tech.nocr.at » nes

NES Controller MP3 Player

Frank — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 23:46:16 +0000

Some might say that it is a mortal sin to mod vintage hardware, but when you can take said piece of hardware and make it functional again it’s forgivable. Such is the case with this NES controller that has been repurposed as an enclosure for a portable MP3 player.

Quite a bit of modding was needed to cram the MP3 into the enclosure. The case had to be cut to accommodate the headphone jack, USB port and the LCD screen. The buttons on the controller have also been patched into the controls on the MP3 board, not only making this one slick mod but a functional one as well.

All-in-all this is one slick and clean mod. I would like to see a built in rechargeable battery that can be charged via the USB port.

[Link to NES MP3 Controller]

NES Controller MP3 Player originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2012/01/20. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Golden Zelda NES Case Mod

Frank — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 05:26:22 +0000

How can you be a geek and not love the 8-bit classic Zelda on the greatest gaming console of it’s time, the NES. Gamer/Modder Ryan Fitzpatrick took his love of the classic game and console to a whole new level.

As you can see from the video below, Ryan paid tribute to the classic game by painting it with an automotive grade clear coated gold paint job with silver and red accents, reminiscent of the original Legend of Zelda gold cartridge.

If you yourself have come up with a great console mod, or know someone who did, drop us a line so we can feature it here on tech.nocr.at

Golden Zelda NES Case Mod originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2012/01/20. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Super Mario Bros. Crossover

Frank — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:59:49 +0000

Is there anything better than good old 8-bit gaming? Sure you can always immerse yourself in ultra real world gameplay, but nothing beats the hissing of old school game music and 2d side sculling fun. Plus, you don’t need multiple graphics cards chained together to enjoy this one.

Super Mario Crossover is a flash based fan created game that allows you to play the NES Super Mario Bros. game as a variety of characters. Created by Jay Pavlina and Zach from Exploding Rabbit, Super Mario Bros. Crossover offers a whole world of cheats and fun easter eggs. You can get more info from their wiki or jump right in and play the game now.

Super Mario Bros. Crossover originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2012/01/17. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Shinobi III On Your iPhone

Frank — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 21:35:07 +0000

I spent many an hour and many a quarter on Shinobi back in the day and now I can spend just as much time (but not as much money) playing it on my iPhone.

Sega has just released the great Genesis/Mega Drive classic to the App Store. The controls as great and the game play is responsive, not much more you can ask for really.

You can grab the iPhone version for $2.99 or you can also grab it for the Wii Virtual Console, The Sega Genesis Collection for the PSP & PS2, Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection for the 360 & PS3 or on Steam.

Shinobi III On Your iPhone originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/28. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

flipSYNC II Charging Fob

Frank — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 02:37:54 +0000

I bet if you reached into your computer bag right now you could easily pull out multiple USB cables. You know what I mean, that birds nest of cabling consisting of multiple iPod/iPhone cables and USB mini variants.

Scosche aims to change that for you with their flipSYNC II fob. Much like the key fob of a car, the flipSYNC is a USB cable that folds up nicely into a keychain fob.

The currently offer two models; one with an iPod/iPhone 30-pin connector and one with dual miniUSB/microUSB. They are sleek, small, and durable and will run you $20 a piece. I already have a nice Lacie USB key on my key chain and will soon add one of these cool units.

[Link to flipSYNC II]

flipSYNC II Charging Fob originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/27. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Contact

Frank — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 05:44:58 +0000

Have a story you want to share with us? Sure, just follow these simple guidelines …

If you are a company wanting to show off a product or service please explain what it is you are offering. Our readers just love new and juicy technology. If you are a PR firm representing a company or product please include your contact info incase we have any questions. We will honour an embargo if you have one.
If you are a reader and want to pass on information or a breaking story the please let us know the url to the story or attach any relevant documentation. Include your name and email address to contact you if we have any questions. If you don’t want us to use you as a story to the story please indicate so.
Although we monitor the incoming desk pretty much all the time, we are human and we must sleep. If you send us a note at 4 a.m. and are wondering why we haven’t gotten back to you in 20 mins it’s because we are sleeping.

If your okay with the above then please send our editors a note at

editors [at] tech.nocr.at

If we like the story we will look into it and cover it on tech.nocr.at.

Contact originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/24. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Super Mario Bros – Backwards

Frank — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 02:52:46 +0000

As a true gamer you must have already finished the original NES version of Super Mario Bros. You have probably already finished it in a variety of ways like fastest game, collecting all the coins, or killing all the turtles. Why not try beating it in reverse as well.

Much like reading in the western world, the original game was played from left to right. Hacker JJ decided playing Super Mario Bros the traditional was was boring and went about reversing the horizontal deflection coil wires of an old CRT TV which produced a mirror image.

Play the game backwards wasn’t enough, he also swapped the buttons on his NES controller just to get the full experience. I wonder if this is how people play games in the UK

[Link to Backwards Mario]

Super Mario Bros – Backwards originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/23. 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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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.

Kensington’s PowerLift Backup-Up Battery

Frank — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 22:33:09 +0000

I was just talking to someone from Steam TV Networks about the need for a sturdy dock that can hold up a tablet or phone, something that keeps the device propped up when using it to watch video. Kensington has release just such an item built for the iPhone.

Kensington’s new PowerLift is a sturdy dock that also contains a 1,200 mAh lithium-ion polymer backup battery. This bulky yet small unit is perfect for those long flights; prop it up on the fold out tray and you can enjoy countless hours of media goodness. 20 additional hours of music playback, 5 additional hours of video and even an extra hour and a half of FaceTime.

The unit also has a built in USB cable, perfect cable management, and it has some LEDs to let you know where the charging level is at. Its up for pre-order on Kensington’s site and will run you about $50.

