Notebook Critic

A great article that should lay this contentious issue to rest. I have to admit this was an eye opener for me.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/graphics-ram-4870,2428.html

http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/16227/41/

“This CPU launches in Q1 2010 and will be the king of the ultra-thin, “Ultra-Mobile” (UM) performance market. In fact, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that it looks like the best mobile chip ever made by Intel, as it has runs dual cores at 1.2GHz default clocks but with Turbo mode, it can overclock all the way to an astonishing 2.26GHz per core.

All of this can be done in under an 18W TDP envelope which is a great number considering that the integrated graphics core (IGP), integrated memory controller (IMC) and northbridge (IOH) are all part of this 32nm Arrandale-based CPU.”

My guess is that HT will be enabled so that it can be marketed as quad threaded or some clever way of implying that it has four cores, without outright making such a claim.

Intel must have something else up its sleeve for Apple’s high end line.

Seriously, after all these years I still hate Windows activation.

I have the Windows 7 RC build installed on my MacBook Pro’s Boot Camp partition with a legitimate key. VMware Fusion allows me to access that partition without rebooting. I do this occasionally. Each time I need to either reactivate or I have a Microsoft Public Service announcement about Genuine Windows Validation pop up.

This reminds me of similar experiences with various gaming rigs I used to own. I would frequently try out new parts – even motherboards. Why? Because I wanted to. That’s part of the fun of PCs, being able to hot rod them. Why put a custom exhaust manifold on your Chevelle?

Ever more heavy-handed, the current scheme turns off features if it thinks you are using a pirated copy. So now I am using a crippled version of something MS gave me for free in order to try out their OS. That is quite a sales pitch.

To MS: You know, maybe if you did not price your OS so ridiculously high you would not see so many people stealing it. And perhaps without the draconian anti-piracy, people would not devote efforts to developing cracks.

Hopefully I can get this sorted out as I am still fence sitting regarding Windows 7. IMO the best version of Windows is the cheapest one you can get. I’d use Windows 2000 if it support the latest DirectX.

I like the sound of this:

The game also features a refreshing and attractive art style. Stylized, cartoony, but still hard-edged, this is a game that looks great on both the 360 and PC, but the PC version gets the nod for better controls with the mouse and keyboard and some great scaling. My friend played one of my review keys on a higher-end desktop gaming box and it looked incredible. I played it on my Macbook Pro on my gaming partition and it looked great and ran smooth as the action on my shotgun.

Most atheists will let the slam slide, we really don’t want to acknowledge an abuser of power. While the pope (as well as whatever analogues exist in the world’s other religions) sits on his pile of gold manipulating the world into endless holy wars, our kind is busy worrying about the fate of the species. Science is the answer. Be good because you are good and you want your life to be an affirmation of that, not because of the pitchforked bogeyman Rome wants to sell you. Apocalypse is a viable last resort as long as you believe in post-death fairy tales, less so if you accept the irreversible oblivion that awaits.

What do I believe?

Look into the deep empty sky each night, what do you see? Nothing. Nothing as far as the eye can see and millions of light years past that. Perception of emptniess doen’t mean we are alone nor does it prove we are unique and specially made by some arbitrary god, it only means that we have not found who (what) else might be out there.

From our perspective, using what we know today, the true beauty of the universe is the fact that we may be alone. If someday we discover that we are not alone, then at a minimum we are only ones of our kind.

That means we are special. Each one of us represents a brief instant in time, never to be repeated. Ever. Billions of years form now the universe will end and there will NEVER be another you. That makes you special and priceless. You don’t need to have been created by some god to have that label. It was yours the instant you were conceived.

When we, as a species, accept this fact then I think the wars will stop. If people could see past their pety disputes and understand that we all family and all we have is each other, the violence would end. I am not holding my breath for that to happen given our heterongenous nature – billions at different levels of education and ignorance is fertile ground for organized religion.

There are also too many vested interests in maintianing the status quo. These include:

• Organized Religion – if you are part of it, why would you forsake the gravey train?
• Politicians – Polemics keep us distracted from the real problems – divide and conquer!
• Ourselves – Religion is reassuring, even though we know in our cores it is all a lie.

What’s the answer? If I had it I would lead the world-wide revolution. Instead I will continue to sell high-end enterprise software across my county until the answer reveals itself or someone tells me what it is. Hopefully one of my godless peers will find an insurance policy for human kind – even if the riteous fight against it the whole way.