Archive for October, 2008

26 Oct 2008

Switch to 64 bit?

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64 Bit

Image by trekkyandy via Flickr

Back in May when i bought my XPS 420, i got 4 gigs of RAM with it, knowing full well i’d ever only be able to use 3gigs. Why could i only use 3gigs? Because a 32 bit operating system only allows you to use 4gigs minus graphics card size minus BIOS size and other bits and bobs.

So a rather stupid move by me, no? Well, i got 4 gigs because i knew i could well be switching to 64 bit in the near future. My entire system is 64 bit ready, all i need is a 64bit operating system.

In fact, when i bought my laptop over 3 years ago, i called it ‘future proof’ at the time as i’d opted for 64 bit processor when 32bit was very much the norm. 3 and a half years later, and 64 bit is now very much a reality. My laptop could still be upgraded, but i’d need more RAM, a multi-core CPU and probably a new screen so all of that is a lot of work – but it gives me an option and i like options :-)

It shows that 4 years ago, when i started thinking about buying a laptop, i was thinking ahead and made the right decisions with regard to ‘future proofing’. Hopefully my XPS 420 is another wise move. Expensive – yes – but there’s no new technology on the horizon to get me worried for at least another few years.

64bit is the next big thing – more power, more RAM, more multi-tasking basically. WIth dual monitors, i’m obviously multitasking all the time and much like a multi-core processor, it allows me to get the same amount of work done faster.

When it comes to video editing and dealing with HD quality, you really appreciate two monitors, a quad core and as much RAM as possible – you need every bit of it and more. As i plan on producing more and more video related ‘stuff’ over the next few years, the switch to 64bit is very tempting right now.

With RAM so cheap nowadays, i could upgrade to 8gigs of RAM from 4gigs for about €150, plus boost the speed to 800mhz from my current 667mhz. That’s quite a huge improvement theoretically.

Would i notice the difference? Probably not. But when video editing, i can get up to about 3gigs of RAM in use… another 5gigs on top of that would give me peace of mind. Of course i can’t do anything until i upgrade to a 64bit operating system.

I’m toying with the idea though… more and more software is being optimized for 64 bit and given the fact all my hardware is 64 bit ready, i’m simply delaying the inevitably at present. Vista 64bit is ultra secure and generally regarded as much better than XP 64bit – in complete contrast to Vista and XP 32bit where XP is still king ;-)

25 Oct 2008

Gadget Advisor Review

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Disclaimer; This is a paid review however not influenced by the fact it is paid. It is of my own, honest opinion.

Gadget Advisor is a new gadget blog which aims to bring you the most useful / interesting / coolest news in the gadget category. Rather than post every bit of breaking news on a daily basis, Gadget Advisor aims to cherry pick the quality stuff and not overload you with too many posts.

If any of you are subscribed to techcrunch, mashable, engadget etc… you’ll know that these blogs have multiple writers and at times the amount of new content coming online can be overwhelming. If you don’t read one of those for a few days you could have missed 30/40 new posts which is really annoying as we humans don’t like to miss anything, we don’t like missing out.

So there is, perhaps, a space for Gadget Advisor although this is a very saturated area online and improvements will have to be made before it can start holding on to readers. I’ve picked out 4 areas which i think have to be changed/improved;

Time & Date

The posts on the blog aren’t stamped with a date or time. This is basic blogging etiquette… a blog is a diary and people expect a date and time with all posts. It’s not even up for debate – all posts must be ‘timestamped’ on a blog if there is lots of new content being added regularly.

Who is this?

Readers also expect to see an author name somewhere on the blog as it makes the connection between blogger & reader more personal. On Gadget Advisor i don’t know who writes the posts. Whilst this isn’t essential for me, it would probably make Gadget Advisor a more welcoming place if i could attach a face and name to it.

As a reader i don’t want a life story :-) but just a basic blurb about the person/people behind the content and why as a reader, i should listen to them – are they tech addicts, are they working in the industry, are they just regular people doing this as a hobby? I don’t mind what they are, but not disclosing any of that makes me ‘wary’ as a reader…

Blocks of text

If i look at an article with no paragraphs, no pictures and large chunks of text, my eyes want to press the self-distruct button. A few months ago, i made a conscious effort to clean up this blog and start adding pictures to all posts and generally try to increase the visual appeal of all posts. Content is king, yes… but if content looks bad, the shallow people who go for looks will overlook you ;-)

If we take this Best extensions for Firefox posts and compare it with Google Cache Checker Firefox extension, which would you rather read or more to the point which you rather not read? The latter is much more visually attractive as it has paragrahps, a nice big picture to break up the text plus it’s short and sweet. The former post is not short and sweet – the content is good and useful (yes), but the way it’s presented is torture for my eyes.

Thumbnails

On the homepage, 4 posts have a thumbnail attached to them. That thumbnail is the same for all 4 posts. It’s the same story in any of the category pages. The whole point of a thumbnail is to give a small preview of what the post is about, but if all thumbnails are the same and set as default, it doesn’t relate to the actual posts or help me determine what the post is about.

I like to see updated, varied thumbnails which give me some indication as to what the post is about. The Blaze Media Pro review post is what i like to see – big, bold images which tell me straight away what the post is about.

