for beta testing my ass off

"... my ass off" usually means doing something strenuously.

"Working my ass off" means working hard. (That's the most common usage, I think.)

"Reading my ass off" means reading a LOT in a short time.

I cooked my ass off yesterday preparing the thanksgiving meal.

Etc.

That sentence is weird, but what I think he's trying to say is he was a beta tester at Microsoft ("Redmond") and was given a gift/ reward -- we worked his ass off as a beta tester. That's a guess, though.

Thanks sozobe! I got it now!

Sounds like he was given some kind of radio/receiver in return for his hard work, but even tho he's close to broadcast towers, it won't pick up stations...

"wicked ass" in the other sentence means something like "extremely interesting" or "very very good"... slang, obviously... twenty-odd years ago I might have said bitchin'...

Thank you Wy, that is wicked slang no doubt.

"wicked" is used in the sense of "really cool"

"ass" is probably being used as an intensifier (unless the context is that the ass is really cool).

e.g.

"A bad ass concert"

bad = cool (in this context)
ass = meaningless frickin' intensifier