Why daily blogging if you only get enough stuf scaped together for a day-blog by collecting a whole month?
- 2007-08-01 ^:
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- Weather - -
- All nice and sunny. Looks like summer is finally breaking out. (17°C -- 26°C)
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- News - -
- Yay. Another couple of lawyers getting rich. But I wonder, why sue Sony while the chip is mainly an IBM product (with Toshiba in the same bed).
www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/07/31/sony_cell_patent
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- Note - -
- I think I ran to hard and fast yesterday evening. My knee has been hurting all day. :(
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- 2007-08-02 ^:
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- Weather - -
- Yep, summer did break. Break apart that is, with rain starting once I get to work. And it's, not a light drizzle, rather a steady downpour. Oh it stops just before noon but it does make the afternoon uncomfortably hot even without crancking up the temperature. (16°C -- 25°C)
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- News - -
- Getting drunk may involve a GSM.
www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/01/whisky_bottle_rfid/
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- Doing more with less is always good. Unless you want to sell more.
What strikes me though is that it sounds normal that you need virtualisation on Windows systems. Nobody seems to notice that the virtualisation is the only way to hide the mutltitasking fiasco MS still struggles with. On most Unix systems virtualisation is seldom needed and usualy applied to run an other OS in a 'safe' box. (Yep that often is Windows put in the safe box, and 'safe' meaning it can crash without damaging the rest of the system.)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/01/virtualization_doom_gloom/
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- Virtualisation on a mainframe is not an exception. Though ther it is seldom used to run Windows.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/01/ibm_consolidates_servers_big_green/
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- A laptop for people wha want more. Evolution will kick in and soon only people with extra large laps will survive.
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/08/01/review_alienware_m9750/
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- Note - -
- The Kine has a new toy. A type of cylinder-section thing to balance on, you put your feet on the borders and sway left and right. It is supposed to affect my knee but the only think I feel is that I need shoes with more grip, the ones I am wearing slip off from the slick plastic surface.
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- 2007-08-03 ^:
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- Weather - -
- Plenty of sun. To much actually (19°C -- 25°C)
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- News - -
- Sounds like text-adds comming to a phone near you.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/02/google_phone/
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- *sigh* now if Psion decided to step up and make PDA's again. And why not on Nokia hardware.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/02/nokia_new_coke/
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- Change about in the i5 market. (Yep, that's where I work.)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/02/ibm_system_i_re-org/
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- No jokes to tell.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070801/lf_afp/sciencerobotjokes_070801173258;_ylt=Agd0DQ.fTVq5JB2JAQ.wd_Ws0NUE
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- Note - -
- So it doesn't work. The Kine predicted that my knee would be stiff and hurting in the morning after using the balancing board. Maybe he has bad knees and get that stiffness thing, I don't suffer from it.
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- Work - -
- Something must be wrong. I get to eat my lunch first time in weeks without being interuped by the phone. ... Can't be normal!!!
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- 2007-08-04 ^:
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- Weather - -
- Very warm yesterday. Hot today. And rather humid as well so it looks great but is rather unconfortable. (23°C -- 28°C)
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- 2007-08-05 ^:
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- Weather - -
- To hot. Well for staying out in the sun anway. but it is less humid. An enjoyable type of heat ectually. (but still, I stay inside in the airconditioned hoouse. (22°C -- 35°C)
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- 2007-08-06 ^:
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- Weather - -
- Too much sun. But there was a bunch of rain during the night as well so, even though it's less hot than yesterday it's still to hot and humid. Higly uncomfortable. (21°C -- 29°C)
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- News - -
- Nope the European sister of the RIAA did not buy enough judges and politicians. And that could cost them dearly.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/03/europe_music-downloads_identification/
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- News - -
- Those stem-cell researcher in Korea may have made some mistakes. They also did a lot of good and valuable work. The only reason they actually got bashed so hard was basicaly cause the American chirstian controlled media jumped on it. The 'normal' way to deal with stuff like this is to remove the main responsible peopel and let the others continue to work more of less normally.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/03/hwang_parthenogenesis/
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- 60 years of activity. About time to go on pension one would expect. But the AK47 is in for a probably much longer career.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/03/ak_47_60_years/
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History check: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/03/gun_dork_history/
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- No news from the trenches.
