Techno-holics

My apologies

2011-12-18T11:38:00.000-08:00

I am sorry for not putting anything new up in a while. I have recently moved and am currently without internet. I have been using my Optimus as a wifi AP to get the small bursts of connection i need to keep me from going insane. But never fear! dd-wrt and an linksys wrt54g router (or, i should say... my army of them) will help me figure out a way to get online. Even if i have to wire one up to my car battery and repeat an open signal from down the street. I'll git'r done.

You would think that I would have all this extra time to dream up some insanity that explodes, shocks, or unlocks things, but I actually haven't. The weather here has been terrible, so I cannot work on the remote controlled power wheels, and I have temporarily shelved my LITV project until i can get some stable internet to continue my research. That and the fact that I am very limited on fundings at the moment, makes it terribly hard to do any gadgeteering. All will become normal again soon, and then I will be able to sort out the madness in my head and weave it into the homespun cloth that is the basis for my ideas.

So a Jair wants another voice here...

2011-11-16T21:40:00.000-08:00

First thing first. SNOW!!!! Woohoo!

Okay seriously. Jair wanted a post about something....and he'll probably go all hater on me later.

A Challenge for Jair!!

Build a Bot that will find its way through a course, from start to finish and back.
Upon returning to the start the first bot will transmit a route to a second bot.
The second bot must then travel the course with only the route provided by the first bot.

Think you can do it?

--Xon

world's first transparent head-mounted display with Wi-Fi

2011-11-09T21:39:00.000-08:00

It's got almost the same "dollar store sunglasses" look as most other head-mounted displays(although for my money it looks much cooler than sony's
hmz-t1 ,also droping this month in japan)
but What sets it apart, is the introduction of the first transparent lenses for see-through viewing. As such, you can enjoy your media in private while still maintaining an awareness of your surroundings.

The screen resolution is just 960 x 540 pixels, but it appears to the viewer as a giant 320-inch display positioned about 20 meters away. The mobile viewer is proportioned so it can fit over proscription glasses and it comes with a small control unit that runs Android 2.2(droid blaster on this thing should be very cool) and features Wi-Fi connectivity, six-hours of battery life, detachable headphones, and 1GB of internal storage augmented by a bundled 4GB SDHC card with support for 32GB
(why does no one ever ship the card you'll need with this stuff? honestly, why even bother with a 4gig?) .

The Moverio BT-100 will be on sale in Japan starting November 25th for a suggested price of ¥50,000 (about $643).

now for the obvious (to me anyway) question .....

will someone please make some augmented reality games for this,NOW?

We're Looking for Posters!

2011-11-01T12:58:00.000-07:00

So for the most part, it has always just been Patrick and I posting on the site. Every time I've tried to get some help, it falls through on me. I've sent a couple requests to friends who may be interested in posting, I'm not sure if they will or not.

We could really use a couple more people to keep content fresh on the site. If your're interested, drop me an email at jair2k4@techno-holics.com and we'll set something up.Each of us has a specialty, so to speak. Let me know what yours is!

Being featured is fun!

2011-10-31T16:27:00.000-07:00

I don't like RSS feeds. I don't. They are a convenient way to pad someone's website with other people's work, even if it spreads the word about something I've done. RSS feeds typically have a 'via X' link where 'X' is the site that the feed is coming from so that there is something to point to where the info originated, but when sites bounce RSS off each other, Google's webcrawler gets gummed up with a billion posts of the same thing.

What I like seeing is when other sites and their editors take the time to personally write something about me. No scripts, no RSS; an actual person typing something, just as I am right now.

I'd like to point out a few of those sites. Keep in mind, these are just posts that popped up about my gloves.

Gizmodo (Sorry about the harsh previous post. My opinion about your layout still stands though.)
Trendhunter
Hack a Day
Geekosystem
Right This Minute
Technabob
Growing Up Otaku

These are just a few. To whomever actually takes the time to sit down and write about one of my exploits: I thank you. I hope that I get to return the favor someday.

What happened to you, Gizmodo?

2011-10-30T14:47:00.000-07:00

I used to have a specific way i started out my day:

1. Wake up
2. Get dressed
3. Caffeine in one form or another
4. Get on the laptop and look at my favorite blogs.

Something has changed. I don't like change.

I hadn't had the time to get on some of the sites that I normally frequent for a while, so I don't know how long this has been going on, but it would appear that one of my favorite, no nonsense all-tech websites has decided to whore itself out for sponsorship. After looking further into this, their new layout has been in effect since the Gawker network changed the layout of their entire blog lineup in February. They think it looks good. I think it looks like mashed ass. As soon as the page loads, you are smacked in the face with a giant ad by State Farm. After you spend a minute getting convinced that you haven't accidentally made it to the wrong site, you will notice State Farm ads everywhere.

If you can convince yourself to get past the ad(s), you will find one sort of 'splash' story in the main frame and over to the right will be a list of the latest stories.

It's cumbersome, and it's foul and it's ugly. I used to log in and see interesting posts with photos that were humorously edited with captions and a shameless lack of censorship. Now we get this 'new and improved' version that makes me want to immediately leave the site and then go throw up in a garbage can.

Sorry Giz, you had a good run. I'm taking you off my site's list of interested links. I think I will go vomit now.

Stun Gloves MKII

2011-10-29T21:35:00.000-07:00

Finally!

Introducing, the second version of my now highly popular gloves!

These ones are much, MUCH more powerful than my first build. How much more you ask? My first set put out 330v per glove. This set puts out 2300 VOLTS!

I took as many pics of the build process as possible, as well as a couple videos with commentary. Take a look after the break for the entire run down.

*EDIT*

Spent last night hanging out with a friend. I gave him my original pair of gloves and we had a fun night of shocking the hell out of each other. A lot of people were wondering what this could do to a person. Well let me tell you, not only does it hurt, but there was smoke and burning hair as well (I'm a fairly hairy guy). Have a look:

It all started as sort of a joke... We were talking about real life super heroes and what our powers would be if we decided to fight crime. My choice was gloves that could shock people. I got some laughs/jests about it and that got things going. Thus the first version of my gloves were made.

This time around, i decided to forego the camera circuits and go for something a little stronger. A co-worker had jokingly mentioned how her boyfriend had shocked the hell out of her with an electric flyswatter, and that gave me some ideas...

The charging circuits on the disposable cameras are usually rated at about 330v. The electric flyswatters that are commercially available put out around 2300v.

After some searching, it turned out that my local Fiesta Foods had these on sale for about $5 a piece:

I got a couple and went home to start tearing into them. Let's get straight to the build log/photo stream.

----------------------------------------

Breaking open the racket/swatter.

-----------------------------------

Racket is open exposing the circuitry

-----------------------------------

Close up of the circuitry.

-----------------------------------

There was a momentary switch here that you would press to turn on the device. That's gone. I added the SPST switch you see in the picture to be able to toggle the gloves off and on.

-----------------------------------

I used some parts off of the remains of the disposable cameras for the finger contacts.Soldered the leads from the fly swatter to the back of them and glued them into place on the fingertips of my new gloves.

-----------------------------------

Contacts all finished.

-----------------------------------

All wired up. I cut the racket handle down to size and ran the leads out the top. I ran the leads from there to the fingers.

-----------------------------------

First wrist strap added.

-----------------------------------

All done!

-----------------------------------

-----------------------------------

Videos
-----------------------------------

First test:

-----------------------------------

Demonstration:

On web TV!

2011-10-26T12:04:00.001-07:00

So yea, I got an email yesterday from Christian over at rightthisminute.com asking me if i wanted to do an interview about my stun gloves. She wanted to know if they could use the video i put up on youtube and do a segment on it.

I had no problem with that, but they wanted me to skype in for an interview (which i probably should have done).

I don't know how well that would have went over for me, as i tend to stutter in public, so I declined the interview, but allowed them to use the footage, so long as they plugged the site - which they did.

I dont particularly care for the spin they put on it making me sound like a creep, but then again, my video was fairly short and I didn't speak in it. So maybe it was my fault.

Anyway, take a look and judge for yourself:

http://www.rightthisminute.com/story/homemade-taser-gloves

The tazer-gloves

2011-10-16T22:49:00.000-07:00

So... we were having a conversation at
work about what your super power would be if you, a normal human, decided to try and fight crime like Phoenix Jones. I
had decided that I'd use my staff along with some home-made tech. First order of business would be gloves that could taze people. I got some laughs at that. So i decided to make a set that actually work.

**EDIT** Since posting this i have switched out the momentaries with SPST switches. Now i don't have to hold down a button to recharge. Plus, I am already working on plans for version 2. They will be more stable and less ghetto looking. Altoids tins are a gift from the Gods, but project boxes are better.

Parts:

Several discarded disposable cameras (Thanks Walgreens!)

AA batteries

2 altoids tins

Dollar store dog collars

Some rubberized fishing gloves from Wal-Mart

2 single pole single throw momentary switches

solder

wire

tools

Outlining the Altoids tin

Holes for the finger contacts to come through

Momentary switch to charge he capacitor

The whole setup nice and snug

Test fit

Looking good!

Individual finger contact

Hand showing finger contacts

Both on

Palms up

I think if i added bigger capacitors or a bank of them, i could get that "knock you unconcious" effect, but just disabling you with high voltage is enough for me now.

Some video of it in action:

Dennis Ritchie, inventer of C and unix dies

2011-10-13T14:53:00.000-07:00

last week wile everyone was talking about steve jobs dropping before his time......much like a phone call made on an iPhone(too soon?)
Dennis Ritchie, the creator of the C programming language and co-developer of the Unix operating system passed away on October 8 at the age of 70, leaving a legacy that casts a very long shadow.

Unix is the fundamental building block upon which much of what we consider to be the modern world was built.

C programming language, which he called “quirky, flawed, and an enormous success,” is the basis of nearly every programming and scripting tool, whether they use elements of C’s syntax or not. Java, JavaScript, Objective C and Cocoa, Python, Perl, and PHP would not exist without dmr’s C. Every bit of software that makes it possible for you to read this page has a trace of dmr’s DNA in it.

Ritchie has shaped our world in much more fundamental ways than Steve Jobs or Bill Gates have. What sets him apart from them is that he did it all not in a quest for wealth or fame, but just out of intellectual curiosity. Unix and C were the product of pure research—research that started as a side-project using equipment bought based on a promise that Ritchie would develop a word processor.

imagine how different our world would be if that was all he did?

Introducing: Boots.

2011-10-08T20:44:00.000-07:00

My newest bot. I hadn't had time to build one recently, so I MADE time. Heh.

Not too much to say about the little guy. I scavenged the tracks/base off of a toy skid-loader. The base has a bay for 3 AA batteries, but i decided to add a 4-AA battery pack to get more speed out of him. I don't mind changing out the motors if I burn them out doing it. It's far more fun to watch him scoot around at the speed he does now.

I decided to name him Boots because 99% of the time I was working on him, my daughter had Dora blasting in the background and it stuck in my head.

His design is pretty basic:

Arduino Duemilanove

SN754410 Quad Half H-Bridge

Parallax Ping sensor

At this point he just drives around avoiding obstacles. My main hurdle was getting the code to work properly. Thanks go out to the guys over at letsmakerobots.com who helped with a lot of the problems i encountered.

Original donor body

Hooked up to my H-Bridge

All done and driving around

Top-down shot

F.C.C is finaly moving into the 20th century(now that everyone else is in the 21st)

2011-02-09T18:15:00.000-08:00

for reasons i can't explain without violating jair's "keep it pg13" rule i have a deep seated hatred for the F.c.c but today..... I'm a fan(I'm sure I'll be over is soon)

The FCC on Tuesday will propose the first steps toward converting the $8 billion fund that subsidizes rural telephone service into one for helping pay to provide broadband to underserved areas, F.C.C. chairman, Julius Genachowski, is expected to outline the proposal in a speech on Monday.

now ,if we can just get them some therapy for their irrational fear of nipples....................

Happy Anniversary!

2010-11-02T00:29:00.000-07:00

Well,

This weekend marked the 2 year anniversary of the site. To any of you who actively visit the site, Thank you. I don't make money off of this site; I help creative minds.

I started this site to blog about things i find interesting out there in technology. It has turned into a site mostly showcasing the various hacks and mods i have accomplished. I promise there will be many more to come. That you can be sure of. As for daily active posting... Once i find a viable way of posting with my blackberry without using up an hour, i will do so.

I am currently working on finding myself a nice, lightweight tablet, along with one of those nifty roll up keyboards, They will weigh half as much as my netbook and take up a flatter area in my bag... which i need to clean out soon. You'd be surprised how many gadgets can accumulate after a while.

Anyway, as far as the site is concerned, I plan on going the same route as before, I will however, work on bringing more content. I am going to re-start my quest to find a few people to help me actively keep news coming in. I could bow down to an RSS feed, but that is not original.

Again thanks, and Happy Birthday Techno-holics!

Update to RFID Authentication

2010-10-12T00:43:00.001-07:00

Ok... so wow... I've gotten a pretty huge response about my last post. I am getting a lot of feedback saying that printing my actual tag value to the keyboard buffer is pretty much the same thing as shouting my passwords at the top of my lungs... so I just spent the last.... 45 minutes or so completely re-coding the entire sketch. Please keep in mind that i suck at coding and this, aside from the rudimentary turning commands i gave my robot last year is the biggest project in the wiring language i have ever done. Since i was getting the hang of it, I also threw in some code for operating a servo... but thats for another project. Never mind the empty printin's... those are for me as well.

Hit Read More to continue on and see the code.

