Actually, they are. The copy protection is mostly still in the "test marketing" stage to see if people will swallow it. Plus I doubt the large libraries of existing CDs will be converted ever, mostly because it wouldn't be worth the money.
I agree with most of this. A lot of having a stable system comes from paying $30 more for a decent motherboard. Also, the AMD market tends to be oversaturated with commodity memory. While the Intel side of things tends to use rambus, which is all pretty decent quality, most non-DDR RAM people buy for AMD machines is just crap. The thing memory affects the most is-- you guessed it-- system stability.
VIA does make some complete crap, but they also make some nice chipsets. The KT266A is very nice, it's the fastest DDR implementation out there by far. But still, VIA chipsets are a good bit cheaper than the Intel equivalent, and while the Intel chipset may be more stable, the VIA one is almost always faster. And even Intel has issues with chipset stability, it's just that they ignore them and only quietly replace the faulty boards when they're returned under warranty. You know how it goes in the computer industry... Faster, cheaper, or more stable- pick any two.
Osama has also been rather badly burned by the US government personally. Ironically, he was educated in the west (Cambridge, iirc, though I could be wrong.) Anyway, during the early 90s he was heavily involved in a savings and loan scam in which we siezed all assets involved in the business-- something close to $500 million. I don't care how rich you are, losing that much hard currency (read: not stock) hurts. The reasons you list are very much valid, but I'm willing to bet Bin Laden has a personal vandetta against the United States as well. The main thing most muslims seem to have against the US is the close ties with Israel (not just the ultra-orthodox muslims, most of them,) but the difference is that most people in the area don't believe that violence is the way to solve the problem. Muslims and Jews have been butting heads for about 1500 years now, so that will probably never change.
Not necessarily. There are a large number of factors that go into the "mHz disparity," including cache, memory, fabrication process, voltage, and heat dissipation. If we were to base the "ratios" solely off pipeline stepping, how would that place a PowerPC G4, with a 7 step pipeline, against a P4, with a 20+ step pipeline? Is a new iMac as fast as a P4 2400? I know they're different architectures, but in actuality the Athlon has a LOT in common with the design of the PowerPC.
The "ratios" are a good guess, and will be reasonably accurate, but as a chip heats up it actually gets slower (i.e. it takes more time for an electron to move through the circuit) and the AthlonXP gets a lot hotter than a P4 a lot quicker. My AthlonXP 1700 practically needs its own air conditioning unit (and why most athlon heatsinks weigh more than the reccomended 300 grams) while, from what I hear anyway, the P4s aren't quite as bad (though not exactly frigid.)
You try figuring out who this AC is;) Though I see the point, mostly so we don't get computer contractors working as spies. Though it did happen to a high level FBI official...
While I realize that one OS is not the end-all of all operating systems-- each has their merits-- I'm beginning to really, really like OS X. I've been a Mac user for about 15 years, but I would concede that pre-OS X (especially the 7.5 series.. yech) systems were crap. However, OS X is extremely stable, very fast, reasonably secure (they stole a lot of code from OpenBSD and FreeBSD for Darwin, but isn't that the nature of open source?) and very easy to use.
It's not "free" (beer or speech) but IMO, a closed development cycle is much more efficient. It took Apple a year after they bought NeXT to come out with an OS that did pretty much everything Linux had spent 6 years doing.
Granted, a lot of Apple's expediated development time is due to that work on Linux (gnu tools especially, apache, openssh, etc) but now the OS is moving in exciting new directions (mass deployment on a true 64-bit architecture within the next 6 months?) plus all the professional application support coming out (mostly things Linux doesn't have, namely Photoshop, Illustrator, AutoCAD, MS Office v.X, plus a host of others.) True, Linux does have more device support, but I don't think I'm ever going to use networking over Ham Radio (though I think it's cool I could, if I wanted to.)
