Tech News
-
How The US Response Turns 'Failed' Terrrorist Attacks Into Successes
Published: Thursday, December 2, 2010 | By: DennisI think I may have mentioned this in passing from time to time, I'm just glad someone decided to write about it.
Terrorism is a serious issue. No one's trying to downplay the fact that some very angry individuals are trying to kill an awful lot of Americans (and others as well). However, what's amazing is how incredibly bad the US appears to be at this particular game of chess. Robert Wright recently had a bit of an eye-opening discussion of how the US appears to have played into Al Qaeda's plan at almost every turn. It's another case of the US simply not understanding how to respond to a distributed threat, rather than a centralized one. The whole business is based on getting the US to overreact and overspend and get it caught in a quagmire that causes additional problems. And, increasingly, it looks like that's exactly what's happened.
Be sure to check out the full story on TechDirt.
On a side note I think we're going to start seeing a TON of articles like this in the next few months and the US (and TSA) will promptly ignore all of the claims because they are trying to protect Americans, I can appreciate that.
However WHO are they protecting us from?, terrorists? Not likely, they are protecting is from the thousands of "bored" reporters that find it necessary to blow everything out of proportion because it will get better google rankings and in turn line their pocketbooks for their hard work.
Yep, we have turned our quest for information into the thing that keeps us up at night. For a sanity check I would suggest that EVERYONE watch "Men in Black" and pay special attention to how Agent J (Will Smith) reacts when he finds out there is a battle cruiser in orbit around earth.
Ya, that is "us". Its time to become more responsible and stop freaking everyone out. -
FCC Neutrality Rules A Green Light For Usage Billing
Published: Thursday, December 2, 2010 | By: DennisI cannot say I like the direction this is headed, I do like the idea of limiting bandwidth to those who use a ton of it but budgeting for a service on a per-use basis is almost impossible. In times like this I am reminded of my first ever cellphone plan, it was called "Calling Party Pays". Back then if you wanted to make a cellphone call you had to pay on a per minute basis, with the calling party plan the person who called you would pay for the call and not use up your minutes. Guess how many people called me?
Multimedia content delivery over the web is really one of the driving factors behind this push (read: Netflix, Blockbuster, etc) the whole process just clogs the pipes and in the end hurts everyone. So who is to blame? Everyone, yep you if you have ever watched a YouTube video or caught a show on Hulu you are part of the problem. I'm not ashamed to say I fall into that category, I also do multiplayer gaming on occasion, however I do feel I'm responsible and elect to get all of my TV and movies via Dish (sat tv) and since that system is designed specifically for delivering video I don't see why renting videos over the internet is even an option.
Oh right.. People dont' want to pay for it.. gotcha..
This allows ISPs to charge more money for the same product, while simultaneously allowing them to both cash in on -- and/or deter -- the use of Internet video. All of this occurs while the cost of bandwidth and hardware continue to drop, so it's fairly clear why investors are so bullish on the idea. Again, while real per byte billing might be a good idea, the proposals we've seen so far in trials by companies like AT&T and Time Warner Cable are something else entirely, and offer little consumer value.
Good read I suggest you give it a troll. -
Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act gets thumbs up?
Published: Wednesday, December 1, 2010 | By: DennisYou never quite realize how similar the Internet is to the "old west" until you realize how few laws there are to ensure proper morals are followed when publishing data. TorrentFreak has posted an interesting news story that talks about how the US government is working to pass legislation that will enable them to control access to certain web domains that are breaking copyright law.
The U.S. Senate's Judicial Committee unanimously passed the controversial 'Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act' today, a bill that could be used to crack down on many BitTorrent sites and other file-sharing platforms. The bill would give the Department of Justice the unprecedented power to take over domain names of websites that are deemed to facilitate copyright infringement.
As a website owner this does concern me, not because I am doing something wrong but rather because "other" competing site owners could use this new law to their advantage and have innocent sites taken down. While this is likely farfetched the simple act of posting a link and small description of a news article could be considered an infraction.
There are some positives such as a proper course of action to have Wikileaks taken down or sites like whitehouse.com that prey on grandmothers looking for the latest report on missile systems in China who instead find questionable photos of girls in compromising positions. (or at least that is what "used" to be on that website
) -
The Video Card Special Report
Published: Wednesday, December 1, 2010 | By: DennisThis just in. Hot video cards crash land in a local computer shop near you. Their suggested presence has caused widespread havok and destruction as shoppers attempt to catch a glimpse of these cards in the wild. Proper PhysX processing has made their survival on this planet possible, however the intense heat and massive price gouging limits their numbers to a handful at any given time.
- CHW review of ECS GeForce GTX 460 1GB Black
- AMD Radeon HD 6850 & HD 6870 reviewed in Metku
- ASUS ENGTX580 Voltage Tweak - SLI @ Bjorn3D
- Gigabyte GeForce GTX 480 SOC @ PureOverclock
- SPARKLE Calibre X460G Video Card Review @ Madshrimps
- Inno3D GeForce GTX 580 OC edition review
- ZOTAC GeForce GTX 480 AMP Review @ XtremeComputingIn other news the great UD7 makes an appearance in some place other than the Ninjalane Labs
- HEXUS.net - previews :: Gigabyte P67A-UD7 Intel Sandy Bridge motherboard examined
- An early look at Gigabyte's P67A-UD7 motherboardHere is Tom with the weather.
