It can be a chore to keep up with your twitter feeds, countless hours of following people’s daily minutia can quickly chew up your day. This is where the Charatter bear comes in – it synchs with your Twitter account and reads back to you all of your incoming tweets and not on a small screen but out LOUD. How’s that for really annoying, especially if you follow 1000s of people.

The company behind the USB add-on says that sales are exploding. A simple app for your iPhone or PC translates all of your tweets into sound which is then sent to the Charatter bear. Although the novelty of the bear is cute, it can quickly turn annoying. Imagine a co-worker with this on his desk yelping out loud “LOL” or “WTF” every 20 seconds. If would easily drive you to destroying the poor USB bear.

If you lead a really lonely life and want a USB bear to keep you company (and drive you insane) you can pick up the Charatter bear for $28. You will also have to travel to an electronic retailer in Japan to pick one up.

Charatter Bear Regurgitates Your Tweets originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/28. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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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.

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Instructables modder RoysterBot has a dilemma over the holidays, build a quiz system for a party he was headed to. He needed the buzz-in buttons to be sturdy and responsive so his obvious choice were Staple’s “Easy Button’s”. Super easy to hack, all he needed to do was add an Arduino and some custom software and the project was complete.

The custom Arduino software is super responsive and locks out other players once someone has buzzed in. This ensures that multiple people can’t buzz in and avoid arguments ensuing as to who buzzed in first. Now you can play [Insert Favorite Game Show Here] with all your friends.

[Link to Quiz-O-Tron 3000]

DIY: Quiz-O-Tron 3000 originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/16. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Instructables hacker Philysteak527 modified a Nerf gun, making it semi-automatic thanks to the modern marvel of compressed air. This mod isn’t for the faint of heart since it involves the design and manufacture of a bolt-action the fit’s the specific gun you are using.

Philysteak527 used some polyoxymethylene plastic and a CNC lathe to create the parts needed for the bolt. Toss in some brass fittings, a solenoid, tubing, and some electronics and your set. Check out the footage of it in action after the break. You will definitely be the big boy in the school yard with this. You might very well have the SWAT team called in as well.

[Link to Semi-Automatic NERF Longshot]

CO2 Powered Nerf Gun originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2011/01/05. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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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.

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I’ve alway heard that adding fiber to your diet helps to regulate you, but i don’t think this is what the doctor ordered.

Carbon fiber is one of the great inventions of the 20th century. It’s light, strong and very durable. All things that you would look for in a toilet seat, no? Well maybe not the light part.

So if your the type that like the carbon fiber style/look you can shell out $280 for this carbon fiber toilet seat. My only concern is if you will be able to find matching towels and bathroom accessories.

[Via Dvice]

Carbon Fiber Toilet Seat originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/12/26. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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I’ve tried a few thing to cut our electricity cost. I’ve priced out both a solar and wind powered system to power all of the computers we have in the house that run around the clock. I’ve also added timers everywhere to help with the soaring cost of electricity in our neck of the woods. One think I haven’t considered is building our own fusion reactor. Now that I come to think of it, I’m not even gonna consider this.

Besides the obvious fact that this is ridiculously dangerous and potentially fatal to you and your neighbors this could easily land you in jail for a very long time. If you willing to take this insanely stupid risk then there is a write-up over at Instructables to show you just how to put it all together. The parts list if far from your average run to Radio Shack, so be warned. Like a neutron radiation detector, deuterium gas and our course, a large lead shield.

Remember, if I haven’t said it yet, THIS IS VERY DANGEROUS and shouldn’t be done. You can probably follow the build to get a grasp of how fusion reactors work, but putting this together will easily have a few black helicopters landing on your front lawn real quick.

[Via Instructables]

Yikes: Build A Fusion Reactor originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/12/25. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Here is to wishing all our readers a happy and safe holiday season. May Santa stuff all the tech you have ever wanted in your stocking. As the new year approaches the tech.nocr.at team wishes you all the best in 2011.

We are revamping tech.nocr.at in the new year to bring you a fresh new spin on the world of technology. More reviews, gadgets, news, and hardware hacking tips to keep you going the whole year strong.

Be safe and enjoy.

Happy Holidays originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2010/12/25. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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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.

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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.

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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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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.