Kensington’s PowerLift Backup-Up Battery originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/19. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Yet More PSP Phone Leakage

Frank — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 19:29:58 +0000

In probably the worst kept secret of 2010 and 2011 the Sony Xperia, or PSP Phone has seen more press time than any other product I can remember and it hasn’t even been officially announced or acknowledged yet. This isn’t new for Sony – remember the PSP Go or the PS3 Slim that hit the interwebs months before Sony announced them?

As we see in yet another video of the soon to be announced (we hope) Sony Xperia PSP Phone; it looks just the same as all of the other videos we have seen. The only difference is that this one is outside and not on some Chinese assembly line or in the basement of some blogger.

It’s no long hype Sony, everyone and their brother have seen this phone. Time to put up or shut up and give us some good Android/PSP goodness.

Yet More PSP Phone Leakage originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/17. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

iOS 4.3 Jailbreak Already Available

Frank — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 03:35:53 +0000

The iOS 4.3 SDK has only been available for one day and it’s already been jailbroken. A new version of the famous PwnageTool can now jailbreak iOS 4.3. This just solidifies the fact that Apple can’t patch the limera1n venerability that groups like the iPhone Dev Team and the Chrome Dev Team are using.

The masterminds behind the hack are speculating that Apple might fix the venerability in the upcoming CDMA iPhone that Verizon will be selling starting February 10th of this year. It’s a new phone with a new radio, it would be real easy for Apple to address the exploit in a hardware revision. The same could be said for the rumoured iPad 2, but new hardware that fixes old problems also brings with it new problems.

The cat and mouse game will continue and my money is on the dedicated community that has worked so hard to bring the jailbroken openness to a set of devices that should have been open from the very start. Way to go guy and keep up the good work.

iOS 4.3 Jailbreak Already Available originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/13. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Oxygen Audio’s iPhone Car Deck

Frank — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 05:57:36 +0000

If your car doesn’t come with some sort of built in iPhone control then you know your limited to bluetooth or cable hook-up to enjoy the tunes on your phone. If you want to eliminate the need for all those wires then the O Car stereo deck from Oxygen Audio might be something to consider.

The unit turns your iPhone itself into your car stereo by allowing users to control of the stereo functions right from their iPhone; Internet radio stations, GPS navigation, Google maps and pretty much anything your iPhone can play or do. Your iPhone docks right into the head unit and melds right into your car’s dashboard.

For US$349, the O Car has pre-amp outs, 4×55 watts of power, FM/AM presets and supports the iPhone 3G/3GS/4. The price seems a little steep, but if you want to enjoy streaming apps like Pandora and don’t want all of the clutter on your front seat it’s one of you’re only choices.

Oxygen Audio’s iPhone Car Deck originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/11. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Electroluminescent iOS Charger

Frank — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 05:18:25 +0000

I can’t begin to count the amount of iPhone chargers I have. Multiple ones from Apple, knock off units I bought because I left them at home, I even have an awesome unit from iGo that can charge two USB devices from it’s internal battery. But I bet that none of them are as green or as cool as this unit.

The Visible Green Charger will reduce standby power by up to 85% when your iOS device is not in use. The awesome electroluminescent cord will light up and flow quickly to indicate that your iOS device is charged up to 65% and will slow down as the device’s battery starts to fill up.

The Visable Green Charger will retail for $40 when it hits store shelves later this month. Currently the device only supports iOS devices but the company behind the unit, Dexim, hopes to expand it to other gadgets that can take a charge through USB.

[Link to Visable Green Charger]

Electroluminescent iOS Charger originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/10. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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.

Video Of The Playstation Phone

Frank — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 01:51:02 +0000

We talked about a Japanese newspaper reporting on the details of the new PSP Phone last week and now we have stumbled across some nice and clear video of the unit running. YouTube user “xxmajstor” displays this Android powered beatuty. More reason to drop my iPhone and move to the new PlayStation Phone

This video is of the Sony Ericsson ZEUS-Z1 “PlayStation Phone”. The unit looks like it has L and R shoulder buttons and a volume control right in the same location as the PSP-Go. The slide out features some game controls including the reported “touch strip”. If the video wasn’t enough, pay close attention to the presence of a PlayStation controller icon on the screen.

Video Of The Playstation Phone originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/02. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Xtoaster360

Frank — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 05:50:40 +0000

I have seen many mods in my time, but I have never seen anything like this. Modder ncaruso11 yanked out the guts of his toaster and replaced them in epic fashion with the innards of an Xbox 360. Sure it ends up being a lot bulkier than your average 360, but how cool would it be to have a toaster sitting under your TV. If that doesn’t get the chicks I don’t know what will (alright so it won’t get you any chicks or toast actually).

How sweet is that, especially how he moved the interface status lights to the front on the toaster. ncaruso11 says “If I can sell this one then there are sure to be bigger and better ones in the future. Feel free to throw out any ideas.”. I just might consider bidding on this. I need a new 360 for the basement and best of all, I can tell my wife I’m just buying a toaster, and expensive one yes, but still a toaster.

Xtoaster360 originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/02. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Windows Phone 7 NES Emulator Barred

Frank — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 05:12:48 +0000

Looks like Microsoft is “pulling an Apple”; barring an emulator of the classic 8-bit video gaming system NES. Matt Bettcher has put some hard working into getting this emulator to work (video of it running after the break) and Microsoft has just shut him down.

Matt is looking to drum up community support in hopes of changing Microsoft’s mind, and in the meantime he will be releasing his project into the open source world. Come one Microsoft, every device with a screen and an input device should have an NES emulator.

Windows Phone 7 NES Emulator Barred originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/02. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

iPod Nano Recovery Mode

Frank — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 19:47:29 +0000

After discovering James Whelton’s SpringBoard.plist hack for the 6G iPod Nano, Steve Throughton-Smith decided to play around with his Nano to see what else he might find.

Steve may very well have stumbled on some kind of DFU-like recovery mode, much like the recovery mode that allows customized firmware (or jailbreaking) to be injected into the iPhone/iPod touch.