//RFID tag verificaton with custom tag output

//Based off of Arduino Playground sketch

//Modified by Jair2k4

#include <SoftwareSerial.h>

#define rxPin 2

#define txPin 6

#define ledPin 13

#define CODE_COUNT 2

#define MIN_ROTATION 150

#define MAX_ROTATION 30

// set up a soft serial port

SoftwareSerial mySerial(rxPin, txPin);

int val = 0;

char code[10];

int bytesread = 0;

char *goodCode = "INSERT TAG HERE"; //The value of your RFID tag

#include <Servo.h>

Servo servo;

void setup() {

// define pin modes for tx, rx, led pins:

pinMode(rxPin, INPUT); // Set rxPin as INPUT to accept SOUT from RFID pin

pinMode(txPin, OUTPUT); // Set txPin as OUTPUT to connect it to the RFID /ENABLE pin

pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT); // Let the user know whats up

// set the data rate for the serial ports

mySerial.begin(2400); // RFID reader SOUT pin connected to Serial RX pin at 2400bps

Serial.begin(9600); // Serial feedback for debugging in Wiring

servo.attach(3);

// say something

Serial.println();

}

void loop() {

digitalWrite(txPin, LOW); // Activate the RFID reader

digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW); // Turn off debug LED

if((val = mySerial.read()) == 10) { // check for header

bytesread = 0;

while(bytesread<10) { // read 10 digit code

val = mySerial.read();

if((val == 10)||(val == 13)) { // if header or stop bytes before the 10 digit reading

break; // stop reading

}

code[bytesread] = val; // add the digit

bytesread++; // ready to read next digit

}

if(bytesread == 10) { // If 10 digit read is complete

digitalWrite(txPin, HIGH); // deactivate RFID reader

digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH); // activate LED to show an RFID card was read

//Serial.print("TAG code is: "); // possibly a good TAG

Serial.println(); // print the TAG code

boolean success = true;

for(int i=0;i<10;i++) {

if(goodCode[i] != code[i]) {

success = false;

digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH); // activate LED to show error

delay(500);

digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);

delay(500);

digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);

delay(500);

digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);

delay(500);

digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);

delay(500);

digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);

break;

}

if(success){

digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);

Serial.print("PASSWORD"); //Print desired password

servo.write(MAX_ROTATION);

delay(1000);

}

else {

}

bytesread = 0;

delay(500);

servo.write(MIN_ROTATION);

}

RFID password authentication

2010-10-10T23:21:00.000-07:00

So.... I finally got hold of a couple of the Parallax serial RFID readers from Radioshack. I had the Northwest depot send a couple to my local store. $9 each is quite a steal. I set to work repurposing my Arduino to interpret the signal and output the RS232 into the virtual com port that the Arduino driver installs.

I'm running Windows 7 and there used to be a super awesome option called serial keys in Windows XP. This option no longer exists. I had to find a way to get the input from the com port to dump into the keyboard buffer. After some searching, I located a program called AAC Keys, which is an alternative to the Windows serial keys application. It's lightweight, runs in the tray, and can be configured to any com port you wish.

My original goal was to do a sort of Windows login authentication using my RFID implant's unique tag.... But i'm not going to get into what a headache that was to try to do using an Arduino to interpret the signal. So I have put that project aside and decided to have some fun logging into various sites and applications using my tag as the password. For demonstrative purposes, I changed my Guild Wars password as well as the password to the RFIDtoys forums to match that of my tag. Since the sketch I uploaded for my Arduino automatically sends a 'return' at the end of the tag, it was a simple matter of scanning my tag when my cursor was in an active text box.

This is a video of it in action.

The programs I used for this were:

Arduino FTDI drivers:

http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm

AAC Keys:

http://www.aacinstitute.org/downloads/aackeys/AACKeys.html

Notable mentions:

Guild Wars

Google Chrome

All in all, it's a fairly simple little project. I am quite happy with how it turned out. And it gave me a nice little break from fighting with Windows to get my station login system working.

Site tweaking

2010-07-22T07:35:00.000-07:00

I've been tweaking the font colors for the site a little bit. I hope they look better to everyone now. They look pretty good to me, but i'm on chrome on a 12.1" laptop. I'll look at it from my work computer.

RFID and misconceptions

2010-07-10T22:31:00.001-07:00

So, I just had a major run in with some conspiracy theorists on facebook about RFID implants. I did not think that i could become so heated about a group of people and their ignorant views of this technology. I've become very sick and tired of hearing about government tracking and the so called 'mark of the beast'. When my intelligent and reasonable suggestions that they do some actual research before mindlessly spewing out hatred failed, I petitioned for help from Amal Graafstra, RFID aficionado, and father to the DIY implant world. He pointed me to a post on his blog that helped me clear my mind. He was good enough to allow me to quote it directly here:

"An almost perfect analogy…

I was just reading about the mysteries of tin and came across this tidbit:

When tin is cooled below 13.2°C, it changes slowly from white to grey. This change is affected by impurities such as aluminium and zinc, and can be prevented by small additions of antimony or bismuth. The conversion was first noted as growths on organ pipes in European cathedrals, where it was thought to be the devils work.

I actually laughed out loud upon reading “the devil’s work” because it so perfectly illustrates how ignorance translates directly to fear… it’s frighteningly similar to the rantings I occasionally deal with regarding my RFID implants. It’s an almost perfect analogy in fact.

ignorance -> fear ?

It all got me thinking about about the relationship between fear and ignorance, and why anyone would want to purposely avoid learning about a subject they were ignorant/fearful of. Could it have something to do with building their passionate opinions so fervently around their fears that all their blustering and any potentially immoral and possibly down right nasty, even deadly deeds committed in defense of their point of view and sense of righteous truth could all be turned upside down by simply learning a little bit and obtaining a better understanding of the subject? People will often commit the greatest evils fighting, what they consider to be, evil. If they then learn what they thought was evil simply isn’t, what are they left with? What is there left to condemn as evil? The painfully obvious answer is simple; only themselves.

1) ignorance creates fear (fear of the unknown)
2) fear incites action (fear directed is fear ablated)
3) action instigates response (the educated defend)
4) response suggests ignorance (the ignorant get a clue)
5) realization builds new fear (self = wrong/evil)
6) refuse to learn (the “i can’t see you, you can’t see me”approach)
7) repeat

Many people argue these people are stupid, but the truth is that most are just ignorant. Stupid refers to lack of ability, whereas ignorant refers to lack of knowledge. If you can successfully educate an ignorant person, they usually come around to either supporting a more complex “truth” than the one they had before, or at the very minimum they go silent. The trick of course is getting an ignorant person to understand that they are ignorant about which they speak, then getting them over the hump to actually learning about it… which is always difficult because understanding and education will already be a scarce commodity for them.

education

It is possible however. Just have a look at the comment thread on my door lock video. Somebody with the handle Alba12349 starts the comment conversation with “Wheter you belive in the bible or not. We can agree on that this RFID shit is just wrong. I will never take the chip” however by the end of the conversion he exits with “yes it is disturbing. ye I understand. I was just pissed off at first after watching all that verichip stuff.”, to which I offer to answer any further questions he might have if he just posts them to my RFID forum. I’m not holding my breath though."

So yeah, i'm still pissed that there are people out there that are going to ignorantly jump to wrong conclusions about this technology, but we will just have to humor them. After all, they don't know any better. And I can always still silently come up with interesting ways that they could die hideous, yet comical deaths.

2010-07-06T15:14:00.001-07:00

Test blogging from my mobile

RFID Implant - 6 month follow up

2010-07-01T20:45:00.000-07:00

So, it has been 6 months since i had my implant put in. Aside from occasional irritation, usually due to nonstop typing all day, I am doing just fine. No cancer, rejection, or government tracking. Since i am a diabetic, i still have a small dot on my hand from the hole that was made, but it is almost invisible at this point. I've been using it to start my car for about as long and I have to say that it works flawlessly.

There really isn't much more to say than that. I had been so eager to get this post done, and highlight all of the wonderful things i have done with this technology so far, but I just haven't had the time or money to make those dreams a reality. I am hoping that soon enough, I will be able to proceed with my original plan of automating my home and workplace to show everyone what a great help this technology can actually be.

Do you want to help me with my projects? Email me or use the donate button on the right to help contribute. I can always use fresh ideas and fresh money to help things along!

Majestic Immensity

2010-06-21T08:21:00.000-07:00

We took a trip down to Klamath Falls, OR on Saturday and had a few minutes to stop and admire the wind farms on the Washington/Oregon border.

The farms seem to be comprised of 2 different types of turbines. The first are Vestas V80 turbines which kick out 2mW of power. The second are the behemoth Seimens SWT-2.3-93 that output 2.3mW of power. These turbines can be seen thrusting up from the ground like massive alien flowers spinning lazily in the wind to no ones tune but their own. Neither words or pictures can accurately describe how large these things really are. At some point we plan on going back on a day trip just to see the sights in the area, and I plan on getting as close to these as possible. If you are ever in the Goldendale/Biggs Jct area, you will see what I mean. If you don't plan on going that way anytime soon, I suggest you make plans to go see them. They are breathtaking.

I am disappointed.

2010-06-16T08:21:00.000-07:00

So, trolling the sites I most frequent, I came across this post on quickjump. It outlines a statement made by Andrew House of Sony. It basically says that Sony decided to release the Psp Go as a testbed to see how much we are actually willing to blow on their handheld consoles. 'Test the waters'? I call BS. I think they wanted to rush out a new handheld without thinking about the delivery system of their content. I have blown over 100 dollars on games through the PSN store. Do I regret spending money on Sony's proprietary content system? No.

Sony has new development in the works, as they always do. But for the multitudes of gamers out there to call this piece of hardware is a crock. The Go has a LOT of potential, just like the Sony Mylo had. To call this handheld dead is a bunch of crap. The psp homebrew community needs to pay more attention to this device and give it the same amount of attention as they have all the other versions of the Psp. The fact that this one has bluetooth integrated should be enough to entice developers to get some custom firmware developed already. Now, that is not to say that developing CFW is easy; I don't know the first thing about software development. However, there is no where NEAR as much following as the other models have. Sony will undoubtedly release the bigger better deal at some point, but what about those of us that have already sunk money into this version?

Get on it developers and don't let this handheld become another Mylo. I love my little buddy.

What we are about.

2010-06-11T07:47:00.000-07:00

I've recently had a couple different people ask me what the true purpose of this site is. 'Do you just link up some RSS feeds to engadget or CNN or something?'

No.

All of our postings are hand written by us. We may quote what people have said or lay out press releases and such, but any post we make here has actually been researched by one of us. We then write it up how we see it and add our own thoughts and comments.

When I first started this site, I had intended on putting my own spin on the tech news i found and researched across the net, but that responsibility found its way over to Pat. The majority of my posts are intended to showcase my various acts of insanity where electronics are concerned. My hardware hacks/mods/creations are my own work and I take pride in them.

Pat seems to have a knack for finding news about cool technologies and advancements in electronics hardware and design. I don't think I've ever actually seen him hold a soldering iron (I might have to change that soon). He usually seems to defer to my lunacy where modifying something is concerned, although he has done his fair share in other areas.

We keep the site maintained because it is our hobby and our passion. Would I like to do this full time? Hell yes. I'd love to be a full time inventor and journalist (if you can call blogging on the scale we do it at journalism), but at this point we are rolling with what we have got.

I think I might actually backdate a copy of this post and link it up top so it's always viewable. Hrmm.

Voice changing for fun..... and ransom calls.

2010-06-09T08:18:00.000-07:00

Here's a little something I've been working on for a bit. It's all concept at this point because i haven't had time to actually build the thing. I've been spending quite a bit of time with my car, trying to get some repairs done. At some point, I'm going to gut the underside of my center console and re-do all of the wiring for my stereo, CB, GPS, and RFID reader. If I have time this weekend, I'm going to build this thing though:

The way it works:

A voice changer from a toy (Optimus Prime helmet) is removed down to the board. The Mic is hooked up inside the project box with some holes to gather your voice. The board skews your voice into the sound of a robot. The wiring for the speaker is removed and instead goes to a bluetooth headset's mic wiring. The sound coming out of the board is then broadcasted through the phone to the caller. The reason i am doing it this way is to try to cut out as much of my actual voice as possible. There will be 2 wires going into the headset only, which shouldn't hinder your ability to wear it too much. I am planning on powering the box with the board by using a re-purposed cell phone battery. A call gets made, and your modified voice goes through the headset. The person on the other end's voice comes through the speaker on the headset.

Now, assuming i can make this work, I will be able to make hilarious calls to people without them knowing who i am. Hrmm... We shall see.

bionic eye

2010-06-09T05:36:00.000-07:00

The human eye is a perceptual powerhouse. It can see millions of colors, adjust easily to shifting light conditions, and transmit information to the brain at a rate exceeding that of a high-speed Internet connection.

but why stop there?

want a h.u.d?

want to know everything the internet knows about a person just by looking at them?

want a gps overlay for geo-caching?

if its sounds far-fetched or if your thinking its a future concept.... think again.

Babak A. Parviz, bio-nanotechnology expert at the University of Washington, in Seattle has been testing special bionic contact lenses which have near-microscopic CPUs embedded in them to send and receive visual information on rabbits for over a year.

Parviz, says it is totally feasible to build an augmented reality interface to slip right atop your eyeball. Since the lens reads visual data (the direction and focus of your eye) as well as displays it, he doesn't think a command interface will be a problem. And since the amount of power needed is so small that it could be entirely provided by a microscopic solar array embedded right there in the lens, power supply is not an obstacle either.

Now, admittedly their current HUD is pretty basic: An 8 x 8 pixel LED field. But that's really only because the money isn't there to build a better prototype. The technology for a more complicated, human-usable display is completely viable, right now and at this very second. It's not "far-removed into the future," or "waiting for a breakthrough" in new technology;

you could have it tomorrow if somebody invested enough

RFID Car starter schematic

2010-06-07T08:45:00.000-07:00

So yeah, I'm sorry this looks like crap, but it's the best i could do with my cell phone camera. I've been meaning to post this for a while. A sketch of my RFID starter layout. If you look at it, you will notice that it's actually pretty basic. Enjoy.

Back to business...