© tech.nocr.at 2009 | Permalink | Comments | Read more in Hacking And Security | Explore more in: ac, battery, beep, buzz, circuit, drive, ds, ea, electronics, funny, gun, ical, id, ir, irc, joke, loa, make, picture, power, rc, ring, sound, tech.nocr.at, tiny, tron, ui, video | Add to del.icio.us | Stumble it | Reddit

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

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

© 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

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.

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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.

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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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

© tech.nocr.at 2009 | Permalink | 44 Comments | Read more in Tech News | Explore more in: ac, amp, apple, arm, avi, bsd, cat, comments, computer, distro, ds, dvd, ea, editing, fix, follow, forums, ftp, gentoo, gnome, ical, id, ir, kde, lamp, leopard, linux, live, loa, Mac, machine, make, music, nda, network, office, open, os, pc, pen, personal, power, rock, server, service, small, speed, stream, tag, tech.nocr.at, text, time, tool, tor, tron, ubuntu, ui, video, watch, wind | Add to del.icio.us | Stumble it | Reddit

Most people who own gadgets that are USB powered have a billion different charging cables. A USB cable to use with your computer, a few wall warts to change your stuff at home or at the office, a car USB charger, hell, some of us even have battery powered altoid tins to charge our iPod’s and Cell Phone’s. What about the poor folk who ride their bikes everywhere they go? Do we have something for you.

Now you can build this not so easy and somewhat complicated device that will charge your gadgets as you pedal around town. Originally created by a group of guys using a grant from MIT. The device, which was originally planned to charge your mp3 player as you run ended up evolving into a bicycle based charger.

If you want to attempt this yourself, you’ll need about $275 and some advanced knowledge of electronics. Although this project isn’t for the faint of heart, if you ride a bike all the time you can charge everything you have on you. Plus, it’s super green and allows you to do your part to help mother nature.

Pedal Powered USB originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2009/05/14. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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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.

© tech.nocr.at 2008 | Permalink | Comments | Read more in Gaming | Explore more in: ac, activision, bus, cash, cat, ds, ea, game, Gaming, hp, id, led, lg, make, mmorpg, nes, number, online, pc, pen, personal, rc, ring, rip, rock, rod, rpg, server, star wars, tag, time, tron, ui, wow | Add to del.icio.us | Stumble it | Reddit

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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.

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Well, it’s official. This year’s E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) will try and recapture some of the glory days before it was drastically downsized/neutered in 2007. If you were to talk to most industry professionals, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who actually like the redesigned format of the the last two E3′s, which is probably the main reason for this re-redesign.

The official press release of the upcoming E3 2009 states:

changes include increased booth sizes, increased qualified audiences, and an intensified focus on reinforcing the high-octane growth, innovation, and capitivating entertainment that are driving the computer and video game industry.

More details will be released in the coming weeks. The event will take place June 2-4, 2009, at the Los Angeles Convention Center. For more info, go to www.e3expo.com.

Who knows, maybe this will be the start of the return to E3′s glory years, but many think those days are gone forever.

E3 Revamp originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/10/23. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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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.

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Over 40 and wonder what the whole RockBand or Guitar Hero crazy is all about? Want to jump in but don’t know how to? Maybe you would be better off with Dan’s mish-mash of sound and electronics. This guitar has been stripped of all it’s internals and has a CPU and all sorts of cool audio circuitry stuffed inside. The Fender Bender is more machine than guitar.

You can even play the instrument with a custom made pick guard built from an old motherboard and some resistors.

[Link to Fender Bender]

RockBand For Those Over 40 originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/10/19. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Why not let your co-workers know what side of the struggle you stand on, the rebellion or the evil empire, with this Darth Vader mug (they are actually calling it a stein). The oversized mug will hold 24 ounces of your favorite beverage, be it coffee or something a tad stronger. That should be enough to keep you buzzing all morning.

Remember, if you do fill it up with coffee you are not allowed to add any cream or sugar. Vader enjoyed his java black, just like his sole, so keep it real.

You can pick up the Darth Vader Stein for about $14 at Amazon

The Dark Side Of Your Coffee originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/10/12. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Ever feel the need to check your surroundings for radiation? Me either, but if you ever have then this somewhat complex DIY project is right up your alley.

