Tech Blog Archive

  • So it has come to my attention that the much anticipated game, Mortal Kombat has been released.  I’ve played the demo and have been anticipating the release, but alas, it is the day after release and I still don’t own my copy (although pending on my bank statement I might have to rectify the situation in the near future). With this in mind, however, I went through and read about 2-3 dozen wiki pages updating myself on the MK mythology (source).  It was a hobby of mine as a child when the original games were coming out to database characters, back stories, moves, fatalities, game features, etcetera much like the above Wiki has.  I used to have an entire notebook filled with data, and I think I had more fun with that than playing the game itself. I suppose that I’m rambling on a little bit here about my over-fascination...

    Mortal Kombat 2011

    Posted on April 20, 2011 | 1 Comment
    So it has come to my attention that the much anticipated game, Mortal Kombat has been released.  I’ve played the demo and have been anticipating the release, but alas, it is the day after release and I still don’t own my copy (although pending on my bank statement I might have to rectify the situation in the near future). With this in mind, however, I went through and read about 2-3 dozen wiki pages updating myself on the MK mythology (source).  It was a hobby of mine as a child when the original games were coming out to database characters, back stories, moves, fatalities, game features, etcetera much like the above Wiki has.  I used to have an entire notebook filled with data, and I think I had more fun with that than playing the game itself. I suppose that I’m rambling on a little bit here about my over-fascination...

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  • So I was standing in line at GameStop at 11:30, waiting to pick my early copy for midnight release, and even now over 2 weeks later, I still can’t get around to doing everything that I’d like to do with the game.    Considering my hectic work schedule both with my full time job as well as the work I do online with my too long of a list of websites, I’ve only found about 8 hours to play (it’s pathetic, I know). On the other hand, those few hours have been…interesting.  The game is set up directly after the events of the DAO:A campaign, so the overall environment was amazing.  A few old favorites were in the game, such as Flemeth and Anders, and I really can’t wait to find more.  The graphics have been tweaked a great deal, and unfortunately that is probably one of the downsides.  I’m...

    Dragon Age 2 has made its mark!

    Posted on March 17, 2011 | No Comments
    So I was standing in line at GameStop at 11:30, waiting to pick my early copy for midnight release, and even now over 2 weeks later, I still can’t get around to doing everything that I’d like to do with the game.    Considering my hectic work schedule both with my full time job as well as the work I do online with my too long of a list of websites, I’ve only found about 8 hours to play (it’s pathetic, I know). On the other hand, those few hours have been…interesting.  The game is set up directly after the events of the DAO:A campaign, so the overall environment was amazing.  A few old favorites were in the game, such as Flemeth and Anders, and I really can’t wait to find more.  The graphics have been tweaked a great deal, and unfortunately that is probably one of the downsides.  I’m...

    Continue Reading...

  • Memory Support: Question: I have 4GB of memory installed on my copy of Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit, but it doesn’t show up. When I install my copy of Windows XP 64-bit, it works fine. What gives? Answer: For the x86 versions of Windows 7, they claim to support 4GB. In reality, the operating system can only access approximately 3.1GB even when a full 4GB is installed. This is due to how 32-bit operating systems handle memory access. If you were to install the x64 version of the same operating system, your machine will have access to the full 4GB. This information is primarily true for desktop computers. On laptops, you also have to take into account that the majority of notebook and netbook laptops use “shared” memory between system memory and video memory. Upgrading: Question: I bought this PC a few years ago, and it is currently running Windows Vista Home Premium. I bought an upgrade copy of Windows 7...

    Windows 7 FAQ

    Posted on February 19, 2011 | No Comments
    Memory Support: Question: I have 4GB of memory installed on my copy of Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit, but it doesn’t show up. When I install my copy of Windows XP 64-bit, it works fine. What gives? Answer: For the x86 versions of Windows 7, they claim to support 4GB. In reality, the operating system can only access approximately 3.1GB even when a full 4GB is installed. This is due to how 32-bit operating systems handle memory access. If you were to install the x64 version of the same operating system, your machine will have access to the full 4GB. This information is primarily true for desktop computers. On laptops, you also have to take into account that the majority of notebook and netbook laptops use “shared” memory between system memory and video memory. Upgrading: Question: I bought this PC a few years ago, and it is currently running Windows Vista Home Premium. I bought an upgrade copy of Windows 7...

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  • The future of desktop hardware seems to be focusing around GPU computing.  Large software suites including several Adobe products, Browsers such as Internet Explorer 9, and even medical imaging software are all being written and optimized to graphics processors as opposed to the classic ideal of a central processing unit or CPU.  By the sounds of things, this isn’t completely changing everything, but will severely lighten the load on your CPU. From the article I’ve been reading over, the performance boost is an equivalent of driving a 4 cylinder automobile and then jumping to a jet engine.  I can’t help but be slightly skeptical, considering some of the marketing hype I’ve seen in previous years.  I was at one of the unveiling conferences that AMD demonstrated their new 64-bit processors several years ago, boasting that the processors would demonstrate a 30% increase in performance versus their 32-bit predecessors.  The upgrade is minimal at...

