Techspec

Saturday, July 30, 2005

Systm Episode #3

Finally another episode of the great systm is out. Your gonna need bit torrent though to download it (Not that anyone doesn't have this). Go to Revision 3 if you haven't downloaded the episode yet.

-Vash

Edit: As many of you now know that there are direct downloads now on the systm episode 3 page. So download now!!!
posted by Vash at 11:56 AM | link | 3 comments

Thursday, July 28, 2005

iHome iH5 iPod dock/clock needs some tweaks

This is a little cool dock for your iPod that includes AM/FM tuning and compatibility with all iPod models. After looking at this device on the Engadget page, I agree with Mark Perton about how the dock needs radio presets. How could you not include those with that? All I can say is thank god it comes with a remote.

-Vash
posted by Vash at 1:26 PM | link | 0 comments

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Diggnation #4 video out

Here's the direct download link or you can go to diggnation.com. Enjoy!!!

-Vash
posted by Vash at 3:08 PM | link | 0 comments

AMD dealt another blow

AMD lost the sponorship to this years QuakeCon, dealing quite a blow to AMD's gaming fanbase. Looks like Intel is trying to get a leg up on AMD and AMD is not liking it. The Inquirer

-Vash
posted by Vash at 2:56 PM | link | 0 comments

Saturday, July 23, 2005

Diggnation Episode #4 is out

Of course it came out like twelve hours ago but I didn't wake up till one in the afternoon. Episode 4 covers some pretty cool topics like the leaked Xbox 360 motherboard pictures, Spielberg's take on the transformer movie, and Rockstar stops manufacturing on San Andreas. Here's the direct download link or you can go to diggnation.com for all your diggnation needs. Also the video for episode three is out. Enjoy you digging geniuses!

-Vash
posted by Vash at 12:27 PM | link | 0 comments

Friday, July 22, 2005

Ahhh, the keyboard...it's alive!!!! Includes TV/PC Use

Actually just kidding but Microsoft just launched a new all-in-one keyboard. The keyboard is wireless, has a remote control, and includes a mouse pointer. The keyboard also has a backlight so you can see which key's your hitting if you like to type in the dark. The keyboard operates on 4 AA batteries and has an infared wireless link to the pc. You can sit as far as thirty feet from your pc (not that you would want to sit that far from your pc). You can send instant messages, watch your movies, view images and control your tv all on this keyboard. Check it out at Real Tech News.

-Vash
posted by Vash at 8:57 PM | link | 0 comments

Monday, July 18, 2005

Oh no, the upgrade some TiVo owners fear

TiVo is pushing some of it's owners to get a software update for it's TiVo's. The popular digital video recorder's new update will make advertising harder to avoid in programs that are recorded. However this only applies to TiVo series 2 boxes. When fast-forwarding through commercials some will sprout a pop-up ad that will try to catch a viewers attention. If the viewer becomes intrigued he or she may access more information via his or her remote. More info can be found at Ars Technica.

-Vash
posted by Vash at 9:44 PM | link | 0 comments

Sunday, July 17, 2005

Diggnation #3

Although this is two days late I apologize. The third episode of Diggnation is out as many of you people know. If you haven't then go to the official Diggnation website or you can get the direct download here. Once again Alex and Kevin are kicking it Diggnation style! Peace..

-Vash
posted by Vash at 8:45 PM | link | 0 comments

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Is this really a good idea?

The U.N. wants to control the internet and not too many people are enthusiastic about that. The proposal due to be released July 18th proposes that the International Telecommunications Union under the U.N.'s power, would regulate and control how the internet is ran nowadays. Many countries are claiming that there is now a "convergence of views." They claim that part of the new organization responsibilities would be Internet surveillance or what they call, "consumer protection." The next bad thing about this is that the U.N. would have the ability to tax domain names for "universal access." So far this is not sounding like a good idea. Of course the Bush administration said it would not hand over the control of Internet domain names and addresses to anyone else.
What would be even worse is that Brazil and China have brandished their weapon in what they have called a fragmented root. Or in other words this means that top level domain names would not be recognized by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), but would be recognized by the rest of the world. The downside of this, this option would create an internet where two computers would find different web sites at the same address. This option is only small however, but could possibly happen. So now we play the waiting game.


-Vash

posted by Vash at 8:11 PM | link | 0 comments

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Choosing the right Linux distro

Many people who have gotten sick of Windows have started making the switch to Linux. There as so many of distributions of Linux that sometimes it may be hard to choose. Each distribution has it's own little quirks and customizations to suit your needs. To help suit those special needs of yours you can take a quiz that will help you determine which Linux distro is right for you. Here's the link.

