$100 Home Server Offers Hacker/Hobby Toolkit

Marvell announced a $100 plug-in server this week.  Plug it into the wall and attach the Gigabit Ethernet and you have a Linux kernel-based server with 512 MB memory and 512 MB storage.  Five watt maximum power draw, always on, remote access to storage ... you get the idea.

Way cool.

A developer's toolkit will be released soon, so you can play with this fascinating hobbyist platform.  Now you can host your own web site in the volume of a beer can.

Interesting News from Tom's Hardware and Some Good Deals from Seagate Outlet

>>Windows 7 RC1 Shooting for April 10 Release?<<

AMD Unveils 'Istanbul' Six-Shooter Opteron

Ballmer: No Microsoft Phone, But WinMo 7 Coming

Microsoft Working on Windows 7 for Netbooks

Microsoft Announces SP2 RC for Vista, Server 2008

Asus' Mammoth 18.4" W90 Laptop Now Available

Windows Beating Linux Netbooks
It ought to be something of a watershed moment for Linux, right? The scalable OS was finally given its due, being sold right alongside Windows as a configurable option on the wildly popular mini notebooks. Something happened along the way though--something, which, when you think about it, isn't all that surprising. People stuck with Windows. In a big way

- Microsoft Reveals New Windows 7 Changes February 26 –
Seagate.com Outlet Sale: Hard drives from $30 + $8 s&h

Seagate.com knocks up to 62% off a selection of internal and external hard drives in its Outlet Center. Shipping starts at $7.99, but orders of $150 or more ship for free. Sale ends March 2. The deals:
Seagate ST3160023A-RK 160GB IDE 3.5" Internal for $25.99
Seagate ST900803FGA1E1-RK Freeagent Go 80GB USB 2.0 for $29.99
Seagate ST3300631A-RK 300GB IDE 3.5" Internal for $39.99
Seagate ST303204N1A1AS-RK 320GB Serial ATA 3.5" Internal for $39.99
Seagate ST305004FPA1E2-RK FreeAgent 500GB USB 2.0/FW800/eSATA for $64.99

The Netbook Effect: How Cheap Little Laptops Hit the Big Time

I have been thinking about getting a Netbook for some time. I like the fact they are small and easy to carry.
I also have been saying for years "How fast does our computer need to be? I can only type so fast."
On that note "Regular computers are so fast, you really can't tell the difference between 1.6 giga and 2 giga," says Andy Tung, vice president of US sales for MSI, the Taiwanese maker of the Wind netbook. "We can tell the difference between one second and two seconds, but not between 0.0001 and 0.0002 second." For most of today's computing tasks, the biggest performance drags aren't inside the machine. They're outside. Is your Wi-Fi signal strong? Is Twitter down again?
I have a Dell D600 laptop that has a 1.6Ghz processor and it does everything I need. My email is on my main computer at home, so when on the road I access it here. The same with most of the things I do. I use Firefox and use FoxMarks so all of my bookmarks are the same no matter what computer I'm on.

My laptop works very well and I can't justify just going out and buying a Netbook just because I think they are cool.

My decision is, do I want a Netbook or a smart phone? I can see that having access to the web all of the time is an advantage. With a flash drive it boots fast so you don't have to wait for 3 minutes before you can look something up.
The next question for most people is: Windows XP home or can you live with Ubuntu? There is about a $50.00 difference in price. (I'm thinking Ubuntu will work for me.)
I have just found a new Netbook online for $285 with Windows XP Home and 1 GB of RAM. It even has a web cam built in. (Acer Aspire ONE A110-1834 Atom N270 1.6GHz 1GB 16GB SSD 8.9" XP Home w/WebCam, it is from the link on our web site for Geeks.com.)
The biggest question I have is: Do I want to spend the money when my Dell works great for me?

Is a Netbook in your future?
AlaskaJoe

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 02-22-09

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 02-22-09. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific that's 1PM to 4PM Eastern. Join us for the live show and chat. If you prefer, you can download the same MP3 file here via ftp.

