Posts by Adam

Israel electric car project aims to wipe out oil

ICE less efficient then powerplants

1.) ICE's are not more efficient then power plants. Sorry.

2.) Many countries already generate substantial amounts of Base load with Hydro, geotherm, nuclear, etc. All Cleaner then FF plants which are cleaner then ICE.

3.) Regen Braking systems alone would improve efficiencies, never mind the transfer of generation load to power stations.

4.) Power transfer systems embedded in massively congested freeways would do a lot to minimize battery useage / charge cycles (read longer battery life). (picture along very heavy traffic routes embedded metal rails passing power to a deployable (perhaps self contained) reception apparatus (remember repair areas in F-Zero?)

5.) Battery research for cars is no where near saturated investment wise. Inorder to do so the return would have to be there. As it is now, its not. It's ther in small devices like cellphones, laptops etc. Once climate improves for ROI, then we can reasonably expect investment (read innovation) to increase. Until that point we can all sit here moping about the lack of cheap clean batteries for large scale application.

Remember!!!

ICE is only as good as it is because of the massive time and money investments to make it so. It wasn't so long ago that the horse beat out those innefficient dirty, smelly, loud ICEs.

AMD reveals 'Spider' platform

Wow... fan boyism.. and AMD is gonna die... sigh.. sad.

I have a 3870... Yeps.. and i'll buy a couple 3850s to round it out when I get my new board.

FYI: My $219 CDN 3870 OC's easily ( beautiful temps at 55% fan speed) to 855 core, and 2600 mem (1300 x2). With this and my dirt cheap $65 x2-3600, and $70 biostar tforce 7050 mobo, I run at 3040mhz , and pull over 11000 in 3dmark 06. I managed to pay my rent back when i had to sell off my C2D oc'd to 3.1ghz, 7900gt, etc (months ago) and purchase my current box sans video card.

Holy price difference batman!

I can buy 2 3850s and run them in corss fire and match or beat a GTX or Ultra in most things... Wanna compare the prices there? $350 vs $500+?

ATI/AMD/ TSMC's 55nm process is beautiful, and once we unlock the bios; Overclocks in excess of 855 core are going to be very easy.

The sweet chip from intel is the q6600, and if there was no AMD around, that chip would not be >$300 CDN. However, just to show they aren't being overly friendly, the next step up is roughly double the cost.

Did I expect more from phenom? Yes. Did AMD screw up by going monolithic vs MCM? Yes. Notice not even intel was that ambitious. And won't be at 65nm thats for sure.

This was a gamble, that went poorly for AMD, they could have had mcm x2s for months now, had they not been so intoxicated by Hubris. Does it show AMD is dead? No. Does it show that transistor size matters? Yes.

See phenom for what it is, a gamble gone bad. The 790 series chipset will be fine, and once they, or a partner spins phenom at 45nm, it'll be fine.

As rumors go, AMDs death is vastly over played. Hyperbole in essence. They aren't they simply have to nail a good respin on 65nm, or move to 55nm / 45nm quickly, and further MCM is you're friend... Even if you have more FABs then god.

AMD preps DirectX 10.1 'Radeon HD 3600' GPU pair

Why Bother

Why bother with the 2400 refresh? Seriously. Kill the extra chip, and produce more 3600 series. It seems the way AMD is moving, it would be best to throw the gauntlet down on this lowest discrete market. Simply drop the lowest 3600 down to this price level, and soundly smack around the 8500-esque chips. It seems like awaste of resources to refresh that lowly beast when the most you're going to get for such a card is what 50-60 USD? With the 38xx series so cheap, why not slam the gauntlet down on all that lovely 8500/8400/ whatever stock that floats around in reseller land.

Just my .02 cents.

Canadian Taser death caught on camera

Simple rule for tasers

If you use it, you had better be able to explain why on that same situation you would have pulled out your fire arm and shot him. Plain and simple. Tazers were to be brought to our police here in Canada for use only when normally they would be forced to use their firearms. Not because they were too f***ing lazy to do their job. Hell even pepper spray would've worked better then this.

The biggest problem here, is that this happened a month ago, and this video refuted nearly everything the RCMP reported about the incident. I hope these officers find themselves off the force, with at least a criminal negligence causing death charge / conviction for the senior officer in that group. I don't care so much if its a suspended sentence, I want those lazy inept f**ks off the streets with firearms.

If it were in the UK, perhaps he would have ended up with 8 shots to the head for his trouble... This sort of lunacy tho, has to stop. He was obviously distraught, he was not anywhere near anyone to harm them, and he posed no threat to the officers or public. The Tazer never should have come out, as in this case a firearm would not have. Plain and simple.

It's just garbage police work is what it is. I usually respect the RCMP, have had fair dealings with them, and they are polite to you if you are to them. Even at a few traffic stops I've had. This is just disgraceful to all of us. I wouldn't think twice about this happening in the states, as Tazer deaths are far more common, and the devices are far more over used there. But for a poor guy to be treated like that...

I'm just saddened. We're supposed to be better then that.

Italian court rules against HP on pre-installed Windows

Exactly! The point of law has nothing to do with bundles

The point of law the judge ruled on was that the License agreement specifically states the user can return the software for a full refund if he/she doesn't agree to the EULA. Period.

