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Friday, November 17
by
The Trained Monkey
on Fri 17 Nov 2006 11:45 GMT
This is probably the best rider in the world... if you need another reason to love Iggy Pop, the veteran rocker. The document--all 18 pages of which you'll find
below--describes Iggy's requirements in terms of amplifiers, security,
lighting, stage set up, and dressing rooms. But unlike most similar
documents, Iggy's rider is written in a rollicking,
stream-of-consciousness fashion that delivers multiple laughs per page.
Apparently written by roadie Jos Grain, the Iggy rider is peppered with
witty gems, tasteless asides,
and typos. For example, in describing how Iggy's dressing room should
be made to "look less like a typical rock & roll dressing room,"
the rider suggests that promoters "just let someone loose with a little
bit of artistic flair...Er, do you know any homosexuals?" Explaining
the need for two heavy duty fans, Grain notes, "So that I can wear a
scarf and pretend to be in a Bon Jovi video." Also, don't miss the
backstage requirements of a Bob Hope impersonator and "a copy of USA Today that's got a story about morbidly obese people in it. Most amusing!" (18 pages)
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/1004061iggypop1.html Thursday, November 16
by
The Trained Monkey
on Thu 16 Nov 2006 17:00 GMT
Friday, November 10
by
The Trained Monkey
on Fri 10 Nov 2006 00:07 GMT
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. ~Thomas Edison
Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. ~Will Rogers Wednesday, November 8
by
The Trained Monkey
on Wed 08 Nov 2006 23:48 GMT
I took this on the 5th of November..... I love my camera probably the best purchase I even made. Going for real camera and not some fisher price 8meg job., purchasing one with a with full size CCD and good lenses
Sunday, November 5
by
The Trained Monkey
on Sun 05 Nov 2006 21:30 GMT
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6118298.stm
"I welcome that Saddam Hussein and the other defendants have faced justice and have been held to account for their crimes. Appalling crimes were committed by Saddam Hussein's regime. It is right that those accused of such crimes against the Iraqi people should face Iraqi justice. Today's verdicts and sentences by the Iraqi Higher Tribunal comes at the end of a trail during which evidence has been offered and challenged in the full glare of media scrutiny. " These are the words of Margaret Beckett British Foreign Secretary, it fills me with discust that anyone in the 21th Century never mind a British Goverment Minister the same Goverment that will not deport people to regiums that have the death penalty as a punishment .Can speak out and back the death penalty. There is no crime that taking a life can be called just, instead he should be inprision at the hague Never being given the easy way out and every day having to atone for his crimes. As one whose husband and mother-in-law have died the victims of murder assassination, I stand firmly and unequivocally opposed to the death penalty for those convicted of capital offenses. An evil deed is not redeemed by an evil deed of retaliation. Justice is never advanced in the taking of a human life. Morality is never upheld by a legalized murder. --Corretta Scott King Update: Mr Roy has posted some example of what other goverments are saying to give you some perspexive Lets see how the Finnish Presidency of the EU puts it: "The EU opposes capital punishment in all cases and under all circumstances and it should not be carried out in this case either." or the Spanish PM: "Saddam Hussein, like any other citizen or political leader, has to answer for his actions, for what he has done in his government task.It is well known that for a long time the EU has not been in favour of the death penalty. Obviously it is a penalty which is not provided for in any legal system in the EU or, of course, in our country. " or the Irish: "The minister welcomes the end of this long legal process.Ireland and its EU partners have made it clear in the past to Iraqi authorities that we are opposed to courts applying the death sentence.Ireland is also opposed to it being applied as a penalty in this case. " Wednesday, November 1
by
The Trained Monkey
on Wed 01 Nov 2006 11:10 GMT
I've had great sucess with my SPVM5000 and my Polstar GPS for navigation using Pocket Streets and TomTom and my SPVC600 for Geoblogging with Sharpspace
A company called Benefon has launched a cell phone with a built in GPS receiver — nothing new there. However, this particular GPS cell phone, called the Twig, does something extra. It can send your GPS coordinates to another Twig owner and then that person can navigate directly to you using the preloaded navigation software. Sounds like this could save a lot of time and effort when trying to explain to theyour drunk mates which pub your in. The phone will cost £330 in the UK, or about $625.
