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::: Wednesday, April 30 ::: |
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::: Tuesday, April 29 ::: |
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Hmm: Rumours of console price wars
If this is true, then I may well end up with a PS2 by Christmas after all. I really only want to play one game (Gran Turismo 3), so the current price is a bit steep. At $149 for the deck and $20 for the disc, it's almost worth it.
Then again, I'm not sure if anyone needs that many consoles. It's already a pain to juggle a/v ports as it is.
2:39 PM CST :: tell me a story
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::: Monday, April 28 ::: |
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::: Thursday, April 24 ::: |
Sweet: Copper Black Magic
This is very good news. Just this week we had to add another T-1 to our increasingly complex network at the office. We're paying somewhere in the neighborhood of $2000/month for what amounts to 3Mbps of bandwidth. If this sort of gear catches, on then maybe in a year or two we'll be able to get 155Mbps for half that price.
4:17 PM CST :: tell me a story
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Yep: Intel makes Itanium an x86 emulator
I was wondering when Intel would go the software route. Microsoft found out very early on that any OS based on the NTkernel would require compatibility with earlier Windows versions. They ended up in a cross-licensing agreement with Connectix (now owned by Microsoft) which gave the emulation maker inside knowledge of the Windows APIs in exchange for helping Microsoft with the emulation portions of NT.
It is surprising that Intel expects the software emulation to outstrip the hardware emulation already contained in the Itanic though. My guess is that the chip falls back on the hardware for all but the worst performing X86 instructions. But that's just a guess.
12:05 PM CST :: tell me a story
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::: Monday, April 21 ::: |
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::: Friday, April 18 ::: |
Hmm: Microsoft Bloggers
Microsoft Watch has compiled a rather lengthy list of Microsoft employees who maintain blogs. What's most intriguing is that most of these people don't really come across as Evil. This set me to thinking: can you really judge the ethics of employees based upon the ethics of the company?
11:48 AM CST :: tell me a story
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Heh: Office 2k registration bug blocks registrations
There are two possible explanations for this phenomena. First off, it is entirely possible that Microsoft built this "bug" intentionally to force the retirement of Office 2k assuming that the replacement version would already be available. If that is the case then they will either stall until Office 2k3 is out or release a quick patch.
On the other hand, this could be a true bug. That assumes, however, that no one at MS rolled their clock forward to test the registration code. Considering the 4/15 dateline was intentional, I can't believe no one would have tested it at least once.
Regardless of the reasons behind it, it just goes to show how copy protection hurts everyone except pirates. Just ask Ashton-Tate sometime.
9:11 AM CST :: tell me a story
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::: Wednesday, April 16 ::: |
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w00t: PlexWriter 52/32/52
That's one fast CD burner. Not to shabby on the rewrite speed either. A lot of people are crowing about the GigaRec feature which claims to pack 40% more data onto a disc, but since this feature is only available on Plextor Premium drives compatibility could be an issue. I suppose if you never take your data anywhere else it might be useful, but that sort of goes against the whole concept behind the compact disc.
10:18 AM CST :: tell me a story
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::: Friday, April 11 ::: |
Damn: April Winchell: Multimedia
April has one damned impressive collection of "good because it's so bad" music. So far, this is my favorite though the Fred impression is a bit weak... in fact, it sounds more like a bad RHPS cover than a B-52's cover. To quote Jamie Oliver, a lovely bit of fun.
Update: I was wrong. this is much, much better. M is for Multilingual.
[thanks to Belinda and Jennifer for the link]
4:53 PM CST :: tell me a story
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Heh: Hard facts about DDR-II
It's hard to believe a tech publication like The Inquirer is so worked up about a new generation of Dance Dance Revolution. Even if it is "capable of running at a much higher data rate than the original DDR", it's hard to see why the non-arcade set should care.
2:46 PM CST :: tell me a story
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Uhm, ok: Novell goes a bundle on small biz networking
That's all well and good, but what *exactly* is a "limited" number of users? Five? Two? Novell isn't saying, or if they are saying they're not saying very loudly because I couldn't find it anywhere on their smallbiz server site.
My guess would be two users. Novell has been giving away 2-user demos for something like ten or fifteen years. If that turns out to be the case, then it's hardly news is it?
2:43 PM CST :: tell me a story
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::: Thursday, April 10 ::: |
Hmm: How broad before you can call it broadband?
This is an interesting point and one which I never really considered an issue. My definition of broadband has always been anything faster than dial-up. Since dial-up is essentially capped at 56k then 128K ASDL or ISDN would be broadband for most users.
That's not to say that there shouldn't be regulations. I would think that a law akin to the one which forced CRT manufacturers to start labelling monitors by "viewable area" a few years back could be drafted. I suppose the main point here is that the consumer needs a reliable and consistent metric for comparing competing services. Words like broadband, high-speed, and turbo should always be accompanied by a real-world speed in Mbps or Kbps.
I wouldn't hold my breath though... law makers are loath to fiddle with such a notoriously volatile market.
10:02 AM CST :: tell me a story
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Ugh: Your loss, their gain
If you are very lucky, you will never have to sit around and conference table where the words "Microsoft" and "license" are used in the same sentence. If, however, you aren't that lucky, it appears a contract attorney would be an excellent idea.
9:41 AM CST :: tell me a story
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::: Wednesday, April 9 ::: |
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::: Wednesday, April 2 ::: |
Cute: bzzzpeek
bzzzpeek is a little flash application that demonstrates the way different animal sounds are perceived by children based upon their native language. The frog is probably the strangest... I can only assume that vastly different species are more prevalent in various parts of the world.
[thanks to jen for the link]
4:56 PM CST :: tell me a story
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::: Tuesday, April 1 ::: |
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dinoneil[at]newdream[dot]net
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