2010-06-07T08:21:00.000-07:00

So I have Dr. appointments every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday now. They are about 2 hours before my shift starts at Costco, so I now have some time to work on the site. I plan on getting at least one or two posts up a week, but they may end up just being a story that i found from hack-a-day, gizmodo, or the like. I haven't had time to work on my own projects lately... But, I have had a bit of time with my sketchbook while i brainstorm things to build, mod, or destroy.

Mr. Patrick may be coming back up to my area soon (spaghetti monster willing) and may be able to help me.

Also, I may end up just scanning all of the pages in my sketchbook and releasing them on the site for others to look at and comment on. We'll see how this goes.

A picture is worth a thousand words

2010-04-22T16:43:00.001-07:00

apple admits contracting with companys using child labor

2010-02-28T08:54:00.000-08:00

At least eleven underage children were discovered to be working last year in three factories which supply Apple.

Apple representatives say the child workers are now no longer being used, or are no longer underage. "In each of the three facilities, we required a review of all employment records for the year as well as a complete analysis of the hiring process to clarify how underage people had been able to gain employment," Apple said, in an annual report on its suppliers.

i love that part about "investigating how they gained employment"
as if to say "those willy children tricked us"!!!!

apple has in recent years been steadily accumulating quite a laundry list of complaints about it's subcontractors.........

Last week, it was reported that 62 workers at a factory that manufactures products for Apple and Nokia had been poisoned by n-hexane, a toxic chemical that can cause muscular degeneration and blur eyesight.

Last year, an employee at Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that is one of Apple's biggest suppliers, committed suicide after being accused of stealing a prototype for the iPhone.

Sun Danyong, 25, was a university graduate working in the logistics department when the prototype went missing. An investigation revealed that the factory's security staff had tortured him, and he subsequently jumped to his death from the 12th floor of his apartment building.

foxconn. f.y.i has been accused by the Chinese labor dept of "inhumane and militant management"

thats right ....apples biggest supplier has been called inhumane ......by...the....Chinese.

and if all that weren't bad enough ,there's this to consider.

in October of 2009, a new application from Apple landed in the U.S. Patent Office. Apple's idea was to program devices to periodically interrupt users with unskippable ads. The ads would temporarily halt performance of the device in order to "compel attention." That on its own is pretty nightmarish but, innovators that they are, Apple found a way to crank it up to that hard-to-reach "Lovecraftian" level.

here's the important part...in their own words

"Apple can further determine whether a user pays attention to the advertisement. The determination can include performing, while the advertisement is presented, an operation that urges the user to respond; and detecting whether the user responds to the performed operation. If the response is inappropriate or nonexistent, the system will go into lock down mode in some form or other until the user complies. In the case of an iPod, the sound could be disconnected rendering it useless until compliance is met. For the iPhone, no calls will be able to be made or received." here is the actual patent if your curious

Apple credits CEO Steven Jobs, Freddy Anzures, Mike Matas, Gregory Christie and Patrick Coffman for patent application 20090265214, originally filed in April 2008.

ARRRGGHHH LIFE!

2010-02-20T19:04:00.000-08:00

Yep.

Life.

I am undergoing a life status change. Not going to post about it here because it does not pertain to electronics. I am trying to get my life together, and plan on posting a bunch of junk soon. Here is what is soon to come:

Robby the Roomba robot build notes
Psp Go review
More mods to my Suzuki

Hopefully sometime soon. I need to go and browbeat Patrick into doing a review on his new Droid tablet.

apple plans to better serve ebook readers by...charging extra?

2010-01-28T08:36:00.000-08:00

among the wildly underwhelming features announced during the invitation only ipad release is a full color ebook reader

and also ....a staggering price hike on all ebooks ...30%

why 30% more you ask?.....

why, that's what you pay apple for the privilege of being allowed to read it on their device of course!

the official word is that apple will allow higher prices as a concession to publishers, but you cant ignore the simple numbers........

Apple is asking publishers to set two e-book price points for "hardcover" best sellers: $12.99 and $14.99, with fewer titles offered at $9.99(the price of an ebook for the amazon kindle and kindle dx). In setting their own e-book prices, publishers would avoid the threat of heavy discounting. Apple would take a 30% cut of the book price, with publishers receiving theremaining 70%.

so lets review kiddies, who's getting the extra cash?
more money to authors? no
more to publishers ? no

more for this asshole? you betcha!

Thank you Hack a Day.

2010-01-15T07:49:00.001-08:00

So recently, Hack a Day featured my implant and Suzuki mod on their site. This has generated some hits to our site as well as starting some conversations about RFID. I know that other people have already done this implant thing, I'm not the first, and I won't be the last. But the fact that Hack a Day feels that it merits a post on their site means a lot to me. This has been an interesting and fun project. I have 4 more transponders on the way and cant wait to find out what else i can interface them with (Arduino anyone? *grin).

So thank you to the staff at Hack a day for thinking that my modest little mod was worth getting on your site... And thanks for the traffic its generating for us!

75 year old woman has worlds fastest internet

2010-01-11T12:21:00.000-08:00

A 75 year old woman from Karlstad in central Sweden has been thrust into the history books - with the world's fastest internet connection.

on her first computer

Sigbritt Löthberg's home has been supplied with a blistering 40 Gigabytes per second connection(that is not a typo ,i double checked) , many thousands of times faster than the average residential link and the first time ever that a home user has experienced such a high speed

The secret behind Sigbritt's ultra-fast connection is a new modulation technique
(from Cisco systems) which allows data to be transferred directly between two routers up to 2,000 kilometers apart, with no intermediary transponders.

According to Karlstad Stadsnät the distance is, in theory, unlimited - there is no data loss as long as the fiber is in place.

(the lack of specs and technical info here is due to a lack of specs being released.. sorry, I'd tell you if i knew. honest)

"I want to show that there are other methods than the old fashioned ways such as copper wires and radio, which lack the possibilities that fibre has," said Peter Löthberg

(a principal developer of the new fiber technology and also sigbritt's son,and that explains how a 75yo got the world record broadband connection)
, who now works at Cisco.

network boss Hafsteinn Jonsson, is quoted saying

"The most difficult part of the whole project was installing Windows on Sigbritt's PC,"...
(not what i'd call a good joke,but for an admin... i guess its comedy gold)

Sigbritt will now be able to enjoy 1,500 high definition HDTV channels simultaneously. Or, if there is nothing worth watching there.........

she will be able to download a full high definition DVD in just two seconds.

RFID Implantation

2010-01-02T17:36:00.000-08:00

Well, we all knew it was coming at some point. On Thursday, December 31st, I went into the Odyssey, a local tattoo/piercing parlor and had the kind and skilled staff implant an RFID tag into my hand. They used a 12 gauge piercing punch and put it into my hand with no anesthetic.

I took the pain fairly well, only squeezed my eyes shut as the needle was inserted. It was all over in seconds. The problems started then. Instant adrenaline rush through my entire body made me dizzy and sweat came from just about every pour in my body. After a few minutes i was good to go again.

Here are the photos along with a video of the implant in action.

Just a small update: after taking this vid, I did some more work on the Zuk. I've bypassed the clutch safety switch so that I do not have to push the clutch in to start the car. I now just need to remove my actual ignition switch and wire the leads up to toggles/rockers.

More tech to come.

RFID Security for the Suzuki

2010-01-02T11:32:00.000-08:00

I am not going to go into too much detail on this one, as most of the people that read this are local to me and may decide that it would be funny to attempt to bypass what i have done. I'm sure everyone gets what i mean there...

In prep for getting my implant done, I decided to set up an RFID starting system for my car. Since it was stolen early last month, i havent been able to start it without the help of a screwdriver. This had to stop.

I bought an RFID transponder on ebay for around 9 dollars and wired it up in a way that will allow me to turn my car to the start position (the part of the keyturn where the motor actually starts turning).

After wiring it all up, I still have to get a switch to put my car into the "on" position, but this setup is responsible for actually making the car run. More on this once i figure the rest out.

RFID = Mark of the beast

2009-12-14T08:13:00.000-08:00

"He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, ¹⁷so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.

This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666." Revelation 13:16-18

Why am I quoting the bible? Because I want to talk about RFID. RFID is a technology that allows a signal containing a code to be transmitted from a microchip with an antenna to a receiver over very short distances (2 inches or so). The code is usually around 10 digits and is used to authenticate someone's permissions to whatever is trying to be accessed. Look at it like this:

You work for a company that is not open to the public (like a call center) and you want to keep random people from entering your building. You set up all the doors with a special lock that requires a key card in order to enter. Your employees swipe their card past a little black box and the door opens for them. Savvy?

That card has an rfid chip in it. The reader interprets the signal into a code which then checks against a programmed micro controller or computer system to see if your code is on the list of people who can come in. If it is, the door opens.If it is not, nothing happens.

Now, take that one step further. there are millions if not billions of combinations as to what your code could be. This means that everyone can have their own unique code. Think of that like a social security card..... that opens things....

RFID technology has become so small that they can be contained in little glass capsules that are smaller than a grain of rice. Those 'tags' can be implanted under your skin.. giving you a permanent key. The biblical reference above is assumed to mean that if you implant one of these, (the most common place is in the hand) you will be endowed with the mark of the beast and will be damned to hell.

Now, I'm not particularly spiritual, but i do believe in a higher power of some form. Do I think that the interpretation of the Christian god's words mean that if you put one of these inside yourself that you will be manifesting the devil's mark? No. That's just plain stupid.

Why have i brought all this up?

Next week I am getting one (maybe 2) implanted in my hand.

Stay tuned.

Traxx is finished.

2009-12-13T04:19:00.000-08:00

So, he is finally done. I'm calling him complete for now until i have enough money to buy servos and sensors. Until then... I'm working on something rather..... special.....

Anyway, here is the video:

And the photo spread:

On the go.....

2009-11-26T13:23:00.001-08:00

So while I blow off some steam from my frustrations with the robotics project, I thought I might as well try something different.... Mobile blogging. I am writing this on my iPhone through an app called blogwriter. I have tried a few other apps like this, but they just didn't meet my needs. This one seems to fit the bill. About the only thing I don't like about it so far is that it does not have support for landscape mode.... Which is a big pain for me. I'll try it for a while and see how it goes.

President Obama afraid of robot takeover....

2009-11-25T08:09:00.000-08:00

I was just checking the news when I saw that President Obama was visiting a high school to look over a cannon designed for moon applications when he was quoted as saying: “As president, I believe that robots can inspire young

people to pursue science anad engineering.

And I also want to keep an eye on those robots in

case they try anything.”

Now... I am finding this rather concerning... We all

know the robots love Obama.... Engadget covered

a story where the robots were actually

campaigning for Obama when he was

running for president...(click here for the story).

Has there been some change in the relationship between Obama and the robot community?

It would seem that he has some sort of information that we do not... He knows that something

has happened that merits worry about the robot's agenda now.... What did he do to piss them off?!?!?

2009-11-23T19:36:00.000-08:00

Ok so....

My parts from Sparkfun electronics arrived the other day.... As could be expected, I was super excited....

The tank treads were about what I expected them to be... Sturdy feeling rubber and plastic wheels:

However.... As soon as I saw the parts for the gearbox, I knew there was a BIG or i should say SMALL problem..... It was going to be small.... TOO small... There was NO way this gearbox would drive this beast of a frame i have built.....

This was going to be a severe issue, I could clearly see that... After spending some 6 hours and more planning out and making my body, I wouldn't be able to use it with this setup..... I really do not want to remember this part, because I keep beating myself up over it. The short of it was that I rebuilt the body from the ground up using thinner, smaller plexi.... In my frustration and anger, I forgot to take photos... You probably wouldn't want to see them if i had though.... I was quite put out with myself for making this mistake and took it out on my work bench along with several objects that were unfortunate enough to be in my way.

I am going to leave this post here at this point. I want to get more pics of what I DID create before I post the final product. I've got to rip the little guy down again for some tweaks anyway... Stay tuned.

Robotics Project Part 2

2009-11-14T22:11:00.001-08:00

Part 2 of my robotics project, The motor control board...

for about 25 dollars, you can get a decent pre-soldered motor control board from any electronics/hobby company on the net. I am trying t

o build this as cheap as possible, however, and would also like to get in as much soldering time as possible. Doing it my self cost me about 3.75.

Using an L293D Motor driver IC (see pinout below), I will put instructions from the Arduino and power from an outside source through this board to step up and output power to my motors.

I used a perfboard from radio shack and some 24 (i think) gauge wire, along with a 16 pin IC holder.

Had to blob a few sections to keep the ground pins all connected:

And thats pretty much it for the motor control. I have the motors, gears, L293, and tank treads on order and they should be here later this week. I will update more once i have made some more progress.

For the heck of it.

2009-11-09T22:14:00.000-08:00

I was going through my 'My Documents' folder... You know, the catch-all drawer for files you never plan on seeing again? When I found a video game review I wrote about a year and a half ago when I was planning on building a video game review site. Might as well put it up.

Jeanne D'arc

I started this game amidst a period in my life where I simply hated turn based rpg's. I had been so fed up with playing 'FF tactics' for GBA along with 'Legend of Dragoon' for the PS1 because of the lack of constant activity in the games. Sure, turn based RPG's have been around since day one, but with all of the newer style rpg games coming out (Valhalla Knights, TOW Radiant Mythology, Crisis Core FF7) I was more into the whole "constant hack and slash" scene. In short, Jeanne D'arc renewed my faith in turn based RPG's.

The game starts out with a story about this dreadful evil and how it was locked away by 5 people weilding armlets of power. The graphics in the cut scenes are excellent quality. Something akin to yuor typical anime that you would rent on dvd. The story progresses, and our simple Jeanne winds up with a magical armlet of power that allows her to transform into a sword weilding, magic toting, mobile blonde death machine. Along with her friends Liane and Roger, and their new pet frog, they set out to help save France from the clutches of the Evil british army, which is being ran by a young king who is posessed by none other than the original evil being that was locked away. The story progresses and Jeanne finds new allies, some of which wield armlets like Jeanne's. There are several intriguing plot twists which help keep the story fresh.