-
NL: Review Block - Accessory Edition
Published: Wednesday, December 1, 2010 | By: DennisAs hardware enthusiasts we often concentrate on the go fast goodies that make our systems scream, but what about the essentials? Should we show them some love too??
- Psyko Audio Labs 5.1 Gaming Headset Review @ OCIA
- Tt eSPORTS Challenger Pro Gaming Keyboard @ Techgage
- Silverstone Technology NT07-1156 HSF Review at Overclockers Online
- Lian Li PC-8FI Aluminum Computer Case Review @ Tweaknews
- Logitech HD Pro Webcam C910 Review @ Real World Labs
- Coolink Corator DS Heatsink Review @ FrostytechSome good stuff in there, I especially like the TT keyboard with the fancy red backlight.
-
NL: Review Block - Mobos, Cards, Coolers, Cases and Memory
Published: Saturday, November 27, 2010 | By: DennisMotherboards
- Gigabyte's P67A-UD7 Previewed - Intel Sandy Bridge Motherboard Breaks Cover
- ECS Elitegroup A890GXM-A2 motherboard @ Hardwareoverclock
- GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R (Rev. 2.0) Motherboard Review @ Legit Reviews
- ASUS Rampage III Gene @ PureOverclock
- ASUS Rampage III Extreme @ Bjorn3D
Video Cards
- ASUS GeForce GTX 580 @ PureOverclock
- XFX Radeon HD 5970 2GB Black Edition Review @ Real World Labs
- Sparkle Calibre X480 GeForce GTX 480 Video Card Review @ ThinkComputers
- GeForce GTX 580 3-way SLI review
Memory
- G.Skill 2x4GB CL7 1600 MHz Trident DDR3 review
- OC3D: Mushkin PC16000 Radioactive 6GB Review
- OCZ RevoDrive 50GB PCI-E Solid State Drive Review @ ThinkComputers
- Quick Review: Corsair XMS3 Series PC3-16000 12GB Kit
- OCZ Flex EX PC3-17000 12GB Triple Channel Memory Kit Review @ OCIA
- OCZ Vertex 2 60GB Solid State Drive review @ APH Networks
Cases
- Lian Li T60 - Test Station Review @ XtremeComputing
- DimasTech Test/Table Easy V2.5 Bench Table Review
- Cooler Master Centurion 5 II Chassis Review @ BayReviews
Coolers
- DeepCool Ice Matrix 600 CPU / Processor Cooler Review @ Tweaknews -
Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 Toxic @ Techgage
Published: Saturday, November 27, 2010 | By: DennisWhat is better than a brand name used to describe something "good" that would otherwise kill you if used in any other context?. In the case of the "Toxic" edition video cards we find it quite fitting.
AMD's Radeon HD 6850 is one of the more attractive mid-range offerings on the market right now, and Sapphire hopes to lure potential buyers in even closer with the help of its "Toxic" edition. It features a customized cooler that runs quiet and keeps temps low, and also cranks up reference clocks for an immediate performance boost.
Sapphire has been very smart to keep the "Toxic" brand name since it tends to be the brand that most AMD enthusiasts gravitate to when looking for their next fix.
-
Palit GeForce GTS 450 Low Profile 1Gb GDDR5 Video Card Review @ Madshrimps
Published: Saturday, November 27, 2010 | By: DennisI have actually been looking to pick up one of these cards for a HTPC project, but as with any HTPC build you are most concerned with overall performance related to multimedia, not necessarily games.
Sadly this review didn't answer that question, but did however provide some good looks at the card and the sexy red pcb.
The GTS 450 Low Profile from Palit is one of the most powerful cards meant for installing inside a HTPC, so we basically get of both worlds: a compact and silent system while surfing the internet or doing office work along with decent performances in todays' games, if using lower resolutions.
We can only assume it will decode a BluRay movie and still have enough power to show it all at 1080p.
-
Gainward GeForce GTX 460 SE 1 GB @ techPowerUp
Published: Saturday, November 27, 2010 | By: DennisShortly after the GTX 580 product release nVidia announced a new 400 series card designed to provide GTX 460 performance with slightly less cost.
Last week NVIDIA launched their GeForce GTX 460 SE which is designed to give a good price/performance level without compromising on memory amount. But is this enough to compete with the full GTX 460 variants that have 768 MB or 1 GB of memory?
Video memory, or the frame buffer, size is usually a good indicator of maximum resolution combined with texture size. Simply put video quality. Less memory means you'll have to run lower res to use the same size textures. This was one of the main reasons the GTX 460 1GB was so much faster than the 768MB counterpart. The SE comes with 1GB video ram but with a considerably slower GPU.
Normally this is also where I mention the Sexy Red PCB on most custom Gainward products, maybe one day we'll get to see some more Gainward gear grace the pages of Ninjalane.com
-
Thermolab Baram 2010 @ Hardware Bistro
Published: Saturday, November 27, 2010 | By: DennisHere is a heatsink we haven't seen in awhile, the Thermolab Baram, 2010 edition.
Thermolab is a Korean thermal solution vendor and unlike other vendors they do not design and execute mass production but just fulfilling the market with adequate supply. Baram and Bada are two of their major products and have gained pretty good reputation worldwide. Today let us have a look on their Baram successor; Baram 2010 with additional dissipation area.
Not much has changed in the design; they just added a few new attachments to fit the new socket types.
For a quick side by side, check out our review of the baram here.
