 |
August 2000
| Thursday, August 24, 2000 |
MS Strategic Commander
Cage
@ 8:37
Well what to my surprise did I find when I was wondering the aisles of CompUSA yesterday, but a gaggle of Microsoft's Strategic Commanders piled up on the shelves. Being the obsessive computer geek gadgetholic that I am I picked one up. I'll give it a whirl in a few nights - I have to work again tonight. I also noticed that the Bakersfield CompUSA had the new Logitech MouseMan Wheel. I'm not so sure about the finish on the new mice. They look neat, but the finish is a bit slippery. This was my biggest complaint about the top of the line Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer.
| Wednesday, August 23, 2000 |
NASCAR Heat Out
Cage
@ 9:49
NASCAR Heat by Hasbro also went Gold and into distribution. It should start to appear at retail today. Call before you go, not everyone has been able to find it yet.
More MP3 CD Players
Cage
@ 9:27
It turns out that there are few MP3 CD Players. The technology appears to still be in it's growing stages. The current crop lacks title display and even a basic FM tuner. There is hope on the horizon, with at least one unit which will incorporate title display. The two most promising units I've found so far are:
MP3 CD Player
Cage
@ 2:30
Local Bakersfield hardware site Tweak 3D came through with an interesting review of the MP3 Solutions CD Player. The player allows you to play MP3 formatted CD's in a portable player. You can also hook it up to your car stereo via a line out jack. The "Mambo X" player listed on the MP3 Solutions site also features an Infrared remote. All for $199.95. I think I'll have to take a serious look at one. As I've mentioned before, the stereo in my car is already rigged for some kind of MP3 player, and this one looks like it could be "The One."
Addendum: According to the follup up "Coments" thread for the article you can find the MP3 Solutions player for cheaper at a couple of places. The Computer Geek has them for around $99. I'm not sure I'd order from them, but they are the cheapest. A more likely choice is EasyBuy 2000 which has them for $115. Not bad.
Warlords Battlecry Patch
Cage
@ 2:15
I haven't even had a chance to break the shrinkwrap on the game before the first patch was released for Warlords Battlecry. The patch text file lists quite a few enhancements and fixes. I was quite pleased to notice how many items on the list relate to improved gameplay, and not bug fixes.
Anand@IDF
Cage
@ 2:05
AnandTech also has a article on the Intel Developer Forum. From reading the article it looks like the Pentium 4 will not hit wide release until well into 2001. As several sites have reported there was a 2.0 GHz Intel Pentium 4 being demoed at the show, but it was only running CPUID. I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt the Pentium 4 will be a possible choice for those looking to upgrade before the end of the year.
Madden 2001
Cage
@ 1:41
SportPlanet has a brand spanking new preview of Madden 2001 by EA Sports for the PC. With football season just around the corner it's time to start looking at some head crunching goodness from your favorite PC football sim. Here's a sample pic from the EA Site.
Addendum: According to this GameWeek news bit, Madden 2001 for the PC should appear in retail stores today.
Intel Roadmap
Cage
@ 1:27
Ars Technica has a bit from JC's Intel Roadmap that outlines cost and availability among other things for upcoming Intel CPU's.
Pentium 4 News
Cage
@ 1:17
I noticed over at Stomped.com a bit about a story on News.com about the Pentium 4. A couple of items from the story caught my eye. First of all the Pentium 4 will be twice as big as a Pentium 3. Next, according to this TechWeb article that Redwood quotes, Intel has to stick with Rambus until 2003 in desktop systems. Ouch! Of special interest from the News.com article is the mention that: "Intel will announce tomorrow a new version of the StrongArm chip for handhelds and cell phones, along with a new brand name." There is no doubt in my mind that this could be one of the quickest growing segments of Intel's business in the near future. The Strongarm chip is what powers my Compaq iPAQ Pocket PC, and by all reports is quite a bit faster then the cpu's found in other Pocket PC's at this time.