Links from the Gregg Zone

1) To start off the week an article I ran across that may offer some good news on the environment. It seems the jungles takes over abandon farm lands rather quickly. As more and more people are moving to the cities in search of what they perceive as better life styles, the land they leave behind reverts very quickly. This trend is causing some environmentalists to reconsider the severity of rain forest loss. http://www.iht.com
2) Troll sent me a really nice link on black holes. Trying to comprehend the idea of a black hole is one of those exercises that leave me with a total brain drain. This site can help, but I still have trouble comprehending the concept. A very detailed site though and well organized. Thanks, Troll you really do send me some interesting stuff, I appreciate your effort and time. http://hubblesite.org
3) I saw this article with what I thought a rather sinister title “ Scientist Looks to Weaponize Ball Lightening”, I mean this sounds kind of biblical to me. I imagine Thor, or some other God hurling lightening bolts at people he does not like. I am sorry but I don’t like it. Anyway here is a link to the article http://blog.wired.com When I read it I realized my understanding of ball lightening was very limited so I Googled some found this very cool site all about ball lightening, even how to make your own, now just where did I put that liability disclaimer. Anyway do not blame me if you lay waste to the neighborhood. http://www.eskimo.com
4) This is one Joe came up with, we were sitting here talking on Skype when he found it and sent it to me. An article about a guy that thought he had found Atlantis on Google maps. Turns out to be much ado about nothing, but it was interesting to be able to load the coordinates, and within minutes be looking at what started the whole deal. Two links first one the article, the second the location on Google Maps. http://www.telegraph.co.uk ……At the map site you need to set the slide bar about mid way. http://maps.google.com/
5) Trouble finding a geek link this week, so I will post a link sent to me by a geek, thanks again Troll. This one has been in my blog folder for a while I just have not gotten around to using it yet. Goes to show you just how much you can find on the net if you look. This is a state by state, city by city listing of all the speed traps in the neighborhood. Great read for anyone you know that drives a cab, truck, or anything else with four wheels. http://www.speedtrap.org

24 GB PCs Available Soon

Kingston is getting to announce 4 GB DDR3 DIMMs in their ValueRAM product line, no less.  Custom PC (UK) reported that Kingston demoed the new memory in a six-slot Core i7 machine, with nine virtual machines popping right up as the demo switched from task to task.

It won't be cheap to load up a 24 GB machine -- $2,000 at today's prices -- but DDR3 prices are down 35% in the last three months and will continue falling.

The masses like us can expect virtualization to become a lot more common as memory -- the key ingredient in virtual machine performance -- becomes cheaper.  Business users of workstations, Rejoice!

I can also tip my own hat, recalling that four years ago I predicted the crossover to 64-bit operating systems would occur in 2010.  With cheaper, denser memory such as the Kingston Value RAM 4 GB parts, that prediction looks like it's in the bag for mainstream machines next year (performance machines are already running 64-bit OS versions at 6 GB memory and up).

-- Peter

World Declares War on IE6

OK, I maybe overstepped:  Norway, Sweden, and Australia sparked an effort that's spread to Wired.  The goal is to kill off the quirky, ancient (circa 2001), and security-challenged Internet Explorer 6 browser so that the web's content developers will be a step closer to play-nicely-together standards.

Folks, if you are using IE 6, even Microsoft wants you to upgrade (to IE 7).  But don't overlook FireFox, Safari, and Opera.

Keep it safe out there, Y'All.

Smart woman bests lawyers with cat

Listeners to the On Computers radio show will soon learn that there are a lot of cats in our otherwise geeky lives.

The referenced article is a how-to by Anne Loucks.  Exasperated by arcane for no good purpose End User License Agreements (EULAs), Anne documents the steps on how to get your cat to electronically sign the EULA.  So the lawyers can sue your cat, right?

Take that, Adobe!

Anonymous Caller? That's What You Think

A new service set for launch Tuesday allows cellphone users to unmask the Caller ID on blocked incoming calls, obtaining the phone number, and in some cases the name and address. The service, called TrapCall, is offered by New Jersey's TelTech systems, the company behind the controversial SpoofCard Caller ID spoofing service. The new service is likely to be even more controversial — and popular. .....

Look But Don't Leap at SSD Boot Drives

The benchmarks in this article point to a potential major stumbling block in using solid-state disks (SSDs) in ordinary PCs. The Achilles heals with SSD disks are write speeds and longevity.  Vendors do all sorts of technological tricks to speed up SSD writes (reads are fabulously fast). But SSDs have a finite write life.  My experience is that the real world life may be measured in months, not the years we are used to.

