Only hours left to enter our netbook giveaway drawing
Can it really be the end of October already? Unbelievable. Happy Republic Day to our Turkish fans (yes, we do have several).
And to all our readers who hail from the U.S. and Canada, tomorrow, October 30th, is more than just the birth date of John Adams in 1735. On the other end of the significance scale, it's the day we stop accepting entries for our contest to give away an Acer Aspire One. You can go here and enter the drawing until 12:00 pm (noon) CST tomorrow. As of right now, we have less than 200 qualified entries, so your odds are surprisingly good for a giveaway like this.
Of course, we always have a little test of skill for vetting of geekiness in our giveaways, and this time is no exception. So the entry form requires you to answer three questions which will be abundantly clear if you listen to the October 19th edition of the TR podcast. Don't worry, there are no trick questions, or even ambiguous ones. We're just encouraging those who haven't listened to one of our podcasts to give it a try. Jordan won't bite.
And what would a blog post by the Biz Guy be without a sponsor plug? NCIX.com has been a big supporter of TR, through their marketing and by supplying our editors with occasional review samples and parts for our test rigs. Both Canadian and U.S. readers should keep them in mind any time you're shopping for hardware.
10/31/08 Update: The winner has been announced here.
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Last post by bhtooefr at 3:39 PM on October 31, 2008
In the cargo hold of a plane bound for east Africa sometime this weekend is a computer lab in a box. Well, five boxes, actually. It's sort of like a bed-in-a-bag, except that it actually matters. The teachers and staff of the Ebenezer Educational Center are getting excited about the bundle of technology goodness en route to their school.
Computer lab in a box: just add water power!
We've said repeatedly that we could not have done this project without you, the readers who have given of your own hard-earned dough for the cause. But I want to acknowledge again some of the companies who have provided goodies and discounts to make such a complex endeavor successful. First of all, Asus provided a stack of Eee PCs at a price that was even more affordable than usual.
downloading via high-speed cable access? Far longer than we expected.
Also, NCIX, the super-reliable e-tailer from the land of Geoff (that also serves us Yanks), stepped up to help in a big way. I wanted to make this more than just a stack of netbooks, but rather a virtually instant computer lab. So NCIX donated, entirely free of charge or complaint, a router, an external DVD R/W and enough mice and cables to give my cats fits.
An impressive wireless router that Scott pre-configured to connect as soon as it and the Eees are powered up
Given that the 4G model of Eee PC has only 4GB of solid state storage on-board, I asked Corsair, a long-time sponsor of The Tech Report and supporter of the enthusiast community, whether they could help provide additional storage options that will likely be needed once the students start making use of the OpenOffice apps, the built-in web cams, and eventual downloads from the net. Corsair came through with 72GB of flash storage in the form of SD cards and Voyager mini USB drives.
The teachers and administration at the school currently have no computer to keep records, prepare documents or lesson plans, or carry out any standard administrative tasks. We originally planned to send funds to help cover the cost of a desktop system for this purpose. But after extensive research into what's available and consideration of the total cost and risks involved, we decided to send a used Compaq Presario X1000. Although it's several years old, it's still far more competent that what we could have bought in Kampala for $500 or so. For office- and education-related tasks, it'll be perfect. It was Scott's primary laptop for a couple years, then mine for a couple more. Now it should serve the staff of the Ebenezer Educational Center for a few more years.
Along with the equipment, we'll be providing the school with the funds needed to pay for Internet access, as well. After months of work and countless setbacks, I'm a little pumped that the goal is finally in sight. Stay tuned; soon we hope to be announcing that the lab is up and running at the school in Kampala. Then we'd like to get the school involved with The Tech Report in some way. Hmmm... I can hear it now... "From our East Africa bureau on the shores of Lake Victoria, this is Jordan Drake bringing you The Tech Report Podcast... "
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Last post by shaq_mobile at 9:00 PM on September 29, 2008
Every so often I get to introduce people or features here in the Inkwell, which is always fun. This post isn't exactly an introduction, as the subject is certainly well known to the majority of our readers. I guess this would be more of a formal recognition. Asus is a familiar moniker to most PC enthusiasts for their motherboards. And now with the success of their Eee line of subnotebooks netbooks, Asus is becoming a recognizable brand to a wider slice of the North American market.
