You think these scammers from Global PC Protection (they often call themselves Global IT) would have me on their do not call list after the fun we had with them in Part 1 and part 2. I figured that would be the last we ever heard of them. Well to my surprise I got another cold call from one of their agents warning me that my computer has once again been sending them errors and warnings.

I just had a bit of fun with them before I again told them who I was. Guess what, they were not very pleased about this and they started to delete a bunch of system files, browsed to a porn site and attempted to format my hard drive. I guess they still didn’t realize that they were just playing around in a VM.

The video is quite long, here are the highlights.

• 0:00 Initial description of problem.
• 13:09 Peter Anderson tries to convince me that he is calling from New York.
• 15:46 Peter Anderson with a new voice answers my call.
• 17:00 The first Peter Anderson calls back. 
• 35:30 Virtual Machine setup shown.
• 18:10 They once again try to make up junk about what the Support Connection Code is for.
• 20:39 VM hard drive issues, for some reason the virtual hard drive isn’t automatically growing as it should.
• 26:30 Cleaning the old VM was talking a long time, I just made a new copy of the VM image to start with a fresh copy.
• 29:30 They connect to my system using Team Viewer.
• 37:42 Their technician has remote control of the system and “checks” the computer out.
• 48:02 I give Peter a hard time for accidentally hanging up the phone on me.
• 57:05 I show them who I am, they hang up but stay connected to the computer.
• 58:35 They talk about what they think of me.
• 59:27 Start deleting files while they talk to me.
• 1:01:50 The load up a porn site and look around, then they hang up the phone while remaining logged onto my computer.
• 1:05:48 They try to format the hard drive.

This vintage video game player has a few extras on it. The extra knobs buttons and switches allow you to play this game console in a new way. With the original circuit board connected to in certain audio circuit location you are able to alter it in a pleasing way, watch the video below to see an example of this in action.

Thanks to John who passed along this link using out tips page.

“If you ever wondered what happens after you install the GetLoFi LTC1799 Precision Oscillator in the original 8 bit Nintendo then here is your answer. The sounds can be slowed down and sped up nicely at a twist of a knob, and when paired up with some glitches it really makes for a crazy noise making instrument.”

As most of you know I love LEDs! But even I can’t imagine working at a place like Light Energy Studio. This place has a showroom that would make non epileptics has a seizure from all the blinking goodness. I guess if you are looking to do some interior design in a night club (or my basement) this would be the place to go. They make some great looking disco floors out of 1/2 inch white acrylic, it looks like that stuff would hold up quite well but I would still cringe if it was my club and I saw people with shoes dancing on it…  The wall hanging stuff also looks great, you can see the 48 inch wall hanging light painting below the videos but I might have to start collecting pop cans to pay the $4100 for it.

Via: Interior Complex

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It was a great day when we could start our cold car remotely. A bit of trivia, the first remote car starter was produced by Canadian company here in Winnipeg called Kraus.  Times have changed! In this hack Brandon Fiquett uses Siri in his Apple iPhone 4S to command his car to start using voice commands. Lots of the heavy lifting has been done by Viper in this case who has developed a method for the iPhone (and other smart phones) to interface with its smart remote. This capability is possible because of the flexibility that has been built into Siri, because of this I think we will see lots of new hacks in the near future!

Via: iPhone Hacks and www.vincentabry.com

“I created a new ruby plugin that is used by plamoni’s “Siri Proxy”, a proxy server for Apple’s Siri assistant. This proxy server allows for the creation of custom plugins that can intercept recognized speech and perform virtually any function imaginable (programmable, scriptable).

Technical Details:

• Siri Proxy & DNSMasq box – Ubuntu 11.04 Server VM
  Ruby 1.9.3

• LAMP server - Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Server

This Rave Rover is a cool build and it is very well documented so you can see all the details of the system and how it was done. They are using a ton of high power RGB LED modules that can be controlled via SPI. The control of the LEDs is being done with an Arduino. Thanks to a very sturdy frame, some pneumatics and a few wheel chair motors the entire thing can lift off the ground and drive to a new location! There is an onboard computer and sound system to keep then dance floor completely self sufficient! Be sure to watch the video below of it in action and see it driving around.

Read more at RaveRover.com

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This video shows what a machine that costs more than your average car can do. It is amazing to see something that large move with that much accuracy. The machine doing the work in this case was built by C.R. Onsrud. I wonder if they will ship us a demo unit.

Thanks to Mobile Multi-Stand 360 for sponsoring the contest this week. They will be providing two of their new adjustable cell phone stands to the winner. This stand would be great when you are at the office and need to take a break to watch a cool video that was texted to you.

“There are many different cell phone stands, but the MMS 360 can be adjusted to many different stand positions and rotated to provide landscape or portrait support. The rotation gives you the advantage of turning the smartphone on all its 4 sides to avoid blocking any ports on your smartphone. It is small enough to keep attached on the smartphone, keep it on your pocket and take it anywhere with you. It is also easily removable if needed.”

This contest will run for one week (December 3 – December 9, 2011) . Ending time is based on central standard time. To enter, identify the item pictured above and give an example of what can be done with it.

Please do not give the answer in the comments.

Send an email to contest @ hackedgadgets.com with “Name the Thing Contest” as the subject, and the message body consisting of:

• The name of the item in the above picture
• An example of what the item pictured above can be used for

The winner will be chosen at random from all of the correct entries.

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Added December 27, 2011

The item to guess was a 57 CHEVY VHS VCR VIDEO TAPE REWINDER

The winner is Robotics J. (there were 162 entries)

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Below is a picture of the prize.