The Computer Nerd

FREE Mars Video Game By NASA

2006-12-09T20:55:00.000-08:00

DX-Mars is a video game-like programming framework with a simple, object-oriented design intended for early computer science students. It is based on the recent NASA missions to Mars. In the ?game? the user controls a Mars rover who moves and teleports around the surface of Mars. Download on the resources page.

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Missile balloons!

2006-07-23T21:59:00.000-07:00

Instructions for a fun time on the interstate...Step 1. Tie balloons to car. Step 2. Drive like a bat out of hell.... Step 3. Watch people freak out !!!!

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Nick Burn's Your Companies Computer Guy - Jennifer Aniston

2006-07-21T09:43:00.000-07:00

Another "Nick Burns" video with Jennifer Aniston as a guest.

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IBM, GIT overclock CPU to 500GHz

2006-06-23T19:39:00.000-07:00

If you were wowwed by those Japanese modders who overclocked their stock CPU to 7GHz, wait till you hear about IBM?s latest foray into the world of ultra-fast computing: together with researchers from the digital camera-hating Georgia Institute of Technology, Big Blue has managed to overclock a chip to an unheard of 500GHz.

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Have a Penguin Draw Your Name in the Snow

2006-06-19T22:47:00.000-07:00

This is a neat flash animation that requires you to enter your name, and a penguin will slide around on the snow and spell it.

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Girl Sues MySpace

2006-06-19T22:34:00.000-07:00

A 14 YEAR-OLD girl who claimed she was sexually assaulted by a man she met on MySpace.com has launched a $30 million lawsuit against its operators.

The lawsuit is critical of the fact Myspace does not verify the age of its users and calls measures in place to stop grizly old geezers grooming sweet young things as "utterly ineffective." The suit alleges Myspace fails in its duty to protect minors.

A lawyer representing the girl's family told reporters, "MySpace is more concerned about making money than protecting children online."

The girl and her family filed the suit against Myspace owner News Corp as well as the 19 year-old accused of fiddling with her.

The girl gave out her mobile phone number to the bloke after she met him on the site. She says that after the pair went out one time to see a film and have a bite to eat, he drove her to a car park and sexually assaulted her.

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Bill Gates Stepping Down and What It Means

2006-06-16T09:44:00.000-07:00

Bill Gates may be the public face of Microsoft, but his departure from daily operations at the company could actually strengthen it--and even pave the way for better products.

Gates, who is and will remain chairman of Microsoft's board of directors, today announced that he will give up his job as Microsoft's chief software architect in two years in order to devote more time to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Gates's departure will end an unusual division of labor between him and Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, says technology analyst Rob Enderle.

Usually a chief software architect reports to a CEO, but since Gates was also chairman, Ballmer had to report to him. "There really wasn't one person in charge," Enderle says. "This takes Microsoft back to a more traditional structure."
Too Busy to Do the Job

While Wall Street may find the prospect of a Microsoft without Bill Gates unnerving, Gates's "actual impact on the products has fallen off dramatically over the last seven years," Enderle says. Gates was simply too busy with his duties as chairman of Microsoft and of his foundation to devote sufficient attention to being chief software architect--"and that's a full-time job," Enderle says.

"He wasn't really involved in the day-to-day decisions on what went into the product for quite some time," Enderle says. If anything, he adds, Gates was more "schedule-oriented," and had he been more involved, Windows Vista's release might not have been delayed.

"Content? That was to a large extent determined by others," Enderle says, adding that the upcoming departure of Jim Allchin, co-president of Microsoft's Platforms and Services division, will likely have more impact on the future of Windows than will Gates's departure.

Enderle believes that Gates had come to a realization "that he needed to either reengage or step back, and he decided to take that next step."

If Ray Ozzie, who will assume Gates's responsibilities as chief software architect, is up to the job, Microsoft could emerge stronger than ever--and as a result its products could improve, Enderle says.

"We're going to lose an icon, but the company is going to gain a chief software architect," he adds.
Microsoft's Loss, Charity's Gain

Meanwhile, Gates's foundation, which supports innovation in global learning and health, stands to benefit from its founder's increased involvement.

"This is a great day for the developing world," says former Microsoft executive John Wood. "He's going to put all of his passion and energy into the foundation. It will be incredible to see what they can do as a result."

Wood worked with Gates from 1991 to 1999, when he left to start his own philanthropic group, Room to Read, which focuses on providing education for children in the developing world.

Source

FREE Survival Horror Game

2006-06-15T08:34:00.000-07:00

This new game uses all the high tech eye candy and also utilizes extensive in-game physics but best of all its FREE and was created simply for the love of gaming. A worthy effort, I hope its creators get the chance to work within the gaming industry. The game is called Penumbra, and you can download it here.

Moores Law and Digital Cameras

2006-06-12T11:02:00.000-07:00

Digital technology has taken the world by storm, so much so that it might be easy to think the revolution is over.

In photography, for example, it is tempting to think that once everybody has a digital camera, the transition will be complete and things will settle down, right? Wrong. The revolution is taking off; it is only the boring part that's nearly over.

The reason is Moore's Law, the notion behind advances in the computer industry for the past 40 years. Gordon Moore, a founder of Intel, observed in 1965 that the number of transistors on a chip doubled every 18 months, and that is pretty much still true. More transistors for the computer mean more features and more bang for the consumer's buck. For digital cameras, the bang has meant sensors with more megapixels and bigger memory cards.

Some say the megapixel race will stop, just as people used to think that 8- bit, 16-bit or 32-bit computers would be enough. The problem with that reasoning is all the smart engineers who wake up every day looking for a competitive edge by turning computing power into something worth buying. I'm betting that they will succeed, because there are so many opportunities.

So far, camera designers have focused on vital but mundane tasks, like producing picture quality equal to that of film. Professionally, my 16-megapixel Canon is vastly better than film.

Yet why stop at film? I'm eagerly awaiting Canon's next move, probably to 25-plus megapixels. I'm what marketing people call an early adopter, but mark my words - you'll own a 16- or even a 25-megapixel point-and-shoot in a few years, and it will not stop there. By some estimates, your eyes have an effective resolution of more than 500 megapixels. If you can see it, why shouldn't a camera record it?

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Court Backs Government Broadband Wiretap Access

2006-06-09T15:22:00.000-07:00

A U.S. appeals court on Friday upheld the government's authority to force high-speed Internet service providers to give law enforcement authorities access for surveillance purposes.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected a petition aimed at overturning a decision by regulators requiring facilities-based broadband providers and those that offer Internet telephone service to comply with U.S. wiretap laws.

The court concluded that the FCC requirement was a "reasonable policy choice" even though information services are exempted from the government's wiretapping authority.

The FCC has set a May 14, 2007 deadline for compliance.

"I am pleased that the Court agreed with the Commission's finding, which will ensure that law enforcement agencies' ability to conduct lawful court-ordered electronic surveillance will keep pace with new communication technologies," FCC chairman Kevin Martin said in a statement after the ruling.

The ruling comes at a time when critics have voiced concerned that the Bush administration's surveillance program violates civil liberties. The administration argues it needs the program, which allows the National Security Agency to monitor international telephone calls of U.S. citizens, as part of its broader war on terrorism.

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TiVo Turning to Net Downloads

2006-06-07T20:29:00.000-07:00

Through the new TiVoCast service, people can download broadband video clips to their TiVo boxes for free from a handful of Internet sites, such as woman-oriented iVillage, technology-focused CNET.com (a CNET News.com sister site), entertainment-grooved Heavy.com, The New York Times, the National Basketball Association and Women's National Basketball Association, and news and political video blog site Rocketboom.

TiVo began testing broadband video downloads last August, previewing "Greg the Bunny," "Hopeless Pictures" and "The Festival" before they debuted on the Independent Film Channel. That was later followed up in December with Rocketboom videos, which have been ongoing since then.