Conclusion

So basically, what i’m saying is that Gadget Advisor needs to work on getting it’s content seen more. The content (posts) themselves are generally short and sweet which i like. But the way the content is displayed and lack of connection between blogger & reader really needs to be worked on if Gadget Advisor is to move forward.

24 Oct 2008

planning the week ahead

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video editing makes me cry

Image by Rakka via Flickr

Next week i’m off college, but i’ve a lot of work to do. I have about 80% of footage and sound to work with so i can begin to put together a ‘final’ demo version of our college video.

At the minute, i have over 300 video files sitting in a folder, 500+ sound effect files and over a hundred images. Over 13 gigs in total of raw material. That’s a hell of a lot of work.

I’ve renamed all those 300 video files and sorted them in to folders as it’s vitally important i’m well organized. You have to be when producing any sort of lenghtly film with loads of footage and effects.

At the minute i have some titles/introduction complete, plus the finale. In total, about 20 seconds of actual video but it probably took me 8/9 hours to do. I also have a custom mp3 made which runs over the introduction.

This week, i’ll need to start cutting up video and using our different camera angles to good effect. I’ll also draw out a timeline of events for myself to keep me on track. The final video will be about 30 minutes in length and i’d imagine i’ll be swapping angles and changing scenes every few seconds to make it look as polished as possible.

I’ve no idea what the final product will look like, but i’ve already got some ‘world class’ stuff in it which will definitely blow people away. Our plan now is to make this in to a dvd with full menu’s and fancy introduction + an actual DVD case & cover to present the dvd in :mrgreen:

God help the other groups who are doing similar projects – that’s all i’ll say – they don’t stand a chance :twisted:

23 Oct 2008

1st term over

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Students taking a test at the University of Vi...

Image via Wikipedia

It’s been a very long first term for me in college. I started back on September 7th and it’s only now i’m getting a ‘break’. My timetable has also been harsh this semester… 9-5 daily and i get off at 4 on a Friday. Living about an hour away from college, you can slap another 2 hours on to that 9-5…

I get up at 7am, leave at 7.30am and aren’t home ’til just after 6pm. Add to that study time at home and assignments etc… and it’s a long week.

I also try to blog daily here, inevitably i’ll suffer from ‘burn out’ if i keep that pace up, which is the reason why i’ve taken the odd ‘day off’ like yesterday on this blog.

Yesterday i completed a custom made mp3 file for our video project which took some time. I’ve also completed several short animations and effects for it. The bulk of the work will be done next week when i’m off from college for a week :mrgreen:

This video project is by far and away my biggest college project to date and also by biggest video project to date. Even though it’s not actually worth *that* much, it’s just something that we’ve all decided to go for and do to the best of our ability.

My plan from day one was to average around 70% in all exams and so far i’ve managed that. At the minute my average is around 75% and my lowest score so far in any exam has been 57%, which is also my worst subject.

21 Oct 2008

Ultra Portable Options

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I’m still keen on getting an ultra portable or nettop, netbook, webbook – whatever you call them.

I’ve decided it’ll have to have;

  • xp or linux (preferably XP although i could buy the linux version cheaper and install XP myself if i wanted :twisted: )
  • 1gb RAM
  • Processor not too important.. any ‘Intel Atom’ would do the job.
  • Min 80gb hard-drive (i need my space and peace of mind that i can download anything)
  • Integrated webcam
  • Integrated bluetooth
  • Integrated SD slot
  • 6 hours minimum battery life – the more the merrier
  • Screen size – below 12″, nothing lower than 9″

Currently, i can’t buy a laptop with the above specs, even though some now exist. Here’s the options i’m considering, although i’ll not actually be buying one of these for another couple of months, i might even wait until the new year to see what sort of netbooks are on the horizon but at the minute, here’s what i could get;

MSI Wind U100

10″ screen with a 1.6GHz Intel Atom and 1 gig of RAM. Has the camera + bluetooth. Around 5 hour battery life. The U120 is due out in December which means it’ll probably hit the shores here around December 2010 ;-) At the minute though the U100 comes in at about €400.

Acer Aspire One

My Acer Ferrari served me well for over 3 years and the Acer Aspire One is definitely worth a look. It starts off at around €300 but you only get 8gb storage. The 120gb version with 1gb RAM costs about €330. It lacks bluetooth and the screen is a tad small at 8.9″ but it does have an SD reader. It’s also a bit heavier than the MSI wind at 1.26kg. Battery life is around 3 hours.

Asus Eee PC 1000

These babies start off at around €200 and go all the way up to €450. Similar to the MSI and Acer One but weighs in at 1.45kg. It does, however boast up to 7 hours of battery life. There’s also newer versions on the way. The S101 for example weighs 1kg and has all the features i’m looking for bar the large hard drive.

Dell Mini 9

Starts out at €349. Again, similar to the rest, but has slower RAM. It does have an SD card reader though. 4 hour battery life.

So there’s choice out there… the battery life is a huge factor for me. I hate having to charge things regularly whether it’s phones, laptops or cameras. I like to be able to take them with me fully charged and not have to worry about whether or not they’ll need to be charged before i get home. Being able to take a laptop to college with no charger would cut down on weight, wires and encourage me to use it more.

That’s the whole point of me gettig one – to turn not so productive time in to productive time. The faster and easier it is for me to whip out a laptop, the more likely i am to do so during those 10 minutes between classes.

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