March 2024

Easter Sunday Reviews (7 Comments) (link)  Sunday, 31-March-2024  14:38:42 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN All your Chocolate Rabbit are belong to us Network: Ubiquiti UniFi U7 Pro Wi-Fi 7 Access Point @ TweakTown TRENDnet TEW-925DAP AX5400 Wi-Fi 6 PoE+ Access Point @ TweakTown Audio Visual: FATFrequency Scarlet Mini In-Ear Monitors @ TechPowerUp Cooler Master Tempest GP2711 Gaming Monitor @ TweakTown Keyboard, Mouse, Etc: Glorious Model I 2 Wireless @ TweakTown TourBox Lite @ ThinkComputers Cases and Cooling: Hyte Y70 @ FunkyKit CORSAIR 2500D AIRFLOW @ cowcotland TEAM T-FORCE Siren GA360 ARGB Liquid CPU Cooler @ TweakTown Cooler Master TD500 MAX Case @ ThinkComputers be quiet! Shadow Base 800 FX @ TechPowerUp Storage: Sabrent Rocket 4 2TB SSD @ TweakTown PNY CS2142 2 TB @ TechPowerUp PNY CS3150 SSD @ HotHardware Memory, CPU: Intel Core i9-14900KS @ guru3D ANACOMDA Eryx Tataricus RGB 4x16GB DDR5 6000MHz @ Madshrimps Kingston Fury Renegade RGB 96GB DDR5-6400 CL32 @ FunkyKit PSU: Cooler Master V850 Gold SFX ATX 3.0 80 PLUS Gold @ guru3D Seasonic Prime TX-1300 ATX 3.0 @ OCinside FSP Hydro G Pro 1200W @ aphNetworks Montech Titan Gold 1000W ATX 3.0 @ NikKTech Video Card: ASRock RX 7600 XT Steel Legend @ cowcotland Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 7900 GRE @ ThePCEnthusiast Software and Benchmark: MSI Claw 135H Vs 155H (Odd Results) @ HotHardware How to Overclock Your GPU @ TweakTown Portable & Prebuilt: Asus BTF PC build with GPU, Mobo and Chassis @ guru3D Dell XPS 16 @ HotHardware Minisforum EliteMini UM780 XTX @ TechPowerUp Geekom A7 Mini PC @ guru3D Misc: IKEA Frekvens Hack Tutorial @ Funkyhome Retro Misc Pics (6 Comments) (link)  Friday, 29-March-2024  15:21:36 (GMT +10) - by Agg It's a lazy long weekend.. so here's Retro Misc Pics from May 2011. Apologies for any that are more spicy than we would allow nowadays! 6th May 2011: 13th May 2011: 20th May 2011: 27th May 2011: Tuesday Night (8 Comments) (link)  Tuesday, 26-March-2024  23:23:56 (GMT +10) - by Agg Congratulations to White Rhino who won our recent NVIDIA GTC 2024 contest! Sci-fi author and futurist Vernor Vinge has passed away, aged 79 - just as some of his predictions seem to be coming true. In 1993, he expanded on the idea in an essay titled The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era. The singularity concept postulates that AI will soon become superintelligent, far surpassing humans in capability and bringing the human-dominated era to a close. While the concept of a tech singularity sometimes inspires negativity and fear, Vinge remained optimistic about humanity's technological future, as Brin notes in his tribute: "Accused by some of a grievous sin—that of 'optimism'—Vernor gave us peerless legends that often depicted human success at overcoming problems... those right in front of us... while posing new ones! New dilemmas that may lie just ahead of our myopic gaze. He would often ask: 'What if we succeed? Do you think that will be the end of it?'" HighPerformanceLaptops have a review of a laptop they describe as an Aussie battler - the Venom BlackBook Zero 14 Phantom. We’re glad to see Aussie-battler brand Venom return to High Performance Laptops. The company regards laptop making somewhat differently to the rest of the market thanks to the founder’s vision focusing upon what’s really important in a business laptop in addition to genuine sustainability issues. To that end, the latest Venom BlackBook Zero 14 Phantom comes wielding a cacophony of RAM to support real-life work environments where Microsoft Teams is running and a user has several gazillion Chrome tabs open. Interesting, hadn't heard of that brand before. Good luck to them! If you find yourself missing the