"Television is still the preferred platform for watching video," Tara Maitra, TiVo general manger of programming, said in a statement. "The TiVoCast service captures mainstream and specialty-based content on the Web, delivering programming that is not otherwise available through the TV today."

TiVo plans to expand the number of Web sites and videos it offers, Maitra added in a telephone interview, although there is no specific target for such launches.

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Honda Creates Robot Controlled By Brain Waves!

2006-05-25T12:48:00.000-07:00

In a step toward linking a person's thoughts to machines, Japanese automaker Honda said it has developed a technology that uses brain signals to control a robot's very simple moves.

In the future, the technology that Honda Motor Co. developed with ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories could be used to replace keyboards or cell phones, researchers said Wednesday. It also could have applications in helping people with spinal cord injuries, they said.

In a video demonstration in Tokyo, brain signals detected by a magnetic resonance imaging scanner were relayed to a robotic hand. A person in the MRI machine made a fist, spread his fingers and then made a V-sign. Several seconds later, a robotic hand mimicked the movements.

Further research would be needed to decode more complex movements.

The machine for reading the brain patterns also would have to become smaller and lighter ? like a cap that people can wear as they move about, said ATR researcher Yukiyasu Kamitani.

What Honda calls a "brain-machine interface" is an improvement over past approaches, such as those that required surgery to connect wires. Other methods still had to train people in ways to send brain signals or weren't very accurate in reading the signals, Kamitani said.

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Socket AM2 Chipsets Come Together

2006-05-23T10:34:00.000-07:00

AMD'S LATEST ATHLON 64 processors use a new socket and DDR2 memory, essentially requiring a motherboard upgrade. It just wouldn't do to plug a cutting-edge processor into a motherboard with an older chipset, though. Perhaps that's why ATI and NVIDIA are rolling out new core logic to accompany AMD's Socket AM2. In the green corner, NVIDIA is launching a top-to-bottom line of nForce 500 series chipsets, including the high-end nForce 590 SLI. ATI, on the other hand, is finally taking the wraps off its long-awaited SB600 south bridge. That chip is paired with the established CrossFire Xpress 3200 north bridge for high-end multi-GPU platforms.

In many ways, the latest core logic offerings from ATI and NVIDIA are evolutionary designs that address problems with previous chipsets. ATI claims its SB600 resolves the I/O performance problems that plagued the SB450, and NVIDIA promises the nForce 500 series' Gigabit Ethernet acceleration sheds the hardware bug that afflicted the nForce4's ActiveArmor. New features are also on the menu. The SB600 is ATI's first stab at Serial ATA with 300 MB/s and Native Command Queuing, and the nForce 500 series is virtually bursting at the seams with fancy feature names, including FirstPacket, LinkBoost, and DualNet.

Is the combination of ATI's CrossFire Xpress 3200 and SB600 potent enough to prevent NVIDIA's nForce 590 SLI from inheriting the Athlon 64 core logic crown? We've subjected both chipsets to an exhaustive array of application, peripheral, and power consumption tests to find out, and the answer might surprise you.

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Pay-As-You-Compute

2006-05-22T12:19:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Corp. is announcing a flexible business model for emerging markets powered by Microsoft FlexGo technology.

The pay-as-you-go computing model enabled by Microsoft's FlexGo technology allows customers to have a fully featured PC at home by paying only for the time as they use it through the purchase of prepaid activation cards or tokens. Microsoft has been running trials of the program in Brazil for more than a year and will soon be expanding to select markets in India, Russia, China and Mexico.

The company intends to start a second trial in Brazil this week.

AMD intends to develop processors designed specifically to support Microsoft FlexGo technology. Other partners in the pay-as-you-go program include the HSBC Bank Brasil S.A., Infineon Technologies AG, Intel Corporation, Lenovo, Phoenix Technologies Ltd., Transmeta Corp. and more. These will join Microsoft for the next round of pay-as-you-go and subscription trials in Brazil, China, Hungary, India, Mexico, Russia, Slovenia and Vietnam.

Along with the new pay-as-you-go model, Microsoft has also been working with major telecommunication companies around the globe on subscription computing offerings that provide convenient and predictable monthly payments for a full-featured PC with broadband access and genuine software. With the availability of Microsoft FlexGo technology, it will be possible to expand the potential of the subscription model by enabling telecommunications providers to better secure the PC asset from default and offer this option to a broader range of customers.

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Cyber Thieves Stealing Billions

2006-05-19T10:37:00.000-07:00

Dimitry Ivanovich Golubov doesn't look like an arch criminal. A baby-faced 22-year-old Ukrainian, he is described by his lawyer as an unassuming part-time student at Mechnikov University in Odessa.

But when the Ukrainian police arrested him last July for his involvement in credit-card fraud, U.S. law enforcement officials hailed it as a big break in their fight against cybercrime. Subsequently, in January, 2006, the U.S. Attorney's office for the Central District of California charged Golubov with a number of cybercrimes, including credit-card fraud. An affidavit by a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation states that Golubov held the title of "Godfather" for "an international ring of computer hackers and Internet fraudsters that has...trafficked in millions of stolen credit card numbers and financial information." U.S. Postal Inspection Service senior investigator Gregory S. Crabb, who worked with Ukrainian authorities on their case, says Golubov and others controlled the numbers, names, and security codes attached to credit cards. Low-level criminals would use that to load up fake cards and withdraw cash from automated teller machines or buy merchandise. "Golubov was known as the go-to guy," says Crabb.

But last December, Golubov's story took a bizarre twist. Two Ukrainian politicians, including Vladimir Demekhin, deputy chairman of the Energy Committee of the Ukrainian Parliament, vouched for Golubov's character in court. The judge hearing the case released Golubov on a personal recognizance bond from the two officials. (Demekhin did not respond to e-mails and phone calls.) U.S. officials say they are worried that Golubov may leave the country, and a date for his trial hasn't been set. "Chat from the carding community" indicates Golubov may be back in business, says Crabb. Golubov's lawyer, Petro Boiko, claims he isn't hiding and the charges are groundless: "There has been a legend made of Golubov, of a big hacker. There is no evidence linking him to this case. He knows how to use a computer, but he is not a hacker by any means."

At least authorities had their hands on Golubov, however briefly. Usually, the people they suspect of conducting computer crime leave behind only traces of their existence: a quirky online nickname, a few postings on illicit Web sites, and a trail of financial mayhem. But BusinessWeek, working with information and photos supplied by officials at the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, as well as state law enforcement agencies and private Internet security experts, compiled descriptions of some of the most sought-after targets in cybercrime investigations. Shown the list, the United States Secret Service said it is investigating some of those on it as well, but declined to comment further. The FBI also declined to comment.

The picture that emerges is of organized gangs of young, mostly Eastern European hackers who are growing ever more brazen about doing business on the Web. They meet in underground forums with names like DarkMarket.org and theftservices.com to trade tips and data and coordinate scams that span the globe. (Those and other Web sites and organizations named by investigators did not respond to e-mails, instant messages, or phone calls seeking comment.) "Financial payment fraud has evolved tremendously," says John Corbelletta, a former police officer who is director of fraud control for Visa U.S.A. Inc. "Most of the cases I investigated when I was a cop involved people who had their cards stolen out of their purse. We didn't even think of counterfeiting cards."

Today, cyberscams are the fastest-growing criminal niche. Scores of banks and e-commerce giants, from JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM ) to walmart.com (WMT ), have been hit, sometimes repeatedly, by hackers and online fraud schemes. The 2005 FBI Computer Crime Survey estimated annual losses to all types of computer crime -- including attacks of viruses and other "malware," financial fraud, and network intrusions -- at $67 billion a year. Of the 2,066 companies responding to the survey, 87% reported a security incident. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which says identity theft is its top complaint, on May 10 created an Identity Theft Task Force following an executive order signed by President George W. Bush.