Caged
Cage
@ 1:08
Yep, it was another busy day of sleeping here at home. I'm awake now, and ready to make a few updates. I notice that my RedBaron page still gets the lion share of hits, so I'll try to make my way over there and spiff it up a little more. I picked up a new keyboard at CompUSA. It was black, one of my favorite colors. Unfortunately after using it a bit I've noticed that it feels quite cramped compared to my previous keyboard. I have a feeling that I'll have to go back to the old standby shortly. The rest of my Compaq iPAQ order came today. I now have a Compact Flash expansion backpack, as well as a new Rhino case. I think what I'll end up doing is stringing along a series of usability articles on my new Pocket PC. As with most hardware goodies you really don't get a feel for them until you've used them for a bit. Also I'd like to let folks experience from my point of view all the goodies, links, problems, and solutions that I come across while using the PPC. The first order of business will be to switch out this painfully small keyboard for "Old Faithful."
Teeny 2 GB HD
Cage
@ 4:02
Planet Hardware News had a story yesterday about Toshiba's new 2 GigaByte eensy teensy little Hard Drive. Here's a snip: "Fitting a 2 gigabyte disk drive into a 5 mm thick PC Card form factor, as Toshiba has in its industry-leading MK2001 (announced in May), requires aggressive miniaturization of all components, including IC packages" I should say. This is a 100% increase over the capacity of IBM's recently announced MicroDrive.
The Toshiba drive is a Type II CompactFlash device. No word on when it will be available, or if it will work with Pocket PC's.
Caged
Cage
@ 4:01
My apologies for the lack of updates the last few days. I was a bit busy at my night job, and I had the extreme pleasure of ingesting something that didn't quite agree with me yesterday. Yep, I pulled a "Billy Wilson", but not to worry, I'm feeling much better now. My new Compaq iPAQ Pocket PC got quite a few looks from my co-workers. I've been putting it through it's paces at work, and I've been quite pleased so far by how it's working out. I'll put up review in the near future with more details.
| Saturday, August 19, 2000 |
PocketPC Here
Cage
@ 8:09
My brand new Compaq 3630 Pocket PC arrived last night. Unfortunately I was at my night job, so I didn't get to open it up until this morning. I'll grab some sleep while it's getting it's minimum 3 hour charge. Then I'll take it in to work with me tonight and give it a whirl.
PocketPC at CompUSA
Cage
@ 12:11
The Compaq iPAQ 3650 Pocket PC's have arrived at my local CompUSA. Of course they only had the one on display, and no accessories. I was told by the salesperson that they had received around 7 of them a few weeks ago, but they were sold out almost immediately.
Speaking of CompUSA, but I've been wondering if the buyout they went through this last year is finally changing things. I've actually talked to a few salespeople who seemed to know a little about what they were talking about. They seem a bit more helpful, polite, and eager to please. Maybe it's new management? What ever it is, it's a refreshing change.
| Thursday, August 17, 2000 |
Compaq 3630
Cage
@ 9:50
Hooray!
I am finally getting my hands on a Compaq iPAQ Pocket PC. The Radio Shack version is the Compaq iPAQ 3630, but it's the same thing as the 3650 that is sold through retail locations. If you visit the RadioShack.com you can order one on-line or you can call up 1-800-TheShack and order one via a real live person. I wanted to make sure that they had them in stock, so I went with 1-800-TheShack. I ordered it next day air, so I should have it some time Friday.
Traffic Giant
Cage
@ 9:44
This last E3 I happened upon a couple of interesting titles from JoWooD Productions.
Two of the more interesting titles that they were showing were "FrontierLand" and "Traffic Giant." FrontierLand features gorgeous 3D graphics and artwork. It reminds me very much of an updated 3D Railroad Tycoon II. Here are a few shots: 
Here's a snip from the Traffic Giant web page: "...is the only game that lets you put public transport on the right tracks. You control an entire fleet of busses, trams, underground trains and much more. You experience realistically functioning town traffic with thousands of vehicles and pedestrians. You can ask each inhabitant what he thinks and feels."
