The Geek Crew - Geek News

b0b

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Re: Geek News
Reply #255 - Aug 21^st, 2008 at 2:33pm

Quote:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080820-fcc-order-scolds-comcast-for-chang...

Comcast has 30 days to disclose the details of its "unreasonable network management practices" to the Federal Communications Commission, the agency warned Wednesday morning as it released its full, 67-page Order. As FCC Chair Kevin Martin said it would, the Commission's Order rejects the ISP giant's insistence that its handling of peer-to-peer applications was necessary. "We conclude that the company's discriminatory and arbitrary practice unduly squelches the dynamic benefits of an open and accessible Internet," the agency declares.

In addition, the company's "failure" to publicly reveal its true practices has "compounded the harm," the Commission says. Beyond the 30-day deadline, Comcast must send the FCC a plan explaining how it will mend its ways by the end of the year, and do so by then. It must also disclose what the company's new network management system will look like.

Today's Order is the follow-up document to the FCC's three-to-two decision against Comcast, announced on August 1. Although the Commission clearly throws the book at Comcast regarding P2P throttling, and warns the company that noncompliance will have legal consequences, the agency issues no fine against the ISP. And at least one public interest group says the FCC has given the company too much time to change.

But there is a radical aspect to this document, which literally aligns the Republican-led Commission with the net neutrality movement.

"We invite Free Press [a complainant in the case] and other members of the public to keep a watchful eye on Comcast as it carries out this relief," the Commission concludes. "Using the information provided by Comcast, pursuant to this Order, as well as information submitted by the public, we will closely monitor the company's network management practices."

Bahahaha, suck it, Comcast!

-b0b
(...Team America!)

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b0b

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Re: Geek News
Reply #256 - Dec 4^th, 2008 at 12:20pm

Quote:

Pioneer shows off 16-layer 400GB Blu-ray Disc, affirms compatibility with current players
by Darren Murph, posted Dec 2nd 2008 at 7:35AM

When Pioneer first introduced its unicorn-like 16-layer 400GB Blu-ray Disc, we weren't sure if the thing would make it beyond the drawing board, let alone be compatible with existing BD decks. Over at the IT Month Fair in Taipei, Pioneer showed up to showcase the capacious disc, and better still, a DigiTimes report asserts that these are indeed compatible with Blu-ray readers already on the market. Currently, the 400GB disc is slated to hit mass production sometime between now and 2010, while rewritable versions won't hit until 2010 to 2012. Not like it really matters though -- a 1TB disc is on track for 2013, and you know you'll be waiting for the latest and greatest.

Wow, 1.5TB hard drives are already on the market, and 1TB optical discs are on the horizon! The amount of streaming HD pr0n video game goodness I can store on these things is unreal!

I'll definitely be in the market for a 400GB Blu-Ray writer once they ship. I have no way of backing up the 2.0+ terabytes of FTP data right now. If I backed it up on DVD, I'd have to write 50 of them!

-b0b
(...drools.)

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Marie GeekCrew Hax0r Offline Posts: 291 Centreville, Michigan Gender:	Re: Geek News Reply #257 - Dec 8^th, 2008 at 9:21pm As a band geek, a gamer chick, and a resident of Kalamazoo, I present you with this link and nothing more, as words would do it no justice. http://www.newspaceentertainment.com/kalamazoo/videogameslive/
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Marie GeekCrew Hax0r Offline Posts: 291 Centreville, Michigan Gender:	Re: Geek News Reply #258 - Dec 8^th, 2008 at 9:22pm ...and for the record, it's going to kick TSO's seasonal holiday ass. =)
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b0b GeekCrew Administrator FTP Server Offline The revolution will not be televised. Posts: 7464 Battle Creek, Michigan Gender:	Re: Geek News Reply #259 - Dec 9^th, 2008 at 6:19am Marie wrote on Dec 8^th, 2008 at 9:22pm: ...and for the record, it's going to kick TSO's seasonal holiday ass. =) I love video games as much as the next gamer geek, but that's downright treasonous! -b0b (...is listening to "Night Enchanted" right now.)
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b0b

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Re: Geek News
Reply #260 - Jan 9^th, 2009 at 3:45pm

First post from Windows 7, Internet Explorer 8!

It's basically just Vista rehashed, but it runs quite well actually. I'm surprised at how mature the OS is considering that its still got a year to brew before the anticipated release date.

The beta went public today, but we got a copy a day early at work. You can pick up the beta at Microsoft's website if you're so inclined.

I'll give a more thorough review later if anybody is interested.

-b0b
(...w00t)

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MediaMaster GeekCrew Administrator FTP Server Offline Holy Xenu! Posts: 1884 Detroit Gender:	Re: Geek News Reply #261 - Jan 9^th, 2009 at 5:53pm I am interested!
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The_Fat_Man Wootzor von Leetenhaxor FTP Server Offline Grand High Overlard Posts: 910 Colorado Springs, Colorado Gender:	Re: Geek News Reply #262 - Jan 10^th, 2009 at 11:26am I have such a bad taste in my mouth from Vista, I don't trust anything from those assholes right now.
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b0b

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Re: Geek News
Reply #263 - Jan 10^th, 2009 at 11:56am

When it comes to leaving a bad taste in our mouths, Vista has nothing on your mom.

My boss was kind enough to let me go home a little early yesterday because of the lovely weather we're having, so I only got to spend 20-25 minutes with Windows 7 after the install completed.