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- 2007-08-07 ^:
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- Weather - -
- Ha, lovely. Soft rain in the morning and a thin cloudcover till noon. And bearable temperatures. Later it gets uncomfortable. (18°C -- 26°C)
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- News - -
- Curious that this got proposed by a Republican. OK, that is not very strange, what is is that it is proposed by a republican while the republicans are in power.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/07/us_bloggers_journalist-shield/
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- Yet another notebook maket shifts to the penguin pen. Just one of them offering Linux on the side is nothing special but more and more producers are putting Linux on their roadmap. I don't think there is a better sign to indicate Linux is ready for the desktop. And time for MS to be afraid.
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/08/06/lenovo_linux/
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- Hold on for later reading.
http://www.regdeveloper.co.uk/2007/08/06/edbd_vs_tdbd/
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- News - -
- Intel grabs most attention and suceeds in making AMD seem to flounder about a bit. But AMD does have a strategy. Not one that is likely to wipe Intel from the map but one that makes sure AMD isn't wiped off.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=41505
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- News - -
- No news from the trenches.
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- work - -
- We are now programming in a modern version of RPG. Using modules, functions, procedures, service programs and a bunch (but not all) OO stuff.
And I don't like it.
I know that putting all your code in one big monolithic program is not good. It never was. But blowing it up in micro-routines is not working either. You end up with much more coding and tons of database accesses. And it is nice when it works but when it doesn't it's a hell of a lot more trouble finding the cause.
For example in our old-style programs we used to read one table to find the key value for another table that we needed for a key to a third table. All that coding was localised in a single source. Now we still need to get the same values from that same tables but the coding is spread out over four or five soucres. And to make sure each of those sources are usable in more than one situation they contain a lot of extra references and links to other sources as well.
But I hit a snag. I needed a box-type to decide between making a special or normal load. So I check out the new routines and lo, there is one that returns the box-type. Except that, to get the box type it searches, after 5 sidesteps, in the load for the box. That works fine but not for me cause there is no load yet. To meke sure things don't crash or lock up the box-type procedure always returns a usable value. So it takes me more than a day before I find out that I have a problem. And then some more to find what the problem actualy is and where it comes from.
So I write a new routine, private to my program, that gets the box-type. It makes 3 databse IOs and returns the correct box-type. The modern-style routines do at most one IO per routine but the shortest route to a possibly correct box-type as seven IOs. The worst case was 14 IOs to return a possibly correct box-type. the stupidest case was getting the right box-type after 3 IOs but still doing 8 extra IOs.
I am not saying that mordern programming methods are bad. It's just that being modern alone is not enough.
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Auch. After my Kine session I went for a bycicle ride. I wanted to drive around for about 10km or so. But ended up doing 25 or more.
Normally I don't drive around a lot with my car. Yep, I drive to and from work taking always the same route. Well a couple of different routes but there is not much variation after all. And I drive to some regular shops. Also by the same well known roads.
When I realy need to go someplace that I don't know the roed to I pick up a map. A good old style roadmap. And I am as good as your best macho with maps. Just tracking my route on it once is enough to get me going. Just a short study of the map, jump into the car and go. And I usually arrive where I want to be without getting lost. OK, if there are no unexpected roadworks or other deviations, than I have to take another look at the map.
Sometimes, when I am not in a hury and feeling frivolous -mostly on vacation- I turn to unknown roads and drive around navigating by the sun. It's usualy when I drive around with someone else and he or she makes a remark about a side-road or gives directions like "at the next crossing, turn left" then I will turn left on the first possible oportunity which often isn't the intende crossing. Yep, I am never serious and always smiling and joking. ^_^
Getting lost on purpose. Just for fun. But usually, after driving around a while I find a good road and get back on course again. Sometimes I have to check the map.
Nope, you won't be selling me a GPS soon.