And of course here are few shots from the web page 
NASCAR Heat
Cage
@ 7:15
I was fooling around with HyperSnap and took a few screen shots of Hasbro's NASCAR Heat. Here's a sample of the results   
FS Abit KT7
Cage
@ 2:49
Firing Squad has added their review of the Abit KT7 motherboard. The review is quite comprehensive, comparing the performance of the KT7 versus the ASUS A7V. If you are going the Athlon route, the Abit KT7 looks like the one to get.
Tribes 2 Beta
Cage
@ 2:35
Tribal War has been a regular fount of knowledge about Tribes 2 recently. After they broke the story the attempt to fix Denial of Service attacks on Tribe servers, they are serving up another juicy one.
According to Tribal War: "In #tribalwar tonight, Dave "Qix" Georgeson stated:
I think the beta app site will go live next week."
Outstanding. It looks like there definitely will be some Tribes 2 fun coming our way soon.
| Wednesday, August 16, 2000 |
NVIDIA GeForce 2 Ultra
Cage
@ 7:19
The Non-Disclosure Agreements were removed a few days ago, and a rash of reviews about the soon to be released NVIDIA GeForce 2 Ultra have hit the 'net. Firing Squad had the obligatory Quake 3 results, showing a hefty 20 to 30 frames per second increase in speed over the NVIDIA GeForce 2 GTS.
Of more interest to me was AnandTech's review of the GeForce 2 Ultra. Anand posts up what I consider to be the most valuable information - how fast a video card is running Unreal Tournament. UT, Tribes, and of course Red Baron 3D all use a graphics engine that so far runs best on the Voodoo series of video cards. What matters most to me when I look at the new video cards is "How well will they run my favorite games?"
So how did the GeForce 2 Ultra do on UT? According to AnandTech the current fastest Voodoo card, the V5-5500 scores around 49 Frames Per Second at 1024x768 on a Pentium III 550e. The GeForce Ultra gets around 46 FPS.
When you factor in how great FSAA looks on a Voodoo 5 it really isn't much of a choice. As long as the V5-6000 comes out in the next few months it will remain the top choice to replace my V3-3000. Car sims, flight sims, and my favorite 3D shooters should all run and look better on a V5-6000. A nice computer upgrade combined with a fast new video card should be just the ticket just before the avalanche of choice new holiday games start to hit the market in the fall.
Tweak3D Linked
Cage
@ 6:09
I remember running across Tweak3D in the past when I was looking at some hardware reviews. What peaked my interest is that the Webmaster is from Bakersfield. In the interest of building up the local computer community in B-Town I've added Tweak3D to "Top Sites" list for now.
AGN3D Shutdown
Cage
@ 5:46
Sad, but true. AGN3D has announced that it will be shutting down. There's some non-specific talk on the forum there that another web site will launch in the future. Jeremy Alford, the one who started AGN3D, developed what appears to be terminal brain cancer. For more info you can visit this thread at AGN3D's forum.
New Links
Cage
@ 19:26
Yep, it's time for another round of new links that I've added to the site. I also added a new category for PDA's. In no particular order here they are:
No iPAQ 3650's
Cage
@ 18:03
Well I called around locally in Bakersfield and I had absolutely no luck. Not surprisingly the local Radio Shack and Office Max had never even heard of a Compaq iPAQ 3650. "A what?......What's that?" If you live in Bakersfield you know what I mean. It feels like we live in some kind of technological third world country at times.
I double checked the 'net and didn't have any luck there either. Everyone is backordered with varying re-stock dates. I even found a few that were charging $50-$60 over retail, and they were backordered as well. Amazing.
iPAQ Stuff
Cage
@ 8:26
The Compaq iPAQ 3650 Pocket PC's have been in very short supply still. I ordered mine on July 6, 2000 and it's still listed as being on back order at amazon.com. Pdamart has a list of around 150 customers who are waiting for the Compaq Pocket PC last time I checked. MobilePlanet has an anticipated ship date of around September 15. Ugh!
Rumor on the Usenet has it that you can get the Compaq iPAQ 3630 at RadioShack.com. The 3630 is supposed to be identical to the 3650, except it's the on-line version sold via Radio Shack. They list it as being available in stores even, but I have yet to find one locally here in Bakersfield, California.
