I've Moved!

Hi there. I've moved to www.darinpantley.com

Please update your bookmarks.

This site remains online for the time being for the purpose of using it as a stylistic and functional reference for the new site. My intent is to make the new site better than this site, but I've got a long way to go before that happens (and this isn't even that great).

Dude, Someone Broke SSL

You can read all about forging SSL certificates using PlayStation 3 consoles on CNET.

Adobe AIR Platform

I ran into my first Adobe AIR program today: Klok. I'm a little confused how to use it, but this AIR business seems pretty slick.

Stuff To Keep You Busy

Looking for a place to start your wanders on Wikipedia? Start with the American and British English spelling differences.

Then read up on the Chinese Room argument against machines ever being intelligent with 'minds'.

Keeping you up to date on the latest conspiracies

Have you heard about the rainbow conspiracy theory?

BBC Garners Viewers, Bad Press

"...nasty little war of words between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and company co-founder and Roadster designer Martin Eberhard – Newsweek is reporting that Musk said 'Martin is the worst individual I've ever had the displeasure of working with' after Eberhard had referred to him as a 'terrible CEO'" -- Register Hardware

From the company that knows how to generate press, "Tesla takes Top Gear test to task."

The Taste of Dimetapp

When I first saw Grape, like most people, I thought it looked fairly useful. The commenters weren't all so optimistic, citing concerns about the efficiency of the user interface. If there were a way to automate the tagging of pictures based on a database of known objects, and off of your own pictures so that it would recognize family members and friends, it would be great. I noticed some of the Windows 7 previews have implemented some Grape features to a limited degree.

Genetic Programming: Evolution of Mona Lisa

What do you get when you breed 904,314 generations of semitransparent polygons? The Mona Lisa. As one commenter pointed out, this approach would make for an interesting new compression algorithm. If only it didn't take so long to generate the polygons...

Things That Aren't Known

1. Mark is getting a degree in mechanical engineering
2. Kirk lives in Burbank and works at The Smell
   

Best Computer for $500

Goal: To build the cheapest computer that can handle basic emailing, word processing, and CD burning for people who want to stick with a Microsoft Windows environment. I'm also assuming that an old monitor, keyboard, and mouse are available to plug into this once it's constructed.

Parts: I started with a Cooler Master Centurion case, since it's decent looking, but not too costly. It doesn't come with a power supply, so I selected the Thermaltake TR2 to power the innards. A computer this meager doesn't need 430 watts, but you'll be hard-pressed to find another PSU outputting this much for so little. As for the motherboard, I went with a Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L -- nothing special, but it'll do. I'm an AMD guy, but you'll want to stick a Core 2 Duo in there for the best bang-per-buck. The cheapest one is fine: the 7300. I wanted to put Microsoft Windows Vista on the 160GB Western Digital hard drive, for future-proofing's sake, so I paired it up with 4GB of Crucial memory. I could've gone with a slightly cheaper 80GB hard drive and 2GB of memory (don't go with 1GB, Vista will crawl), but the price difference isn't worth the value difference. Then I realized, sheepishly, that I forgot to add an optical drive. The Samsung DVD burner finishes off the hardware quite nicely. Last but not least, it wouldn't be very useful without Microsoft Office.

Here's the damage:

$359.93 Hardware Total
$179.94 Software Total
$539.87 Total Cost
$39.09 Shipping
$578.96 Grand Total

But wait, you say. That's not $500! You are quite right, observant one. I chose not to consider using technology that I deemed obsolete (Pentium processors, anyone?). Apparently modern computers cost more than $500 these days. Sure, you can save money using Linux, free software, and the like, but if you're trying to build a computer for someone who needs a seamless transition from their office to home without a learning curve (like I am), this is about what you'll end up with.

If you look at the dollar tally, it would be about a $400 computer with Ubuntu and Open Office installed. Or perhaps you could reach the magic $500 number by substituting in an inferior processor (be it Intel or AMD).

Personally, I think the sweet spot is always located at $650, and if you can't afford this price range, saving up is a smarter idea than getting a worse computer for cheaper -- it will be obsolete the minute you buy it.

Now Tired Enough to Sleep

You're undergoing triple-redirection to experience this, but I think it will be worth it: the dual-screen laptop. As if incorporating a Wacom digitizer pad in the laptop wasn't enough, now they've added a secondary LCD screen on as well.

The Dollar Appreciates

I was surprised to discover tonight that the Jazz Jackrabbit 2 community is alive and kicking. There's even a list of currently active servers.