It's also easier to support and develop for a predefined platform (Apple makes the machines) and Apple's machines are always so cutting edge (stylistically and technologically) that there's little to be desired. Don't get me wrong, I love Linux and think it has done great things for the world, and I'll continue to run it on my x86 machines, but OS X just strikes me as a much more polished, professional system, where Linux feels more like an amalgamation of little bits and pieces. Linux will always have a place in the world, though I have a feeling it will eventually be relegated to server use only.
It is common to confuse government and educational institutions as corporations, as they often operate like them. But where a corporation's goal is to earn as much money as possible by whatever means, government and educational institutions goal is to accomplish a predefined task while losing as little money as possible. This is why our nation does not have huge cash reserves, and often spends more money than it takes in. Most people for who work for the government are grossly underpaid (our president, the highest official in the government, makes about $400,000 a year-- mere pennies compared to Fortune 500 CEOs and with much more responsibility.)
Also, government agencies (with the exception of the IRS) rarely share the money they take in. I wouldn't doubt that all the money the PTO pulls in goes towards PTO-related activities, with some tax dollars thrown in for good measure. Government agencies bleed cash, but that's okay. The government is there to do things that aren't profitable but need to be done anyway. This is why they take 20-40% of our income every year.
Though I do agree with you that the patent system is grossly mishandled, and does need some sort of third party review. Originally it was not intended as such, and worked well for 150 years, but with the dawn of mega-corporations and high-speed communications, the individual tends to be drowned out. And I do agree that software should be non-patentable. Code should be copyrighted, but an algorigm/method used in software should not be patented (a la One-click.)
And of course, I could just be talking out of my ass.
This is why old Stevie took a company that was bleeding money from the jugular (~$500 mil a quarter) and on the verge of collapse to one of the most successful computer companies out there. Apple has several billion in the bank in CASH, and they didn't do it with a beige box. Jobs, while he is a bit of an eccentric (obviously,) DOES have some pretty good business sense.
And as far as Apple's products not appealing to the middle class masses, I know plenty of people (non-techies) who were drooling over the new iMacs. I sense a lot of hostility towards the Macintosh on Slashdot, and I don't doubt it's because Apple has done in a year what has taken Linux the past six: A successful desktop UNIX system. Apple is one of the few companies in the market that ACTUALLY innovates, not just content to sit on incremental improvements, they're willing to take a huge risk. Sometimes, they flop (the Cube.) Sometimes, they're monumentally successful (iMac, iBook, PowerBook G4.) But you do have to agree, whether you like it or not, the new iMac is definately different than any computer ever put out there, and you do have to give Apple credit for that.
I go to UT Austin as well, and they instituted an interesting policy this semester. Last semester (and all before) there was a 3.5 gb/week limit, if you went over, you were cut off totally. Now, they've lowered the limit to 2.5 gb/week but instead of getting totally cut off, they just route you through a smaller pipe, so all the bandwidth offenders are crammed down a slower link, while the rest of the school is unaffected. Of course, this has never stopped me from going to the library with my laptop w/ 802.11b and leeching about 5 gigs of anime in an afternoon...
When Borland vice show up at my house, they're going to have bigger problems than a lawyer. I don't have to let them in my house. If they step over the front doorstep without my permission, I would consider that breaking and entering, in which case they have about 30 seconds to get the hell out before I start shooting. Which is also probably the reason they would NEVER enforce this.
Actually, you'd be surprised. An 800 mHz G4, while maybe not quite as fast as an athlon XP 1.4 gHz, is still in the same class. Naturally, being the Karma Whore (tm) I am, I can't back this up with real proof, but mHz should not be used IN ANY SHAPE/FORM when comparing a PowerPC chip to an x86 chip. It truly is misleading, as they are the evolution of two very different schools of semiconductor theory which branched many years ago. One focuses on getting the most clock cycles possible, while the other focuses on faster handling of instructions. Neither is inherrently superior, it's just after this many years, using mHz to compare the two is pretty much meaningless.