So. I don't know many roads in the area, and certainly not the small roads, cause I never drive on them. But now I got a bike and do much the same. Get up, cross out of town and then take the first road left or righ in a generally southern direction. I live on the South side of the city. After about half an hour I and lost so it's time to start looking for a good road home. But of course I have no maps on my bycile. The only certainty is that I am somewhere in the southern quadrant beween two important roads.
of course I get home and I am not pressed for time so I can enjoy the trip.
But I ended up doing way more distance than intended. I I find out that not all roads a level. There are no mountains or even real hills around here, but it isn't all falt either.
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- 2007-08-08 ^:
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- Weather - -
- Cool and nice again in the morning. But the clouds don't go away so it's grey and wet with some rain. (16°C -- 24°C)
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- News - -
- blassting off fireballs. Comics could become real.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/07/quantum_levitation_incredible/
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~ulf/levitation.html
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- Looking at the web as just another database.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/07/kirix_browser_database/
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- No, more trees won't lower the carbondioxide levels noticeable. But I would say plant them anyway. Threes are beautifull.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/07/banking_carbon/
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- Probably not for your next home-video. But in a couple of generations time it might well be.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=41533
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- To most people it's just another boring number as they page trough to read the conclusion in a hardware article. I am not interesed in the bare numbers either, but I do like to know what's behind them.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=41512
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- 2007-08-09 ^:
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- Weather - -
- Again there is some rain. Ok a little bit more than yesterday. Ok OK, it's been raining steadeily since midnight. And it hasn't stopped yet (23:30 now) (16°C -- 18°C)
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- News - -
- >Sad new. But also good news, it's openeing a gap for evolution to push in a new species.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/08/yangtze_dolphin_extinct/
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- toy - -
- Build some more of this :
| Ϩ | ϩ | Ϫ | ϫ |
Ϭ | ϭ | Ϯ | ϯ |
ϰ | ϱ | ϲ | ϳ |
ϴ | ϵ | ϶ | Ϸ |
| ь | э | ю | я |
ѐ | ё | ђ | ѓ |
є | ѕ | і | ї |
ј | љ | њ | ћ |
| Ұ | ұ | Ҳ | ҳ |
Ҵ | ҵ | Ҷ | ҷ |
Ҹ | ҹ | Һ | һ |
Ҽ | ҽ | Ҿ | ҿ |
| Ԕ | ԕ | Ԗ | ԗ |
Ԙ | ԙ | Ԛ | ԛ |
Ԝ | ԝ | ي | ԟ |
Ԡ | ԡ | Ԣ | ԣ |
| ո | չ | պ | ջ |
ռ | ս | վ | տ |
ր | ց | ւ | փ |
ք | օ | ֆ | և |
| ל | ם | מ | ן |
נ | ס | ע | ף |
פ | ץ | צ | ק |
ר | ש | ת | |
| ـ | ف | ق | ك |
ل | م | ن | ه |
و | ى | ي | ً |
ٌ | ٍ | َ | ُ |
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- 2007-08-10 ^:
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- Weather - -
- It is still raining in the morning but it soon stops and we get a pretty sunny day. With beautifull white clouds on a light blue field. (19°C -- 24°C)
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- News - -
- Standard business warfare. It's just not often that the loundry is hung out to dry in public.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/09/anti_virus_testing/
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- Also standard business practice. Why do so many people can't put Linux and money in the same paragraph without shivering or screaming? What is wrong with money?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/10/microsoft_open_source/
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- werk - -
- Usualy I come in, around 07:15, start the logon and make coffee. By the time the coffee starts dripping trough the logon has finished. So I check the system, usualy one or two minor issues to solve, and look for panic mails. By then it's around 07:30 , time to pour myself a coffee and have a peek at the newspaper.
Today was a wee bit different. The moment I turn on the coffee machine I got a phone. And around half past nine, more than two hours later, I can grab a cup.
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- 2007-08-11 ^:
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- Weather - -
- (00°C -- 99°C)
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- News - -
- No news from the trenches.
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- 2007-08-12 ^:
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- Weather - -
- (00°C -- 99°C)
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- News - -
- No news from the trenches.