The geiger counter is a pretty simple device to detect radiations. Many forms of radiations from radio elements (alpha, beta, gamma) can be detected but it is more sensitive to beta and gamma radiations. The Geiger-Muller tube is a simple device, it’s a tube filled with a gas with two electrodes. A high potential is applied betweens electrodes. When a ionizing particle arrived, it create a temporary conductive path between electrodes. The resulting current can be detected by an electronic amplifier.

[Link to USB Geiger Counter via Make]

DIY: USB Geiger Counter originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/10/01. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Jon Bennett has created a WiFi controller robot that can be controller via the internet or from a computer up to 500m away. The robot is built from an RC car that he picked up at a thrift store, a Linksys WRT54GL router running the Open-WRT firmware, a network camera. The bot can be powered by two different type of micro-controllers: the PIC microprocessor or an Arduino. You can use whichever one your are more comfortable with. If you follow Joe’s guide, it shouldn’t cost you that much to put together. Check out the video after the break of the bot in action.

The goal of this article is to give a high-level overview of the project and provide some implementation details of the software and electronics. It is not meant to be a step-by-step how-to guide, but there should be enough information for someone with motivation and some background knowledge in electronics and software to be able to make their own Wifi Robot. All of the source code is being released under the terms of the GNU GPL v2, so by all means, use the code, and improve it!

You sure could have a lot of fun with this project. Maybe at some image processing code so that it can figure out where the sidewalk ends and can make it’s own decision to turn right or left.

[Link to WiFi Robot]

DIY: WiFi Robot originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/09/21. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Sure, you could head on off to Ikea and pick up that $49 coffee table to fill that void in your apartment. Or, if you truly are the hardcore geek we all know you are (why else would you be reading this blog?), you could go out and pick up SparkFun’s LED coffee table and challenge your friends to a four-way game of Pong.

This is one hiccup, this is a one of a kind piece that took two years to build, so picking this unit up might cost you a pretty penny. On the flip-side, if you have a few spare years and work well with power tools and electronics you could always try to piece one together yourself!

[Link to SparkFun's Pong Coffee Table]

Four Way Pong On Your Coffee Table originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/09/13. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Have you ever wanted to host your own World Poker style tournament like the one on TV? With all of the bells and whistles including letting people see who’s got what, well now you can. This might not be affordable for the average “Guy’s Poker Night”, but I can see this being a hit at bars and clubs.

“The inspiringly-named Video Poker Table makes this possible. Beneath it’s perfectly ordinary looking exterior is a fairly impressive collection of electronics that uses RFID technology to track the movement of playing cards around the table, and superimpose this information on a video feed that’s generated automatically from 4 cameras in the table. We play with a standard deck of KEM cards that have been tagged with 52 RFID ’smart labels’ – thin and flexible enough that while they’re plainly visible they don’t affect the way the cards shuffle, deal or handle on the table. This game data, along with the camera feeds, is transmittted to a Windows PC via a USB cable and processed by a software application I wrote. The end result is a live, fully edited video feed of all the action, with pretty good quality graphics that show players’ hole cards, the board, and context-sensitive statistics during play. At the end of the game, the video is chopped up into individual segments, one segment per hand played, named according to the players in that hand and their cards, compressed and uploaded to a web server that players can later access to browse and play back individual hands. All of this happens automatically without any human intervention.”

If you even dare to build your own then you can get info on the project here

RFID Poker Table originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/09/07. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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There is a ton of software available for both Windows and OS X that allow you to rip and encode DVD’s, but what about Linux? A few months back I did a segment on the Lab with Leo Laporte TV show on just that, DVD rippers for Linux. (Video after the break)

DVD::RIP is a full featured DVD backup program written in perl. It’s very intuiative and eay to use but also provides a feature rich control of almost all aspects of the ripping and transcoding process. Some of the key features are:

• Runs on Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD
• Rip to harddisk, on the fly or from an existent DVD image
• Select audio track(s), viewing angle(s), multitple titles
• Rip as much audio tracks as you like into one AVI/OGG/SVCD file
• Supports nearly all of transcode’s video codecs, e.g: divx4, divx5, xvid, xvidcvs, ffmpeg, fame, opendivx and mpeg2enc
• DivX/Xvid multipass encoding
• (S)VCD modes, with multiple audio tracks for SVCD
• Integrated video bitrate calculator based on target size resp. number of discs
• Automatic splitting of the target files for best fit on the specified number of discs

Probably the strongest feature of DVD::RIP is it’s cluster mode which let’s you use any Linux machine you might have in your network for parallel encoding. Your rips come out much faster if you use say 2, 3, or 4 machines. Let me see Windows do that.

