The new breed of HTPCs and netbooks

Feb 22nd, 11 / 0 Comments

AMD released their first Fusion APUs this year, and now first motherboards and netbooks based on them are out. And they look promising.

APU in this context means combining CPU, GPU and parts of the chipset into one chip, one piece of silicon.

What you get is CPU performance somewhere between Atom and lowest-end Core2Duos and graphics performance of 30-40¤ discrete graphics cards at one chip, one that does not ever draw more than 18W.

One of the first motherboards:

“Fusion processor — combines a central processing unit and graphics processing unit on the same chip. That was where the future was headed, and the future is finally here.”

via Asus E35M1-M Pro: AMD Fusion Motherboard | silentpcreview.com.

One of the first netbooks:

“HP dm1z was positive enough to recommend one to my mother to replace her aging HP tablet PC. It’s responsive, runs cool, lasts a long time on the battery, and has a smart design. If I can recommend one to my mother, I can recommend one to you”

via HP dm1z: Taking Fusion on the Road – AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News.

So, these are inexpensive, powerful enough for mundane tasks and some casual gaming, and don’t draw much power when doing it. And they can play 1080p (full HD) video without dropping frames.

Very nice.

Widgetit ja Gadgetit

New portrait for Jilnor

Jan 26th, 11 / 0 Comments

As many of you know, in next year or so EVE will get “ambulation” feature where we’ll be able to see our characters outside their ships. Related to this the latest expansion brought us engine to create new avatars for us, and then take portrait of them to replace the portrait that’s been used this far, 7.5 years for some.

My main’s new portrait:

And comparison to old one:

NibbleTek – Portrait Viewer.

In longer run this might be interesting to fellow gamemasters, too. It’s one of the most versatile engines to make realistic human faces for NPCs, for example. And will get even better when the WoD MMOG will be released at some point, as it will be using the same “Carbon Based” engine.

Viihtymys, Widgetit ja Gadgetit

Some perspective on Assange case

Dec 14th, 10 / 0 Comments

This is a woman from rape victim support association speaking:

“Never in twenty-three years of reporting on and supporting victims of sexual assault around the world have I ever heard of a case of a man sought by two nations, and held in solitary confinement without bail in advance of being questioned — for any alleged rape, even the most brutal or easily proven.”

Naomi Wolf: J’Accuse: Sweden, Britain, and Interpol Insult Rape Victims Worldwide.

Politiikka

Cyberwar rages on

Dec 10th, 10 / 0 Comments

This just in:

“transactions cannot be processed via 3-D Secure. This is affecting all payment service providers and is not SecureTrading specific.”

via MasterCard & Maestro 3-D Secure | SecureTrading.

When the legal bodies fail the freedom of press and the freedom of speech, illegal bodies must act.

Politiikka, Web on ihmeellinen

Live with the WikiLeakable world or shut down the net. It’s your choice | John Naughton | The Guardian

Dec 7th, 10 / 0 Comments

"Disclosure is messy and tests moral and legal boundaries. It is often irresponsible and usually embarrassing. But it is all that is left when regulation does nothing, politicians are cowed, lawyers fall silent and audit is polluted. Accountability can only default to disclosure."

via Live with the WikiLeakable world or shut down the net. It’s your choice | John Naughton | Comment is free | The Guardian.

This.

Politiikka, Web on ihmeellinen

Irony, do you know it?

Dec 7th, 10 / 0 Comments

‘”To me the New York Times has committed at least an act of bad citizenship, but whether they have committed a crime is a matter of discussion for the justice department.” Joe Lieberman told Fox News’

In other news:
“The United States is pleased to announce that it will host Unesco’s World Press Freedom Day event in 2011, from 1-3 May in Washington, DC.”
“The theme for next year’s commemoration will be 21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers. The United States places technology and innovation at the forefront of its diplomatic and development efforts. New media has empowered citizens around the world to report on their circumstances, express opinions on world events, and exchange information in environments sometimes hostile to such exercises of individuals’ right to freedom of expression.”

Politiikka, Web on ihmeellinen

Silent gaming card

Dec 7th, 10 / 0 Comments

Those who are looking for powerful gaming card that operates in very quiet manner, here’s one, Asus EAH6850 DirectCU:

Asus DirectCU & AMD Radeon HD 6850 Graphics Cards | silentpcreview.com.

Radeon HD 6850 should be powerful enough for most gamers, and for once it can be had with SPCR-approved cooling system.

Widgetit ja Gadgetit

Time to boycott Paypal

Dec 6th, 10 / 0 Comments

“The online payments processor, PayPal, says it has cut access for donations to the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks.”

from BBC News – PayPal cuts Wikileaks access for donations.

