Supergeekblog

I just picked up a SD Cruzr Micro 512Mb thumbdrive today. Got a good deal on it at Radioshack. They have them for $29.99 in-store after instant $10 rebate that isn’t always advertised on the tag. They’re definately handy as hell, the first thing I did was copy Portable Firefox to it (Jeez what else do you want to always have with you, no more using IE on other peoples machines). I also stumbled upon a couple of things worth checking out. I’m fond of the Windows CE virtual personal OS hack put together on this page. I also found a handy and short directory of thumb drive apps on this blog (Where I found the Windows CE Virtual Machine link). Another favorite is trillian everywhere for using Trillian off a thumb drive. So many new software toys and projects… so little time.

Technorati Tags: thumb drive, usb drive, usb thumb drive, UFD, cruzr micro, sandisk, portable firefox

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For those of you out there that want to run Linux inside windows I’ve discovered there are a couple of builds of VMware images of Ubuntu on various torrent seach sites. These can be run with the freely available (From their site you pirate!) Vmware player. I’m in the process of downloading Ubuntu now to try this myself. I’ll update once I play around with it and throw up some screenshots sometime this weekend.

Technorati Tags: vmware, vmware player, virtual machine, ubuntu, linux virtual machine

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Theres a new version of AVG Free Anti-virus out. If you’re one of those people with expired AV software from Norton or Mcafee you should install this instead of shelling out another $40 for another year of updates. It works just as well and uses very little system resources. Get your copy here.

Technorati Tags: avg, anti-virus, anti virus, norton, mcafee, virus protection, free anti virus

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Well I have it on good word that Radioshack.com will have Xbox 360 going into stock starting this Friday. Most places are out of stock on them already so this might be your last chance to get one. The downside? They only sell a $730 bundle with the premium 360 and 5 games and a wireless controller…. but you weren’t planning on eating after thanksgiving anyways right?

Technorati Tags: xbox 360, xbox 360 stock, xbox, microsoft xbox, microsoft, radioshack

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Okay this is probably one of the cooler case mods I’ve seen in a while. Not to mention the kind of hardware he threw in it (Think dual Xeon’s). It even appears to move. I’d love to be in the tax bracket that has this kind of money to spend on a mod (Hello out there we need advertisers…).
Check it out.

Technorati Tags: case mod, dual xeon, heavy metal case mod

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For those of you who are in the trenches everyday as a sysadmin (Or even if you aren’t like me) you’ll probably appreciate this podcast covering the daily issues, rants, and stupid user stories from a group of sysadmins that are out there dealing with them.
Check it out.

Technorati Tags: sys admin, systems admin, in the trenches, administrator, IT, IT jobs

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There has been quite a bit of discussion about Digg catching up to Slashdot. I think what people fail to see is that there are major differences in why people go to the other site. Some users no longer visit the Slashdot site-but it depends on what they are looking for.
Digg is my first stop these days… however I do still keep tabs on Slashdot. When there is a particularly interesting story on which I have something to say (whatever site it is on first) I come to Slashdot to at least read the comments and discussions and possibly leave a comment of my own.

Digg is for the fast community driven news while Slashdot is for the in depth intellectual discussion on the topic. Personally the faults of both systems bother me, so that is why I use both.

What do I mean by failures?
Slashdot:
Stagnating format. Its innovation seems to have died out long ago. It is sometimes impossible to get a story to the front page for everyone to see. Then there are the dupes. With editors and strict regulation, duplicate stories should not happen.

Digg: Too much user control. Duplicate stories abound on a level not even comparable to Slashdot. The comments are a joke and there is rarely anything interesting in them other than the occasional link to a mirror or someone’s website. The “fanboy” syndrome on digg is just plain obnoxious. Whether it is a google, mac, linux, or windows fan, just saying the opposite “sucks” decreased the impression of your intelligence and has no point whatsoever. Get a life and grow up kids.

What has each done right then? Digg is vast and has been quite innovative. People can find news a whole lot quicker and be passed on to the original site with little fuss. Slashdot allows people to have full-fledged discussions on a topic and a variety of sub-topics. People will follow a stories discussion for days if needed to find out the viewpoints or make their own understood.

Here is the post I responded to on Slashdot, which echoed my thinking in most parts of it and, I think, quite a few of the mainstream site viewers.

Will the sites ever combine? No. I do however believe eventually they will drift to a more similar format. Every website has to change with its readership eventually.

Technorati Tags: Digg, Slashdot, SGB Tech, SuperGeekBlog, Digdot

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Turbine Games is set to release Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach early next year. There are currently Beta testing opportunities for fileplanet subscribers.

They do appear to have tried to stay true to the offline D&D:

We are working closely with Wizards of the Coast, the author and publisher of the most recent edition of Dungeons & Dragons, to ensure that DDO is a faithful online representation of D&D

However, I just don’t see it being the same. If you get a chance take a look at the screen shots and read up on the info on the site. It’s looking like a pretty game, and could be a lot of fun…

Related:Dungeons & Dragons Goes Virtual
Related: Dungeons & Dragons Online

Technorati Tags: D&D, Dungeons and Dragons, Stormreach

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I wish I had one of these for my PDA back during my college classes. I could have surfed the web… errr taken notes much easier during class. I bet it’s only a matter of time before they manage to shrink the projector small enough to inside PDAs at which point you can bet they will be licensing it out to the highest bidder. Check it out.

Technorati Tags: Virtual laser keyboard, virtual keyboard, projector keyboard, keyboard

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It’s sad when thepiratebay.org has more and better servers than anandech.com (As of their last server upgrade). It’s rather apparent that the black market in software and media is still booming. Does anyone else wonder who hosts their setup? Apparently intellectual property rights enforcement is pretty lax in Sweden anyways. Oh and checkout that Anandtech link above if you’re fond of server hardware it’s definiately worth drooling over.

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