piecing it together
Well, Inspy died.
Not exactly. I'm writing this on it right now, but at 1280x1024 resolution on a 17" widescreen display, with Aero disabled. Its GeForce Go 7900 GS, once so formidable, succumbed to the rigorous temperatures of its case and left me with no accelerated video of any kind. In fact, I'm not sure how I'm seeing this right now. Regardless, it became evident that a change was needed.
It's unfortunate, really, because I wasn't done with Inspy. It wasn't feeling overly slow in daily activities, and it could still play most of the games I wanted, on the rare occasions I attempted to play computer games. Really, getting four years of life out of a Dell laptop is an achievement. Of course, my tiny Fujitsu is probably over six years old and still (slowly) going strong, but it doesn't have to play games (anymore). Here's to the good times, Inspy, and your impressive specifications.
Moving on, I decided it was time for a desktop. My needs have changed over the years and I'm now in a position where I need a system that can last reliably for a few years, with the ability to upgrade and not become a paperweight when a component fails or becomes outdated. Builds from HP and Dell are still way overpriced for the inferior stuff they're willing to give you. Besides, building a PC is something I've always been interested in, but never had the courage to undertake. After some fairly exhaustive research, I settled on a budget and list of demands, and set out to fulfill them. And this is what I came up with:
- Processor: Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66 GHz, Quad-Core
- Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 1GB GDDR5, 256-bit (MSI N460GTX Cyclone)
- Motherboard: ASUS P7P55D-E Pro, LGA 1156, with SATA 6 GB/s and USB 3.0, ATX
- Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws 4GB DDR3 1600
- Primary (OS) HD: Intel 40GB X25-V SATA II Solid-State Drive
- Secondary (Storage) HD: Hitachi Deskstar 2TB 7200 RPM
- Case: Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Mid-Tower
- Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts EA750 750W, SLI Certified, 80-Plus Certified
- Disk Drive: Samsung Blu-Ray Combo Drive B083L/BSBP
- Extras: Cooler Master RR-910-HTX3-G1 CPU Cooler, Rosewill RCR-IC001 USB 2.0 Internal Card Reader
I don't have a monitor lined up yet, but that's only a small issue. I'm pleased with how this thing is shaping up. Most of the components were ordered through Newegg, and the price ended up just over $1000 after rebates. Most parts have at least a three year warranty. Try getting all that (i.e. powerful GPU and power supply, feature-filled motherboard, SSD, and Blu-Ray) through Dell or HP and you're looking at a pretty absurd mark-up. Oh, and this is all tax-free.
I like reserving the ability to go SLI in the future. Probably by the time Battlefield 3 rolls around, I'll pop in another GTX 460 and have some pretty nice framerates. Now I just need the parts to come in, and I need to find out how to put it all together...
windows phone 7 announced
If you haven't heard about Windows Phone 7 Series yet, you should check it out. It's a marked departure from previous Windows variants, which have changed very little from Palm PC to Pocket PC to Windows Mobile. It uses a brand-new interface akin to the latest Windows Media Center and Zune designs, some of which can be seen in the new dashboard of the Xbox 360. It foregos the standard desktop or application list design in favor of a series of interactive tiles which are dynamically animated as updates occur. Transitions are smooth as the user touches and slides into new panels of information.
The result of this latest incarnation is an elegant device that is targeted squarely at the average consumer. One has to wonder if this desire to make an operating system that is more accessible to the layman will alienate the base that built up around Windows Mobile - namely, business and power users looking for a mobile computer with a great deal of flexibility and connectivity options. Microsoft had said in the past that Windows Mobile 6.5 would persist after the arrival of Windows Phone 7, which seems to make some sense now. While the new Windows Phone experience looks promising, it doesn't appear to be the best option for business users, at least at first glance.
A large part of the new phone is Zune, Xbox Live, and social networking (i.e. Facebook) integration. The media player looks essentially identical to the Zune HD, and the games will allow achievement points toward an Xbox Live gamertag. But as fun as all that sounds, large questions remain. There has been very little mention of third-party program development, and no Windows Mobile applications for older versions will work with the new system. There also doesn't seem to be "multitasking" in a true sense, which could be a pretty pivotal step backward for a mobile Windows OS. And the ease of basic functions like copying and pasting is also undetermined. But there will undoubtedly be more revealed about these issues in the coming months.
One has to applaud Microsoft's complete and utter overhaul of the system; they're certainly taking some risks here, rather than just trying to do one better than the competition. But there's still a long time to go until the Holiday 2010 release of Windows Phone 7 Series, and it will be a hard fight for Microsoft to retake the ground they've lost to the iPhone OS and newcomer Android. Fortunately, it seems that Microsoft has finally done what they needed to do all along: integrate all of their core properties to make a killer device. Xbox, Zune, Bing, Office...and Internet Explorer? That's a recipe for success.
what happened to cghm?