The rest of the arugments people are bringing up about why did he buy it are completely beside the point, and have no merit in this case. Period.

If the EULA stated as verbosely that the only recourse is to shut the F**k up and deal with it, then the judges decision would have to incorporate other aspects into consideration. However it doesn't.

Seeing as in exchange for sweet OEM pricing HP assumes liabilities for certain things, HP is responsible for refunding said monies as it sold the software, HP is obligated to follow the EULA, HP did not, HP mandated by court to make good on its agreement. Nuff said, case closed, damn it!

(should we all smile at Bill and Steve, and ask for a refund on every bundled piece of crud with that sort of EULA? Well that sup to you, but it'd sure be funny. Until a class action forms, and the lawyers get it all... )

Battle of the stats: Blu-ray beats HD DVD

Yes. that must be it.. no one bought a PS/2 to play DVD's either

I am all for the better format winning out. Heck, I could care less if its Sony, et al... or Microsoft et al. That leads their forces of HD Glory to the win.

But the nonsense about not counting PS3's as BD players is pretty stupid. AS if one would say the same for Xbox 360's w/ HD DVD add on.

Not only is the PS3 a BD player, but in many reviews it is cited as one of the best commercially available BD players. So should it be counted towards installed base of said players? Damn straight.

With the PS/2 Sony combined the now uber famous, and universally accepted DVD player with a game console. How many are willing to argue that this did nothing to help both PS/2 sales, and the advancement of the DVD format?

Christmas time has come and gone many times since the initial release of PS/2, and for those of us without "boatloads of money"; we could aquire a game console, and a dvd player... for less then the cost of both separately.

With the PS/3, yet again we can choose to purchase a game system, and a multi-format media player for less then the cost of both. In one sleek package.

I personally do not, and probably never will own a PS/3... Thats mainly because I am a PC personality through and through. Of my friends that have a PS/3, one of the largest 'turn-ons' tends to be the quality of the device, and the quality of the Blue Ray video... No RROD, or equivalent issue adds lines to their collective brow.

Furthermore, for the one that posted about how Sony products require Sony formats... Could not we reverse this 'criticism', and complain that non-sony products don't use Sony media? I mean, the memory sticks I recently purchased for my GF's PSP aren't far and away more expensive then SD. Additionally, go out and purchase some of the higher-end memory cards for higher end devices. Memory stick is not the most expensive on the landscape, but it does allow sufficient data transfer rates to meet the specs of the player / game device in question. Also, the MS's I purchased weren't Sony... they were Lexar. Does that make Lexar SD cards evil too?

We could extend this some complaint to Apple, and the plethora of their media products if we really wanted to write about exclusivity, and being left with a beta max in the living room. How about a certain bunch of non OS X capable multiple thousand dollar macs? that really must have hurt getting dumped into obscurity by the very company you supported.

BD and HD-DVD will both more then likely co-exist for a while. Manufacturing costs for both will come down, and both coalitions of the stubborn will hurt for the lack of agreement on one format.

But to sit and beat on Sony for being aggressive in bringing to market an innovation, and then utilizing its expertise in associated products to enhance the experience is kind of silly. We are after all seemingly in agreement that their products are of high quality, and usually better then the competing (in VHS case winning) format. When did that become a negative?

To say most consumers aren't aware their PS/3 can play blue ray content is silly at best, and condescending and disingenuous at worst. Not because I believe any major segment of the population that consumes these devices is tech savvy, more so because the marketing engine behind these sorts of devices don't quite let you forget it.

Count the PS3's and watch as that installed base lets parents decide to upgrade both the home theater, and grant their kidlings one more Christmas wish at the same time.

Facebookers bring HSBC to its knees

If only we the days of decent employment with no education were still upon us...

I am a student. In Canada.Luckily for me my tuition is about $3200 CDN, roughly 1200 Pounds? Or $3100 USD per year.

I wish we lived in a time like the 60's and 70's where you could find a company and get a nice unionized job with F*ck all for schooling, work 30 years with job security, and retire to a nice pension having had our 2.5 kids, and nice house wth 2 cars.

However, we don't live in that world. We live in one where a high school diploma might just be useful as toilet paper.Post secondary is almost as necessary as arms and legs to get a job (although hiring practices legislated by governments makes it easier to be financially stable without them)

When the mine in the town I grew up in was hiring in that storied time period (much into the 80's even) simply being fit and alive meant you could get a nice union post making very good money. Schooling? didn't matter.

Now? Good luck.

Students get bashed about for many things, some of which I am sure we deserve, some we do not. The truth of the matter is that many of us lazy, lay about students wish we lived in the environment our elders did. Most of us simply want some of the security of a steady decent paying job that our parents had.

Too bad for us that to get one now requires a pile of debt be incurred first. It is the membership fee for the right to be decently employed. I'm glad to hear many of you folks didn't have to pay it. It's a shame we do. After hearing of most of your tuition woes, I am glad I live here. We too have a problem with student debt, but rarely is it as high as the U.S Poster who claims roughly 100k for a 4 year degree. I think our average is around 20-25k CDN.

Put into other terms, the money most of you older peeps bought and financed your houses with, we are having to spend upon our piece of paper which entitles us to a lifetime of decent work and renumeration which most of you were handed as a birthright in the heady days a couple decades after the Post WW2 boom.

Obviously we have quite a generation gap at play here.