Archive for July, 2006

Intel Core 2 Duo Desktops Arrive

Jul 30th, 06 / Comments Off

! bq. Intel’s Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme processors were announced two weeks ago with much fanfare from the hardware editors and the enthusiast community. Intel had brought a great-performing chip to the market that was faster than every processor currently available and was much cooler than its Pentium-D predecessor. Today, there were a slew of new desktops and workstation announced that use Intel’s new Core 2 processors for desktops, so let’s get started.

“Anandtech”:http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2795 did a very complete and glowing review of the new Conroe chips, called Core 2 Duo. It looks like:

| CPU | Clock Speed | L2 Cache | Price |
| Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 | 2.93GHz | 4MB | $999 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 | 2.66GHz | 4MB | $530 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 | 2.40GHz | 4MB | $316 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 | 2.13GHz | 2MB | $224 |
| Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 | 1.86GHz | 2MB | $183 |

The main differnece between the Extreme and the regular Duo is the unlocked multiplier so you can go even higher on overclocking

The prices are very aggressive and AMD won’t have a technological answer until 2007, so it has lowered pricing, but it will be hard for them to be competitive at the high end with these chips. By the way, the sweetspot chip is definitely the 2.4GHz E6600 or 1.86GHz E6300 the with its very large 4MB cache and low pricing, plus it can overclock very well. The 4MB cache gives an average “3.5%”:http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2795&p=4 improvement with most of that gain coming from Xvid encoding. For games, the imporvement is more like 1-2%.

Also architecturally a big advantage for AMD has been the on-die memory controller, but with the new architecture in Conroe, it doesn’t “need”:http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2795&p=5 one.

One interesting note is that the “Woodcrest”:http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2795&p=6 chipsets haven’t shipped yet. These chipsets will boost FSB from 1066MHz to 1333MHz. The benchmarks show that this is another 2.4% improvement overall. It looks like Apple’s updated Intel Macs will use that chip, so they could be the machine to get for _both_ Mac and Windows folks.

The benchmarks for audio/video “encoding”:http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2795&p=12 are astounding, with the Intel Core 2 Duo being very, very fast

!http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/core2duolaunch_07130680720/12583.png!

And with “games”:http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2795&p=15 you have the same flip flop and the result is even more lopsided than the chart because most games are graphics not CPU bound. With “CPU limited”:http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2795&p=17 games, the results are more like 22-55% performance improvements compared with the Athlon X2. Yikes!

!http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/core2duolaunch_07130680720/12591.png!

Finally for “overclocking”:http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2795&p=18 there is lots of headroom since the Core2 uses 65nm process. 20% is pretty commong and with a fancy cooler like the Tuniq Tower, they got it the chip to 4GHz with the humble 2.4GHz E6600.

!http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/cpu/intel/Core2DuoLaunch/tuniq.jpg!

Hardware

MVP Baseball 2005 is no more

Jul 30th, 06 / Comments Off

We downloaded the MVP 2004 demo and Calvin just loves it, unfortunately, because EA lost the rights to MLB, they now only have NCAA Baseball and it is only on consoles, so nothing for our beloved PC. You can still get used MVP 2005 on ebay though. And you pretty much have to have a game controller as well to play it.

IGN: MVP Baseball 2005 Review

It has been an eventful year for sports video games. First, EA bought the exclusive rights to the NFL license effectively pushing all competitors out of the market. Then Take Two struck back by purchasing Visual Concepts and the exclusive third party rights to the MLB license. After all of the wheeling and dealing where does that leave the fans who are just looking to hit some dingers? It leaves us with the third and final instalment of the MVP series, at least for the next seven years. It looks like EA Canada wanted to give us something memorable because MVP 2005 delivers the best baseball experience on the market today. Unfortunately for PC users, this experience is a bit more enjoyable on the consoles.

