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The Best version and about half the price is the Victorinox Cybertool 41

http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/tools/3653/

Plus it take full size Hex/Torx heads... And good and solidly mad with lifetime warranty.

Or if you want one to beat a users head-in for disturbing your /. reading, try the Victorinox Swiss Champ XLT

Who cares when it's raining grilled pigeons and baked potatoes?

Sweet, the new Canons grill and bake at the same time? Now that's what I call convergence. Why it seems like just yesterday when you had to buy a grill, an oven and a digital camera all separately.

I'll have to see about hacking the firmware in my George Foreman iGrill to support the simultaneous grill & bake. Although I'd hate to be served a DMCA notice by George. I hear he still punches pretty hard.

What are you talking about?

Geeks are some of the most materialistic people I know.

This is why I loved slashdot. Thank you Zonk and tyrani for showing the spirit of what geekdom is all about. A story with no political bullshit, no anti-corporate rhetoric, no M$ bashing. Just good-clean fun with IT stuff. BTW OT - Has anyone else seen the drives on TG?

Compressed air doesn't hold a lot of energy by weight, you'd be better off buying a battery.

See more about energy density here.

Personally I would think a hand squeezer device like this would be ideal. It's a very natural motion.

Compressed air IS useful if you need to deliver a lot of force at once, like with compressed air tools, or if you want to avoid using electrical devices for some reason.

Why not use Faraday's Principle of Induction like these LED torches or a windup charger? Both are independent of external factors.

Hanging out your phone from a car, bus or (shock!) train is pretty dangerous stuff, maybe superman will find this thing handy.

I hope they haven't patented this technology yet, 'cos I'm rolling out my air-powered fan next month.

April Fool's day must be early this year by common consent. I got sent this this morning

Wrong. We only have one set of clothes and we're wearing them.

My poor brother in geekdom--you must not know about thinkgeek.com. They have *TONS* of cloths for you to wear.
Oh--and trade shows.

• A Zalman Silent 400W Power Supply helped a lot and only emits about 20db of noise. Still not silent enough for me so I'm going to get something like a SilentMaxx Semi-Fanless 450W soon.
  
• I replaced my case fans with Papst 8412 NGL fans which only emit 12db; basically silent. I tried one of the PC Power and Cooling Silencer units and it's a fine power supply but still pretty noisy.
  
• I put some new rubber feet I picked up from Home Dept (about $3 each) which are normally used for door stops to help dampen case vibrations.
  
• I switched over the 7200 RPM Seagate hard drives from the 10000RPM Maxtor/IBMs I was using. The old drives were fine but rather noisy.
  
• I replaced my graphics card fan with a Zalman Heat Pipe system which emits no noise at all.
  
• I picked up these hard drive coolers with rubber shock absorbers from CompUSA which further helps dampen case vibration, and helps keepd the drive quieter. My case uses drive rails and I had to drill an extra hole in the drive rails to make them compatible.
  
• I also installed this Anti Noise Kit from CompUSA. One caution is keep at least one screw from the case touching both the power supply and the case with no padding. Helps keep a ground between the power supply and the case.
  
• I also bought some rounded cables (yes I'm aware of the crosstalk issues but they haven't been a problem) which helps cooling. I got some cable wraps and zip ties to keep the cables bundled and out of the air flow as much as possible.
  
• Installed a HUGE Thermalright SLK800 heat sink with a Pabst fan (above) to keep the processor cool and silent. This actually dropped by processor temp by several degrees in addition to being quiter.
  
• I installed Melamine foam from Home Depot throughout the case to dampen noise.
  

Thinkgeek.com has a lot of stuff to make your office your own. I personally have the binary clock work tends to freak people out, but I think it's cool.

I actually posed this question to the /. community on what types of cool stuff they are growing at work. Based upon their suggestions, I started a few jalapeno plants which already have 2 leaves a piece.

