Technically Speaking

Rumor has it that Wyse Technology Inc is going to provide the hardware for Google’s new low-cost PC. The cost of their PC will be a low low price of $200. This is meant to be sold wordwide and if this all goes well then it would be expected that every household would have a PC alongside the TV.

The Internet giant reportedly is in talks with retailer Wal-Mart Inc. to sell the PCs, with the hardware being provided by Wyse and Google bringing in the software.

Wyse President and CEO John Kish mentioned during a presentation at the Red Herring Fall 2005 conference last month that his company was in discussions with Google focusing on a $200 PC that would be targeted at developing markets such as China and India, part of Wyse’s greater push to bring technology to such countries.

Google’s reported negotiations with Wal-Mart suggest a plan to sell such systems not only in emerging markets but also in such countries as the United States.

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This news comes as somewhat of a shock. Apple will cease to use the IBM chip architecture in their PowerPCs. In actuality, Apple has been preparing for this switch for sometime now, as Jobs explains:

In his speech, Jobs revealed that Apple has been developing all versions of OS X since its inception to run on Intel and PowerPC chips.

“Mac OS X has been leading a secret double life the past five years,” he said.

The move to Intel marks a tectonic shift for Apple, which has used processors from IBM and Motorola (now Freescale Semiconductor) throughout the life of the Mac. However, the company has changed architectures before, shifting in the 1990s from Motorola’s 68000 family of chips to the PowerPC architecture jointly developed by IBM and Motorola.

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The main reason for the switch is that the future of the IBM PowerPC chips has nearly come to an end. They can’t squeeze much more performance out of it and Apple was hoping to have a 3Ghz machine in 2006. With the PowerPC this would be possible.

As for why Apple was making the shift, Jobs pointed both to past problems and to the PowerPC road map, which he said won’t deliver enough performance at the low-power usages needed for powerful notebooks.

Two years ago at the same conference, Jobs introduced the first G5-based Power Macs and promised developers that the company would have a 3GHz PowerMac within 12 months. The company still doesn’t have a machine that fast. “We haven’t been able to deliver,” he said. Nor has Apple been able to introduce a G5-based laptop–something Jobs said “I think a lot of you would like.”

Things weren’t looking better in the coming months, Jobs said, saying that IBM’s PowerPC road map would only deliver about a fifth the performace per watt as a comparable Intel chip.

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With this change, I think that Apple will be able to tap into Microsoft’s market a lot easier. It might even be possible to have machines dual boot Longhorn and Leopard. An interesting thought, heh.

Click to see the step-by-step pictures.

Here is a very creative case mod that was featured on Gizmodo. This was definitely a detailed project that I’m sure you would love to see in the making.

FlipStart is a full Windows XP Professional computer designed to be a true mobile computer that doesn’t sacrifice performance or functionality. This “MiniPC”, weighing 450 grams (1.0 lb), fits in the palm of your hand and runs all standard XP software. With integrated 802.11b (11 Mbps) /g (54 Mbps) (“Wi-Fi”) connectivity and optional Bluetooth® wireless technology, FlipStart has, what they call, always-on connectivity via a special proprietary software that allows seamless roaming. The display screen has near HDTV-quality in a 5.6″, 1024 x 600 high-resolution display. This machine packs a lot of power in such a small package. The processor speed and RAM quantities, 1 GHz and 256MB, respectively, seem to be a bit antiquated but hopefully there are plans for future “easy” upgrades.

Checkout this blurb from a press release in February.

“DEMO has selected FlipStart as an unprecedented demonstration of power and flexibility in mobile computing,” said Chris Shipley, executive producer of the DEMO Conferences. “Vulcan has raised the bar for the entire category. The small form-factor and its always-on connectivity liberates workers from the office desktop to make mobile professionals more productive.. This is another unique example of Paul Allen’s visionary approach to improving technology by offering people new levels of portable productivity and connectivity.”

