Monster Cables: A bastardization of epic proportions

Everyone loves their expensive home theater setup. Some of us have poured thousands of dollars into enjoying reruns of the Brady Bunch; and after splurging on the TV, audio setup, and next gen media player, said devices need to be wired up for optimum viewing pleasure. Most people with money to burn would decide on outrageously overpriced Monster cables to get the job done.

Sure, Monster has –up until recently– had a pretty spotless reputation with HDMI and other cabling, but did you know that retailers make about an 80 percent profit off of pretty much every Monster cable that they force down your throat? The Consumerist put together a handy table which outlines the wholesale price of these cables as compared to what you and I would actually pay. A 19 foot Monster HDMI cable retails for about $180 with the wholesale clocking in at just under $100, creating a comfortable profit margin of 80 bucks.

You’re probably thinking right now: “But Ilya, if Monster Cables make things just a smidge more ‘Hi-Def’ then aren’t they worth it? Can’t you spare some of your advance journalistic integrity and rugged good looks to explain to me why the price is actually worth it?”. Sorry, but they’ve been proven to offer just about no visible improvement over cheaper wires.

In short: Go with cheaper cables and put the extra few hundred towards some new equipment.

Tags: , , , ,



The Simpsons….in real life!

By Mark O’Neill

I’m sure lots of you are big fans of the Simpsons and if so, then here’s something you’ll appreciate.  Someone went to a lot of time and effort to recreate the opening scene from the programme.  Judging from the look of the police officer and the background, it looks like it was shot in Great Britain.

The video is remarkably accurate, right down to Maggie blasting the car horn!

“So Jaredpower, what’s your burger-flipping experience?”

By Mark O’Neill

What is it with all the Second Life stories appearing in the mainstream media at the moment? Papers such as the Washington Post and the New York Times are suddenly going all Linden Labs crazy.

It seems that as well as the virtual reality world being used by terrorists and spies, it is also being used by employers to conduct virtual job interviews. The big employers are buying up virtual islands where they can hold company meetings and interviews.   A New York Times reporter undertook a dummy interview with Linden Labs to see how it was all done.

I guess it would be a big advantage if the job applicant was in another part of the country or even another country altogether.   Holding virtual interviews like this would also be beneficial if the job vacancy was in the area of computers, programming and virtual reality.   If the applicant demonstrated proficiency in getting into Second Life for the interview then they have already partly proved they are comfortable in that area.

But to be honest, if I was an employer and the job applicant’s name was Jaredpower Afarensis then I would be putting the local psych hospital on my phone speed-dial.



Let’s play Sim Iraq!

By Mark O’Neill

The latest tool in the US government’s arsenal in the war on terror – a virtual reality Sims game. Or as the Pentagon likes to call it, a ‘Human, Social, and Cultural Behavior Modeling program‘

Just a few days ago, I mentioned how the US intelligence community was using ‘Second Life’ for training. Now it seems it is also building virtual reality models of Iraq to get to know the place better.

They are hoping that by using these Sims-type games for training, they will discover :

how people communicate; what avenues of communication are traditionally trusted; who in that culture holds power and influence; how do tribal and trade associations interact; and where/how can societal behaviors contribute to options for stability and reduction in conflict potential.

Or they can just do what I did when I played the Sims. Set up a penthouse, buy a hot-tub and invite lots of hot girls around for a party.

Go for a spin in Google Earth’s F-16!

By Mark O’Neill

I am just about getting the hang of this flying thing in Google Earth’s flight simulator. But now it has just got a lot cooler! A very enterprising person has made an overlay picture of a F-16 cockpit that you can use while flying.

Just double-click on the file to open up Google Earth, load up the flight simulator and take off.

Make sure you’re using the F-16 though and not the other plane. Then as you fly, you can see the cockpit panels in front of you. Remember though that it’s only a picture so there’s still no sound.

Express your love geek-style

By Mark O’Neill

Only six days to go until Valentine’s Day so you need to start thinking now about how to best express your feelings to the love of your life (unless the love of your life consists of a computer!).

As a public service to our geeks, Geeks Are Sexy will now help you to make this year’s Valentines Day one to remember.

How about a T-shirt that takes one of the greatest love ditties of all time and turns it into Geek-Speak? You can even give the lady of your life one of her own.

While wearing that Romeo (or Juliet) of a T-shirt, you can then proceed to the next stage by giving him or her your best chat-up line along with a geeky Valentines Day card (nothing beats telling them that they “are your Tetris“)

While they are swooning to that, you can then serve up some tasty nutritious Macaroni and Cheese and a bottle of Mountain Dew.

Then snuggle up on the couch and watch a nice romantic movie that both of you will like.

Then get him or her over to the bedroom area and show off your geek sex techniques (cue predictable one-liners about “defragging their hard-drive”).

But if giving him or her a T-shirt doesn’t rock your boat then here’s even more gift suggestions.

Oh and if you don’t have a Valentine yet then this year may be the year for you. Here’s five ways to say “Be My Valentine!” to a geek. I just love the idea of ambushing them in World of Warcraft.

What are your Valentines plans?   Got any tips to share?

Color code your Windows Explorer folders

By Mark O’Neill

foldermarker.gif

Despite my best efforts, my Windows Explorer folders are sometimes a bit of a mess.  Files tend to get scattered around like confetti at a wedding while countless folders containing an assortment of finished work, half-finished work and random musings are all mixed together in one big jumble. My folders are so disorganised that Google Desktop took one look at it and instantly asked me to uninstall it from the desktop.

A friend of mine who suffers from the same disorganization problems suggested Folder Marker which allows you to color code your Windows Explorer folders.   So after finally sorting your files into the right folders, you can then give your work folders a certain colour, your personal documents another colour and so on.  Oh man, I can just see the neatness fanatics jumping all over this one.

You can also assign certain logos to your folders such as “high priority”, “half-done work”, “important files” and so on.   It even lets you upload a few of your own icons if you’d rather use them instead.

So it’s basically the Windows version of the office filing cabinet.   We’ll see if it motivates me to keep everything in the right folders but at least my Windows Explorer is now showing a splash of colour.    Nothing like orange folders to perk up your monitor screen.

Dell says good-bye to AMD

As early as only a year ago, AMD was the number one processor choice for computer geeks world wide. Sure, their mobile platform would suck batteries like a hoover and could melt through your desk at the drop of a hat, but they were the favorite. The underdog. The company we supported because they stood up to the bigwigs at Intel. In fact, they were kinda like Linux.

When Dell decided to start marketing machines with AMD processors about two years ago, blogs and online communities such as Digg exploded with joy. Much like when Dell announced Linux based machines.

Today, unfortunately, Dell has stopped shipping AMD based computers via their largest hardware outlet: dell.com. This might seem like the final nail in AMD’s coffin. The gaming market was their last string and since Intel took over with their newest Core 2 Duo’s, it has been all down hill from there.

Dell stops selling AMD-powered machines online [Engadget]

Tags: , , ,