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January 18, 2007  

Dexpot or TopDesk? Dexpot or TopDesk? Hmm….

I’ve always been a pretty big fan of TopDesk, especially when they brought a flip3d-like window chooser to Windows XP.

ThoughtFix just created a video of Dexpot, though, and I think I might be ready to convert! Dexpot has window choosers like TopDesk, but it also has a virtual desktop system built in!

Very interesting!

December 27, 2006  

What does Bunnie have in store for the Zune?

Bunnie (one of the original XBox hackers) has something planned for the Zune. Could be linux, but I have a feeling there is more to it than that.

December 19, 2006  

UltraExplorer

Alex King pointed out UltraExplorer yesterday. I like it! It’s a replacement for Windows Explorer that incorporates functionality from other apps (like the MacOS X Finder) and has a tabbed interface so you can keep all your explorer windows together. Very cool. Just make sure you change the default view to ‘details’!!! (Tools-Options-ListView-General-DefaultView)

I’m sure it will be LifeHacker’s Download of the Day very soon.

November 12, 2006  

PhotoSynth is amazing

Just downloaded PhotoSynth after watching Robert’s video on the subject. PhotoSynth stitches hundreds of photos together to build a 3D representation of a place. You can move around inside that space with your mouse and zoom in on individual photos to get a really high res view. I remember seeing something like this a few years back, but it didn’t give you access to the original photos in the way this does. Very, very cool. I can’t wait till you can create your own collections. I don’t care that it takes days of cpu time.

October 18, 2006  

My New Computer

Update: I forgot to mention that I’m running XP, not Windows Vista. I installed Vista RC2 first, but found that all the motherboard software and speedfan didn’t work correctly (for tracking the cpu and motherboard temperatures). Also, my attempt at installing World of Warcraft on Vista RC2 failed. I realize that these problems could have been overcome, probably, but I wasn’t in the mood to compromise with my brand new hardware.

On Friday, I built a new PC with parts I ordered from NewEgg.com. The components are listed at the bottom of this post. The total was well under $1500, including tax and shipping. The build procedure took more than 5 hours including the OS install – it was well worth it. My new pc is very fast and can handle all the games I tested at excellent speed with lots of beautiful graphics. Here are some thoughts:

  • Second Life character animations are still choppy even with a fast CPU and Graphics card. Am I doing something wrong? I tried Second Life earlier this year and was turned off by the clunky look. I assumed it was my computer, but now that I know that’s normal, I guess I won’t be going back.
  • Installing the heat sink/fan is much less stressful now than it was a few years ago. You don’t have to apply as much pressure. That’s a welcome change. When I built my AMD 2500+ based machine back then, I was afraid I was going to snap the motherboard because I had to press really hard, with a screwdriver, to get the heat sink set up.
  • Battlefield 2142 is amazing.
  • I haven’t tried Oblivion on this PC, yet, but I’m looking forward to it.
  • World of Warcraft runs at 60 FPS with all settings on high in windowed and full screen mode.
  • The case is very quiet. I installed a second 120mm fan and it’s still very quiet. The CPU and motherboard temps stay around 35-39 degrees celsius. The graphics card gets as high as 45 degrees under load.
  • I bought a Logitech MX Revolution wireless mouse last night. More on that later. I love mice.
  • Haven’t overclocked anything, yet.

Components:

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