Smokin’ Hot Dual Core Athlon 64 X2 CPUs

Well, maybe not smokin’ hot, because apparently AMD has made some pretty respectable improvements in power consumption, but these things appear to be plenty fast…

If you’re pining to put together an HTPC that will handle a lot of load (such as recording and playing back several HD streams, or a lot of SD streams), this new socket 939 CPU may be just what the doctor ordered.

TechReport has a massive review of the X2s, comparing them across the board to 17 competitors, and they were impressed.

The X2 4200 frequently outperforms the Pentium Extreme Edition 840, which costs nearly twice as much. Thanks to its dual-core config, the X2 4200 also embarrasses some expensive single-core processors, like the Athlon 64 FX-55 and the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.73GHz.

Even more impressive when you realize the 4200 is the bottom of the line, with bigger brothers 4400, 4600, and 4800 also being introduced.

As usual, these are going to be a tad pricey on introduction, ranging from around $530 for the 4200, to a whopping $1K for the 4800.

If you’re building now, an alternative may be to consider going with a socket 939 motherboard, and a single-core Athlon 64, and look to upgrade as the prices drop. Apparently the X2 should plug-and-play on most recent 939 motherboards with (at most) a firmware update.

Sonic MyDVD Review

TivoBlog has a two-part review up of Sonic’s MyDVD 6.0 with the Tivo plug-in.

After a shakey start, it all seemed to go well…

Other then the hiccups I had with my initial installation, I am extremely happy with MyDVD thus far. The burning/transcoding process took rather long however, this is to be expected considering the fact that I have a somewhat slow computer. Next, I want to try editing a movie so that I can remove commercials.

Check it out…

Part 1 – Part 2

UNeed X15E HTPC Case Review

Home Theater PC News has a great review up of the UNeed X15E case — if you’re looking for the $600 HTPC case from hell, this may be just the ticket.

The main claim to fame is a built-in 7″ 800 x 480 (there’s an odd number) LCD screen that you can use as a second monitor for your HTPC.

This is by no means an average case and can house just about anything you wish to put in it. Even when loaded out with a high end graphics card and every slot full, all while running at low noise levels this case didn’t turn in to a heater for my family room. Heat is one issue that really tends to plague most cases but thanks to the cases ventilation, 80mm exhaust port and light aluminum panels this was not a concern. I can see all high end system builders lining up already to get a hold of these cases and use them in home automation systems, and high end home theater gear.

(via Addicted to Digital Media)

Starbucks Barista Equipment Sale

A little birdie told me today that Starbucks is having another big sale on their Barista coffee equipment next week — starting Wednesday, March 23rd, in fact.

If you’re a regular reader of this site, you’re probably aware that while I’m not a terribly big fan of Starbucks’ coffee (over-roasted, over-priced, and served overly tarted-up, in general), I do happen to be quite fond of their Barista coffee makers. They actually work well, and wonder-of-wonders (for consumer grade coffee makers) they actually brew at around 190 degrees, which produces a proper cup of coffee.
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Starbucks Barista Aroma Quattro Review

Lest my Philips Senseo Review give you the wrong impression, not everything is bitter in the world of coffee around here.

Succumbing to my frustration with the Senseo the other day, I was out and decided to stop into Starbucks for a real cup of coffee.. Okay, well, a better cup of coffee than I’ve been brewing lately, anyway.

While I was there, I glanced at their automatic drip coffee makers, thinking evil thoughts about the coffee that lurked at home. Off to one side from the rest of them was a half-pint version of the Barista Aroma — a four cup coffee maker with a stainless steel thermal carafe. Looking at it a little closer, it didn’t have any digital timers, automatic grinders, turn signals or infrared remotes. It had one button — an on switch.

Intrigued, I found out that this was the Barista Aroma Quattro, a coffee maker they are discontinuing and selling out. In fact, it was their last one, and if I wanted it, I could take it home for $25. Twenty five bucks at Starbucks? Geeze, that’s like what — three cups of coffee? How wrong could this be? So I took it home..