As for gameplay, the combat part of the game runs a standard turn by turn fighting system much like that of the original final fantasy tactics for the GBA. You have a certain square move speed, you can attack or cast spells from a certain distance. One of the things that adds spice to the game is called burning aura. When you attack an enemy with a normal attack, the square adjacent to your foe becomes covered in a flaming circle. When one of your allies attacks from that circle, they get a bonus to accuracy and damage. When one of your armlet wielders has enough SP, they may transform into their special forms. Each of five of your characters will eventually have armlets with mutiple types of transformations, which are enabled by finding certain gems in your environment. Each character that can transform has one special attack that they may employ so long as they have enough magic power.

Items in the game are quite complex. You have your standard apothecary supplies: Herbs and potions and whatnot that heal and give temporary bonuses. You have quite a selection of armor and weaponry at your disposal that you can either find as drops from enemies or purchase in the store. But you also have another type of gem... These gems provied bonuses to stats or special abilities so long as you have them equipped. As you find out about a quarter through the game, your frog can eat two of the gems and combine them into more powerful skills or attribute bonuses. there are over a hundred combinations and different formulas to acquire each end result. This makes your character truly customizable.

All in all, I would rate this game with a 9/10. And as I said, the game gave me a new love for turn based RPG's, which is something I thought no game could do. I trule reccomend this game to anyone, as it is addicting, intriguing, and has a high replay value.

Robotics Project

2009-11-05T07:45:00.001-08:00

I guess I should show everyone what i've been doing lately. I am working on an autonomous robot. The first build will be a rover; driving around avoiding obstacles. The second build will have built in wireless control as well as a servo mounted burn laser. This will be done using an arduino, and as many salvage parts as i can find. I will start off with the base:

Using some standard half-inch plexi, I taped two pieces together and rounded the corners.

I then cut those two pieces in half and rounded the edges, here are the better 2 of the 4. I am keeping the other set in reserve in case i mess this set up.

Drilled holes for the posts for the top portion, 9-volt gives you an idea of how big these are:

Posts secured on the base:

The top level mounted to the base. The bolts were what I had laying around. They are 1/4 x 4".... I will be using 2" bolts for the final build. 9-volt and Arduino included for perspective.

That's it for the base. I have got a lot more done than this, but I will break it up into seperate posts. I don't want to have one long run-on post going here... Next up: Wiring the motor driver board.

An Apple Too Shiny To Bite.

2009-10-28T10:13:00.000-07:00

Hello, intarwebs. I have been asked to guest post!
(i can see my sub-lebrity status growing)

My issue now is, what to rant about, for there is so very much that annoys intrigues and fascinates, I believe the best course of action is to go off on all three, and being a newly converted fanboy of Jedi Master Steve Jobs I think i'll start here

(i accredit the title of 'Jedi master' as an honorarium, much like the "Dr." in Dr. Phil)

Apple is a unique company of dreamers and visionaries or as most would have it, idiots. and I do not wholeheartedly disagree, there have been instances where the company has beguiled the masses and created such a reality distortion field around itself as to appear flawless, and most of the early 20 somethings do not remember the laughable attempt at portability that was the Newton.

Dial up networking on a 'portable' device? oh yeah.
Ugly assed green to black screen ala Gameboy circa 1989? check.
A 6 inch screen with a resolution of 320x240? Aw hells yes.

While we laugh let's remember that,

It defined the term PDA.
You wanted one.

On the other hand a product that most users wouldn't remember (though the readership of this blog may differ)

The Apple Pippin was intended to be a game console, basically a Phillips CD-i gone Mac. Five years after the amazing failure that was the CD-i, Apple, in it's infinite wisdom, decides to do the same exact concept and somehow expects a different result. (to the LOLs of technological historians)

We are living in an age when security is king because fear is rampant, which may be the reason Apple has decided to stay the course of "sell the hardware, don't worry about protecting the software" and that may go a good way to understanding how a New York Times columnist got away with advocating the purchase of the 29 dollar upgrade to snow leopard for users who do not qualify. (A violation of the DMCA… speaking of DMCA violations, George H.W. Bush's iPod + Beatles = violation)

But as a fan of the operating system this annoys me, if only for the fact that it isn't available as an operating system for a broader range of machines, while yes, I got Leopard 10.5.6 running on an HP Pentium 4 beautifully, it wasn't without hoops most users couldn't jump through.

Simplified, my message is this.

Sell the OS as an OS, protect it, profit from it and sell the expensive, shiny machines to those who can afford it.

Sword-wielding Johns Hopkins student

2009-09-19T00:41:00.000-07:00

Holy crap.

Detectives are still interviewing a Johns Hopkins University student who fatally lacerated the upper body of a man breaking into his off-campus residence overnight. The suspect also suffered a severed hand, and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The house is home to four undergrads who had already had a Sony PlayStation and two laptops stolen earlier on Monday.

So when one of the students heard noises at about 1am, he went to downstairs to investigate..... armed with the sword. He saw that the side door to their garage had been pried open, and inside, the suspect lunged at him.

and John Pontolillo nearly cut him in half

Self defense or too much force? It's hard to say without being there. One things for sure: Don't f@#k with gamers.
link

god bless america

2009-09-17T01:19:00.000-07:00

today......

well today........

i saw the president fencing with a fu@#ing lightsaber on the whitehouse lawn

laser M-16'S !!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-09-16T12:55:00.000-07:00

Whether you’re trying to control a disturbance at a food-distribution center, get a convoy through a packed junction or determine who the bad guys are in a crowd, it’s not always a good idea to have a lethal force as your only option. That, at least, is the thinking behind the Thermal Laser Weapon, a device now under development by the U.S. military.

The Thermal Laser Weapon is a device that attaches to standard rail system on military rifles. Like the vehicle-mounted Active Denial System, it works by heating up the outer layer of skin, causing a very painful burning sensation without — in theory — causing any actual damage. The Active Denial System uses short microwaves, the Thermal Laser Weapon uses an infra-red laser. Work on the device is a direct outgrowth of the work on thermal lasers described in Danger Room last year; field testing of the Thermal Laser Weapon by the Joint Nonlethal Weapons Directorate was announced this week.

The Thermal Laser’s immediate ancestor was the PHaSR (allegedly short for “Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response,” although the makers confess to being Star Trek fans). The PHaSR was a big, bulky weapon which combined an infra-red laser with a laser dazzler to produce a repel effect. Only the heating effect is mentioned for the Thermal Laser, but it seems likely that a visible laser would also be incorporated if only as an adjunct to aiming. The photo here shows the Saber 203, an earlier rifle-mounted dazzler.

The Active Denial System puts out around 100 kilowatts and illuminates an area about two meters across. And it produces a powerful “goodbye effect”
(as in "ouch that hurts! i'm going to run away now...goodbuy")
: After several thousand tests, noone has been able to withstand it for more than five seconds moving out of the beam’s path. However, it’s not clear how effective a narrow beam of just a few watts would be, and this is what the designers of the Thermal Laser Weapon are trying to establish. The recent field evaluations highlighted one of problems with using infrared: Microwaves will go through any clothing, and can only be stopped by encasing yourself in tinfoil, but infrared can be blocked by clothing.

“Escalation-of-force options” is the trendy new phrase for the U.S. military, and there’s a growing appreciation that it’s not always a good idea to use lethal force as your first move. Other non-lethal bolt-on options are already available for your carbine. You can add a Taser, or a 12-gauge launcher firing blunt impact rounds. An obvious disadvantage is that Thermal laser Weapon won’t actually stop anyone in their tracks, but it may help in the roles of “discerning intent” and “discriminating targets.” Anyone who keeps making trouble after being lased is facing a loaded rifle and the shooter can escalate to lethal force extremely quickly.

According to the directorate’s non-lethal gurus, the Thermal Laser Weapon is also a multi-shot weapon whose effects are “immediately reversible,” whereas Tasers and impact rounds can have more serious consequences. While the range of the Thermal Laser Weapon is not known, it’s a fair guess that it’s likely to be dozens of feet: significantly greater than current alternatives.

Could it be used to torture or punish individuals without leaving a mark? Absolutely. Whether that’s sufficient reason not to go ahead with it(or a good reason to speed up testing)depends on where you stand in the “non-lethal” weapons debate. The next stage will see the Thermal laser Weapon touted to service representatives to see if anyone is interested enough to fund it — and take on the potential political opposition in the process.
from wired
full disclosure:the image at the top is not the testing photo for the t.l.w system, its a stock shot of the saber .203

Fun with broken electronics

2009-09-16T07:27:00.000-07:00

Never lend your stuff out to friends. Except maybe Pat, he takes care of them.

I learned this the hard way when I lent my Garmin 200 out to a friend for a weekend. It came back with a broken usb port... Which means no charging.

I'm great with soldering, but the location of the pins made it too difficult for me to get at to put another plug on it, so I decided to mount it in my car.

First, I soldered leads to the + and - of the gps. (This is where the 5 pin usb used to be)

I drive a 1991 Suzuki Sidekick. It has a nice open area below the shifter and next to the 4wd selector, So I decided to use that area. I wasn't paying much attention, so I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked to... Sorry. I used my trusty dremel and cut out an area for the gps to mount. Here is the back of it.

Here is the part I really wish I had gotten pics for.

For power, I broke open a car charger for a nokia cellphone, removed the contacts from the board and soldered leads to each end. For the end that you would plug into the lighter, I took the leads and wired them up to my fuse box. For the end going to the phone, I wired them directly to the leads I soldered to the GPS. I then put all of this inside a small project box from radio shack and crammed it under my dash.

The speaker usually fits inside the back of the case, but since I was not planning on using the back of the case, I mounted the speaker under the unit.

I drilled some holes for the sound to come through more clearly, and then mounted the whole thing in with hot glue.

This is the finished product. I messed up a bit on the left side with the dremel, but this is ok because i plan on using jb weld to make a seal around the bezel, which I will sand down and paint to make it look like it came with this stock.

The unit works quite well. I have already used it on one long off-roading trip i took a week or so ago and it performed flawlessly.

HAL5......wtf?

2009-09-03T03:58:00.000-07:00

HAL 5 is an acronym for Hybrid Assistive Limb ... 5. HAL is an artificial powered exoskeleton. In other words, a technological wonder of a suit that is capable of allowing the user to carry five times the weight they could normally carry.

"When a person attempts to move, nerve signals are sent from the brain to the muscles via motoneuron, moving the musculoskeletal system as a consequence." We just copy and pasted that from the official HAL website because it sums it up well enough (apparently just saying, "When you move, this thing moves HARDER!" is too simplistic for the type of people who know how to make cybernetic suits).

Unlike Tony Stark's "Mark VI" Iron Man suit, HAL was not invented for tearing-ass through a war zone, leaving behind a trail of men slowly realizing they just got their limbs torn off by a robot. On the contrary, HAL was designed for factory work, disaster relief, assisting disabled people, and, as the website states, "the entertainment field" which we're sure is code for "Superhuman Endurance Sexbot."

to summ up.....
hal 5 is a super-strong robotic exoskeleton made by.........CYBERDYNE industries

i'll say it again in case you missed it the super strong robot is made by CYBER-fucking-DYNE

some one should have a very stern talk with these guys before they decide to put a chip in these things......
where is Linda Hamilton when we need her?

Robert Zemeckis.......asshole of the century

2009-07-28T13:38:00.000-07:00

Do you remember the first major disappointment of your childhood? The first time you realized that the world was not exactly the hopeful, magical place that you had once believed it to be? Did it happen when you found out that Santa Claus wasn't real? Did it happen when your first family pet died? I know when it happened for me. There is a silent core of sadness at the very heart of me that still resonates with loss every time I hear one word: Hoverboard.

The hoverboard, in case you are a soulless automaton who never experienced childhood, was a special effect from Back to the Future II that immediately replaced the flying car as the flagship dream of hyper-advanced technology. The hoverboard was the perfect storm of nerd-child fantasies. It had all the appeal of futuristic tech, the dream of pure flight and the raw aesthetic lust of all the best toys.

And, if left alone, that's all it would ever have been: a fantasy.

Even children, upon coming out of Back to the Future II and immediately miming sweet hoverboard jumps while inexplicably making lightsaber noises for sound effects, knew that it was just a special effect, not real.

Oh, but the next day at school? The next day at school, there was that one kid. That one insecure little dickhead who had to make friends by lying. That sniveling little weasel who had a black belt in karate, who once met Chuck Norris and who had this super-hot girlfriend across town (but she goes to a different school; you wouldn't know her). The next day, there was that horrid little bastard who first uttered the words

"they're real, you know. Hoverboards are real."
And instantly all his previous lies were forgotten.

"What do you mean they're real?"

"They exist. For real."

"What? Fuck you. How would you know?"

"My uncle works at Mattel. If you watch carefully in the movie you can even see the logo. They're who makes it."

"No way. You're such a liar. Why hasn't anybody else seen one?"

"It's parents. They all say they're too dangerous, because you can go too fast and hurt yourself."

...aaaaand that's where he had you.

Son of a bitch! Of course! It's the parents! That is exactly the kind of bullshit parents would do, isn't it? I mean, it's not like he's saying he rode one, or hell, that he's even seen one, because Mattel can't release them. Nobody gets hoverboards! Fucking parents!

And so for, let's face it, way longer than you should have, you too probably secretly believed that hoverboards were sitting in a warehouse somewhere like at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Forever locked away in a nondescript wooden crate marked "Too Dangerous (For Kids)." A large wooden crate, abandoned and forgotten... that hovered tantalizingly just inches off the ground..............

The guy that first started it all? The insecure little prick who had to lie for attention? I found him.

It's Robert Zemeckis.

That's right. The director of Back to the Future II.

And no, this is not backhanded blame for some crap like "he popularized too cool a concept." He actually did it. Every word of that now infamous lie first came from his lips. Apparently tired of being asked how the special effects were done, Michael J. Fox said that Zemeckis started answering those questions with "what do you mean, how did we do it? It's a real hover-board. It flies. Michael [J. Fox] just practiced a lot."