[Link to DVD::RIP]

DVD::RIP – Rippin Linux Style originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/08/31. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Most kids are absolutely fascinated with electronic projects of some sort, take me for example, when I was a kids all I wanted to do was build radio receivers and play with my metal detector. That being said, I really wished that I knew about building this many years ago. This just seem to be more fun when you use your own two hands to put something together.

This simple and crude metal detector will work, not well, but it will get the job done, plus if the radio you use has an ear phone jack you can avoid annoying everyone around you. Then again, if someone on the beach looked at you walking up and down with a radio and calculator taped to a CD case and all of that taped to a broom handle, well, annoying them should be the least of your worries.

How To: Make A Metal Detector originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/08/24. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Everyone has seen solar gadgets that provide juice to electronics or charge batteries up, but these units require you to be in a good source of sunlight for hours on end just to get a bit of juice. While some people might be outdoors most of the day, the majority of people aren’t in the woods for hours on end.

This little gadget put a spin on the idea of alternate energy. The M2E Power charges up a set of batteries by using kinetic energy. Strap this little unit to your belt while your walking or running and it will collect energy from your movements.

There still is no news on availability or pricing, but this is a great idea on harnessing some of that kinetic energy you produce every day.

[Link to M2E Power]

Charge Your Batteries While You Walk originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/08/22. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Bill Beaty, the science hobbiest, has come up with a cool way to levitate magnets. I do want to mention one word of caution here, you have to be very careful when building this as neodymium magnets are incredibly powerful and you could easily injure yourself or lose you hand playing with them.

While working on science museum exhibits in 1990 I came up with the above idea: it is known that a spinning metal disk will lift and fling a strong magnet. Therefore, metal rods with opposite spin will lift a magnet but WON’T fling it sideways. It works! I used “sched-80″ heavy wall copper tubes about 1-3/8″ diameter, 12″ long, with 1/4″ wall thickness. I hammered aluminum plugs into the tubes, carved shaft-tips with a lathe, built endblocks and bearings, spun them with an AC/DC motor, and managed to levitate a stack of two 3/4″ diameter neodymium magnets. The spinning tubes must move at about 5000 RPM before the magnet starts floating.

Magnetic Levitation originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/08/18. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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These might not be as functional as the Anti-Paparazzi Glasses but they will look cool. All you do is turn an old pair of sun glasses into Terminator shades, just like the Movie. It’s quite simple and silly actually, all you need to do is install two red LEDs onto the frames. You don’t even need any soldering experience to make this a reality.

I know what you are saying, what kind of dorky project is this, but it’s easy and quick, and a great way to work with a kid on an electronics projects. Plus, it’s your first step towards your terminator Halloween costume.

Full Instructions Here

Build Your Own Terminator Shades originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/08/12. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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This is one of those silly “I should have thought of this concepts”. A Step in the Right Direction is a prototype for a new shoe that detects Wi-Fi signals as you are walking. The shoe has integrated electronics under the tongue flap that is triggered via a pressure sensor so that it begins a scan of any W-Fi signals in the area. The wearer is then notified via LEDs on the outside of the shoe if there is a signal.

My kids have running shoes that light up every time they step, at least with this shoe the LEDs are actually useful. Now if they could incorporate some kind of GPS and logging system that you can then download via USB or Wi-Fi we’d have a complete worldwide layout of Wi-Fi hot-spots.

Hot-Spot Shoe originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/06/08. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Picking the right enclosure for your next DIY electronics project can be daunting at best. Sparkfun electronics has a great write up about how to go about getting the right case for your project.

They give a great layout of how to get those holes for switches and button just right. They even explain how to add some plastic standoffs to secure your PCB down is the mounting holes in your case don’t line up. This is definitely a keeper for all of you DIY electronic fanboys.