Seriously.. while leaking confidential documents is criminal, since when was it legal to close account of *publications* who report on questionable acts, even when the information was gotten from a whistle-blower?

So, as of today, I stop using Paypal. If you know about similar service but with higher moral fiber, please let me know.

Politiikka, Rant, Web on ihmeellinen

Kyberwar, going on, right now

Nov 30th, 10 / 0 Comments

“Iran’s president has said some of the centrifuges used in its uranium enrichment programme were sabotaged, raising suspicions that they were targeted by the Stuxnet computer worm.”

via BBC News – Iran says nuclear programme was hit by sabotage.

So, the most complicated worm in history, Stuxnet, was confirmed to have worked exactly as intended. It apparently made Iranian centrifuges used to enrich uranium speed over their safe limits thus breaking them.

And now we also know that the Iranian scientist assassinated yesterday was the most knowledgeable guy about fighting Stuxnet in Iran.

What a.. coincidence.

All in all, this plot is straight from cyberpunk novel. And unfolding right here, right now.

With the level of dedication and professionalism involved here Mossad becomes my main bet for the guys pulling the strings.

Politiikka, Tiede, Widgetit ja Gadgetit

Highly unusual imagery

Nov 18th, 10 / 0 Comments

Here a guy took image with 6 month exposure time with pinhole camera:

Photography’s Longest Exposure – household name : : : blog.

Taide, Viihtymys

Nokia’s Market Share Slips Below 30% as Smaller Vendors Grow, Gartner Says – Bloomberg

Nov 10th, 10 / 0 Comments

“Nokia Oyj’s mobile-phone market share tumbled to its lowest ever as unbranded Chinese device makers gained ground on the low-end, while Apple Inc.’s iPhones advanced in smartphones, researcher Gartner Inc. said.”

via Nokia’s Market Share Slips Below 30% as Smaller Vendors Grow, Gartner Says – Bloomberg.

What makes this interesting is that now Nokia is taking beating on the lower end, too, not just on smartphones.

The best explanation I got for this came from IRC: Many people in Asia are willing to pay for having their equipment read “Made in EU”. By closing profitable factories in EU countries to make even more profit by manufacturing in China, Nokia at the same time lost the “Made in EU” advantage.

Apparently many Asians think that if all they can afford is something carrying “Made in China”, they can as well buy the cheapest on available and save for not paying of the brand.

And no, I do not claim I foresaw this effect coming.

Politiikka, Rant, Widgetit ja Gadgetit

Distributed powers, the good

Oct 30th, 10 / 0 Comments

This article summarizes certain things very vell: The Revolution Will Be Distributed: Wikileaks, Anonymous And How Little The Old Guard Realizes What’s Going On | Techdirt.

The article discusses the difficulty for old powers to face new power, power of distributed individuals.

In USA, “former state department official Christian Whiton — says that [that President Obama and Congress have] failed by not ‘exploring opportunities for the president to designate Wikileaks and its officers as enemy combatants, paving the way for non-judicial actions against them.’”

This is wrong on many levels, but let’s analyze two.

First, Mr. Whiton implies that whistle-blowing should be penalized with death. This is just plain wrong. Even if you think whistle-blowing is wrong, you can’t just go around killing citizens of other countries because they spread information you do not like to be spread. The real deal is that whistle-blowing is essential for modern society. There are powers that are very hard to control, namely military of powerful countries and secret services. The only way to control them is for someone to blow the whistle, reveal to public when they have crossed too many lines. The outrage about Wikileaks goes to verify this: the men in power are not angry to Wikileaks because it “endangers US soldiers”, but because whistle-blowing puts limits to their power, and righteously so.

Second, like the article I linked points out, you can’t shut down whistle-blowing by declaring war on Wikileaks. It’s an distributed effort and countless individuals consider it an essential thing to do. There will always be someone to step up, and more advanced methods used to hide the locations and people behind it.

The real way to cut the amount of data revealed by Wikileaks is to fix your organization, military, secret services, large corporations, so that the threshold for someone needing to blow the whistle is not surpassed. But admitting this is hard, especially for people like Mr. Whiton.

Politiikka, Web on ihmeellinen

Kivikauden ihmiset söivät hiilihydraatteja – HS.fi – Ulkomaat

Oct 20th, 10 / 0 Comments

kivikauden ihmiset keräsivät ja kuivasivat kasveja ja jauhoivat niitä ravinnoksi jo 30 000 vuotta sitten. Löytö muuttaa käsityksiä, joiden mukaan kivikauden ihmisten ruokavalio olisi koostunut vain lihasta ja satunnaisista marjoista ja hedelmistä.

via Kivikauden ihmiset söivät hiilihydraatteja – HS.fi – Ulkomaat.