But you don't have to trust Michael J. Fox (you monster) because it's all on tape. During the Making of Back to the Future II Television Special, Robert Zemeckis went on camera and said "Hoverboards have been around for years, but parents' groups worry that kids will get hurt, so they've pressured the toy companies not to put them on the market."

On that same special, he even paid a special effects crew to have "test footage" made of the actors practicing on "real hoverboards" off set.

i am not kidding ....here it is
(re-cut and set to some gay music as most 20 year old net videos are now, but it's the real footage from the tv special)

Hoverboards Being Used ! Rarely Seen Footage ! - Watch more funny videos here

this is so blatantly fake now that it's almost funny, but in the 80's "photoshoped" was a term that dident exist

So there it is, now you know: Robert Zemeckis is the one responsible. He is the one that stole the hope right out of the screaming bodies of millions of children, because he is a twisted sociopath who feeds on the destruction of joy.

amazon is "doubleplusungood "

2009-07-19T21:45:00.000-07:00

as anyone who owns one , or sereiously looked into buying one knows....

you don't own the ebooks that you buy on your Amazon Kindle.

Even worse, Amazon can simply delete them at will.

In fact, that's exactly what's happened to (of all books!) George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm.talk about irony.

People who legitimately purchased those books discovered that they're now gone, as the publisher has decided that ebook versions were doubleplusungood and should never have existed in the first place.

So, like the war with Eurasia, the book is now just a figment of your imagination. You never had it. Amazon says they refunded the money(users call them liars,but we'll go on),
but what kind of book do you buy that gets automatically disappeared by big brother? eBooks are an interesting concept, but how can anyone buy into something where their books might suddenly disappear?

piss powerd cars!!!

2009-07-19T21:14:00.000-07:00

this is not the kind of tech we usually talk about here, but it is undeniably cool

A scientist at Ohio University has developed a catalyst capable of extracting hydrogen from urine. That’s right. Urine. Now you can fill one tank while draining another.

Garardine Botte claims the device uses significantly less energy than is needed to extract hydrogen from water and says it could power hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in the near future. Her electrolyzer uses a nickel-based electrode to extract hydrogen from urea (NH2)2CO, the main component in urine. Hydrogen is less tightly bound to the nitrogen in urea than to the oxygen in water, so the electrolyzer needs just 0.37 volts across the cell to oxidize the urea, according to Botte. That’s less than half the amount of energy in an AA battery and considerably less than the 1.23 volts needed to split water.

One of hydrogen’s biggest stumbling blocks to use as an alternative fuel is the amount of energy needed to produce it. And then there’s the matter of distributing it. Botte says her gadget eliminates such problems because it’s small enough to integrate into an automobile. Urine is also readily available — your body produces two to three liters of it each day, and it is the most abundant form of waste on the planet. We could treat waste water while fueling our cars.

“Urea is the same stuff we use to fertilize our flower beds. It’s a solid that dissolves in water and is therefore easy to move,” Botte told Wired.com. “An electrolyzer built into a car would eliminate the need for a hydrogen storage tank, and with the right partnership, I believe we could have pee-powered cars capable of 60 miles per gallon on the road within a year.”

Botte’s current electrolyzer prototype is about the size of a pair of CD jewel cases and can produce up to 500 milliwatts of power. That’s pretty small, but Ohio University has patented the technology and Botte says it could be scaled up to power hybrid and electric vehicles or anything else running on electricity.

“We are currently working on the chemistry of the electrolyzer,” she said. “The next step is the engineering, which should flow just fine. It would involve increasing the size of the electrolyzer, making it more efficient and testing its long-term stability.”

She says the cost of developing the technology for conventional cars would all depend on what’s powering the car. The electrolyzer would have to pull energy from a power source like a battery in order to produce hydrogen for a fuel cell. Botte also is examining how the electrolyzer could draw the power it needs from a solar panel. Hooking it up to a rooftop solar panel — like the one on the 2010 Toyota Prius — could increase efficiency as much as 40 percent, she said.

Botte hasn’t gotten much in the way of federal funding for the project, though she is working with the Department of Defense to develop electrolyzer technology for military use.

“Years ago, the army pushed to develop hydrogen technology in order to eliminate the use of noisy generators when out in the field or in order to deal with what’s called the ’silent camp problem,’” Botte said. “The problem they were running into out in the desert was access to large amounts of clean water. The electrolyzer, however, eliminates the need for clean water other than drinking water and to transport fuel to remote areas.”

nokia and the u.s

2009-07-13T12:35:00.000-07:00

NOKIA is the undisputed world leader in cellphone sales.

i know, i was surprised too.

they beat out their nearest competitor(samsung) by no less than 100% in the fist quarter this year (about 5 million units sold)

but most of u.s in the us have no idea. why you ask?

A weak brand...
When was the last time you saw a Nokia commercial on TV or an ad in the paper? While the company’s rivals such as Apple(only a rival in the u.s and only at 19% marketshare here), Palm and Research In Motion(blackberry) have been competing to get more airtime for their products, Nokia has chosen to be more low-key in its approach. The result has been that the average American consumer doesn’t really lust for a Nokia phone.

Lack of focus on CDMA handsets...
Nokia has bet big on the GSM standard for wireless communication, a move that had paid rich dividends in international markets. But in the U.S. the battle between the two standards still rages on, with the Verizon and Sprint networks using the CDMA standard, while AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM.

Symbian.....
For years, Nokia was the biggest supporter of the Symbian operating system. Last year the company put its money where its mouth is, and bought out its partners, making itself into Symbian sole owner. Nokia eventually turned Symbian into a non-profit foundation.

But Symbian is now seen by industry experts as a bloated OS that offers little flexibility and is just not ready the social networking generation.

i dont believe there's any danger that anyone will be a real competitor for global dominance anytime soon..........

but can nokia make a comeback in the u.s.a?

i for one hope so

wtf?!?!?!?!?

2009-07-10T00:49:00.000-07:00

Developed by Koreans for the Japanese
(the undisputed world leaders in robotics, tech,amine,manga and pure-off-the-rails-crazy), Boong-Ga Boong-Ga is the first arcade game that combines the trill of assaulting assholes(thats right, you heard me) and fortune-telling.

You select from eight characters like "Mother-in-Law," "Con artist" and "Child Molester" and then, steel yourself for this, you.... ram a giant plastic finger into an ass that protrudes out from the arcade unit next to the words "HAVE A FUN!! ENJOY." As you poke, spank and probe, the game plays an animation of your victim wailing in pain, and then the game, and I'm not fucking kidding, rates your sexual virility based on the impact of your finger against its virtual colon.

Oh, and did i mention its corporate mascot is a six-foot magical monster made out of turd???.

Boong-Ga Boong-Ga's corporate mascots, a finger beast
and a turd in pajamas.

If you're anything like me, you've already asked yourself about the dangers of this technology being in the hands of two foreign powers known for giant radioactive monsters and nuclear weapons, respectively. And again, if you're like me, this train of thought quickly hits a wall when you realize that you're not an accredited expert on foreign colon-probing policies. So until one of us is, let's just assume that we're all going to die, but not quite as quickly if we stay far away from Boong-Ga Boong-Ga.

Iphone OS 3.0 review

2009-06-22T08:13:00.000-07:00

space
space
space
The 3.0 OS for the iphone came out on Wednesday, June 17th. I gave it a few days to make sure there were no major bugs that weren't discovered until mass install. Once everything looked good, I went for it!

There are a couple different ways to upgrade your firmware. You can either upgrade via itunes and go from there, or just download the firmware and restore from backup. I went this route, as a clean wipe of my phone seemed about due.

I did the full restore, which dumped me into a fresh iphone with nothing on it. My itunes then asked if i wanted to restore my content from a previous backup, to which i said yes. This gave me back SOME of the content I had before, but not much.

I then went and got the redsnow jalbreak package (you can download it here) and proceeded to jailbreak my new firmware. This succeeded without a hitch. Now, what about the new firmware itself?

The biggest improvements I have seen are the ability to cut, copy, and paste, and the landscape email. These two are things I have been wanting for some time, and Apple has apparently heard our pleas. Apparently, the multimedia messages will not work quite yet, but should sometime soon? I dont know about that, but we shall see. All in all, the new firmware seems smooth and responsive. There do not seem to be any drawbacks as of yet.

still more evidence of judicial misconduct in Pirate Bay trial

2009-05-27T18:11:00.000-07:00

It seems like not a day can go by without another oddity popping up having to do with The Pirate Bay trial in Sweden. There was the labels pretending the ruling said stuff it didn't. Then there were the charges of a biased judge -- followed up by charges of bias against not one but two of the judges put in charge of figuring out if the original judge was biased.
Oh, and then there was that oddity where Warner Music apparently hired the lead police investigator in the case while he was still investigating the case.

The latest such news is that Sweden's Cultural Minister told a gathering of entertainment industry folks that she supported the ruling. Now, to many of us outside of Sweden, that may not seem like a huge deal, but apparently the laws in Sweden state that a gov't minister cannot influence ongoing litigation -- and these comments could be seen as an attempt to support one side of the case. It seems like the oddities around this case are not going away any time soon.

the morel of this story is never.ever piss off the geeks of the world if you've got something to hide

firefox Browser for Windows Mobile 6

2009-05-27T17:50:00.000-07:00

For several months Mozilla has had their mobile version of Firefox browser in alpha or beta form. Last week they released it to testers on Windows Mobile 6,witch... sadly does not work on my little wizard :(

Fennec is the code name for the project(fennec is a tiny little fox f.y.i), to learn more you can read all about it at the Fennec home page or you can read these 3 blog articles from Mozilla on why they think this is an important project.

Download the WM6 CAB here.

i'm pretty sure this is staged, but it's still damn cool

2009-05-27T17:24:00.000-07:00

This video of hackers taking over the lighting controls in an urban skyscraper in order to play the world’s most awesome game of Space Invaders is ominous proof that intruders really are eyeing utility control systems as targets, warns security vendor McAfee.

“Perhaps the first demo was just for fun, but the others will have less juvenile goals,” McAfee Avert Labs researcher Francois Paget blogged on Friday. “An attack can involve nationwide damage, a terrible effect on the public’s morale, and huge financial losses.”

Scary talk of intruders cracking SCADA systems to cause power outages and other mayhem has reached a fever pitch over the last year, even as confirmed incidents hover around 1999 levels — i.e., roughly zero.

the world's cheapest mobile phone....

2009-05-13T13:18:00.000-07:00

it is perhaps the world's cheapest mobile phone.

assembled in Venezuelan factory ,with parts made by Chinese tech firm Z.T.E

It is the latest offering from Hugo Chavez's socialist revolution. And its name is derived from a slang word ...... Behold the Vergatorio.

Priced just $15
(in Venezuela anyway ,they get a government subsidy covering 50% of the price ),
the phone has a camera, WAP internet access, FM radio and MP3 and MP4 players for music and videos. .......And it has that name.

what does that name mean you ask?

wait for it.............................

WAIT FOR IT........................................................

it means..........................................
.........................................................excellent penis ...............................................................

i swear i am not making this shit up,

Google it yourself if you don't believe me

Ghostbusters is first film to be released on USB stick

2009-05-11T19:23:00.000-07:00

(not exactly breaking geek news, but i hadent heard it before)
Are you the USB keymaster? You could be soon if you pick up PNY’s new 2GB USB flashdrive, which comes with Ghostbusters pre-loaded. While the music industry has been playing around with USB flash drives for a few years now, the movie business is still relying on discs, but that may change following this partnership between PNY and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

We don’t know what file format and compression settings are used on the film yet, but a spokesperson for PNY explained to Custom PC that it does come with a form of DRM that prevents you from copying the movie. ‘They have DRM protection,’ explained the spokesperson, ‘so customers can download the movie onto their laptop or PC if they wish, but they have to have the USB drive plugged in to watch the movie, as the DRM is locked in the USB drive.

PNY’s sales and marketing director for the UK and Nordics, Stefanie Summerfield, says that there will also be room on the 2GB stick for ‘12 hours of video play, 33 hours of music and 1,080 pictures,’ and added that ‘this is all in addition to getting a preloaded movie on the USB flash drive.’
(i call bullshit on those numbers, but you have to take any press release with a grain of salt i suppose )

geek tattoos

2009-05-09T13:12:00.000-07:00

having nothing of technological nature to discuss today......

we're talking about tattoo's

for what i think are fairly obvious reasons I've always been fascinated by the inkhead sub-set of geek tattoos (i'm a geek with lots of tattoos, need i say more?)

heres some of my favorites

....b.s.o.d tattoo

pacman tattoo

blogger tattoo(s)

firefox tattoo

fallout tattoo

Nintendo tattoo

ASCII tattoo

and my favorite of them all ........

tri-force tramp stamp!!!!!!

Intel's Nerdy Rockstars

2009-05-07T07:11:00.000-07:00

So yeah, pat is definitely whuppin me at posts lately. Only explanation I can come up with is that I come home, turn on the netbook, and wake up to 6:30 am sunlight.... I keep falling asleep at weird times. maybe I have narcolepsy. Meh. From Engadget, I have found an ad made by Intel showing off what everyone already knew: Nerds are rockstars. Enjoy.

Via Engadget

bluetooth to be as fast as wi-fi in 9-12 months

2009-05-05T14:33:00.000-07:00

Bluetooth last week stopped being chained to the low-power, low-throughput radio that has been both its strength and its weakness. New code lets Bluetooth applications now run over 802.11g wireless connections in the 2.4GHz, with a throughput jump to 20M to 24Mbps, from 1M to 3Mbps.(according to the bluetooth s.i.g)

more details at
geeknews

if YOU are the type of person that would take the time to review a toilet on your iphone....

2009-04-27T00:40:00.000-07:00

then i want you to die
this is NOT a paste from somewhere else.

