Tech Review: Hardware: Friday, August 3, 2012

Western Digital My Passport WDBY8L0020BBK-NESN 2TB Portable Hard Drive - USB 3.0/2.0, Backup Software & Encryption ($200)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=1455023&sku=W10-8408&SRCCODE=WEM3197TT&cm_mmc=email-_-Main-_-WEM3197-_-tigeremail3197&utm_source=EML&utm_medium=main&utm_campaign=WEM3197&cm_lm=hughesstan@gmail.com

• not bad at $50 per 500 MB

Hacker delves into secret world of warranties

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57481671-83/hacker-delves-into-secret-world-of-warranties/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

• can hack warranty log on

Tech Review: Computer Hardware: Tuesday, July 24, 2012

MIT chip could power wireless sensors

http://gcn.com/articles/2012/07/23/mit-ambient-power-chip-for-sensors.aspx?s=gcndaily_240712

• Devices that use several sources for energy

Acer Balloon Carnival 10.1" Aspire One AOD270-1606 Netbook PC with Intel Atom N2600 Processor and Windows 7 Starter ($228)

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Acer-Balloon-Carnival-10.1-Aspire-One-AOD270-1606-Netbook-PC-with-Intel-Atom-N2600-Processor-and-Windows-7-Starter/20607288

Tech Review: Big Data: Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Hardware Size Review (Computer Storage Devices)

Expansion 3TB SuperSpeed USB 3.0 External Desktop Hard Drive ($145)

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0392921

• $0.48 per GB ($48 per TB)

Agility 3 AGT3-25SAT3-120G 120GB SATA 6Gb/s 2.5" Solid State Drive (SSD) with SandForce 2281 Controller ($85)

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0364780

• $0.71 per GB

DVD-R 16x 4.7GB/120 Minute 100 Pack

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0327199

• $0.03 per GB

Crucial 1GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Desktop Memory Model CT12864BA1067 ($9)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148147

• $4.88 per GB

Tech Review: Computer Hardware: Monday, July 16, 2012

Realspace® PRO Quantum Mesh Mid-Back Task Chair, 43 3/4"H x 29 1/2"W x 28"D, Black

http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/510830/Realspace-PRO-Quantum-Mesh-Mid-Back/?cm_cat=2000000353

• I know it's not hardware, but this is one nice chair.  Maybe better than the one I have at work.

Tech Review: Hardware: Monday, July 16, 2012

 

SYBA SD-CM-UAUD USB Stereo Audio Adapter ($9)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812186035

• Suppose to work with Linux

Pano's PC Killer

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/03/panos-pc-killer/?smid=li-share

Thinking this is a PC Killer show how little people really understand about the changing nature of personal computing.  This will never work because it offers none of the benefits of the real PC Killer, the table/smart phone.  The smart phone in my pocket has, or will have in near future, comparable computing power.  This thing is dead from the start and I doubt it "can stand for another 20 years."

Tech Review Computer Tech: Monday, June 11, 2012

Next step in the Chrome OS journey

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/05/next-step-in-chrome-os-journey.html

Looks nice.  Quick boot and low maintenance.  However, I believe that it will be fully overshadowed by tablets.

Tech Review Linux: Monday, June 11, 2012

First Computer that Comes with Mint Loaded ($476/$549)

http://www.fit-pc.com/web/purchase/order-direct-mintbox/

• dual monitors

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/first-linux-mint-pcs-go-on-sale/11193?alertspromo=&tag=nl.rSINGLE

Tech Review Computer: Wednesday, June 6, 2012

hybrid hard drive (HHD)

http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/definition/hybrid-hard-drive

Tech Review Computer: Friday, May 4, 2012

 

http://gcn.com/Articles/2012/04/30/IEEE-802-11ac-WiFi-standard-beware-drafts.aspx?s=gcndaily_010512&Page=2 

Tech Review Computers: Monday, May 1, 2012

 

Nvidia unleashes $999 GeForce GTX 690 dual-GPU graphics card

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/computers/nvidia-unleashes-999-geforce-gtx-690-dual-gpu-graphics-card/7989?tag=nl.e505

• Dual GK104 GPUs
• 3,072 Nvidia Cuda cores at 915 MHz
• 2 GB of 6 GHz GDDR5 RAM for each GPU
• 300W TDP

Tech Review Hardware: Monday, April 9, 2012

http://www.walmart.com/ip/HP-Refurbished-Steel-Gray-15.6-Pavilion-DV6-6153CL-Laptop-PC-with-Intel-Core-i7-2630QM-Processor-and-Windows-7-Home-Premium/19793191

• 15.6 "
• refurbished
• $698
• 8 GB memory 
• expandable to 16 GB
• 750 GB drive
• DVD Burner
• 1000 Ethernet
• HD webcam
• Win 7 Home Premium (sic.) 64-Bit Edition
• 90-day parts/labor

Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM Processor 
(6M Cache, up to 2.90 GHz)

http://ark.intel.com/products/52219/Intel-Core-i7-2630QM-Processor-(6M-Cache-2_00-GHz)

• # of cores
• 4
• # of threads
• 8
• clock speed
• 2.0 GHz
• Max 2.0 GHz
• memory
• Max 16 GB
• Type DDR3-1066/1333

Tech Review: Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Western Digital 4TB My Book Studio Edition II - Quadruple Interface (USB 2.0, eSATA & FireWire 400/800) External Hard Drive - WDH2Q40000N

http://www.buy.com/prod/western-digital-4tb-my-book-studio-edition-ii-quadruple-interface-usb/211190835.html?listingid=45553526

• $331
• Guessing that it has 2 TB drives in it

Western Digital My Passport Essential 500 GB USB 3.0/2.0 Portable External Hard Drive (Midnight Black)

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Passport-Essential-Portable/dp/B0041OSAZS

• bought for $65
• hope to install linux on it

DISA OKs secure Android mobile system for DOD

http://gcn.com/articles/2012/01/05/disa-okays-secure-andriod-mobile-system-for-dod.aspx?s=gcndaily_060112

ZAGGkeys Flex Bluetooth keyboard for iOS and Android (review)

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/mobile-gadgeteer/zaggkeys-flex-bluetooth-keyboard-for-ios-and-android-review/5384?alertspromo=&tag=nl.rSINGLE

• $80
• Nice blue tooth key board for both android and iOS

Kingston 16GB microSDHC Card w/Full Size SD Adapter - SDC4/16GB

http://www.buy.com/prod/kingston-16gb-microsdhc-card-w-full-size-sd-adapter/216757949.html

• $15
• Need the extra space for my Android
• Looks like the good deals are about $1 per GB

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820313195&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL010512&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL010512-_-EMC-010512-Index-_-FlashMemory-_-20313195-L09B

Boss Electric 2802 8" Android Tablet

http://www.jr.com/boss-electric/pe/BOE_2802/

• $110
• I have been very disappointed with the bargain Androids.  I wonder if it is even worth buying them at all.
• runs Android 2.2
• gives access to a large segment of apps
• 1.1 GHz CPU
• should run most apps
• really 
• 800 mhz CPU
• 300 mhz DSP
• this could be a problem
• Which way is the camera facing?
• Can it run Skype?
• Another China Android

Why Ice Cream Sandwich won't be able to save Android tablets

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/perlow/why-ice-cream-sandwich-wont-be-able-to-save-android-tablets/19584?tag=nl.e539

• kind of a dumb article
• I didn't know that Android tablets needed saving
• His complain about interface in comparison to Apple might be correct, but I don't think his conclusions are

Should Amazon, Google & Wikipedia "nuke" the Web to stop SOPA?

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/networking/should-amazon-google-wikipedia-8220nuke-8221-the-web-to-stop-sopa/1848?tag=nl.e539

• How big of a threat is the SOPA?
• does it hurt us competing internationally?
• is there danger of it law being used inappropriately 
• strong arm for political reasons
• ?
• blocking Web sites that share media
• what are the ramifications?
• would be use to kill personal use
• like iPad
• Article simply says it it bad and everyone hates it without saying why is bad and why everyone hates it

Get a 1.5TB external hard drive for $99.99 shipped

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13845_3-57355056-58/get-a-1.5tb-external-hard-drive-for-$99.99-shipped/?tag=nl.e796

• I missed the good old days when I could find a 2TB drive for $80.
• USB2
• eSATA

Dell Precision M4600 Mobile Workstation

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=bwmd33a&m_2=IX72960&m_3=4G2D3&m_6=M5950&m_8=750G72&m_10=HD&m_11=W7PN61E&m_16=8XDVRTN&c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&model_id=precision-m4600

• $3009
• Extreme Quad Core 2.70GHz
• Win7 Pro 64 bit
• 16 GB memory
• 32 GB 
• $5,000 more
• slower memory
• DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM
• AMD FrePro M5950 Pro Graphics
• 750 GB 7200 rmp Drive
• Blue tooth
• Camera/mic
• Can add Mobile Broadband for $125

Tech Review: Laptops, Monday, December 5, 2011

HP Pavilion dv6-6135dx Refurbished Notebook PC - AMD Quad-Core A8-3500M 2.4GHz, 6GB DDR3, 640GB HDD, Blu-ray, 15.6" Display, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1306296&sku=M975-156305

• $500
• 15.6"
• AMD Quad-core at 2.4GHz
• 6 GB memory (max 16 GB)
• 640 GB disk space
• Win 7 Home Premium(sic.) 64 Bit
• Blue Ray 
• Refurbished
• AMD Radeon HD 6750M
• 2 USB 3.0
• 2 USB 2.0
• 6.01 lbs
• Webacam/Mic

