Marc Policani's Digital Media Blog: Computers and Internet

Video: The inner workings of a hard drive

Sat, 26 May 2007 00:47:23 GMT

Staticxfl posted an excellent video on Break.com this afternoon on how a computer hard drive works using a demo drive with a transparent plastic case. | More...

Review: Antec's Sonata III

Fri, 25 May 2007 18:46:11 GMT

This week I made an executive decision to replace the case under my desk with the Antec Sonata III (retail $129.99 at Fry's). I had seen the Sonata II as well, but opted to go with the Sonata III at a higher price point preferring the more conservative looking front console, high gloss piano black finish and higher wattage power supply.

The case comes with room for up to nine drives (3 x 5 1/2" drives, 2 x 3 1/2" drives, and four hard drives). The front facing 5 1/2" and 3 1/2" drives are accessable from the front thanks to a screwless pinch-clip system which is somewhat tacky but thanfully hidden by a hinged door. The four drive trays are a very nice touch because they come with little rubber feet to reduce the amount of noise that emits from your hard drives as they vibrate against the sides of your case. Four holes have been drilled out adjacent to the 4 hard drive bays to place an optional 120mm mounted fan to blow air over at least two, perhaps 2 and a half of up to four drives. Personally, I've lost a LOT of hard drives to heat damage, so while I like the idea of giving your customer a clean tray system that they can use to blow air over their hard dives my personal preference is to go with a smaller dedicated fan and heat sync for each drive and with the Antec Sonata III you just out of luck if you want to mount dedicated fans to your hard drives. You wont have as much space aftewards, but if your in a pinch and you NEED to use dedicated hard drive fans you can get the same noise and vibration reducing affect that the stock rubber feet give you by rigging up a rubber band array.

Out of the box, the Sonata III ships with an EarthWatts EA 500 500 Watt power supply, two front side USB ports, an eSATA port, and headphone and microphone jacks. It also comes with a washable air filter in the front of the case, however it appears as though this filter was thrown in as an afterthought as I cant see it as offering you much in the way of air filtering. I was also somewhat saddened to see that they did away with the firewire port that ships with the Sonata II case in favor of adding a next generation eSATA port that I cant use yet, but this isnt too big of a deal for me because I use firewire so infrequently that I might as well run a cable off the back of the PC when its time to upload video from my camcorder.

The case is advertised by Antec to be "whisper quiet", however there isn’t anything special about this case outside of the fact that you can step down the power 120mm stock fan that it ships with to reduce the amount of noise it makes. One thing big difference between the Sonata II and III cases that made me a bit sad was that Antec either did away with the air duct between the two models, or that the model that I purchased did not ship with the same air duct that the Sonata II on the showroom floor had. Airducts are always a nice touch in "silent" cases because they serve two purposes - they bring in air from outside of the case to cool the CPU with which ends up being about 10-20 degrees cooler than the air inside of the case. It also serves to muffel the sound of the CPU fan. I'm following up with Antec's customer service department now to see if theres anyway that I can purchase one of their air duct mufflers for the Sonata III as an added option but if they do offer one they have made it difficult for the consumer to determine which model on their web site was designed to be used with the Sonata III (no pictures on their web site).

Antec was kind enough to place a lockable latch door on the side and front of the case - however because Antec decided to place the power and reset buttons behind the door as well its somewhat of a nusance for the casual home user that just wants to turn the PC on and work. The lockable front and side doors would come in pretty handy if your looking to secure the PC from passers walking by however which would would have made the case ideal for anyone using the case to run public demo if it werent for a cheap plastic hinge which is easy to imagine breaking off after a year or two of regular usage attempting to gain access to the PC's on/off button and or drives.

In conclusion, the case has a lot of nice little features and value added extras that make it an excellent product and a more than fair price BUT there's nothing special about the case that makes it perform any better than any other standard case in terms of its ability to perform quielty and or cool devices effeciently.

