Posts from — November 2002

My new system arrived yesterday. I got a Dell 4550 2.53 GHz Pentium 4 with all the accessories. So far I’m very impressed. Pam got my “old” Dell 1.7 GHz system and she’s extremely happy with it. Her last computer was a Dell 500 MHz so this new one for her is a vast improvement.

I’ve been wondering what I could do with the 500 MHz system. Should I use it as a media server and store all our media files there? Maybe I’ll use it as an Apache web server. Red Hat just released a new version of Linux and I may load it on to check it out. Whatever I decide to do, it will be fun learning something new.

Which media player do you use? I have three major ones loaded on my computer. WinAmp is small, powerful and full-featured. I’ve used it for years. The ton of plugins available for it make listening to your music extremely fun.

Later Realplayer came along and I tried it out. Their practice of charging for its premium features and the spyware loaded on your computer caused me to stop using it. Plus the quality of their proprietary files was often very poor. Only in the last few months I started using Real’s new RealOne player. It’s a vast improvement on the original and has minimal nagging about upgrading to a paid version.

A few weeks ago I downloaded the new Windows Media Player 9. I liked a lot of the new features, the interface and the visualizations. With WMP9 you can download and organize all your music and video, watch DVDs and burn music CD’s. The program makes all of this very easy.

Last night WMP9 did an auto-update that fixed many of the small things bothering me about the player. Now its an outstanding total package for all your media needs. I HIGHLY recommend using Windows Media Player 9.

When you start Windows XP, there are many “services” loaded into memory. Many of these services are critical to the operation of XP but some are unneccesary. Turning them off will help recover some memory for your other applications. For a comprehensive list of what you can safely turn off, check out Black Viper’s web site.

In fact, one service called “messenger” should be disabled immediately on your XP machine. Leaving this on opens you up to a nasty attack where hackers can delete entire directories on your computer. Go to William Gibson’s site for more details how to fix this fatal flaw. By the way, Service Pack 1 for Windows XP fixes this bug.

From Steve B. - The Keeper of Lists is great. Visit this site to see a hilarious list created from Star Wars quotes.

My nice long weekend is almost over. For Veteran’s Day, we had last Friday off. We’re in the middle of home improvement projects and I was busy finishing some of them.

Pam wants a new computer so we decided to hand her down my current system. Then I’ll get a new one for myself. I’ve decided on a 2.53-GHz Pentium 4. I compared this system with others for price and performance and I believe its a great choice.

Then again I may wait and get a 3.06-GHz Pentium 4 system when the prices come down. I am anxious to see how its new hyperthreading technology will perform in benchmark tests. They say its like running a dual-processor system like the Athlon.

Make a fight with Googlefight.

TVCards.com is a good resource for, well TV Cards. They offer software, tips and reviews for all sorts of cards. I have a Hauppauge WinTV PCI card that works well for me. With the new computer and the larger hard drive, I plan to record more shows using it. The site lists Snapstream as a good choice for DVR (Digital Video Recording). A freeware DVR, called MsDVR 2000 looks good too.

Warp2Search is a good place to go to keep up on tech news. I drop by at least once a week to see what’s happening. Another good source of tech is Active Network.

Visit FilmWise for interesting triva about movies. They have quizzes, reviews and a lot more. This is a very fun site.

In a push for simplicifation, I will no longer type “http://www” before any site URL’s.

There’s nothing good on TV tonight. Wait. There is never anything good on TV. It’s all crap if you ask me. So, on the way home, we stopped at Blockbuster. Pam rented Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood.

I rented the new PS2 game “Grand Theft Auto: Vice Squad” to play while she’s watching her chick flick. When I got it out to play, I found the disk was missing from the box. The dolt at the counter forgot to put it in. I should have checked it before leaving. But isn’t that what these people are paid to do?

Looking for a new cellphone? Go to Phonescoop.com or HowardChui.com. Both sites have comprehensive reviews and information about all the latest phones out there.

Egyptology has always fascinated me. Theban Mapping Project, based in Cairo is a site that aims to create a comprehensive database of the Thebes ruins. “With its thousands of tombs and temples, Thebes is one of the world’s most important archaeological zones.” I’ve spent hours here exploring the database.

I’m trading in my iPAQ and getting one of these.

Please tell me you will be voting tomorrow. Thank you.

This is the Googleism for me.

There are some cool images coming in from the Cassini spacecraft. Launched in 1997, it is close enough to Saturn to resolve many rings and moons. I love this stuff.

Blockbuster had a good deal. You buy a 10 movie gift card for $29 and get Spiderman on DVD for free. The movie was released today so I’ll stop on my way home and get our copy.

A new Wal-Mart opened by our house the other day. We went over to the Grand Opening to check it out. I enjoy going to watch the different people that shop there. As expected I saw a huge, heavy-set woman wearing spandex pants, a tight t-shirt and pounds of eye makeup yelling at her ill-behaved kids. They were at the other end of the store from her. It’s just like cable TV.