Re:Another key feature: cost
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New iMac Announced
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· Score: 3, Informative
Apple is still selling the "old" iMac, at least for now. For $799, it's really not a bad deal. I suspect they'll sell the "old" iMac till they can drop prices on the new one to under $1000. This strikes me more as Apple's "mid-range" machine, which they never really have had. The computing industry as a whole is less and less about the hardware and more about the marketing and software. This is probably also why a lot of highly-skilled tech jobs are moving overseas and a lot of us geeks are between jobs.
Apple's target market is NOT the geeks. Geeks are going to build their own PC in a cool case. Apple's target are the 30 year old working professionals who shop at Ikea. This kind of stuff fits perfectly with that. Believe it or not, geeks are but a small portion of the American population, and not a very lucrative one for prebuilt computer makers. Apple will let AMD/VIA and Intel fight over the geeks, and they'll go after their own market.
You're right, Final Fantasy is great so long as you realize it's just a game and not the cure for cancer. I rather enjoyed FFX, mostly because I thought it was going to suck and was pleasantly surprised (8 was the worst.. Squall was just so unlikable I wanted to rape him with a fencepost.) Anyway, I'm personally not a huge fan of MMORPGs (in fact, I loathe them) but I'll prolly get FFXI, just because I'm deathly curious to see how it'll turn out.
This was one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Every review except this one seems to agree with me (unfortunately, I didn't read them before going to see it.) I don't expect every sci-fi movie I see to have mind-blowing computer effects, but this movie reeks of the mid-80s. Perhaps it would have been better recieved by the critics if it had been released now. As it is, it looks rather dated and I found the plot being pushed to the back in favor of explosions and hollywood flash. In short, if you HAVE to see this movie, take some funny friends, so at least you can be entertained by their MST3K like comments. Otherwise, go see LOTR again.
It doesn't have Altivec like the G4 because it's not based off the G4.:) It's based off the PowerPC 750 (G3) and is designed as a general-purpose embedded processor. Sony's Emotion Engine (not the main CPU, but it is often used like one) is also powerful like this, with some insane vector units and other fun stuff. Though honestly, I don't give a flying fuck if my game console can do vertex shading or bumpmapping or whatever so long as the games are fun. You know, some people still play chess...
This may sound like flamebait, but it's more of a rebuttal;)
1) Wait till early next year, when the G5s are released. Speeds are rumored from 1 gHz to 2.2 gHz, plus with the G5's incredibly awesome SMP capabilities, multiple CPU configurations will not at all be uncommon. Add to that some very scientifically friendly things like the fact that it's a full 64-bit CPU (lots and lots of RAM) and the 128-bit vector units, and you suddenly have a VERY attractive package.
2) He never claims they'll be able to. Macs and Linux have always been niche markets. He's just claiming that OS X is nudging Linux out of its niche.
3) It doesn't really need to be. OS X works so well because Apple doesn't have to support a bunch of odd third-party hardware, so instead everything works REALLY well on their one platform. Apple's hardware is by no means second-rate. The build quality and nice little touches are tops over any I've seen on the x86 side of things. Apple sees themselves as more the Mercedes of computers, where Compaq would be the Toyota. And for the most part, as long as people adopt the hardware and software changes, software vendors are more than happy to port the software (and trust me, OS X is sooo much better than OS 9.)
Actually, in my experience writing term papers, it's about 400-600 words per typewritten page (double spaced, 12 point times.) Not that that makes it that much better (only about 50 bytes per letter) though I'm sure there are some other calculations (plus marteting sugar) thrown in.
I used to be like that myself until I realized it really wasn't worth paying $80 for a game I didn't understand when I can wait 3 months and get it for half that and actually be able to read it. That said, I enjoyed FF8 a lot more in Japanese... Mostly cos I didn't have to sit through the god awful plot.:) Personally, I can wait, though a lot of spoiled brats on the net (not you, just in general) can't, and constantly bitch and moan when games are behind schedule. For anime, I can understand; a lot of really quality stuff never comes over (End of Evangelion? Hello?) but videogames have really gotten to the point where anything that's any good (and a lot of stuff that isn't) comes over.