Calvin

Yoku Moku

Jul 30th, 06 / Comments Off

!>http://www.yokumoku.com/images/SMMAIN2.JPG! I picked these butter cookies up on the way through Narita, I have to say they are just awesome. You can buy them in America at Neiman Marcus or Saks, but they are from Japan and get gret “reviews”:http://www.superfuture.com/city/reviews/review.cfm?ID=159 there.

bq. !>http://www.yokumoku.co.jp/company/img/com_yoku_img01.jpg! Yoku Moku
Yoku Moku produces some of the finest all natural butter cookies developed in Tokyo with no additives, preservatives or any chemicals of any kind. The name Yoku Moku comes from JOKK MOKK, a quaint village on the Arctic Circle, 500 miles North of Stockholm, Sweden. The founder, Noriichi Fujinawa was so impressed with the beauty of the village and the heart of the people, he borrowed the name for his company.

In any case, if you ever get a chance, they are a great gift!

Internet

Microsoft Zune to compete with iPod

Jul 30th, 06 / Comments Off

!>http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/2137_zune.jpg! Well, I’m glad that J and Robbie are on this, nice to know there will be some competition. The 30GB Zune player direct from Microsoft will have Wifi so you can download without needing a PC. Will be about $400 according to rumors, so it will be pricey. They even have a “blog”:http://www.zuneinsider.com/ for it and “Robbie’s”:http://www.microsoft.com/msft/speech/FY06/BachFAM2006.mspx pitch is up on the web too.

As an side, all the “Financial Analyst Meeting”:http://www.microsoft.com/msft/speech/FY06/AnalystMtg2006.mspx presentations are on the web.

Music

Intel Core 2 Duo Desktops Arrive

Jul 30th, 06 / Comments Off

! bq. Intel’s Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme processors were announced two weeks ago with much fanfare from the hardware editors and the enthusiast community. Intel had brought a great-performing chip to the market that was faster than every processor currently available and was much cooler than its Pentium-D predecessor. Today, there were a slew of new desktops and workstation announced that use Intel’s new Core 2 processors for desktops, so let’s get started.

Hardware

Shanghai Restaurants

Jul 27th, 06 / Comments Off

John and went to “Ai Wan Ting”:http://www.aiwanting.com.cn/ ?????????at the “Superbrand Mall”:http://www.entershanghai.info/country/Ci_22_set.htm (????, Zheng Da Chang Cheng) and had a great meal. Great views and really fresh fish and lobster too.

Duane also took use to “South Beauty 881 Club”:http://www.qiaojiangnan.com/ (???, Qiao Jiang Nan) in Puxi (we’ve also been to the branch in Pudong) As “Eurobiz”:http://www.sinomedia.net/eurobiz/v200407/risk0407-02.html and “Conde Naste Traveler”:http://www.cntraveller.com/Guides/China/Shanghai/print.html says it might be the best Sichuan (read spicy restaurant in Shanghai). It is in an amazing old mansion on the Puxi side that has been converted into a combination of modern and antique. There is an amazing rooftop area where you can watch the skyline. Jon said it was like an evening in Spain. Warm and balmy. Prices were very reasonable too. The cuisine is Sichuan and very tasty. There is outdoor seating and also a really cool bar area. No. 881 Yan An Middle Road, Jing An District, (8621) 62471581

Shanghai

Bluetooth Headsets: Plantronics 640 and Motorola H5

Jul 26th, 06 / Comments Off

Well, I seem to have misplaced my Plantronics 640 headset again, so not a bad time to look at the headset market once more. Here’s the recommendations:

* “Plantronics 640″:http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=12867242/zip_code=98004/. These have come down a lot in price to $65 at newegg. Nice form factor. It is nine grams and loud enough. Main problem I had with it is that the little pen holder clip broke which is how I lost it. Main issues are that clip and also if you are not careful the headset can fall out of its charging holder.
* “Motorola H5″:http://www.mobileplanet.com/product.asp?code=129899. Potentially the perfect headset but it is delayed until 2007 due to audio quality issues. It is only 5 grams and uses in bone conductance, so you can use it even in a subway!
* “Plantronics Discovery 645″:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FITJ36/103-8774051-7716646?v=glance&n=172282. The big brother to the 640, it adds a DSP chip to reduce noise. No word on whether it is worth paying $20 more for this.
* “Jabra JX10″:http://laptopmag.com/Review/Jabra-JX10.htm. It is bigger and bit wierd looking but it does have a DSP and a nice review.