FlipStart includes unmatched power and connectivity in one ultra-mobile device. While PDAs are limited to specific day planner functions and laptop computers require a desk, FlipStart delivers a truly personal and truly handheld computing experience. It is easily carried everywhere in a pocket, purse or small briefcase, and gives its users constant access to e-mail, data and multimedia files and any Windows XP software application. Users can create a Microsoft Word document, edit or design a PowerPoint presentation, surf the Web or send and receive e-mail in the complete Windows XP environment – no modification, no “light” versions, no special “viewing applications” required. FlipStart is a true PC with the complete, professional Windows XP environment and applications that users expect.

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Pricing and availability is set to be announced later this year.

Specs:

• Microsoft® Windows® XP Home/Professional operating system
• Dimensions: 5.8″ x 4″ x 1″ (148mm x 101mm x 26mm)
• Weighs 1lb (450g)
• 1 GHz processor
• 256MB system RAM
• 30GB internal hard drive
• 3D graphics w/ 8MB video RAM
• Full-function, QWERTY thumb keyboard w/ hotkeys for commonly used commands
• 5.6″ HDTV-quality display (1024 x 600)
• Lithium-ion Polymer battery (2-6 hours battery life*)
• Integrated 802.11b (11 Mbps) /g (54 Mbps) Wi-Fi
• USB 2.0 port
• Internal microphone/speaker with headphones and ear bud jacks
• Integrated 1.3MP digital camera

View Flash Demo

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Thanks Michael

On Designtechnica, I read an interesting article about the direction that our mainstream computer industry is taking. They are trying to make the computer a common appliance, like a television, or refrigerator, every house should have one. I believe this is good and true, the computer is a very handy tool that all should use. The problem with this is that for everyone to own a computer the computers must be affordable to all and in making the computer affordable, the cutting edge components are not used.

Every market is defined by the participants that choose to do business in that industry. On the audio side, the home theater market has changed very little in the way of technology over the last 10 years compared to the computer market. And there is a distinct difference between a $300 Denon receiver and a $2000 Denon receiver in the way of features. The same holds true in the car market. I do not think a single person reading this can argue that a Ferrari and a Daewoo use the same parts; and you certainly cannot build a Ferrari for the price of a Daewoo using store bought parts. But when it comes to the computer market however, there is very little difference between the high-end computer systems being offered between various PC manufacturers, and a system you choose to build on your own; except the price.

The first question we really need to ask ourselves is whether the computer market is defined by computer manufacturers such as Dell, Gateway and HP? Hardly, and I will tell you why. If that were the case, the home theater market would be defined by the likes of Emerson, Craig and Fisher. And the car market would be defined by Daewoo, and Hyundai. But the sad truth is that the computer market is shaping up to where there will be little difference between each computer system and everything will be forever priced below $500. But there is still hope in the form of specialized niches within this industry.

One such niche is the home super-computer market. Companies like Alienware, VoodooPC, and Falcon Northwest have been thriving on selling mega powered cutting edge systems with the latest computer hardware and award winning paint jobs. To the average home computer user, a system sporting the latest video card, processor and hundreds of gigabytes of hard drive space may be overkill. But to the hardcore gamer and PC enthusiast, it commonplace and often required.

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I have been working to quiet down my office. I haven’t measured the noise level of my three computers because that would be just too geeky, not to say that I am not above that. I have learned to ignore the “white noise” that my machines are creating. Lately, I have been training myself to hear the noise. Whenever someone comes over to my office they notice the noise right off the bat. So I have looked into reducing the white noise. If I had to guess what the noise level is in this room, I couldn’t give you a true reading. Estimating one machine at 50 - 60 db. Is it accumulative? Add two more machine at the same level. Add a 16″ (dia.) room fan, for the combined machines heat the room by 10 degrees, easy. I think this should give you an idea of the noise level.

Quiet PCs are the latest trend. I was working toward this not knowing the cultural fact.There are even a few companies out there that specialized in quiet PCs. Endpcnoise.com, Tranquil PC, and SilentPC just to name a few. These companies are working hard to make the quiet PC common place. If you are not up for paying a company to do what you yourself can do then pay close attention.

Typically, PCs have several noise sources.