Discovered what may be DFU mode: hold down the restart buttons until you get a black screen (it reboots twice) and iTunes sees the device and alerts you.
Afterwards, modified iRecovery to work with the iPod nano (had to add its DFU/Recovery USB ID) and allow it send files, and tested with some files I had extracted from the iPod nano 6G firmware

It seems that people are getting closer and closer to a working jailbreak for the Nano. I might just get back video playback on my Nano sooner than I thought.

iPod Nano Recovery Mode 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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Android Trojan: Geinimi

Frank — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 14:01:00 +0000

With more and more people using Android based phones it’s not a surprise that we are starting to see more and more viruses for these devices. The greater the market share the more appealing an OS is to malware and virus writers.

The newest nasty on the block is called Geininmi. Geininimi latches onto Android applications that use portals outside of Google’s Marketplace. It expands the range of said applications permissions and sends the info it collection to parts unknown. Security firm Lookout speculates that it may be trying to build a botnet and with the insane amount of Android phones out there it’s bound to be one massive botnet.

Pay close attention to the permissions that are requested by any application you install. If an app asks for permission to your contact list and it has nothing to do with your contacts you probably shouldn’t install it. As we all know, 90% of people who get infected don’t use common sense to protect themselves. Don’t become one of these victims.

We’ll keep you posted on additions to this story.

Android Trojan: Geinimi originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/12/30. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Advertising

Frank — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 03:02:45 +0000

Why tech.nocr.at?

Founded in 2007, tech.nocr.at has quickly become one of the top blogs for tech news, hardware hacking, and obscure gadgets. Our audience includes early adopters, gadget lovers, entrepreneurs, influencers, marketing, PR and advertising agencies. tech.nocr.at is also popular with bloggers, Twitter and Facebook users, an increasingly influential demographic.

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

Cheap WiFi Radio

Frank — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 03:56:33 +0000

Looking for a cheap way to stream your tunes all around the house? Then look no further than this cheap DIY WiFi radio.

Video blogger Tinkernet shows us how to build one by using an Asus WL-520GU and a USB sound adapter, and best of all it will cost you less than $50. The video shows the steps involved in putting it all together using Windows. If you want to use a different OS then simply visit MightyOhm for detailed step by step instructions.

I always have my laptop connected to my stereo, now, when I build one of these I can just stream directly to my stereo. Best of all, I can control it from my iPhone!

Cheap WiFi Radio originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/09/08. 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.

NES Controller With Android

Frank — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:31:18 +0000

Now that mobiles phones have advanced to the point that they are great gaming machines why not have a proper game controller to enjoy them? That’s an itch that hacked Sk3tch just had to scratch. By hacking together an original NES controller, an Arduino and a blueSMRF Bluetooth module he was able to use the controller via bluetooth and even demo’s the hack by playing Super Mario Brothers 3 in an emulator in the video after the break.

He says that the mod it Alpha at best, but from the video it looks great to me. All he needs to do now if slap everything together in a nice case or better yet, find a way to put all of the components in the NES controller itself.

NES Controller With Android originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/09/03. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Privacy

Frank — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 04:51:22 +0000

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

Shogo Linux Powered Tablet

Frank — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 04:45:24 +0000

Looks like someone is trying to de-throne Apple’s iPad. Japanese company Redstar are taking pre-orders on their Linux powered tablet.

The 10″ tablet is multi-touch friendly, comes with 1024×600 resolution and is powered by a Freescale iMX-37. It will also include 4GB of internal memory, 256MB of RAM, WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G and a SDHC memory card slot.

No pricing information or shipping date has been set yet, but I know as a happy hacker I can’t wait to get my hands on one, especially since it will run Linux. Imagine all the possibilities. If you know Japanese, then you can hit their website to get more info, otherwise, check the video below of the unit in action.

Shogo Linux Powered Tablet originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/08/30. 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.

iPhone Spy Stick

Frank — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 19:27:08 +0000

How scary is it to know that something as simple as a USB stick can pull data from your iPhone (with some limitations). You really don’t need to be super scared just yet since the iPhone Spy Stick will only run under Windows and will only work with iPhones running iOS 3.2.1 and earlier, but the company claims it will have an iPhone 4 version sometime in October.

How it works is simple, you pull the stick and iPhone into a machine and run the included software. You can grab deleted texts, calendar events, pics, and contact info. You can also grab locations tracked via GPS, voice memos, recent map searches and your web history.

The supplier boasts that it “Looks like an ordinary USB flash drive – no one will suspect that it’s a professional grade forensics tool.” Maybe some one should tell them about the “iPhone Spy Stick” logo that’s on it.

If you want one it will cost you $199

iPhone Spy Stick originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/08/19. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Real Life Flinstones House

Frank — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:21:47 +0000

This real life house looks like something straight out of the Flinstones. The house which is located in Portugal uses two gigantic stones for it’s main structure linked with a concrete mix.

I’m sure it has an awesome insulation value since this boulders are ridiculously thick, but on the flip side, home renovations on this unit would be a bitch.

Real Life Flinstones House originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/08/18. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Transforming Thomas

Frank — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 13:20:05 +0000

As a father of a small child I know all to well who Thomas the Train is. My little guy has a really cool train table with 100′s of trains (I step on the stupid things all the time). Although I do enjoy the morals that the show teaches my child, I often wonder what ever happened to the awesome violent cartoons of my childhood. Show’s G.I., Joe, Thundercat’s and Voltron?

Well, now you can mix the two and enjoy play time with your kids.

This awesome Chinese knockoff brings the joy of Thomas and mashes it with the awesomeness of Voltron. I’m sure if you head on down to your local Chinatown you’ll be able to pick one up.

Transforming Thomas originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/08/18. 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.

Brushduino – Arduino Meets Toothbrush

Frank — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:59:12 +0000

You knew it was bound to happen. We have seen Arduino’s used in everything from toasters to coffee machines and now we see the Brushduino. The cool hacks knows when you are brushing via an accelerometer that you attach to your toothbrush. By knowing what your doing the unit will tell you when it’s time to move to the next section of your mouth.