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- 2007-08-13 ^:
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- Weather - -
- All sunny and hot in the morning. Well, it's cool in the morning but the sun heats things up very fast so by noon we are getting close to 30°C. In the afternoon clouds drift in. With big gaps so it remains nice and sunny but the temperature fluctuates wildly in the office. (17°C -- 28°C)
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- News - -
- Must be Monday the Thirteenth.
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- Very sad news. For lawyers feeding off the big SCO versus the rest of the world case. they will have to look elsewhere for thier meager incomes.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/11/novell_gets_unix_from_sco/
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- Another sad story. Music companies starting to sell music without livesaving DRM.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/10/universal_drm_free_trial_period/
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- Another unbelievable thing. Google charging money from customers.
OK, this is a rather normal thing. Storage isn't free so it is normal that they ask some money for it. But the price is rather high. It's worth paying a bit more for strage that is available from anywhere but the premium is a bit steep. Kind of deterrant.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/10/google_sells_storage/
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- I don't think there are many amateur chipmakers around to grab and use and .
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=41642wrk
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- Portable CD player, which doesn't look like a portable CD player at all (and isn't usable as a Walkman style player).
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/08/10/dwp_mp3_cd/
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- 2007-08-14 ^:
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- Weather - -
- There was a bit of rain in the morning and lots of clouds lingering on all day. But plenty of sun in between. (18°C -- 25°C)
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- News - -
- I know, halving the power consumption is a good achievement. But still, 25W for just doing nothing is a lot I think.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=41667
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- News - -
- Game-server. Not a toy-server, well unless you are a real geek, then there is hardly a better toy around.
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2007/08/08/behind-the-curtain-the-warhawk-servers/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/playstationblog/997953788/
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- News - -
- No news from the trenches.
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- Werk - -
- Did again what I am underpaied for. Sometimes computers are weird.
We got this full-palet scan program. Is is about the most used program in the halls, it has been changed early last month and worked flawlessly since. Bu now it fails. And checking the code I just cant't find why it worked.
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- 2007-08-15 ^:
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- Weather - -
- Hmm, got a mixed bag. Lots of sun but also lots of rain. (18°C -- 26°C)
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- Holiday - -
- So. No work.
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- 2007-08-16 ^:
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- Weather - -
- (00°C -- 99°C)
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- News - -
- Heu ... I thought this was already standard. (And I also thought the US didn't use the basket method -a UK system- but rather the 'flying boom' system where the tanker is responsible for making the connection. But it could be a different ystem for the navy.)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/15/air_to_air_refuelling_robot_darpa/
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- Of course they don't pay. They are a collecting agency, the word 'pay-out' doesn't extst in their vocabulary.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/15/riaa_doesnt_pay_legal_fees/
- For the rest they are nice guys.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/27/woman_sues_riaa/
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- Fuelcells are great. About time it moves from promising lab demonstrations to production.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=41666
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- 2007-08-17 ^:
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- (00°C -- 99°C)
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- News - -
- I don't think Novel are saints. But it clearly is no lawyer-firm.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=41723
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- Wireless isn't the only tech wityh bandwith issues. Cable-co's have been able to deliver internet and IP chieaply on the back of their old TV-cable. It's time to start investing in new stuff.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070814-report-cable-companies-facing-big-bandwidth-crunch.html
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- Nice fast enbedded DRAM. As a bonus it means it's easier to eliminate memory expansion sockets. Great to lower power consumption and for reducing the size of the box. And also great for sales, cause users can't DIY upgrade easily so they'll have to buy a new box when bigger, fatter games come out.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=41715
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- I suppose some preople at the table understands that proprietarty UNIX is running on it's last legs. Linux is for most people and companies good enough to run core business systems. The more so seing that both Sun and IBM are supporting it. I halfway expext that, in a couple of years AIX will fade as an OS proper, most likely by making all the extra-bits things Linux compatible so they can be moved from one kernal to another and by adapting the Linux kernel to run on Power (and Cell) based architecture. In the same way I expect Solaris to evolve into a supper-shell with a Linux kernel in it. Certainly for it's x86 version that would be
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/16/sun_ibm_solarisx86/
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- I love flow-charts. Both for their beauty and their bug finding capability. Bug finding?? Yep, I make them after the programs are finished (typically five years later when the original purpose of the programs has changed 40 times) and use them to eliminate dead wood.
http://www.regdeveloper.co.uk/2007/08/16/verity_stob_software_diagramming/
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- 2007-08-18 ^:
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- Weather - -
- Good in the morning, a little to warm and sunny for the rest of the day. (18°C -- 28°C)
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- Personal - -
- Dang. I just broke a tooth. One of the top inscisors.
