If P4/2GHz/1GB/GPU notebooks with 1080p (1920x1200) screens 15" or bigger were $500 each, I'd buy a bunch of them to leave in my usual haunts, instead of schlepping them around.
Don't know if you're still reading replies, but the cheapest I've seen is Dell's Vostro 1510 in Dell's Small Business section. Right now, $599 (free shipping) gets you the base configuration ($499) plus WUXGA upgrade (+$150) minus "Save $50 when priced $599 or more" promotion (-$50).
Intel® Celeron M® 550 (2.0GHz, 1M L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB)
Windows Vista® Home Basic, Service Pack 1
15.4 in UltraSharp(TM) Widescreen WUXGA LCD Display w/TrueLife(TM)
1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 DIMM
Intel® Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive with Roxio Creator
Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g Wi-Fi Internal Card
6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
1 Year Basic Limited Warranty plus 1 Year Mail-in Service
Note that the Celeron M 550 is based on the original notebook Core 2 Duo, so it's way better than a P4. Also, Vostros don't come with crapware. Unfortunately, I don't know where the heck you'd be able to see and feel one before you buy. Some retail stores and kiosks have Dells on display, but they're Dell's "Home & Home Office" models, not their "Small Business" models, AFAIK.
Q8200 is a 45nm chip vs. the 65nm Q6600, so it comes with lower power consumption and allegedly slightly better IPC than the older core--so it should perform about the same.
and the AMD Phenom X4 9950 is under $200 and it is unlocked with a true quad core better bus and built in ram controller 512 L2 per core + 2 meg l3.
... and the AMD Phenom X4 9950 has a TDP of 140 Watts. Also, superior technology like "true quad core" and integrated memory controller haven't helped AMD compete with Intel's high-end desktop offerings (although they have helped in MP servers). On the desktop, AMD Phenom can only compete in price/performance with Intel's low-mid range chips (and they compete quite well). Benchmarks (including power consumption) are much more useful than tech specs.
More Evidence That XP is Vista's Main Competitor - Showed how Windows XP SP3 was way faster than Vista SP1 (both pre-release versions), but hid the fact that the test computer had only 1GB of RAM.
Whenever you see a sensationalist article quoting InfoWorld and Devil Mountain Software, be skeptical.
Actually, if you've bought an OEM copy of Windows and installed it on an existing computer or a VM, then you've probably violated the EULA and should have paid 3x over the odds for a "full retail" copy. No incentive to cheat the system?
OEM Windows is only supposed to be sold as a bundle with a new PC (in the UK* resellers often insist that you buy at least a hard drive or a motherboard before they'll sell you an OEM copy), you are obliged to install it on that hardware, to which you must attach the license sticker, and cannot transfer the license to another machine.
I think the only part of the above that's true is the non-transferable limitation of OEM Windows. A seller can sell OEM Windows without "a new PC" and not violate the seller's EULA. A buyer can buy and install OEM Windows on non-bundled hardware without attaching the license sticker.
Q. The current System Builder license states that I may distribute an operating system license with a "non-peripheral hardware component". What hardware components are considered "non-peripheral"?
A. A non-peripheral hardware component is a hardware component that is considered to be essential to running a computer system, and includes components such as memory, internal devices and drives, mice, keyboards, and power supplies. Examples of components that are not considered essential are external modems, networking devices, cameras, printers, and scanners.
So Microsoft says sellers can bundle a $2 mouse with OEM Windows and be compliant with the seller's EULA. If you shop around, you'll find online stores that bundle a $1 audio cable with a $1 "instant rebate."
As for the buyer's EULA, quoted from the Ars Technica article:
Can I buy OEM?
Yes, you can. Microsoft licenses OEM software to "system builders," which the license defines as "an original equipment manufacturer, or an assembler, reassembler, or installer of software on computer systems" (emphasis added). You can install software on computers, right?
When asked, Microsoft says that OEM software is not intended to be installed by end users. Off the record, Microsoft spokespeople have told me that the big concern in Redmond is for Joe Newbie. They don't want inexperienced users buying OEM software, but the fact of the matter is that anyone can buy OEM versions of Windows.
Truth be told, Microsoft is not opposed to the practice. Rather, the company says that people who purchase OEM software will simply be expected to abide by the terms of the licensing agreements.
Also, the definition of a "new computer" (regarding the "non-tranferable" OEM limitation) seems to be "new motherboard," but replacing a "defective motherboard" is okay. From Microsoft:
Q. Can a PC with OEM Windows XP have its motherboard upgraded and keep the same license? What if it was replaced because it was defective?
A. Generally, you may upgrade or replace all of the hardware components on your customer's computer and the end user may maintain the license for the original Microsoft® OEM operating system software, with the exception of an upgrade or replacement of the motherboard. An upgrade of the motherboard is considered to result in a "new personal computer" to which Microsoft® OEM operating system software cannot be transferred from another computer. If the motherboard is upgraded or replaced for reasons other than a defect, then a new computer has been created and the license of new operating system software is required. If the motherboard is replaced because it is defective, you do NOT need to acquire a new operating system license for the PC.
I also recommend Tech Report's buying guides, which are updated semi-regularly and are geared toward "enthusiasts." Their loose target prices (not including monitor and OS) for "Econobox," "Grand Experiment," and "Sweet Spot" are $500, $1000, and $1500. Each recommended system also comes with "alternatives" that usually swich Intel/AMD and NVIDIA/ATI (e.g. the Econobox recommends Pentium Dual-Core with GeForce 9600 GT with Athlon X2 and ATI HD 3850 as alternatives).
Their latest guide (which includes AMD/ATI's HD 4000 series):
Many of Young's songs rely heavily on the Em, Am, D, and G chords as do many other musicians. Toss in a C and learn the majors and you'll be all set.