“It’s basically all LED’s. There are 6 white LED’s that correspond to the six regions of the mouth that I want to highlight, there are four green LED’s for showing progress and there’s a speaker I pulled out of some broken toy that’s there to entertain the children while they brush. The multi-strand wire connected to the three analog inputs on the Arduino also supplies 3.3v and ground to the accelerometer. The cable itself is an old ADB keyboard cable from my old Mac SE/30 from back in the day. It’s been laying in my junk box for ages. There are also some current limiting resistors for the LED’s and a bunch more of that lovely AWG30 solid core wire I like so much.”

Link to Brushduino

Brushduino – Arduino Meets Toothbrush originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/02/23. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Glow In The Dark Toilet Paper

Frank — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 05:10:07 +0000

How many times have you been in the bathroom taking care of business when suddenly the lights go out? Never you say? Well I have, once. Trust me, when you are caught in a situation where you are in complete darkness the only thing you want to know is where the toilet paper is, and when the lights are off you have no idea.

Enter the glow in the dark toilet paper. If you are ever caught in a situation like I mentioned above you will be thankful that you spend $8 a roll (ya that’s right, cleaning up you business with glow in the dark toilet paper is expensive).

You can grab you very own roll at I Want One of Those

Glow In The Dark Toilet Paper originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/02/22. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Happy Birthday BBS

Frank — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 05:13:20 +0000

Just a few days ago, Feb 16 to be exact, in 1978 Ward Christensen and Randy Suess launched the first ever Bulletin Board System in Chicago.

Many people belive that the BBS was the predecesor to the modern internet, a crude form I will agree but a much more enjoyable form of social interaction online per say. If your not familiar with how a BBS works let me give you a crash course. Back in the day we use to have these devices connected to our computers called modems. They allowed us to connect phone lines to our systems so that we could call other computers and interact in a message based way. BBS’s offered the world of information; files, messaging and even games (called door games).

Many people think that the BBS is dead, they couldn’t be more wrong. BBS’s are still quite active and alive with thriving communities and best of all, no spam or trolls (alright, so there are still stupid people in this world, even on BBS’s). bbs-scene.org is a great place to find out more about BBS’s and how you can participate.

Come join us in Web 0.2, I still love it (and run a system myself!)

Happy Birthday BBS originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/02/20. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

The C64 iPhone Emulator Is Back Baby

Frank — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:35:38 +0000

People in their 30′s rejoice, you may now relive your youth on your iPhone, again. The Commodore 64 emulator is available again in the iTunes App Store. (Check the video of it in action after the break)

If you don’t remember, back in June Apple removed it from the app store claiming that it violated the rules on launching executable code (Uhmmm, isn’t that what all emulators do?).

The only downside to this new version is that it can only play games that are downloaded from the App Store itself, no uploading of your own ROMs. I’m hoping someone out there will whip up a hack so that we can get such classics as “California Games” and “Bards Tale” back on. Oh the memories.

[Link to iPhone C64 Emulator]

The C64 iPhone Emulator Is Back Baby originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/11/13. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

PSP GO FW 6.10 Hacked?

Frank — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:19:13 +0000

A video that has been flowing around the inter-tubes shows a PSP Go running firmware 6.10 running a Genesis Emulator. This can only mean that the Go’s 6.10 firmware has been hacked, no?

According to PSP Hacks ….

Good News! – Well Neon says it is and if this video is anything to go by then we may be inclined to believe him. The video shows a PSP Go running a Genesis Emulator and the hack is apparently a kernel level exploit.
Now for the bad new, Neon says he has no plans on releasing the hack, whether he is just playing hard to get is not yet apparent but it will no doubt lead to many pessimists insisting that the cake is a lie.

Does this mean that we might soon be able to use the internal 16 GB of memory in the Go for custom firmware goodness? I sure hope so.

[Via PSP Hacks]

PSP GO FW 6.10 Hacked? originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/11/13. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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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Cup Communicator

Frank — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:19:19 +0000

When I was a kid you communicated with two tin cans connected with a string, and that was the early 80′s for God’s sake. If you want to relive your childhood with a modern twist (some of us supres our childhood memories of have a Sega system while everyone else had moved on to the NES) then check out these walkie talkies that are designed to look like paper cups connected by string.

The design of the Cup Communicator is focused on the gesture of use and the relationship between the users and object. I aim to explore the potential of the product as a medium for interaction and reassess the way we use technology.
The form and function of the Cup Communicator refer to the ‘two-cans and string’ children’s toy and the physical factors involved with that device. This typology and its associations remind us of the magic and playfulness of our first communication devices.

Not exactly the form you’d want for this type of function, but it will definitely turn heads.

[Link to Cup Communicator]

Cup Communicator originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/11/12. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

NCube: Portable Gamecube Goodness

Frank — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:46:38 +0000

I’ve seen my fair share of portable Gamecube systems, but this has got to be one of the slickest I have ever see.

Designed and hacked together by a Ben Heck apprentice, the NCube is a beautiful creation. The case is a seriously modded Datamax Kid’s Delight and the screen is an unmodded Zenith PSone display. The unit also has a 2-way switch so you can choose to run off batteries or AC, a memory card slot and a rear-mounted disc drive.

You can read up on the 90 hour journey to create this or just skip right down to the end of this article to see it in action.

[Link to NCube Design]

NCube: Portable Gamecube Goodness originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/11/12. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

App Store Overwhelming? Try Chorus

Frank — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:07:10 +0000

With the iTunes app store pushing over 100,000 choices it’s easy to see how someone can easily be overwhelmed. If you’re like me you need some clarity amongst the sea of choices. Thankfully there is an app to help you out.

Thanks to the wisdom of crowds, Chorus gives you recommendations from people you know who have already tried the app. Since it’s a crowd sourcing based solution, something like this needs to catch on with millions of users in order to be bullet proof.