Just yesterday I was cleaning the dust bunnies out of my main system and pondering how reliable the SK8N "workstation" board has been for me over the past few years... one might even say "rock solid" (though not "heart touching"). I've had to replace an Antec PSU and a Sapphire graphics card in this rig, but no bulging caps or even a hint of a problem from the SK8N. I've thought about building a new system this year, but unless I decide to splurge and upgrade from GTR FIA Racing to Race Driver GRID, my current setup is still adequate.
Back to my main point, I want to thank Asus for supporting the PC enthusiast community in a variety of ways, from the steady stream of new products for our editors to review, to special events like ROGCon. Yeah you guessed it, this is a plug for a sponsor by the biz guy. But it's not difficult to appreciate and thank these guys; props to Asus for all their help.
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Last post by shaq_mobile at 9:32 PM on August 14, 2008
We've worked hard to build an informative and reliable publication with the best reviews and latest news from the world of PC hardware. The Tech Report has become a well-known brand among industry insiders and enthusiasts, be they gamers, IT professionals, or hobbyists.
Nevertheless, many readers want more. Either due to the unhealthy level of trust they've placed in TR, or the all-to-common deficiency that some geeks have for fashion sense, we keep getting pleas for clothing. Yeah that's right—shirts, hats, bathrobes, and the like. We're happy to oblige, since it gives us the opportunity to extend the reach of the TR brand a bit.
Preferring to keep our focus on the core components of the PC rather than the peripherals and accessories of the personal computing lifestyle, we've outsourced this project to a local guy we know.
Custom Logo Outfitters has provided us with high-quality and great looking t-shirts and polos that we’ve bought for clients, trade show swag, contest prizes, and even to adorn our own sun-starved bodies. When we went looking for someone to set up the store, the Custom Logo guy said he could handle it, beginning to end. He owns a franchise of a nationwide school and business uniform company, which provides the online storefront.
The process has been slow, but we’re finally ready to launch. Although we’re not personally carrying the inventory, taking orders or payments, or shipping the products, we did select the shirts and hats ourselves and ensured that the logo embroidery is top-notch; you can inspect the logo stitching on close-ups posted in their product pages. Make no mistake: the products are great; these are not cheapie, give-away shirts. They’re heavy-weight, durable, great-fitting threads. Furthermore, I know the company will provide good service, even if their online storefront is… well… somewhat less than elegant.
Head over and check out the goods. There are a couple grades of polo shirts, some t-shirts, ball caps and even a hoodie. If you’re hung up on our former logo and colors, there’s an old-school t-shirt just for you. I’m told that if you need special sizes like tall or petite, Custom Logo will try to accommodate you if you let them know. And please tell us what other products you’d like added to the selection. If we can do enough business with these guys then we’ll re-stock soon with a broader selection of goodies, based on your feedback.
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Last post by gerbilspy at 8:08 AM on November 8, 2008
Years ago I sought advice from a trusted and knowledgeable friend about what components to use in my first home-built PC. Everything worked great at first. In fact, that system still runs and gets used every so often (in spite of a few bulging and leaking capacitors). The only major issue I ever had was with... the IBM Deskstar 75GXP. Need I say more?
I believe the first instance of the tell-tale repetitive clicking followed by an error notice happened at seven months. I don't remember exactly, but Scott probably helped me retrieve some of my data before I RMA'd it for a replacement. At that time I didn't have any vital data on there, maybe my resume and some personal correspondence.
Although I wanted to go with a different brand after all the hassle, IBM wouldn't refund my money; they insisted that my only option was to swap for a replacement drive.
The second one lasted five or six months, tops. This time I had been wiser and backed up my data on a regular basis. And we still have that stack of floppies somewhere, just in case I ever need to access my application to the Federal Reserve Bank or the family Christmas newsletter of 2000 (doubtful, as not much happened that year).
This time I tried to insist on a refund, not a replacement. I still wasn't aware, however, that there was a swell of failures occurring among what would come to be known as the Deathstars of hard drives. And surely such a popular model from a respected company like IBM, highly recommended by my geekiest of friends, couldn't fail me three times. So when the customer service rep insisted that a replacement was the best she could do, I relented.
