nVIDIA have released some new graphics drivers (32bit can be found here), which include support for the 8800GTS/GTX cards, for Vista. (via Guru3D)
This is amusing, because DirectX 10 is only supported in Vista, and only on the 8xxx series cards from nVIDIA. Can you say oops?
Although not signed and beta drivers, they are more of a resemblence to real drivers than the previous version.
On my computer, the performance increased from 4141 to 4330 in 3DMark06 - small, but I'll take it.
I recently purchased Component Cables for Xbox (Original) which arrived today.
Through Xbox Media Center, the rather dated hardware of the Xbox handles output to 720p rather well (including DVD Upscaling). I'm yet to try 720p sources, because it refused to play Quicktime trailers I downloaded :( Just as I suspected, it doesn't handle 720p (rather…choppy). Given its age, thats not at all suprising, just means I'll need a HTPC/Xbox360 ;)
Although I could have bought a more expensive cable that'd include digital output (to my Z-5400's I guess), I decided not to, simply because the TV it'll be hooked up to (for about the next 6 months) only has stereo speakers built into the TV.
Given the price of it ($13.60 if you include postage), I wasn't fussed.
At the end of the last chapter, our hero Paul was faced with playing the waiting game with Centrecom, as the refund proceedings begun.
On the 19th, I got a phone call from Centrecom, where I spoke to a rather helpful guy (Ivan?) who was about to call Asus to sort things out, but was getting the story from me first.
It was an interesting conversation. After explaining what the problem was, as well as what had happened with the laptop, he claimed the most likely case would be a 'exchange' of laptops - that is, I'd get a different model (Yeah, I'm sure that falls under the Consumer Trading Act…). Great, I thought, A8JP here we come. Ivan was curious as to what I was after, I told him about the A8JP as well as Centrecom's horrible pricing compared to say…Myer ($2800 vs $2100. Yes, Myer is winning here).
He got the story he needed, then called Asus to try and initiate the refund, and Myer to make sure it was the 'same A8JP'.
Half an hour later, he calls back.
Centrecom will happily match that price…nice way to drop $700, and thats not the best price I can get either (haggling will get less, but JB HiFi has it for $1997)
Asus have a 'special cases manager', who was 'offline' so I needed to send him an email. Nearly two weeks later, no response from him.
To be perfectly honest, I don't know whose fault that is - Centrecom's or Asus'. Personally, I'm leaning towards Centrecom, because the 'contract' of warrenty is between Centrecom and me, not Asus and me. I didn't buy this from Asus, I bought it from the retailer, Centrecom.
Fast forward a few days (25th to be exact), and an Asus tech from Silverwater calls me up to notify me that they've just released a BIOS that solves all the grainy screen issues. Freaky timing, I thought. The BIOS isn't available on their website, so it was sent to my email. Because I haven't been online much lately, I haven't had a chance to check out the BIOS (not that it overly matters, Centrecom have my laptop), however today I did.
Comparing files F3JP203.ROM and F3JP203.T00
FC: no differences encountered
Gah. Asus have sent me that beta bios that causes BSOD's.
Xaul is staying here for a few days, he's weird.
That explains/will explain most of my online absence from the 24th/Jan to the 3rd/Feb
So far, he's been impressed by Melbourne having sunlight up to…9:30pm, the little lights we have on pedestrian crossing buttons, and super impressed about how warm it is here ;)
After the intitial struggle to contact Centrecom due to gmail's crappy filtering system, they decided to stop responding to my emails.
Today, I called them up.
I was told, "the best [they] can do for me" is let their techs take a look at it (thankfully, at any Centrecom store, not just Sunshine - their internet base of operations). I was informed that if its software related, I may be charged a fee. Yeah. Definatly software related. I've installed so much software since restoring my laptop from recovery CD's. I've installed the following list of programs: Windows Live Messenger.
Somehow, the ASUS techies who looked at my ASUS laptop aren't very bright, and Centrecom's brilliant staff will be able to sort it out for me. Yeah. Right.
Anyway, if they're going to try and fob me off (I'm guessing they'll try and say that their techs will have to spend the best part of a month looking at it), my mother decided we'd be loud. Really loud.
But surely, ASUS have solved the problem by now? Nope, a thread that I linked to last time is still going strong, even with the latest v204 bios (released this year?).
To be perfectly fair, the ASUS after sales support has been pretty damn good. They escalated the problem really quickly, and were happy to courier to/from me. Heck, they called me to make sure I understood just how screwed up the F3 series is.
Thats why I've decided, if I get the refund, I'll buy an ASUS A8JP (apparently the A8 series is not suffering this problem) from Myer (who have it for about $1700 I believe).
Its basically the same laptop, but with a bigger hdd, faster cpu, smaller screen…but higher resolution.
As Will ranted earlier, Apple's iPhone - announced at MacWorld this month - is already out of date.
You know the worst thing? Its already mega-popular.
Not with Apple people, but with the 'fashionable'. Those who just have to have the latest, shiniest gadget to look cool.
I'm not even talking geeks, but those who need to 'accessorize!'
The Sunday Herald Sun (14/1/2007) has two articles on the iPhone (I'm sure the papers in the days earlier had more). The first is from a mac user, Denis Marinos, who doesn't want a phone that is more than a phone ('Leave me off the air'), so is completely baffled as to why you'd want an all-in-one type device.