Tiede

Benoit Mandelbrot, RIP

Oct 16th, 10 / 0 Comments

One genius less alive. RIP, Mr. Mandelbrot.

Benoit Mandelbrot, RIP.

Taide, Tiede, Viihtymys, Widgetit ja Gadgetit

Yay Peter! – NYTimes.com

Oct 11th, 10 / 0 Comments

“— Peter Diamond, along with Dale Mortenson and Chris Pissarides, has won the Nobel. — And yes, this is the same Peter Diamond whose nomination to the Fed board has been held up because of Republican doubts about his qualifications.”

via Yay Peter! – NYTimes.com.

Politiikka, Tiede

Only 1.7% of sites blocked by Scandinavia’s “child-porn” filters are actually child porn – Boing Boing

Sep 30th, 10 / 0 Comments

“After sending an abuse message to the hosting provider in the USA, the websites were removed in less than 30 minutes. This suggests that the police did nothing to shut these sites down for about two years.”

Only 1.7% of sites blocked by Scandinavia’s “child-porn” filters are actually child porn – Boing Boing.

Politiikka

A Better Way to Reprogram Cells – ScienceNOW

Sep 30th, 10 / 0 Comments

These folks have found a way to make stem cells and then program then to specialize to certain type of tissue, like muscle tissue, that uses cells from adult and synthetic RNA. The main difference to earlier methods is that the resulting tissue does not carry any leftover DNA from the reprogramming process.

A Better Way to Reprogram Cells – ScienceNOW.

Tiede

Web page fail

Sep 21st, 10 / 0 Comments


Click to see a FAIL.

There is so much wrong with these pages it’s hard to even list it all, but lets try:

Full page flash, just one for the whole site:

  • Google can’t index your contents, so you don’t get presence and people don’t find you.
  • People who like your designs can’t link them to their friends.
  • It is hard and annoying to navigate around; no back-button, so you have to navigate the same paths over and over again.

In addition to this

  • Links are hidden and only visible when you “scan” the page through with mouse.
  • Page displays annoying animation when looking at items.
  • Items are shown per season, also jewellery. Most people don’t buy 200-1000¤ jewellery new for each season. It is hard to see past seasons, and impossible to see all jewellery pieces at once.
  • Only one image per item.
  • Images are artsy, but unclear; It is hard to judge the designs looking at the images.

Now, as a potential buyer, I would either not find this designer at all, or I could not find the items I am interested in, and if I found them, I could not show them to my SO or friends for judgment, and last, I could not see from the images if the items were actually worth my money.

When you are selling physical items, there is no reason at all to hide information about them. It is in _your_ best interests to share as clear information about them as you can. I could understand this kind of shortcomings if the items were priced at 20¤, but not if they are priced at 200¤ or 2000¤.

What makes me sad is that this kind of failure actually costs you more than a good, clear, easy-to-use simple website would. Take a look at this: NotJustALabel.com. Their pages are clear, easy to use and classy. Photos are clear and there are several photos from each item. _This_ kind of pages sell your items.

Taide, Web on ihmeellinen

Theme: Spine

Sep 21st, 10 / 0 Comments

Another collection of art and design, this time the theme is spine.


Spine ring

Also check out the rest of the piece by this designer – he has several very nice designs.



Spine bracelet


Another spine bracelet


Goth pewter spine bracelet


Spine Sandals

This was a generous subject; there would have been still some more good-looking stuff, but lets get back to them later. Some designers also disqualified themselves by having “web”"pages” that were just one full-screen flash with poor navigation and images that looked artsy, but were not clear enough to judge the actual designs.

Folks, if you are selling some physical products, there is no reason to make it hard for people to actually see good images of them.. And even less reasons to make it impossible for Google to find your stuff, or for fans to link to them.

Taide, Viihtymys

Me wants..

Sep 19th, 10 / 0 Comments

YouTube – Auto Assault CG Trailer.

This is CG trailer for MMOG called AutoAssault. I really, really would love to have MMOG like that.

The unfortunate thing is that the game called AutoAssault was made and released, and it was nothing like you can see in the trailer, and got rightfully ditched.

So now we only have the trailer and the hope that someday, someone, will actually make a game that does honor to this awesome trailer. It is completely possible the trailer was sent down from Heaven, but if it was actually made by humans, those humans still exist somewhere. I want them to make a game, not just a trailer.

Please..

Taide, Viihtymys