Archive for November 2nd, 2009
I wanted to make one of these for a long time. The problem was that there were no reasonable tutorials or guides on how to proceed. Additionally I am not a programmer by a long shot so the software was also a problem. This was actually the biggest problem, there was no type of software [...]
We’re withholding judgment on the Zii platform until somebody really gets a chance to use it in a final form (you can see video of it running Android here), but little did we know that Creative has more planned for the vaguely-defined media platform than PMPs. They’ve just announced that we can expect a sort of media player/e-book reader with the Zii branding sometime… sometime in the next couple years I’d say. They actually showed a unit, boasting about its color touchscreen, but apparently nobody thought to take pictures. So we’re all left wondering — but whatever you’re picturing in your head right now is probably about right.
Except you there, with the freckles. What you’re thinking is wrong. So, so wrong.
It’s amusing to me how sometimes how I’ll be considering a particular subject and then randomly find a DIY project related to that subject. For example, I’m been considering getting a medium format film camera, just for the experience of shooting in that format. Apparently I’m not the only one, because Peter J at the Medium Format Camera Project has been building his very own camera.
- In: Tek Oh!
- Tags: diy, Headline, Photography
It’s amusing to me how sometimes how I’ll be considering a particular subject and then randomly find a DIY project related to that subject. For example, I’m been considering getting a medium format film camera, just for the experience of shooting in that format. Apparently I’m not the only one, because Peter J at the Medium Format Camera Project has been building his very own camera.
- In: Tek Oh!
- Tags: diy, Headline, Photography
A couple weeks ago, a friend of mine came to me with a problem. The British distribution company handling his music video for was shockingly backwards in its formatting, and was asking for a Real Media encode of the video. They didn’t specify bitrate, resolution, where it would be shown, or anything like that. Quicktime was being a bother, and we needed to use my PC to do a few encodes at this or that specification. We ended up getting it to go through in Vegas, and going to grab a coffee while it churned out the frames.
Now, the point is not that you need a PC to encode heinous old formats, but rather that digital distribution is a weird, complex process that could use a bit of simplification. Sorenson’s Squeeze 6 appears to go to some lengths to make this happen.
Working under the assumption that many of you have played BioShock, I point you in the direction of this week’s issue of The New Yorker, which has a quick review of two Ayn Rand biographies that may interest you. It’s pretty funny because while the game’s story, which is unreservedly great, is in part inspired by the Rand novel “Atlas Shrugged,” the New Yorker review doesn’t miss a beat in calling the author, well, a hack.
I’m surprised. The Prince of Persia movie doesn’t look terrible. But we all know that Disney will likely destroy the franchise and the movie will flop, but at least the trailer doesn’t look that bad. I think I’ll watch it again.
- In: Tek Oh!
- Tags: Headline, prince of persia
Help Key: How to use Windows Remote Desktop Connection to connect to computers without user passwords
2, Nov 2009Gather round, everyone. Gather round. I’m going to show you a trick that 98% of you will never use. But for the 2% of you that actually use the information contained herein, I hope you’ll consider removing at least part of the CrunchGear staff from your “People to Punch” list.
Why?
If you’re like me, you have [...]
The car audio market isn’t what it used to be. The days of half-din radios and crappy stock speakers are long gone. As OEM systems increase in quality, the aftermarket scene is slowing down. So much so that Pioneer is killing its 20-year old Premier label at the end of 2009. It’s truly sad news for long-time car audio geeks.
Conventional wisdom regarding computer memory has for some time been that all RAM is created equal. Stated another way, it’s not really worth it to buy expensive ECC RAM because errors just don’t occur frequently enough to worry about. Even in server-grade products, designed to be running 24/7 in mission-critical environments, ECC RAM is often optional. Mainboards and RAM sold for consumer home use almost never even have the option of supporting ECC memory. A new study from Google indicates that this may be a problem.