The power unit that provides power to the motherboard, hard drive and other components all emit noise. Fast CPUs, as well as some types of video cards also have their own fans that cause noise, while hard drives and CD-ROM drives also emit whirring and mechanical noises.

Users have two options to create silent PCs: they can add new accessories to their existing computers to hush them, or build a new silent system.

A typical brand new silent PC will include a power unit designed to be barely audible, a slower-spinning CPU fan with a large radiator to dissipate heat more efficiently, and drives designed to be quieter.

The PC case, which usually has its own fan to keep air circulating within the box, comes without a fan but is instead bigger so that air can escape before it overheats the components.

Other exotic materials include noise dampening material for the walls of the case, specially designed cables to maximize airflow and cases to enclose hard drives.

The Hush PC is something I wrote about some time ago, but that was the first time I realized how much noise my office is generating. Hush Technologies quieted their machines by getting rid of the fans. A novel idea for the quietest fans I’ve seen in the stores are around 25 db. Still audible to the human ear. If I could get my office to that level, 25 db, I’ll be happy. Any quieter than that and I will fall asleep at my desk. Take a listen to your computer and see if you need to move to the quiet PC generation.

Read more about it.

If your system is on a windows platform, your connected to the Internet by cable modem or DSL, and you haven’t installed the latest security patches, then your risk is higher. But according to Robert Vamosi, your computer is just a needle in the haystack to the average cracker.

I don’t mean to say home PCs aren’t targets. They are. Crackers keep track of IP addresses assigned by Internet service providers to dial-up, DSL, and cable-modem users. Some regularly scan those addresses, looking for PCs that are connected to the Net and that have known security vulnerabilities.

These lists of vulnerable computers are often traded or sold over the Internet, and help virus writers plant their viruses quickly. That’s why it’s important to use firewall software and keep all your applications updated with the latest patches.

My personal take on this is that the crackers are going to find some computer to exploit and if you let yours be a target then it most likely will be targeted. I don’t know much about being hacked while owning an Apple, perhaps Joy can shed some light on that subject, But I have a feeling that regardless of the OS you are running, if you let yourself be a target then you will be targeted.

Read More.

A little over a month ago, I did a article about Personal Servers. It looks like we are closer to making them a reality. Antelope Technologies is about ready to debut its version of a personal server, they call it a “Modular Computing Core” or “MCC”.

Modular Computing is a simple but revolutionary concept that extends the desktop computing paradigm to mobile computers. Today, the desktop computer under your desk is physically separate from the monitor, keyboard, and mouse that are on top of your desk. You can upgrade your “computer” (the device that powers your applications and stores your data) at any time without changing the screen, keyboard, or mouse (the devices you use to interact with your computer).

Antelope Technologies has extended this model to every place where computing power is, or soon will be, important to you. The result of nearly 4 years of research and development work and over a year of customer trials, Antelope will ship the first public release of the Modular Computing Platform on November 7th, 2003.

A good amount of functionality is already incorporated into this product . According to what I have read so far the MCC will be the ultimate in mobile computing. The MCC is a windows based device that can run any software that a traditional computer can. The need to carry a laptop and PDA are now nonexistent for the MCC does the job of them both and it is a lot easier to carry, being roughly the size of a PDA.
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Wired Magazine shows-off some innovative ideas in computer cases. Case modding is becoming ever more popular and the designs are even more imaginative. I may have to go beyond the see through window on my case and get down and dirty to make a truly bad-ass mod.

Source: Wired

Virginia Tech and Apple are working together to build the worlds first Apple Supercomputer. 1,100 Power Mac G5 dual processor machines will be interconnected, clustered, when the project is complete.

The new cluster is designed to make its way into the rankings of the world’s largest supercomputers, a list that currently has no Macs. Virginia Tech will use the cluster to perform research on nanoscale electronics, chemistry, aerodynamics, molecular statics, computational acoustics and molecular modelling, among other tasks. Details of the project were first reported by Mac-enthusiast site Think Secret.

The servers in the cluster will be connected through 24 high-speed Infiniband switches from Mellanox Technologies. Infiniband, which was developed by a consortium of server and storage companies, provides greater bandwidth than other interconnect technologies on the market, such as Miranet, and can often cost less.