-Vash

posted by Vash at 12:26 PM | link | 0 comments

Sunday, July 10, 2005

Linux, at a Microsoft show?

This weekend was a surprise when Microsoft allowed attendees to get a hands on expierence with Linux and all sorts of Linux desktop software. Most of these attendees were unfamiliar with Linux and experimented with K Desktop Environment as well as watching an Apache server in action. Don Johnson (not the actor) gave an overview of linux and their concepts. Johnson explained to the attendees the key tradeoffs between Linux and Windows. Johnson also got explaining how user-friendly Windows and Linux were. Windows was obviously more user-friendly and he pointed out that you have IT expertise and knowledge to run Linux. The last tradeoff he pointed out was that Linux had the ability to run on almost anything whereas Windows has a limited platform focus. More info can be found at eWeek.

-Vash
posted by Vash at 7:32 PM | link | 0 comments

Thursday, July 07, 2005

Mess Patch

From the random bits of software that make my life less annoying group, comes the mess patch for MSN Messenger. I know alot of you, including myself, use MSN Messenger, and if you have it, you'll want this. Not only does it allow run multiple instances of Messenger on your computer, it also has a bevy of other features that usually come out as seperate patches.

Some examples of what it can do:
-Get rid of ALL advertisments
-Allows you to use Winamp to display what you're listening to, instead of just WMP
-Steal display pics from other people
-Polygamy, or, multiple instances of messenger running at once.
-More chat characters allowed, and multiple line display names

Thats just a few things the mess patch can do. Its definantly worth your time if you use MSN Messenger.

www.mess.be

Ðoak
posted by TheGipper at 7:26 PM | link | 2 comments

Intel, a vicious company?

Stemming from a forty-eight page complaint against Intel, AMD certainly says so. The report gives insight into Intel paying other companies so that they would abandon AMD and use Intel exclusively for microprocessors. Even the Japanese Fair Trade Commission or JFTC has recommended that Intel be sanctioned for its misconduct directed at AMD. AMD complains that Intel has targeted both U.S. and around the world customers to refrain from buying AMD from any market anywhere. They say that this goal of Intel’s keeps customers dependent on Intel for very substantial amounts of their product. The forty-eight page complaint also states that companies wishing to deal with AMD to use their microprocessors in their products are threatened with not receiving any quarterly money from Intel which would result in substantial loss to their company. Such companies as Dell have been clamored by customers for AMD solutions particularly in servers. Unfortunately for them Intel has bought exclusivity from Dell with large payments and favorable pricing. AMD also complains that Intel paid Sony not to release any of it’s notebooks in 2003. They say that the payoff, which was in the multimillions, was disguised as discounts and promotional support. AMD’s share of Sony ’s business in Japan abruptly dropped sharply from 23% to 0% from 2002 to 2003.


In 2002, the complaint states that Hewlett Packard was all set to release AMD’s microprocessors in it’s “Evo” product line when at the last minute HP disclosed this plan to Intel in which Intel pressured them to stop immediate use of any AMD product. Intel went as far as pressuring Hewlett Packard’s senior management to consider firing the HP executive who came up with the AMD commercial desktop proposal. When AMD came to Hewlett Packard to convince them to carry a AMD-powered notebook, HP declined. HP explained that Intel had paid between three and four million dollars for exclusivity on HP’s notebook product line for at least one year.


The report goes into other companies like IBM were bought off as well. According to IBM executive Ed Thum, Intel paid them “millions of dollars in market development fund.” AMD also states that AMD was forced to discount their price on their products so that they could compete with Intel but that that it resulted in loss of profit. They say that each time a new line of models come out that this exclusionary practice keeps AMD from becoming a real competitor. The report also seems to say that Intel holds a sever penalty against a company that fails to meet their quarterly targets. In the fourth quarter of 2004, AMD succeeded in getting it’s product into HP’s mobile computers. These products sold very well. AMD captured 60% of HP’s U.S. retail sales for the quarter. Intel responded by withholding HP’s fourth quarter rebate check. They would not forgive HP for failing to achieve Intel’s targeted rebate goal. Hewlett Packard was forced to make it up to them by promising them at least 90% of HP’s mainstream retail business. This is an apparent taste of what Intel could leave in your mouth. The trial will be tried by a jury. So that begs the question. Should other companies even dare now attempt a partnership with Intel? Even if they donate millions to you?


