Archive for the “System Tech” Category

Today at CES the SD Association announced a specification for SDXC, or SD eXtended Capacity that “provides up to 2 terabytes storage capacity and accelerates SD interface read/write speeds to 104 megabytes per second this year, with a road map to 300 megabytes per second.” Here is the Press Release.

While this might become one vehicle that proves my 2009 prediction of “512MB flash thumb drives under $100 by the end of the year”, it’s important to note the distinction that the SD Association today released a spec, not an actual product. Still, it is an exciting announcement full of possibilities. According to their PR (I haven’t done the math yet) a 2TB memory stick would hold 60 hours of HD video. Of course, 2TB is the upper limit of the spec. Chances are that the initial products would not be anywhere near 2TB.  But it paves the way.

When my Xbox HD DVD drive wouldn’t mount under windows inside of VM Ware (gosh, why would I need that?) I decided to pick up the LG GGW-H20L. It is a Super Multi-Blue optical drive that reads basically every disc format including Blu-ray and HD DVD and also burns Blu-ray RW’s and RE’s. I picked mine up a the local Fry’s Electronics here in Vegas for around $250.

Here’s a tip: if you want one get it NOW! In case you haven’t heard HD DVD is dead and LG doesn’t make this drive any more.

Installing it is tricky because this drive has a sata connection and the Mac Pro’s standard connection for optical drives is Ultra-ATA. There are two ways to install a Sata optical drive: First there are some kits which include an Ultra-ATA to Sata adaptor that plugs into the back of the unit and then provides a sata connector. But I’ve found these a little hard to install as the cables don’t really lock in and come loose too easily when sliding the drive bay back into the mac. Also I’m a little leery of using the interface adaptor with one fear being a speed loss, although it’s probably fine.

The second install method is to use one of the unused sata connectors on the Mac Pro motherboard. This is a slightly more involved process because the sata connectors are hard to get to. But it’s no match for a phillips screwdriver. If you’re game I’ve worked up a how-to guide with lots of photos. It is christening the new guides section of the site…  >>READ…

Apparently I’m not the only one with a blown ATI X1900. It might be because I never cleaned out the dust build up. My card was worse than the one shown at xlr8yourmac (see link). This week my monitors started turning off after a few minutes of use. Upon inspection we found a small burn mark on the card. So we ordered a replacement, an ATI Radeon HD 3870 Mac and PC Edition which sounds like a good card.

Inside the package is the card, an install disc and the note shown above that says “Install the Mac software before the hardware.” How is it possible to install the software before the hardware when my current card is blown? Read… »

Only 3 days left until my Direct TV HD TiVo rolls over to 1000 days since it’s last daily call… OR WILL IT!?

Everyone is almost positive that it will just roll from 999 days to 1000 days, but we’ll know for certain in just 3 days.  I’ll be posting screenshots every day until then.

As you can see the Date shows as 12/30 but today is 12/31. Typically the message doesn’t arrive appear until later in the day, and I don’t get around to posting it until the next day. But the moment I see either the “1000″ or a kill screen I’ll post it here.  I trust you will all be glued to your seats for that momentous occasion!

I don’t want to be a brag but I told you so. 2009 is going to be the year of super cheap very large flash drives. 9 to 5 mac just reported that Amazon is selling a 64GB thumb drive for a mere $78 – with free shipping. I guess it regularly goes for about $100 more and 9 to 5 is recommending that you buy it before the price goes back up. But I believe that this is just the beginning of what we’ll see in the next 12 months. Let me quote myself here…

October 22, 2008: I expect that at this rate we’re only a year away from having 32GB if not 64GB memory sticks and thumb drives.  It almost seems that flash memory is accelerating at a much higher rate than Moore’s Law would suggest. Actually, I predict that due to new memory technologies thumb drives and solid state hard drives will take a very large jump in capacity within the next year or two, leaping all the way into the 250GB to 1TB range.

Personal Disclaimer – I hate it when websites ‘review’ products without really testing them. What especially kills me is when they quote stats off a sell sheet as if they actually got those results in practice. Therefore this is not a review of the Drobo because I don’t own a Drobo. However, this IS an explanation of why I’m not buying a Drobo – at least not in it’s current form. Read on… Read… »

Advent Calendar’s are a nice way to count down to Christmas. Here’s a really cool one at the Boston Globe’s Big Picture site. You’ll have to check in there each day as a new picture is added daily.  Enjoy!

Back when I first started this blog I had the theme of “out with the old and in with the new” and it started with the upgrade of my old G5 to a new Intel 8-core PowerMac. In that early post I mentioned the Dell Ultrasharp 2408WFP because it has loads of inputs including the new DisplayPort connector Apple has sort-of recently embraced. I believe that the writing is on the wall that DVI will eventually be on the outs and any monitor I invest in these days needs be ‘future proof.’ So during the black days after Thanksgiving I ordered one and it arrived today!

Read… »

I’ve been working day and night over the holiday weekend on my iphone app. I suppose normally I would just close my laptop lid in between sessions but this weekend I was trying to stay motivated to keep working. So my laptop was left on most all weekend. Two important points: One is that I’ve been using it in this configuration (pictured) with the extra keyboard and mouse.  Second is that I have a cat. And while I hate love her, she is a very annoying cat. Every few minutes she’ll try to either sit on my lap or on the keyboard and even as I write this I have to keep telling her to NOT WALK ACROSS MY KEYBOARD. I think she likes the heat it gives off and many times I’ve come home to find that she’s deleted stuff, moved files around, etc.  (UPDATED 12/2/08) Read… »

Enjoy your turkey day this year. I’ll be taking a few days off from blogging to eat, put up the Christmas Tree, eat, spend a few days with my family…. …and try to finish up my iPhone app.