The concept and idea is great and I really hope it catches on since something needs to be done to help with the sea of choices that we now have.

[Link to Chorus]

App Store Overwhelming? Try Chorus originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/11/12. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Snegenes-P

Frank — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:54:31 +0000

What the hell is the Snegenes-P you ask? Snes + Genesis + NES – Portable. If you’re the hardcore 8 or 16 bit gamer and refuse to use one of those fancy handheld emulators like the Gemei X760+, then why not build yourself one of these?

Modder Trstn18 smashed together components from all his favorite consoles into this custom see-through case so that you can see all of the messy goodness. Coming in at 8.6-inches wide, 5.4-inches tall and 1-inch thick, it’s not really portable in my opinion. Powered by 6 2600mAh batteries, this beast should get you somewhere between 5 to 7 hours of game play on a single charge. It also has composite video and stereo outputs so you can enjoy all of your 8-bit goodness on your TV.

As you can clearly see, the back of the unit is a bit of a mess. I’m not too sure how comfortable this thing will be when you hold it with a massive cartridge sticking out the back.

[Via Ben Heck Forums]

Snegenes-P originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/11/10. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

A Cell Phone For Grama

Frank — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:07:55 +0000

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

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

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

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

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

[Link to 6380 Seniors Mobile]

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

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Hacker Hacks Jailbroken iPhone

Frank — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:55:51 +0000

We all know the dangers of running a jailbroken iPhone. No tech support, the wrath of your carrier, and simple exploits as demonstrated by Dutch hacker. With a little bit of port scanning to find jailbroken iPhones with SSH running he sent users a message that read “Your iPhone’s been hacked because it’s really insecure! Please visit doiop.com/iHacked and secure your iPhone right now! Right now, I can access all your files.”

The URL directs people to Paypal and requests €5 in exchange for instructions that explains how to remove the hack. How did the Dutch hacker get in? All jailbroken iPhones have a default root password, if you forget to change it your left wide open to this kind of attack.

This is more of an annoying attack than anything else. With root access to the phone a lot more could have been done. Remember, if you jailbreak your phone, for the love of God, change the root password.

Hacker Hacks Jailbroken iPhone originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/11/05. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

DIY: Digital Mixtape

Frank — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:36:01 +0000

Remember the good old days? When you wanted to impress a girl you’d spend all night creating her a mixtape? No, you don’t? Maybe I’m just old.

Justin Cole wanted to relive the good old days while still using modern day technology so he decided to mash together a digital tape adapter and a flash drive.

My new design uses a small mp3 player that I disassembled and placed inside a cassette tape adapter for an iPod. This allows for mp3′s to be played back through a tapedeck. This has all of the ease and technology of an mp3 player with the retro coolness of a mix tape.

[Link to Digital Mixtape]

DIY: Digital Mixtape originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/11/05. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

In Case You Missed It: Week 43 Round Up

Frank — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:35:51 +0000

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

Gadgets

Remote Controlled Tissue Box
Electronic Guitar Shirt
Sucker Alert: $1200 Mouse
Sucker Alert: Wattgate 381 “Audio Grade” Socket

Gaming

Nokia Kills The N-Gage – Are You Shocked?
Nintendo DSi Get’s Bigger
Quickdev16: SNES Developers Cart
Soccer Hero

Hacking and Security

Use Your iPhone To Control Your Car
Mr. Wake – The Uncatchable Alarm Clock
Crush Your Cans With Electricity
3D Video With One Camera
DIY: Tesla “Spooky Spirit” Radio
Phaser Boasts 300mW Laser
iPhone App To Crack Combination Locks

Mac

Tap Tap Revenge Metallica For The iPhone

Tech News

XBMC on ARM
Install 59 Apps Quickly And Easily
Water Drops At 2000 FPS

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

© tech.nocr.at 2009 | Permalink | Comments | Read more in Tech News | Explore more in: 3d, ac, alarm, alarm clock, apps, arm, audio, camera, car, cart, case, cat, clock, comb, control, diy, ds, dsi, ea, gag, Gaming, guitar, hack, hacking, id, iphone, ir, kde, laser, led, loa, lock, Mac, metal, metallica, mouse, n-gage, nes, nintendo, nintendo ds, nintendo dsi, nokia, os, phaser, phone, radio, rc, remote, remote control, rip, roundup, security, shirt, snes, soccer, sucker, tap, tap tap revenge, tech.nocr.at, tesla, tissue, tron, ui, video, water, weekly, xbmc | Add to del.icio.us | Stumble it | Reddit

Use Your iPhone To Control Your Car

Frank — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:11:47 +0000

You knew it was bound to happen. With the iPhone already having apps to control everything from your iTunes to a remote computer you knew that someone would come up with an app to control a car.

The Spirit of Berlin team have developed an iPhone app that remotely controls a minivan. They developed the app for the 2007 Darpa Urban Challenge, so the likelihood of you getting the app from the app store is slim to none.

The iPhone connects with the driving circuitry via WiFi and offers a button for gas and brake as well as a wheel to turn the vehicle. The camera mounted on the front of the minivan transmits video to the iPhone in real-time.

In the video below you can see the operator in the camera’s view on the iPhone. It seems that the top speed of the van is limited (thank God!). This is every big kids dream, a real live RC of an actual car, problem is that this can be extremely dangerous. Plus, WiFi? I hope that their is some sort of kill switch if the van goes out of range or else there can be some serious consequences. Check out the video after the break.

[Link to iPhone RC]

Use Your iPhone To Control Your Car originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/31. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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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.

Electronic Guitar Shirt

Frank — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:50:20 +0000

When only wear a shirt with a picture of your favorite instrument when you can actually play it? The Electronic Rock Guitar Shirt from the clothing masters at ThinkGeek isn’t just a picture of a guitar, it’s actually a real instrument that allows you to play your favorite tunes right on the shirt. The shirt works via touch sensitivity and come with a magnetic pick that even allows you to strum. All sounds that the shirt produces were recorded on a real guitar and you even get a tiny amp that clips on to your belt. Check out the video after the break.