As for scales, learn the Pentatonic Minor and you'll be a blues musician in a few years.:)
And I did recognize that Neil Young tends to use the same 5 chords over and over. That's why I decided to start learning his stuff for my first songs.
I did a lot of practice on the basic Em, Am, D, C, and G chords, and I can do them fairly regularly, but I've been neglecting my practice recently and just been playing some easy tabs (mostly ACDC and Nirvana).
I haven't started my scales yet, but I do have a lot of interest in learning the blues. So maybe today is the day that I'll start.
The E minor or G major pentatonic scale (same notes, different start/end points) is used in many songs that use those easy chords you learned. Learn this scale at the end of the guitar neck (half the notes will be open strings), then you'll see how easy it is to switch from note-picking to chord-strumming and back.
Since this scale is so easy and popular, you should be able to figure out some songs by ear (or get very close). Seriously, you should have little problem approximating the intro to Led Zeppelin's "Over the Hills and Far Away" (G major pentatonic scale, easy chords). Another relatively easy one is Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" (G major pentatonic, easy chords).
Of course, if you learn those songs by ear, you won't play them exactly how they're "supposed" to be played (check the tabs later), but I think it's a great way to apply a scale you've just learned.
Nvidia are getting very scared now that ATi are beating them senseless.
Nvidia is really feeling the pinch with ATi taking up the higher end of the market (pro-gear/high end HD) and intel suring up the lower end (GMA, etc). Nvidia pretty much are stuck with consumers buying their middle of the line gear (8600/9600).
When you aim high you tend to hurt real when you fall from grace, the whole 8800 to 9800 leap was abysmal at best unlike their main competitor who really pulled their finger out to release the 3xxx & 4xxx series.
I guess you're referring to AMD/ATI's successful HD 4000 launch about a month ago, but you also seem to be omitting NVIDIA's GTX 200 series. At the high end (non-workstation), the GTX 280 outperforms the HD 4870. The $550 HD 4870 X2 (released about two weeks ago) outperforms the $450 GTX 280, but consumes a heck of a lot more power.
Also, NVIDIA seems to have been beating AMD/ATI senseless for years. According to Jon Peddie Research, for total graphics chips, NVIDIA had 31.4% market share in Q2 2008 vs. AMD's 18.1%. In Q2 2007, NVIDIA had 32.5% and AMD had 19.5%.
For notebook GPUs, NVIDIA led AMD 23.6% to 17.9% in Q2 2008, and 27.0% to 17.4% in Q1 2008. For "graphics add-in boards", NVIDIA led AMD 65% to 35% in Q1 2008.
The "leap" from NVIDIA 8000 series to 9000 series (which was hardly "abysmal") is more appropriately compared to ATI's leap from HD 2000 series to HD 3000 series. NVIDIA's 8000 series was better than ATI's HD 2000 series. ATI responded with the slightly improved (but well-priced) HD 3000 series, and NVIDIA countered with their 9000 series and price cuts to 8800GT/GTS, which drove down the prices of ATI's best-performing cards even more.
Until AMD released the HD 4000 series a month ago, AMD couldn't produce cards that could compete with NVIDIA's $400+ cards. After the successful HD 4000 launch, NVIDIA was forced to slash prices, but this is a very recent develpment. Personally, I'd choose an ATI card over NVIDIA now, but AMD/ATI has been getting whipped by NVIDIA for years.
I always make a habit of using usb ports on a PCI card for devices that I plug in & out often
Note that legacy PCI (133MBps) doesn't have enough bandwidth to fully utilize USB 3.0, which was demoed at 369MBps at this week's IDF. (Someone said their goal is 425+, but I can't remember the link.) Even first-generation PCI Express x1 slots (250MBs) don't have enough bandwidth. You'll need at least first-gen PCIe x4 or second-gen PCIe x1 to continue your habit with USB 3.0.
You can almost fit Led Zeppelin's entire catalog, from Led Zeppelin 1 to CODA on a single CD if the tunes are in MP3 format.
That's cool, but I prefer the idea of Led Zeppelin's entire catalog, including How the West Was Won, on a single DVD (dual-layer is probably needed) if the tunes are in FLAC format (or other good lossless format). CD/DVD jukeboxes and changers would be less necessary. It would be great if FLAC playback became a standard feature of DVD players the same way that MP3 playback is now standard on CD players, but I'm not getting my hopes up.
90% of users are Joe Sixpacks, and still 35% of them jump through the hurdles to drop Vista.
Actually, TFA says that nearly 35% of users running Devil Mountain's "community-based testing network" (about 3000 PCs) have downgraded from Vista to XP, according to Devil Mountain's estimates. That 35% includes machines downgraded by sellers, and seller's aren't "Joe Sixpacks."
"Participating persons, business entities or organizations contribute to the repository by downloading and deploying the DMS Clarity Tracker Agent across one or more representative Windows-based systems. The agent then collects system and process metrics data and uploads it to the DMS Clarity Analysis Portal, where it is accessible to the originating contributor and to members of the xpnet research and support staff."
Good HTPC guides usually aren't updated as often as the "general" system guides (bugdet, midrange, high end) and they usually aren't "cheap," but they can have useful info about what hardware to consider.
Since the HTPC guides aren't very cheap or up-to-date, I also recommend Tech Report's and Ars Technica's "general" system guides. Tech Report has an "Econobox" section and Ars Techinica has a "Budget Box" section.
