s that I find useful or that I have had experience with. Feel free to add your recommendations in the comments.

Linux Distros That Don’t Suck originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/05/15. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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UPDATE – Beatles Make It Into Rock Band

Ryan Yewell — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 19:35:40 +0000

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.

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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.

Netflix and Samsung Blu-Ray Team Up

Ryan Yewell — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 02:00:04 +0000

Netflix and Samsung recently announced that two of Samsung’s Blu-Ray players (the BD-P2550 and BD-P2500) now have the ability to stream the Netflix service. Samsung and Netflix also plan to bring the movie/tv subscription service to more of Samsung’s consumer electronics in the future.

To make it happen, the Samsung Blu-ray player communicates with Netflix via its internet connection, then a Netflix interface appears onscreen. You sign into your account, enter an activation code, and you’ll then be able to stream “dvd picture quality movies and TV episodes”. According to their marketing material, there are currently over 12,000 movies and TV episodes to choose from on Netflix.

It remains to be seen how many people own an HD/Blu-Ray setup that would be in the market for streaming DVD-quality movies through a subscription based model like NetFlix. One might wonder if a consumer already has a Blu-Ray player, and an internet connection (and
computer), they might already be getting their DVD content from, ummm… “other” sources.

[Link to Press Release]

Netflix and Samsung Blu-Ray Team Up originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/10/27. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Margarator – Make Margaritas In Your Car

Frank — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 17:15:47 +0000

How many times you been cruising down the road when the craving for a nice tasty cold Margarita? I know I never have, but if I ever did the Margarator MSB-585 would come to save the day.

The blender was clearly created for on-the-go drinkers. IMHO, drinking and driving is a really bad idea. Making a drink while your driving in an even worse idea, but this 12V cigarette lighter powered blender could come in handy while your on a camping trip. Just don’t even get pulled over by the cops with one of these in your front seat plugged in, you’ll be in for a big surprise.

You can pick up your own Margarator for $110 from BarWare

Margarator – Make Margaritas In Your Car originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/10/25. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

3DS Max Now Owns Softimage

Ryan Yewell — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 16:38:48 +0000

You’ve probably heard of 3DS Max, the software suite that creates a lot of the visuals you see in games these days (and other media). You may have heard of Softimage as well, another software suite that is used in making games (and film/television). Well, Autodesk (maker of 3DS Max) just bought up Softimage’s business for the price tag of $35 million.

Marc Petit, senior vice president, Autodesk Media & Entertainment, states in the official press release that both products will “help us accelerate the work of our Games Technology Group, as we build the next-generation of real-time, interactive 3D authoring tools for games, film and television.”

Not sure if this is good news or not. Competition is healthy, but having the best of both worlds (and hopefully not the worst of both) being used in our entertainment mediums could be cool…

Autodesk plans to keep Softimage in the market, and continue to develop for it. Of course they also plan to take some of the Softimage technology and put it in their own product, 3DS Max. It remains to be seen how Autodesk will keep the 2 product lines both distinct and innovative.

You can tell that Autodesk senses some apprehension out there, and Marc Petit concluded the press release with these words, to calm those who use Softimage products… “we know users invest a lot of time and energy into mastering their favorite 3D product. To all 3D artists out there, I want to tell you that we understand your passion for the creative tools you use daily, and that with Autodesk, you can choose your passion.”

More info at http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?id=12022457&siteID=123112]

3DS Max Now Owns Softimage originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/10/25. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Is Your Printer Spying On You?

Frank — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 01:21:26 +0000

Seems that all of those forensic based TV shows were right all along, police can track the make, model, and serial number of a printer just by looking at a piece of paper that came from that printer. Scary stuff. Good to know that the guys at the EFF are actually trying to do something about this.

You can help the project by sending in prints from your printer. The larger their collection, the larger the possibility of them cracking the code. You can visit the EFF’s printer dot project here

Is Your Printer Spying On You? originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/10/23. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Ryan Yewell — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 03:10:06 +0000

This game has been in development (and rumoured) for years already, and even back in July John Riccitiello (CEO of Electronic Arts, owner of Bioware), let slip in an interview enough details that it was pretty obvious what was coming. At any rate, yesterday it became official, game developer Bioware (Knights Of The Old Republic, Mass Effect) and LucasArts announced a new Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game called “Star Wars: The Old Republic”.