days of Atomic Magazine, decryption from TheSizzle has laboriously scanned and uploaded almost every issue into The Internet Archive. Unlike Australian Personal Computer, which the local library had for free, Atomic I had to pay the newsagent for, which meant it sporadically entered my life and was more of a treat than a tome of reference like APC. Atomic was special in that it was written by a group of Aussies barely older than me and who were into the same stuff I was into - building fast computers, gaming and not much else. On a related note, here's a wistful look back at what Amiga could have been. A user on Reddit that goes by the moniker 8bitaficionado actually made a special trip to New York Public Library in order to look up an archive of the periodical and laboriously transcribed its contents. The issue in question is nowhere to be found online in its entirety. In the May 17 issue, Noah Green, in an article titled, "Goodbye Mr. Chips: Could Commodore Have Changed the World?" covered the demise of Commodore and its once-mighty Amiga computer released almost a decade prior. Here's a lengthy article about the rise and fall of Steve Jobs' greatest rival - who you may not have heard of. Through extreme efforts, the prototypes were ready by the end of March. The resulting computer, christened the Osborne 1, was very heavy (only Davidson could lift it with one hand), and it grew so hot you could fry an egg on its case, but it existed. And it worked. With excitement and trepidation, almost the entire staff of Osborne Computers headed to San Francisco, ready to reveal the Osborne 1 to the world. Meanwhile Apple are facing an anti-competition lawsuit in the USA. On Thursday, the Department of Justice sued Apple for illegally monopolizing the smartphone market. In a press conference, the government provided a long list of how Apple has allegedly squashed competition with restrictive app store terms, high fees and its “walled-garden” approach, restricting how third-party companies interact with its brands and services. Today's timewaster is this cool satellite-spotting website. Tuesday Night Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Tuesday, 26-March-2024  21:11:21 (GMT +10) - by Agg Video Cards: PowerColor Radeon RX 7900 GRE Hellhound on TechPowerUp. GALAX GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER EX Gamer on Guru3D. PowerColor Hellhound Radeon RX 7600 XT 16GB on NeoSeeker. Cooling: DeepCool ASSASSIN 4S CPU Cooler on APHNetworks. Enermax LIQMAXFLO 360 AIO on TechPowerUp. DeepCool LT720 360mm AIO on MadShrimps. Software: Horizon Forbidden West Performance Benchmark Review - 30 GPUs Tested on TechPowerUp. Dragon’s Dogma 2 Benchmarked: The Real Deal About PC Performance on HotHardware. Horizon Forbidden West: DLSS vs. FSR vs. XeSS Comparison on TechPowerUp. Audio Visual: Wanbo Mozart 1 Pro Smart Projector on NikKTech. HIFIMAN Arya Organic headphone on ThePCEnthusiast. Input Etc: LEOBOG K81 Wireless Mechanical Keyboard on APHNetworks. CORSAIR K65 Plus Wireless Mechanical Keyboard on TechPowerUp. Corsair M75 WIRELESS Lightweight RGB Mouse on Tweaktown. Fantech Helios II Pro mouse on TechPowerUp. Cases: ASUS ProArt PA602 Case on ThinkComputers. Enermax StarryKnight SK30 V2 Mid-Tower Chassis on Tweaktown. Power Supply: DeepCool PX1300P 12VHPWR 80+ Platinum PSU on FunkyKit. ALLPOWERS S1500 Portable Power Station & SP033 Solar Panel Bundle on NikKTech. Storage: KLEVV S1 1TB Portable USB SSD on FunkyKit. Corsair MP600 Core Mini 2TB SSD Review - Tiny but Potent on Tweaktown. Lexar NM790 Heatsink 4TB M.2 NVMe SSD on NikKTech. Sabrent Rocket 5 1TB SSD Review - World's Fastest 1TB SSD on Tweaktown. TerraMaster F2-212 NAS Review: Easy, Affordable Network Storage on HotHardware. Memory: Essencore