PROS:
- Clean interior design
- Clean and conservative exterior look and finish
- Lots of space for devices
- Lockable doors
- Price performance
- Nice presentation of front side ports (USB, eSATA, Audio)

CONS:
- The way the case is designed, you have to decide whether you will use a 120mm fan to cool 2 1/2 of your hard drives at a time or using no cooling at all. In order to get four hard drives into my with their respective hard drive coolers I had to insert 2 under the 120mm fan and two at a 90 degree angle free floating on their sides.
- Lockable doors hide power button and reset switch
- Cheaply made plastic front door with hinges which are easily broken or snapped off
- No noticible difference in sound performance for a case that advertises that its a quetest in class model
- No air duct / muffler like the one that ships with the Sonata II
- Another case that cut the holy living daylights out of my hands while attempting to screw things in

AMD & ATI: A Processing Powerhouse

Mon, 24 Jul 2006 16:41:10 GMT

On July 24, 2006, AMD and ATI announced a plan to join forces, in a transaction that will combine AMD’s technology leadership in microprocessors with ATI’s strengths in graphics, chipsets and consumer electronics. The result is a processing powerhouse: a new competitor, better equipped to drive growth, innovation and choice for its customers in commercial and mobile computing segments and in rapidly-growing consumer electronics segments. The transaction, valued at US $5.4 billion, is expected to close in Q4 2006 subject to approval by ATI shareholders, court approval, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California with centers of excellence around the world, the new company will have a combined workforce of approximately 14,900 employees. This transaction breaks new ground for both companies and is expected to provide increased customer benefits in four key technology areas:

Commercial Clients
As a combined company, AMD and ATI will develop commercial platforms that deliver simplicity, stability, and manageability in graphics-rich and mobile environments.

Mobile Computing
As a combined company, AMD and ATI will advance mobile computing by delivering integrated platforms that are designed to extend battery life while optimizing graphics and media processing.

Consumer Digital Media
As a combined company, AMD and ATI will empower users to create and experience rich, immersive digital entertainment across multiple consumer devices, including PCs, handhelds, and digital televisions.

High-Growth Markets
As a combined company, AMD and ATI will deliver highly-integrated, low-cost, power-efficient solutions to meet the expanding demands of billions of new users in emerging markets.

more...

Microsoft Unveils Windows Vista Product Lineup

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 23:05:08 GMT

Microsoft Corp. today announced the product lineup of its upcoming Windows Vista™ operating system. Scheduled for release later this year, the Microsoft® Windows Vista product lineup will bring clarity to customers’ digital world by helping them easily accomplish everyday tasks, instantly find what they want, enjoy the latest in entertainment, improve the safety of their personal information, stay connected at home or on the go, and help ensure PCs are up-to-date, more secure and running smoothly.

The Windows Vista product lineup consists of six versions, two for businesses, three for consumers, and one for emerging markets: Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise, Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Ultimate and Windows Vista Starter. The number of offerings is the same as the number of offerings currently available for Windows® XP. More important, the lineup is designed to deliver clear value to a broad range of customers, each product tailored to meet specific needs of various segments of customers — home PC users, small and medium-sized businesses and the largest enterprises — and is aimed at bringing 64-bit, Media Center and Tablet PC functionality into the mainstream.

“We live in a digital world that is filled with more information, more things to do and more ways to communicate with others than ever,” said Mike Sievert, corporate vice president of Windows Product Management and Marketing at Microsoft. “The PC needs to give people the clarity and confidence to handle this ‘world of more’ so they can focus on what’s most important to them. With our Windows Vista product line, we’ve streamlined and tailored our product lineup to provide what our customers want for today’s computing needs.” [ more... ]

Net video explosion triggers traffic jam worries

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 23:59:07 GMT

The amount of video online is skyrocketing, whether it's "Lost" episodes or movie trailer mash-ups. The phenomenon is putting new stress on ISP networks, which are seeing the demands on their bandwidth burgeon.