It's not a drama. I broke it while whistling some tune. whistling off-key can be dangerous. ^_^
That it broke didn't surprise me. It's a bit strange that it didn't break off while eating though. It was filled years ago fith the filling mostly on the back an a little bit on the side. Most of the front was still original. But there was a crack in the originalm front. I couldn't feel it but it was visible like a crack in glass. And now it finally broke off.
Of course that happens late on a Saturday afternoon, without an active dentist available.
It doesn't hurt so that no problem -no need for the energency dentist- just an annoyance. Whenever I say an F or S I loose airpresure. And I got to be carefull when drinking.
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- 2007-08-19 ^:
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- Weather - -
- Apart from some drizzle in the evening it's all clear an sunny. But with a light breeze keeping temperatures down to confortable levels (18°C -- 22°C)
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- News - -
- No news from the trenches.
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- 2007-08-20 ^:
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- Weather - -
- A barely noticeable drizzle is a nice morning greeting. Low temps as well. And it remains beautifully grey and wet. PS, this is not sarcastic, I like this type of weather. If it doesn't last a whole month. (16°C -- 99°C)
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- News - -
- The boomerangs return.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/17/riaa_anderson_class_action_lawsuit/
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- Running at 500MHz may not sound good, but at 1W consumption it is clear top-gaming isn't the target market. Noz I wonder, a good old P4 runs a wee bit faster, 8 times. But you can put about 100 of these Eden chips together and still consume less power, with programs designed for multi-processing you might still beat out the P4. ^_^
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=41768
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- 2007-08-21 ^:
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- Weather - -
- Again cool and grey. But dry in the morning. (17°C -- 99°C)
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- News - -
- You don't often hear about price-rises like this. Usualy when a price-rise hits the market it's blamed on some shortage or hike-up in energy or basic materials/components.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=41810
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- descisions, descisions, descision. Get one wrong and the whole card-house wobbles.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=41788
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- Yes, there are still people making chips that don't play in the Intel pond.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=41800
- Same stuff on the Register. (shows quality difference between The Register and The Inquirer)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/20/tilera_tile64_chip/
- And the company itself.
http://www.tilera.com/products/processors.php
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- It could. But I don't think it would be a good thing.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/17/triumph_of_linux/
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- Linux is more secure than MS stuff. But not invulnerable.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/17/gentoo_disconnects_vulnerable_server/
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- Personal - -
- Howza, got an appointment with the dentist late in the afternoon. I hope he can fix it.
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- 2007-08-22 ^:
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- Weather - -
- It's been raining all night. And no light drizzle at that. (00°C -- 99°C)
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- News - -
- Sounds good rolling back the soup to its pre-salted state..
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/21/sun_transactional_memory_rock/
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- New arm for steamy action.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/21/steampunk_cyber_limb/
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- Lots of research and money poured in futuristic weapons. Nice. But futuristic weapons aimed a fuituristic targets or at present day standard war machinery doesn't provide a solution to terrorist tactics.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/21/raygun_lorry_northrop_contract/
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- Big portable drives.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=41825
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- I always loved those small VIA board. A bit expensive but inpressive and very usefull to build into small-space cases. And now they are getting cheaper as well.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=41824
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- Yep another 14h day at work. It's zeird when you realise that days lmonger than 12h feel like extra.