    GPU Computing

    Posted on February 19, 2011 | No Comments
    The future of desktop hardware seems to be focusing around GPU computing.  Large software suites including several Adobe products, Browsers such as Internet Explorer 9, and even medical imaging software are all being written and optimized to graphics processors as opposed to the classic ideal of a central processing unit or CPU.  By the sounds of things, this isn’t completely changing everything, but will severely lighten the load on your CPU. From the article I’ve been reading over, the performance boost is an equivalent of driving a 4 cylinder automobile and then jumping to a jet engine.  I can’t help but be slightly skeptical, considering some of the marketing hype I’ve seen in previous years.  I was at one of the unveiling conferences that AMD demonstrated their new 64-bit processors several years ago, boasting that the processors would demonstrate a 30% increase in performance versus their 32-bit predecessors.  The upgrade is minimal at...

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  • The Wireless Takeover of the 21st Century Just seeing who’s paying attention.  Not too long ago the hype was all about the GB wired LAN connection, the fact that cell phones were able to take pictures as good a quality as a cheap digital camera, the XBox Live network or the PSN where you could finally play console games online, or even the Snuggie ‘thing’ which is nothing more than a backwards bathrobe. Not to distract myself from the topic at hand, but I couldn’t resist finding a picture of a Snuggie while I e-bash it.  Allow me to carry on.  Wireless has been around almost as long as the personal computer in the form of RF.  It didn’t really get it’s jump into networking, however, until the inception of 802.11b.  From past experiences, I was lucky to maintain a 10mb connection to my LAN, and as far as internet...

    The Wireless Takeover

    Posted on February 19, 2011 | No Comments
    The Wireless Takeover of the 21st Century Just seeing who’s paying attention.  Not too long ago the hype was all about the GB wired LAN connection, the fact that cell phones were able to take pictures as good a quality as a cheap digital camera, the XBox Live network or the PSN where you could finally play console games online, or even the Snuggie ‘thing’ which is nothing more than a backwards bathrobe. Not to distract myself from the topic at hand, but I couldn’t resist finding a picture of a Snuggie while I e-bash it.  Allow me to carry on.  Wireless has been around almost as long as the personal computer in the form of RF.  It didn’t really get it’s jump into networking, however, until the inception of 802.11b.  From past experiences, I was lucky to maintain a 10mb connection to my LAN, and as far as internet...

    Continue Reading...

  • Last month unveiled a beautiful thing at E3, the XBOX360 Slim.  I’m posting information from engadget.com (and will include a pingback at the end of all of this).  Everything about this is looking good, from the quite DVD drive (as opposed to the original 360), the sleek design, the spacious hard drive bundled with it (250GB!) to the integrated WiFi (what I was really waiting for).  Some personal notes that I’ve been laughing at myself since I’ve heard of this release (and a real kick to the nuts of PS3 enthusiasts), is the fact that while the PS3 reduced in features, the XBOX grew in an amazing way. Here’s some quick notes from Engadget.  The link to the full article is linked below:   Other quick notes: Although it’s not quite as hot as the original, the new Xbox 360 still generates a fair amount of heat, which is vented...

    XBox 360 Slim

    Posted on February 19, 2011 | No Comments
    Last month unveiled a beautiful thing at E3, the XBOX360 Slim.  I’m posting information from engadget.com (and will include a pingback at the end of all of this).  Everything about this is looking good, from the quite DVD drive (as opposed to the original 360), the sleek design, the spacious hard drive bundled with it (250GB!) to the integrated WiFi (what I was really waiting for).  Some personal notes that I’ve been laughing at myself since I’ve heard of this release (and a real kick to the nuts of PS3 enthusiasts), is the fact that while the PS3 reduced in features, the XBOX grew in an amazing way. Here’s some quick notes from Engadget.  The link to the full article is linked below:   Other quick notes: Although it’s not quite as hot as the original, the new Xbox 360 still generates a fair amount of heat, which is vented...

    Continue Reading...

  • At E3, Square-Enix unveiled a little bit about the newest conception of the Final Fantasy series.  There really isn’t very much information readily available, but they did have a demo available at the conference.  From what I have gathered, it is looking to be released on the PS3 and the PC, as opposed to all HD capable consoles like the last round was made for.  Also, the battle system looks to be similar to the Final Fantasy XI system, which should be a vast improvement from the one used in Final Fantasy XIII. Here are some screenshots courtesy of IGN:

    Final Fantasy XIV Preview

    Posted on February 19, 2011 | No Comments
    At E3, Square-Enix unveiled a little bit about the newest conception of the Final Fantasy series.  There really isn’t very much information readily available, but they did have a demo available at the conference.  From what I have gathered, it is looking to be released on the PS3 and the PC, as opposed to all HD capable consoles like the last round was made for.  Also, the battle system looks to be similar to the Final Fantasy XI system, which should be a vast improvement from the one used in Final Fantasy XIII. Here are some screenshots courtesy of IGN:

    Continue Reading...

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