To track cybercrime, law enforcement officers work with companies such as eBay Inc. (EBAY ) or Microsoft Corp. (MSFT ) as well as with authorities around the globe. EBay has 60 people combating fraud, while Microsoft's Internet Safety Enforcement team has 65 operatives, including former law enforcement agents and federal prosecutors. To document the extent of the activity, BusinessWeek reporters also scoured underground Web sites where stolen data is swapped like so many baseball cards on eBay. Consider this e-mail promoting the launch of an online trading bazaar, vendorsname.ws, last year:

"During the battle with US Secret Service, we !@#&! all those [law enforcement] bastards and now are running a brand new, improved and the biggest carder' forum you ever seen." The message brags about its array of stolen goods: U.S. and European credit-card data, "active and wealthy" PayPal (EBAY ) accounts, and Social Security numbers. Those who "register today" get a "bonus" choice of "one Citybank account with online access with 3K on board" or "25 credit cards with PINs for online carding."

What follows is a look at four individuals, besides Golubov, who are identified by multiple law enforcement authorities as high-priority targets in their investigations. It's no coincidence that all are Russian. Strong technical universities, comparatively low incomes, and an unstable legal system make the former Soviet Union an ideal breeding ground for cyberscams. Also, tense political relations sometimes complicate efforts to obtain cooperation with local law enforcement. "The low standard of living and high savviness is a bad combination," says Robert C. Chesnut, a former U.S. federal prosecutor who is a senior vice-president directing antifraud efforts at eBay.

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Fuel Cell Powered Cell Phones

2006-05-18T11:32:00.000-07:00

Samsung may soon be tapping a new power source for its cell phones. The South Korean handset maker on May 18 is announcing plans for building prototype mobile phones powered by fuel cells. It's one of the biggest publicly disclosed commitments to the technology by a major manufacturer in years.

Samsung, the world's No. 3 maker of wireless phones, behind Finland's Nokia (NOK) and U.S.-based Motorola (MOT), says it has signed an exclusive deal to use technology from MTI MicroFuel Cells of Albany, N.Y., a unit of Mechanical Technology (MKTY). The joint development deal will last about 18 months, and neither company will work with any other to develop fuel cells for use in wireless phones. Samsung is committing $1 million to the effort.

That may be small potatoes in terms of Samsung's research and development budget, but it marks a big step forward for a fledging fuel-cell industry that aims to supplant the batteries typically used in notebook PCs, wireless phones, PDAs, and digital cameras.

VOTE OF CONFIDENCE. As those devices incorporate brighter screens, more powerful wireless networking features, and other cutting-edge capabilities, it's getting harder to keep them running with conventional batteries, typically based on lithium ion and lithium polymer technology.

The deal also marks a huge vote of confidence in a little-known company. MTI Micro, which had sales of $8 million in 2005, is one of a handful of outfits seeking to bring hydrogen-based fuel-cell technology into more common use. Its Mobion fuel cells have already appeared in industrial handhelds from companies like Intermec, a unit of Unova (UNA), and have drawn the attention of military contractors developing devices that soldiers will use in the field.

Under the deal, which lasts through the end of the second quarter of 2007, the two companies will jointly research the use of methanol-based fuel-cell technologies for use in cell phones. Any patents that come as the result of the research will be assigned to MTI.

BASIC CHEMISTRY. MTI's technology harnesses a chemical process that combines water with methanol, a type of alcohol also known as methyl alcohol, to produce electricity. It's really just basic chemistry, but not always easy to set in motion. Often the presence of water requires a complicated set of micro-pumps and pipes to move the water to where it needs to be. MTI has developed a way to do it without the need for a pump, and without the need to carry water in the first place.

The relationship got its start with a device MTI engineers stitched together more than a year ago -- a Samsung PDA powered by a prototype Mobion fuel cell. "That caught Samsung's attention," says Alan Soucy, MTI Micro's chief corporate strategist. "Since then they've come here and done a deep dive with our technology, and obviously they see potential."

What Soucy and MTI CEO Peng Lim envision is a world where instead of recharging your phone's battery, you'll buy disposable fuel cells that last longer than the batteries that come with cell phones today and are more eco-friendly. Exactly how much longer they'll last the company won't say yet. "We've promised to demonstrate a fuel cell that is better than a lithium ion battery by the third quarter of this year, and we're on track to do that," Lim says.

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Apple's MacBook Embraces Intel

2006-05-17T14:24:00.000-07:00

Apple today announced immediate availability of its consumer Intel-based laptop, well in time for the back-to-school shopping season. Called the MacBook, this model equipped with a 13.3-inch wide screen and running on a Core Duo processor replaces the 12-inch G4 PowerBook and all iBooks.

The notebook also complements Apple's recently released MacBook Pro laptops, which reportedly have experienced overheating and other technical problems. (Some Mac enthusiast sites are posting links to software that monitors the temperature of MacBook Pros.)

The MacBook is slimmer and slightly heavier than the old 12-inch Apple laptops. It comes in black or white and with either a 1.83-GHz or a 2.0-GHz Core Duo processor. Like the MacBook Pro, the MacBook comes with a built-in Webcam, Front Row media software, and an infrared remote control. It also has DVI-out support, gigabit ethernet, Bluetooth 2.0, 802.11g Wi-Fi, and optical digital audio-in and -out.

Apple priced its standard configurations of the MacBook at between $1099 and $1499. However, PC World's preferred configuration--with a 2.0-GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 100GB hard drive--would cost $1699. Apple isn't offering a sub-$1000 configuration with an Intel Core Solo processor as it is with the $599 Mac Mini desktop PC.

IDC analyst Richard Shim says that the MacBook pricing makes sense given the more expensive, less common 13.3-inch wide-screen panel, whose resolution is 1280 by 800 pixels. "We're obviously not looking at a mass-market price point, and that's obviously by choice," says Shim. "But their challenge, of course, if you talk to Wall Street, is to increase their market share. This won't get them there."

Malware Versus Malware

2006-05-16T11:30:00.000-07:00

A "vigilante" Trojan, that attempts to protect infected PCs from the effects of malware caught while using peer-to-peer file-sharing networks, has been discovered.

The Windows Trojan/Erazer-A Trojan looks at default folders for downloading MP3, AVI, MPEG, WMV, Gif, Zip graphic and video files, and wipes anything it finds with these extensions in the target locations.

The assumption is that because the Trojan is only deleting certain file types in specific download directories used by P2P programs -- one of the main sources of inadvertent malware infection -- it is attempting to protect those it manages to infect.

The catch is that the program also attempts to subvert certain security programs to aid its activities, which opens the user to a more general risk of infection or program instability. It also appears to steal information.

The company that first uncovered it spreading among its customers, Sophos, has dubbed it as a "vigilante" Trojan, making it an extremely rare type of malware that could have some beneficial effects.

"The Erazer Trojan is a vigilante worthy of a Charles Bronson movie, taking the law into its own hands. However, it's perfectly possible for the Trojan to aim poorly and wipe out innocent files too," commented Graham Cluley of Sophos.

Vigilante it might be, but the Trojan spreads in the same way as those pieces of malware it appears to be targeting -- via P2P file sharing. It can also, of course, be used for malicious purposes, so this is a beneficial program most users would probably not want help from.

"I don't think this was written with good intentions because it attempts to turn off security," said Cluley. There would be nothing more dangerous than for people to become accustomed to the idea of "beneficial malware" because that might create a false sense of security.

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How to Upgrade RAM Computer Memory

2006-05-15T14:49:00.000-07:00

Computer memory, also known as Random Access Memory (RAM), is just like your short term memory in your brain. It stores everything you are currently working on and recently worked on. As you can see that makes it a very essential part of your PC because it stores vital information that you are using and need access too immediately. No matter what the data is, pictures, sounds or just text, if you get a good amount of memory your computer will load that data much faster and store it better.

