iPod Nano Reviews

I may be a bit late with this, but here are some reviews on Apple's new iPod Nano, the sleek little flash based music player that people all over seem to like.

ArsTechnica here.
PCMag here.
DesignTechnica here.

Intel Pulls Plug on 561 and 571

Intel announced that they will stop production and shipping on their EM64T enabled Pentium 4 561 & 571 processors. The chips were released in June and will not ship any more after March 16th of 2006. Their plan must be to push the 6xx series Pentium 4s since the price difference is so minimal.

Cell Phones to be Allowed in EU Skies

The Register is carrying an article about two regional airlines in Europe installing OnAir technology in a few of their planes. British Midland and TAP Air Portugal will be putting the Airbus developed technology on a few of their jets starting next year. The only restriction on this appear to be that the phones can only be used above 10,000 feet. Apparently the charges would be similar to international roaming charges.

Computers & Katrina

MSNBC is running an article about data recovery in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Nothing technically informative, but it does make you wonder about those companies whose entire netowkrs were taken out. I can only imagine the years worth of work that was lost to this disaster.

Nintendo Reveals Revolution Controllers

Nintendo has revealed the controllers for their new Revolution gaming system, due out next year. At a Tokyo trade show they allowed the press to demo the new controllers on games that were devloped specifically for testing the limits of their new controller. They are basically remote controls, designed to be use with one hand rather than two. To quote Chuck, "I'll stick with my old one, thank you".

Read more here. A good Op-Ed piece on slashdot.

Microsoft to Require Software Assurance

In an obvious effort to increase profits and fight piracy, Microsoft has announced that the Enterprise version of their new Windows Vista operating system will require the user to sign up for their new Software Assurance Program. The up front license fee is replaced with a yearly fee and in return the customer gets software upgrades and support services. Emperor Gates insists, "Software Assurance [is] designed to help midsize and larger organizations significantly lower IT costs and improve IT efficiency." Industry analysts disagree, with some saying that the costs would be higher; inciting considerable resistance to Microsoft's plan. Article Here.

Windows Vista Enterprise is one of the seven versions of Microsoft's upcoming operating system, due out in the later part of next year. With the increasing DRM technologies and these new pay services, Microsoft is only alienating the people that keep them going.

September's Popular Items

Starting this month I will be posting three or four of our most popular items each month, just to give you an idea of what people are buying. I will try not to be bias in the items I post, but sometimes opinion counts too.

We'll start with memory for the Apple G5s. If your speaking in pure quantity, this has been our highest seller over the past 3 months. If you have a G5 Tower with a Dual CPU, Click here. If you have a single CPU, Click here.
If you are looking for memory for the IMAC G5, Click here.


Next we will move on to a video card, specifically the Sapphire Radeon X700 Pro 256mb. This card has come down in price quite a bit since the introduction of the 700 series. With all the new games coming out that require a 256mb card, this is a great card for the price. For the X700 Pro 256mb, Click here
If you are still running with AGP graphics, Click here


How's about some storage? Western Digital has recently begun to release their new RAID Edition drives. These drives are designed to work within a RAID configuration better than their normal Caviar. They are programmed to work better with the array and controller. You can find the 250G if you Click here
For the IDE and SATA I selection, Click here


And last, but certainly not least, the Dual Core 64 bit Intel Pentium D 820. This little puppy is the entry level model into the 8 series. We've had quite a few of these come through already and they certainly know how to run. The 8 series goes up to the 840 at this point, but unless your , well, the 820 will cover your needs. For the 820, Click here
For other 64 bit (socket 775)Intel CPUs, Click here

Smart Cars

General Motors has announced that it will now offer smart cars, as it tries to wean the general public from its employee discount promotion. In an effort to make us feel like we are getting more bang for our buck GM is introducing OnStar Vehicle Diagnostics, a satellite based mechanical scan. The service is free, and a scan is performed every 30 days. Your car would then email you the results of the test, that checks the battery charge, engine, transmission, brakes and other vital systems.

With profits down from the employee discount, this seems like a good move for GM. The surprise here is that Ford and Chrysler have yet to offer a valid alternative to OnStar. Since GM was the first to offer the employee discount, and now they have this technology, its plain to see who the leader of this pack is.

Article here.

1/2 TB Deskstar Reviewed & Logitech's Smart Mouse

The Tech report reviews the Hitachi 500GB Deskstar here.

Logitech has also removed the dust covers from their new MX610 Laser Cordless mouse. Using a 2.4GHz two-way connection this mouse looks to change the way people look at a mouse. Check it out here.

I got half a terabyte in my pocket.

Until recently I never really cared how my data was stored on a disk. I knew how it worked and the science behind it but I never cared as long as it worked. Now it seems that I do care. With the release of the perpendicular recording technology, I'm starting to pay attention. For any who wish to see a diagram, click here: PR Info.

Hitachi and Seagate are leading the technology, both with successful examples of the new storage system.

Seagate plans to release the new drives in early 2006 in the form of a 160Gb laptop drive. They also predict with this new technology that over the next three to five years we will begin to see desktop drives up to 2.5 terabytes, and laptop drives in the 1/2 terabyte range.

Intel Responds

Intel has finally responded to AMD's antitrust allegations. As we would expect, Intel points the finger squarely back to AMD.

“The decision whether to purchase from AMD, and in what quantity, is made by these customers without coercion or anticompetitive conditions,” Intel said. “AMD’s colorful language and fanciful claims cannot obscure AMD’s goal of shielding AMD from price competition,” Intel continues. "AMD seeks to impede Intel's ability to lower prices and thereby to allow AMD to charge higher prices." Any way you slice it this case will be a long one, with black eyes on both sides.

Articles here and here.