Software I wouldn't want to be without

Here's a smattering of software I wouldn't want to be without on my Windows work computer:

FastStone Capture for Windows
This is a great screen capture utility.  Unobtrusive, efficient, powerful, simple & easy to use.

Winmerge
Visual differencing and merging tool for Windows.

SyncToy
Free Microsoft tool for synchronizing folder pairs.

KeePass
Secure password storage program.  Main build for Windows; builds available for Linux/Mac and handheld platforms.

CrossLoop
Secure screen sharing. Help family and friends with their computer problems.

Mozilla Firefox
It's not my primary browser but the developer plugins can be life savers.

TextPad
Powerful text editor.  I know there are others out there that developers like; this is one I've been using for years... it's quite good.  Perhaps if I have time I'll play with other text editors I've heard about.

Super Unleaded Hitting the $4 Mark in Connecticut

I went to fill up my tank on the way home from class tonight... holy crud, super unleaded is now $3.9999 (four dollars for all practical purposes).  I use regular; that was $3.80 ($3.9999).  Taking the train to work is looking more and more inviting.

HD-DVD is dead; long live HD-DVD

Yes, being an early adopter is overrated.  A bit over a year ago I went to a CompUSA in Orange, CT and purchased the xbox 360 HD-DVD add-on, which came with Peter Jackson's King Kong.  At that time HD-DVD movies were outselling BluRay by a ratio of two to one.  Within six weeks the tide of sales had turned completely to BluRay's favor, a fact that sat uncomfortably with me.

Generally I've been happy with the player and the few movies I've purchased in the interim (although the audio output of the xbox player is limited to Dolby 5.1... no DTS).  The image quality is fantastic; King Kong is a good demonstration of what the format is capable of.  I've been cautious about buying movies, limiting myself to the occasional bargain (under $20) due to the unclear direction the HD market was going.  So, the tally on movies:

  • King Kong
  • Serenity
  • Apollo 13
  • The Last Samurai
  • Unforgiven
  • The Thing
  • Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
  • Batman Begins
  • GoodFellas
  • 300

As of today, it's official: HD-DVD is dead.  After a number of major defections of content-providers and retailers, Toshiba, the only manufacturer of dedicated stand-alone HD-DVD players, has announced it is throwing in the towel.  I haven't decided yet if I will try to sell any of this gear (player and movies) or tried to find out if it even has any marginal value.  All told this represents an investment of about $360 (King Kong came with the player, 300 was a gift from my sister) before taxes.   It's difficult to find a standalone BluRay player for that much.

The good news is that the war is over... I just happened to throw my lot in with what turned out to be the wrong camp.

I've seen some recent assertions in articles about this business (interviews with those who have a stake) that even BluRay has a limited lifespan... downloadable movies are expected to increasingly compete with permanent disks in the home.  I do see the logic in this... but I hope that this doesn't mean the eventual death of BluRay.  The quality of downloadable HD movies (at least on xbox live) is limited to 720p... nice but not nearly as good as 1080p.  The extras are also missing from downloadable movies (commentary tracks, featurettes, etc.) So long as the image quality and bonus features are absent from downloadable movies, I think there will be a market for the videophile to get movies in a HD format (that now being the defacto BluRay).   Anectodatally DVDs have been a huge business for the movie studios.  I'm hoping BluRay will gain sufficient momentum that it continues to gain traction in the market.

So, what's next?  It's unlikely that I'll buy a PS3... I'm too much of a video game junkie to want to get another game system.  The standalone players are too highly priced; unfortunately now that there is no competition it will probably take longer for the prices to soften.  It's been a rather expensive year for me in car repairs, and I still have some more hang gliding investments to make this year.  But there is a BluRay standalone player in the future for me, it's just a matter of time.

For now, I'll just enjoy replays of these movies that I have, so long as my HD-DVD player keeps functioning.

Successful Build

I didn't really intend to stay up late last night putting together the computer, but I did kind of get obsessed with the project. Since my previous post, I had to remove the power supply a 2nd time in order to connect some secondary cables, which were impossible to get in with the supply in it's mount (the Enermax PSU I got has modular connectors).

Installing the motherboard and CPU was considerably easier than the power supply. The pinless design of the LGA775 socket is a nice improvement. I did a double-take when I put the chip in the socket and it went snugly into place with no effort.

Removing the gigantic CPU heatsink I got is going to be a real issue if the need ever arises. Last night I was thinking it was going to be nearly impossible, because there is almost no room for me to get my fingers around two of the posts to do the quick release. But after getting (some) sleep, I realized if I remove the motherboard from the case, it will be not quite as impossible... a PIA but doable.

Next came the hard drives, DVD drive, video and sound cards, cable connections and LCD poster. I had to plug it in to see if it would boot up, and guess what... it booted the first time (woohoo!) It's actually a lot quieter than my old PC, but the real test for noise will come with a demanding game. Way too late to install the OS but I did pop in the OpenSUSE and Vista disks for fun; they started up no problem.

I probably will do the OS install tonight, though since I have class I won't have time to do much with it.

Dixon White

"Make all your actions irrefutable."
Dixon White, US Paragliding Pilot
14 Dec 1956 - 30 May 2004

Success

"Some people dream of success...
while others wake up and work hard at it"