Many people want to do a RAM upgrade there selves, but always run into the problem of figuring out which type of memory to buy and installing it. If you didn?t already know, there are many different types of RAM available on the market, and you need to get the type that corresponds with your motherboard. If you don?t know what a motherboard is, it?s the big circuit board inside of your computer that connects everything together.

First, let's talk about the two main types of RAM that are in use today, SDRAM and DDR. SDRAM stands for Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory, and is the most common amongst PC?s today. Most likely your desktop computer uses this type of RAM. I use to have SDRAM, and I thought it was okay because it got the job done. I have switched though to DDR RAM, which is replacing SDRAM. The speed of DDR RAM is twice that of SDRAM, so you can imagine the difference. If your motherboard currently only has SDRAM slots, then you have no choice but to get that type of RAM. If you want to change to DDR RAM, then you have to buy a whole new motherboard and install it. To find out what RAM your computer uses just look at the instruction manual that came with it, or if it is custom built, look at the motherboard?s instruction manual.

For all you laptop and PDA owners out there, the type of RAM in your laptop or PDA is called SODIMM. Available at the same memory store you purchase your desktop computer RAM from, just a little more expensive and harder to install.

Now that you know the different types of RAM, you need to know where to buy it from and how to install it. To buy it, I suggest your local computer store because there will be a person there to help you and they will make sure that you buy the correct RAM. Here?s a tip to, bring your computers instruction manual with you to the store and they will definitely know the correct type of memory you need. If you want to buy online, then NewEgg.com and TigerDirect.com are two great online computer stores that will deliver your RAM into your mail box.

And last but not least, you need to install your new RAM. Believe it or not this is the easy part. First shut down and unplug everything from your computer and then remove your computer?s case cover, to gain access to the motherboard inside. Once you can clearly see the motherboard, locate your RAM. You should know what it looks like since you just bought some and you can look at that. When you find it, you will notice a latch connected to the slot that holds it on each end. Push down both of the latches to unhook them, and then gently pull the RAM stick out. It should slide out with ease, but if it doesn?t, then wiggle it a little bit while pulling.

After that you just need to insert your new RAM. First count how many slots you have available for RAM and how many of them currently have RAM in it. Some times you will see 2 slots occupied and 1 open, or all three slots could be used. Either way, you have to insert your new RAM into an open slot, or if all are used then remove the oldest and least amount of RAM to clear a slot. Then gently insert your new RAM and pull the latches back up on both sides, securing your memory into place. After that just screw your case cover back on, hook your computer back up to everything and then power it back on. Your computer will automatically detect the new RAM and no further installation process is needed.

Well that is about it, I hope I have helped you. Just remember to keep your computer clean plus maintain properly, and it will live a long life.

For more information on RAM, and help picking out the right type, check out my RAM memory upgrade page. If you need help upgrading other parts of your computer or portable devices, then Michael can help you with that to at his computer customizing web site.

New High Definition Format Announced

2006-05-12T11:35:00.000-07:00

High-definition video fans can prepare themselves for another new format: AVCHD. The format, developed by Sony and Panasonic, is aimed at high-definition camcorders and makes it possible to store HD content on currently available 3.2-inch DVDs, the companies said today.

AVCHD uses the MPEG4 AVC/H.264 compression system, which is more efficient than the MPEG2 system used on conventional DVDs. HD video contains about four times as much picture data as standard definition video, so a better compression system is essential if anything more than a few minutes of video is to be stored on each disc.

Yoshikazu Ochiai, a spokesman for Sony in Tokyo, said that despite the present focus on Blu-ray Disc, the format is currently not feasible for camcorder use. Several hurdles remain before Blu-ray Disc drives can be fitted into camcorders, including bringing down the price of the drive, making it small enough to fit into a camcorder, and reducing energy consumption.

Using AVCHD, about 20 minutes of HD video can be recorded on a single-sided DVD disc when using the average quality setting, said Ochiai. That compares to about 30 minutes of video when using the same disc with a standard definition camcorder.

Sony is already developing a camcorder based on AVCHD but Ochiai wouldn't provide any details. He did not explain what the acronym AVCHD represents.

Source

Halo 3 Trailer

2006-05-12T11:33:00.000-07:00

The trailer for Halo 3 has been released at the E3 expo, check it out for yourself online by clicking here.

Computer Hacker can be Extradited

2006-05-10T11:30:00.000-07:00

A British court recommended Wednesday that a man be extradited to the United States to face charges in the largest attack on U.S. government computer networks - including Army, Air Force, Navy and NASA systems.

Gary McKinnon, 40, of London has been indicted in New Jersey and Virginia for allegedly hacking into U.S. government computers between February 2001 and March 2002. He was arrested in 2002 and has fought his extradition by claiming he could face prosecution under U.S. anti-terror laws.

"My intention was never to disrupt security. The fact that I logged on and there were no passwords means that there was no security," McKinnon said, outside the hearing at London's Bow Street Magistrates Court. "I was looking for UFOs."

Court records in Virginia said McKinnon caused $900,000 in damage to computers, including those of private companies, in 14 states.

In New Jersey, he is accused of hacking into a network of 300 computers at the Earle Naval Weapons Station in Colts Neck, N.J., and stealing 950 passwords.

The break-in - which occurred immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks - shut down the whole system for a week, Judge Nicholas Evans said. The station is responsible for replenishing the Atlantic fleet's munitions and supplies.

Though McKinnon was able to view sensitive details about naval munitions and shipbuilding on the secure U.S. systems, he did not access classified information, an investigation found.

Source

Intel's Core Duo: Coming to a store near you

2006-05-08T11:28:00.000-07:00

Intel has decided to borrow the sequential naming scheme it used for its famous Pentium brand and apply it to the new Core line of chips, the company is expected to announce Sunday. Earlier this year, Intel released the Core Duo processor, and in a few months it will unveil Core 2 Duo processors. The Core 2 Duo name will be used for desktop chips based on the Conroe chip, as well as for notebook chips based on the Merom chip. Merom processors consume less power than Conroe chips, but they're otherwise very similar.

Each Core 2 Duo chip will also have a model number that will indicate how much power it consumes and its relative performance, said Intel spokesman Bill Kircos. The Conroe processors will fall into either the 4000 series or 6000 series, while Merom processors will use either the 5000 series or 7000 series numbers, he said.

Conveniently, the Conroe numbers match up well with the model numbers used by Advanced Micro Devices on its current generation of dual-core Athlon 64 X2 desktop processors. AMD's highest-rated Athlon 64 X2 processor as of Friday is the X2 4800+. Kircos declined to comment on whether Intel chose the new scheme to line up with AMD's model numbers.

Each one of Intel's model numbers will be preceded by a letter that indicates how much power the chip consumes at its peak. This is the first time Intel has incorporated power consumption into its model numbers. For example, the Core 2 Duo E6800 processor would represent a dual-core Core-architecture processor that consumes between 55 watts and 75 watts of power, which Intel considers the standard desktop PC category. The hypothetical Core 2 Duo T5400 would represent a dual-core Core chip that consumes between 25 watts and 55 watts of power, a range Intel thinks is appropriate for most notebooks and some desktops.

Source

EBgames has started Pre-Orders for Nintendo DS Lite $129.99

2006-05-07T19:14:00.000-07:00

Cancel your eBay auctions for the Japanese units as you will be able to get it here for $129.99, however the wait may be long. Get your pre-order in early!!

read more | digg story

Finally... Fembots!

2006-05-07T19:08:00.000-07:00

This is freaking awesome, real life Fembots in our time.

It was just a matter of time, Korean scientists have developed a female android called eveR-1. Look out Austin Powers.

read more | digg story

Simple Video Glasses Invented

2006-05-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

This is a new invention that is pretty cool, and could change the way we watch movies and play video games.