Switch Clustering technology makes it possible for Apple to take on this challenge. I would assume, since they are using Gigabit Ethernet switches from Cisco Systems, that they will use a Cisco Clustering solution. Apple is determined to make it work for they are halting production of customer’s Power Mac G5 dual processor machines in an effort to supply the needed hardware for this project. I am curious to see the advantages (or disadvantages) that a Mac supercomputer will have over the IBM or Cray supercomputers.

Source: ZDNet UK

I received my latest issue of Maximum PC a few days ago and yesterday I finally got around to thumbing through it. One article that stood out is their Dream Machine 2003. Maximum PC hasn’t put the article online yet so if you are interested in seeing it NOW you will have to buy/borrow a copy. (September 2003)

I have typed in the parts list from the article so please continue on with this article to see it. They have used some impressive equipment to make this machine and by looking at the total amount spent you can tell that money was of no concern. There are certain items I would like to question though. If you are building a machine and money is no object, why would you buy a bulky CRT monitor for half of your dual display. I personally like symmetry, so I would have went on and bought 2 LCD monitors. The LCD they choose is the Sharp LL-T2020B at $4300. A very nice piece of equipment. I’ll have to talk about it at a later time.

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Well, I am a proud owner of a new laptop. I have finally broken one of my computing rules; “Never buy a prebuilt computer from any major manufacturer.” I have looked into building my own laptop but it turns out to be a better deal buying one already made. The reason I wanted one was for its portability. I really get tired of being confined to a room to use the computer. With that said, wireless had to me a must. This is not a main computer so having the very best money can buy was not necessary. So I started looking around and found some pretty good deals. I posted about the eMachines widescreen notebook a while back, so I went to check it out. Frankly, I didn’t feel comfortable with it. I went to 2 different locations to checkout the machine and in both locations the machine wasn’t working. That was 2 strikes and I wasn’t going to look for the 3rd. After going to a few more stores I started to get into the Compaq notebooks and that is the manufacturer that I decided to go with. I picked up the Compaq Presario 2175us for $1349.99 at Best Buy. There is a $250 rebate on this notebook which sweetened the pot for me. Today is the start of the Georgia Taxfree weekend, so in addition to the rebates, I saved about $100 in sales tax. If you live in Georgia, you must take advantage of the taxfree weekend. Here is a brief description of the notebook I borrowed from Circuit City because they have a better description than Best Buy.

Get working wirelessly! This Compaq Presario notebook PC comes integrated with a 54g wireless LAN, so you can network, share files, and start surfing the Web wherever you like right away. While enjoying your wireless freedom, you’ll also get to burn custom CDs, watch your favorite DVDs, and delight in awesome and realistic ATI Radeon M6 graphics. The 15″ screen, 40GB hard drive, integrated Ethernet, and an array of peripheral ports are sure to give you an amazing computing experience.

If you would like to know more about this machine, checkout the Best Buy or Circuit City links.

The Power Mac G5 is the world’s fastest personal computer and the first with a 64-bit processor — which means it breaks the 4 gigabyte barrier and can use up to 8 gigabytes of main memory. The new G5 processor — available at speeds up to dual 2GHz with a new ultrahigh-bandwidth system architecture featuring AGP 8X and PCI-X — makes the Power Mac G5 a breakthrough in desktop processing power. And models start at just $1999.

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EMachines introduced its widescreen notebook PC, a couple weeks ago, priced starting at under $1,300. I’ve heard word that you can pick one up at Costco for $1,100. The specs make this machine sound very nice. Reports say that the display is top notch. eMachines have been around for a while and I really don’t know if they make a reliable product but this deal sounds to good to pass up. I’ll do some more dirt digging.