Sparkfun’s Boxing It All Up

Proper Electronic Enclosures originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/06/07. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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On February 5th of this year, Apple filed to protect and amend their trademark in relation to “hand-held units for playing electronic games; hand-held units for playing video games; stand alone video game machines; electronic games other than those adapted for use with television receivers only; LCD game machines; electronic educational game machines; toys, namely battery-powered computer games”.

Click here to view the trademark application

Could this mean that Apple is getting into the handheld gaming business or is this a simple extension of their patent to cover gaming on their iPods? Remember that Apple posted a job in September of last year for a “Game Producer/Designer”. This too might just be for the iPod line of games, or it might be their continuing effort to take over the world.

Apple Entering The Gaming Market? originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/02/12. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Items needed: some 35-mm foam (like the kind desktop and laptop PCs usually come with), some solid-core copper wire, a small brass plate, and multiple BNC connectors. Then follow the directions in the video and you’ll have a super powerful directional antenna that should get you better gain that that external antenna your card came with.

Remember, this works as a directional antenna so you need to have it pointed in the right direction to get a strong signal. Just sweep it around slowly until you can lock down a super signal then surf away!

$10 Super Duper WiFi Antenna originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/01/24. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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I remember a few years ago tinkering my my dishnetwork dvr in order to fix a corrupted eeprom I ripped out a trace on the board. Let’s just say it took my steady hands almost a week to recreate the trace using some trace wire and solder. Not something I suggest anyone have to do. I wish I had CircuitWriter back then. CircuitWriter allows you to draw your own circuits. It applies instantly on most surfaces (epoxy, glass, plastic, metal). Hell, you could even repair the rear-window heater traces on your car.

This will save many pieces of electronic for a hack like me.

CircuitWriter conductive ink pen – Link

CircuitWriter Pen originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/01/17. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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What is zfs you might ask? It’s a new filesystem that was developed by Sun for the Open Solaris OS. Why should you be excited about it on a Mac? Let’s take a step back first. A while ago there was a rumour that ZFS was going to be included in Leopard. While the CEO of Sun told people that it was true, it turned out to be just that, a rumour.

So here it is (an unstable version as of yet); the ZFS project. ZFS is a superior file system; it provides simple administration (think no more fsck), transactional semantics, end-to-end data integrity, and some serious scalability, and it’s here for your Mac. We strongly remind you that it’s still in its testing stages, so keep it off any machine with critical data, but if, no when ZFS for the Mac matures it will be a great benefit for any user.

[Via Download Squad]

ZFS For Your Mac originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/01/15. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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I’m been trying to source decent desktop laser cutter for the Lab with Leo TV show that I’m on. The biggest problem is finding anything that would be a reasonable cost for most consumers. Decent desktop laser solutions can easily run you into the thousands and they are big and ugly.

Thanks to the wonderful website Instructables you can know build your own Laser cutter for about $50. Yes that right I said $50 (here comes my late night infomercial spiel).

“This project demonstrates a simple hack to create a large format laser cutter utilizing all the scrap electronics you may have lying around. If you have a broken scanner or two, the cost can be just about 30 dollars for the entire project.”

I’m going to work on building one of these for the show just to see how well it works. I’m either going to nail it on the head and be the new fav among my friends who want some sort of laser etching done or I’m gonna be the guy who slices his finger off and makes the front page of the paper. Either way i’ll keep you guys posted.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MaHmzfr5W4[/youtube]

Link to how-to

Cheap DYI Laser Cutter originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/01/11. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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

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

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

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

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

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Ever wanted that cool Tron style look for your room? Well maybe some of you out there might want to. It might not be the best thing to have in your room if you want to score with a girl (or guy) but it sure will be a conversation piece with all of your geek friends. There is a cool how-to on Instructables on building your very own luminescent circuit trace lamp just like the old Tron movie.

Link to Intructables article

Tron Style Lamp originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/01/07. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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The first fully functional Apple-authorized tablet Mac, the Modbook from Axiotron, which is highly anticipated will begin to ship soon. The Modbook integrates a Wacom digitized pen-sensitive LCD slate style display making it easy for designer and artists to preform all of their work with ease. The Modbook will come preloaded with Leopard and will be powered by either a 2GHz or 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Other goodies include an iSight camera, an integrated 24x DVD combo drive, and built in GPS. With a 13.3″ display and higher contrast ratio people will be able to see the screen from virtually anywhere.