I'd like to put together a small format PC for this sort of thing. Alas, I can't use a cheap tower, it needs to be one of those small form factors that can fit in an entertainment center. I'd like to spend as little as possible
I don't know if the In Win BK Series (Mt. Jade) is small enough, but it's pretty small, cheap, quiet (if you use Intel), and flexible. I'm only checking Newegg, but Newegg has the BK623 for $59.99 + $17.50 shipping and the BK636 for $59.99
+ $9.99 shipping, both with 300W power supplies (Fortron Source, according to some reviews).
For your entertainment center, note that the footprint of a BK6xx case (323mm x 276mm) is "equal" to the footprint of a Sony PS3 (325mm x 274mm), but the BK6xx is about 1.7 inches taller and is not "wedge-shaped" like the PS3.
So it's not "tiny," but it's compatible with all those cheap HTPC microATX motherboards (integrated graphics, HDMI, FireWire, digital audio out, etc) and it accepts a standard 5.25" desktop optical drive, 3.5" desktop hard drive, and 4 full-height expansion slots (for HDTV tuners).
Also note that the case's unique cooling system, which uses no case fans other than the CPU's fan (intake) and the power supply's fan (exhaust), only works efficiently with motherboards using Intel chipsets and an Intel retail CPU with its stock heatsink/fan. So that eliminates good, cheap HTPC chipsets like the AMD/ATI 780G and the NVIDIA 3200. Boards based on Intel's new G45 chipset are starting to arrive at Newegg, though.
There are several reviews of the BK Series on the Googleweb and In Win's BK Series product page has a "Reviews" tab (favorable only, I'd guess).
Intel has provided chipset makers with a draft specification for a USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller Interface (XHCI), making good a promise it made a couple of months ago.
I thought we had a standards body that would release such a spec to developers. This development in my opinion, might have other chip makers release a "renegade USB 4.0" promising new features and the like.
As others have replied, there is a finalized USB 3.0 spec accepted by a standards body that includes Apple, HP, NEC, Microsoft, Intel, and Agere.
However, the article is talking about Intel's draft spec for their USB 3.0 host controller, which implements the USB 3.0 spec and is expected to become the standard design. Everybody was waiting for Intel's implementation because even minor differences in host controller designs can cause problems with incompatibilities (a problem FireWire had to deal with in its early days).
For previous versions of USB, Intel designed a fast, reliable host controller and released the spec under a royalty-free license. For USB 3.0, it appeared Intel was temporarily witholding the spec so that they could recoup some of the significant costs to design the spec before everyone else could implement the spec for free. The others threatened to design their own host controller spec in response, which could cause problems with incompatibilities. Intel apparently relented and released their spec.
I love the fact that we have 24 hour "news" networks and the best thing that MSNBC and Fox can do with the time is give hour long slots (plus encore showings -- at least of the factor) to closed minded angry individuals that get to vent their frustrations to millions of equally closed minded viewers.
...and Lou Dobbs (CNN), don't forget Lou Dobbs. His closed-minded rants air from 7-8pm, though.
Haven't you heard? Everyone who doesn't walk in lockstep with the Repub party line is an extreme leftist.
Two of my favorite "extreme leftists" are George Will (believes in evolution) and Pat Buchanon (against the War on Terrorism). Actually, I'm pretty far to the left of conservative, but George and Pat seem to mostly think for themselves and can have civil discussions with those that disagree with them. Heck, I like honest whackos like Alan Keyes more than dishonest a-holes like Bill O'Reilly and Michael Moore.
"I was driving down Folsom Street in San Francisco and I got a dropped call 10 times. I get dropped calls just standing in one place"
Yarbrough's complaints stem from spotty phone reception due to the phone's 3G wireless technology. He said when the phone is set to ride on the faster 3G network, the signal often fluctuates and drops calls even though it should be able to revert to a slower wireless technology called Edge.
He's taken to turning off his phone's 3G connection when making phone calls and relying on the Edge technology to maintain his conversations.
Kevin Karkada, a 29-year-old Danville software consultant, shares many of the same complaints about reception. But his biggest concern is battery consumption, which he said often leaves him with very little juice by the early evening.
He's also taken to turning off 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and e-mail syncing just to ensure a strong charge throughout the day.
I guess HTC designed and released their Touch in the 5 months after the iPhone's January Macworld announcement. Or maybe HTC breached Apple's legendary secrecy and started designing their "knockoff" before the iPhone announcement.
Or maybe Apple wasn't the first to make phones with touchscreens (especially outside the USA). Maybe HTC's TouchFLO interface, which is designed with one-handed operation in mind, isn't so similar to the iPhone and wouldn't be considered a "knockoff" even if it was released after the iPhone (and it wasn't).
Dell has removed the top line of function keys and tied them as alts to the number row, which should allow them to have slightly more space in the keyboard region and hopefully make for a more pleasant typing experience. I know Wind users and some EeePC users complain about cramped keyboards.
I think removing the row of function keys would allow more space for the touchpad, but not the keyboard. I think the "typing experience" is limited more by the width of the keyboard area, which is limited by screen/case width.
The touchpad is a common complaint about the first generation of netbooks. Either they're too small (Eee PCs) or they have buttons on either side instead of below (MSI Wind). There just isn't enough room below the keyboard for an adequately-sized touchpad with buttons below.
Of course, I'd settle for a trackpoint instead of a touchpad.
If Chinese restaurants would pay for the service, someone would make an absolute killing going through correcting even just the menus. Was in China a couple of weeks ago and wouldn't have seen an error-free menu anywhere in the country.
Not just menus and storefront signs. Of all people, Ted Koppel described my favorite bad restaurant-related Chinese-English translation and cited the same reason: an unwillingness to pay for good translators. Koppel described a sign he saw outside a restaurant's rest room which said (in English): "WASHING HANDS AFTER SHITTING AND PISSING"
I was never happy that nVidia got into the chipset business in the first place. If any company has a talent to specialize and do one thing really really well (in a competitive environment), then that is what they should continue to concetrate on.