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Weblog Software Choices

What software should you use to add a blog to your business web site?  Here are the top choices, along with some considerations regarding each.
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Pay-Per-Click Engine Reviews

PayPerClickAnalyst purports to be an independent review of pay-per-click search engines. Interesting collection of prospects, including a few I’d not run across.

More Things in Heaven and Earth…

…than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

Or at least in mine, anyway.

It’s official. My subconscious is a complete boob at times. A well meaning boob, no doubt, but a complete boob no less anyway.

August the first has tended to be an auspicious day in my life over the years. Among other things, I was once married on that day; in a spasm of irony, 21 years later, I was divorced on that same day. In between, I somehow managed to have an annual streak of bad luck that hit at that time, probably mostly because I tended to expect it to happen, and our subconscious is big on meeting expectations like that.

I’m over all of that these days, with the possible exception of tending to be a bit “anxiety dream” prone (another expectation thing, probably) around that time.

Last night was pretty much par for the course, except that this time, I spent a little time breaking it down when I woke up.  That’s when I figured out that my subconcious is a boob.

Or rather, that I am.

Imagine how surprised I was to realize that the usual cast of dreams like this were people and settings that once upon a time intimidated me or stressed me out.  This includes such fiends as a mouthy little girl who told me off in fourth grade and the clock-watching receptionist of a job I held early in my career (and was chronicly a couple of minutes late for.)  A few minutes review of the thing was great for a laugh.

Wow.  It’s amazing the people I once gave the power to bother me.

It makes me wonder who I’m giving that power to now—and why.

I’ve really got to start keeping a dream journal.

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Official US Update for Toshiba e-800

Two months after it was released for everybody else, Toshbia has officially released the Windows Mobile 2003 SE update for US e-800s.

According to posts on Brighthand, it’s apparently the same version released everywhere else back in May, albeit bunded with a couple of updated applications.

Why’d it take two months?  Go figure.

At least this means that if you put this on your e-800 and it happens to blow up later, you can still send it for warranty service—there were reports that if you had the non-US upgrade on your SE, they’d refuse to support it under warranty.  Several people were told that it would damage their PDA.  Apparently this problem got better, even though it’s the same version… lol..

I hope Toshiba ultimately remains in the US PDA market.  At least they’re good for a laugh every now and again…

Related: Dirt Cheap VGA PDA

Related: Windows Mobile 2003 SE Review

Related: Windows Mobile 2003 SE & The Toshiba e-800 – Almost Ready for Primetime

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Running Windows Securely

Over the past few weeks, I’ve written quite a bit on various Windows issues—Spyware, Viruses, and going to a more secure browser.  Even though those articles have scrolled off the front page, a lot of people are still looking for them, so this article will be a “living document” with links to all articles I write on the topic, and there will be a link to this on the right sidebar if you should need to refer back to it in the future.

Windows Security Articles

No. More. Excuses. – The very basics of securing a Windows computer, and why it’s important (to all of us) that you do so.

Spyware and You. – The details of how and why you should scan for spyware on your computer.

Welcome to Day Zero – Explains what a Zero Day Exploit is, how your computer can be infected by one even if you’re “doing everything right”, and additional things you can do to protect yourself.

Making the Switch from IE to Firefox – The previous article explains why you’ll be a lot safer if you don’t run Internet Explorer (IE); this article gives you simple step by step instructions on how to replace IE with Firefox—a safer browser with lots of great new features.

Related Articles

More IE Vulnerabilities Found – If you think the recent Microsoft patches made IE safe, think again.

What’s on YOUR Firefox? – Some of the great extensions that can add new features to your FireFox.

A Real Solution to Spam? – A review of Mailblocks Challenge/Response system that really DOES stop spam.

It can’t be that bad… – How many clicks does it take to get to the center of an unprotected copy of Windows?

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