Posted 11/07/2009 at 02:18:43pm

I guess someone else decided there was a problem with "Intel's Insides..." It's not THAT funny, but I think that Intel & (even more so) Microsoft, are so dominant that they need to hold even more closely to ethics & standards. I'm basically saying that they Deserve to be roasted on their shoddier habits & practices. I'd say the same thing, if there was a similar charge that could be made against both nVidia AND ATI, at the same time. IMHO, it's about how much of the market share they have, and how many short-cuts & dirty tricks they've pulled to keep/grow that Share... but most especially the things that they won't Freely admit to doing; and/or put so much Spin on --that it comes out as Double-talk. The site is funny enough, so I have no problem with it, as long as it's not libelous... A website like this ---run by nVidia, is pretty ironic to me. I've heard NO mention of this kind of practice BY nVidia ----but I don't think We'd be too surprised, if it came out that They did this sort of thing too [or had done, at some time in the Past]. Nothing against nVidia ---as I still think the nForce2 chipset in my last motherboard was just about the best Ever! I'm also still using an nVidia vid-card, and I'm thrilled that they still have drivers for the old TNT series cards that various members of my family still use.

Posted 11/06/2009 at 12:39:21am

I'm still holding onto my dream of a Vector computer system (with x86 or x64 compatibility mode?) It would be wicked cool, especially if you could have an nVidia board and use ATI or other brand cards for the actual video card(s). I'd be surprised if nVidia can afford to pull that miracle off, though ---as a regular consumer machine (not deep enough pockets). I'd just like to see more of the Genuine Innovation that things like the Atom chip show can work and sell...

Posted 11/06/2009 at 12:10:09am

I still love/use my GDX 5.1's, in spite of MPC's review of them... I love that I have one SPDIF, instead of 6 wires going into the back of my PC (and my xbox360)... but the nest of wires coming out of the woofer IS a drag. Every time I see something about wireless audio, I wonder what happened to all optical cabling? I'd much rather have the ability to have 100+ feet of cabling (so it's all hidden in the walls), with Zero worries about interference or attenuation. The interference my digital television picks up from the Neighbor kid's CB and my other neighbor's lawnmower, has pretty much shown me that interference is a Real Bitch --and all around me. Plus, what's the point of 'wireless,' if each speaker still needs a power jack or battery? (I would burn through bushels of batteries...)

Posted 11/02/2009 at 05:57:42pm

Newspaper columnists should have the same kind/quality of rights as movie or music makers... I'm not a fan of blogs. I'm able to write long, meandering statement & opinions --myself, I'm not interested in too many other people's similar work. Newpapers should have been way ahead on this stuff, and had the earliest on-line distribution models. I'm sure at start-up, web publishing would cost more ---but a lot of papers had huge audiences to reach. Those people are still out there --and frequently a "local" classified AD is still better than eBay. The 'papers just need to figure out how the sell it --and remember that they can't ask for $5/month from someone who won't even see 1/4 of what they release. They're right, about needing the protection of Copyrights. I'm just not sure about the "don't summarize us..." thing. Are they going to start copyrighting sentences? (Will O.J.'s Fan get the Rights to "Absolutely, 100% not-guilty..."?) Too many Newpapers got used to being "the only game in town," for a long time. Welcome to Free Market Capitalism.

Posted 11/02/2009 at 05:38:24pm

I didn't think there'd be any Pro texting comments... (live & learn, I guess.) We shouldn't need a Law, to require that any driver pay attention to what their moving vehicle is doing. I'm in favor of Laws on using a cell phone, because they draw too much attention, for too long. For those who quite naturally say "oh no, it doesn't..." Do you STOP, then, if/when You drop your phone --while using it?? I think most of us will go 'groping around,' blindly (or worse --take a look) to avoid stepping on something like that. "Hand's free," is better ---but a lot of people will still end up groping for some button or another, when it's not making them a better driver.