The problem nv has in the chipset market, as I see it, is that they entered a very crowded market with a dominant player (Intel), which didn't really need another player, and they put themselves in direct competition with Intel, something they weren't when they only made GPUs. It got more complicated when AMD bought ATI, since that also put them in direct competition with AMD.
I freakin' celebrated (not literally) when NVIDIA entered the chipset business way back in 2001. The way I remember it, AMD finally had a very nice CPU (the original Athlon) but, unlike Intel, AMD refused to get into the consumer chipset business and left that part to the three Taiwanese "cheapset" makers: VIA, ALi, and SiS.
I know Intel made a few blunders with their chipsets (think RAMBUS-to-SDRAM translater), but I trusted Intel's reliability way more than VIA, ALi, and SiS. NVIDIA, using their experience with the Xbox, brought much more credibility (IMO) to the AMD platform with their reputation and great chipset features like a dual-channel DDR memory controller, integrated GeForce2 MX based graphics, and a HyperTransport link between the north bridge and loaded south bridge.
I agree that NVIDIA may not be needed anymore after AMD bought ATI's GPU/chipset business. However, way back in 2001, I thought NVIDIA's entry into the chipset business was just what the AMD platform needed to be competitive with Intel.
Of course, when I looked into it, it turned out that the latest ATI offerings beat the pants off of nVidia's
I barely missed dual-NICs, the thing that got me most, was the lack of RAID5 support on the SATA chips...
I don't have personal anecdotal experience with recent NVIDIA and AMD/ATI chipsets, but I enjoy reading chipset reviews at sites like Tech Report, Ars Technica, and Anandtech. From the reviews, I've noticed that AMD/ATI might have significantly inferior "south bridge" performance (hard disk, USB, ethernet, etc) compared to NVIDIA.
AMD's most glaring problem might be flakey AHCI (SATA, NCQ, hot-swap) support. The Tech Report thinks it's so bad, AMD chipset SATA ports should be run in legacy IDE mode. They recently made this recommendation in a July 21 review:
"We've had numerous problems getting the 790FX chipset's SB600 south bridge component working correctly in AHCI mode. Not only do you need an auxiliary storage controller (or a slipstreamed SP1 disc) to install Vista, but we've found that you also have to choose between drivers that offer strong performance with poor CPU utilization or those that exhibit low CPU utilization with weak performance. Given these issues, you're better off running the SB600 in native IDE mode, which we did for our testing. The nForce chipsets have no problem running in AHCI mode, which is what we used for those platforms."
That same review showed AMD's 790FX chipset being significantly outperformed by NVIDIA's nForce 780a and 750a in multiple read/write performance and general write performance due to the lack of NCQ support when running in IDE mode.
Unrelated to the AHCI issue, AMD's 790FX is also significantly outperformed by nForce 780a/750a in USB performance according to that review.
Note that AMD's 790FX has used the older SB600 south bridge, but AMD's newer SB700 south bridge (used in AMD's newer 780G chipset with integrated graphics) also has similar problems with AHCI reliability, the resulting SATA performance, and USB performance.
Also, AMD is supposed to launch a new south bridge, the SB750, this week. It looks like it's initially going to be paired with the 790FX north bridge. Maybe the AHCI and USB issues will be solved with this new chipset.
I would hope that this AHCI problem can be fixed with a BIOS update, but the 790FX/SB600 chipset combo was released in November, so I'm not getting my hopes up.
Microsoft taking down the DRM servers and TOTALLY screwing their customers
If Microsoft had stepped up and supported their customers rights to enjoy music they paid for
The act of Microsoft taking down it's DRM servers makes them so guilty beyond a reasonable doubt
I know I'm late to this flamefest, but I think it's worth mentioning that MSN Music's DRM servers will be active until at least the end of 2011. However, I'd be surprised if Microsoft did a Yahoo! and gave customers free Zune Marketplace DRM-free MP3s at the end of 2011.
Most of the time I don't have the luxury of just getting out of the house/office. And being an introvert, I'm not enamored of the idea of exercising in full view of *shudder* people.
Do any Slashdotters have a regular workout routine that can be performed in the privacy of the home to stave off those pounds?
Restricting your workouts to the privacy of your home severely limits your good aerobic options unless you have the space and money for a treadmill or stationary bike which you might stop using a year from now. If you go that route, I'd start with Consumer Reports. If you're an American with a local library card, you can probably search and read CR articles at your library's web site.
I can understand being a bit self-conscious when exercising. I can also relate to not having the luxury/time/means to commute to a gym or other workout location. That's why I jog (not run) almost every day starting from the front door of my home.
During the winter months, I almost always jog in the dark because there aren't many hours of daylight, but I guess this can also work for introverts who don't like exercising in front of other people. The two main reasons I went from 170+ lbs to my current range of 135-145 (maintained for at least 5 years) are: (1) I stopped trying to run like I was training for competition, and (2) I stopped limiting my workout times to specific times of the day. I used to occasionally jog around midnight during my college days.
Get a hat to hide your head, find a reasonably well-lighted 45-65 minute jogging route near your home, maybe get a head lamp. For early morning jogs, try some cheap lightweight exercise sunglasses.
"It is quite true that SanDisk's SSD are woefully subpar in performance when running Windows Vista. Numerous benchmarks from around the web have shown SanDisk SSDs getting outpaced by the competition.
In fact, it's not uncommon to see SanDisk SSDs rank last in testing in almost every benchmark and by a large margin -- even in Windows XP. Recent testing showed that MSI's Wind netbook was no faster with a SanDisk SATA 5000 SSD than with the standard 80GB HDD -- an Eee PC 1000h featuring similar specifications was significantly faster with a competing SSD from Samsung.
