The “Break it Down” Blog
Archive | August, 2007
Personal Supercomputer for $2500
Joel Adams at Calvin College has put together a personal supercomputer, running Ubuntu, that is capable of 26 Gflops for a mere $2500 called Microwulf. A breakdown of the core computer parts used to build the machine are as follows (full list): MSI K9N6PGM-F MicroATX AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ AM2 CPU Kingston DDR2-667 1GByte RAM Echo Star 325W [...]
Continue reading...Joel Spolsky: Vista is Junk
29. August 2007
Was reading Joel Spolsky’s blog, specifically his rantings on the absolute retardation that is the Windows Vista/Office ‘07 boxes… yes the physical plastic boxes this software comes in. If you haven’t gotten a chance to try and open these boxes before, before you go “Retard, how hard could a box be?”, actually try and open [...]
Continue reading...Amazon: XBox HD-DVD + 8 Movies = $179.00
29. August 2007
What the hell… Ok Amazon is running a deal right now, bryonmhome on AVS Forum broke it down for everyone, and here is how it works: Click this Amazon Link Follow the instructions, select the player and 2 movies (1 comes in the player box already, King Kong). Select Add to Cart Login if you have an Amazon account or [...]
Continue reading...BulletProofX - Ubuntu 7.10 Feature
29. August 2007
BulletProofX is a new feature in Ubuntu 7.10 whose goal it is to never have you need to drop down to a console again to repair your xorg.conf file (do you hear the angel’s singing?) You can head over to Bryce Harrington’s page to see more screenshots of the experience, start to finish, of X starting [...]
Continue reading...Microsoft Preps Vista SP1 & XP SP3
29. August 2007
eWeek reports that Microsoft is prepping the release of Windows Vista SP1 and Windows XP SP3 due for release to a controlled group of around 15k people very shortly (next month?). The goal is to get the final QA’ed copies of the respective service packs out in vendors and customer’s hands Q1 of ‘08 and [...]
Continue reading...How Important is Fast Memory?
29. August 2007
You have heard this 1000 times: I am building a new gaming rig and want it to run crazy fast. Should I pay 2x the price for the super-fast gaming memory? The short answer is no. Take a look at some of the results of benchmarking the latest cutting edge DDR3-1800 memory from OCZ here. If you [...]
Continue reading...Akamai Building HD Network
29. August 2007
Looks like Akamai is working on revamping their CDN (content delivery network) in order to better stream/deliver HD video over the internet. The requirements for their new edge-based network are: Support for 2GB and larger files Support for VC-1 and MPEG-4 video Support for 720i/1080i/1080p Support 100 Tb/sec bandwidth That’s pretty impressive. So while AT&T and Comcast sit around declaring [...]
Continue reading...FBI Point-n-Click Wiretapping
29. August 2007
Forget illegal wiretapping (no seriously, forget it, because you have no say in the matter, so just shut up), Slashdot reports that the FBI have partnered with Sprint to create a fully encrypted US-wide network built from dark fiber lines (separate from the internet backbone) that controls wiretapping of any network based device with the [...]
Continue reading...Google Phone (gPhone) Coming ‘08
28. August 2007
Thanks to Chris Hunkele for sending this in. Looks like Google Phone is official and will be due out in ‘08. The interesting fun-facts about it: Partnership between Google and HTC (T-Mo Dash, HTC Touch, etc.) Will include custom version of Google Maps + GPS Will include Google Calendar Will include Google Mail Will include Google Talk (including the VoIP [...]
Continue reading...Lenovo Looking to Buy Seagate
27. August 2007
Looks like Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo (the folks that bought ThinkPad from IBM) is looking to buy a hard drive manufacturer and have their sights set on Seagate. NY Times reports that Washington isn’t too keen on having their storage medium and security algorithms manufactured and sold from an overseas company… but we are alright with [...]
Continue reading...ViStart: Vista Start Menu for XP
27. August 2007
Laurence Hartje sends along a cool project for Windows XP (ViStart) that essentially gives you the Windows Vista start menu on Windows XP: I haven’t tried this myself but it certainly looks accurate. No idea if it responds like the Vista one or if it’s just a graphical screenshot-recreation of the menu. It seems like it [...]
Continue reading...Kitten Play Time
27. August 2007
Good lord… there is no reason they need to be this cute. http://www.metacafe.com/watch/772271/kittens_coca_cola_box/
Continue reading...Wachowski Bros. Making Speed Racer Movie
27. August 2007
Todd Swarthout just sent in the news that the Wachowski Brothers are doing a live-action Speed Racer movie. It is currently slated for a Summer ‘08 release. Not much news on it right now, but the cast surely looks interesting: Christina Ricci (Trixie) Emile Hirsch (Speed) Susan Sarandon (Mom Racer) Matthew Fox (Racer X) John Goodman (Pops Racer) For those not [...]
Continue reading...Miss Teen South Carolina has Brain Damage
26. August 2007
Saw this over on lancerlord’s blog… it was simply too awesome not to share. Click her face to hear her reply to the question of “Why can’t 1/5 of AMERICANS find THE U.S. on a world map?”… … if she had just said “I don’t know, I’m probably one of them…” I think people would have [...]
Continue reading...Aliens vs. Predator- Requiem Trailer
25. August 2007
Grant Gochnauer just sent in the scoop that the new Alien vs Predator movie (RT Link as well) has a new R-rated trailer out that is extremely gory. As someone who actually liked Alien vs Predator (thought it was a really cool way to integrate the two stories with each other and a pretty respectable execution) [...]
Continue reading...African Monkeys Sexually Harass Women
25. August 2007
In a small village Nachu in Kenya, there is a group of 300 or so vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) that have been stealing crops from the town so successfully that the people in the town are now only able to survive and exist on famine relief. These are the goddamn monkeys you see from people’s [...]
Continue reading...
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31. August 2007
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