The second article is, in a way, in response to Marinos' peice, written by Charlotte Brundrett (18->20 year old), who just has to have it (' Quick, I want it now').
Brundrett explains how her parents just don't 'get' that she needs (not wants) the new phone so she can keep up-to-date with the latest fashion/technology trends.
Wait a moment, latest technology? What does the iPhone have thats new tech?
At best, the touch screen…but thats been done before. All-in-one device with touch screen? Maybe, but whats that in the distance? LG's KE850 which will be launched a few months prior to the iPhone.
Actually, Conan O'Brien has the answer:
On Wednesday, News Ltd ran a more informative piece, simply titled 'Apple unveils its iPhone'. A basic rundown of the features, and a few speils about Apple and the iPod.
I think my favorite line is
The iPod now commands more than a 70-percent share of the US market for MP3 digital music players.
It fails to point out that it iPod market share was up around 91%, before falling to 87% in 2004.
I wouldn't call that commanding so much as being the captain slowly going down with the Apple ship…
Cisco also have a few dealings with the iPhone. That is, their iPhone.
Apple, apparently, have been trying to barter the trademark off them for a few years, and as they were nearing an agreement, Apple decided to announce the iPhone, and do away with Cisco.
This, of course, has lead to Apple being sued by Cisco.
As details emerge, it'd seem like Cisco may have problems with the trademark, but overall, it would appear Apple is in a weaker position.
And people think Microsoft is evil? C'mon, at least Microsoft blogs, and gets down and dirty and talks to the 'plebs' at CES, which is something I don't ever recall Steve Jobs doing…
As Frank Arr points out, Yahoo Messenger is getting a massive upgrade in visual appearance thanks to WPF.
I must admit, its very clean and pretty looking, the video of it is worth checking out.
Yahoo have a page where you can signup for notifications of when it's available for download, and preview video.
The thing that annoys me is, where is the Windows Live Messenger WPF version? Microsoft should be pushing out a bunch of semi-decent/useful WPF applications to encourage developers to get on board.
Not only that, but a WPF version of WLM would certainly appeal to new comers to Vista. I know a lot of people who use their computer for web browsing, emails, and IM.
I don't use Yahoo, but I'm thinking with this new version, as well as with WLM support, I might start doing so…
Update #2: This is an apology to Centrecom. Gmail is stupid and deletes all emails with .zip or .exe attachments, and guess what? They attached a bios. So, it wasn't in my trash, it wasn't in my spam box, it was plain ole not there.
Well, I'll officially stop using Gmail rather soon, because frankly, thats bloody annoying.
Deleting the entire INCOMING email because it had an exe/zip file is stupid beyond belief.
Update #1: Apparently they had sent a reply email, on the 3rd of December (a day after they returned to work), however I never got it - they suggested spam filters might have picked it up (which I doubt, centrecom is in my contact list, therefore they shouldn't be filtered).
I'm just waiting for them to resend it…they said they would in their reply, at 1.23pm?
Good thing I like playing the waiting game :(
Centrecom have not responded to the polite and friendly threat request for a refund on my laptop, because of the screen issue.
I sent them the below email on the 31st of December (way back in 2006, woaw?).
Dear Sir/Madam
I purchase an Asus F3JP notebook on the 3rd October 2006 (order id = 15852).
On the 25th October 2006, I started support tickets with ASUS, about a problem with the notebook, specifically, grainy image quality on the screen. That is, a solid colour (particularly grey/earthy tones) doesn’t appear solid – it appears ‘splotchy’ or ‘grainy’.
This was initially met by Asus support with ‘I’ve never heard of this problem’, but it was eventually escalated to ‘its affecting all F3 series laptops with the X1600 or X1700 GPU’.
I’ve spoken to ASUS Notebook Techs (my laptop was sent to them on the 12th December), who have confirmed that it’s a spreading problem (although paraphrasing, I was told ‘[they’re] being flooded with emails about the problem on all F3’s using X1600 and x1700’s now’). The Notebook has been returned to me without the problem being resolved.
Basically I am not happy with the situation and as Asus cannot rectify the problem, I request a refund. While I realise this puts a strain on you as the retailer, ASUS have admitted to me that it’s affecting the entire series, therefore there should be no problem with you receiving compensation from Asus.
(Note, I've modified this, removing the specific support tickets)
Normally, I'd just think 'oh, they're taking their time to respond because they must be flooded with emails because they were closed over Christmasn/New Year', however last night (being the impatient person I am), I decided to send an email asking if they had stock of a certain item, purely to see if they were answering emails.
Sure enough, about midday, I got an email saying certain stores did.
Time to resend the email, before I snail mail it to them with less…niceness.
Ubisoft's Dark Messiah of Might and Magic looks like a fantastic game. When the demo was rolled out, I eagerly watched the bits fly to my hard drive.
"Finally", I thought, "a game to quench my evil desires. Or at the very least, tickle them.".
The demo provided that. Oh how fun it was to kick Orcs into a bottomless pit. Or you could use arrows to push them into it, or heck, magic! I replayed that part of the demo over and over.
I should point out, in reality, I was after an RPG where being evil was encouraged, as well as 'shooter'. Dark Messiah seemed to be a good blend of the two.
A few months later, Dark Messiah launched, to some mediocre reviews, although I didn't read them, as I've found a lot of the 'big' review sites tend to have opinions different to mine.
