Now Microsoft is findint itself in an arena of competitive behaviour. I wonder whether they would end up suing Sony and Nintendo on agressive business tactics:)
This was the first ever story you had published which I read from beginning to end, only stopping in between to laugh uncontrollably..
And this was the most amusing and funny story that I ever read on Slashdot. Kudos to you. You havent yet lost your writing prowess as some here have noted. Theres still hope for you.
Thanks for making my Friday more fun than designing XML Schemas for the Timber Industry.
A quick note to Slashdot editors - I hope it you would make a note of it and make it easy for us to cancel Slashdot subscriptions.
According to Chip.de Sonys copy protection technology could be bypassed altogether by just a Permanant Marker. Apparently the bad data that copy rights the CD is on the outer edge of the CD and blacking the final track appears to completely remove the restriction.
MRP : Approximately 450 US Dollars. And this would be for the fastest Matrox Card. There might be more than one flavour, but dont expect them to diversify it like Nvidia does (Ti200, Ti4400, Ti4600 and the MX420 and MX440).
The summary mentions quite a few interesting notes regarding the effect this card would have on current games.
- In "simple" games like Quake III Arena, the Parhelia-512 will definitely lose out to the GeForce4 Ti 4600. By simple we mean games that generally use no more than two textures and are currently bound by fill rate. NVIDIA's drivers are highly optimized (much more so than Matrox's) and in situations where the majority of the Parhelia's execution power is going unused, it will lose out to the Ti 4600. This can change by turning on anisotropic filtering and antialiasing however, where the balance will begin to tilt in favor of the Parhelia.
- In stressful DX8 games, Matrox expects the Parhelia-512 to take the gold - either performing on par or outperforming the GeForce4 Ti 4600. Once again, as soon as you enable better texture filtering algorithms and antialiasing the Parhelia-512 should begin to seriously separate itself from the Ti 4600. The quad-texturing capabilities of the core as well as the 5-stage pixel shaders will be very handy in games coming out over the next several months.
So from the look of it, Parhelia does not wipe out Nvidia (though I would like them to), but is a worthy competitor to nvidia in current games. It would be interesting to see how ATI and Nvidia match up to this new competitor in the coming months.
Small - The CF-S868 is a small, powerful system. It is larger than the SS50, but it definitely isn't cumbersome at all.
Performance - Mainly this is talking game performance and is due to the AGP slot. There is no doubt you can build a very fast LAN system with this box.
Features - The CF-S868 is definitely packed with features, and comes with some good accessories. The sliced up IDE cables save space and make everything easier to work with inside. Though missing firewire, and not having the greatest sound or onboard video, it has Infra-Red and USB 2.0.
Style - The handle on the CF-S868 not only looks cool, but is very functional and practical as well. The clear front and sides look good as well. The design is similar to the Shuttle SS40 if you have seen any of the images form CeBit of that case style.
Noise - Thought it doesn't beat the SS50, the CF-S868 is a great system when it comes to noise. It isn't too loud, but it could use a bit more tweaking.
Cons:
Noise - The problem when it comes to noise is the included fan with the Arkua heatsink. It is quite loud, but can be replaced relatively easily.
Sound - The onboard AC97 sound is nothing short of a disappointment. CMI or even Creative has better solutions than the basic AC97 codec.
Video/Other Issues - This includes all the issues that I covered above about the video cards, as well as the problems I had with the front panel connector and the drive bay covers. Overall a well constructed barebones system, but there are definitely some oversights, especially with the missing standoff and screw which should be there to support the insertion of an AGP card.
So who should go out and buy the CF-S868? Well certainly this is currently one of the best mini-systems you can buy right now for a little LAN box that is powerful. But it's not exactly cheaper than a full-sized system. Arprotek told me that the MSRP in the US for this system is $369. Contrary to this is the fact that some who have already bought this system have paid $400 or more for it. I haven't seen this system in any US retailers so far, so the price will be higher since you will have to have the system shipped overseas. Currently there are no distributors in the US that I'm aware of that carry this system, but hopefully they will be showing up soon for those of you interested. If you are interested in purchasing one, please click here to send an email and you will be given details.