I just yanked a pair of Intel X25 SSD disks after less than six months of daily use.  They ran as a RAID 0 pair in my daily driver PC.  I think I hosed them by trying a apply restore images to recover from an un-bootable system.  As the article says, the more you write small files over an SSD, the more internally fragmented it becomes. (And no, you should never use a defrag utility on SSD's.)  The SSD drives were Intel X25M engineering samples, so your milage may vary. But read the article anyway before dropping your hard-earned cash on the barrel head.

So, as Joe posted below about SSD prices dropping, beware a technology bargain you do not understand.  I'll try to recover the SSDs after I rebuild my system with a conventional hard drive.

Vista to Windows 7 Free Upgrade Plans Leaked?

As was what Microsoft offered prior to the release of Windows Vista, the software giant is plotting upgrade options for those who want to purchase a new PC soon, but without being left in the dust once Windows 7 ships.ZoomFrom reports of the beta experience, Windows 7 is the new Microsoft OS that everyone’s been waiting for -- for both XP and Vista users. Some consumers can’t afford to wait, however, need to purchase new hardware soon. For those such consumer, and those on the fence, Microsoft will offer a program where those who purchase a new PC

Microsoft Puts $250K Bounty on Worm Author
Microsoft is putting on the pressure in a movement that could see the catch of the Conficker worm author – the worst Internet worm outbreak in years. A bounty payment of $250,000 is on the table
Microsoft is also working with security researchers, domain name registrars, and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in efforts to take down all of the servers that have been launching the Conficker attacks. ICANN is a non-profit corporation that oversees Internet addressing


Judge OKs Psystar's Countersuit Against Apple
Earlier in the week we reported that a German company was following in the footsteps of Mac clone company Psystar, and offering machines running OS X on non Apple-branded hardware. A federal judge last week signed an order giving Psystar the OK to amend its countersuit against Apple. On Friday U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup ruled that Psystar may change that countersuit, which originally accused Apple of breaking antitrust laws, to instead ague that Apple has stretched copyright laws by tying the Mac operating system to its hardware.The OS X EULA states that the software can only be installed on Apple-branded machines and according to Apple, Psystar is violating that licensing agreement. However, Psystar says that’s akin to saying Honda owners can only drive on Honda-approved roads and filed an anti-trust suit.

Intel's 32nm Core i7 Coming this Year
On a telephone briefing today, Intel announced that its 32 nm processors will begin production later this year, specifically in the 4th quarter of 2009.
Intel is in the process of bringing Core i7 down to a 32 nm fabrication process and will begin production and shipping of the processor in the second half of 2009. The new 32 nm platform is codenamed Westmere and is comprised of two 32 nm Core i7 processors and a new chipset family called the Intel 5-series (P55 and P57). With the move to 32 nm, Intel will free up room on the package to integrate graphics. With Westmere-based Core i7 processors, the first series of products will come with a 45nm integrated graphics core and memory controller, on a separate die, on the same processor.

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 02-15-09

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 02-15-09. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific that's 1PM to 4PM Eastern. Join us for the live show and chat. If you prefer, you can download the same MP3 file here via ftp.

Links from the Gregg Zone

1) I was caught by the headline here, “The Next Big Green Industry?” thinking it would be some fancy new solar twist, new car or hi-tech advance of some sort. Not so they are talking about a ground level easy to get into industry. This is an interesting article if you are looking for a new career, or know someone who lost a job and in need of a new start. The timing seems to be about perfect, anyway an interesting read will be interesting to see if the field develops as well as they predict. http://www.cbsnews.com
2) Crop circles, is a subject that has intrigued me for a long time. They are still popping up world wide, still more in the U.K. than anywhere else. This is another of those anomalies like U.F.O.’s, there is just too many for it to it to be just a couple of guys faking everything to spoof the rest of us. For starters it seems they would have caught more than one or two rather low tech guys with ropes and boards. This is about the best site I have found to keep up with what’s going on with the subject. http://www.cropcircleresearch.com
3) For a future tech link I thought I would use this one, I caught Jay Leno the other night he referenced being able to watch T.V. on your contact lenses. You know me that demanded a Google; sure enough they are saying within the next ten years we will be able to watch T.V., videos on a pair of contact lenses. I would imagine that will include internet also, not that big of a leap. I cannot imagine what that would look like, nor can I decide if I would be interested. But when you think about it, hook it up to a pair of digital binoculars, bingo see for miles, or a digital microscope you can read the fine print on anything. More I think about it the cooler it sounds. http://uwnews.org
4) This is a quickie for the cooks out there. Got a favorite restaurant item, wish you could cook it at home, rather than pay the high price. There are several of these sites out there if you want to Google, this is just one I found that I liked http://www.razzledazzlerecipes.com
5) Last up how about a green phone, well blue phone that is green, actually I am talking about a new phone being unveiled next week at the Mobile World Congress next week in Barcelona. The phone is solar powered no more recharging nightmares. Interesting concept; may be a problem with purses and pockets, but who knows how long it needs to charge. http://news.cnet.com