What's going on here? There's an extra step to get to the website?
I know. The regulars will hate it - at least initially. But the new, lovely CGHM Home Page is actually a great idea. Let's allow a friendly Q and A to tell us why.
Q: What's the point?
A: First and foremost, it's a celebration of the 10th anniversary of CGHM Networks. Yes, something needed to happen. Many things don't survive ten years, especially not in the technology realm. Founded in February 2000, CGHM actually predates Facebook (2004) and Wikipedia (2001), even if it's not quite as successful as those Internet behemoths. A nice visual home page is a great birthday present.
Q: Yeah, but what does it accomplish?
A: One could argue that information was more accessible before this change. I would argue that this actually improves access to what CGHM now has to offer. The truth is that it's been years since CGHM was all about the individual websites and not focused on CGHM itself, namely the articles. This home page will highlight the different sections of the site and give more exposure to things that would go overlooked if only the most recent article was up there.
Just type in something to search for and prepare to be wowed. Or follow one of the big links on the left. Or wait for a recent article that sounds interesting to appear at the bottom.
Q: But why is this really happening?
A: It's no conspiracy. But there's some truth to the fact that I haven't been able to keep up the pace of the articles, and probably won't be able to in the future, so this will serve as a way of directing people to what already is here, rather than having them sit and wait for what is to come.
Those answers should suffice for most people, but if you're really curious, there are more after the break.
see-through guy
I'm reading H.G. Wells' "The Invisible Man" in my down-time (i.e. my frequent trips to the bathroom).
It's sad to think how technology has killed the concept of the "invisible man." Thermal imaging, CO2 meters, radar/sonar...the Invisible Man would only be invisible to the layman. But to any professional he would be as plainly evident as Kevin Bacon's junk in "Hollow Man."
While it's true that new technologies have, at the same time, given more life to the actual invisibility of a man, being able to remove a cloak at any time and regain visibility kind of defeats the purpose of invisibility in the first place. I mean, without the spiral into madness, what's the point?
meanwhile, in dubai
We should not delight in the misery of others, especially not around Thanksgiving. But there are some things that cannot help but make you realize how obvious they were, and, perhaps, how justified. When I turned on the television and saw that Dubai was in financial trouble, I couldn't defeat the brief feeling of satisfaction, for I knew of some of their most decadent contrivances. They've got the tallest building, tallest hotel, largest airstrip, and largest port in the world. But when I investigated further, I found that most of that decadence was just planned. Giant, rotating solar-powered skyscrapers, 33-story tall LED displays, self-sufficient pyramid communities, luxury hotels, and yes - even dinosaur theme parks. As far as I know, these things haven't materialized, at least not completely. Maybe it's all that planning that's gotten them into so much debt, but I doubt it. Just doing an image search for "Dubai" turns up dozens of outlandish exhibitions of waste. From the outside, that looks fantastic, but someone has to pay for all that.
So it's a learning opportunity, just in time for the holidays. The situation is not unlike a macrocosm of our individual families. But usually we can hold off of getting that multi-million dollar yacht, even if we do splurge on the 50" LCD TV. There has to be something conceived that even Dubai decided was too fiscally risky to make a reality, like a ruby-encrusted octopus or an elevator to the moon, or a series of islands shaped like the earth...oh, well that one made the initial cut. If nothing else, the point can be made that there's nothing wrong with having dreams; it's acting out the really expensive ones that gets us into trouble.
Here's a good overview of Dubai from a pictorial perspective.
droid drawbacks
In an effort to sound unbiased, I often look for the bad in my investments. Having now spent four days with my Motorola Droid, I've found some things that bug me...
Droid-Specific Issues
- There are no dedicated "call" or "end" buttons. When removing the phone from one's face after a call, the proximity sensor is supposed to make the screen come back on so the user can press the on-screen button to hang up. I've gotten into situations where that didn't happen, mostly when using the speakerphone. It's possible that the "back" key will hang up...will investigate further.
- The phone is generally well-built, but mine has an area of plastic bezel that has a slight amount of flex. Naturally, my thumb finds this area every time I hold the device.
- Speaking of holding the Droid, I find that it just doesn't feel that great in the hand, mainly due to its sharp edges. And there are (flimsy) buttons on the side right where your fingers will want to go.
- Of course, the keyboard is cramped and the camera software could be better.
Android OS-Specific Issues
- There are certain menus that pop up where the only way out without making a selection is through a single hardware "back" button. I would appreciate some way to tap on screen to cancel.
- The market is saturated with useless "skins" and "themes" for a handful of programs. These are painful to scroll through and should either be stringently filtered or banned outright.
- Copying and pasting is not very intuitive.
- By default, I only receive a blinking light when a new text message arrives. I miss my vibrating alert (may be fixable).
- There should be separate settings for the screen timeout and the timeout before it prompts you to unlock the device.