The CF-S868 may have issues, but they aren't a huge problem. You do need to consider everything before making a purchase, so look at the drawbacks and decide whether that interferes with your use of the system. It needs better sound and a good AGP video card. Both will have to be added to the cost of the system. If you want even more information or perhaps have other questions, feel free to discuss this article in the forums below.
Also, personally I would wait to see what the competition has to offer before making a final choice. We know that Shuttle will be having a product coming out this summer with an AGP slot. Keep watching for the review here and we will be comparing both products. If the CF-S868 looks good to you and you need something soon, I don't have any major objections if you plan on using it for a LAN box and will add a sound card and AGP video card.
The Bruce Schneir book "Secrets and lies" talks about one of the models of Porsche which had a bug where in which if the gas tank has less than one litre of gas and takes a real hard swerve, the subsequent accumulation of gas in the tank to one side, would confuse the onboard chip to believe that the tank is empty and thereby shutting down the car immediately.
I can imagine a couple of new born dot com millionaires who had no clue what the fuck just happened.
Reading through the MSNBC article, I noticed one thing, references to much fanfare with which these "legal" services were introduced. It all comes down to one aspect. Music industry never intended to make this attempt succeed. They know that they could sell Old CDs at a profit many years from now, and by giving music away at this cost, no one is going to buy these CD's years from now.
They remind me of a pack of dogs fighting over a piece of meat, while someone else gets the most of it.
I for one, is reminded of musician Moby who once said that "If I ever hear that someone on the other end of this world downloaded my songs and listens to them on their computer, then I would be content because that makes me proud of what I do as a musician" or something to that effect.
Computer : Sir, you clearly look distraught, hence I wouldnt be able to let you take this flight. Also I have notified airport law enforcement to detain you till you retain your prior normal blood pressure and wipe that look off of your face. Thank you!
Also for now this should only concern the Overclocking community because of the ability of this chip to run at higher clock speeds due to the.13 process
Great, Boss makes a cool deal in the bonus, turns around and screws the ones beneath him. Another example of how to boost the company morality.
But then again, the current priorities in these times does not include employee morale as one of the top ten.
I remember in of my previous projects, the company blew off 100 million in an year (they were based out of Deerfield, IL) most of which was paid out to Broadvision contractors who were charging 300 Dollars per hour, for creating (GET THIS!!) the company intranet. All this for a company with around 300 employees. No wonder they burned through the whole VC fund by the next year, but the CEO still managed to get himself one of those cool G500 Merc SUV from Europe(before it was even introduced here).
In this market everyone is playing him for himself and no one else. Management doesnt give jack shit about their employees, all they care about is projecting a good-overall image out to the investors and the board and the analysts.
And one word of advice to the software engg who all of a sudden finds himself unable to pay the bills because of a pay cut. Dude..lay off on those expenses man. Like my Dad used to say, life is never meant to be simple. Start saving, or one day all of a sudden you would find yourself with out a job and nothing to do. I did!
Get laid Off. Theres a meeting tomorrow of the head honchos, so all I need to do is piss someone off so bad that they send me packing with a Free Air ticket to SF.
Second option would be to start sneaking around the Low-Airfare forums.
Slashdot Mirror
Now Microsoft is findint itself in an arena of competitive behaviour. I wonder whether they would end up suing Sony and Nintendo on agressive business tactics :)
Maybe I wont live that long
This was the first ever story you had published which I read from beginning to end, only stopping in between to laugh uncontrollably..
And this was the most amusing and funny story that I ever read on Slashdot. Kudos to you. You havent yet lost your writing prowess as some here have noted. Theres still hope for you.
Thanks for making my Friday more fun than designing XML Schemas for the Timber Industry.
A quick note to Slashdot editors - I hope it you would make a note of it and make it easy for us to cancel Slashdot subscriptions.
According to Chip.de Sonys copy protection technology could be bypassed altogether by just a Permanant Marker. Apparently the bad data that copy rights the CD is on the outer edge of the CD and blacking the final track appears to completely remove the restriction.
Remember when rumours were abound about Microsoft going the AMD way for the chip on Xbox2 ? Everyone wondered why they would ditch Intel ?
These guys are committing SNAFUs all year round.
(1) Take Interest in your kids dammit. No matter how important your work is, family always come first. Get your friggin priorities straight.
(2) Ask yourself whether your kid needs a computer that soon. And why. Books might be better.