I ,evil pat,
master of the dry one liner---
practitioner of the deadly art of Yokozuna----
poster of all the news that's fit to steal from other sites---------

want YOU(yes you! who, him? no, YOU!!)
to die of the most painful anal cancer a vengeful god can provide

on the road agian

2009-04-26T22:26:00.000-07:00

i'm headed back to colorado this week to start school for mining safety.

50k+ a year at weyerhauser was good, but 90k or so at price or haliburton will be better once i'm certified, my wife will find stuff to spend the excess on I'm sure ;)

i'll try hard to keep posting on the road(even if i have to camp out in a super8 parkinglot and bust out a can-tanna to do it)

best wishes to all and happy hunting for new toys :),

evil pat

iPhone Apps: Killing One Baby at a Time.....

2009-04-25T18:00:00.000-07:00

Have you ever felt like shaking a baby ?
wait....what?... Really?
What the hell is wrong with you people? ????

Well, if the iPhone app store in any barometer apparently you are not alone.

you really can do anything with your iPhone. "Baby Shaker" , a 99 cent app by Sikalosoft, allowed you to shake your iPhone to disturb a sleeping baby, then make it mad,,,,and then kill it
in the week it was up for sale it was in the top 20 apps sold
(and jeff wonders why i hate the pod people so much)

While Apple did pull the app on Wednesday, following several complaints and a series of negative articles, there is no clear explanation on how the app got through. Apple does have a history of blocking controversial apps in the past.

For example an app that tracked your girlfriends' (yes plural) special time of the month was taken out of the store because it was in poor taste. Maybe the baby shaking app was made as an angry response to the blocking of the menstrual app? We'll probably never know.

O.LED displays coming to half of all mobile phones

2009-04-25T17:49:00.000-07:00

In the absence of strong advancement in better battery technology, OLED displays are the cure to many of the consumer electronics’ industries power-hungry woes. OLED displays are more energy efficient than LCDs while providing more vibrant colors and can drastically increase the battery life of almost every handheld gadget out there: from handheld gaming systems to portable media players, from digital cameras to cell phones.

So the sooner we see mass roll-out of OLEDs in the consumer electronic industry, the better. And according to a new report, there’s a good estimate on the timescale of such a roll out: according to Samsung Mobile Display, OLED displays will be in over half of all mobile phones in the next five years.

It doesn’t just end there: Samsung also claims that the OLED power-sipping displays will be on 20 percent of digital cameras and 30 percent of portable game players within the same half decade.

That’s both good and bad news. While it’s great to have some sort of timescale on mass industry adoption, five years is a long time to wait as devices become increasingly more sophisticated and power-hungry, and we’re at least five years away from seeing batteries getting significantly better.

What this means is that the immediate future is going to be depressing for gadget lovers. It means that not only will we need to continue to charge our gadgets daily… but perhaps even twice daily.

If you think plugging your iPhone into your USB port once a day is annoying, it’s time to grit your teeth and soldier on. The O.LED future is in sight, but it’s going to get worse before it gets better.

(will their be a fix for the issue of o.led screens being nearly invisable in direct sunlight in time for the mass roll-out? we can only hope)

I need one of these

2009-04-25T07:06:00.000-07:00

Hack a day has this article about an incredible tank based around the nerf vulcan cannon. Check out the video and then hit the link for the full story.

Via hack a day

coolest thing ever (week of 4/20/09)

2009-04-24T23:10:00.000-07:00

so.... this has nothing to do with technology...

but i had to share it with all of you...

from wiki-how-to

here is the complete guide to .........

how to survive ...
the zombie Apocalypse !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[hide]

Know Your Zombies

The idea of the zombie derives from Voodoo lore. Voodoo (or voudou or vodun) is a much maligned and misunderstood religion; the popular idea of it in the United States and Europe is about as close to the reality as Satanism is to the Catholic church. Anyone using voodoo for evil (a bokor) is the equivalent of the guys who carry out ceremonies in deserted churches with pentagrams and goat's blood.

In any case, zombies do not feature in the original West African voodoo; the idea of a person drained of their soul and forced to obey a master only appeared in the Americas. These we could class as Natural Zombies. If you believe anthropologist Wade Davis, these are created by poisoning the victim with 'zombie powder' which includes puffer fish venom (tetrodotoxin). Supposedly this causes a death-like coma and brain damage which turns the victim into a pliable slaves. These zombies are harmless; you don’t need to shoot them, but watch out for the bokor who controls them.

Then there are Supernatural Zombies, corpses possessed by spirits or demonic powers. If they are animated by angelic spirits (as in the Rime of The Ancient Mariner), then they are here to help. If they are animated by something demonic (as in The Evil Dead), then firearms may be of limited use as they are beyond the laws of nature. Consult your priest, Rabbi, guru or shaman for further advice. Unless you're one of the ultra-cool gangsters in the terrific zombie/yakuza flick Versus, that is -- in which case, gunning down zombies is all in a day's work.

However, mostly you're likely to encounter the type of Alien Zombie favored by Geroge Romero. These are reanimated by an extra-terrestrial force; this is an infectious form of zombiedom that seems to be spread via biting. They are oblivious to most injuries but can reliably be taken out by destroying their brain. They also tend to be quite fast, so beware.

When battling this type of zombie, you are basically trying to stay alive and get to a place of safety, as there are likely to be far too many for you to defeat them.

Weapons

One tempting option is to go out there with a flamethrower. Zombies may have a natural aversion to fire, you should be able to ignite several of them with one burst, and it looks spectacular – there's a video of a demonstration here. However, if you check the specifications it has some serious drawbacks. The U.S. Army's M2-2 flamethrower weighed about seventy pounds, and is effective out to around fifty yards, but the big limitation is ammunition: a fuel tank holding 18 liters of gasoline, enough for approximately five bursts of two seconds each.

So you're probably better off with a conventional firearm. At least this is one area where we are spared the interminable debate of 9mm v .45 handguns and 5.56mm v 7.62mm. Unlike living humans, stopping power counts for nothing as far as zombies go; it's all about shot placement. (And reliability – take at least one back-up gun in case you get a jam or run out of ammo at a bad time.) Given the choice between a rifle and a smaller handgun, rifles are preferred because of their accuracy. Handguns only become more useful once the zombie is within biting and pouncing range.

In terms of ammo size, anything larger than a .22 will do the job, so long as you're capable of putting a round squarely though the head. And this is very much harder than you think.

In a firing range, anyone can reliably hit a man-size target. In real combat, you will probably miss most of the time. This is borne out by an analysis of armed encounters involving police officers:

The police officer's potential for hitting his adversary during armed confrontation has increased over the years and stands at slightly over 25% of the rounds fired. An assailant's skill was 11% in 1979...

In 1992 the overall police hit potential was 17%. Where distances could be determined, the hit percentages at distances under 15 yards were:
Less than 3 yards ..... 28%
3 yards to 7 yards .... 11%
7 yards to 15 yards . 4.2%
It has been assumed that if a man can hit a target at 50 yards he can certainly do the same at three feet. That assumption is not borne out by the reports.

An attempt was made to relate an officer's ability to strike a target in a combat situation to his range qualification scores. After making over 200 such comparisons, no firm conclusion was reached.

The situation is much worse with zombies. The target – the brain – is very much smaller than with humans, and if you are a trained marksman you will reflexively aim at the body. Police officers are professionals who spend long hours training for close-quarter encounters; you probably don't. And while the adrenaline factor may be high when you're facing an armed suspect, a horde of shambling undead takes the terror to a different level.

You are liable to waste a lot of ammunition, so bring plenty. Some favor extended magazines, like the 90-round clip for AR-15/M-16 rifles or 33-round magazines for your Glock handgun. These are fine, so long as they are reliable and you have the discipline not to just keep firing until you run out.

Keep your head

Human factors are probably much more important than hardware. Stay cool, and keep moving. Bring a friend or three, so long as you can count on them not to scream, panic or cause friendly-fire incidents. Zombies are liable to come from all directions at the same time; you don’t get bonus points for killing more of them, so just do what you have to in order to get to safety. And watch out for the ones that are just playing dead. (Actually, they really are dead...but you know what I mean.)

Long term survival

If you can survive the initial hordes of the undead then where a lot of people seem to fall down is the long term view - there are numerous cases of survivors using normal vehicles such as a school bus or a taxi. Whilst these may appear to be a good bet in the short term they pose huge risks once the non-zombie proof glass is damaged, temporary measures such as grids over the glass may help for a while but are ultimately doomed to leave the people inside the vehicle infected.

Some people prefer the disguise route and live in a normal house with a few extra security items (most common during the photophobic zombie attack), but eventually even the best of people slip up during a shopping trip and the zombies follow them home.

An alternate strategy--if you can brave the cold--is to trek up a nearby mountain. Studies have shown that zombies do no like the cold.

The value of the common garden shipping / trucking container cannot be suitably overstated:

There are thousands of them (some full of useful goodies) all over most countries, especially near ports.
They are portable (thousands of trucks already able to move them around).
They are totally zombie proof. They can't headbutt, punch, groan or moan their way in, however earplugs may be needed if they hammer all night.

Some simple electronics, a laptop and a webcam mean your shipping container can be ultra-modern too! Radio controlled from perfect safety!

Other tips

Some sort of protective gear might be handy -– but can you afford to be slowed down? Do you carry something like a sword or a chainsaw for very close encounters, or are you dead by then anyway? Can you dazzle zombies with a flashlight? Any additional suggestions for zombie-fighting are, of course, welcome.

More of a mental health tip -- Chances are someone you know will become a zombie. Tell them how you feel BEFORE they start moaning and shuffling by sending an ecard from ifyouwereazombie.com. Features heartwarming messages like "If you were a zombie and I had to kill you, I'd feel sad." Because, once they're a zombie, it's too late to say you care.

In the book, Day by Day Armageddon, the main characters deal with the issues of rogue military factions and nuclear solution. Because of the nukes, the bacteria eating away at the zombies died from radiation poisoning and ultimatly lead to the zombies prolonged existence.

Another good book on zombie survival is The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks. It's classified as a comedy but in the end can save your life.

Kyocera demos foldable OLED concept phone

2009-04-19T01:20:00.000-07:00

One of the neater possibilities of OLED display technology is the ability to fold it. It’s the answer to a lot of miniaturizing design problems currently facing gadget designers: how do you fit a big screen into a device but make it as small as possible?

Kyocera’s recent showing at CTIA is a great example of how OLED can help solve that problem. The EOS concept phone was a full-sized device with a large, bright, widescreen OLED display that folded up into a compact mode scarcely bigger than a wallet.

Kyocera envisions two modes for the EOS: a portrait QWERTY mode for text entry and a full-on widescreen OLED display for watching media or web browsing.

The EOS has some other interesting tricks up its sleeve as well. They envision shaped memory keys that will flatten when not in use, and a Kinetic charging method that wouldn’t require the EOS to be plugged in to get juice. This is similar to the way self-winding watches work, although owning one of those watches myself, I’ve never been quite sure exactly how many hours a day I need to devote to self-pleasurement to actually strike watch winding from my daily regimen.

This technology excites me. OLED not only offers more vivid colors and images, but its foldability opens up exciting miniaturization options: smaller laptops and cell phones for everyone. And it also helps solve the battery problem plaguing most modern devices, since it draws less power.

Right now, Kyocera has no plans to release the EOS, but I doubt it’s just a fever dream. It’s the future.

article from our freinds over at core77

the "The Pirate Bay 4" going to jail.........

2009-04-19T00:38:00.000-07:00

but sony ,emi and sweden are the real losers.

the" kings of pirate bay" (Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg and Peter Sunde)
have been sentanced to 12 months max (likely 3 months under Sweden's legal system)

and also orderd to pay 30 million kroner (3.5 mill u.s) in damages
, however Sweden dosent have the judgment claims laws that the u.s has ,
so in short sony and emi wont see a penny. becous the 4 dont have it

and how has the verdict affected the pirate bay(currently the worlds largest) p2p service?
it hasent.
at all.............
except for membership expanding by 50% since the start of the trial

The Pirate Bay crew, has vowed to continue running the site whatever happens, and claims that it is secured from a forced shutdown(witch was not orderd as part of the verdict b.t.w) through a network of distributed servers located outside Sweden.

perhaps the biggest losser in this case is sweden itself, The verdict could shatter Sweden's reputation as an world i.t leader and safe haven forp2p services , coming just weeks after a new law that took effect that allows content owners to force internet service providers to reveal subscriber data in piracy investigations.

a leading candidate for an upcoming e.u parliment election Christian Engström, comments:

"Sweden has now outlawed one of our most successful ambassadors. We have long been a leading IT nation but with these kind of actions we will be left behind and become dependent on other nations' arbitrary views."

is it a campaign stump speech? .......of coarse it is!!!!!
but he's stumping to us, the geeks of the world.
and thats pretty cool

this destroyed the last scrap of faith i had in humanity

2009-04-15T21:10:00.000-07:00

apps on your iphone do not. repeat NOT make you a musician you sad, sad little man...........

Stanford University's newest "musical" ensemble is called MoPhO, short for Mobile Phone Orchestra. Its, "conductor", Ge Wang,(pictured above, passionately kissing his iphone(jeff....i told you this would happen dident i?) is a veteran of Princeton's "Laptop Orchestra" .

and is obsessed with making electronic music as mobile as possible.

"The iPhone holds a lot of potential for what kind of music can be made and how it can be made," Wang says.

.......................................................................................................................................................................

srsly....... this is the last straw, humanity isn't worth saving anymore.....

doom on you!!!!!! doom on you all!!!!!!!!!!!.........

sincerely,(while fervently hating you all).......evil pat. o.p

where has evil pat been???