The unit will retail for $2,290US.

Modbooks begins shipping originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2008/01/01. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Enter the Gen-X Dual station. The console has two dedicated slots which support original cartridges from the classic 1980s gaming systems. Word on the street is that it’s compatible with pretty much any Genesis or NES game you can throw at it, including Japanese titles. The system comes with everything you need, including a pair of controllers and A/V cables. While you can’t connect an original NES controller, the ports are compatible with SEGA’s original controllers.

Expect to dish out about $60 for the old time feel which is still cheaper than most titles today.

Gen-X Genesis and NES in One originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2007/12/31. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Link to the detailed how-to

DIY Toothbrush Timer originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2007/12/30. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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I know how hard it was tracking one down here in Toronto for a friend (which, btw, we never found). Imagine actually selling 17 a second in a brick and mortar establishment. Wow.

WII – Like hot cakes originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2007/12/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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

Frank Linhares (Founder, Managing Editor)

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

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

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

Ethics

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

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

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

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

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

• Never plagiarize.

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

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

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

• Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.

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

• Disclose unavoidable conflicts.

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

• Be open and honest about product reviews.

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

• Admit mistakes and correct them promptly.

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

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

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

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

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The HTC TyTN II P4550 (HTC Kaiser 120) (AT&T 8925) is a king among phones. And, instead of exclaiming about how sweet this phone is, I’ll let it speak for itself:
Processor: 400 MHz
RAM: 128 MB RAM
Storage: 145 MB
Expansion Slot: microSD, microSDHC, Transflash, SDIO
Cellular Networks Supported: GSM, CSD, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA
Wifi Support: 802.11 b/g
Camera: 3.1 Mega Pixel
Other features: Touchscreen, USB 2.0, Bluetooth 2.0, GPS

the release date, or for that matter, if it was even going to be released in the U.S. of A. has been a very tightly held secret. NO MORE! The below image was sent in from a source that wishes to remain anonymous. It’s a screen cap from a internal ordering site.

HTC Kaiser releases 10.26.07 in US originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2007/09/26. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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2 PM EST, or as the site predicts:

Suprnova Returns

(soon we will return with suprnova.org – the number 1 site in the world for waffle recipes. how do you like yours? with chocolate? syrup? ice cream? maybe plain?! we have all the pictures of waffles you will ever need. and we will have the biggest waffle forum in the world! all for you waffle-people. waffles! WAFFLES!)

Relaunch of Suprnova.org originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2007/08/21. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Isn’t it about time that you start using Firefox with Adblock Plus and NoScript ? Might as well throw in another good add-on called StumbleUpon as well.

::UPDATE:: It has been confirmed that this only works when the html document is opened locally. The reason I didn’t wipe the article all together is the fact that things like this usually are a seed to find an actual working way to get this done.

Scripting is baaaad originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 2007/08/16. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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

DO:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The Ironkey is not only a strong USB key because of it’s metal casing but is also has military-grade encryption built right in. This thumb drive can hold up to 4GB of pr0n, errrr, I mean data and includes a hardware encryption chip that scrambles up all of the 1′s and 0′s so as to make the drive completely unreadable without a password. Although passwords can be hacked, but not with the IronKey, 10 incorrect attempts and the encryption chip self-destructs, making the contents, and the drive useless. You can pick this puppy up for $149

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

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

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

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2. Open up File Explorer (Start->Applications->File Explorer)
3. Press UP until you you get to root ( / )
4. Scroll down and select Windows
5. Now start scrolling, it’s alphabetical and you are looking for “Internet Sharing” (Use the down arrow, better on the joints, your joints)
6. Click on it and you are greeted by a simple application with only a couple options.
7. Select by pressing right or left Bluetooth PAN (Personal Area Network) or USB. USB is easier and powers at the same time, Bluetooth is a bit more difficult but it’s one less wire you have to worry about loosing

Now, I am not going to go into how to set up each, you have been shown the door, it’s your job to get it working how you want it to. Also, if you don’t want to keep scrolling every time you want to use it, hook up to ActiveSync, explore over to it, create a shortcut and plop it in your Start Menu. Easy simple access on the go.

And I can’t leave this last tidbit out: It works in Linux!

Blackjack! Save $840 a year. originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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

Traffic

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

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

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

Bounce Rate

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

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

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

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

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

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81% of our readers are regular Firefox users, good for all of you.