(3) Take the computer to the living room and out of the kids bedrooms. Keep a watch over what they do.
(4) Be frank with them. Tell them what worries you and what they should not be doing. Take action. Dont be passive.
This is the only picture I could find of Parhelia.
Look at the massive heatsink on that baby... Ooooh mama...
MRP : Approximately 450 US Dollars.
And this would be for the fastest Matrox Card. There might be more than one flavour, but dont expect them to diversify it like Nvidia does (Ti200, Ti4400, Ti4600 and the MX420 and MX440).
Shipping Date : Late June
Here
The summary mentions quite a few interesting notes regarding the effect this card would have on current games.
- In "simple" games like Quake III Arena, the Parhelia-512 will definitely lose out to the GeForce4 Ti 4600. By simple we mean games that generally use no more than two textures and are currently bound by fill rate. NVIDIA's drivers are highly optimized (much more so than Matrox's) and in situations where the majority of the Parhelia's execution power is going unused, it will lose out to the Ti 4600. This can change by turning on anisotropic filtering and antialiasing however, where the balance will begin to tilt in favor of the Parhelia.
- In stressful DX8 games, Matrox expects the Parhelia-512 to take the gold - either performing on par or outperforming the GeForce4 Ti 4600. Once again, as soon as you enable better texture filtering algorithms and antialiasing the Parhelia-512 should begin to seriously separate itself from the Ti 4600. The quad-texturing capabilities of the core as well as the 5-stage pixel shaders will be very handy in games coming out over the next several months.
So from the look of it, Parhelia does not wipe out Nvidia (though I would like them to), but is a worthy competitor to nvidia in current games. It would be interesting to see how ATI and Nvidia match up to this new competitor in the coming months.
Be afraid. Be vewy vewy afraid.
rmercado37@yahoo.com seems to be the only way to email these idiots.
YES we invented the internet. NO! we dont have the ability to run an email server.
Theres only one way out of this.
Chip in enough to buy one of those "Predator" unmanned aircrafts with two hellfire-c missiles.
Ask PanIP lawyers to get everyone who wants a "piece of the pie" to meet you at the PanIP office at Monday morning 10:00
Program the "Predator" to drop its load on the PanIP coordinates on 10:15 AM on Monday (Give them 15 mins to get their coffee).
Case over. You would have troubles from lawyers no more.
But I still cant figure out how "THAT" got in "THERE"
Pros:
Small - The CF-S868 is a small, powerful system. It is larger than the SS50, but it definitely isn't cumbersome at all.
Performance - Mainly this is talking game performance and is due to the AGP slot. There is no doubt you can build a very fast LAN system with this box.
Features - The CF-S868 is definitely packed with features, and comes with some good accessories. The sliced up IDE cables save space and make everything easier to work with inside. Though missing firewire, and not having the greatest sound or onboard video, it has Infra-Red and USB 2.0.
Style - The handle on the CF-S868 not only looks cool, but is very functional and practical as well. The clear front and sides look good as well. The design is similar to the Shuttle SS40 if you have seen any of the images form CeBit of that case style.
Noise - Thought it doesn't beat the SS50, the CF-S868 is a great system when it comes to noise. It isn't too loud, but it could use a bit more tweaking.
Cons:
Noise - The problem when it comes to noise is the included fan with the Arkua heatsink. It is quite loud, but can be replaced relatively easily.
Sound - The onboard AC97 sound is nothing short of a disappointment. CMI or even Creative has better solutions than the basic AC97 codec.
Video/Other Issues - This includes all the issues that I covered above about the video cards, as well as the problems I had with the front panel connector and the drive bay covers. Overall a well constructed barebones system, but there are definitely some oversights, especially with the missing standoff and screw which should be there to support the insertion of an AGP card.
So who should go out and buy the CF-S868? Well certainly this is currently one of the best mini-systems you can buy right now for a little LAN box that is powerful. But it's not exactly cheaper than a full-sized system. Arprotek told me that the MSRP in the US for this system is $369. Contrary to this is the fact that some who have already bought this system have paid $400 or more for it. I haven't seen this system in any US retailers so far, so the price will be higher since you will have to have the system shipped overseas. Currently there are no distributors in the US that I'm aware of that carry this system, but hopefully they will be showing up soon for those of you interested. If you are interested in purchasing one, please click here to send an email and you will be given details.