While Vista may be a performance inhibitor compared to Windows XP for SSDs, it appears that most new, current-generation SSDs are having no problems performing well with the operating system. The problem appears to be SanDisk's low reads and writes (67 MB/sec and 50 MB/sec respectively) compared to the competition (i.e., OCZ's new Core Series SSDs which clock in at 120 to 143 MB/sec for reads and 80 to 93 MB/sec for writes)."
Slashdot Mirror
If P4/2GHz/1GB/GPU notebooks with 1080p (1920x1200) screens 15" or bigger were $500 each, I'd buy a bunch of them to leave in my usual haunts, instead of schlepping them around.
Don't know if you're still reading replies, but the cheapest I've seen is Dell's Vostro 1510 in Dell's Small Business section. Right now, $599 (free shipping) gets you the base configuration ($499) plus WUXGA upgrade (+$150) minus "Save $50 when priced $599 or more" promotion (-$50).
Intel® Celeron M® 550 (2.0GHz, 1M L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB)
Windows Vista® Home Basic, Service Pack 1
15.4 in UltraSharp(TM) Widescreen WUXGA LCD Display w/TrueLife(TM)
1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 DIMM
Intel® Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
24X CD Burner/DVD Combo Drive with Roxio Creator
Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g Wi-Fi Internal Card
6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery
1 Year Basic Limited Warranty plus 1 Year Mail-in Service
Note that the Celeron M 550 is based on the original notebook Core 2 Duo, so it's way better than a P4. Also, Vostros don't come with crapware. Unfortunately, I don't know where the heck you'd be able to see and feel one before you buy. Some retail stores and kiosks have Dells on display, but they're Dell's "Home & Home Office" models, not their "Small Business" models, AFAIK.
Q8200 is a 45nm chip vs. the 65nm Q6600, so it comes with lower power consumption and allegedly slightly better IPC than the older core--so it should perform about the same.
and the AMD Phenom X4 9950 is under $200 and it is unlocked with a true quad core better bus and built in ram controller 512 L2 per core + 2 meg l3.
... and the AMD Phenom X4 9950 has a TDP of 140 Watts. Also, superior technology like "true quad core" and integrated memory controller haven't helped AMD compete with Intel's high-end desktop offerings (although they have helped in MP servers). On the desktop, AMD Phenom can only compete in price/performance with Intel's low-mid range chips (and they compete quite well). Benchmarks (including power consumption) are much more useful than tech specs.
Entire article -- FUD. Pure & simple. Comparing beta software to release, and not even fairly summarising their own results from doing so.
It's not the first time InfoWorld's blogs and Devil Mountain Software have published anti-Microsoft FUD and made Slashdot's front page:
Whenever you see a sensationalist article quoting InfoWorld and Devil Mountain Software, be skeptical.
Actually, if you've bought an OEM copy of Windows and installed it on an existing computer or a VM, then you've probably violated the EULA and should have paid 3x over the odds for a "full retail" copy. No incentive to cheat the system?
OEM Windows is only supposed to be sold as a bundle with a new PC (in the UK* resellers often insist that you buy at least a hard drive or a motherboard before they'll sell you an OEM copy), you are obliged to install it on that hardware, to which you must attach the license sticker, and cannot transfer the license to another machine.
I think the only part of the above that's true is the non-transferable limitation of OEM Windows. A seller can sell OEM Windows without "a new PC" and not violate the seller's EULA. A buyer can buy and install OEM Windows on non-bundled hardware without attaching the license sticker.
From Microsoft's OEM Builder FAQs:
A. A non-peripheral hardware component is a hardware component that is considered to be essential to running a computer system, and includes components such as memory, internal devices and drives, mice, keyboards, and power supplies. Examples of components that are not considered essential are external modems, networking devices, cameras, printers, and scanners.
So Microsoft says sellers can bundle a $2 mouse with OEM Windows and be compliant with the seller's EULA. If you shop around, you'll find online stores that bundle a $1 audio cable with a $1 "instant rebate." As for the buyer's EULA, quoted from the Ars Technica article:
Yes, you can. Microsoft licenses OEM software to "system builders," which the license defines as "an original equipment manufacturer, or an assembler, reassembler, or installer of software on computer systems" (emphasis added). You can install software on computers, right?
When asked, Microsoft says that OEM software is not intended to be installed by end users. Off the record, Microsoft spokespeople have told me that the big concern in Redmond is for Joe Newbie. They don't want inexperienced users buying OEM software, but the fact of the matter is that anyone can buy OEM versions of Windows.
Truth be told, Microsoft is not opposed to the practice. Rather, the company says that people who purchase OEM software will simply be expected to abide by the terms of the licensing agreements.
Also, the definition of a "new computer" (regarding the "non-tranferable" OEM limitation) seems to be "new motherboard," but replacing a "defective motherboard" is okay. From Microsoft:
A. Generally, you may upgrade or replace all of the hardware components on your customer's computer and the end user may maintain the license for the original Microsoft® OEM operating system software, with the exception of an upgrade or replacement of the motherboard. An upgrade of the motherboard is considered to result in a "new personal computer" to which Microsoft® OEM operating system software cannot be transferred from another computer. If the motherboard is upgraded or replaced for reasons other than a defect, then a new computer has been created and the license of new operating system software is required. If the motherboard is replaced because it is defective, you do NOT need to acquire a new operating system license for the PC.
Their latest guide (which includes AMD/ATI's HD 4000 series):
Many of Young's songs rely heavily on the Em, Am, D, and G chords as do many other musicians. Toss in a C and learn the majors and you'll be all set.