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- 2007-08-23 ^:
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- Weather - -
- Again a rainiy night. but it's not as wet as yesterdayand the rain stops before sunrise, of which nothing can be seen trough the clouds. (16°C -- 99°C)
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- News - -
- First-person shootup games online. But with a difference ^_^
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/22/gunplay_triggers_net_slowdown/
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- Boosting the SUN schips. Curious how they just keep going on with their chip designs even though people have predicted they would be unable to compete.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/22/sun_victoriafalls_hotchips/
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- I never owned one myself. But I used some quite often and I still think fondly of it. A good box tyhe Amiga.
http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/a-history-of-the-amiga-part-3.ars
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- An,d two new news sites to watch .
http://arstechnica.com/journals/hardware.ars
http://arstechnica.com/journals/linux.ars
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- Yes, it is still to complex to make it work well. There is something weird about home networking, sometimes it just works and sometimes it just doesn't.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070822-analyst-says-home-networking-still-too-complex-for-most-users.html
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- 2007-08-24 ^:
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- There is a lot of mist in the morning and it takes a very long time to clear up. But the afternoon i ssunny and (to) warm. (00°C -- 99°C)
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- Typical MS problem. First buy a company casue building it yourself is hopeless (cause you don't let your programmers do something interesting, but force them to overload old programs with new features and new bugs). And then you tweak it and market it for what it's not build in the first palce. And then (version-3) you give it away, piggy-back on another product binding in your customers.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/23/vmware_microsoft_double/
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- Sun change.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/23/sun_no_sunw_java/
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- 2007-08-25 ^:
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- Weather - -
- Lots of mist again but this time it clears rather fast so the morning is nice and sunny. With a hot and sweltering afternoon. (16°C -- 25°C)
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- Pissing off users. I don't understand though why users keep trying to install. It's not some indispensible product, there are other games. Just dropping the game would probably get 2K Boston into problems but it would also send a clear message to the other game developers to stay off DRM. The message now is rather the opposit, however cripling and bad your customer-Screwing-restriction they will come back, again and again.
Maybe those customers dererve to get screwwed.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/24/draconian_bioshock_drm_eased/
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- Well written : just prcatice :
Hello all Digg and Kotaku visitors! I've switched image hosting to try and keep the pictures up, but I don't know how long they'll hold. I'll try to have another backup ready in the eventuality. Also, I noticed a lot of Digg guys wanted to know the model of my PSU, it's an Antec Smartpower 350W.
Update: Now with grisly autopsy footage!
Literally, like shit blew up
I got the demo downloaded, updated to the latest drivers, and settled down to play the Bioshock demo. I wanted to set the proper mood, so the lights were off, the speakers turned up and the demo begun.
I was about 15 minutes into it, having very much enjoyed what I had seen so far, when I came upon the first Big Daddy encounter. I watch in rapt attention as he charges a splicer when suddenly BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM. It sounds as though a string of firecrackers has been detonated in my computer case, as well as each BOOM being punctuated with a bright blue flash coming through the case window.
For about half a second I sit there stunned. The first thought in my mind is "Holy Fucking Shit, that is the greatest effect I've ever seen. They should have given this game an 11." Immediately following this a sickening realization dawns on me as I look over at my tower. Blue Smoke! The magic blue smoke that makes electronics work is escaping from my PC.
What follows is a 30 second vaudeville act of me simultaneously cursing, falling as I try to leap out of my chair, and finally ripping the power cord from the wall. But the blue smoke was already out, and the smell of ozone in the air told me the bitter truth. Bioshock had fried my computer from the inside and blown the capacitors.
I took the victory into my living room and gave it some cursory revival attempts, but it was clear once the side panel was removed that it was gone. This all happened at about 8:30 CST, since which I've been endeavoring to bootstrap my old Pentium 3 back into working order. This involved a quick run to Walmart, as the damn thing is so old it doesn't have a built in NIC.
On the plus side, this errand allowed me to pick up a case of Fat Tire ale so that I might drink the pain away as I browse New Egg for a new computer.
A word of caution for anyone else planning on playing the Bioshock demo. THE GAME WAS SO FACE MELTINGLY AWESOME IT BLEW UP MY COMPUTER. Hopefully I can prevent further tragedies.