According to EE Times, an Israeli company has developed a personal video display device that looks like a simple pair of glasses. You can use these glasses with various sources, such as a portable media player or your cell phone. This technology promises to eliminate the dizziness phenomenon usually associated with this kind of display. And with these glasses weighing only about 40 grams, you'll feel that you're viewing a 40-inch screen from a distance of 7 feet. Read more?

Here is how this technology works. Mirage Innovations Ltd.'s technology is based on the principle of transforming a thin transparent plate into a complete wearable personal display system. The diffractive planar optics is combined with a microdisplay source, such as micro LCD, LCOS or OLED.

Within the NanoPrism diffractive planar optics device, light emerging from the microdisplay source is collected by a lens and coupled into a thin transparent substrate via a nanoscale diffraction grating. The trapped light propagates within the substrate by internal reflection toward the viewer's eyes, producing a perfectly aligned image.

Source

Why Some People Use VoIP

2006-05-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

Why do some people choose to use VoIP over the local telephone company service?

While there are many possible answers to the question above, I'd like to point out a few reasons that I've personally seen or heard of. Being a small business owner, I for one made the decision based on cost. So let's start there.

Before switching to VoIP, I was using my local RBOC (Regional Bell Operating Company) and a large long distance provider. My local RBOC bill averaged $25.00 per month and my long distance bill could be as low as $15 per month or as high as $150 per month. The first thing I switched was my long distance provider. By switching I saw an immediate cost reduction. This was certainly a step in the right direction. Bottom line was that before switching to VoIP my monthly phone bill was $40 to $165 per month, which I was able to reduce to $29 to $100 per month. This was still not good enough given the range of the monthly cost. I needed a way to budget a fixed amount. Enter VoIP. After switching to VoIP my monthly bill including E911 fee and all taxes comes out to just under $25 a month. That, for me, was the bottom line. Cost savings.

One of my customers switched to VoIP for not only the cost savings, but also the convenience. You see his daughter was going off to college in another state. He wanted his daughter to be able to call home at anytime and not worry about long distance charges. He took the option of a virtual number. When using VoIP area codes mean little. The call is routed through your broadband connection. To a computer, area codes don't mean anything. It's just data flowing through the internet. By using VoIP and a virtual number allowed this customer to choose a virtual number in the same area code as his daughters. Every time his daughter calls home, she dials his virtual number (local number), which then rings at his home in another state. He gets to speak with her all the time and she pays for a local call. So in this case it wasn't cost alone, but the convenience as well.

Here's one last example of a family who had a son serving in the military in Europe. This family chose to use a videophone and purchased 2 such phones. When their son was sent to Europe he brought the phone with him. Since he had access to a broadband connection, he simply plugged his phone in and was able to call home. Yes, a LOCAL call! Not only that, but he was able to actually 'see' his family. This setup consisted of 2 videophones and two accounts. His family could call him, or he could call his family. In both cases it was charged as a local call (even though he was stationed in Europe and his family was state side). If this wasn't good enough, by using the videophone, they could actually SEE each other. This is really VoIP in action. The son in the military was still able to 'see' the Christmas tree, participate in birthday parties and so much more.

There are many reasons for switching to VoIP and the examples above are certainly not inclusive. Whatever your reasons for considering this service, chances are there is a provider and plan to fit your needs

FullService Broadband Provider. Unbiased, informative information on broadband technology made possible through Try Right Technology, Inc. Copyright 2006

Volkswagen Beetle Fitted with a Jet Engine

2006-05-05T11:22:00.000-07:00

Ron Patrick decided to fit his VW Beetle with a jet engine, reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.A lot of work went into this project. Patrick did computerized structural analysis and also stability analysis. "By God, you know what happened? It worked!" Ron has driven this Jet Beetle and he still lives!

Patrick is a 48-year-old Stanford-trained (Ph.D.) engineer who owns ECM (Engine Control and Monitoring), a Sunnyvale firm that makes electronic instruments used by auto manufacturers to calibrate their engines for performance, fuel economy and emissions. He knows cars. He knows how they work. He's an animated man who has a seasoned sense of humor, a wry view of the world, mixed with a dash of the absurd and an absolute passion for things like, well, jet-powered cars.

Patrick has had a lot of cars and he said that about five or six years ago he was getting pretty bored with the state of the hot-rodding car hobby in America.

"I'd been building cars for a long time," he said. "Drag cars, American muscle cars. The last one was a big hemi engine in a 1965 Dodge Coronet. I wanted something of the extreme of the extreme of the extreme. I was looking to buy a (ex-Soviet) MiG 15 or MiG 17 jet engine. I finally decided on the T58."

The Navy surplus General Electric T58-8F is that menacing, giant cigar-like item sticking out of the VW's hatchback. When he fires it up, standing next to it is a bit like standing next to one of the engines of a Boeing 737 or an Airbus A320 while the thing is about to back off from the gate. This, however, is a Volkswagen bug with a 1,450-horsepower jet engine sticking out the back, idling away at 13,000 RPM.

It's a perfectly street-legal VW, too, with current California registration and smog-approved gas-burning front engine made by Volkswagen. It's just this humongous big thing projecting 23 inches rearward from the hatchback that makes it different from any other bug. The "thing" is what Patrick describes as "essentially a baby Lear jet engine, a couple steps down from the engine on an F4 Phantom."

"The presidential chopper has two of these engines," Patrick said the other day at his office in Sunnyvale. "It's the one that lands at the White House and you see the president come out and the little dog running around."

Source

Satellite Laser Weapon Becoming a Reality

2006-05-04T12:35:00.000-07:00

The Bush administration is seeking to develop a powerful ground-based laser weapon that would use beams of concentrated light to destroy enemy satellites in orbit.

The largely secret project, parts of which have been made public through Air Force budget documents submitted to Congress in February, is part of a wide-ranging effort to develop space weapons, both defensive and offensive. No treaty or law forbids such work.

The laser research was described by federal officials who would speak only on the condition of anonymity because of the topic's political sensitivity. The White House has recently sought to play down the issue of space arms, fearing it could become an election-year liability.

Indeed, last week Republicans and Democrats on a House Armed Services subcommittee moved unanimously to cut research money for the project in the administration's budget for the 2007 fiscal year. While Republicans on the panel would not discuss their reasons for the action, Congressional aides said it reflected a bipartisan consensus for moving cautiously on space weaponry, a potentially controversial issue that has yet to be much debated.

The full committee is expected to take up the budget issue today. The laser research is far more ambitious than a previous effort by the Clinton administration nearly a decade ago to test an antisatellite laser. It would take advantage of an optical technique that uses sensors, computers and flexible mirrors to counteract the atmospheric turbulence that seems to make stars twinkle.
The weapon would essentially reverse that process, shooting focused beams of light upward with great clarity and force. Though futuristic and technically challenging, the laser work is relatively inexpensive by government standards ? about $20 million in 2006, with planned increases to some $30 million by 2011 ? partly because no weapons are as yet being built and partly because the work is being done at an existing base, an unclassified government observatory called Starfire in the New Mexico desert.

In interviews, military officials defended the laser research as prudent, given the potential need for space arms to defend American satellites against attack in the years and decades ahead. "The White House wants us to do space defense," said a senior Pentagon official who oversees many space programs, including the laser effort. "We need that ability to protect our assets" in orbit.

But some Congressional Democrats and other experts fault the research as potential fuel for an antisatellite arms race that could ultimately hurt this nation more than others because the United States relies so heavily on military satellites, which aid navigation, reconnaissance and attack warning.

In a statement, Representative Loretta Sanchez, a California Democrat on the subcommittee who opposes the laser's development, thanked her Republican colleagues for agreeing to curb a program "with the potential to weaponize space."

Theresa Hitchens, director of the Center for Defense Information, a private group in Washington that tracks military programs, said the subcommittee's action last week was a significant break with the administration. "It's really the first time you've seen the Republican-led Congress acknowledge that these issues require public scrutiny," she said.