As for scales, learn the Pentatonic Minor and you'll be a blues musician in a few years. :)
And I did recognize that Neil Young tends to use the same 5 chords over and over. That's why I decided to start learning his stuff for my first songs.
I did a lot of practice on the basic Em, Am, D, C, and G chords, and I can do them fairly regularly, but I've been neglecting my practice recently and just been playing some easy tabs (mostly ACDC and Nirvana).
I haven't started my scales yet, but I do have a lot of interest in learning the blues. So maybe today is the day that I'll start.
The E minor or G major pentatonic scale (same notes, different start/end points) is used in many songs that use those easy chords you learned. Learn this scale at the end of the guitar neck (half the notes will be open strings), then you'll see how easy it is to switch from note-picking to chord-strumming and back.
Since this scale is so easy and popular, you should be able to figure out some songs by ear (or get very close). Seriously, you should have little problem approximating the intro to Led Zeppelin's "Over the Hills and Far Away" (G major pentatonic scale, easy chords). Another relatively easy one is Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" (G major pentatonic, easy chords).
Of course, if you learn those songs by ear, you won't play them exactly how they're "supposed" to be played (check the tabs later), but I think it's a great way to apply a scale you've just learned.
Nvidia are getting very scared now that ATi are beating them senseless.
Nvidia is really feeling the pinch with ATi taking up the higher end of the market (pro-gear/high end HD) and intel suring up the lower end (GMA, etc). Nvidia pretty much are stuck with consumers buying their middle of the line gear (8600/9600).
When you aim high you tend to hurt real when you fall from grace, the whole 8800 to 9800 leap was abysmal at best unlike their main competitor who really pulled their finger out to release the 3xxx & 4xxx series.
I guess you're referring to AMD/ATI's successful HD 4000 launch about a month ago, but you also seem to be omitting NVIDIA's GTX 200 series. At the high end (non-workstation), the GTX 280 outperforms the HD 4870. The $550 HD 4870 X2 (released about two weeks ago) outperforms the $450 GTX 280, but consumes a heck of a lot more power.
Also, NVIDIA seems to have been beating AMD/ATI senseless for years. According to Jon Peddie Research, for total graphics chips, NVIDIA had 31.4% market share in Q2 2008 vs. AMD's 18.1%. In Q2 2007, NVIDIA had 32.5% and AMD had 19.5%.
For notebook GPUs, NVIDIA led AMD 23.6% to 17.9% in Q2 2008, and 27.0% to 17.4% in Q1 2008. For "graphics add-in boards", NVIDIA led AMD 65% to 35% in Q1 2008.
The "leap" from NVIDIA 8000 series to 9000 series (which was hardly "abysmal") is more appropriately compared to ATI's leap from HD 2000 series to HD 3000 series. NVIDIA's 8000 series was better than ATI's HD 2000 series. ATI responded with the slightly improved (but well-priced) HD 3000 series, and NVIDIA countered with their 9000 series and price cuts to 8800GT/GTS, which drove down the prices of ATI's best-performing cards even more.
Until AMD released the HD 4000 series a month ago, AMD couldn't produce cards that could compete with NVIDIA's $400+ cards. After the successful HD 4000 launch, NVIDIA was forced to slash prices, but this is a very recent develpment. Personally, I'd choose an ATI card over NVIDIA now, but AMD/ATI has been getting whipped by NVIDIA for years.
and Yet...
It will still be slower for sustained transfers than Firewire 400.
USB 3.0, using an early implementation, was demoed at 369MBps at IDF. Firewire 400 is around 49MBps, right?
The most important part, did they finally make it non CPU intensive?
As other comments have noted (and TFA), yes. The Firewire vs. USB flamewars will need to change their arguments for the next generation.
I always make a habit of using usb ports on a PCI card for devices that I plug in & out often
Note that legacy PCI (133MBps) doesn't have enough bandwidth to fully utilize USB 3.0, which was demoed at 369MBps at this week's IDF. (Someone said their goal is 425+, but I can't remember the link.) Even first-generation PCI Express x1 slots (250MBs) don't have enough bandwidth. You'll need at least first-gen PCIe x4 or second-gen PCIe x1 to continue your habit with USB 3.0.
You can almost fit Led Zeppelin's entire catalog, from Led Zeppelin 1 to CODA on a single CD if the tunes are in MP3 format.
That's cool, but I prefer the idea of Led Zeppelin's entire catalog, including How the West Was Won, on a single DVD (dual-layer is probably needed) if the tunes are in FLAC format (or other good lossless format). CD/DVD jukeboxes and changers would be less necessary. It would be great if FLAC playback became a standard feature of DVD players the same way that MP3 playback is now standard on CD players, but I'm not getting my hopes up.
90% of users are Joe Sixpacks, and still 35% of them jump through the hurdles to drop Vista.
Actually, TFA says that nearly 35% of users running Devil Mountain's "community-based testing network" (about 3000 PCs) have downgraded from Vista to XP, according to Devil Mountain's estimates. That 35% includes machines downgraded by sellers, and seller's aren't "Joe Sixpacks."
From the community-based testing network's page:
How many of those users are "Joe Sixpacks?"
Any good guides out there?
Good HTPC guides usually aren't updated as often as the "general" system guides (bugdet, midrange, high end) and they usually aren't "cheap," but they can have useful info about what hardware to consider.
Since the HTPC guides aren't very cheap or up-to-date, I also recommend Tech Report's and Ars Technica's "general" system guides. Tech Report has an "Econobox" section and Ars Techinica has a "Budget Box" section.
