Posts from — February 2007

Nifty title huh?

See, the title of this post should have been: “Translation Goes Awry” but, unfortunately, the clever folks at Asus Marketing got a hold of it first and we’re stuck with what you see up there…  In other news, here’s some of their more recent work:

As a self-professed tech-geek, I certainly DO like gadgets and hardware but really, I never imagined anything with a PCB could ever be “Heart Touching”.   Maybe they mean if you touch their products, you’ll get electrocuted?  THAT would certainly touch your heart!

Its a good thing their motherboards are much better than their marketing!

Sometimes a guy just has to blow things up.  Figuratively I mean, not literally! 

That’s when your favorite combat flight sim comes in very handy.  But, as my latest luck would have it, any time I pull out a game, I end up spending all my time performing tech support for myself and never actually playing anything.

Take for instance tonight – I settled in for a few hours of playing my a new (though old) flight sim, Lock On: Modern Air Combat.  I pulled out my trusty  and hooked it up. 

1. Load up the software and go to the Input configuration screen.
2. Dang, there is a lot of commands.
3. No problem, I can just program the Joystick to work right. 
4. Oh shoot, the profile programming software isn’t installed.
5. Get dusty finding the CD
6. Put it in and the install won’t run.  Just sits there.
7. Go to microsoft.com/sidewinder.  Shoot, they don’t support it anymore.
8. Dang, they never made software that would run on XP
9. Crap.

Ok, no problem – I’ll use my Saitek X36F USB.

Hmm…  This thing is huge.  I remember buying this and then not using it much because there are SOOOO many buttons and shift modes, etc.  It was difficult to get it just right and at the time, most games didn’t understand up to 32 joystick buttons.  Let alone shift values, etc.

1. I KNOW I’ll need the software for this…
2. Hmm – Saitek actually has Windows 2000 drivers, which seem to work well with XP most of the time
3. Hey, it loads up, everything is working
4. I can even program the buttons.
5. Awesome!  I’m ready to go!
6. Load up the game.
7. Press a programmed button…
8. Hardware reboot.
9. WHATTT???

SIGH.  Fine, these are old.  I know I’ve spent almost $400 total on these two controllers, but what can I expect from hardware that’s, hmm  6 years old maybe?  OK – I’ll buy a new one.

1. Look online.  Saitek makes some nice new stuff.
2. So does Logitech, but not with throttles, etc.
3. Thrustmaster always made the best – and still seems to.
4. Crap, none of this stuff supports Vista yet.
5. I’m not running Vista at this point, but I don’t want to have to buy MORE hardware later on.
6. Saitek seems to have released drivers, but everybody complains that they don’t work…
7. That doesn’t sound promising…
8. Thrustmaster claims that the HOTAS Cougar has vista support.
9. Crap – its over $200!  *SIGH*

Screw this, I’m going to go read a book!

I guess my grade school suspicions were correct…  Girls do have cooties! :)

“Women have three to four times the number of bacteria in, on and around their desks, phones, computers, keyboards, drawers and personal items as men do…”

Get full story here.

In further news, a shocking realization that I no longer care that girls have cooties.  SIGH!  Women and their wiles!

Oh my!  The Logitech Harmony 1000 is out, and I’m having extreme technolust!  I’ve been using the Harmony 880 for quite some time now…  I’m on my second one actually, due to an unfortunate incident involving an ill-placed knee and my over-exuberant nephew. 

Anyway, this remote looks like extreme overkill, but that’s never stopped me before!  Oh, the price tag though -that’s a different matter entirely.  Can I really justify something like this when the one that I have was not only expensive itself, but also more than meets every need?  Hmm – Maybe I need a universal remote upstairs?  Yeah, that’s the ticket!

Check this out!  An extended battery for the Treo 650.  No more lugging cables with you everywhere you go!

“The 3200mAh battery provides 10.7 hours in talk-time and 533 hours (22 days) in standby-time! While Seido has packed a lot of power into one battery, this product only extends your Treo by 3mm!”

I have to see what I can do about getting one of those installed on my stairmaster.  Hmm…

… to borrow the phrase from The Count of Monte Cristo, which was an excellent movie by the way.

IBM has made a large step forward and has found a way to increase DRAM speed enough for it to replace the need for integrated SRAM on processors.  This opens up a huge amount of space for additional processing power or increased miniaturization.

You can read more from the AP here.  All this on the heels of better insulation announcements from both IBM and Intel, and Intel announcing its teraflop processor design.  

But, really – let’s get down to the brass tacks… 

Who’s gonna start on the darn holosuites, eh?  Let’s get our priorities straight people!