In a statement, the House panel, the Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, made no reference to such policy disagreements but simply said that "none of the funds authorized for this program shall be used for the development of laser space technologies with antisatellite purposes."

It is unclear whether the Republican-controlled Congress will sustain the subcommittee's proposed cut to the administration's request, even if the full House Armed Services Committee backs the reduction.

The Air Force has pursued the secret research for several years but discussed it in new detail in its February budget request. The documents stated that for the 2007 fiscal year, starting in October, the research will seek to "demonstrate fully compensated laser propagation to low earth orbit satellites."

The documents listed several potential uses of the laser research, the first being "antisatellite weapons."

Source

I think it is about time we got a laser weapon in space, not that I am a violent person or anything, it is just that if we don't some other country will.

Word Processor Online

2006-05-03T10:54:00.000-07:00

Just about everyone owns productivity software on their computer, that helps them get stuff done, like typing, spreadsheets and so on and so forth. Well those applications have slowly started to progress to online only, where not only can you type it online, but you save it, store it and change it all online too. No software is required to be installed on your computer, and everybody will always have the updated version!

One of the first of many to come I believe, is Writely, which is a word processor that functions completely online, and will store your documents securely on their servers too. This means that you, and anybody else who you give access to, will be able to access these documents and modify or download them. Obviously productivity software will never be replaced by this, but it is another good option that people might find useful.

Free Downloads from Napster?

2006-05-02T21:43:00.000-07:00

If Napster ever figures out a way to turn a profit, Chris Gorog, CEO of the digital-music site, is going to have one heckuva big last laugh. Ever since he began his quest to create a digital-music powerhouse around the brand made famous in the late 1990s for online piracy, the skepticism has been unceasing. "No one I know believes they're going to survive," says one digital-music executive.

Gorog's latest move doesn't seem destined to quiet the naysayers. On May 1, the Los Angeles-based company announced a new Web-based version of its software, along with a new service that lets users listen to any song among its catalog of 2 million songs absolutely free -- so long as they don't want to listen to any one song more than five times.

While Napster's share price had risen 30% since Jan. 1, based on expectations for a Web-based service, the actual unveiling did little to keep the momentum going. The stock closed at $4.61 on May 1, virtually unchanged from its previous close.

Source

Microsoft is Preparing for Battle

2006-04-28T15:43:00.000-07:00

Microsoft reported strong third-party return development on Thursday, but analysts uttered the company also telegraphed a important heighten in cost, an suspicion that it was preparing to take on its big online rivals, Google and Yahoo.

Microsoft's consummate executive, Steven A. Ballmer, giving the keynote lecture at a conference for Web developers and designers in Paris once.

The company reported a 13 percent exacerbate in sales for the partition, to $10.9 billion, and a 16 percent show oneself in net income, to $2.98 billion, or 31 cents a share, from $2.56 billion, or 28 cents, in the period a stage earlier.

The emolument were 2 cents a share below what analysts surveyed by Thomson first bid had foretaste.

The chief financial officer for Microsoft, Chris Liddell, said: "Over all for the region, we are very happy near the uninterrupted market momentum we're seeing. pl is accelerating for the period."

still a bullish stance on wages, Microsoft evidently surprised analysts by predicting significantly loftier outgoings in the next fiscal stage. Its shares, which had gained 15 cents, to $27.25, in routine traffic, fell on the expectancy of tonier Often, exception more than 6 percent after hours, to $25.50.

Executives also said they did not see any immediate increase in perquisite on the horizon even as Microsoft prepared for its largest release of new deal in in more than five years.

The company said once again that the rehabilitate for its new managing system software, Windows range, would not be ready during January.

For the first time, the company offered guidance on the coming year; its 2007 pecuniary phase starts in July.

Streaming MP3's being banned?

2006-04-27T13:20:00.000-07:00

The Washington Post reports that Senators Feinstein (D-Cal.) and Graham (R-S.C.) have introduced S. 2644, dubbed the PERFORM Act, that is aimed at punishing satellite radio for offering its subscribers devices capable of recording off the air.

Buried in the bill, however, is a provision that would effectively require music webcasters to use DRM-laden streaming formats, rather than the MP3 streaming format used by Live365, Shoutcast, and many smaller webcasters (like Santa Monica's KCRW and Seattle's KEXP). The streaming radio stations included in iTunes also rely on MP3 streams (since Apple isn't about to license the Real or Microsoft streaming codecs).

Today, webcasters that want to transmit major label music are entitled to do so under a statutory license (administered by SoundExchange) set out in section 114(d) of the Copyright Act. So long as they follow the rules and pay a royalty, webcasters can play whatever music they like, using whatever streaming format they like.

Source

Future Computer Chips Might Have a Micro Pump

2006-04-26T18:52:00.000-07:00

Some engineers at Purdue University have invented tiny "micro-pump" cooling device that can be used to circulate coolant throughout the channels etched on an individual chip. The prototype chip contains numerous water filled micro-channels, grooves that are about the width of a human hair. The channels are also covered with hundreds of electrodes that receive varying voltage pulses in such a way that a traveling electric field is created in each individual channel. The traveling field creates ions, or electrically charged atoms and molecules, which are dragged along by the moving field.

Source

Free software from Yahoo turns your PC into DVR

2006-04-26T14:29:00.000-07:00

The software, Yahoo Go for TV, is free to download. After the software is installed, people plug their computer into their television's video and audio input connections. The computer can then record and play back shows on the TV just like with a standalone DVR. Consumers can also play DVDs, music, photos or other downloaded content.

The cost of a few cables and TV tuner card, in comparison with the hundreds of dollars being shelled out for DVD players or DVRs, could lure consumers away from DVR competitors like TiVo. And many industry leaders see TV-computer combinations as the portal for reaching consumers.

Microsoft said recently that its Windows XP Media Center software is outselling the standard edition of the software, and Hewlett-Packard announced last year that it is developing technology to let high-definition televisions directly access digital content from home computers.

In other news:

* Hotmail's new address

* TV stations fret over HD

* Children teaching teachers about tech

* News.com Extra: Are we ready for ultra-mobile PCs?

* Video: Robotic giraffe wanders Maker Faire

The Yahoo software, as of yet, only runs on Windows and requires a computer with 20GB of disk space to store recorded programs, 512MB of RAM and a 1GHz processor.

The DVR feature on Go for TV also requires a TV tuner card and connector cables for connecting to a TV monitor. Yahoo also suggests using a remote control, which usually comes standard with the purchase of most TV tuner cards. While the software works with any TV signal, Yahoo recommends a 1.5mbps broadband connection for best results.

Television listings are provided via a Yahoo Go for TV interface. Users are prompted to give their ZIP code during setup, so that the proper service provider can be chosen. Yahoo Go for TV updates the listings daily. Those who already use TiVo can still use the Go for TV digital video recording feature by simply connecting each component to a different video input outlet. One system will not interfere with the other, as long as they each have access to the TV signal.

Last year, Yahoo partnered with TiVo so that TiVo subscribers could browse and schedule downloads remotely via the Internet. Yahoo has not released any information on how this release affects that relationship.

The Yahoo Go for TV software works in conjunction with many of Yahoo's other Yahoo Go media products, such as Yahoo Launchcast, a radio and music subscription service, and Flickr, Yahoo's photo-sharing site. In addition, Go for TV lets people view photos from any online service and to listen to music from CDs or digital-music libraries already stored on the linked computer.

Last week, Yahoo announced its purchase of Meedio's technology and intellectual property. Houston-based Meedio's software integrates videos, photos and music for digital home media systems. At the time of the announcement, some industry watchers speculated that Meedio would enable Yahoo to offer a similar system.

Source

Computer generated scientific paper accepted

2006-04-25T15:21:00.000-07:00

Real artificial intelligence it was not, but a student prank still managed to get the better of some human intelligences last week, when a computer-generated piece of gibberish was accepted as a genuine scientific paper.