Adding to your comment, the Messiah chip is supposedly flashable with extra room for expansion modules. I'd love to get my hands on one but they're about $80. However, installing a Messiah or NEO4 chip is not trivial. Gone are the days of an 8 pin PIC chip, the NEO4 is a PCB with about 35 wires, the Messiah has over 20. Also, the solder contacts on the PS2 are so much smaller than the PSOne you had better have a full set of soldering equipment on hand and REALLY know what you're doing. These new chips will not be installed by Joe User with a Radio Shack soldering iron.
Most people I know have modded PSOnes, but getting a mod chip installed in a PS2 will easily set you back over $100 (chip is expensive plus getting it installed is really expensive.) For me, that's really not cost-effective right now, especially seeing how most PS2 games are on DVD, and thus can't be copied cheaply. Also, I have no real desire for PS2 imports, as all of the really worthwhile games are coming to the states anyway now. Gone are the days of Americans getting fucked over on games (read: FF5, SD3, the whole Dragon Quest series, Ys, and many other excellent games.) Now we even get the really quirky titles like Dance Dance Revolution and Jet Set Radio.
Pretty much the only use for these new chips is piracy, as the Messiah chip will play all games (copies, imports, etc) with no swap. The NEO4 requires a swap for burned DVD PS2 games, but that's it. There are USB mods that will allow regionless DVD playback. But none of this really outweighs the fact of how damn expensive these things are. I'm really not ready to shell out $150 to be able to play burned games (which will cost me $400 for a burner and $10 a game) and thus, these mod chips seem more of a niche product than the PSOne mod chips.
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Actually, they are. The copy protection is mostly still in the "test marketing" stage to see if people will swallow it. Plus I doubt the large libraries of existing CDs will be converted ever, mostly because it wouldn't be worth the money.
I think it's an even nicer "fuck you" to such corporations to speak out against them and still draw a paycheck from them. :)
I agree with most of this. A lot of having a stable system comes from paying $30 more for a decent motherboard. Also, the AMD market tends to be oversaturated with commodity memory. While the Intel side of things tends to use rambus, which is all pretty decent quality, most non-DDR RAM people buy for AMD machines is just crap. The thing memory affects the most is-- you guessed it-- system stability.
VIA does make some complete crap, but they also make some nice chipsets. The KT266A is very nice, it's the fastest DDR implementation out there by far. But still, VIA chipsets are a good bit cheaper than the Intel equivalent, and while the Intel chipset may be more stable, the VIA one is almost always faster. And even Intel has issues with chipset stability, it's just that they ignore them and only quietly replace the faulty boards when they're returned under warranty. You know how it goes in the computer industry... Faster, cheaper, or more stable- pick any two.
Osama has also been rather badly burned by the US government personally. Ironically, he was educated in the west (Cambridge, iirc, though I could be wrong.) Anyway, during the early 90s he was heavily involved in a savings and loan scam in which we siezed all assets involved in the business-- something close to $500 million. I don't care how rich you are, losing that much hard currency (read: not stock) hurts. The reasons you list are very much valid, but I'm willing to bet Bin Laden has a personal vandetta against the United States as well. The main thing most muslims seem to have against the US is the close ties with Israel (not just the ultra-orthodox muslims, most of them,) but the difference is that most people in the area don't believe that violence is the way to solve the problem. Muslims and Jews have been butting heads for about 1500 years now, so that will probably never change.
Not necessarily. There are a large number of factors that go into the "mHz disparity," including cache, memory, fabrication process, voltage, and heat dissipation. If we were to base the "ratios" solely off pipeline stepping, how would that place a PowerPC G4, with a 7 step pipeline, against a P4, with a 20+ step pipeline? Is a new iMac as fast as a P4 2400? I know they're different architectures, but in actuality the Athlon has a LOT in common with the design of the PowerPC.