I'd like to put together a small format PC for this sort of thing. Alas, I can't use a cheap tower, it needs to be one of those small form factors that can fit in an entertainment center. I'd like to spend as little as possible
I don't know if the In Win BK Series (Mt. Jade) is small enough, but it's pretty small, cheap, quiet (if you use Intel), and flexible. I'm only checking Newegg, but Newegg has the BK623 for $59.99 + $17.50 shipping and the BK636 for $59.99 + $9.99 shipping, both with 300W power supplies (Fortron Source, according to some reviews).
For your entertainment center, note that the footprint of a BK6xx case (323mm x 276mm) is "equal" to the footprint of a Sony PS3 (325mm x 274mm), but the BK6xx is about 1.7 inches taller and is not "wedge-shaped" like the PS3.
So it's not "tiny," but it's compatible with all those cheap HTPC microATX motherboards (integrated graphics, HDMI, FireWire, digital audio out, etc) and it accepts a standard 5.25" desktop optical drive, 3.5" desktop hard drive, and 4 full-height expansion slots (for HDTV tuners).
Also note that the case's unique cooling system, which uses no case fans other than the CPU's fan (intake) and the power supply's fan (exhaust), only works efficiently with motherboards using Intel chipsets and an Intel retail CPU with its stock heatsink/fan. So that eliminates good, cheap HTPC chipsets like the AMD/ATI 780G and the NVIDIA 3200. Boards based on Intel's new G45 chipset are starting to arrive at Newegg, though.
There are several reviews of the BK Series on the Googleweb and In Win's BK Series product page has a "Reviews" tab (favorable only, I'd guess).
Intel has provided chipset makers with a draft specification for a USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller Interface (XHCI), making good a promise it made a couple of months ago.
I thought we had a standards body that would release such a spec to developers. This development in my opinion, might have other chip makers release a "renegade USB 4.0" promising new features and the like.
As others have replied, there is a finalized USB 3.0 spec accepted by a standards body that includes Apple, HP, NEC, Microsoft, Intel, and Agere.
However, the article is talking about Intel's draft spec for their USB 3.0 host controller, which implements the USB 3.0 spec and is expected to become the standard design. Everybody was waiting for Intel's implementation because even minor differences in host controller designs can cause problems with incompatibilities (a problem FireWire had to deal with in its early days).
For previous versions of USB, Intel designed a fast, reliable host controller and released the spec under a royalty-free license. For USB 3.0, it appeared Intel was temporarily witholding the spec so that they could recoup some of the significant costs to design the spec before everyone else could implement the spec for free. The others threatened to design their own host controller spec in response, which could cause problems with incompatibilities. Intel apparently relented and released their spec.
I love the fact that we have 24 hour "news" networks and the best thing that MSNBC and Fox can do with the time is give hour long slots (plus encore showings -- at least of the factor) to closed minded angry individuals that get to vent their frustrations to millions of equally closed minded viewers.
...and Lou Dobbs (CNN), don't forget Lou Dobbs. His closed-minded rants air from 7-8pm, though.
Haven't you heard? Everyone who doesn't walk in lockstep with the Repub party line is an extreme leftist.
Two of my favorite "extreme leftists" are George Will (believes in evolution) and Pat Buchanon (against the War on Terrorism). Actually, I'm pretty far to the left of conservative, but George and Pat seem to mostly think for themselves and can have civil discussions with those that disagree with them. Heck, I like honest whackos like Alan Keyes more than dishonest a-holes like Bill O'Reilly and Michael Moore.
So I'm not crazy
I have noticed a lot more dropped calls on the iPhone 3g. Between the poorer battery life, the dropped calls
I just read a better article from Tuesday's San Francisco Chronicle that shows you're not crazy:
From the article:
He's taken to turning off his phone's 3G connection when making phone calls and relying on the Edge technology to maintain his conversations.
He's also taken to turning off 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and e-mail syncing just to ensure a strong charge throughout the day.
There are already iPhone knockoffs (Sprint's Instinct, the HTC Touch)
I'm not claiming the HTC Touch is superior to the iPhone (or vice versa), but...
I guess HTC designed and released their Touch in the 5 months after the iPhone's January Macworld announcement. Or maybe HTC breached Apple's legendary secrecy and started designing their "knockoff" before the iPhone announcement.
Or maybe Apple wasn't the first to make phones with touchscreens (especially outside the USA). Maybe HTC's TouchFLO interface, which is designed with one-handed operation in mind, isn't so similar to the iPhone and wouldn't be considered a "knockoff" even if it was released after the iPhone (and it wasn't).
Dell has removed the top line of function keys and tied them as alts to the number row, which should allow them to have slightly more space in the keyboard region and hopefully make for a more pleasant typing experience. I know Wind users and some EeePC users complain about cramped keyboards.
I think removing the row of function keys would allow more space for the touchpad, but not the keyboard. I think the "typing experience" is limited more by the width of the keyboard area, which is limited by screen/case width.
The touchpad is a common complaint about the first generation of netbooks. Either they're too small (Eee PCs) or they have buttons on either side instead of below (MSI Wind). There just isn't enough room below the keyboard for an adequately-sized touchpad with buttons below.
Of course, I'd settle for a trackpoint instead of a touchpad.
If Chinese restaurants would pay for the service, someone would make an absolute killing going through correcting even just the menus. Was in China a couple of weeks ago and wouldn't have seen an error-free menu anywhere in the country.
Not just menus and storefront signs. Of all people, Ted Koppel described my favorite bad restaurant-related Chinese-English translation and cited the same reason: an unwillingness to pay for good translators. Koppel described a sign he saw outside a restaurant's rest room which said (in English): "WASHING HANDS AFTER SHITTING AND PISSING"
I was never happy that nVidia got into the chipset business in the first place. If any company has a talent to specialize and do one thing really really well (in a competitive environment), then that is what they should continue to concetrate on.
