Comment Re:As if...! (Score 2) 399
No, the dumbest idea coming out of Intel was to give exclusive licensing to Rambus for all future processors, no wait, it was the P-4, no, wait it was . . .
Never mind, you're right.
New Xbox 360 S Uses Less Power, Makes Less Noise 176
Vigile writes "Microsoft unveiled a new Xbox 360 S console at E3 this month, and without delay the new machine has been dissected and tested. The most dramatic change is the move to a single-chip CPU/GPU hybrid processor that is apparently being built on the 45nm process technology from GlobalFoundries, AMD's spun-off production facilities. With the inclusion of the new processor, the Xbox 360 S uses much less power (about 30-40%) compared to previous generation machines, and also turns out to be much quieter as a result of a single, larger fan. This article has photographic evidence of the teardown, with comparisons between this Valhalla platform and the older Falcon system, along with videos of the reconstruction process and noise comparisons."
The new console also takes measures to protect itself from overheating, so RRoDs shouldn't be a problem with this revision.
Comment Re:Note to self: I think you mean this scene (Score 1) 352
New Aliens Vs. Predator Game Doesn't Make It Past AU Ratings Board 277
An anonymous reader writes "Australia refused to give Rebellion's new Aliens Vs. Predator game a rating, effectively banning it in the country. Rebellion says it won't be submitting an edited version for another round of classifications, however. (As Valve did with Left 4 Dead 2.) They said, 'We will not be releasing a sanitized or cut down version for territories where adults are not considered by their governments to be able to make their own entertainment choices.'"
Over 160 Tutorial Videos Created For Unreal Dev Kit 48
As a follow-up to Epic Games' release of a free version of the Unreal Engine last month, the company has now posted over 160 video tutorials which demonstrate the various uses of the Unreal Development Kit. Roughly 20 hours of footage were created by technical education company 3D Buzz, with topics ranging from user interface to game physics to cinematics.
Comment Re:.01 and the TV Myth (Score 1) 329
I just installed Mandriva 2010 this weekend with the new
All that and there is STILL nothing on TV worth watching.
Comment If you video card is something like a GeForce 6800 (Score 1) 347
then sell it on e-bay and get an atom mobo. There are quite a few older, decent systems that need AGP video cards. nVidia has stopped supporting the older TNT and some GeForce 2 cards and the best AGP card that can be purchased is a 7300. The P4 processors were energy hungry beasts, sure you can clock a 3Ghz P4 down to 375 Mhz but it will still use more power and be slower than an Atom.
Of course once you've got your Atom mobo then you might consider a green power supply, and a smaller case and . . . .
Comment I work for an electric utility (Score 1) 586
And this sort of thing is where we WILL go, whether we like it or not.
Currently the utility I work for offers incentives if they can control your air conditioner during peak load. Thus they can shut down your compressor to help prevent load shedding during high load. With the advent of the "smart grid" where your electric meter will be read at least once an hour versus once a month electric cars and rechargeable hybrids are going to become a very important part of the "grid" as we know it. The way you buy electricity is going to change, it's going to be a lot more like picking a cell-phone plan (as in you will only use 1kw max at your house between 12:00 PM and 8:00 PM or you'll pay more), you'll buy "plans" that specify how much energy you will use and when.
At present, there is no feasible way to store energy but with a bunch of electric cars that can pick up the load when a wind farm starts cranking out 100% of it's capacity at 2:00 in the morning and can operate your home in the event of a major transmission line trip, electric cars are going to be part of the electric infrastructure.
Heck if you can charge your car for $0.06 between 01:00 and 05:00 then run your house when you get home from work off your car battery when electricity is $0.30, the thing might even pay for itself.
Yeah, a lot of this is pie in the sky but stashing an electric car at 50% of residential customers and %75 of businesses will allow greater exploitation of green energy and a more stable grid.
Comment Mandriva is still a great distro. (Score 5, Interesting) 96
Yeah I'm a fanboi and I have tried ubuntu but found it to be a little too dumbed down for my likes.
The Powerpack is a really nice package due to it having some things that are really really nice. Trying to install the Citrix client, you'll need Motif 4, which is included in the power pack.
Want to run an ATI card with xorg 1.6, the Power Pack comes with working drivers.
Want to run Firefox plugins on x86_64? Mandriva got that one right too.
Want to D/L the MS and Real codecs for mplayer? You can get them from the Penguin Liberation Front at http://easyurpmi.zarb.org/
Want to set up a mythtv backend? Let Mandriva look for updates during an install or tell it to add "Distribution Sources" and all you need to do is type: "urpmi mythtv-setup mythtv-frontend mythtv-backend" and follow the instructions.
Mandriva is, IMHO, the most flexible Linux Distribution available; and yeah, I'm going to pony up the pesos to buy the PowerPack.
Comment Bulldren--ANY amount is under the influence (Score 1) 439
I live in Albuquerque, about once a month the Sunday paper comes out with a flyer of the latest DUI convictions. About 3%-5% are BELOW our minimum legal limit. Thus if you're at 0.06% BAC and get pulled over for driving like an a$$hole, you WILL be charged with DUI.
Just try talking your way out of your next ticket by saying:"Yeah I'm driving like crap but I ain't drunk enough to get a DUI".
Sorry but your best chance is to remove all "probable cause" indicator (blacked out headlights/tail lights, loud exhaust, stupid driving etc.) because the law CAN get you for ANY reason and still charge you with DUI whether you're above or below 0.08% BAC.
If you hear "enemy combatant", your screwed for at least six months, SFTU and hope.
Comment Nice to see nobody enumerated them. (Score 1) 340
Of course I didn't RTFM either so I came up with my own list:
Mass Drivers -- Babylon 5
Vorlon Planet killer -- Babylon 5
Shadow Planet killer -- Babylon 5
Wormhole weapon -- Farscape
Doomsday machine -- Star Trek TOS
Borg -- Star Trek (all except TOS)
Doomsday device -- Dr. Strangelove
Sarah Palin -- Governor Alaska.