by
The Trained Monkey
on Wed 01 Nov 2006 10:48 GMT
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/11/01/ce_giants_punt_wihd/ Six big-name consumer electronics companies have come together to thrash out a wireless alternative to the HDMI cabling standard that may also tread on the toes of next-generation Wi-Fi technology. The WirelessHD specification is described as a "high-speed wireless, multi-gigabit technology in the unlicensed 60GHz band [with] smart antenna technology to overcome line-of-sight constraints", co-founders Sony, Samsung, LG, Panasonic, NEC, Toshiba and SiBEAM said. Connections will be secure to keep content safe from duplication, and while the technology will be capable of supporting uncompressed HD video and audio, it will also host device-control data. Initial versions of the WiHD specification will support data rates of 2-5Gbps, but the technology will be capable of pushing 20Gbps, the founders said. The consortium's members want to get a spec in place by Spring 2007, at which point companies will be able to build modules to allow their HD TVs, DVD players, Blu-ray Disc machines, HD DVD units, DVRs, camcorders etc to beam content back and forth. Right now, the focus is very much "wireless display connectivity", as the WiHD group puts it. That's exactly what HDMI is about, albeit in a wired context. The founders didn't indicate the technology's range, but there's surely the potential for streaming from, say, a player to a screen in another room. If WiHD can do that, it stands as a rival to 802.11n Wi-Fi. ® HMDI Evolves : http://blog.kking.co.uk/blog/_archives/2006/7/31/2181105.html Tuesday, October 31
by
The Trained Monkey
on Tue 31 Oct 2006 11:27 GMT
Microsoft's Zune music player and online content store combo is "way off launch" in Europe and the UK, the company has admitted. The "earliest date" it might appear here? The end of 2007, or possibly even 2008, a Microsoft executive has revealed. "The earliest date it will be in the UK is towards the end of 2007. However, it could easily be 2008," Microsoft media and entertainment alliance manager Dene Schonknecht said, according to UK trade paper New Media Age. ---- I'm so glad I ordered mine from the US I'll have it by the 20th :-) Monday, October 30
by
The Trained Monkey
on Mon 30 Oct 2006 14:57 GMT
In the office we've been building dual Xeon systems on the SuperMicro X6DH8-XG2 motherboard with 2 Seagate Momentus SATA RAID Hard Disks Mirror (RAID 1) for the operating system. Two weeks ago while at a client site we spotted a problem in that, Quicktime would not play .mov files from the C: Drive, it would just lock the system out. Quicktime .mov's would play from all other drives but not the main windows OS drive. Strange I thought, everything else will play on the c: fine. After much install of Quicktime, Operating System images and video drivers I got to the point that I was just banging my head against a brick wall. Nothing would get QuickTime to play the files. Until this morning when a colleague had the bright idea to have a look at the version number of the Raid Controller. I'm using the onboard Adaptec IC5HR SATA Raid controller, a quick search of the SuperMicro site and I found version 4.0.36.2 of the driver when what comes on the motherboard CD is 2.x.x.x. A quick rev of the driver and guess what Quicktimes now play on the raid. How strange. Driver: SATA-RAID-DRIVER-4-0-36-2.zip Sunday, October 29
by
The Trained Monkey
on Sun 29 Oct 2006 17:50 GMT
UK copyright law should be changed to include a ‘private right to copy’ that protects users of ipod and other MP3 players, according to a new report published today (Sunday) by the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr). The UK’s current copyright laws mean that millions of Brits break the law each year when they copy their CDs onto their computers. ippr says that the forthcoming review of Intellectual Property, set up by Chancellor Gordon Brown and chaired by Andrew Gowers, should update the 300-year-old copyright laws to take account of the changes in the way people want to listen to music, watch films and read books. ippr recommends a legal ‘private right to copy’ that would allow people to make copies of CDs, or DVDs for personal us. The report says a new right would legalise the actions of millions of Britons without any significant harm to the copyright holders. The report, Public Innovation: Intellectual property in a digital age, also recommends that: The Government should reject calls from the UK music industry to extend copyright term for sound recordings beyond the current 50 years. The report argues that there is no evidence to suggest that current protections provided in law are insufficient. The Government should act to ensure that Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology does not continue to affect the preservation of electronic content by libraries. The British Library should be given a DRM-free copy of any new digital work and libraries should be able to take more than one copy of digital work. It also recommends that circumvention of DRM technology should stop being illegal once copyright has expired. Friday, October 27
by
The Trained Monkey
on Fri 27 Oct 2006 11:41 BST
Mark Lloyd has been making some test renders for a film he's making based around a world in which the border between computer VR and the real world are some what blurred, below is a test of the first composites.
Thursday, October 26
by
The Trained Monkey
on Thu 26 Oct 2006 23:06 BST
So which is it? 60k or 20k.... BBC classic journalism
------------- 3 days ago.... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6077464.stm Train defecator hunted by police Police have released a CCTV image of the suspect A man has been defecating in trains across south-east England, causing damage costing £60,000 to repair. British Transport Police have released CCTV images of the man, who has struck on at least 30 trains since August. He waits until he is alone before committing the offence, smearing excrement inside carriages. Today.... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6089042.stm Man on trains defecating charge A man has been charged with causing more than £20,000 worth of criminal damage by defecating in train carriages across the south-east of England. Bonney Eberndu, 36, of no fixed address, was arrested at Camberwell Green bus garage, in south-east London. He is due to appear before Westminster magistrates on Friday.
by
The Trained Monkey
on Thu 26 Oct 2006 14:57 BST
Adobe have released yet another new technology( excuse me but it looks a lot like Audition, Sorry I mean Cool Edit Pro , Whoops don't you mean Sound Edit 16 on Adobe Labs. So yes you've guessed its a sound editing tool at heart, Adobe Soundbooth
is a rebranding exercise for yet another on of their products.