When drive #3 arrived I saw that it had scratches around the screws, was covered with fingerprints, had been re-labeled, and wore a telling little sticker that said "SERVICEABLE USED PART". This was good! No, I'm serious, because "serviceable" was a step up from what I'd received in the past, right? Surely this (refurbished?) drive had been thoroughly checked out, and whatever problem the others had was resolved. Besides, if I could find an accomplished hacker, I might be able to retrieve some other young family's Christmas 2000 newsletter from the wiped platters.
Having learned my lesson, I bought a new drive to use as my primary and set this one up as a slave drive. This way I could, um... well... back up my data to it in case the primary drive failed - right. Ok, sure, that sounds so obviously absurd now - after the fact. Relying on a known failure of a hard drive as a back up for my vital data? The good news is: I have not yet needed to use the backed up files on that drive!! Good thing, too, because the "serviceable used" drive failed after about a year. This in spite of the fact that it was used only once a week, at most, to back up files from the other drive.
I had a long argument with several company reps, but failed to persuade any of them that they should send me a check. I reached that point where every minute of time and any energy spent on this cause seemed like a waste. IBM must've felt the same way because they were negotiating the sale of their hard drive business to Hitachi. I had errant thoughts of hurling the drive through the window of an IBM office somewhere... anywhere. But I decided to just make it a paperweight. It still sits next to my keyboard, along with a carved stone tool allegedly from the Mayan civilization in Central America. Both remind me that things change, technology fails, and whoever's in the lead eventually stumbles.
But sometime back in 2005 I received an email from a law firm asking if I wanted to be included in a class-action lawsuit against IBM over the 75GXP. After researching the options I honestly don't think that I signed up... but maybe I had to opt out. Anyway, last Monday I got this check in the mail for $100, which made me smile.
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Last post by Palek at 1:08 AM on May 7, 2008
When I set out to build a new family PC, it needed to be small, attractive and quiet. No need for anything crazy like Mini-ITX, but I did want a nice appearance and very low noise at idle so as to be acceptable in our kitchen/dining area. Limited by about a $350 budget for new components, I was largely at the mercy of what I had lying around or could bum off of Scott or Geoff.
The Shuttle SN25P met my aesthetic requirements with flying colors. Slightly smaller would've been preferable, but the gorgeous exterior of that enclosure earned it a spot on our kitchen desk, and the Shuttle's stock cooling system for the SN25P should have kept the three separate zones cool at barely a whisper, especially with Cool'n'Quiet enabled.
Unfortunately, I never personally experienced that low purr recorded by Geoff in his testing. The problem was the Radeon X800 I swiped from the Damage Labs. That freaky little cooler started out well enough, but just couldn't keep its opinions to itself. In a previous blog post I described how the only fly in the ointment for this system was connectivity with my wireless network. Although that was true at the time, the ever-growing buzz of the dinky fan on the X800 quickly flew straight into the ointment as soon as I'd disposed with the connectivity bug. I guess it was never really quiet, but it didn't bother me a lot when I was more annoyed by the flaky wireless adapter. Regardless, it became increasingly clear that if the "Breadbox" was to remain within about an arms length of where I sat to eat, it would need to be learn to be seen and not heard.
After chatting with one of the marketing reps from Gigabyte*, I decided to get one of their GPU cooling solutions and try my hand at my first real modification of a piece of hardware. The largest concern — other than whether the cooler would be better than stock — was whether it would actually fit in the SN25P without hitting the drive cage, the PSU, or all the cables that emerge from the PSU in that space.The Cyclops, with dimensions of 160x91x34 mm, seemed like it might fit, depending on precisely how much and where the thickness of 34mm tapers off toward the end of the fins. I estimated that the corner of the drive cage might contact the fins, and that the PSU cables could require some creative tethering to stay out the spinning fan blades.
GPU. To be safe, I removed it to see if the thermal paste would indicate whether the two surfaces had fully contacted each other. I observed that the paste had an extremely thin, uniform appearance across the GPU and the copper heatsink base, and an equal amount had oozed over all four sides of the GPU. So I wiped it all off and repeated steps 3 through 8 in my Cyclops installation guide, confident that the GPU heat would make its way through the copper base to the aluminum fins.I even applied all those little porcupine-looking aluminum heatsinks to what seemed to be the memory chips on the board, despite my lack of confidence that the peel-n-stick self-adhesive bases would hold them tight enough to be effective. But they did make the card look kinda prickly and mean.