Just don’t fall asleep with the shirt on as it can easily wake you up if you start tossing and turning. Either that or you might stumble on some great new musical style.

[Link to Electronic Rock Guitar Shirt]

Electronic Guitar Shirt originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Tap Tap Revenge Metallica For The iPhone

Frank — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:29:07 +0000

So I went to the Metallica concert the other night here in Toronto (it’s my 15th time seeing them live. Yes, if you are asking, I am a fan!) and decided that maybe I was having an early mid-life crisis and wanted to walk down the path of my early life as a dedicated hardcore Metallica fan. As a dedicated fan I scoured the band’s website to catch up on the happenings with the metal legends and stumbled upon their iPhone app, TapTap Revenge: Metallica.

Tapulous, the company famous for it’s addictive line of TapTap games has worked with the band to release a Metallica themed version of it’s TapTap Revenge games aptly called: TapTap Revenge: Metallica. The dedicated version of the game allows users to poke through 10 tracks of some of the bands most famous songs like “Enter Sandman” and “One”.

The game gives you the option to play in a fast-paced arcade mode where you are challenged with bombs and other objects. Career Mode allows you to work your way through the track list and there is even a Bluetooth battle mode that allows you to challenge other players via Bluetooth.

I’ll be honest, if your not a hardcore Metallica fan you might not enjoy this, but if you consider yourself a member of the Metal Militia then what are you waiting for? It’s only $4.99, it’s worth it if not for the music alone.

[Link to TapTap Revenge: Metallica]

Tap Tap Revenge Metallica For The iPhone originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Quickdev16: SNES Developers Cart

Frank — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:25:43 +0000

If you are a true hardcore 16bit gaming geek and have always wanted to whip up your own homebrew games then you might be interested in the Quickdev 16. The unit is a cartridge for the Super Nintendo system that comes with everything you will need to develop for the platform, including the Atmel AVR Atmega644 with boot loader, USB connection for putting your code on the cart, 16 megs of SRAM, and an RS232 converter for a debug terminal. It’s available for Windows, Linux and the Mac.

Homebrew for the SNES was quite rare back in the hay day of the system so if you think that spending all your time coding for the same system 20 years later will bring you anything more than some geek cred then you are sadly mistaken. On the other hand, if your a hardcore emulator playing monkey, then whipping up your own game for the SNES platform might be fun!. For $120 I’m not sure if the cost justifies all that fun.

[Link to Quickdev16]

Quickdev16: SNES Developers Cart originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/27. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

iPhone App To Crack Combination Locks

Frank — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 05:05:52 +0000

Earlier this month we talked about how easy it was to hack a Master Lock (you know, one of those locks we all got in high school) by using some basic math. Well, someone has decided to write an iPhone app that will help you in your endeavor to remember the combination to your old gym or high school lock.

LockGenie is an app that helps you store and recover forgotten or lost combination lock passwords. It doesn’t actually hack the lock for you, but does all of the math for you and presents you with 100 possible combinations that will work on your lock. Now I know that 100 combinations sounds like a lot, but it’s far better than the millions of possible passwords a standard Master Lock has.

You can pick it up in the iTunes app store for $1.99. I know that sounds steep for a single purpose app, but if you have one or two combo locks laying around and you can’t remember their passwords it’s cheaper than replacing them.

[Link to LockGenie]

iPhone App To Crack Combination Locks 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.

Windows 7: Will You Upgrade?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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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PS3 Laptop

Frank — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:25:09 +0000

Our favorite gaming console modder, Ben Heck, is back at it again. We have already seen his Xbox 360 Elite Laptop mod and more recently his NES Cartridge mod and now his brings us this super sexy PS3 Laptop mod.

As light or as small as a netbook it is not but it’s still impressive how he managed to integrate a 17-inch HD display into the whole thing. Ben says that he could have made it smaller but wanted to use as large a screen as possible while still making it portable. Check out the video of the PS3 Laptop below.

PS3 Laptop originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/19. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Rock Band For iPhone Now Available

Frank — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:14:27 +0000

You can now head over to the iTunes App Store and pick up Rock Band for your iPhone for $10. One of the most anticipated games for Apple’s mobile gaming device lacks all of the hype that was built around it.

I decided to dish out the $10 today to play it and besides suffering some serious cramping of the hands it really didn’t live up to all of the hype.

Sure it’s got multiplayer support via bluetooth so you can jam out with your friends but what happened to some of the cool features I enjoy on the console version like drum fills for overdrive? Mashing my fingers against the screen just didn’t have the same feeling as holding a guitar or actually hitting the drum pads.

If you don’t like the 20 songs that it comes with, you can download others in a two-song pack for a buck. I personally wouldn’t bother. I’d rather spend my buck on some other mind numbing game or useless app.

If you want to experience all of the fun that you get when playing rock band then take your console and instruments with you everywhere you go because you’ll be pleasantly disappointed if you spend your hard earned cash on this game.

[Rock Band for the iPhone]

Rock Band For iPhone Now Available originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/19. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Sega Gen Mobile

Frank — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 05:36:30 +0000

Do you remember the Nomad? Sega’s first attempt at a portable gaming device that allowed you to play Sega Genesis games? No? Let me refresh your memory. It was big, bulky, had terrible battery life and cost almost $200 and that was 10 years ago.

In today’s world you can pick up the Genmobile for under $60. It isn’t made by Sega but the AtGames Gen Mobile is fully licensed. As well as playing classic Genesis and Mega Drive cartridges, the Gen Mobile comes with 20 built in games including Sonic Spinball, Golden Axe and Altered Beast. It also has TV out so you can play all of these classics on your TV.

If your not into the tiny 2.5-inch screen you can also grab the Gen Core. It’s by far the smallest complete Genesis system ever.