(Especially the cube goodies section. My co-workers love the Acrobots

(Especially the cube goodies section. My co-workers love the Acrobots

You are definitely right! Guns don't kill people... http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts/gaming/713e/

Obligatory thinkgeek link

Like the bigger version of these Desktop R/C Mini-Rovers with optional wireless video cam?

Here's the Coral Link since this guy put so many photos on one page, I read its hit counter at 230, we'll see how long before it's dead :)

Movies Included = Slashdotted Soon

Like the bigger version of these Desktop R/C Mini-Rovers with optional wireless video cam?

Here's the Coral Link since this guy put so many photos on one page, I read its hit counter at 230, we'll see how long before it's dead :)

Movies Included = Slashdotted Soon

I prefer this one these days when fixing a computer almost always means reformatting the hard drive, installing a new operating system that they almost never can find the right CD key for and installing all the service packs and such BEFORE connecting to the net...
No I will not fix your computer.

I second the nomination of Jesus, as long as it's in this incarnation.

out of one of these?

Get one of these little bad boys.* Problem Solved.

*Also available in travel mug!

Get one of these little bad boys.* Problem Solved.

*Also available in travel mug!

But for folks you don't even know? You're a business professional. Act like one and people will hopefully decide to treat you like one. Guage the market and charge what the market will bear. If you're not getting "enough" business, charge less. If you are getting enough business, but not too much, you're charging the right amount. If you have more calls than you can handle? Either get people to switch to Macintosh more agressively, or raise your rates.

The simple fact is that $50 is probably too low, not to high. I'd personally charge two different rates - one higher for PC support, one lower for Macintosh support. Just to drive home the idea that maybe a Mac might be a little more trouble-free.

I highly recommend people buy an iMac or Mac mini... and I think it's weird that you feel $45/hr is too high but would readily recommend buying a new machine, which, if it's halfway decent, is going to cost upwards of $700.

Oh, and you're rural? You really should be charging some sort of visit fee, mileage fee, or "over 30 miles from town" fee. They'll understand- the vet charges the same fee, call the local vet and see how much.

If someone complains about how expenisive you are, point out that you're cheaper than any other alternative, and ask how much a plumber costs...

Since the modded 2600 is using Mac hardware internally, the paddles probably ended up looking like this...

Why is this map any more controversial than any other network map?

That thing makes an awfully ugly ring, but would be a perfect set of cuff links to go with my circuitboard business card case.

Why not just use a keychain that does that?

1. Dongle
2. Katcher
3. Sell tests
4. ???
5. Jail!

...one of these?

These things are real security threat. Might want to check the back of your computer before you use it. Better yet, switch to a USB keyboard, not sure if they make USB key loggers yet.

Who said he had to install anything? He could have used one of these with about 5 seconds of unmonitored physical access

Or you could read TFA

Unless you think they should hot-glue-gun the keyboard into the PS/2 port?

Instruction: Point At Eyes

Is it too early to consider Open Sky as an alternative?

I received "Once Upon Atari" for Christmas and in it they discuss a similar program for people that made hit games. The ones that made the hits were in heaven, but those that didn't formed their own group called the Dumb Shits Club and mildly resented the successful programmers. I'm sure this created a little hostility on the floor their and I hope this doesn't happen to Google as well.

What a true geek would do is build their own computer-controlled laser cutting/etching rig, a few of these together should cut through aluminium or mild steel no problem :)

I beleive what you'r looking for is this.

I am sure that none of us would want to hear any jitter that sounds like ass--i.e. like this--but that doesn't mean that any of us would buy a $1900.00 USB cable. Also, the USB power is strong enough to power the iGrill (which is great, by the way, because now I don't have to carry around the bulky Zero-Point generator while I'm hunting when I have a laptop anyway), so we also don't have to worry about the power line impedance so much, unless we use kilometres long USB cables, which is not so popular as it used to be with null modems any more, since we have an easy access to the Interweb.