Firefox: 400 Million Strong originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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The company claims that while 90 minutes (4GB) takes 3 minutes today to access, UFS will take only a few seconds. Handhelds, digital cameras, and other consumer electronics will be able to handle the new technology which should be finalized in 2009.

New standard for Memory Cards originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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There are some serious issues that can arise from this. The first is that this code can be using by people to better understand how Facebook works, or for the malicious purpose of finding further security hole or bugs that can be exploited. Once an attacker starts to gain entry into the workings of a system he or she can easily locate, if any, bugs or exploits that can lead to even more headaches.

This leak can’t be good news for the guys at Facebook. It raises some questions about the security of user information. If main code can be leaked then there is a possibility of anything happening. Facebook has become such a large and profitable outfit that it virtually has a bulls-eye on it much like myspace did to attackers

[Update] Facebook has made an official response to the leaked code on TechCrunch:

I wanted to clarify a few things in your story. Some of Facebook’s source code was exposed to a small number of users due to a bug on a single server that was misconfigured and then fixed immediately. It was not a security breach and did not compromise user data in any way. The reprinting of this code violates several laws and we ask that people not distribute it further.

Thanks to you and the TC readers for helping us out on this one.

Brandee Barker
Facebook

Not sure if this is the “legal” or “pr” answer to what happened, but I’m sure that we’ll be finding out if there is anything to come of this leaked code in the next few days or weeks.

Facebook source code leaked originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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

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We have thrown quite a few projects your way that either involves some basic soldering or some serious ass soldering. I thought giving some of those people who don’t feel to comfortable soldering a decent walkthrough on how to do so. I’ve dug up two great tutorials on how to solder. Instructables has a great Soldering 101 tutorial that’s great if you have never picked up an iron before. For those of you who can breeze through the basics we also have a more technical guide to soldering as well.

How To: Solder originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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We employ White Hat hackers who spend their time pentesting and code reviewing applications and software looking for weaknesses and vulnerabilities so that others don’t once we’ve released that code into the wild.

You can find what Microsoft’s Hackers have to say at: http://blogs.msdn.com/hackers/

What kind of PR are they trying to get? Obviously the people who have Hackerphobia are not going to like this, and the true hackers? Ya, You just better hope whatever blogging software you are using is constantly updated, because that blog now has a big red X on it. Good idea Billy boy.

UPDATE: CommunityServer 2.1 SP1 (Build: 61025.2) Lets just say their source holds a lot of information for being a “hackers” blog.

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

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There are tons of NES modders out there, most of them create portable units out of the NES internals or jam them into the weirdest places. This is the firm mod I’ve seen that uses the actually NES unit. Kotomi crammed a full-sized DVD player — plus the LCD — into an old NES he had laying around, including functional remote control (Video after the jump).

NES DVD Player: Gaming Style originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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PongMechanic (video at the end) was built by a German guy and is a real life version of the old school pong game, except this bad boy has no TV and actually uses paddles and a whole bunch of moving mechanical components. This is the type of thing that would be awesome at parties. I don’t speak or read German, but you really don’t need to once you see this puppy in action, plus, there are subtitles!

Fully mechanical Pong – No TV originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

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Nevover Electronics has introduced a 7” flip screen for the PS3. It’s designed to mount on the top of the console and provide a 7” TFT LCD screen for playing games and viewing videos. The resolution on it is a mere 234 x 480 so you can forget viewing any cool 1080p hi-def stuff on it.

I’m not quite sure why anyone would actually want this. As it stands the PS3 is already over priced and if you do own one I’m sure you want to take advantageous of 1080p content. Plus, the PS3 weighs in at over 11 pounds so it’s not like you could lug the unit around easily. Still, if your a PS3 junkie, I guess this is your only option for the road.

Flip Screen for your PS3, why? originally appeared on tech.nocr.at on 1999/11/29. Reproduction of content not allowed without consent.

© tech.nocr.at 1999 | Permalink | Comments | Read more in Gaming | Explore more in: ac, console, design, ds, ea, electronics, evo, flip, game, games, Gaming, id, lcd, os, ps3, rod, tag, tron, ui, video | Add to del.icio.us | Stumble it | Reddit