The problem nv has in the chipset market, as I see it, is that they entered a very crowded market with a dominant player (Intel), which didn't really need another player, and they put themselves in direct competition with Intel, something they weren't when they only made GPUs. It got more complicated when AMD bought ATI, since that also put them in direct competition with AMD.
I freakin' celebrated (not literally) when NVIDIA entered the chipset business way back in 2001. The way I remember it, AMD finally had a very nice CPU (the original Athlon) but, unlike Intel, AMD refused to get into the consumer chipset business and left that part to the three Taiwanese "cheapset" makers: VIA, ALi, and SiS.
I know Intel made a few blunders with their chipsets (think RAMBUS-to-SDRAM translater), but I trusted Intel's reliability way more than VIA, ALi, and SiS. NVIDIA, using their experience with the Xbox, brought much more credibility (IMO) to the AMD platform with their reputation and great chipset features like a dual-channel DDR memory controller, integrated GeForce2 MX based graphics, and a HyperTransport link between the north bridge and loaded south bridge.
I agree that NVIDIA may not be needed anymore after AMD bought ATI's GPU/chipset business. However, way back in 2001, I thought NVIDIA's entry into the chipset business was just what the AMD platform needed to be competitive with Intel.
Of course, when I looked into it, it turned out that the latest ATI offerings beat the pants off of nVidia's
I barely missed dual-NICs, the thing that got me most, was the lack of RAID5 support on the SATA chips...
I don't have personal anecdotal experience with recent NVIDIA and AMD/ATI chipsets, but I enjoy reading chipset reviews at sites like Tech Report, Ars Technica, and Anandtech. From the reviews, I've noticed that AMD/ATI might have significantly inferior "south bridge" performance (hard disk, USB, ethernet, etc) compared to NVIDIA.
AMD's most glaring problem might be flakey AHCI (SATA, NCQ, hot-swap) support. The Tech Report thinks it's so bad, AMD chipset SATA ports should be run in legacy IDE mode. They recently made this recommendation in a July 21 review:
That same review showed AMD's 790FX chipset being significantly outperformed by NVIDIA's nForce 780a and 750a in multiple read/write performance and general write performance due to the lack of NCQ support when running in IDE mode.
Unrelated to the AHCI issue, AMD's 790FX is also significantly outperformed by nForce 780a/750a in USB performance according to that review.
Note that AMD's 790FX has used the older SB600 south bridge, but AMD's newer SB700 south bridge (used in AMD's newer 780G chipset with integrated graphics) also has similar problems with AHCI reliability, the resulting SATA performance, and USB performance.
Also, AMD is supposed to launch a new south bridge, the SB750, this week. It looks like it's initially going to be paired with the 790FX north bridge. Maybe the AHCI and USB issues will be solved with this new chipset.
I would hope that this AHCI problem can be fixed with a BIOS update, but the 790FX/SB600 chipset combo was released in November, so I'm not getting my hopes up.
Microsoft taking down the DRM servers and TOTALLY screwing their customers
If Microsoft had stepped up and supported their customers rights to enjoy music they paid for
The act of Microsoft taking down it's DRM servers makes them so guilty beyond a reasonable doubt
I know I'm late to this flamefest, but I think it's worth mentioning that MSN Music's DRM servers will be active until at least the end of 2011. However, I'd be surprised if Microsoft did a Yahoo! and gave customers free Zune Marketplace DRM-free MP3s at the end of 2011.
Most of the time I don't have the luxury of just getting out of the house/office. And being an introvert, I'm not enamored of the idea of exercising in full view of *shudder* people.
Do any Slashdotters have a regular workout routine that can be performed in the privacy of the home to stave off those pounds?
Restricting your workouts to the privacy of your home severely limits your good aerobic options unless you have the space and money for a treadmill or stationary bike which you might stop using a year from now. If you go that route, I'd start with Consumer Reports. If you're an American with a local library card, you can probably search and read CR articles at your library's web site.
I can understand being a bit self-conscious when exercising. I can also relate to not having the luxury/time/means to commute to a gym or other workout location. That's why I jog (not run) almost every day starting from the front door of my home.
During the winter months, I almost always jog in the dark because there aren't many hours of daylight, but I guess this can also work for introverts who don't like exercising in front of other people. The two main reasons I went from 170+ lbs to my current range of 135-145 (maintained for at least 5 years) are: (1) I stopped trying to run like I was training for competition, and (2) I stopped limiting my workout times to specific times of the day. I used to occasionally jog around midnight during my college days.
Get a hat to hide your head, find a reasonably well-lighted 45-65 minute jogging route near your home, maybe get a head lamp. For early morning jogs, try some cheap lightweight exercise sunglasses.
Sandisk SSD drives are poorly made and perform poorly (much worse than others..). This is just Sandisk trying to shift the blame elsewhere..
DailyTech's article (and others) have also added opinions similar to yours. From the DT article:
In fact, it's not uncommon to see SanDisk SSDs rank last in testing in almost every benchmark and by a large margin -- even in Windows XP. Recent testing showed that MSI's Wind netbook was no faster with a SanDisk SATA 5000 SSD than with the standard 80GB HDD -- an Eee PC 1000h featuring similar specifications was significantly faster with a competing SSD from Samsung.
While Vista may be a performance inhibitor compared to Windows XP for SSDs, it appears that most new, current-generation SSDs are having no problems performing well with the operating system. The problem appears to be SanDisk's low reads and writes (67 MB/sec and 50 MB/sec respectively) compared to the competition (i.e., OCZ's new Core Series SSDs which clock in at 120 to 143 MB/sec for reads and 80 to 93 MB/sec for writes)."