KLEVV BOLT V 32GB DDR5-6800 CL34 Memory Kit on FunkyKit. Crucial Pro 2x48GB DDR5 5600MHz Memory Kit on MadShrimps. Misc: Razer Iskur V2 Gaming Chair Review: Dialing Into Your Comfort Zone on HotHardware. MSI GUAXE54 AXE5400 Wi-Fi 6E USB Adapter on Tweaktown. Best Laptop Backpacks for 2024 on ThinkComputers. Misc Pics (14 Comments) (link)  Friday, 22-March-2024  14:09:17 (GMT +10) - by Agg Thanks to BlueRaven this week! and this is the last set from April 2011, left over from Retro Misc Pics earlier this month: Signed RTX 4090 Contest - Final Day! (1 Comments) (link)  Thursday, 21-March-2024  10:08:00 (GMT +10) - by Agg Today is the last day to enter our NVIDIA GTC 2024 Contest, where you could win an RTX 4090 video card, signed by Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA: click for details! Wednesday Night News Bites (3 Comments) (link)  Wednesday, 20-March-2024  21:49:23 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN NVIDIA GTC 2024 Keynote Highlights – Day 1 Megapost. Nvidia GTC 2024 — all the day two updates as it happened. NBN Co wants to boost its 100/20Mbps tier to 500/50Mbps. This link from Agg. Las Vegas Sphere has 4,000TB SSD storage delivering 400GB/s throughput, world's only 16K display requires some exquisite technology to keep it going. AirPods Pro will gain a new "hearing aid mode" with the release of iOS 18 later this year. So long and thanks for all the pixels: Nvidia reportedly retiring the GTX brand for good. And this link is from AmB. DOOM has been ported to a lot of platforms and you can now officially play DOOM on your Husqvarna’s Automower. Your fingerprints can be recreated from the sounds made when you swipe on a touchscreen.... Really ?, I give up on security now. This transistor can be reconfigured on the fly. Electrostatic doping makes it feasible to reuse circuits based on need. Hint, it's not an FPGA. Microsoft's newest operating system is struggling to make meaningful progress in terms of adoption, with Windows 10 gaining more users last month. Scientists unveil how dairy waste can extract 22-carat gold from motherboards. This distressing link from CRTified. World Server Throwing Championship 2024 — organizers call for athletes that are 'needlessly brutal to servers'. Wednesday Night Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Wednesday, 20-March-2024  21:11:13 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN Network: EnGenius ECW336 Wi-Fi 6e Cloud Managed Access Point @ TweakTown MSI AXE5400 WiFi-6E USB adapter @ guru3D Audio Visual: Corsair HS80 Max Wireless @ LanOC Razer BlackShark V2 HyperSpeed @ cowcotland Cooler Master Tempest GZ2711 OLED @ TechPowerUp MSI MPG 271QRX QD-OLED 1440p 360Hz Gaming Monitor @ TweakTown Keyboard, Mouse, Etc: GravaStar Mercury M2 Stealth Black Gaming Mouse @ Madshrimps AQIRYS Libertas Wireless Mechanical Keyboard @ TechPowerUp Cherry XTRFY K5V2 RGB Compact 65% Mechanical Gaming Keyboard @ FunkyKit Cases, Cooling: ENERMAX LIQMAXFLO 360 @ cowcotland SilverStone IceMyst 360 @ aphNetworks ENDORFY Navis F360 ARGB AIO CPU Cooler @ NikKTech DeepCool Morpheus Full-Tower Chassis @ TweakTown DeepCool Mystique 360 AIO Watercooler @ Hardware Asylum Storage: aigo SMI70 2TB SSD @ cowcotland Corsair MP700 Pro Gen5 2TB SSD @ ThePCEnthusiast Lexar SL600 Portable SSD 2TB @ guru3D Crucial T500 2 TB @ TechPowerUp Asustor Drivestor 4 Pro Gen2 (AS3304Tv2) NAS @ guru3D Corsair MP600 Elite 2TB Solid State Drive @ aphNetworks Lexar Play M.2 2230 1TB SSD @ Neoseeker Crucial T705 2TB @ LanOC Memory, CPU: Crucial DDR5 PRO Series 6000 MHz CL36 (64GB) @ guru3D Intel Core i9-14900KS @ HotHardware Intel Core i9-14900KS @ TechPowerUp Patriot Viper Elite 5 RGB DDR5-6000 96GB @ TweakTown Kingston FURY Impact 64GB DDR5-5600 SODIMM @ FunkyKit XPG Lancer Blade RGB DDR5-6000 32 GB CL30 @ TechPowerUp Crucial Pro Overclocking DDR5-6000 32GB @ TweakTown Portable & Prebuilt: MSI Raider GE68 HX 14V @ HighPerformanceLaptops Maingear ZERO Gaming PC @ HotHardware Lenovo ThinkPad P14s Gen 4 @ ThinkComputers Misc: Galax GeForce RTX 4070 Super EX @ TweakTown Anycubic Photon Mono M5S 12K 3D Printer @ NikKTech NVIDIA GTX 2024 - You Could Win an RTX 4090! (1 Comments) (link)  Sunday, 17-March-2024  22:38:11 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN NVIDIA's 2024 GTC kicks off tomorrow! A quick repost of Agg's news thread: I think most of you worked out what my teaser from last week meant - once again in conjunction with NVIDIA's annual GTC conference, we are giving away a high-end video card. This time it's an RTX 4090 - a special edition in a box signed by Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA! Click here for more info! Misc Pics (41 Comments) (link)  Friday, 15-March-2024  14:52:31 (GMT +10) - by Agg Friday again! Also, did anyone else have one of these robot watches as a kid? I remember there was a silver one and maybe a bronze or gold one? The robot came completely off the watch base and could stand up and stuff. I just saw this photo randomly and hadn't thought about these since I was a kid, but can't really find any more info about them: StarShip Test Launch 3 (11 Comments) (link)  Thursday, 14-March-2024  21:04:11 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN StarShip Test Launch 3 is GO. There are so many test articles under scrutiny. Fingers crossed for a successful launch and return. Massive thanks to Frinky for the write up below. We've all been waiting for FAA approval for flight 3 which dropped this morning. Weather may still be an issue. Fog/low cloud may hamper visibility so fingers crossed. Tonight's launch has a 110 minute window. And some streaming links: SpaceX official twitter broadcast Unofficial mirror of the above broadcast NASASpaceflight Everyday Astronaut LabPadre Space Join in all things SpaceX Dragon/Falcon/StarShip in this thread. Wednesday Night Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Wednesday, 13-March-2024  23:16:34 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN Cases and Cooling: Valkyrie Syn 360 ARGB LCD AIO @ TechPowerUp Arctic Freezer 36 A-RGB @ guru3D SilverStone KL07E Computer Case @ aphNetworks AQIRYS HYDRA 360 AIO @ Madshrimps Arctic Liquid Freezer III 280 A-RGB @ OCinside Storage: WD Black SN770M 2TB SSD @ TweakTown ANACOMDA i4-X Firery Serpent PCIE Gen4 1TB SSD @ FunkyKit ICY DOCK ToughArmor MB842MP-B M.2 NVMe Mobile Rack @ NikKTech addlink S93 4TB SSD @ TweakTown Motherboard and Memory: G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-6400 CL32 48GB @ ThePCEnthusiast ASRock B760M Steel Legend WiFi @ FunkyKit Portable & Prebuilt: Geekom A5 MiniPC @ ThePCEnthusiast Asus ROG Strix SCAR 18 (14th Gen) @ HighPerformanceLaptops ZALMAN P30 @ cowcotland Keyboard, Mouse, Etc: Ajazz AJ199 4K @ TechPowerUp Video Card: Gigabyte RTX 4070 Super Windforce Overclock Video Card @ Hardware Asylum Saturday Night (10 Comments) (link)  Saturday, 9-March-2024  23:33:06 (GMT +10) - by Agg Just when you thought printers couldn't get more annoying, HP are making them subscription-based. “The HP All-In Plan is an all-inclusive printing subscription that delivers the ultimate in convenience—and provides the dedicated support you need to keep your printer running like new,” HP claims. But you’d better believe in the value of printing regular documents, because signing up locks you in to a two-year contract after thirty days. A more appealing printer is this one that prints chocolate. I hate to be the bearer of bad-for-the-waistline news, but yes — you can now buy a 3D