The CF-S868 may have issues, but they aren't a huge problem. You do need to consider everything before making a purchase, so look at the drawbacks and decide whether that interferes with your use of the system. It needs better sound and a good AGP video card. Both will have to be added to the cost of the system. If you want even more information or perhaps have other questions, feel free to discuss this article in the forums below.
Also, personally I would wait to see what the competition has to offer before making a final choice. We know that Shuttle will be having a product coming out this summer with an AGP slot. Keep watching for the review here and we will be comparing both products. If the CF-S868 looks good to you and you need something soon, I don't have any major objections if you plan on using it for a LAN box and will add a sound card and AGP video card.
The Bruce Schneir book "Secrets and lies" talks about one of the models of Porsche which had a bug where in which if the gas tank has less than one litre of gas and takes a real hard swerve, the subsequent accumulation of gas in the tank to one side, would confuse the onboard chip to believe that the tank is empty and thereby shutting down the car immediately.
I can imagine a couple of new born dot com millionaires who had no clue what the fuck just happened.
Reading through the MSNBC article, I noticed one thing, references to much fanfare with which these "legal" services were introduced. It all comes down to one aspect. Music industry never intended to make this attempt succeed. They know that they could sell Old CDs at a profit many years from now, and by giving music away at this cost, no one is going to buy these CD's years from now.
They remind me of a pack of dogs fighting over a piece of meat, while someone else gets the most of it.
I for one, is reminded of musician Moby who once said that "If I ever hear that someone on the other end of this world downloaded my songs and listens to them on their computer, then I would be content because that makes me proud of what I do as a musician" or something to that effect.
Computer : Sir, you clearly look distraught, hence I wouldnt be able to let you take this flight. Also I have notified airport law enforcement to detain you till you retain your prior normal blood pressure and wipe that look off of your face. Thank you!
All that *deleting* makes me believe Taco is a zit faced 14 yr old in Wisconsin running Outlook98 on Windoze98 box..
Wait!! You were kidding right ???
AMD Thoroughbred reviewed here
.13 process
Also for now this should only concern the Overclocking community because of the ability of this chip to run at higher clock speeds due to the
Hell No!
All that, and I even scored tickets to the 12:01 showing of star wars on opening day ;)
May You ROT IN HELLL!!!!!
So much for poor Visual Basic Programmers :)
Damn, they never get to do fun stuff like this.
Great, Boss makes a cool deal in the bonus, turns around and screws the ones beneath him. Another example of how to boost the company morality.
But then again, the current priorities in these times does not include employee morale as one of the top ten.
I remember in of my previous projects, the company blew off 100 million in an year (they were based out of Deerfield, IL) most of which was paid out to Broadvision contractors who were charging 300 Dollars per hour, for creating (GET THIS!!) the company intranet. All this for a company with around 300 employees. No wonder they burned through the whole VC fund by the next year, but the CEO still managed to get himself one of those cool G500 Merc SUV from Europe(before it was even introduced here).
In this market everyone is playing him for himself and no one else. Management doesnt give jack shit about their employees, all they care about is projecting a good-overall image out to the investors and the board and the analysts.
And one word of advice to the software engg who all of a sudden finds himself unable to pay the bills because of a pay cut. Dude..lay off on those expenses man. Like my Dad used to say, life is never meant to be simple. Start saving, or one day all of a sudden you would find yourself with out a job and nothing to do. I did!
And none in GA. So I have two options.
:(
Get laid Off. Theres a meeting tomorrow of the head honchos, so all I need to do is piss someone off so bad that they send me packing with a Free Air ticket to SF.
Second option would be to start sneaking around the Low-Airfare forums.
I hate Lucas
By the next episode, Lucas himself could don the role of Darth Vader.
Our fellow slashdotter has gone in to all this trouble over creating a petition against BB over this incident and others.
l
Please show your solidarity by signing the petition.
http://www.petitiononline.com/BBBC/petition.htm
Thanks Buddy,
;)
Maybe I should sent you as the real LucaBrasi and this time maybe you would do some damage instead of getting strangled
Thanks a lot! I appreciate that. And hey, did you get the modem work yet ?
And thanks once again.