Now seriously, I have noticed that people usually stop listening when I start talking about the "science stuff" so they don't really care if it is Fourier series or quantum cleaning of dirty electrons, since they don't listen anyway. As long as it sounds scientific, it is scientific, for all they care. And of course I must be lying to them because I am only their friend while the guy who just sold them a wooden potentiometer knob for $500 must be an expert, because otherwise he wouldn't have a job selling expensive equipment, right? Here the cognitive dissonance kicks in: "I am not a sucker, but I have just bought an ugly wooden knob for $500, therefore people who say that buying ugly wooden knobs for $500 is dumb must be mistaken."

Now, when they say that it was an "expert" in the audiophile store who has told them--or the "expert" in the Stereophile Magazine who has written--what they are telling you about, what they need here is a good ipse dixit and argumentum ad populum, for they won't listen to any other argument at all.

At that point, I usually shout at them: "Does Deutsche Grammophon use this junk to 'purify' their music while they record it? No? Then why on Earth do you think I need it to listen?! Now, will you excuse me, I need to drink my snake oil," and I leave in furious anger. Later when I talk to them, they sometimes ask me: "Are you serious that the record industry don't use such cables? Why?" To which I answer: "Because they are not bloody idiots, that's why! Do you need to spend millions on sound equipment? Then go to the recording studio, see what they use, and buy the same stuff. You will still be a sucker to buy something that you don't need, but at least you will have something that actually works."

It is surprisingly difficult to explain the truth to anyone who have bought audiophile lacquer or the wine clip, but it is still nothing compared to e.g. homeopathy or any other quackery when we are talking about peoples' health and lives, not just some useless junk. People will just not accept that they are suckers. Remember this story?

I am sure that none of us would want to hear any jitter that sounds like ass--i.e. like this--but that doesn't mean that any of us would buy a $1900.00 USB cable. Also, the USB power is strong enough to power the iGrill (which is great, by the way, because now I don't have to carry around the bulky Zero-Point generator while I'm hunting when I have a laptop anyway), so we also don't have to worry about the power line impedance so much, unless we use kilometres long USB cables, which is not so popular as it used to be with null modems any more, since we have an easy access to the Interweb.

Now seriously, I have noticed that people usually stop listening when I start talking about the "science stuff" so they don't really care if it is Fourier series or quantum cleaning of dirty electrons, since they don't listen anyway. As long as it sounds scientific, it is scientific, for all they care. And of course I must be lying to them because I am only their friend while the guy who just sold them a wooden potentiometer knob for $500 must be an expert, because otherwise he wouldn't have a job selling expensive equipment, right? Here the cognitive dissonance kicks in: "I am not a sucker, but I have just bought an ugly wooden knob for $500, therefore people who say that buying ugly wooden knobs for $500 is dumb must be mistaken."

Now, when they say that it was an "expert" in the audiophile store who has told them--or the "expert" in the Stereophile Magazine who has written--what they are telling you about, what they need here is a good ipse dixit and argumentum ad populum, for they won't listen to any other argument at all.

At that point, I usually shout at them: "Does Deutsche Grammophon use this junk to 'purify' their music while they record it? No? Then why on Earth do you think I need it to listen?! Now, will you excuse me, I need to drink my snake oil," and I leave in furious anger. Later when I talk to them, they sometimes ask me: "Are you serious that the record industry don't use such cables? Why?" To which I answer: "Because they are not bloody idiots, that's why! Do you need to spend millions on sound equipment? Then go to the recording studio, see what they use, and buy the same stuff. You will still be a sucker to buy something that you don't need, but at least you will have something that actually works."

It is surprisingly difficult to explain the truth to anyone who have bought audiophile lacquer or the wine clip, but it is still nothing compared to e.g. homeopathy or any other quackery when we are talking about peoples' health and lives, not just some useless junk. People will just not accept that they are suckers. Remember this story?

I'm pretty sure the above poster meant to refer to ThinkSecret, the technology spoiler site, instead of ThinkGeek, which sells nifty toys for geeks...

"I'm blogging this locally, and will post it when the servers come back up"

Linus always seems to have a great sense of humor. It's probably one of the reasons why so many people like him. (Cue the overlord jokes.)