printer that prints chocolate. The Cocoa Press has been in development for an entire decade. Now, it’s finally here, and I’m pretty sure it’s singlehandedly responsible for one of the pounds I put on over Christmas. Microsoft meanwhile have released sudo for Windows. Sudo for Windows is a new way for users to run elevated commands directly from an unelevated console session. It is an ergonomic and familiar solution for users who want to elevate a command without having to first open a new elevated console. Just like Linux has had since forever. NVIDIA gave a sneak-peek at their Supercomputer, #9 in the world, Eos. Eos is built with 576 NVIDIA DGX H100 systems, NVIDIA Quantum-2 InfiniBand networking and software, providing a total of 18.4 exaflops of FP8 AI performance. This system is a sister to a separate Eos DGX SuperPOD with 10,752 NVIDIA H100 GPUs, used for MLPerf training in November. FurMark 2 has been released for Windows and Linux. FurMark is one of the most popular GPU stress tests out there, and it has claimed its fair share of broken units after pushing them to their breaking points. Now, 16 years after the app was released, the developer has released FurMark 2 for the public to enjoy. This app adds compatibility for both Windows 64-bit and Linux machines, meaning you can test even more GPUs than ever before. I was happy with the repairability of my trusty Thinkpad E480 as per this guide to upgrading it - but some recent models have been less repair-friendly. However, Lenovo have now partnered with iFixit to guide owners in repairing the new T14 Gen 5. Based on our feedback, Lenovo made changes to the internals that brought the score of the ThinkPad T14 Gen 5 to an astounding 9 out of 10. From easily replaceable parts, to a design that supports safe and straightforward repairs, Lenovo’s team prioritized repair down the cable connections and fasteners. IBM have some new enterprise SSDs that use AI (of a sort) to thwart ransomware. This is a potential game changer for enterprise security, if it works as advertised. Most malware can be deployed on a compromised system in the blink of an eye, but encryption takes time. For large storage partitions like you'd expect in an IBM FlashSystem, it might take hours to lock down all the data. Storage Defender could theoretically intervene and stop the attack before any important data is rendered inaccessible. As IBM puts it, Storage Defender reduces the "security breach blast radius." A company called TECNO have a tiny watercooled PC. The G1 stands out as a compact water-cooled system powered by an Intel CPU and paired with an NVIDIA GPU. Touted as the world’s smallest water-cooled mini-PC, it certainly lives up to the claim. Not quite a tiny god, though. Saturday Night Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Saturday, 9-March-2024  23:30:09 (GMT +10) - by Agg Input Etc: Razer Seiren v3 Chroma and Mini mice on LanOC. Corsair K55 Core RGB Gaming keyboard on Guru3D. Audio Visual: MageDok PI-X9 4K OLED Touch Screen Portable Monitor on NikKTech. Cooler Master GM34-CWQ2 monitor on TechPowerUp. AVerMedia Live Gamer 4K 2.1 GC575 PCIe Capture Card on APHNetworks. HIFIMAN Arya Organic Open-Back Headphones on TechPowerUp. MSI MPG 271QRX QD-OLED 1440p 360Hz Gaming Monitor on Tweaktown. Portable & Prebuilt: OnePlus Watch 2 Review: A Refined Wear OS Battery Life Titan on HotHardware. TYAN Transport HX TN85-B8261 barebones server on StorageReview. Supermicro Storage A+ ASG-1115S-NE316R E3.S Server on StorageReview. Dell Precision 7875 Workstation Review: 96 Cores With Dual RTX 6000 on HotHardware. Cases: Fractal Design North XL on HWAsylum. Fractal Design North XL on ThinkComputers. Fractal Design North XL on TechPowerUp. Storage: WD Gold 24TB HDD Review – 