I'll say this, it was the fasted and cleanest install of Windows I've ever done. They've improved on the Vista installation process even further, and I have to give them serious kudos for that. Once you boot from the DVD, you're taken straight into a clean graphical interface at a reasonable resolution. You can add drivers for RAID controllers right off the bat, and the process doesn't screech to a halt if it doesn't have the right drivers. It will simply prompt you to install drivers from a floppy, CD, DVD, or USB key (verah nice!) instead of exiting out of the install phase like XP/2000 and prior.

It also asks you for all of your relevant install information right up front, so you can enter the information and let the PC do the rest. That way, you don't have to babysit your PC throughout the entire installation, inputting random information throughout the whole process.

Once you get into the OS, it really feels like a slightly modified version of Vista, although it seems to run much, much better. That alone is worth the cost of admission if you ask me. I won't use the vast majority of the interface upgrades. It's a bunch of reorganized hoohah, like an improved start menu (I still use the W2k "Classic" interface) and task bar.

You can now turn all of your windows transparent with the click of a button, which allows you to see the desktop. You can't click on anything, though, without minimizing the windows... so it seems rather useless. I don't put much on my desktop, though, so it might be more useful for others. They've also improved that annoying UAC program that pops up "Are you sure?!" messages every time you click anything. I always turn off UAC in Vista, so I doubt it will be all that useful for power users like us.

I'll post some screenshots on Monday if I get a chance. I might install Windows 7 on a virtual machine on the Bobulator, too. We'll see!

-b0b
(...needs to play with it some more before passing judgment.)

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b0b GeekCrew Administrator FTP Server Offline The revolution will not be televised. Posts: 7464 Battle Creek, Michigan Gender:	Re: Geek News Reply #264 - Jan 12^th, 2009 at 8:17am By the way, here's a screenshot of the command prompt in Windows 7. Not that Windows 7 is really Windows 6.1. -b0b (...roffles @ Microsoft.)
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b0b GeekCrew Administrator FTP Server Offline The revolution will not be televised. Posts: 7464 Battle Creek, Michigan Gender:	Re: Geek News Reply #265 - Jan 12^th, 2009 at 9:21am By the way, you can download the public beta here. Availability is limited to 2.5 million downloads, so don't wait too long. -b0b (...still wants to install it at home.)
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computerjuvenile

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Re: Geek News
Reply #266 - Jan 14^th, 2009 at 3:03pm

I downloaded it last night and installed it on one of my office machines at work. Seems nice so far. It certainly has a softer look than Vista.

To add to what bob said, I think the networking stack seems to have had a huge change. Not too much from user interface, but the backbone. Many things are seem faster such as joining a domain and other such procedures.

I haven't had any compatibility issues other than daemon tools.

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And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.

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b0b

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Re: Geek News
Reply #267 - Mar 23^rd, 2009 at 1:42pm

Marie wrote on Dec 8^th, 2008 at 9:21pm:

As a band geek, a gamer chick, and a resident of Kalamazoo, I present you with this link and nothing more, as words would do it no justice.

http://www.newspaceentertainment.com/kalamazoo/videogameslive/

Meredith and I went to see Video Games Live on Friday, and I came away with only one word to describe it: Amazing.

The concert was incredible. I can't believe how many big names were part of the show. Christopher Tin, the composer of "Baba Tetu" for Civilization IV, participated in a live Q&A via Skype. Michael Salvatori, composer for the Halo series, talked to the audience for awhile and met with the crowd after the show.

One of the emcees, Tommy Tallarico, was the composer for Earthworm Jim, Messiah, and Advent Rising. The other Emcee, Jack Wall, composed Mass Effect, Jade Empire, Splinter Cell, and the Myst series. Both of them were incredible, and the orchestra and choir really rose to the occasion.

The concert covered an incredible amount of ground. Zelda, Mario, Final Fantasy, Sonic, Tetris, and Metal Gear solid were all prominently featured. The Kalamazoo concert was one of the first events that featured a medley from the "number one most-requested game," Chrono Trigger! As you guys know, Chrono Trigger is my favorite game of all time, and I went absolutely nuts with the rest of the crowd when it was announced!

More later!

-b0b
(...is still psyched.)

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Marie

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Re: Geek News
Reply #268 - Mar 23^rd, 2009 at 8:38pm

Ditto to all of the above.

Where were you guys sitting? We were looking for you.

Favorite pieces were Civilization, Chrono Trigger, and One Winged Angel from FFVII.

My best girlfriend was part of the choir and is hooking me up with the scores to all of the pieces, along with the rehearsal CD. Sweet, eh?

Depending on finances and the fiance's surgery schedule, I might be going to the Final Fantasy "Distant Worlds" concert in Grand Rapids. Nobuo Uetmatsu himself will be there, and there is a meet and greet with him afterwards.

As awesome as last Friday night's performance was, I'm looking forward to this one even more. =)

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b0b GeekCrew Administrator FTP Server Offline The revolution will not be televised. Posts: 7464 Battle Creek, Michigan Gender:	Re: Geek News Reply #269 - Mar 23^rd, 2009 at 9:01pm We were in the center of the floor section, in row 12. We had really good seats, which was a pleasant surprise. I picked up tickets to Distant Worlds, too. We'll be sitting in the orchestra section in front of the stage, row A. Can't get much better than that! -b0b (...is psyched.)
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