I remember a funny article about about the real fathers of linux. Also, he has lots of good quotes
His humor isn't limted to one liners becasue he has a book, too!

He lost the grilling functionality _and_ didn't use the WWW enabled George Foreman iGrill.

PC EZ-Bake Oven

I'm not defending a guy that blinds pilots on landing. That's not what the article I mentioned is about. The guy "shined" a jet what was going over his house. The article even mentions he was pointing stars. There are gadgets that let you do starpointing. But then, if a jet happens to cross the line between you and the star you're currently pointing, all of a sudden you're a terrorist.

Check your sources before you go trolling anonymously.

Without all the gold and chrome what else will reflect the light from your glowing IDE cables through the picture window in your case? :)

If you are not the type to do that then you see the gold and chrome for the 5 minutes it takes to install the thing and you don't have to see it again until the next upgrade and probably won't care.

Without all the gold and chrome what else will reflect the light from your glowing IDE cables through the picture window in your case? :)

If you are not the type to do that then you see the gold and chrome for the 5 minutes it takes to install the thing and you don't have to see it again until the next upgrade and probably won't care.

1)Get a clear plastic container to hold the cpu and monitor (or two seperate cases if you use a CRT).

2)Cut a hole in said plastic case and epoxy/hotglue/ductape a resperator filter or part of a vacume cleaner bag over it.

3) Go about building the CPU as you would go about building a home theater PC or similar in terms of heat output and fans and such.

4) Put your USB, ethernet, and power connections through other some smaller holes, and seal those with electrical tape or epoxy or something.

5) depending on where you live you might also want to put some kind of moisture obsorbing material in the case like paper towels or drierite desiccants.

6) If you're a cheap masochist, you might get a ball mouse. Otherwise, just get a regular optical mouse and carefully tape flexible plastic around the edges of the buttons (with enough slack for the buttons to function).

I've heard good things about the durability of rollup keyboards.

7) Upgrade the sound system in your house so that you can hear it clearly out in your shed. Make sure that you can control it via ssh.

good luck!

Now you can integrate the two with the George Foreman USB iGrill!

you would know that even the slightest distraction or problem in the cockpit

Like _that's_ never happened before. No more sex while flying, or drinking while flying, or listening to the radio while flying, or waving to the people on the ground. No more aerial barrel rolls, since flying itself is obviously much too demanding to think about the distraction of flying upside-down.

He endangered everyone in the air and on the ground

No, he didn't. According to this link, a similar laser has an approximate range of 9000 feet. The article said the pilots were at 3000 feet in altitude when they were supposedly blinded. Assuming that the plane is nosediving at 45 deg for a landing, that puts the pilots 4200 feet away which is about half the effective range. Factor in the power dispersion and all else...

No one was endangered. This article, the prosecutor, the FBI, the pilots, and the local police are 100% pure hype.

I hope they drive this guy to the end of his wits and he ends up rampaging with a bulldozer throughout their entire city. This whole thing is really that stupid.

Hmm...please, try following the link I referenced, which is here.

Notice the sentence "And unlike a red laser, the green beam itself can be seen in mid-air in dark conditions, not just the laser beam dot. This allows the green laser pointer to be used for pointing to star constellations (skypointing) and also just generally look cool as hell," near the end of the second paragraph.

Stop talking out your ass and actually try to read peoples' posts.

So, instead of paying $140, plus shipping, plus mods, and transmiting at above the FCC's legal limit, why not pay half the price, make no mods and be legal?

Oh! I get it. You make some money on the sale of these on eBay. Maybe even indirectly? That's cool.

(Thanks, Salshdot for the nice ad.)

So am I hallucinating here?

Way to be an asshole, asshole. Yes, in fact it IS the same power as the ThinkGeek pointer. According the the CNN article, Banach claims he bought the laser pointer in question at BigHa.com, which sells a green laser pointer of the same 5mW power as that sold by ThinkGeek. But thanks for the ad hominem anyway. Very classy.