I'm off today, so I'm going to go hunting again locally and see what I can find. I'm really itching to get my hands on one - soon!
| Saturday, August 12, 2000 |
NH: Impressions
Cage
@ 23:33
After playing around with the NASCAR HEAT demo I thought I'd post up some of my impressions so far. Bare in mind that I'm not a race sim expert, and that I've never driven a real NASCAR car. At this point I'm one of those "casual" fans that Hasbro is aiming at with their "Normal" mode. I've been playing around with NASCAR:3 and Need For Speed: Porsche Unleashed most recently. I made sure that I didn't read any other previews before I formed my own feelings about the demo.
My first impressions of NASCAR HEAT were not all that favorable. The normal mode physics didn't feel as polished as NASCAR:3. The Expert mode was almost uncontrollable because it was so much more unforgiving of heavy handed driving. Much like the difference between a beginner mode and an expert mode in a flight sim. That's not a bad thing, but there is quite a difference between the two modes.
Then I played with NH a bit more, and I started to really appreciate the immersiveness of the sim. Much like Red Baron, you start to feel like you are really there. The detail of the cars with all the flashy decals and paint jobs is quite impressive. The track and crowds seem to be more alive then N:3. I expect that NASCAR:4 will have much of the same types of improvements. You have to love the advances that have been made with faster and better video cards over the last few years. I'm sure it would be even better running a Voodoo 5-5500+ with 4x Full Scene Anti-Aliasing. I can hardly wait until I can get my hands on a V5-6000.
Yes, NASCAR HEAT does support my Act Labs Force RS steering wheel and RS Shifter. So far I haven't found much of a need for the shifter in NASCAR games. Once you get up to 4th gear you usually stay there. The Single Race game starts you off at almost full speed anyway, so there isn't much of a need to do a lot of shifting. The support seems to be quite polished for all types of controllers, and configuring everything was a breeze.
I really didn't notice all that much excitement from the "6 degrees of Freedom" physics engine that is used in NH. Perhaps after I play with it a bit more I might notice the difference. Since I'm very new to racing sims I probably don't have the same appreciation for this feature as do more veteran racing simmers.
One of the more enjoyable experiences I get with any of the racing sims is playing "bumper car" with the other opponents. I find that the only place to really gain ground is around the turns. Even NASCAR:3 allows you to do a little bit of nudging of other cars as you sneak inside the turn. I'm sure it's much more catastrophic in the Expert mode if you bump a car at 180+ mph, but in Normal mode you can give the opponent a good bump and squeeze by in the turns. What's even more fun is that the computer-controlled cars will do the same thing to you. If you fail to bump them quite right all it does is slow you down, and you get to watch them vanish into the distance as you come out of the turn and desperately mash down on the gas pedal to get back up to speed.
All in all the NASCAR HEAT demo was quite enjoyable. I'll seriously considering picking this one up when it comes out in the next few weeks.
Logitech Mice
Cage
@ 22:56
Firing Squad has a review of the brand new Logitech Optical mice.
Being a gadget nut myself, I'm sure I'll pick one up as soon as I can get my hands on one. Currently my favorite mouse is the Microsoft with IntelliEye optical mouse. It's given me a sharp increase in the number of head shots that I score in Unreal Tournament. If you are not careful, it can cause some problems when you lift it off the mousing pad, but otherwise it's been quite a find. The IntelliEye optical mouse is about $30 at the local CompUSA, and by far the best mouse I've tried out.
I have a much more expensive Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer that sits in my closet because it tends to slip out my size 7 1/2 hand with rapid movements. I hate the slippery silver finish it has on it.
NASCAR Heat Demo
Cage
@ 22:35
FilePlanet has the brand new Hasbro NASCAR Heat demo up. It's a 42.1 MB download.
There is also a preview for NASCAR Heat at SportPlanet.