• Digital 15.4″ Widescreen (16:10 aspect ratio)
  
• Mobile AMD Athlon XP-M processor 2200+ with QuantiSpeed Architecture
  
• Large 40 GB hard drive
  
• 512 MB DDR memory for optimal performance
  
• Enjoy your favorite movies or listen to music and burn CDs on the DVD/CD-RW combo drive
  
• Crisp stereo sound with built-in speakers
  
• AMD PowerNow! Technology for extended battery life
  
• three USB 2.0 ports
  
• ATI Radeon IGP 320M graphics card
  
• built-in 10/100 Ethernet
  
• 56K bit/sec V.92 modem
  
• Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
  

Go to the eMachines Web site for more information.

Sometimes the Star Wars followers take things a bit to far. This is a case of just that, but I must admit it is pretty cool and very creative. In yesterday’s blog, I talked about the MiniITX form factor motherboard. This case mod takes advantage of its small dimensions. This article takes you through the step by step process used to create the ultimate mod.

“This article talks about Sony’s new, limited production Vaio GT3/K. It’s a mixture of laptop and full fledged camcorder that uses the Transmeta 600mhz Crusuoe chip. Weighing in at 2.4 lbs, this hybrid has an amazing battery life of up to 17 hours, 30 GB drive, ATI Rage Mobility-M1 and 128 MB of RAM, and a swiveling screen.
This is definately a very unique device, one that completely blows away Sony’s previous attempts of the laptop/video combination machines, mainly due the fact that the video camera is not a wimpy little video lense, but an actual full fledged digital camcorder.”

Today, on SharkyExtreme.com, I read an article on building a High-end Gaming System for under $2500. They built two systems, one using Intel and the other using AMD. Of course, I am a fan of AMD, I like underdogs and a bargain. AMD’s system turned out being about $50 cheaper. Some of the components they used I question. A slot load CD/DVD player, why? Memory, Corsair is well known and reliable but isn’t Crucial even better and less expensive? Hard drives, Western Digital is also a well known brand but I happen to like Maxtor, faster transfer and less expensive. Somebody needs to give me $2500 to build a killer system.

Intel Pentium 4 System 

Case: Lian Li PC-65 PC Case w/ 430W or higher name brand PSU - $234

Processor: Pentium 4-3.06 GHz (533 MHz) - $395

Cooling: Alpha PAL8942, Panaflo fan - $38

Motherboard: ABIT BH7 - $87

Memory: 512-MB Corsair XMS PC3200 - $160

Hard Drive: Western Digital 200 GB SE - $215

Video Card: ATI Radeon 9700 Pro- $309

Monitor: Samsung 900NF or LG 915FT Plus - $322

Sound Card: SoundBlaster Audigy 2 Platinum Retail - $163

Speakers: Creative Inspire 6.1 - $96

CD/DVD-ROM: Pioneer 16X DVD-120S Slot Load DVD-ROM - $47

CDRW: Lite-On 52×24x52 CD-RW - $47

Communications: Intel Pro/1000 T or US Robotics External v.92 - $32

Mouse: Logitech MX700 Cordless Mouse - $59

Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Multimedia Keyboard - $46

Operating System: Windows XP Pro - $129

Floppy: Generic - $8
Total: $2,387 
AMD Athlon XP System 
Case: Lian Li PC-65 PC Case w/ 430W or higher name brand PSU - $234

Processor: Athlon XP 3000+ (333 MHz) - $325

Cooling: Thermalright SLK-800, Panaflo fan - $43

Motherboard: ASUS A7N8X - $100

Memory: Two 256MB Corsair XMS PC3200 - $160

Hard Drive: Western Digital 200 GB SE - $215

Video Card: ATI Radeon 9700 Pro- $309

Monitor: Samsung 900NF or LG 915FT Plus - $322

Sound Card: SoundBlaster Audigy Platinum 2 Retail - $163

Speakers: Creative Inspire 6.1 - $96

CD/DVD-ROM: Pioneer 16X DVD-120S Slot Load DVD-ROM - $47

CDRW: Lite-On 52×24x52 CD-RW - $47

Communications: Intel Pro/1000 T or US Robotics External v.92 - $32

Mouse: Logitech MX700 Cordless Mouse - $59

Keyboard: Microsoft Natural Multimedia Keyboard - $46

Operating System: Windows XP Pro - $129

Floppy: Generic - $8
Total: $2,335