After tucking and tying the cables safely out of the way, I installed the X800 on the motherboard. Like an idiot, I secured and screwed everything in place as I went along before confirming that the major components would fit. I was pleased to find that the time I spent on the PSU cables succeeded in routing them well out of the way of the fan and that nothing on the motherboard came near the new cooler. The PCI Express x1 slot is rendered virtually inaccessible, but that's of little concern to me for at least the foreseeable future.All was going quite splendidly until the tool-free drive cage was replaced. The 34 mm thickness of the Cyclops doesn't taper down quickly enough, so the metal corner of the drive cage solidly hits the plastic cover over the fins, which prevents the cage from dropping that last quarter inch and sliding fully into place. I pondered if I would have sufficient clearance for the drives with that plastic cover removed, and whether it served any functional purpose. Several measurements indicated that the removal of the cover should provide enough room, just barely, for all the components to be re-assembled. But what if the lack of that flimsy piece of plastic shrouding the aluminum fins would prevent the airflow from reaching the tips and decrease performance? Some research on Gigabyte's website and Newegg's customer (ah-hem) "reviews" didn't yield any useful data.
I decided to risk it and removed the Gigabyte-stickered cover. The naked Cyclops allowed the drive cage to slip in right next to it without a scrape. Although there is no contact, I don't think I could fit two sheets of cardstock between them. Thankfully, everything in this little box is rigid and stable — no concern that the bare Cyclops might eventually touch and vibrate against the, um, caged hard drive.
Fully re-assembled, I powered it up, and XP Pro booted just fine. Then I heard something odd that I'd never heard from this little system... the Barracuda 7200.10 spinning and seeking out its stored data. It was honestly a refreshing sound. The $25 Cyclops doesn't allow the 80 mm fan speed to be monitored or adjusted, but its 2300 RPMs are truly indistinguishable from the faint hum of the other fans. ATITool indicates that my GPU temperature is 60 degrees C at idle and around 74 under load (unfortunately I did not check the temps with the stock cooler). That seems a bit warm, but I guess it’s acceptable.
So this kitchen computer is now practically inaudible unless you're sitting directly next to it — one more bug plucked out of the ointment. But I suspect my expectations are already rising, and I'll eventually find something else to improve. For now, though, I'm savoring the peace and quiet.
*Full disclosure: This is a blog post recounting a personal experience; it is not a product review. I have never helped test or write for product reviews for The Tech Report. Gigabyte and Shuttle are sponsors of The Tech Report.
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Last post by eitje at 10:21 PM on February 23, 2008
A VoIP communication system via a mesh network of wireless routers... that are solar powered... in remote mountain villages.... home-built. Sounds interesting, doesn't it? That's what I thought anyway, so when a very good friend of mine told me he'd be researching, designing and building such a thing over the next couple years, I insisted that he share his experience with me via email as it progresses. Thankfully, he agreed.
"Even better," I said, "blog about it on The Tech Report." The non-profit NGO with which he's working is very cautious about sharing details like names and locations of their aid projects, so he was reluctant to publish it in such a public forum. As we discussed the benefits that could come from opening this project up to comment and assistance from a broad community of techies, he decided it was worth it. Additionally, he's excited to be able to give something back to the Internet community from which he has gained so much.
So over the next few months (or maybe years), he'll be blogging about his research, tests, and (hopefully) a successful deployment of this "village wireless VoIP" project. Right now he's in the US gathering data and trying to build a small-scale working prototype. He has already jotted down several notes, which we'll be posting in the next few days. Soon he'll be moving back to the location where the full-scale system is to be built. Although the people of the villages in which he'll be working feel a real need for communications, there are elements in the broader region and culture that are suspicious of and sometimes opposed to technology and foreign assistance, so we have agreed to let him publish under the nickname "wirelesh."
I don't want to tell any more of his story, since his account should be far more interesting, so head over to "Voice in the Mountains" for a brief overview of the project. Then check back regularly, because he has been working on this for a few months already and we'll be publishing his notes with frequent updates here at the beginning. We invite anyone with experience or knowledge of any aspect of the project to offer their ideas and expertise. Once he completes his research in the U.S., the posts may become sporadic, since his communication options are severely limited in the area... thus the need for a project like this.
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Last post by atravnic at 7:41 PM on May 14, 2008