Posted 10/26/2009 at 11:39:22am

The GS gives "computer repair" a bad name. I can't figure out if they just radically over-charge, prefer to sell people a new machine, have massive insurance, or their estimates are based on the dire worst-case. I live in a small town, fix computers, and I'm delighted to have them for a competitor though. I expect much the same from Walmart... but if/when Walmart has quality people working, they run a very fine operation. The best I've seen, have always been the small stores, however --mostly in rural towns, in Missouri and across the South. --That's going back years, though; to before every store had to be a "super" Walmart. (BB, on the whole, used to be better too, maybe for similar reasons.) It's just my guess, but I believe that how well the management makes the people you see feel "valued" makes a huge difference. (It gets really bad, in large markets, where there's a Walmart every 15 miles.) The bit about Service Plans, makes me think they will continue their tradition of Bigger + Crappier = Better...

Posted 10/18/2009 at 11:32:55pm

I think Google needs to take the Bing ADs to heart, give us a logic tree to narrow "matches" down; and not tell me there are 500k matches ---only to stop me viewing more than 15-18 pages of them. Maybe they should buy the US Postal Service contractor, and start laying a grid of fiber optic cable across the country --while they're at it. (Ooops, I think I just proposed Bankruptcy...)

Posted 10/09/2009 at 10:28:23pm

1. Since the price of "factory repair," on notebooks has been sky-high for a long time, a lot of independent repair people won't crack open a notebook ---or only if it's to replace the LCD or keyboard; Low profit margins on these machines makes a lot of sense to me. (Relatively, they're kind of "disposable" PCs.) 2. If they were/are willing to sell netbooks on such narrow margins, it kinda sounds to me like the manufacturers --maybe-- can afford to sell all their "portable" products on similar margins. Maybe they could have, quite some time ago --they've just preferred to maximize profit. I read this as Capitalist "market forces." It's not like they could stock-pile the components for these, instead of selling off stock, and expect to get a bigger profit in 6-12 months. (It's possible they could, but I certainly wouldn't put MY money on that.) It's nice, that the consumer is benefiting from these things, for once...

Posted 09/29/2009 at 11:03:41pm

If they can't sell these to college kids, I don't see how they expect to market these... Back in the Day, I would have loved to be able to get away from the whole: $400 worth of books every semester, which [if I use them gently] I can sell back to the bookstore for $150... (I wonder how a $100 textbook prices out, for the Kindle??) I have to admit, for Engineering & Sciences, you really need to be able to go over the examples quickly and flip back to tables, graphs, and references... That's a lot to ask from $100 worth of processor and a $350 screen. I like the concept of these machines, but I think the pricing is out of whack. (both for the unit, and for titles) I'm not sure I've yet heard what the actual "printing" cost difference is. I have to admit, I'm very curious to hear some actual numbers ---including if a book goes "best seller" and a major percentage of those copies are for Kindle.

Posted 09/28/2009 at 01:48:25pm

I guess a lot of people here would say I qualify as an AMD/ATI fanboy... If AMD makes a CPU of comparable Wattage, and the price/perfomance ratio is also comparable to Intel ---I go with AMD, because I'd rather not just let either company use the "whatever we feel like charging, is the reasonable market price," system. It looks to me like the upcoming release of AMD procs will finally be down to the 90W range. I'm not shopping for a $400+ cpu, maybe that's why my view differs so much from the typical around here... Also ---If Intel was giving "sweet-heart" deals, at/below manfacture cost, to OEMs for exclusificity ---that's My definition of anti-competitive... especially if the OEMs ended up using more Intel motherboards and chipsets, as a result. I also have a major history of getting really pissed off at the OEMs, over the fact that their "cheaper" PCs tend to be loaded with crappy chipsets (and their issues), some "fluff," & otherwise Absolute Minimum specs... If you spend $1000 on a oem PC, you can't know if you're getting "an $800 machine" with a good chipset & decent specs, or the cut-rate version of the $1500 machine --loaded with sub-par accessories/peripherals to make it look like less of a POS. ----but that's a separate issue, as long as Intel isn't pulling the anti-competitive crap.