The "ratios" are a good guess, and will be reasonably accurate, but as a chip heats up it actually gets slower (i.e. it takes more time for an electron to move through the circuit) and the AthlonXP gets a lot hotter than a P4 a lot quicker. My AthlonXP 1700 practically needs its own air conditioning unit (and why most athlon heatsinks weigh more than the reccomended 300 grams) while, from what I hear anyway, the P4s aren't quite as bad (though not exactly frigid.)
MCSE: My Computer Sucks Enormously.. Oh, you meant the other one...
You try figuring out who this AC is ;) Though I see the point, mostly so we don't get computer contractors working as spies. Though it did happen to a high level FBI official...
While I realize that one OS is not the end-all of all operating systems-- each has their merits-- I'm beginning to really, really like OS X. I've been a Mac user for about 15 years, but I would concede that pre-OS X (especially the 7.5 series.. yech) systems were crap. However, OS X is extremely stable, very fast, reasonably secure (they stole a lot of code from OpenBSD and FreeBSD for Darwin, but isn't that the nature of open source?) and very easy to use.
It's not "free" (beer or speech) but IMO, a closed development cycle is much more efficient. It took Apple a year after they bought NeXT to come out with an OS that did pretty much everything Linux had spent 6 years doing.
Granted, a lot of Apple's expediated development time is due to that work on Linux (gnu tools especially, apache, openssh, etc) but now the OS is moving in exciting new directions (mass deployment on a true 64-bit architecture within the next 6 months?) plus all the professional application support coming out (mostly things Linux doesn't have, namely Photoshop, Illustrator, AutoCAD, MS Office v.X, plus a host of others.) True, Linux does have more device support, but I don't think I'm ever going to use networking over Ham Radio (though I think it's cool I could, if I wanted to.)
It's also easier to support and develop for a predefined platform (Apple makes the machines) and Apple's machines are always so cutting edge (stylistically and technologically) that there's little to be desired. Don't get me wrong, I love Linux and think it has done great things for the world, and I'll continue to run it on my x86 machines, but OS X just strikes me as a much more polished, professional system, where Linux feels more like an amalgamation of little bits and pieces. Linux will always have a place in the world, though I have a feeling it will eventually be relegated to server use only.
It is common to confuse government and educational institutions as corporations, as they often operate like them. But where a corporation's goal is to earn as much money as possible by whatever means, government and educational institutions goal is to accomplish a predefined task while losing as little money as possible. This is why our nation does not have huge cash reserves, and often spends more money than it takes in. Most people for who work for the government are grossly underpaid (our president, the highest official in the government, makes about $400,000 a year-- mere pennies compared to Fortune 500 CEOs and with much more responsibility.)
Also, government agencies (with the exception of the IRS) rarely share the money they take in. I wouldn't doubt that all the money the PTO pulls in goes towards PTO-related activities, with some tax dollars thrown in for good measure. Government agencies bleed cash, but that's okay. The government is there to do things that aren't profitable but need to be done anyway. This is why they take 20-40% of our income every year.
Though I do agree with you that the patent system is grossly mishandled, and does need some sort of third party review. Originally it was not intended as such, and worked well for 150 years, but with the dawn of mega-corporations and high-speed communications, the individual tends to be drowned out. And I do agree that software should be non-patentable. Code should be copyrighted, but an algorigm/method used in software should not be patented (a la One-click.)
And of course, I could just be talking out of my ass.
This is why old Stevie took a company that was bleeding money from the jugular (~$500 mil a quarter) and on the verge of collapse to one of the most successful computer companies out there. Apple has several billion in the bank in CASH, and they didn't do it with a beige box. Jobs, while he is a bit of an eccentric (obviously,) DOES have some pretty good business sense.