You can head on over to Stone Age Gamer and pick up the Gen Mobile for $54.90 or the Gen Core for $39.99. If you want to expand your 8/16 bit game horizons why not look at the Gemie X760+.

Sega Gen Mobile originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/17. 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.

Apple Working On Radio App

Frank — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 04:31:56 +0000

Rumour has it that Apple is working on a radio app for the iPhone and the Touch. The app will be similar to what they developed for the iPod Nano. That includes the ability to pause like streams and to fast forward when you decide to resume.

Radio apps for the iPhone are nothing new. Wunder Radio is probably the one single app I use the most. It gives you the ability to listen to 10,000+ radio stations from around the world. I’m sure Apple will build in some sort of revenue model into this. Something like the ability to click on a song your listening to and it will then give you the option to purchase it from the iTunes store.

Apple Working On Radio App originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/16. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

NES Cartrige Casemod

Frank — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 04:30:16 +0000

What better to jam inside of an old NES game cartridge than, well, an NES. Okay so it’s not really an NES in there it’s an emulator but this mod does use the original buttons, plays NES and gameboy games, has an mp3 player, movie player, an FM radio reciever and best of all, the video out still works so you can hook it up and play on the big screen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJXPfznWLPU&feature=player_embedded

This is just one of the dozens of NES casemods we have featured here on tech.nocr.at but this is definitely one of the cooler ones we have seen.

[Link to NES Casemod]

NES Cartrige Casemod originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/13. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Rock Band For Your iPhone

Frank — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 05:43:55 +0000

This past week EA Mobile confirmed that Rock Band for the iPhone and the iPod Touch is set to be released this month. So far all we know is that it’s set to be out this month, no idea on pricing yet and that it will come with no less than 20 tracks for you to play along with. Guitar, bass, drums and vocals are all in there based on your difficulty settings. As well as the single person mode you can also do multiplayer via a Bluetooth hook up with other iPhones.

The tracks that have been confirmed to come with the app are as follows:

30 Seconds To Mars – “Attack”
AFI – “Girl’s Not Grey”
All-American Rejects – “Move Along”
Beastie Boys – “Sabotage”
Blink-182 – “All The Small Things”
Blondie – “Hanging on the Telephone”
Foo Fighters – “Learn To Fly”
Foo Fighters – “Everlong”
George Thorogood & the Destroyers – “Bad to The Bone”
Jethro Tull – “Hymn 43″
Joan Jett – “Bad Reputation”
Lynyrd Skynyrd – “Simple Man”
Motörhead – “Ace of Spades ‘08″
Pixies – “Debaser”
Presidents of The United States of America – “Ladybug”
Rise Against – “Give It All”
Silversun Pickups – “Lazy Eye”
Smashing Pumpkins – “Cherub Rock”
Steve Miller Band – “Take The Money and Run”
Go-Go’s – “We Got The Beat”

This will definitely be one of the best (if not the best) games for the iPhone this year. Count on it.

Rock Band For Your iPhone originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/11. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Photoshop For The iPhone

Frank — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 04:52:34 +0000

Photoshop has come to the iPhone, not quite the full version but really cool never-the-less. As a heavy user of the desktop version of Photoshop I was quite disapointed to find the iPhone version was, let’s just say, thin. No layers, no brushes and no levels. Just a whole crap load of filters. You can also crop an image or touch up the exposure and saturation. When your done you can save your work on your phone or upload it directly to your photoshop.com account.

I know it would be great if we had a feature rich app here but the iPhone just wouldn’t be up to snuff to handle that type of processor load. Let’s be honest here, you iPhone isn’t a high end DSLR. Most users just want to touch up a photo here or add some tint there and this app is perfect for just that.

[Link to photoshop.com]

Photoshop For The iPhone originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/11. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Gemei X760+ Portable 8 Bit Gaming

Frank — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 02:32:42 +0000

I grew up playing 8 bit games. Gaming systems like the NES and good old fashion arcade games really allowed you to separate the men from the boys, not these fancy games the kids now-a-days have.

When I stumbled across the Gemei X760+ I was elated and over joyed. Come on now, it starts with an X and has a + in the name. Once I found out that it also has a whole bunch of emulators that played such classics from the NES, SNES, Genesis, GB GBA and arcade classics I was sold. Then I stumbled across the fact that you can also play video and mp3′s and you could even pump it all out to a TV via it’s TV out port, well, I wanted 2 of them. All this joy for only $81. Go get yours now.

Gemei X760+ Multi Platform Portable Gaming System

Gemei X760+ Portable 8 Bit Gaming originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/08. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Nuclear Battery In Your Pocket

Frank — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 05:30:16 +0000

Yep, you heard me correctly, a nuclear battery. Researchers at the University of Missouri have created super tiny nuclear power sources that can be used as batteries. Dead gadgets and XBox 360 controllers will soon be a thing of the past.

The secret to these tiny power plants is the use of new liquid semiconductors instead of solid ones. Don’t think you can run out and pick a set up at Radio Shack just yet. The current focus is on powering nano electromechanical systems not your digital camera. Which in my opinion might be a good idea. We have all heard of cell phone and laptop batteries exploding, imagine if something goes wrong with one of these. You’ll have a lot more to worry about than burn wounds.

Nuclear Battery In Your Pocket originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/08. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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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.

4K TV Only $76,000

Frank — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:35:57 +0000

If you have been holding out on buying that new 1080p HD TV because you know that 4K TVs are only around the corner then your wait is over. It will definitely cost you though, around $76,000 to be exact.

This Sony 4K 56-inch TV sports a 3840×2160 resolution. Thats 4 times the size of full resolution HD TV. You could div up your screen into quads and still watch 4 HD streams at the same time. It might just be cheaper to purchase 4 HD TVs to be honest with you.

Like the title says only $76,000 and this could be yours, a bit pricy but just think of all the AV cred you’d build up with one of these in your Mom’s basement.