360TB Of HL15 Fun on StorageReview. Seagate FireCuda 540 SSD Review: Blazing Fast Storage For Gamers on HotHardware. Memory: Crucial Pro Overclocking 32GB DDR5-6000 memory kit on FunkyKit. Silicon Power XPOWER Zenith 2x16GB DDR5 6000MHz Memory Kit on MadShrimps. Misc: Cooler Master GX III 850w 80 PLUS Gold ATX 3.0 PSU on Tweaktown. COLORFUL iGame Z790D5 FLOW Motherboard on Tweaktown. Misc Pics (21 Comments) (link)  Friday, 8-March-2024  14:02:25 (GMT +10) - by Agg Thanks to mpot and Simon this week! Wednesday Night Reviews (0 Comments) (link)  Wednesday, 6-March-2024  23:33:26 (GMT +10) - by Agg Motherboard & CPU: GIGABYTE AORUS Z790 Master X Motherboard on Tweaktown. MSI MEG Z790 Godlike Max Motherboard on Tweaktown. Memory: ANACOMDA EryxTataricus RGB DDR5-7200 32GB Memory Kit on FunkyKit. Patriot Elite 5 RGB DDR5-6000 48 GB CL42 on TechPowerUp. Input Etc: Pulsar X2H mouse on TechPowerUp. Incott HPC01M Pro mouse on TechPowerUp. Corsair M75 Wireless mouse on Guru3D. Corsair M75 Wireless Gaming Mouse on ThinkComputers. NZXT Lift 2 Ergo Mouse on OCInside. Pulsar X2V2 mouse on TechPowerUp. Cases: be quiet! Dark Base Pro 901 Full Tower on NikKTech. be quiet! Shadow Base 800 Mid-Tower on Tweaktown. FSP CUT593 Premium Edition on TechPowerUp. Audio Visual: ASRock CL27FF Gaming Monitor on Tweaktown. FiiO FT3 & FT5 Hi-Res Over-Ear Headphones on NIkKTech. Networking: Starlink terminal revision 4: overview and tests on OlegKutov - OCAU article on Gen 1 here. Portable & Prebuilt: 14th Gen Asus ROG Zephyrus laptop on HighPerformanceLaptops. Lenovo Legion Go Review: A Great Handheld Windows Gaming PC on HotHardware. MSI Aegis RS 14th Gen Desktop Review: Well-Balanced PC Gaming on HotHardware. Storage: Kioxia Exceria PLUS G3 PCIe 4.0 DRAMless M.2 NVMe on Guru3D. Crucial P5 Plus (Heatsink) Gen4 NVMe Solid State Drive on ThinkComputers. Patriot Viper Gaming VP4000 Mini 1TB M.2 2230 PCIe Gen4 SSD on MadShrimps. Power Supply: Phanteks Revolt 1200 ATX 3.0 PSU on Guru3D. SilverStone DA850R Gold 850W Power Supply on APHNetworks. be quiet! Straight Power 12 1000w ATX 3.0 80 PLUS Platinum PSU on Tweaktown. GAMDIAS HELIOS P2-750G 750W on APHNetworks. Seasonic Prime TX-1600 ATX 3.0 on TechPowerUp. Misc: Sandberg Survivor Lantern All-In1 10000 on NikkTech. ASRock Radeon RX 7900 GRE Steel Legend 16GB OC video card on FunkyKit. NVIDIA GTX 2024 - You Could Win an RTX 4090! (8 Comments) (link)  Sunday, 3-March-2024  23:51:04 (GMT +10) - by Agg I think most of you worked out what my teaser from last week meant - once again in conjunction with NVIDIA's annual GTC conference, we are giving away a high-end video card. This time it's an RTX 4090 - a special edition in a box signed by Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA! Click here for more info! Retro Let's Play March 2024 (6 Comments) (link)  Sunday, 3-March-2024  11:57:56 (GMT +10) - by MUTMAN This month's "Retro Let's Play" for March is Far Cry from 2004. March 2004, when a game was to be released that would wow us with it's gorgeous tropical open world, cutting edge graphics , unique gameplay elements , and re-kindle the PCs reputation as the gaming platform of choice to make such creations possible. The game's story follows a retired U.S. Army Special Forces soldier stranded on a mysterious archipelago. He is searching for a female journalist named Valerie Constantine, after she went missing when their boat was destroyed by mercenaries. The game includes thematic elements relating to the dangers of weaponizing genetic engineering and the genocide of local islanders as can be seen by the deformed creatures created by a mad scientist named Krieger. click for the thread! Retro Misc Pics (6 Comments) (link)  Friday, 1-March-2024  13:42:54 (GMT +10) - by Agg Here's