Apr 06

DIY Zelda Treasure Chest

Posted in: diy, Tech Toys, Today's Chili, video games

Zelda Chest

The sound of a treasure chest opening from the iconic Legend of Zelda videogames is a sound that’s etched into the minds of young people everywhere: it hasn’t changed in well over 25 years. Now, thanks to a true Zelda fan at Instructables (where else?) you can learn how to make your very own 8″ wide treasure chest that plays the Zelda timed opening tune when you pop it open. 
The chest is large enough to store a decent number of items, too: it’s not just a prop that makes noise. The instructions even call for black felt to line the interior. The music is provided courtesy of a cheap generic mp3 player that you’ll install in the chest, pre-loaded with the treasure chest sound, and a cheap audio amp or stereo speaker connected to the mp3 player. 
The best part of the project is that it’s not even terribly difficult. The full instructions and the list of parts needed are listed at Instructables, but there’s a video of the treasure chest in action behind the jump.
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Apr 06

Thanko Cassette Mate Looks Like a Walkman, Rips Your Tapes to MP3

Posted in: Miscellaneous Tech, MP3, MP3 Digital Audio, Retro, Today's Chili

Thanko Cassette Mate

If you’re like a lot of people who fondly remember the days of mix tapes, you probably still have a lot of old audio cassettes lying around, slowly deteriorating over time, crumbling into dust. If you’re like most people who have memories of those audio cassettes, you’ve always meant to do something about it but never really figured out what. 
Now Thanko, makers of strange and unique USB gadgets, has unveiled the Cassette Mate, which looks a lot like an old cassette player or Walkman, is about the same size, but when connected to your computer will rip the music from your audio cassettes and save it in MP3, WMA, or WAV formats. 
Admittedly, if you’re pulling music from an audio cassette and you’re worried about audio quality, file format may not be the first thing you worry about, but the important thing is usually to get the recording into a digital format and then you can work with it. 
The device does have some features in addition to ripping your audio: it will split tracks for you and allows you to pop in 2 AA batteries if you actually want to listen to those tapes on to go. Otherwise you’ll need to connect it to your computer via USB. The Cassette Mate is currently only available in Japan for the equivalent of about $35 USD. 
[via Wired]
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Apr 06

This Is the Next Mars Rover [Video]

Posted in: NASA, space, Today's Chili, top

I want to ride the Mars Rover Curiosity. Sure, at a maximum of 90 meters (300 feet) per hour it would be a glacial ride, but the bloody thing is going to Mars. Where have I been lately? To the dog park two blocks from my house, that’s where. Plus, there’s no dog poop on Mars. More »

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Apr 06

Verizon and Sprint Galaxy Tabs drop to $199

Posted in: Today's Chili

Roughly three months after officially announcing the Wi-Fi Galaxy Tab, Samsung gives us a price and launch date.

Originally posted at Android Atlas

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Apr 06

Samsung’s cheapest 3D LED thin, rich with style

Posted in: Today's Chili

Solid overall picture quality in 2D and 3D, as well as a wealth of features and beautiful looks, mark the Samsung UND6400 as one of the better edge-lit LED-based LCD TVs we’ve tested.

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Apr 06

Ex-Gucci Employee Faces Computer Hacking Trial

Posted in: hacking, Today's Chili

gucci.jpg

A 34-year-old man who used to be a network administrator for Gucci has now been indicted on 50 counts for hacking into the fashion company’s networks after he was no longer employed there.

He was fired in May 2010, for unrelated reasons, and apparently held quite a grudge as a result. He managed to create several virtual private networks (VPNs), from which he could remotely interfere with Gucci’s day-to-day operations.

This allegedly led to $200,000 in damage from lost online and retail sales alone. The defendant, Sam Chihlung Yin, was charged on 50 counts, including computer tampering, identity theft, falsifying business records, computer trespass, and many many more.

Via NJ.com

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Apr 06

Survey says AT&T drops more calls than Verizon, these bar charts don’t lie

Posted in: att, Sprint, study, t-mobile, Today's Chili, verizon, vzw
Chargepoint

Wondering which carrier you should buy your iPhone on? There’s a survey for that. ChangeWave Research has released the results of a poll that hit 4,068 users distributed across Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint. Among those four, VZW came out ahead when it comes to dropped calls, with 1.4 percent of respondents indicating they’d received one in the past three months. AT&T, meanwhile, came in last with 4.6 percent. If you look only at the iPhone 4 users the numbers change a little, 1.8 percent vs. 4.8, but the conclusion stays the same. No, this conclusion sadly will not get you around your ETF, but maybe making a pouty face at the AT&T store will help.

Update: AT&T let us know it has some doubts about these results. We’re not statisticians but we will, out of fairness, link over to this GWS survey from last year that showed 98.59 percent success rate for non-dropped calls. How do your numbers compare?

Survey says AT&T drops more calls than Verizon, these bar charts don’t lie originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 17:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 06

Apple Hopes To Add Thunderbolt To More Devices

Posted in: Apple, intel, Today's Chili

ThundeboltConnect.jpg

Apple has high hopes for the Thunderbolt technology that recently was released. Apple and Intel have teamed up to incorporate it into the new MacBook Pro. But now Apple is looking to expand the line of devices that use Thunderbolt. It patented a new connector to incorporate the Thunderbolt technology even further. Apple has yet to release info on any more devices getting the technology anytime soon.

Apple has shown major support of Intel and Thunderbolt by choosing it for the MacBook Pro; however, not everybody is a fan of Thunderbolt. AMD and others have predicted that the new technology will flop like FireWire.

Via Xbit Labs

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Apr 06

Sprint launches Novatel MiFi 3G / 4G mobile hotspot

Posted in: 4G, mobile hotspot, MobileHotspot, Sprint, Today's Chili
This one’s been floating around since way back in December, but Novatel’s new 3G / 4G MiFi has is now finally available from Sprint — albeit only via direct ship, Sprint retail channels will get it on April 17th. It will run you $79.99 on a two-year contract, and comes packing Novatel’s rather novel MiFi OS, which is actually a stripped-down version of LInux that lets you take advantage of various widgets and applications. It’s also GPS enabled, and has a microSD card slot that allows for up to 32GB of shared storage. Full press release is after the break, and you can check out a few early reviews of the device at the more coverage links below.

Continue reading Sprint launches Novatel MiFi 3G / 4G mobile hotspot

Sprint launches Novatel MiFi 3G / 4G mobile hotspot originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 17:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 06

$349 Wi-Fi-only Samsung Galaxy Tab available by April 10

Posted in: Today's Chili

Samsung announces release of the Wi-Fi-only Galaxy Tab.

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