4K TV Only $76,000 originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/07. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Bedazzler – DIY Non-Lethal Weapon

Frank — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:18:08 +0000

No, this isn’t the original Bedazzler stud rhinestone machine but an open source non-lethal weapon. Modeled after The Dazzler (a $1 million sea-sick flashlight), the Bedazzler can be built for under $250 and will easily cause nausea, dizziness, headaches, flash-blindness, eye pain and vomiting. Based on that don’t be an idiot and point it at people, use it in self defense situations only.

This is a great Arduino project for all of you out there who really love blinking LEDs. All of the schematics and PCB files are up on Instructables

Mad props to ladyada for the deisgn.

Bedazzler – DIY Non-Lethal Weapon originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/05. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Office Archery

Frank — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 07:12:14 +0000

Cubical warfare, the best way to pass the time while you droll out mindless repetitive tasks in the office. John Austin’s book, MiniWeapons of Mass Destruction details how to fortify your work space with small-scale weaponry from basic office supplies.

Claymore Mines, Ruler Bow’s and even a Ping Pong Zooka (Not sure if your workplace has a ping pong table. If it does, drop me a message and see if you can get me a job. Couple all of this weaponry and the Office Supplies Solar Oven you too can be a white shirt survivalist.

Link Via Wired.

Office Archery originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/10/04. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

$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.

The Retro Mini

Frank — Thu, 14 May 2009 04:56:54 +0000

Got $49.99 burning a hole in your pocket? If so then you can spend it on the Retro Mini. Running off 4 AA batteries, the Retro Mini gives you an outstanding 8 hours of NES goodness. You can pick up old NES cartridges for pennies a pop these days so why not relive your childhood with this portable unit.

NES gaming on the go, the cartridge is bigger than the unit, but at the very least you can have some fun on the bus play Punch Out.

If you have your heart set on 8 bit gaming goodness, you can stop by ThinkGeek and pick yourself up one.

The Retro Mini originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/05/14. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Industrial Strength Firewall, Poor Mans Budget

Frank — Tue, 12 May 2009 05:44:27 +0000

What in this world could protect your computer(s) or network better than a firewall? If you said not connecting your machine to the Internet your right, but most of us can’t live for more than a few minutes without being online. Hell, it gives me the shakes.

Now, here at the Frank residences we have multiple machines. A family machine, a MythTV box, various gaming consoles, a bunch of laptops, and a bunch of servers that preform various tasks. We also have multiple static IP’s to help out with the work load. It’s a lot of traffic coming and going, and although a basic Linksys or Dlink might do just fine, I was looking for something more flexible, something more powerful. I have gone through many open source firewall/router packages in the past and they all have their pro’s and con’s, but one the I have stumbled on and love is pfSense.

This project started in 2004 as a fork of the m0n0wall project, but focused towards full PC installations rather than the embedded hardware focus of m0n0wall. pfSense also offers an embedded image for Compact Flash based installations, however it is not the primary focus. It has a powerful packaging system that allows you to add additional functionality like a squid proxy server or Radius server to it’s already long list of features.

Right out of the box you get some neat features that you might only see in a massive commercial product.

Outbound Load Balancing – If you have multiple Internet connections you can use the built in load balancing feature to bridge them together into one fat pipe.
VPN – Built in OpenVPN, PPTP and IPsec servers for when you fell like calling home.
Redundancy – Setup 2 multiple firewalls. In case one pfSense server dies, the other one will pick up the slack.
Real Time Graphing – See exactly what’s going on with your traffic.

If you have a spare PC laying around and want the solid protection that a industrial grade firewall can offer then give pfSense a try. You really don’t need to be a BSD wizard to install it either. Download the iso, burn it to a cd, load the cd and choose install. All of the configuration and settings are changed via’s it’s intuitive web page.

Give it a whirl, you won’t be disappointed.

Industrial Strength Firewall, Poor Mans Budget originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/05/12. 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.

SNES Controller Mod For The PSP

Frank — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:48:15 +0000

A crafty hacker received a request to adapt a SNES controller to a PSP. The requester has limited use of one hand which made the PSP controls to difficult for her to use, but she had no problem playing with an SNES controller.

Born from that request is this clean mod. A port in the back of the PSP allows for the SNES controller to function. The neat thing is that the SNES cable and connector on the back also act as a “stand” for the PSP so you could comfortably sit back and enjoy your favorite PSP game.

[Link to SNES PSP Controller Mod]

Sometimes the PSP’s controller just, well, sucks.

SNES Controller Mod For The PSP originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/10/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

Homebrew Channel Back Up And Running

Frank — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 02:25:03 +0000

The Homebrew Channel, which broke when Nintendo rolled out an update on October 23rd, is back up and running and better than ever. Not only did the crafty guys mange to subvert Nintendo’s efforts to put them out of business, they managed to squeeze in memory card and SDHC support too.

You can grab the updated firmware here and install it via these easy instructions:

Instructions: Simply load one file, then the other. It does not matter in which order you load them. Use any method. If using tona’s build, simply run the single included DOL to install. You will need to create the meta.xml and icon.png files if you choose a build other than Matthew_8’s Homebrew Channel friendly package.

[Link to the Homebrew Channel]

Homebrew Channel Back Up And Running originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/10/27. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

iPhone 3G Baseband Almost Cracked

Frank — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 02:16:32 +0000

In true iPhone-Dev Team fashion, the iPhone 3G baseband has almost been cracked. What does this mean to the average user? Carrier independence. Cracking the baseband allows for hacked code to run at the telecomm level. This is exactly how the iPhone-Dev team brought freedom to the first-gen iPhone last year.

Sadly you still have to sign up for an AT&T contact on site before you can get your hands on the 2nd-gen iPhone, but with the ability of “ulocking” available, it shouldn’t be too long before we see used iPhones making their way onto Ebay.

[Link to iPhone-Dev Team]

iPhone 3G Baseband Almost Cracked originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/10/27. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.