Now a new wave of companies--some newcomers, some with familiar faces--are stepping up to play the role of traffic cop, arguing that they have ways to manage this surge in video traffic and keep networks healthy.

"Everyone loses in the current scenario," said Michel Billard, a former HP executive who recently joined start-up Itiva, one of the companies offering video-speeding technology. "What we need is a way to amplify the bandwidth that's available."

This is far from an academic issue. Whether the new companies can deliver on their promises could have a profound effect on how the Internet operates--and it could hit consumers in the pocketbook.

Business and entertainment content worth billions of dollars now flows over ordinary ISP networks. Internet voice calls, which can be garbled by any network congestion, are increasingly common. Serious online hiccups could be as irritating, and potentially economically damaging, as persistent L.A. traffic jams.

Already, according to network infrastructure company CacheLogic, more than 60 percent of Internet traffic is being taken up by peer-to-peer swaps, and about 60 percent of those swaps involve video content. Add to that the growing amount of legitimate content from companies such as Apple Computer, MovieLink and Google Video, and the scale of consumers' demand for video begins to emerge. [ source... ]

Oracle tried to buy open-source MySQL

Thu, 16 Feb 2006 16:34:04 GMT

MySQL Chief Executive Marten Mickos confirmed the acquisition attempt in an interview at the Open Source Business Conference here but wouldn't provide details such as when the approach was made or how much money Oracle offered.

He did, however, say why he turned down Oracle's offer: the desire to keep his company's independence. "We will be part of a larger company, but it will be called MySQL," Mickos said.

Oracle didn't immediately comment on the acquisition offer. [ more... ]

NTCA: FCC Commissioner Calls for Sweeping Regulatory Reform

Thu, 09 Feb 2006 06:24:41 GMT

The U.S. lacks a broadband strategy, is operating with a broken inter- carrier compensation system and a universal service fund in need of fast reform, said FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, in his keynote address at the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA) annual conference here in San Diego today.

“We need a national broadband strategy [because] I don’t think we have one now, and to do it we need much more public and private sector partnerships,” Copps told the overflow audience of rural telcos. “Our broadband ox is in a ditch.”

Citing ITU research, Copps claimed “the U.S. is number 16 in the world according to broadband penetration and we’re free-falling down the scale.” He shouldered some of the responsibility for this grave predicament by adding that “the commission should do a better job of getting more information from more sources to make real-world decisions.” [ more... ]

Bush proposes tax on Wi-Fi, unlicensed spectrum

Tue, 07 Feb 2006 16:20:37 GMT

WASHINGTON-President Bush, facing a huge budget deficit, today proposed squeezing more money from the nation's airwaves by supporting legislative changes that would allow the Federal Communications Commission to set "user fees" on "un-auctioned" radio spectrum.

The proposal, contained in the president's 2007 budget plan and projected to raise $3.6 billion during the decade, is believed to be aimed at unlicensed frequencies used for Wi-Fi and other applications. [ more... ]

BitTorrent to crack down on use of name

Tue, 07 Feb 2006 15:52:56 GMT

BitTorrent's creator, Bram Cohen, has long allowed other people or companies to use his work freely under an open-source software license. Over the past several years, that has led to an explosion of software programs that claim they are compatible with BitTorrent downloads.

However, now that Cohen has created a company aimed at using BitTorrent to distribute movies and other media legally, that unregulated software world is looking more worrisome. The company will soon start enforcing a trademark policy that ensures people using the BitTorrent name are producing safe software, Navin said.

"We're sensitive to people calling their software BitTorrent to achieve a certain level of popularity in order to distribute spyware and adware," Navin said.

BitTorrent's speedy downloading features has made it one of the most popular tools online for distributing large files such as movies or software, both legally and illegally.