View the Introducing Adobe Soundbooth getting started guide for more information and download Soundbooth.
by
The Trained Monkey
on Thu 26 Oct 2006 11:35 BST
Global Big Brother, we get closer to 1984 every day, Stop the ID fraud - stop
the government stealing your identity
--- US, EU sketch plans for global immigration database by By Mark Ballard http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/25/global_immigration_db/ The US is to corral "like-minded" nations behind a global immigration database after proving with a trial link to British computers that such an ambitious, global plan is technically feasible. Allies of the US have joined it in talks to formulate an international policy framework that would allow the sharing of immigration databases, effectively creating a global border control. Their aim is to stop criminals and other undesirable migrants at a vast, biometric border that is likely to include, at the very least, the EU countries, Australia, and Canada. Troy Potter, biometrics programme manager for the US Department of Homeland Security's biometric border control programme, told The Register only those countries "of like mind" would be allowed to join the scheme: "People with similar goals, aspirations, laws and ability to implement such a scheme. "It's about keeping out folks from countries, to have more of a global border per se," he said. "Shouldn't like-minded countries be told when someone's been kept out of the US? That's a necessary next step [because] immigration has become a worldwide issue. Frank Paul, head of large scale IT systems at the European Commission, hinted to an audience at the Biometrics 2006 conference last week about EU support for such a scheme. "We trust everyone enrolled in the US and they trust everyone in the EU system. Then I don't see why the systems shouldn't be linked in the future," he said. Terrorists would be the prime target of the system. Terrorism had been the reason the US government gave for setting up US-VISIT, the immigration database for which Potter is biometric manager. The US database had yet to snare a terrorist, and the Department of Homeland Security has since been advertising it as a means of keeping foreign murderers out of the country. An international agreement for sharing immigration data would also target criminals and "habitual immigration violators", Potter said. "If there's a murderer in another country we would rather not have that murderer in the US, especially if they are on the run," he said. But he stressed the system would not finger normal people, or "Joe Public". People's privacy would have to be respected, he said. "We would violate the privacy laws of individual countries if we shared data as we wanted to," said Potter, but added: "The last thing we want is for someone who has changed their ways and then we keep harassing them." It could take years for the US and its allies to form an agreement that deals with all the emerging privacy and legal concerns about sharing immigration data. Other developments at the Department for Homeland Security could complicate matters further. It is developing a permanent link between immigration and criminal databases, while US law enforcers also want links to civil databases so they can get a full biographical history of people who catch their interest. "There are fine lines and that's where these agreements are not going to be easy. But this is not routine data sharing on everyone. This is not big brother," said Potter. Similar concerns have slowed the progress of the European Visa Immigration System (VIS). A continent-wide version of the US plan, legislation to allow the VIS is stuck between the European Parliament and member states in the Council of Ministers. The concern is that European efforts to share information for immigration are being subsumed into a broader security effort that has no legal obligation to Europe's proud data protection authorities. This has created tension between member states and the European Parliament over other controversial data sharing arrangements - the US trawling of passenger name records and secret snooping on banking data handled by SWIFT being two recent examples. In neither case is the EU's authority to impose data protection laws that would protect citizens from being caught up in the zealous hunt for terrorists being conducted by the security agencies. The European VIS is being built by European Commission civil servants anyway, and will be completed in 2007. There will simply not be any legal basis for the system to be switched on. The US faces the same problem, said Potter: " The policy and legal framework is not in place to do routine data sharing between countries. but that's something we were discussing." The UK's Home Office and US Department of Homeland Security have already trialled a link between their immigration databases, which Potter said was successful. "It was a technical trial. It showed we could share data between countries if agreements were there so we could do it," he said. "Our biometrics were compatible...when the legal and policy framework catches up, we can do it." ® Tuesday, October 24
by
The Trained Monkey
on Tue 24 Oct 2006 23:58 BST
While looking at Technorati I saw this "Sony claims Xbox 360 requires HD DVD, etc., thus costs $700"
Sony telling porkie pies in their marketing....tut tut tut
by
The Trained Monkey
on Tue 24 Oct 2006 17:21 BST
"Thanks to Sony's heavy handed tactics, popular game importer Lik-Sang is closing its doors.
All Lik-Sang customers are having their orders cancelled and refunded.
Any attempt to place a new order redirects your web browser to the news
of Lik-Sang's demise."
From the announcement: "'Today is Sony Europe victory about PSP, tomorrow is Sony Europe's ongoing pressure about PlayStation 3. With this precedent set, next week could already be the stage for complaints from Sony America about the same thing, or from other console manufacturers about other consoles to other regions, or even from any publisher about any specific software title to any country they don't see fit. It's the beginning of the end... of the World as we know it', stated Pascal Clarysse, formerly known as the Marketing Manager of Lik-Sang.com. 'Blame it on Sony. That's the latest dark spot in their shameful track record as gaming industry leader. The Empire finally won, a few dominating retailers from the UK probably will rejoice the news, but everybody else in the gaming world lost something today.'" