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The lights are on, but nobody's home.
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We received
1766152
page views since 30th November, 2005
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For anyone who likes the Chaser, you might like to know that they offer a video podcast of their full episodes of War on Everything. I thought this was interesting because I've never heard of a broadcaster releasing whole episodes for free, although obviously being a public broadcaster might influence that. Anyway, you ca visit the website; or get the RSS feed to download in WMV or for MP4.
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As part of my ongoing effort to avoid studying, last night I downloaded the 3.3 GB public beta 2 of Windows Vista, and am now posting from inside of it. It seems pretty good but possibly that's just the sort of shiny candy feeling that comes from anything new. Despite talk of it requiring enormous system resources, it seems to be doing fairly well on my laptop (Pentium M 1.8, ~ equivalent to P4 3, with 1 gig DDR). It did require 15GB of free space to install but only used about 7. Unfortunately, as I expected my poor AGP-less laptop is unable to run the whole Aero glass interface bit, but it still looks ok.
On a related note, the updates to all of Microsoft's main software (Office 2007, IE7 and Media Player 11) are quite superior imo to their previous versions ... I already had them all on XP so I've been testing them for a while. IE7 and MP11 still aren't better than Firefox and Winamp, though.
I'll post some more comments on both Vista and Office 2007 after exams finish next week.
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Is your computer ready for Vista? Part II
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Shocked by the news that windows Vista would require a veritable 'mini
supercomputer' to be able to operate, I decided to upgrade my
own system, mainly because i'm getting sick of not being able to open
multiple applications or play games produced in the 21st century.
Read on for more details
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Is your computer ready for Vista?
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A few days ago, Microsoft released a program which is designed to let
you know whether or not your computer is decent enough for the next gen
OS.
The Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor is a small beta application that you
can run on your current Windows XP-based computer to find out if it's
ready for an upgrade to Windows Vista. When you run the Upgrade
Advisor, it will scan your computer and generate an easy-to-understand
report of any known system and device compatibility issues, along with
recommendations on how you can get your PC ready for Windows Vista.
Microsoft plans to add functionality to Upgrade Advisor, such as
checking how your software applications will run with Windows Vista.
Download the beta version today and check this site in a few months for
a new version.
I decided to download this program to see if my ibm laptop is beefy
enough to run any version of Vista at
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/upgradeadvisor/default.mspx
We're sorry, but your PC
cannot currently install and run the core experiences of Windows Vista.
However, you may be able prepare your computer for Windows Vista by
upgrading your PC hardware.
You will need to take the following
actions to run Windows Vista.
Upgrade your System
Memory
512MB Memory required to
install Windows Vista (Your computer currently has 256.00
MB)
You will need to increase your system memory. 512MB is
required to install and run the basic functionality of Windows Vista. We
recommend at least 1 GB of system memory to ensure optimal performance for TV
recording, high-end gaming, photo editing, and multimedia applications. Contact
your PC retailer to see if an upgrade is available.
Additional hard drive
storage
15GB free space required (Your computer currently has 2.37 GB)
You will
either need to:
a) upgrade your hard drive to increase its capacity, or
b) create additional free space on your existing drive by removing unwanted
files.
If you decide to upgrade your hard drive, we recommend 40GB capacity
at minimum for premium editions of Windows Vista. Contact your PC retailer to
see if an upgrade is available
Ahh well, it appeared my computer was too shitty to run any part of Vista at all. Time for an upgrade.
For those who are interested, the minimum requirements:
A Windows Vista Premium Ready PC includes at least:
- 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor1.
- 1 GB of system memory.
- A graphics processor that runs Windows Aero2.
- 128 MB of graphics memory.
- 40 GB of hard drive capacity with 15 GB free space.
- DVD-ROM Drive3.
- Audio output capability.
- Internet access capability.
Post your ratings here, and whether you are actually going to get Vista
when it comes out, or wait a year or so down the track. Obviously does
not apply for lunix users.
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I noticed from the 'post your desktop' thread that Matt has Skype installed. Coincidentally, I installed it this afternoon and even bought 10 euros worth of credit safe in the knowledge that they promise you a refund for unused credit if you don't like it, and used credit too if you haven't spent much when you ask for a refund.
If you don't know what it is, look it up or browse their site but basically it's VoIP software that allows voice/video calls to other Skype users for free (nothing huge there, other things do that) but also calls to regular numbers for relatively cheap rates. Rates depend only on destination. For calls to Australia, it's 2.7c/minute (no flagfall) for landlines, and 26.4c/minute to mobiles. Depending on how long you talk for, the landline rate might work out cheaper than a regular phone, and the mobile rate is also quite cheap. The obvious drawback is that you need a computer with a fairly fast internet connection or the voice connection will be pretty choppy.
Anyway, does anyone have Skype installed and can comment on its performance? I really bought the credit just so I can phone my house from my bedroom but I'd like to know if it's worth using seriously.
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Open Letters to Computing Companies
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/me vents spleen
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Does anyone here use del.icio.us? A lot of people seem to love it but I kinda get the feeling they are the same people who use the word 'blogosphere' and expect people to take them seriously. On the other hand, it does seem like it could be pretty useful, so you can get pointers to interesting stuff that you missed yourself -- there is a lot of information out there, after all.
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How to use Google to steal books
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The web is a great source of information, but often if you want
something really juicy you need a book on the subject you are
interested in. In the time it could take you to find a copy of the book
somewhere out there in meatspace and move it to your location, you
could have easilly downloaded it and read as much as you needed to.
While you can also find lots of books on various p2p networks, in this
article I will concentrate on using Google to find several example
books.
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