On Computers Radio Show Podcast 02-08-09

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 02-08-09. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific that's 1PM to 4PM Eastern. Join us for the live show and chat. If you prefer, you can download the same MP3 file here via ftp.

Please note that due to unforeseen circumstances that today's show was a replay from January 4th, 2009.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Due to unforeseen circumstances, today's show will be a replay from January 4, 2009.

Enjoy

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 02-01-09

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 02-01-09. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific that's 1PM to 4PM Eastern. Join us for the live show and chat. If you prefer, you can download the same MP3 file here via ftp.

Links from the Gregg Zone

1) This is not the first time I have used Google for my opening green link, and I need to check in and see what happened to the last one, that was the geothermal technology research project they were involved with. This is something from their monthly news letter, I subscribe to that caught my eye. They have a new city transit overly on Google maps, right now only available in limited city’s world wide one of them Las Vegas so I had a chance to play with it, I liked it very much, will be interesting to see where it goes. Check it out here http://www.google.com.
2) Okay this one opens a question that I find extremely interesting, just a short article but it in my mind it opens a rather large can of worms. I am referring to UFO’S of course. Obama has pledged to open government, ease freedom of information restrictions, to inform the people, well does that include UFO’S. It will be interesting to see, several of our past presidents have waffled around this issue. Saying one thing then being reigned in and back peddling, appearing to yield to a higher power of some sort. Well England released their case files; I did a shot on that a few weeks ago. France preceded them, and Mexico has always been very open, this is going to be very interesting indeed. http://www.stomverbaasd.com
3) Sometimes our entry into the world seems to be just a little out of sync. If I only were I just a little younger, when the internet decided to do its thing. I have always have had an interest in ghost towns, metal detecting for relics, looking for those lost treasures. In my youth, you know another way to say when I had the spunk, energy, and strength to follow that path, locating information was always so difficult. This is one of those sites I wish were available to me thirty years, okay forty years ago. Thanks Troll for a trip down one of those might have been lanes, well maybe I will still find the time, heck they are close enough. http://www.ghosttowngallery.com
4) While I am not to sure how many of you are even aware of this controversy, I just had to post something about it. There is quite a bit of concern in the astrological community about the swearing in of our new president. It was done twice due to the mix-up in the wording. That meant two different times and locations. How will history possibly deal with this, seems to me to be something worth following, if for nothing else just to see how they handle it. Fairly good article here http://politicalastrologyblog.com
5) Okay the geek link here is granted a little weird, but if you consider the implications of this type of applied research, you will have to admit that it is interesting at the very least. This is a video about reassembling robots, but if you let your imagination run a bit I am sure you could come up with a decent plot for a sci-fi movie, maybe two. http://www.boingboing.net

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 01-25-09

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 01-25-09. You can listen live every Sunday from 10AM to 1PM Pacific that's 1PM to 4PM Eastern. Join us for the live show and chat. If you prefer, you can download the same MP3 file here via ftp.