Sick of receiving spam emails requesting submissions to the 2005 World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics - which charges $390 for each attendee - students Jeremy Stribling, Daniel Aguayo and Maxwell Krohn of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology wrote a program to generate a nonsense paper.

Starting with skeleton sentences, pools of nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs, and a random assortment of computer science jargon, the program produced a grammatically correct yet utterly nonsensical paper titled: "Rooter: a methodology for the typical unification of access points and redundancy". "This isn't artificial intelligence, it's the dirt-simplest way we could think to do this," Stribling says.

The conference organisers say that the paper was sent to human reviewers, who never commented on it, so it ended up being automatically accepted. The conference has now banned the paper. But the pranksters are still planning to give a computer-generated talk at the conference by persuading a human speaker to let them take his or her place.

Source

FREE 14 day Eve Online Pass, no strings

2006-04-24T21:20:00.000-07:00

Play Eve online 14 days for free, with no credit card required. This RPG is set far in the future when humans get stuck on the other side of a black hole, in a virgin universe. Nerds and space enthusiasts alike will love this game, especially for it's realism. Outer space is actual size, and I am serious when I say that. It took me 15 minutes just to approach a planet in my spacecraft. Of course there is warp speed, but only for great distances. Follow this link: Free 14 day Eve Online Trial

Is the Xbox 360's price to low?

2006-04-24T19:18:00.000-07:00

E3 is on the horizon. Price announcements for both PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Revolution are seemingly right around the corner. System configurations are now mostly known although certainly Sony might fiddle with PS3's configuration before release. Many of the hardcore gamers who don't have a problem with giving more of their hard earned cash to Microsoft have already plunked down $400 or more on an Xbox 360 depending how badly they wanted one. Strangely, I've run across a lot of folks I don't think of as hardcore at all who already have one of those hot white consoles under the TV.

Before this new generation began, rumors of higher priced games and a higher priced initial console buy swirled around the 360 launch. When Microsoft finally announced the price, many people including myself thought that $400 was simply too much to ask for a brand new machine, especially one from an also-ran console maker in a Sony-dominated market. I have completely flip-flopped on this after the last holiday season.

I think Microsoft didn't charge enough for 360.

The beginning of a console generation has typically been for those with deep pockets or an unhealthy hardcore jones for videogames. These people are willing to smack down big bucks for the latest technology. The price of 360 was too low to keep the launch confined to that group and it was a big mistake in my opinion. With a higher price tag, Microsoft would have made more money, made sure sellouts wouldn't have lasted for months after Christmas and still sold through all the units they had to sell before the holiday. The demand for a new system was far higher than most people anticipated, especially given the early demise of the original Xbox, a system that will probably be gone from store shelves by February 2007.

In addition to those positives for Microsoft's bottom line, the original Xbox would've looked far more attractive in 2005. Even with a limited release schedule for last holiday season, the original box probably would've sold better with a bigger price disparity in place between it and the new machine. Folks who looked at $400 as reasonable might have backed off at $500 or more as a list price, especially those that didn't already have an Xbox at home but did own a PS2. Essentially, by making the price $400 for the Premium Pack (the "real" 360), it was priced low enough to be mass-market right out of the gate. This one simple fact causes all the problems Microsoft experienced at the holiday and even represents the first big mistake of the transition to new consoles. Microsoft cut the generation short unnecessarily because they undercharged for Xbox 360, hurting both their bottom line and everyone else's at the same time.

So what happened to make even $400 too low a price for the next generation? Gaming grew up.

You have to look at home entertainment trends. People spend a lot more time and money in general on entertainment, especially at home. It used to be surround sound setups for their den, now it's a massive HDTV to go with it. These buys are "expensive" but often easily justifiable because of the inordinate amount of time people use these devices. Even the folks with lower incomes are buying very good TVs and the latest technology to pair with them. The high end is now the middle. The low end is nearly unprofitable commodity stuff that five years ago was cutting edge. Suddenly, a $400 game system with $60 games and accessories price-hiked by $10 or more from last generation isn't really that much to pay because of the sheer amount of time it will get used. I can see this outlay for 360 being justified in homes that are obviously spending beyond their means to some extent but definitely keeping up with the joneses at all costs.

I think what's happened is there's this group of folks in my age group who grew up with videogames and of course never left them behind. We're still playing and we're not going to stop anytime soon. As long as the spouse is conducive to the expense ("Pick up a new pair of shoes if you want, baby... I'm getting this new videogame."), we're going to keep on buying. We're also doing pretty well for ourselves. Growing up in the era of technology, we're comfortable with it and we've got jobs based around it. Buying more of it is how we entertain ourselves. Essentially, times have changed from even the launch of the last generation.

The greying of gamers is driving more purchases of games and gaming systems.

t's going to take a massive economic downturn to change this trend. That's why I think Sony should be aggressively high with the price of PS3. Push that newly priced at $129.99 PlayStation 2 into every single home possible by sending the message that right now, the next generation of gaming is SUPER expensive. Send the message that if you want to play the best games at the top of the technology curve, you're going to have to pay for it, just like every console before this. Make good money right away and give yourself plenty of room for price drops because clearly the mass market price is now much higher than it was before. Yes, I'm saying gouge your early adopters and make the system a luxury item again. I mean, why not? What's the benefit of pricing lower and selling out anyway? No one who wants one will be sitting there saying "It's great it's so cheap!" if they can't buy one. They're going to be moaning about the eBay prices that you could've been charging for your own goods right out of the gate instead of fueling that resale market of losers who lined up days in advance to get one to finance their son's college books for the year.

When it comes to Nintendo, they've already succeeded in breaking out of the technology game. Revolution is no longer mentioned in the media (print or online) in discussions of PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. That mental association is already broken. They're on their own road. Pricing for them becomes an issue of impulse buy so a lower price makes sense. They want the Revolution to be purchased by almost anyone at any time because the technology inside almost assures the system of being easily produced in ridiculously high quantities and a launch of millions available on day one if they choose. Instead of kids getting a Game Boy for Easter (a huge item at Easter believe it or not), they're going to get Revolution. Price the games at the usual $50 for top tier titles and everything's a-ok. It's amazing to me how quickly the press have cut Nintendo out of system discussion, but you can pick up any print publication and see for yourself. It's already happened. Nintendo and their products are always talked about separate from the PS3 and 360 ones, often without any comparison whatsoever. I personally find this mental shift over the last year fascinating.

Despite the recent downturn in sales when comparing year to year, things have never looked brighter. Gaming is huge but the console transition was handled poorly. Expect this holiday season to create huge demand that will make 2007 and 2008 into massive years for the industry. If the price is right, expect Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo to also end up with hats made of money.

Long Shot is a weekly column here at GamerDad. Dave Long's work has been published in Computer Games Magazine and various websites. The Longshot Logo by Lee Johnson. Click the target symbol above to access the archive.

Source

Weird "Booms" Across the US

2006-04-24T19:13:00.000-07:00

First there's ice falling in the SF area, and now there are some weird 'booms' being reported across the US? OMG, it's the apocalypse!!!

read more | digg story

Running an ISP in a warzone

2006-04-24T10:31:00.000-07:00

SGT David A Coughanour is currently right now serving in Iraq where he runs IT operations for a small chunk of the Sunni triangle. One of the major projects that we have accomplished here is setting up an ISP that supports only 350 subscribers. It has also survived multiple mortar attacks, and is built entirely on Linux.

Link

Opera 9 Beta Test Drive

2006-04-23T19:53:00.000-07:00

Opera released a version 9 public beta yesterday with a handful of nice new features like widgets and site-specific preferences. Check out this test drive of the browser.

read more | digg story

Code Monkey Like Fritos

2006-04-23T11:43:00.000-07:00

Jonathan Coulton's latest song in his thing-a-week series, Code Monkey, is an anthem for under-appreciated developers everywhere.

read more | digg story

Computer Bug Symptons and Fixing Them

2006-04-21T12:31:00.000-07:00

Long ago, when software first became a product anyone could purchase, computer bugs were fixed before they were released on the market. But with such complex software on the market these days, there is just no possible way for the programmers to fix every bug before they release it, or it would never get released. Usually these computer bugs prevent the software that is causing it, from operating properly, but sometimes they also have other symptoms.