The company is trying to turn its own Web site into a hub for distributing movies legally, and has been in close discussions with Hollywood studios for months. [ more... ]

CenterPoint, IBM roll out smart grid in Houston

Tue, 07 Feb 2006 01:52:20 GMT

CenterPoint Energy <CNP.N> and IBM <IBM.N> on Monday announced that 44,500 Houston Electric customers will participate in a broadband-over-powerline (BPL) rollout that is seen as another step toward an intelligent grid system for electric and gas companies.

The limited deployment will center on utility company applications and not on broadband for high-speed Internet in homes.

CenterPoint's Houston Electric will use an automated meter reading system that may eventually eliminate meter readers, remote connection and disconnection of service and real-time outage management.

"An intelligent grid would provide us with on-demand data and information that would enhance service to our customers and improve electric power line grid planning, operations and maintenance," said Don Cortez, vice president of distribution support for CenterPoint's electric operations.

Houston Electric's program will involve 44,500 electric customers, 22,500 of whom are also natural gas customers of CenterPoint. [ more... ]

AOL, Yahoo to Charge Filter Bypass Fees

Mon, 06 Feb 2006 17:46:38 GMT

At least two online services will be introducing features that would allow e-mail marketers to pay to ensure their messages don't end up being blocked as spam. Both AOL and Yahoo plan to start offering the service within the next several months.

In exchange for paying a small fee of a quarter of a cent to one cent per message, the sender would be guaranteed delivery and the e-mail would be marked as legitimate in the header.

Participation is not mandatory, however companies who don't register will receive no assurance that their e-mails are making it to their intended destinations.

Yahoo and AOL say that this would likely solve the issue of e-mail messages falsely being marked as spam. While both have done extensive work on their spam filtering technologies, the system is still not perfect and will occasionally block legitimate mail. This can harm companies who depend on e-mail.

AOL says that it has received requests from both customers as well as marketers to improve the system, and this seems the most sensible way to do so. Both companies would use a system developed by Goodmail Systems, and they would initially target larger companies who send large amounts of mail. [ more... ]

Notebooks pass desktops in U.S. retail

Mon, 06 Feb 2006 17:37:09 GMT

Sales of notebooks surpassed desktop sales in the U.S. retail segment for the first time, according to a report from Current Analysis. Notebooks accounted for 50.9 percent of personal computers bought at retail in 2005, while desktops accounted for 49.1 percent. In 2004, notebooks accounted for only 43 percent of U.S. retail sales, while desktops accounted for 57 percent.

The United States only accounts for roughly 9 percent of the worldwide market, and retail figures exclude sales from large resellers to corporations or direct sales from companies like Dell. Still, retail is an important segment, and overall notebook sales are rising, too. Richard Shim, an analyst at IDC, predicted that overall notebook sales in the U.S. will surpass desktop sales by late 2007. Until recently, the research firm thought that notebook sales would not pass those of desktops until 2008.

Low prices are one of the primary reasons for the surge in laptops. Several manufacturers offer fairly high-performance notebooks for about $1,000, while base-level notebooks can be scooped up for $499 to $699. [ more... ]

Can DSL handle success?

Mon, 06 Feb 2006 17:27:46 GMT

After getting piles of mail from Verizon Communications about its new $14.95 DSL service, Barbara Cerney finally decided to ditch dial-up. But when she called Verizon to sign on, she got an unpleasant surprise.

Though her neighbors were using Verizon DSL, the company said the service was oversubscribed and she'd have to wait at least a month. Her only immediate broadband option was to subscribe to Comcast's more-expensive cable modem service. And the Annapolis, Md., resident, having made up her mind about slow Internet speeds, did just that.

The situation illustrates a potential catch-22 for Verizon as it looks to prevail over cable competitors in the broadband market. The company, and fellow DSL provider AT&T, have enjoyed significant success over the past year in using price cuts to convince customers that it's time to make the jump to broadband. But those same promotions could backfire if the companies can't accommodate the increased volume of speed-hungry customers. [ more... ]