-Vash

posted by Vash at 2:04 PM | link | 0 comments

Using Google News without using Google News.

Newsmap.

If you're a Google News reader, like me, you'll definitely love Newsmap.

Newsmap is an application that visually reflects the constantly changing landscape of the Google News news aggregator. A treemap visualization algorithm helps display the enormous amount of information gathered by the aggregator. Treemaps are traditionally space-constrained visualizations of information. Newsmap's objective takes that goal a step further and provides a tool to divide information into quickly recognizable bands which, when presented together, reveal underlying patterns in news reporting across cultures and within news segments in constant change around the globe.
-Marumushi site.


It displays Google News in real time with beautiful visuals. It even allows you to go back several days and check older news feeds from news.google.com. It's pretty awesome. Everyone should check it out.


-InX
posted by Jonn Dailey at 8:52 AM | link | 0 comments

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Distrowatch.com

I found this through an article on Digg. At first I was reading about Leather Linux, a different distro of linux when to my amazement, found that distrowatch has tons of distros all compiled on one website. You can also purchase distro's of linux at Budget Linux Cd's.

-Vash
posted by Vash at 3:44 PM | link | 0 comments

Monday, July 04, 2005

What has the world come to?

This article infuriated me at the fact that humans will simply kill each other over things like this.
NY Teen killed over iPod.

-Vash
posted by Vash at 12:59 PM | link | 0 comments

The Quiet PC

I was zooming around on the feeds when I noticed this article. It's about building a really quiet pc even for people who like to push their clock speeds and voltages. It's a nice little article on Extreme Tech.

Antec P180. Check it out!

-Vash
posted by Vash at 12:32 PM | link | 0 comments

Sunday, July 03, 2005

IT Certification Study Guides

We all know that breaking into the IT industry involves getting some of those certifications everybody talks about. I've managed to get three so far: A+, Network+, and Microsoft Certified Professional. I'm working on getting my MCSA and I thought I would take this time to let you guys know about some of the resources I use when I'm studying for these things.

First we have the Transcender practice tests. These things are pretty hardcore and the company guarantees that if you pass these, you can pass the actual exam. They have them for nearly every certification that you could possibly want. I like these things because they do simulate the testing environment really well and will help you understand what you are going up against. They even go as far as to simulate the interactive questions where you drag stuff around. It's not all just multiple choice when it comes to these exams.

Then we have the Test King study guides. I really recommend these things because they are nearly word for word what the questions on the test are. It's ridiculous! I used one for Network+ and was surprised to see at least 40 questions that I'd already seen. I finished that test in 20 minutes because nothing surprised me. I know plenty about networking and was confident about the test anyway, but this thing made the test crazy easy.

So that's a couple things you can do to prepare yourself. You can always get books to study from too and most of those are great. The Exam Cram books are great resources. I just prefer these because how accurate they are compared to the real thing. So look into those and go get certified!

-Steve
posted by Stephen at 4:06 PM | link | 1 comments

Saturday, July 02, 2005

Diggnation is out

The podcast that I had mentioned in a previous post is out. Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht are now doing a podcast about Digg stories. Both of their sites contain links to downloads. Happy Downloading!!
-Vash
posted by Vash at 9:58 PM | link | 1 comments

Friday, July 01, 2005

IE users beware

Security researchers have just recently discovered a bug with Internet Explorer. When you access pages with Active X components, attackers can overwrite registers on your computers processor. This can cause your computer's memory to fill with malicious code in what Austrian SEC Consult Martin Eisner calls, "a heap-based buffer overflow." Say that ten times fast. SEC Consult is a security consulting firm. Eisner is a chief technical official with SEC Consult. Eisner says he expects Microsoft should patch the bug within a couple of weeks. He also says that as of right now the bug is not that dangerous. "But of course within a couple of weeks there will be somebody who has a little bit more time than we have and there will be an exploit then" says Eisner.
-Vash
posted by Vash at 8:50 PM | link | 0 comments

Microsoft pays big in anti-trust suit

Microsoft is settling an anti-trust suit with IBM, paying it $775 million and another $75 million in credit announced today. This resolves claims made by the U.S. government against Microsoft. Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson found that IBM was hurt by Microsoft's anti-trust practices. The two companies were both pleased to settle the lawsuit. Part of the settlement includes that IBM cannot make claims for what they are calling server monetary damages for two years or claims made before June 30, 2002.
-Vash

posted by Vash at 3:18 PM | link | 0 comments