And as far as Apple's products not appealing to the middle class masses, I know plenty of people (non-techies) who were drooling over the new iMacs. I sense a lot of hostility towards the Macintosh on Slashdot, and I don't doubt it's because Apple has done in a year what has taken Linux the past six: A successful desktop UNIX system. Apple is one of the few companies in the market that ACTUALLY innovates, not just content to sit on incremental improvements, they're willing to take a huge risk. Sometimes, they flop (the Cube.) Sometimes, they're monumentally successful (iMac, iBook, PowerBook G4.) But you do have to agree, whether you like it or not, the new iMac is definately different than any computer ever put out there, and you do have to give Apple credit for that.
I go to UT Austin as well, and they instituted an interesting policy this semester. Last semester (and all before) there was a 3.5 gb/week limit, if you went over, you were cut off totally. Now, they've lowered the limit to 2.5 gb/week but instead of getting totally cut off, they just route you through a smaller pipe, so all the bandwidth offenders are crammed down a slower link, while the rest of the school is unaffected. Of course, this has never stopped me from going to the library with my laptop w/ 802.11b and leeching about 5 gigs of anime in an afternoon...
Heh, but does that doesn't mean I'll be firing blanks...
When Borland vice show up at my house, they're going to have bigger problems than a lawyer. I don't have to let them in my house. If they step over the front doorstep without my permission, I would consider that breaking and entering, in which case they have about 30 seconds to get the hell out before I start shooting. Which is also probably the reason they would NEVER enforce this.
Actually, you'd be surprised. An 800 mHz G4, while maybe not quite as fast as an athlon XP 1.4 gHz, is still in the same class. Naturally, being the Karma Whore (tm) I am, I can't back this up with real proof, but mHz should not be used IN ANY SHAPE/FORM when comparing a PowerPC chip to an x86 chip. It truly is misleading, as they are the evolution of two very different schools of semiconductor theory which branched many years ago. One focuses on getting the most clock cycles possible, while the other focuses on faster handling of instructions. Neither is inherrently superior, it's just after this many years, using mHz to compare the two is pretty much meaningless.
Apple is still selling the "old" iMac, at least for now. For $799, it's really not a bad deal. I suspect they'll sell the "old" iMac till they can drop prices on the new one to under $1000. This strikes me more as Apple's "mid-range" machine, which they never really have had. The computing industry as a whole is less and less about the hardware and more about the marketing and software. This is probably also why a lot of highly-skilled tech jobs are moving overseas and a lot of us geeks are between jobs.
Apple's target market is NOT the geeks. Geeks are going to build their own PC in a cool case. Apple's target are the 30 year old working professionals who shop at Ikea. This kind of stuff fits perfectly with that. Believe it or not, geeks are but a small portion of the American population, and not a very lucrative one for prebuilt computer makers. Apple will let AMD/VIA and Intel fight over the geeks, and they'll go after their own market.
You're right, Final Fantasy is great so long as you realize it's just a game and not the cure for cancer. I rather enjoyed FFX, mostly because I thought it was going to suck and was pleasantly surprised (8 was the worst.. Squall was just so unlikable I wanted to rape him with a fencepost.) Anyway, I'm personally not a huge fan of MMORPGs (in fact, I loathe them) but I'll prolly get FFXI, just because I'm deathly curious to see how it'll turn out.
This was one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Every review except this one seems to agree with me (unfortunately, I didn't read them before going to see it.) I don't expect every sci-fi movie I see to have mind-blowing computer effects, but this movie reeks of the mid-80s. Perhaps it would have been better recieved by the critics if it had been released now. As it is, it looks rather dated and I found the plot being pushed to the back in favor of explosions and hollywood flash. In short, if you HAVE to see this movie, take some funny friends, so at least you can be entertained by their MST3K like comments. Otherwise, go see LOTR again.