RR Home Pages
Cage
@ 21:01
Aha! Someone in the roadrunner.bak.help newsgroup was kind enough to point me to the correct Bakersfield RR Personal Home Page URL. Thanks, jdavis!
| Wednesday, August 9, 2000 |
AMD Price Drop
Cage
@ 4:59
The Register is reporting that there will be a big price drop for AMD CPU's August 14. Here's a snip from the article: "Sources close to AMD's plans have confirmed that we can expect big price drops on its microprocessors on the 14th of August.
The cuts were originally slated for the end of this month, as revealed here some weeks back." So if you are looking at buying an AMD system your best bet is to wait for a few weeks. My guess is that AMD will also have to respond to Intel's latest 1.13 GHz cpu with a similar offering of their own soon.
Another Abit KT7 Review
Cage
@ 4:53
BXBoards now has a review of the Abit KT7 motherboard up. Here's a taste: "Memory compatiblity is improved over the KA7 - whether this is as a result of dropping the TI data buffer and opting for a more conventional 3 DIMM slot design is unclear, but generally the board is much more forgiving in SDRAM compatiblity than previous Abit boards."
Cox @Home
Cage
@ 4:00
Will Cox cable bring another broadband competitor to Bakersfield? @Home is a cable internet service that may be coming to Bakersfield in the next year. Cox Cable Bakersfield has been tight lipped about any plans. Phone calls about plans for bringing Cox Cable @ home to Bakersfield have been answered with a "maybe" or "not likely" in the past. Will Cox Cable finally offer broadband service now that Time Warner Bakersfield is offering cable internet connections? Who knows, but there could be quite a few more choices for broadband access in the next year in Bakersfield.
Comments Removed
Cage
@ 12:18
After installing the new forum software I went ahead and deleted the comments link to each news item.
The comments feature was never really used. Now that the new forum is up there is no need to keep the old comments link.
Free Bakersfield Links
Cage
@ 12:07
If you have what you think is an interesting Bakersfield web site send me an email at cage@cagesworld.com. I can't guarantee that I'll add it to my local links, but I'll certainly consider it. Sites that hold special interest for me are ones with a distinct local flavor. If you have a music, game, club, or special interest site send it my way.
Forum Trial
Cage
@ 12:01
I added the basic freeware version of The Ultimate Bulletin Board on a trial basis to this site. The freeware version doesn't have a lot of features, but it gets the job done. If it works out ok I'll setup the nicer full featured version.
Free Web Site Host
Cage
@ 23:36
I'd seen this mentioned somewhere - I think it was in a recent issue of ComputerEdge. In any case, Homestead is a free web hosting service that will handle everything from personal web sites to small business sites. Not having used it I can't vouch for them, but it does look like it would work ok. There are no pop up adds or huge ad banners. Instead there is a small plain menu bar at the bottom of your page with links to different Homestead services.
New Racing Site
Cage
@ 22:52
I've added a new racing sim web site that looks pretty solid. I found it while I was looking around for an alternative to HigherStakes, which has been off-line for the last several days. Hopefully the site hasn't vanished, and will be back on-line in the near future.
Behind the Wheel is a major site that hosts and links to a horde of other racing sites. Lots of good stuff there. It's well worth the visit.
New Links Added
Cage
@ 3:56
More Top Links have been added to Cage's World.
Abit KT7
Cage
@ 1:50
Hard OCP has a very nice review up of the brand spanking new Athlon KT7 motherboard. They byline the article with the tag "This could very well be "The Board to Have" this year." They could be right. It's got a ton of features that make it very Over Clocker friendly.
The question will be - "how stable is it?" It looks like Abit takes this issue very seriously, and has incorporated a number of features that should make it the most stable K7 motherboard out there. It's a good article -well worth the read.
Act Labs Part 1
Cage
@ 8:16
I went to the local CompUSA yesterday, and picked up two promising racing titles. Need For Speed: Porsche Unleashed by Electronic Arts has received several favorable reviews recently, and looked like it would be a fun "light" racing sim. NASCAR III, by Papyrus/Sierra/Havas Interactive has a reputation for being approachable for both beginners and serious gear heads alike.