- Music and video need drastic improvements. Building on the above, if the screen times out when listening to music, you have to turn it back on and then unlock the device to change tracks. This is unacceptable. The media player needs a face-lift and some more functionality, like viewing of more ID3 tags. And Android could desperately use DIVX/XVID support...VLC port anyone?
- The browser needs Flash support (on its way).
These things only detract from the experience - they don't ruin it. It's still been much easier using the Droid than some of the other alternatives out there.
Edit: And I still need a better mobile WordPress solution. The best current Android program isn't cutting it, and the browser doesn't work with the admin panel very well.
a take on the droid
By now, everyone has read a glowing review (or two) of the Motorola Droid, an Android 2.0 phone for Verizon, so I won't bore you with the details. But from the perspective of someone who has used Windows Mobile (or Windows Phone) in its every incarnation, the Android OS is so relieving. It actually feels modern where even Windows Mobile 6.5, the latest version, remained ancient. The pull-down notification panel works better, the desktop with movable widgets allows for more useful customization, and downloading from the Android Market is actually a pleasant experience. Here's the deal...
iDoes do that
The marketing guys convinced me to do it. All they had to do was produce a device with superior hardware and nearly equatable software to the iPhone, and put it on a more reliable network. Not that I was too greatly drawn toward the iPhone, but it's arguably the device to beat.
As I write this on my shiny new Motorola Droid, I'm multitasking with "Pink Moon" in the background. The screen (3.7", 854x480) is amazing, and text is remarkably crisp. The sliding QWERTY keyboard is indeed cramped and shallow, but I much prefer it to a purely on-screen alternative. And this thing is snappy...the ARM Cortex A8 processor (ala Palm Pre, iPhone 3GS) eliminates any slowdowns. Google Android 2.0 is satisfying, at least at first glance.
It's a pretty drastic change from my Blackjack II running Windows Mobile 6.1. Rest assured I'll report back soon enough.
a pick-up day
We all know that "good days" should not be qualified by what we have gained in that day...but today was a good day. It's been a day for products with numbers in their titles. Allow me to explain:
I now have Windows 7 Professional x64 running, complete with virtual Windows XP. Having not played around with 7 since one of the early betas, I never really got a feel for the added functionality and it's been a good experience so far. I had no problems with Windows Vista, but with the $29 student deal the upgrade was impossible to pass up. Installation was painless; I downloaded an installer, did a clean install, and updated a couple of drivers.
And during the installation, I've been playing my newly-acquired FIFA 10 on the Xbox 360. It's undoubtedly more fun to play with multiple teams in different stadiums and weather conditions - far more than the demo would allow me in the weeks that I played it non-stop. The virtual pro addition seems well implemented, even if it requires an Xbox Live account for the 3D game face functionality (which I finally managed to get working only to find out I couldn't import it into the game).
Finally, Rune Factory 3 has also come out in Japan, and it's quite fulfilling from a portable farming adventure perspective. Now, if only I could keep playing around with this new software without the real world creeping in...
patching the perfect human
I think we all knew it was coming, but no one wanted to be crazy enough to say it. Now someone has. Scientist Ray Kurzweil has "gone on the record" with the following remarks about nanotechnology:
I and many other scientists now believe that in around 20 years we will have the means to reprogramme our bodies' stone-age software so we can halt, then reverse, ageing. Then nanotechnology will let us live for ever... Within 25 years we will be able to do an Olympic sprint for 15 minutes without taking a breath, or go scuba-diving for four hours without oxygen. Nanotechnology will extend our mental capacities to such an extent we will be able to write books within minutes.
Micro-manufacturing has promised us the moon, and it continues to aim higher and higher. While the capacity to do as Kurzweil says should theoretically exist, I find it difficult to believe that we are within two decades of such a revolution in terms of implementation. Tiny machines could indeed be utilized to scavenge free radicals and aid mitosis and do a myriad of other intracellular housekeeping functions, but aging is a process effecting so many systems and physiological pathways and cells that its complete cessation or reversal would seem out of reach.
The body has a large head start over engineers when it comes to its own maintenance. Even if this technology were somehow able to keep us in perennial youth, the diseases and abnormalities that can arise in our bodies are so diverse that some "malfunction" would undoubtedly occur over time. The corrections of these deleterious changes would need to be accounted for in any in vivo machine. For instance, the nano-bots would need to allow the external administration of potentially lifesaving bronchodilators in the event of a severe asthmatic attack; the robots could not be allowed to rectify the artificially high levels of medication. This is just a single example of what is an immensely difficult problem.
There are many more issues that would need to be sorted out, and the painstakingly long approval process for human clinical trials is not the least of these (20 years should seem a stretch to any imagination). Ethical dilemmas will undoubtedly arise. Men have been able to achieve some inconceivable things, but there have also been conceivable things that men could not achieve; I believe this "fountain of youth" to be one such disappointment.