The makers say the game will focus more on story than other MMORPG’s have in the past, and will take place roughly 300 years after Bioware’s Knights Of The Old Republic, thousands of years BEFORE Darth Vader and all that drama. So, will you fight for good, or evil?

[Link to Star Wars: The Old Republic]

Star Wars: The Old Republic originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/10/22. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

LED Hard Drive Clock

Frank — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 04:03:09 +0000

There have been many “Clocks” built out of old hard drives, but this one has to take the cake. Ian Smith this super cool clock from an old hard drive he had laying around. By using some tri-colour LEDs, a PIC microcontroller, and some simple vision techniques he has built something that not only functions as a clock but as a pie chart by the looks of it.

The platter has a slit cut through it so that as the disk spins the illumination of the LEDs shine through. Due to the speed (5400 RPM or about 90 revs a second) the eyes are tricked into seeing a colour. So by turning the LEDs off and on at just the right time you can make this thing display a clock, pie chart, or any other circular art you can think of.

[Link to LED Hard Drive Clock]

LED Hard Drive Clock originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/10/20. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Laser Music Sequencer

Frank — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 04:04:46 +0000

If you have ever been to a club you can usually be assured to see some kind of light show (unless the clubs you frequent are in some back alley). Most of those light shows incorporate lasers to add to the experience. Now you can create your own laser show that will act to the music, albeit a small show, but great for your room.

Funky Alex has come up with a cool dual speaker laser X/Y mirror display that will bounce a laser around to the beat of the music. I’m sure if you had some bigger speakers and a longer throw you could probably have this display on an entire wall.

The vibrations from the 2 base speakers (with 1 mirror an each speaker) makes the laserbeam move with the music and the frequencies (audio).

You can find entire instructions on building your own including links to some software for your Mac to help you draw some cool effect on Instructables

Laser Music Sequencer originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/10/18. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Hunt Down Wi Fi Leeches With MoocherHunter

Frank — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 04:09:48 +0000

Last week we showed you how to screw with people who were stealing your Wi Fi signal by flipping their browsers and blurring their images. Today we show you how to hunt those Wi Fi moochers. The problem with leaving your Wi Fi unprotected is that malicious people can use it to download illegal files that can be tracked back to you. The best thing to do is lock down your Wi Fi to ensure that no one does something that you might be blamed for, but if you choose to leave it open and have a problem with a user or two taking advantage of it you can track them down and pay them a visit.

First thing you are gonna want to do is download MoocherHunter. MoocherHunter tracks the data that is being streamed from your unprotected Wi Fi right to their front door. The program is pretty straighforward to use and is part of a much larger wireless auditing toolkit called OSWA-Assistant which is chalked full of useful tools to make sure your Wi Fi is well protected.

Use this information wisely, don’t go out and do something stupid with it. Remember, this is to be used for personal research, not as an excuse to knock at someone’s door and start a fight.

Hunt Down Wi Fi Leeches With MoocherHunter originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/10/15. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Slimmed Down Xbox

Frank — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 04:11:46 +0000

Once Microsoft decided to roll out the 360, they had no plans to offer a lite or slim version. One modder has decided to defy the laws of console gaming and build his own slim version of the original Xbox. The slimmed down Xbox is reduced by almost 2 inches in length, width, and height. With a total reduction in volume of around 60%, you know this unit has undergone a serious diet. The weight of the unit is just as impressive, 4 pounds down from a hefty 8.5 pounds.

The mods were possible with some new components – a slimline DVD, 2.5 inch drive, Wi-Fi adapter, and a pair of Iceburg4 Pro Chip Cooling fans keep it all nice and cool.

He should produce a slim kit that people could buy, with original Xbox units selling now-a-days for peanuts they make great media center PC’s since that can run XBMC or ever a MythTV frontend.

[Link to Xbox Slim]

Slimmed Down Xbox originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/10/11. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.