2009-04-14T19:52:00.000-07:00

i drove to colorado last week....

i passed through the Clinton Montana "testicle festival"photos on this link are nsfw (this is a real thing i swear)

i passed through little big horn saw custers head stone, and a young crow indian pissing on it
(i couldent make this shit up if i wanted to lol)

got trapped for 18 hours at a rest stop between lusk and duglas wyoming with only my trusty htc wizard to keep me company(lemmings and excite bike for 7 hours straight) , went to sleep in the storm.......

woke up with pink eye AND the flu (as it turns out,sleeping in your car in a blizzard is bad for you!, who knew right?)

and had to drive over monarch pass with one eye swollen shut,while trying to breath through congestion at 12312 feet over sea level

all in all it was a hell of a week, but i made it home from my odyssey ,
and i'm recovering nicely

hopefully the next trip willbe a little bit smother

Where have I been?

2009-04-12T21:06:00.000-07:00

space
space

Some of you may be wondering... Where has jeff been? Well.... I needed a break from all things small and electronic... So I decided to give my car a bath...

I grabbed up Chris, (Pat is in Colorado at the moment, which is why we aren't seeing any posts from him....) and we went out to French's Canyon for a little R&R.... Shooting guns and climbing over things.

The creek was a little high at the time, so we decided to put it in its place by running through it repeatedly.

Now, you may ask, what does this post have to do with technology?!?!?!?!?!??!?

All photos were taken with my iPhone's internal camera... thats what!

As you will see, the Iphone's internal camera takes very high quality pictures. Something you may not expect from a 2mp camera... especially one with no optical zoom like one you would find inside a cell phone. Enjoy the following depictions of entertainment.

My 1991 Suzuki Sidekick... One of my favorite toys.....

And yes, the water is actually kind of deep.....

This is Chris.... focusing his chi...

NDSi Availible in the US!

2009-04-06T08:28:00.001-07:00

space
spaceThat's right kids. The DSi is now live here in the states. For those of you who have been living under a rock for the last several months, the new Nintendo DSI is more Nintendo-y than ever. The DSi comes with 2 cameras built in; one on the outside case to take pictures of friends and
whatnot, and one on the inside to make video chatting possible.

Here are the specs in comparison with the original DS (Courtesy of Amazon.com)

	DSi	NDS
Display:	3.25 inches	3 inches
Overall size:	Width 137mm, Length 74.9mm, Thickness 18.9mm	Width 133mm, Length 73.9mm, Thickness 21.5mm
Power Supply:	AC adapter for Nintendo DSi	AC adapter for DS Lite
Weight:	Approx. 214g (with touch pen)	Approx. 218g (with touch pen, Game Boy Advance cover)
Charging time:	Approx. 2 hours and 30 minutes	Approx. 3 hours
Battery life:	The lowest brightness (9-14 hrs), low brightness (8-12 hours), medium brightness (6-9 hours), high brightness (4-6 hours), highest brightness(3-4 hours)	The lowest brightness (15-19 hrs), low brightness (10-15 hours), high brightness (7-11 hours), highest brightness(5-8 hours)
Software:	Software for Nintendo DS, Software for Nintendo DSi.	Software for Nintendo DS, Software for Game Boy Advance
Input-output:	DS card slot, SD memory card slot, AC adapter connection, stereo headphone/mic jack	DS card slot, Game Boy Advance cartridge slot, AC adapter connection, stereo headphone/mic jack

The DSi released yesterday, April 5th. If you have $170 kicking around, you might want to go see if you can find one. Knowing Nintendo's marketing strategies of the past however, (think Nintendo Wii availibility for the last 2 Christmas' in a row...) it might be a bit of a challenge.

is it still a netbook if it has an optical drive????

2009-04-01T03:47:00.000-07:00

Asus will this month further muddy the netbook waters by releasing an Eee PC with an optical drive. The E1004DN will have the usual Atom N280 CPU, a 120GB hard drive and the HD-capable GN40 graphics chipset. Presumably it will also have the usual complement of SD card reader, triple-USB ports and six-cell battery.

Why would Asus stick a battery-sucking, space-eating optical drive in such a tiny machine? With an optical drive, is this even a netbook anymore?

i'm guessing that the machine will become thicker to accommodate the spindle, therefore breaking the purse-ability (that's right. i said purse,deal who wants some???) of the netbook.

recharge Batteries in a matter of seconds, not hours

2009-04-01T03:39:00.000-07:00

Researchers at MIT have discovered a way to speed up the recharging of Li-ion batteries - something that could change the lifestyle of some people(just about everyone i know). The potential of this breakthrough is very large; it can go from electronic devices to electric cars. Imagine driving far away in an electric car and never running out of power, because each time you stop at a red traffic light, the car batteries have time to recharge.

more at geeknews

apple claims ownership of the letters p-o-d

2009-03-24T00:10:00.000-07:00

Steve jobs...... has lost his mind.

over the last 5 years apple has tried to sue ,coerce, of intimidate any company selling anything with the suffix -pod (not just electronics..... they tried to sue burger king over calling their french fry container "frypod"..... true story... you just cant make this shit up)

but now there going even farther

Apple sent a cease-and-desist letter to Pivotal, a company marketing an cell Phone stand called Podium. In that letter, Apple cited consumer confusion and protecting its intellectual property. Pivotal says they plans to file a formal response to Apple on Wednesday.

where will this crap stop?

more on wired

BitTorrent To The Rescue

2009-03-19T22:31:00.000-07:00

I’ve been downloading torrents for many years, and have come to know many handy tips and tricks. One that I learned a while back, but had never had an opportunity to utilize, is correcting and repairing hefty sized files using your client’s hash of that file. Yeah, it may sound complicated, but its actually pretty simple. If you have a slow connection and downloaded something like the newest ISO of Ubuntu, then when you went to burn the image to a disc it’s corrupted for some reason…Don’t pull your hair out! No need to download the file again; with some creative copying and a hash check, you can be back in business in no time at all.
Read this detailed article HERE to get the skinny on this procedure. Be sure to backup anything you plan on testing this with, as the method can be a bit shaky at times. Good luck!

google stats.. kind of off topic,but interesting

2009-03-17T13:56:00.000-07:00

i was planning to post a list of the 100 most popular google searches(a shameless attempt to boost hits i know ..) and i descoverd something interesting.....

allmost no sex...

i remember when nude,sex,and xxx were in the top ten keywords every week.....

do you suppose this means we're maturing as a culture??

,or just that we know where all the porn is now???

thoughts? anyone???

Mar 17, 2009 - change date
Updated 1 hour ago

1.	oregon lottery
2.	retention bonus
3.	natasha richardson skiing accident
4.	oregonlottery.org
5.	erin go bragh meaning
6.	carl landry
7.	patricia hearst
8.	oregon raffle
9.	patty hearst
10.	eras
11.	irish music online
12.	symbionese liberation army
13.	journolist
14.	st patrick s day parade new york
15.	bridewell
16.	leprechaun
17.	joely richardson
18.	blarney stone
19.	irish toasts
20.	st. patrick
21.	corned beef
22.	history of st. patrick s day
23.	oregon lottery raffle results
24.	irish sayings
25.	northern irish premier league

26.	corned beef and cabbage recipe
27.	dan rooney
28.	slainte
29.	irish blessing
30.	green beer
31.	four leaf clover
32.	kathleen soliah
33.	old dominion university
34.	texas hippie coalition
35.	irish quotes
36.	irish names
37.	why do we celebrate st. patrick s day
38.	guinness beer
39.	bupers online
40.	animal husbandry
41.	charles grassley
42.	black irish
43.	gaelic translation
44.	shamrock shake
45.	matchmaking god
46.	st.patrick s day
47.	evacuation day
48.	irish proverbs
49.	shillelagh
50.	double teamed

51.	irish car bomb
52.	irish limericks
53.	sara jane olson
54.	christie kane
55.	colonial bank
56.	chicago river green
57.	irish drinking songs
58.	irish jokes one liners
59.	myeras
60.	irish beer
61.	ireland
62.	dropkick murphys
63.	gaelic phrases
64.	luck of the irish
65.	when irish eyes are smiling
66.	iphone 3.0 live
67.	irish words
68.	shepherds pie
69.	myrna opsahl
70.	liam neeson
71.	freida
72.	happy st. patty s day
73.	brenda acevedo
74.	leprechaun in alabama
75.	lucky charms

76.	navy personnel command
77.	irish soda bread
78.	irish prayer
79.	deborah l. turbiville
80.	gaelic sayings
81.	i want to go to notre dame
82.	internal cleanse
83.	flogging molly
84.	vanessa redgrave
85.	celtic music
86.	senator grassley
87.	gomorrah party
88.	navy advancement
89.	st patty s day 2009
90.	faith and begorrah
91.	irish poems
92.	shamrock clip art
93.	darby o gill and the little people
94.	blood pudding
95.	tiffany mcelroy
96.	npc.navy.mil
97.	hr 1388
98.	taoiseach
99.	newry v institute
100.	danny boy lyrics

The PSP Dev Kit

2009-03-17T04:28:00.000-07:00

Sup Techo-holics! Sorry i haven't been around but it's rather a pain, i lost the link, forgot how to log in and all other manner of nasty things until i realized i could use my gmail account, that and i've been a bit busy.

I just wanted to take a moment to debunk some of the myths and romantacism's associated with all the PSP Dev Kit Drama going around. That one crazy eBay post has gotten the underground console community in one big spin believing it to be a godsend that will send Sony under and make the homebrew comunity rule forever: (Credit for Picture: Engadget)

This is not some godly device made by a homebrew developer, look at the top left hand corner of the machine, does that logo seem familiar? Pertaining to a certain company relevant to the PSP? For those who can't see the colour grey it starts with an S and ends in ony...... That's right, this device was made by Sony, they sold a few of these bad boys when around the first generation of PSP's, it's a rare item for sure....but nothing more. So for anyone thinking Sony is so totally in for it now......Sony has had these, and been using their technology since they started developing the PSP.

But what does it actually do? You can be forgiven for asking, the answer is simple, the PSP Dev Kit is for developing and testing software for the PSP. So how is that new? The answer to this is also simple: It's Not. Like i said this is an old device in terms of the PSP timeline, and so is devloping software for it. The fact that people got excited over a "new" device for the development of psp software when they claim to be members of a community that has been all about developing psp software since the very first EBOOT......is so sad indeed

Some other's raised the question "Could this help us crack the 3000" Whilst i can't really say, i highly doubt it, people cracked the 1000 without it, and the slim, and no one made any releases they claimed came to fruition from this dev kit machine. Plus sony has advanced and changed the hardware and firmware side of the psp so much over two generations it's unlikely this would have a whole lot more success reading from the 3000 then the hackers such as Dark_Alex would without it.

So to recap, no this is not some new godly hack shop device, it has been around for years, one just happened to pop up on ebay recently. As a result of this it is highly unlikely it will have any significant effect on "the community" or software releases. It's been a whole lot of kerfuffle over an eBay listing of a rare item available in the form of a toolchain that some developers have worked hard to develop.

Keep enjoying the Homebrew/Hacking Scene and Keep waiting for Awesome releases from the Developers that make it work.

This Is Not an iPod, this is a beta test

2009-03-16T16:20:00.000-07:00

Apple's newest Shuffle (at almost 50 percent smaller than the previous Shuffles) could easily be mistaken for a stick of Trident. features no buttons and it pimps voice-identification technology.

. Shuffle 3.0 basically looks like a USB drive with a clip attached to it. Apple ditched the scroll wheel like a one-night stand and moved the controls onto the earbuds. A small plastic cylinder sitting six inches below the right 'bud is adorned with three buttons. Two handle volume up and down duties while the third button in the middle is kind of an uber controller. One click pauses the music, two clicks skip forward a track, and three clicks revert back a track. Hold the button down for a few seconds though and a feature kicks in that no one has ever seen or heard on an iPod before.............

.voice software.

Dubbed VoiceOver by Apple, it works like this: You press the middle button for several seconds and a disembodied Steven Hawking-esque voice tells you what track or playlist you're listening to. It's fairly accurate at telling you the track — just as long as the name is not terribly complex. Rolling Stones? Clearly chirped by VoiceOver. But Sigur Ros? The program garbled something that sounded more like "boozy roogs."

by all reports VoiceOver is about as refined as a gallon of crude oil.

They're essentially running a Beta test here. Once they get the software fine-tuned, expect it to roll out on devices like the iPod Touch and iPhone 3.0.

Instant-On for Any PC

2009-03-15T13:25:00.000-07:00

You've probably heard about PCs that can start almost immediately, booting into a Linux OS so you can check e-mail or play some music
.(HP Voodoo Envy133 and the Lenovo IdeaPad S10e for example)

But so far, those systems have been embedded in a PC's BIOS, meaning that if your PC didn't ship with the capability then you were shit out of luck.

Presto is a similar instant-on system that you can install on an existing laptop or desktop(support for xp of vista).

the public beta goes up tomorrow (March 16, 2009.)

iPod Touch 2g Full Jailbreak is HERE!!

2009-03-11T13:47:00.000-07:00

First id like to say, Sorry for not posting in some time i just couldn't find anything to post and im getting quite busy with school at the time.

Now for the main event,

I went crazy last night when MustleNerd, Part of the jailbreak Dev-Team posted a link to the 24k Patch, which jailbreaks your ipod touch 2g,
Fully Untethered. Its NOT on quickpwn or Xpwn yet, but a member of ipodtouchfans.com has already made a program to do it!

Here's the link to the Dev-teams blog- http://blog.iphone-dev.org/

And the Jailbreaking software by dancool999- http://www.ipodtouchfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=155875

More Info and Updates soon!

coolest thing ever!!!(week of 03/09/09

2009-03-10T00:21:00.000-07:00

A new language from MIT's Media Lab makes it easy for kids to develop programs that interact with things in the real world: Pencils, paper, water, and even vegetables.

a new progaming language called "Scratch", is not so much a procedural language as an environment for creating interactive animations, annotated stories, slideshows, prototypes and games. It's designed to be as simple to use as possible, so kids as young as 8 can get started building their own animations with minimal preparation.