some Retro Misc Pics from April 2011: 1st April 2011: 8th April 2011: 15th April 2011: 22nd April 2011: We also had an April Fools Joke that year. :) Friday Morning (3 Comments) (link)  Friday, 1-March-2024  01:12:26 (GMT +10) - by Agg I'm quietly excited about the new Shogun TV show based on the James Clavell novel that I read as a teenager. Also, Tony_L pointed out the handy tip that pressing CTRL pauses the view in Task Manager. Here's a cool story about a guy in Sydney who converted his van to electric years ago. He got it second hand from an ad in The Trading Post newspaper for $100, then began turning it into an electric vehicle that would be powered by his rooftop solar. He took out the engine and sold it for $150, replacing it with three 10-horsepower electric motors from ride-on lawn mowers. He added 8,000 batteries from power tools and laptops, which hook up to a cable that runs down the side of his house from the panels when he charges the van out the front of his home. When it's not plugged into the home the van's batteries are being charged by a 1-kilowatt panel on its roof and small panels on the sides which charge the indicators and lights. Another lunar lander has arrived on the Moon - this time, the first privately-built vehicle to land there. It was a slightly awkward landing but it has sent back some photos. NASA had contracted the operating company, Houston-based Intuitive Machines, to carry six scientific instruments on board the lander. "Odysseus is a success," the agency chief told reporters. "We are in the sixth day of what was planned as an eight-day mission, and we're still receiving data from those instruments." MUTMAN sent in this story about the history of robots.txt and how naughty robots have been ignoring it lately. I can tell you they have been ignoring it for a long time. :) For three decades, a tiny text file has kept the internet from chaos. This text file has no particular legal or technical authority, and it’s not even particularly complicated. It represents a handshake deal between some of the earliest pioneers of the internet to respect each other’s wishes and build the internet in a way that benefitted everybody. It’s a mini constitution for the internet, written in code. TSMC have a new chip fab - built in record time. The two years flew past, and now the facility is ready to begin mass production later this year, with TSMC tapping Sony's assistance to get the plant operational in Japan. The new Kumamoto fab plant has been dubbed "Nightless Castle" as there were workers there on 24-hour shifts, which is how the new TSMC plant was built in just two years, with plants regularly taking three or more years to get up and running. Meanwhile Intel want to be the foundry for the world, thanks MUTMAN, who also sent in this article about their 18A process change. "I’ve bet the whole company on 18A." So, says Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger in the most deadpan, matter-of-fact manner imaginable. He's not glib. He's not joking. Everything rides on Intel's 18A process according to Gelsinger. Today's timewaster is particularly time-focused. For reasons known only to himself, a guy I've known through motorcycles for many years decided to make his own talking clock video. This happened because of a programming exercise. When I'm training or evaluating new computer programmers I like to use the "Write a program that outputs the text for a Speaking Clock" exercise. I was doing this myself in Python recently, and thought "Rather than text, why not use video segments for the output?" Getting the rough version running was easy, getting a version that stayed accurate over 12 hours took a lot of extra work.

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