Links from the Gregg Zone

1) While not exactly a green link to start the week, this is a site that just appealed to me. One of the factors of green technology is to make things that are just more efficient. This site sort of fits that bill, somewhat like consumer reports without the subscription price. And, I am sure they do not get into super detail, like consumers, but check it out I think you might like it. http://www.metaefficient.com/
2) Not to sure how I feel about this article, about one of the most likely very few uncontacted tribes left in the world. While interesting, and on some level necessary I suppose to protect them and all. I am not sure why we have to do a paparazzi style fly over, to take pictures and all. This must have shaken them very badly; I remember reading about a tribe in Borneo that started worshiping airplanes because they did not have the ability to understand what they were. http://www.dailymail.co.uk
3) I sort of warned you a while back that the 2012 topic will be a reoccurring event, well not to disappoint. This is an interesting link with a 24 min. video on Terrance McKenna’s Time Wave Zero, a mathematical logarithm dealing with the ebb and flow of novelty, based on the thousand year old Chinese I Ching. http://video.google.com , here is a Wikipedia link for the I Ching, for those not familiar. http://en.wikipedia.org
4) I am still looking for information about the latest advances in online television, I have had a lot to say about my Roku, I ran across a pretty interesting review might answer any remaining questions. Link http://reviews.cnet.comI found a few other reviews on different boxes, the Apple T.V., and PopCorn, I am still looking for news if you run across something new. This is going to be the trend, like people giving up their land line phones; they will be giving up their cable T.V.
5) Kind of an Art Bellian geek link, I was looking doing some reading up on the Webbot Project, and ran across a link with some predictions for 2008. Kind of interesting if you do not ask for a lot of detail, several of them seemed to be a ding to me. Better than most if not all of the human predictions I ran across. http://www.godlikeproductions.com

What's so important about Windows 7?

I've posted several times on Windows 7 this month.  Perhaps I should explain why I think Windows 7 is important.

1. Microsoft is in a revenue slump. It's December quarter was awful, in part because worldwide PC sales fell of a cliff, and in part because Windows Vista revenues are a smaller portion of OS revenues than expected.  Microsoft rather desperately needs the PC OS engine to be throwing off its traditional profit pools.
2. The market for Vista is poisoned.  When Vista came out a little over two years ago it was skewered by the press and analysts.  First, it was rushed to market, and the bugs were easy to identify.  Second, the new driver model in Vista broke numerous installed devices like printers that had worked happily under Vista's predecessor, Windows XP.  Third, the forced driver certification process that Microsoft instituted with Vista forced end-of-life business decisions on numerous vendors.  It was just too expensive in engineering resources to go back and fix a driver to Microsoft's stringent certification qualifications, not to mention the Microsoft fees.  So working but no-longer-marketed PC products didn't ever work or work well enough with Vista.  Importantly, the public picked up on the tech influencers' rejection of Vista, demanding Windows XP instead.  So, for the first time in Microsoft history, you can to this day buy a PC preloaded with Windows XP, which launched in 2001. The Vista brand was poisoned and that opinion continues in the market today.
3. There's competition to overcome.  Apple's OS X was still in the labs when Windows XP was delivered.  Today, Apple is pushing 10% of the U.S. consumer market with Mac's running OS X, and making inroads into small business-home business markets.  OS X is universally favorably compared to Windows Vista for usability and, to a lesser degree, performance.  Linux continues to bite the ankles of Vista, picking up some momentum in the (highly profitable) government market.  So, Microsoft needs a more adept competitor to Apple and Linux without the brand liabilities of Vista.
4. Therefore, Windows 7 is a rebranding of Windows without the baggage of Vista's reputation.  Sort of a witness protection "new start" for an operating system.
5. The recent "beta" launch of Windows 7 to 2,500,000 lucky downloaders and Microsoft's hundreds of thousands of developer/parter community members was not just some alpha code thrown over the transom as happened with Vista.  Windows 7 beta is the relaunch of Vista; Windows 7 is Vista the way it should have been with a market reputation the way Microsoft assumed they would achieve with Vista.
6. So far, i have to grade Microsoft's technology efforts and marketing relaunch with an "A".  The beta code is very high quality for a beta.  There is an omnipresent way to send feedback to Microsoft about your beta experience.  Reviewers such as the Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg are pleased.  Second, analysts are waking up to the relaunch marketing aspects of the Vista cum Windows 7 transformation.  Here too, the signs are promising, such as here and here.

So, barring a hiccup I don't foresee, Windows 7 will roll out after the back-to-school season this fall as a new, fresh looking, highly competitive product to kudos from the press, analysts, and Wall Street.  That the Windows 7 product has Vista DNA through and through will be irrelevant.  It's all about marketing.  Windows 7 is being successfully positioned right now as the winner that Vista never could achieve.

-- Pete