The first game I fired up was NFS:PU. The introduction was catchy, but not quite as fun as Need For Speed:III. It did point forward to an intriguing career mode, where you get to progress from the first classic Porsche racers to the modern GT1.
Once again I was a little disappointed by the way the cars felt. NFS:PU is supposed to feature a newer physics engine, but it felt in many ways quite similar to NFS:3. I haven't spent that much time yet with the game, so I'm trying to keep an open mind. It could be that I need to tweak a few game settings, or adjust my Act Labs Force RS wheel.
The scenery is gorgeous, and it's quite a blast to race through the exotic locations featured in the game. The graphics engine has been updated and polished, but it still doesn't look like I'm getting accelerated 3D support. I'll have to hunt around and see if there is a graphics setting that I'm missing.
Papyrus NASCAR III has a much more sophisticated physics engine. It also has obvious support for my 3dfx video card. I'm not a big NASCAR racing fan, but I could see how it would be a load of fun. NASCAR 4 looks even nicer. Check out the screenshot below: 
I'll put up a more complete report on the Act Labs Force RS and Shifter once I've had a chance to spend some time playing around with them. So far I’m pretty pleased. I can’t imagine trying to play a racing game without some kind of a wheel. The Act Labs RS is by far the best wheel I’ve tried. The force effects are very good, and the wheel just feels right. My only complaint so far is that I’ve had to modify my desk in order to get the wheel to fit on it properly.
Addendum: SportsPlanet has a review of Nascar 4 up. Thanks, Brett.
| Wednesday, August 2, 2000 |
First Impressions Act Labs Force RS
Cage
@ 6:33
As promised I did get my Act Labs Force RS force feedback racing wheel set up on my computer last night.
My first impression is that I need a decent game to try it out with. The wheel comes with Need for Speed:3 by Electronic Arts. NFS:3 has been out for quite some time, and feels rather dated. I was very disappointed by the way the cars handled. It felt like I was playing some cheepo 80's arcade game, and not a racecar sim. Slipping and sliding around without much feedback from the car or road became very boring very quickly.
Contrast that with my experience with the Act Labs wheel at 1999’s E3 shows in LA, and you can understand why I felt so let down by the experience.
I was hoping to have the same kind of rush that I'd had while playing a new car racing arcade game I'd tried out locally at John's Incredible Pizza. I could feel the wheels slipping and sliding as I went around a curve. The car responded almost perfectly to control input from the gas, brakes, and steering wheel. It felt like I was driving a real car. NFS:3 came nowhere close to that experience.
I'll have to take a look around, and see if I can find a more up to date racing sim to try out. I know there is a new Need For Speed out, as well as a couple of other similar games.
The only other problem I ran in to was that the wheel does not clamp properly to my computer desk. I need to be able to open up the clamp just another 1/2 to 1 inch or so in order for it to mount properly. I ran into the same problem when I tried to mount it to a cheapo folding table I have in my office. I'm thinking of cutting out or sanding down a few spots on my desk in order to get the wheel mounted correctly. For now it works, at least well enough to give it a spin.
RoadRunner Home Page Setup
Cage
@ 12:48
I finally got around to setting up my local RoadRunner web site at http://home.bak.rr.com/cagesworld/. I checked on the local site and found that RR had this page up with information on how to create your own home page.
It took me an extra few minutes to do the leg work, since I had to set up my RoadRunner e-mail account in order to get my RR server account information. The instructions at the Online Help Desk didn't work for me. The Email setup information is located in the left side menu under "Help Topics". The Quick Reference table says use:
Master Account: username@bak.rr.com
POP server setting: pop-server@bak.rr.com
SMTP server setting: smtp-server@bak.rr.com
The correct server information for Windows 98 Office 2000's Outlook mail program is entered under the Tools/Accounts menu from Outlook:
POP server setting: pop-server.bak.rr.com
SMTP server setting: smtp-server.bak.rr.com
Account name: put your master or sub-account name here.
Password: type in the password for your account.