Tech Review: Thursday, July 21, 2011

How to build your own 135TB RAID6 storage pod for $7,384

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/90634-how-to-build-your-own-135tb-raid6-storage-pod-for-7384

• About $54 per TB
• With Raid 6, that is really $63 per TB
• This is a single unit.  
• Speed within it is good
• Raid 6:  1-2/15= 85%
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID
• 85% of 135TB is about 117 TB
• $7384/117 = $63 per TB
• Redundant
• 45 3TB drive
• groups of 15 drives grouped together using RAID6 to create 39TB partition
• ext4 has a 16TB limit
• used logical volume manage (LVM) to access the full 39TB as a unit

IBM's Watson charts new frontiers for computer science

http://gcn.com/articles/2011/07/20/watson-opens-new-horizons-for-computer-science.aspx?s=gcndaily_210711

• David McQueeney, VP of software
• keynote speech at FOSE
• "a long-standing challenge in artificial intelligence to emulate a slice of human behavior"
• Understanding unfiltered language hard for computers
• Jeopardy
•  statistical analysis approach
• did not work
• uses structured data only 15% of the time
• built-in temporal reasoning
• find data through time and geospatial calculations
• weight evidence
• pre-loaded data
• not connected to internet
• Watson in 2007 could only answer Jeopardy questions 50% of the time
• DeepQA
• massively parallel probabilistic evidence-based architecture
• made of off-the-shelf components
• not technically a supercomputer
• 80 teraflops of processing power
• Won 71 percent of the time in 55 sparring matches

Mono, open-source .NET for Android, Linux and iOS, lives on

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/mono-open-source-net-for-android-linux-and-ios-lives-on/9265?alertspromo=&tag=nl.rSINGLE

http://www.mono-project.com/Main_Page

• support for SUSE-Attachmates' Linux Branch
• given mono new life

Technical Survey: Monday, June 13, 2011

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=7212231&sku=V18-0020

Viewsonic gTablet - 10.1" Android for $300

• Froyo - (Android 2.2)
• Can install Android 3.0 Honeycomb ROM (http://www.intomobile.com/2011/05/16/viewsonic-gtablet-gets-first-taste-android-3-0-honeycomb/)
• Camera not working right now
• Smoke in mirrors 
• 16 GB memory
• Forward facing camera
• Dual ARM 1 GHz Cortex-A9 processor
• Perhaps not a really good price.  Woot has had it for $279 (http://androidcommunity.com/viewsonic-g-tablet-dual-core-android-tab-is-279-at-woot-com-today-only-20110323/)

Fantom GreenDrive 2TB USB 2.0 & eSATA 32MB External Hard Drive - 2 Year Warranty! - GD2000EUS - w/ NTI Shadow Backup Software

2TB for $85 + $5.49 shipping

• USB 2.0
• $45.25 per TB

BlackBerry PlayBook $500

http://www.staples.com/BlackBerry-PlayBook-Tablet-7-in-with-WiFi-(16GB)/product_927826

Cruz eReader

http://www.staples.com/Velocity-Micro-Cruz-eReader/product_913150

Android 2.0 (Eclair)

mal

Erricson Giga Bit Board Band Router ($50)

EMCKGJJ27 promo code

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833129184&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL031111&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL031111-_-EMC-031111-Index-_-WirelessRouters-_-33129184-L02D

Nice looking device.  I would like to have one to put wireless in my home.

Archos 5 Internet Tablet for $269.99

Android 1.6

Almost 5" screen.

Being sold by NewEgg.  Nice company.  Have bought stuff from them in the past.

Looks like a nice Android tablet.  However, there does seem to be some problems:

• Have to purchase HD plugin for 720P H264.
• Trouble streaming with UStream.
• Android market place is not installed but can be.
• Must update to latest firmware.
• Can it be updated to Android 2.2?
• 3g tethering doesn't work for all Android phones.
• Poor GPS reception.

Seems like a lot of the complaints were from back in March.  Maybe things have gotten a little better.

Testing Network Speed on a Mobile Phone

http://mobilespeedtest.com/

My Nexus One reported 684 Kbps, which is between 3G (400 Kbps) and broadband (768 Kbps).  This is much better than I thought it would be.

4G is 2500 Kbps.

HTC Corp use to be High Tech Computer Corp

http://www.htc.com/us/about
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Corporation

Taiwan based company.  Started out making portable computers but right now makes the most awesome Android phone on the planet.  (See Nexus One, HTC EVO™ 4G).

http://www.hardwarezone.com.au/img/data/nnews/2010/15420/Image/google-nexus-one-front.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nexus_one

http://www.htc.com/us/content/images/phones/evo-sprint-Support-1013.png

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_EVO_4G

HTC for Use in Lowlevel Android Linux Development ($200)

This is a very good price.  I could use the phone for testing with low level Linux changes on the phone and for test application, without the fear of messing up the phone I rely upon daily.

USED HTC G1 T-MOBILE GOOGLE ANDROID PHONE BLACK MINT