Update: Tuesday, August 21 2007
Acting Coroner Epiphyte
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- They'll probably sue Microsoft (or the Water-company). To bad Microsoft doesn't do tyhings right, not even electrocution works.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/24/xbox_teen/
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- Werking on a Saturday? Sure. Why not? I mean shopkeepers and others work on saturday so why wouldn't we?
Yep, on Saturday. Well we have a 24/7 opperation so some parts of the system have to be up all the time. Changing them is not something you do ad hoc. You plan it well and do it on a moment when you cause the least disruption. Sometimes that is Saturday or Sunday.
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- 2007-08-26 ^:
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- (00°C -- 99°C)
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- No news from the trenches.
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- 2007-08-27 ^:
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- (00°C -- 99°C)
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- Interesting to watch, this virtual strike.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/24/ibm_italy_strike/
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- Also interesting to watch may be this comms-suits. Although ... when was watching IBM interesting?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/24/ibm_microsoft_unified_comms/
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- Stupid system. Sentenced to prison seems way over the top for the alledged crime but then getting out and be checkled to Windows ... And he will have to buy it cause otherwise he will get nabbed for using bootleg Windows.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/24/movie_pirate_linux_ban/
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- Stupid system. Not only stupid but rather mystifying if you are not an expert at copyright and contract laws.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/24/open_source_railroad/
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- 2007-08-28 ^:
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- Nice and sunny in the morning. Not bad but I do prefer the mist, with the sun up and about this early we are going to get a hot and humid, highly unconforatble day. Until late in the afternoon it was, but then it cooled down nicely. A bit strange really cause there was no chnage in wind or clouds, just the same blue sky and sun but the temperature dropping from the high twenties to the low twenties. (17°C -- 99°C)
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- Genuin Advantage. Neither.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/27/wga_server_outage_aug_2007/
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- I know IBM packaging and it is rather robust. Maybe things have changed but with the packaging IBM used to have I would be looking for damages on the pavement rather than damages on the server. I rather suspect the transport firm to be in a problem with it's insurers and therefore trying to recoup elsewhere.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/27/forklift_ibm_server/
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- I remember one of my early computers, a 4K Orion. Of course it didn't need a disk-cache ... It didn't know what disks were.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/28/memory_appliance_gear6_cachefx/
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- So you don't need to fold out your laptop in flight anymore. Thankfully cause with those 17" screens laptops these days don't fit in planes.
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/082207-worldbeat-singapore-airlines-puts-a.html?netht=082207dailynews2&
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- 2007-08-29 ^:
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- Yep, another mistless and promising morning. The day gets bright and sunny as expected but it doesn't get hot, merely comfortably warm. (16°C -- 22°C)
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- Intel is catching up. Finally, after more than four years plodding on the bus, it copies another AMD technology that's been way advanced over their own stuff. And of course they claim to lead the industry.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/28/intel_csi_kanter/
- Or more in detail : http://realworldtech.com/page.cfm?ArticleID=RWT082807020032&p=1
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- Neutron starts. Heavy but not fat and bloated. And interesting.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/28/bendy_spacetime/
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- I think the Isalmic law -chopping off the thieves hand- is very appropriate here if they catch the criminal.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/28/hand_theft/
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- 2007-08-30 ^:
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- Copy cat. No mist, lots of sun early on already. (00°C -- 99°C)
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- Linux is free, but it does provide revenu.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/30/novell_q3_07_earnings/
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- Not your expected Italian design suit. But I am inclined to believ they have some credence. After all those Italians have been experimenting with sticking spaghetti for ages.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/29/nanotech_gecko_spiderman_suit/
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- Wall-sized screens comming next. I know they have been produced already. One-off lab experiments and tech-showcases. I am thinking about comercial products.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=41981
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- Those figures are looking nices for AMD. But they need high scores to offset their delays in delivering the chips.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=41970
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- 2007-08-31 ^:
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- (00°C -- 99°C)
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- Standard MS practice , why compete by improving your service if you can effortlessly kill the other guy.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/30/autopatcher/
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- There is still room for improvements in the instruction set.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/30/amd_sse5/
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- Not mentioned is the low-power side of the chips, making them appropriate for passive-cooled silent boxes.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video/display/20070829082235.html
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- No news from the trenches.
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