Gadgets

Sonicare Toothbrushes

Jul 24th, 06 / 1 Comment

!>http://www.sonicare.com/images/products/Dsum_hero_LORES.jpg! Connie got these Sonicare toothbrushes for Calvin, but I have to say that I really love them. The only confusing thing is the names of the various versions, so here’s a decoder ring and where to buy them:

* Elite (a.k.a Best). They have two models, the Elite 9500 which has two speeds and different size brush heads as well as the Elite 7300 which has a timer on it (it beeps every 30 seconds). We have the 7500 and it is fine although superseeded by the 9500. Like all deluxe models it will even tell you how much charge it has left. The super highed is $140 at “Amazon”:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EHNDD0/ref=e_deav_acc_1_6/103-5447738-4251819?%5Fencoding=UTF8&s=hpc&v=glance&n=3760901 with for the person who has to have everything. Replacement heads for the E-Series are $30 for a pair. While the Elite 7500 is $105 at “Amazon”:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00008BFXK/qid=1153799803/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/103-5447738-4251819?%5Fencoding=UTF8&s=hpc&v=glance&n=3760901 and that’s a good value considering the 7300 is $101 at “Amazon”:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00008BFXJ/ref=pd_sim_hpc_2/103-5447738-4251819?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=3760901 but only has a single brush, so you get another one for $5.
* Essence (a.k.a. Better). This is the middle of the line model. Main difference are that the 5500 has that pacing thing (called the Quadpacer for some marketing reason) while the lower end 5300 only has one brush head (each brush head lasts six months and is worth $10 or so) but is just “$68″:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AMRII0/qid=1153799914/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/103-5447738-4251819?%5Fencoding=UTF8&s=hpc&v=glance&n=3760901 while the higher end one is “$90″:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AMRIIK/qid=1153799914/sr=1-9/ref=sr_1_9/103-5447738-4251819?%5Fencoding=UTF8&s=hpc&v=glance&n=3760901
* Advance (a.k.a Good). This is their low end 4100 model without things like a recharge indicator. It is just $50 from “Amazon”:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00008BFXG/qid=1153799633/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/103-5447738-4251819?%5Fencoding=UTF8&s=hpc&v=glance&n=3760901 and it is $20 for a single head. BTW this is also called the A series and used to be called the PS-1

Looking at this pricing, I’d say that the 5500 at $70 is probably the best value. Only small featurette you give up is the 30-second timer thing and for the difference, you end being able to another pair of heads for $30. Or if the pacing thing is important the now discontinued 7500 is a good value at $105 since it includes two heads in it.

Shopping

Nordstrom Anniversary Sale

Jul 24th, 06 / Comments Off

!

Then if you aren’t done, you can head to REI which is open at 10AM at their “flagship”:http://www.rei.com/stores/seattle/index.html Seattle Store.

Apparel

Sony System Recovery

Jul 24th, 06 / Comments Off

There are two ways to get your Sony back, first you can create a DVD for yourself. They also ship with an invisible partition with the complete information, but it isn’t very obvious how to do it. “Sony eSupport”:http://www.iq.sony.com/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE?New,Kb=CISCV3,Company={46BFA530-E01F-4F7C-B98B-69C2AA06051B},Case=Obj(395689),TS=Externalv4,T=response_case.tem,VARSET_OBJ=395689,VARSET_TOP=TRUE,question=ref(QC):ord(1),question=ref(QB):ord(1) has this and more generally in the “Sony VGN-TX650P”:http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-faq.pl?mdl=VGNTX650P# support FAQ

# Choose Start/All Programs/VAIO/VAIO Recovery
# Choose Create CD or DVD so you have an offline backup
# Ch\oose Restore C: drive to delete everything and get back to the factory version of your computer

Sony VGN-TX630P