Scratch is designed to interoperate with an external sensor kit called a PicoBoard. This $50 circuit board includes a microcontroller, a button, a slider, a light sensor, a microphone, and four ports for measuring the resistance of circuits. It connects to a computer using a serial-to-USB cable, and immediately starts delivering data that can be used by Scratch programs.

a sprite can be made to grow or shrink based on the electrical resistance of a circuit connected to one of the PicoBoard's ports.

as an example of how the system works....,jay silver(a member of the M.I.T reserch team that wrote the language and designed the pico board)demonstrated the kit by attaching one lead to a pushpin stuck into a #2 pencil, and the other lead to a line he scribbled on a piece of hotel note paper. Because graphite is somewhat conductive, touching the tip of the pencil to the line completed a circuit. The Scratch software was able to read the resistance of that circuit and make a cartoon cat grow or shrink in proportion, depending on where on the line Silver placed the pencil.

if that example does not make you want one for your kid(or yourself for that matter)......................

turn in your geek card and throw out all your electronics

more @ GADGETLAB

several new "netbook specific"operating systems on the way

2009-03-10T00:07:00.000-07:00

At least four new operating systems are in the works, all promising to offer a better experience to users struggling with tiny Windows icons on their 10-inch laptops.

The rise of netbooks offers one of the best opportunities in more than two decades to challenge Microsoft's dominance of the operating system business.

but don't hold your breath waiting for someone to beat out gates and company

more on wired

Blog is back to normal

2009-03-07T07:15:00.000-08:00

Took some doing, because the original pictures just don't exist anymore, but I got the site back to normal. Sorry for the interruption.

pictures down

2009-03-06T21:34:00.000-08:00

it would seem that the site is having some issues. pat tried to warn me, but they didn't show up until today. I will fix them soon.

the silly-ass results of d.r.m gone wild!!!!!!!

2009-03-02T01:21:00.000-08:00

developers for Google's Android mobile OS are discovering they cant buy or use paid g1 apps....
. Why? Because Google is afraid that developers, with greater levels of access, will be able to "break" the DRM and create unauthorized copies.

Of course, people will figure out how to break the DRM and make unauthorized copies anyway.
(and by they WILL i mean they HAVE,,,and everyone but google knows it)

So all Google has really done is (a) piss off a lot of developers (b) shrink the market for paid apps (c) make it that much more difficult for developers to get, create and test such paid apps. In all this focus on protecting, Google seems to have missed out on the fact that it's more important to be creating and building than protecting.

coolest thing ever (for the week of 3-2-2009)

2009-03-02T01:08:00.000-08:00

laser.... armed.....fighter jets!!!!!!!!!!!

(from our friends over at geek.com)
the US Air Force is in the final phases of testing a piece of military tech aimed at taking out recently launched missiles or enemy aircraft with lasers.

This relatively new system was developed in cooperation with the US Air Force, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing. It involves a high-powered laser turret mounted on the nose of a large jet plane that can track and destroy enemy missiles when launched. The system is designed so that laser equipped planes could patrol areas of international tension to intercept missile launches soon after they leave the ground.

Further testing on the laser system is expected to continue throughout 2009, but the future of the weapon is in limbo as the new B.Obama Administration has yet to decide to continue funding on the project.....

iphone bombing so badly in japan they have to give it away ,lol

2009-03-02T00:20:00.000-08:00

Apple's iPhone has wowed most of the world— but NOT repeat,NOT Japan.,

where the handset is selling so poorly it's being offered for free.

What's wrong with the iPhone, from a Japanese perspective? Almost everything: the high monthly data plans that go with it, its paucity of features, the low-quality camera, the unfashionable design and the fact that it's not Japanese.

In an effort to boost business, Japanese carrier SoftBank this week launched the "iPhone for Everybody" campaign, which gives away the 8-GB model of the iPhone 3G if customers agree to a two-year contract.

Japanese citizens possess high, complex standards when it comes to cellphones. The country is famous for being ahead of its time when it comes to technology, and the iPhone just doesn't cut it. For example, Japanese handset users are extremely into video and photos — and the iPhone has neither a video camera nor multimedia text messaging. And a highlight feature many in Japan enjoy on their handset is a TV tuner, according to Tero Kuittinen

(OF GLOBAL CROWN RESERCH, the leading market reserch firm in japan )

Dual/Triple/Quad Booting Netbooks

2009-02-25T07:41:00.000-08:00

........... Is a royal pain....

For the last 2 days I have been trying to get a dual boot setup of BT3 and Win XP on my Eee... Major failure every time. Grub doesn't seem to want to work right, and neither does lilo. I got all the stuff to get OSX on a flash drive.... Fail again... Vista and xp? Not enough room. Fail. 8 gb SD card and any of these options? FAIL.

I'm in the process of keeping myself from throwing something out of frustration... I will have to do much more research before I can make multiple OS's dual boot from HDD/SD cards I guess.

....End of rant...

Rumors of the new Red Xbox 360 are true!

2009-02-24T17:05:00.000-08:00

Today when on my 360 I saw the red 360 in the dashboard and I ran to my PC to write this up. Today, (February 24, 2009) Microsoft
Officially announced the Red xbox to the public. It will be releasing the same day as Resident Evil 5, March 13 2009 and Yes, it is a bundle
package.

The Package includes-
* red Xbox 360 Elite console
* red limited edition wireless controller
* black Xbox 360 headset
* 120GB HD, with exclusive RE5 XBL theme
* A copy of Resident Evil 5
* Download coupon for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix

Even though i wont be buying this, if you are a RE fan and were thinking of getting a 360, I recommend you get this baby because it
is a really kick ass item. On another note, there is still no update saying the price so i guess we will just have to wait and see what it will be.

New York's Governor to tax net porn!!!!

2009-02-20T18:41:00.000-08:00

In an effort to tackle New York's nearly US$15 billion budget deficit, Governor David Paterson has proposed taxing downloads of software, music and other content, including porn! oh no!!!

It's hard to see how an iPod and porn tax helps a distressed state that is already pushing online business away.
already many web retailers will not sell in new york ,due to the state forcing out of state businesses to charge new york sales tax,

can you say unconstitutional? i knew you could :).
but no one has ever accused the government of being smart .

especialy in new york.

BPL LIVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-02-20T18:24:00.000-08:00

A provision in the economic stimulus package will funnel up to $2.5 billion through the Department of Agriculture to provide broadband-by-powerline service to people who live in rural areas and lack access to high-speed Internet.(ehh? jeff? ehh)

more on techdirt

redsn0w Lite v2 brings us closer to untethered Jailbreaking

2009-02-20T08:06:00.000-08:00

These days one the the most wanted devices are iPod's. Apples newest being the iPod Touch 2g which has volume rockers, a built in speaker, and a sleek curved back. The ONLY downside, no official jailbrake. The project know as redsn0w (Even the name is cool) has kept dev team members working constantly trying to get the final 2g Jailbrake out. So far we have a tethered jailbrake which isn't really useful because you need to re-jailbrake it everytime you boot your ipod, and a Semi-tethered Jailbreak, which has a Normal mode and Jailbroken mode. The normal mode keeps all your jailbroken apps and cydia but they aren't usable. But you can go into DFU Mode (Recovery Mode if you didn't know) and run a small file and it will boot into Jailbroken mode so your cydia, NES, PSX ect. will work. Even as annoying as it is there have been teams that made programs to make it a little bit easier. It does takes some manual work and some computer knowledge to pull off the Semi-Tethered because there aren't any programs for it yet. I cant wait for the full redsn0w to come out so I and many other people can enjoy themes, backgrounds, and Apps that Apple wont allow to have an awesome ipod touch. Below ill post a video that will show you have to jailbreak using the semi-tethered jailbreak even though i recommend just waiting until the untethered version is released if you don't know what your doing. ALSO, This possibly retracts your Warranty. Enjoy!

Heres a screen shot of my ipod showing Cydia, Winterboard, and installer among others-

This is probably the easiest way to do it so far-

Link to video-

Nintendo DSi to North America?

2009-02-20T07:18:00.000-08:00

Finally, a release date! An official press release from Nintendo reveals that the DSi will be released on April 5 in North America.
Anyone remember the rumored release dates? Arpril 4th, they were so close! So DSi to North America is going to probably be a big
thing, and if it anything like how the Wii started and still is, I am going to recommend you buy it ASAP! I mean the thing sold out in japan, in 2 days!!!

The DSi price is going to start at 169.99$ and will be avalable in Black and a light blue.

Mirror’s Edge DLC (with no guards att all)

2009-02-20T01:28:00.001-08:00

Mirror’s Edge is a great–but i think flawed–experiment that combined a first-person action game with the platforming challenge of parkour or freerunning (if you dont know what that is, google it. it's pretty cool), .

It's got one fatal flaw though, uber-strong armed guards that had players(my self included) slamming controllers in frustration as they failed to escape without engaging in difficult (and neer imposible later in the game)fistfights.

fighting just does not fit well into the game, the combat system seems to have goon in as an after thought.
and it just plain sucks

The downloadable content from the developers at EA DICE, however, fixes that problem by simply removing the guards from the equation. the new DLC pack offers seven new maps set in an alternate dimension realm with platforms floating in the sky above absolutely nothing below. The focus is simply pure parkour running, which the original game did extremely well. The goal is racing against the clock.

more at geek.com

geeks 1-lawyers 0 in pirate bay trial

2009-02-20T00:12:00.000-08:00

as the landmark trial of the bit torrent site, "Pirate Bay" continued Thursday,the prosecutor hit a major snag........he cant figure out who's in charge of the operation

The prosecutor became visibly frustrated when he tried to get Neij(Fredrik Neij) to identify the kingpin who is ultimately responsible for Pirate Bay and the text and graphics on the site. Neij explained that an extended group of people have privileges on the server, and contribute haphazardly as they see fit. The prosecutor seemed not to grasp the concept.

"But someone must ultimately decide whether to put up a certain text or graphic," he protested.

"No," Neij answered. "Why? If someone believes a new text is needed, he just inputs it. Or if a graphic is ugly, someone makes a better one. The one who wants to do something just does it."

full story on wired.

their ignorance is our best weapon :)

UPDATE New Red Xbox360?!

2009-02-19T09:04:00.000-08:00

Yesterday i posted about rumours of a red xbox 360 coming to stores, well...

A Halo Wars press release from Microsoft accidentally mentioned the Red Xbox 360 Elite that's rumored to come with Resident Evil 5. The press release in New Zealand was only supposed to talk about a promo deal, where anyone purchasing an Xbox 360 during a certain time period will receive a free copy of Halo Wars. But! Someone made a mistake when he included this in there: "This Halo Wars offer does not apply to the Red Xbox 360 Elite console which is exclusive to EB Games."... Hehe, so it does look like there will be a red 360 on its way, Microsoft was officially contacted for a comment, but all they said was "we have nothing to announce at this time."

Cheap SMD Parts and Kits

2009-02-19T07:34:00.000-08:00

I was scouring through my olddddd bookmarks and found one of my favorite site from back when I first starting modding.
VA Kits is a place that you can find some cool kits and loads of SMD Parts for a small price. AND, they keep adding stuff and it looks like they are getting more things and aren't a SMD Only site anymore which is great because we can get more of what we need in one place!
They got some really cool projects too, like I saw they have a Police Siren Kit in SMD!

Defiantly check them out, they are very worthy of a 5 Star store. Another thing is they have some fast shipping if your in USA. They are located in Florida ;)

Link to there site- http://www.vakits.com/index.php

Techno-holics

My apologies

So a Jair wants another voice here...

world's first transparent head-mounted display with Wi-Fi

We're Looking for Posters!

Being featured is fun!

What happened to you, Gizmodo?

Stun Gloves MKII

On web TV!

The tazer-gloves

Dennis Ritchie, inventer of C and unix dies

Introducing: Boots.

F.C.C is finaly moving into the 20th century(now that everyone else is in the 21st)

Happy Anniversary!

Update to RFID Authentication

RFID password authentication

Site tweaking

RFID and misconceptions

"An almost perfect analogy…

RFID Implant - 6 month follow up

Majestic Immensity

I am disappointed.

What we are about.

Voice changing for fun..... and ransom calls.

bionic eye

RFID Car starter schematic

Back to business...

A picture is worth a thousand words

apple admits contracting with companys using child labor

ARRRGGHHH LIFE!

apple plans to better serve ebook readers by...charging extra?

Thank you Hack a Day.

75 year old woman has worlds fastest internet

RFID Implantation

RFID Security for the Suzuki

RFID = Mark of the beast

Traxx is finished.

On the go.....

President Obama afraid of robot takeover....

Robotics Project Part 2

For the heck of it.

Robotics Project

An Apple Too Shiny To Bite.

Sword-wielding Johns Hopkins student

god bless america

laser M-16'S !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fun with broken electronics

HAL5......wtf?

Robert Zemeckis.......asshole of the century

amazon is "doubleplusungood "

piss powerd cars!!!

nokia and the u.s

wtf?!?!?!?!?

Iphone OS 3.0 review

still more evidence of judicial misconduct in Pirate Bay trial

firefox Browser for Windows Mobile 6

i'm pretty sure this is staged, but it's still damn cool

the world's cheapest mobile phone....

Ghostbusters is first film to be released on USB stick

geek tattoos

Intel's Nerdy Rockstars

bluetooth to be as fast as wi-fi in 9-12 months

if YOU are the type of person that would take the time to review a toilet on your iphone....

on the road agian

iPhone Apps: Killing One Baby at a Time.....

O.LED displays coming to half of all mobile phones

I need one of these

coolest thing ever (week of 4/20/09)

so.... this has nothing to do with technology...

Contents

Know Your Zombies

Weapons

Keep your head

Long term survival

Other tips

Kyocera demos foldable OLED concept phone

the "The Pirate Bay 4" going to jail.........

this destroyed the last scrap of faith i had in humanity

where has evil pat been???

Where have I been?

UPDATE New Red Xbox360?!