A major symptom that bugs cause is operating system instability. This basically means that your OS will crash or freeze sometimes or maybe all the time when you are using your computer. On Windows a bug will cause a blue screen to come up, stating whether it is your hardware or software that caused the error. To get out of this screen you have to restart your computer, which means all work will be lost unless saved before the blue screen shows up. For Linux a message called kernel panic will be displayed, stating what caused the error.

The next symptom of a computer bug is application instability. A lot of applications crash because of bugs, but the good news is you won?t have to restart your computer, just the application. The bad news is any work you were doing on that application will be lost if not saved before the error occurred.

Learn how to fix computer bugs by following that link.

Nerd's Parents Don't Want Son to Be Popular

2006-04-20T23:20:00.000-07:00

In Mundelein Illinois Lawrence and Marcia Sprouse are worried that their 15 year old son, who is a nerd, is becoming popular. They are afraid for him, and don't like the fact that he has started hanging out with Jocks and going to parties on the weekend. I find this very funny because usually it is the opposite, but his parent's have said that they are mostly worried about him doing drugs and alcohol. I am a nerd, and was one in high school, but still would have liked to party once in awhile, so his parents should lay off.

Read more here.

New Evidence Suggests Mars May Have Had Life

2006-04-20T21:16:00.000-07:00

A new mineral history report of Mars is saying that the planet started out relatively wet and temperate, underwent a major climate shift, and then evolved into a cold, dry place strewn with acidic rock. Jean-Pierre Bibring, an astrophysicist from the University of Paris, led the team of scientists from France, Italy, Russia, Germany and the United States. The investigators pieced together the mineral history using data from Mars Express, a mission launched by the European Space Agency.created with Mars Express mission data, Mars would only have been hospitable to life in its infancy.

The first era lasted from the birth of Mars, about 4.6 billion years ago, until about 4 billion years ago. The oldest rock - exposed by erosion, impact or faulting - shows the presence of clay minerals. These minerals, such as chamosite and nontronite, need abundant water, moderate temperatures and low acidity to form.

So, if life did exist long ago on Mars, where would it be? Scientist suspect that the evidence would most likely be found in clay rich rocks and soil north of the Syrtis Major volcanic plateau, in Nili Fossae, and in the Marwth Vallis Regions. That is where the next landers will most likely land.

This makes the computer nerd happy, and you know why, because this means that we might run into some evidence of an alien species in our lifetime. Yay!

Syrtis Major volcanic plateau

Amazing WoW Character

2006-04-20T20:44:00.000-07:00

This is my friends World of Warcraft character, and man is he bad ass!

Firefly TV Show Fans Start a Movement

2006-04-20T19:58:00.000-07:00

For all of us fans of the short lived TV show Firefly, and the movie that followed called Serenity, then you will definitely want to check out Can'tStopTheSerenity.com. They are starting a movement that is trying to show charity screenings to everyone on June 23, all across the world, to prove to Universal that the franchise is popular and can make money. If this doesn't work, then their may never be a sequel and we might not ever see our heroes again! Join the effort today and make it happen.

P.S. If you haven't seen Firefly or Serenity, watch them immediately! Best TV show and movie ever.

Halo 3 Inside Information

2006-04-20T19:50:00.000-07:00

This is kind of a heard it from my friends, brothers, sisters boyfriend type of thing, but they were right about certain information on Halo 2, so I thought I would share. All I was told was that in Halo 3 the pistol will be as powerful as a rocket. Pretty cool huh!

Futurama greenlit for 26 new episodes

2006-04-20T17:12:00.000-07:00

Billy West (the voice of Fry, Dr. Zoidberg and others) releases more inside info. According to a post he made on his message board, Futurama is going to be renewed for television with 26 episodes. No word as to what network it will be on or which cast members will rejoin the show.

read more digg story

103 inch Plasma TV

2006-04-20T13:20:00.000-07:00

And you thought your TV was big, just wait until Panasonic releases their 103-inch, yes you read that correctly, Plasma TV before the end of the year. The price for this big ass TV has yet to be announced, but I imagine only the rich will be able to afford it. In case you are wondering, it has a high definition resolution of 1920 pixels by 1080 pixels. Also, they obviously did this because LG and Samsung held claim to the largest Plasma displays at 102 inches. One more inch is all they went up I guess.

Meedio Bought By Yahoo

2006-04-19T21:16:00.000-07:00

Meedio, a company that makes software that turns your PC into a DVR (digital video recorder) like TiVo, sold most of their technology to Yahoo they announced on Monday. This is good news for Yahoo, but bad news for existing Meedio users. Yahoo has launched "Yahoo Go" and they plan to offer a TV portion, which is not a Go yet (no pun intended), but when it is Meedio will be the software that people use. Existing users are not happy because Meedio has currently been slowing down support and services, plus they even stopped selling their products.

On a side note, Meedio has planned on changing their name to PsyKoh, and several of the top executives have joined Yahoo's Digital Home sector.

Monitors Made of Oil and Water

2006-04-19T15:50:00.000-07:00

As we all know oil and water don't mix, but they can make remarkably bright colors. A company of Philips called Liquavista, has decided to try and commercialize a technique that can make screens and monitors based on the fact that water and oil don't mix.

How does this new technology work? CNET explains below:

In electrowetting, each pixel cell contains a small amount of dyed oil and water and a layer of a material that can be converted from hydrophobic (water repelling) to hydrophilic by applying electricity. When the material is hydrophobic, the water pushes away from it and forces the dyed oil against the surface. The pixel, which has a light source behind it, then projects the color of the dyed oil out.

In hydrophilic mode, the water draws toward the surface, shoving the dyed oil to the side, changing the color projecting from the pixel. Flipping the pixels rapidly allows a screen containing millions of the pixel cells to create an image.

I think this is big news because if they succeed, it will replace LCD monitors and be much cheaper too.

Philips Patents Forced Ad Viewing

2006-04-18T19:17:00.000-07:00

Philips has just filed a patent for a new technology that will force people to watch commercials on TV by not allowing them to turn the channel! In fact you cannot change the channel or do anything else until the commercial is over! Plus, even if you use TiVo or another digital recording device to record your TV show, you will not be able to fast forward! Whew that is a lot of exclamation points, but come on, that is borderline civil rights violation in my opinion. Also, just about every company that advertises on TV still makes money from their commercials, so basically Philips found a way so they can all make more money while annoying us more.

So how will this technology work you ask? It will take advantage of Multimedia Home Platform, a technology that is behind interactive television in many countries around the world. This MHP software is actually built into most modern digital TV receivers and recorders. MHP looks for flags that are put in a broadcast, and displays custom messages on your TV that let's the viewer have additional features and info about a TV show. The patent actually can use that current MHP technology to do this forced ad viewing. So technically this means that this can be automatically added to your current home TV and recording device. They are planning to offer an option so you can pay money to take back control of your TV, but who wants another fee.

AT&T offers video on-demand through DSL

2006-04-18T17:46:00.000-07:00

AT&T has teamed up with Akimbo Systems to offer video on demand through DSL. This is only available to customers of Homezone, AT&T's new TV service for DSL users. Homezone is not yet available to everyone, but they expect to launch this new service in it's 13 state region in the summer. This new service will be like iTunes is to an iPod, but instead of music it will be videos, and instead of an iPod it will be a set top box. How much will this cost you wonder? Surprisingly only $9.99 a month, and $199 for the box. By the way, this special box will be able to hold 150 hours of video!