It doesn't have Altivec like the G4 because it's not based off the G4. :) It's based off the PowerPC 750 (G3) and is designed as a general-purpose embedded processor. Sony's Emotion Engine (not the main CPU, but it is often used like one) is also powerful like this, with some insane vector units and other fun stuff. Though honestly, I don't give a flying fuck if my game console can do vertex shading or bumpmapping or whatever so long as the games are fun. You know, some people still play chess...
This may sound like flamebait, but it's more of a rebuttal ;)
1) Wait till early next year, when the G5s are released. Speeds are rumored from 1 gHz to 2.2 gHz, plus with the G5's incredibly awesome SMP capabilities, multiple CPU configurations will not at all be uncommon. Add to that some very scientifically friendly things like the fact that it's a full 64-bit CPU (lots and lots of RAM) and the 128-bit vector units, and you suddenly have a VERY attractive package.
2) He never claims they'll be able to. Macs and Linux have always been niche markets. He's just claiming that OS X is nudging Linux out of its niche.
3) It doesn't really need to be. OS X works so well because Apple doesn't have to support a bunch of odd third-party hardware, so instead everything works REALLY well on their one platform. Apple's hardware is by no means second-rate. The build quality and nice little touches are tops over any I've seen on the x86 side of things. Apple sees themselves as more the Mercedes of computers, where Compaq would be the Toyota. And for the most part, as long as people adopt the hardware and software changes, software vendors are more than happy to port the software (and trust me, OS X is sooo much better than OS 9.)
Actually, in my experience writing term papers, it's about 400-600 words per typewritten page (double spaced, 12 point times.) Not that that makes it that much better (only about 50 bytes per letter) though I'm sure there are some other calculations (plus marteting sugar) thrown in.
I used to be like that myself until I realized it really wasn't worth paying $80 for a game I didn't understand when I can wait 3 months and get it for half that and actually be able to read it. That said, I enjoyed FF8 a lot more in Japanese... Mostly cos I didn't have to sit through the god awful plot. :) Personally, I can wait, though a lot of spoiled brats on the net (not you, just in general) can't, and constantly bitch and moan when games are behind schedule. For anime, I can understand; a lot of really quality stuff never comes over (End of Evangelion? Hello?) but videogames have really gotten to the point where anything that's any good (and a lot of stuff that isn't) comes over.
Wow, you're a lot better with a soldering iron than I. :) I needed a station with clips and a magnifiying glass. Oh yeah, and LOTS of hot glue...
Adding to your comment, the Messiah chip is supposedly flashable with extra room for expansion modules. I'd love to get my hands on one but they're about $80. However, installing a Messiah or NEO4 chip is not trivial. Gone are the days of an 8 pin PIC chip, the NEO4 is a PCB with about 35 wires, the Messiah has over 20. Also, the solder contacts on the PS2 are so much smaller than the PSOne you had better have a full set of soldering equipment on hand and REALLY know what you're doing. These new chips will not be installed by Joe User with a Radio Shack soldering iron.
Most people I know have modded PSOnes, but getting a mod chip installed in a PS2 will easily set you back over $100 (chip is expensive plus getting it installed is really expensive.) For me, that's really not cost-effective right now, especially seeing how most PS2 games are on DVD, and thus can't be copied cheaply. Also, I have no real desire for PS2 imports, as all of the really worthwhile games are coming to the states anyway now. Gone are the days of Americans getting fucked over on games (read: FF5, SD3, the whole Dragon Quest series, Ys, and many other excellent games.) Now we even get the really quirky titles like Dance Dance Revolution and Jet Set Radio.
Pretty much the only use for these new chips is piracy, as the Messiah chip will play all games (copies, imports, etc) with no swap. The NEO4 requires a swap for burned DVD PS2 games, but that's it. There are USB mods that will allow regionless DVD playback. But none of this really outweighs the fact of how damn expensive these things are. I'm really not ready to shell out $150 to be able to play burned games (which will cost me $400 for a burner and $10 a game) and thus, these mod chips seem more of a niche product than the PSOne mod chips.