Notice that your don't put the @ symbol between "server" and "bak." Of course Outlook will also give you an error message if you do, and tell you that you have not entered a valid name for the server.
I then created a a simple index.html page with a re-direct command that points to my full fledged server at cagesworld.com. I uploaded the site using CuteFTP to the home.bak.rr.com server, and I was in business. Not too bad, but it could have been easier with better instructions.
I didn't see any other member's pages listed yet, but the service just recently became available locally. Today was the first time I had attempted to set up my RR web page since I'd emailed RR last week. Everything is working pretty well, and I'm happy with the results.
Romero Web Site - oh joy
Cage
@ 10:22
Not content with inflicting that awful mess called Daikatana on the gaming public, John Romero has now turned his attention to building his own personal web site.
Oh be still my beating heart.
While delicately pushing away his stylish locks John writes about how he yearns to "...document *all* the games I've written since 1982."
How horrible. Has this man no sense of mercy? Wasn't Daikatana enough?
More importantly is John Romero really Derek Smart's evil twin?
Yep, I still haven't forgotten the ads years ago about Daikatana where Romero promised to make us all "his b*!"
Nomad Jukebox - Real Soon Now
Cage
@ 9:56
I received an email from Creative saying that the new Nomad Jukebox will be released "soon."
I'd been looking at the Nomad Jukebox with a lot of interest before I decided to buy a Compaq iPaq Pocket PC. The Creative Nomad has about 6 GB of storage which Creative claims will get you about 150 CD's worth of music. Nice.
Even nicer? Check out the new Sensory Science Rave players. The Rave 2300 is able to use Iomega Clik! disks that each holds 40MB of data. I might just pick up one of these beauties in addition to my Pocket PC. Just so that I could use it to re-invigorate my jogging regimen, of course. It's a tool, not a toy. No, really. Ah, the temptation of a acquiring a new electronic gizmo.
MP3 Shopping is accepting pre-orders for the Rave 2300 to the tune of $289 smackers. Personally I'd wait until I saw a few reviews of shipping product. While the features are nice, I want to hear how it sounds, and how well it works. Of course it might make for a fun review, and I really have been waiting a long time for an MP3 player. The custom stereo I bought last year for my car is already wired for an MP3 player.
Performance Tests on Pentium 1.13 GHz CPU
Cage
@ 9:27
Following up on the previous story both Firing Squad and Anand Tech have reviews of the new Intel 1.13 GHz cpu.
From the benchmarks done by Firing Squad it looks like the new CPU doesn't offer much more then what you could get with an Over-Clocked P3 700E. Anand Tech also shows only a few Frames Per Second more in my favorite game, Unreal Tournament. My verdict? Wait. Better and faster CPU's are just around the corner. There is also hope that Intel will ditch RAMBUS and move back towards more standard and more reasonably priced memory.
Update: Sharky Extreme also has a review of the new Intel 1.13 GHz CPU.
Intel CPU Goes Beyond 1 GHz
Cage
@ 9:06
Following up on the story in today's Bakersfield Californian (which is currently off-line at this time) here are a few more details about Intel's new CPU.
Techweb describes the Intel CPU as a 1.13 GHz processor. Both Dell and IBM have announced new systems incorporating the new Intel CPU.
The Dell system as expected uses Direct RDRAM, a very expensive type of memory currently used with high end Intel CPU's. The system will go for around $4200, and will take around 18 days to build. Ouch.
Price for the new Intel 1.13 GHz cpu will be $990 in lots of 1,000.
Un-Caged
Cage
@ 8:31
What an oustanding morning it is! Yep, I actually get a few nights off from my "real" job and have time to play with new computer goodies.
My Act Labs wheel and shifter arrived today. I'll unpack it and play with it later tonight when I wake up. Look for a review on it in the next few days here.
The Bakersfield Californian had a news blurb about Intel releasing a Pentium III that went over the 1 GHz mark. Of course most high end Intel CPU's are in short supply, so it really isn't that big of a deal. My next system might be based on an AMD cpu, since I won't have to upgrade my memory if I go that route.
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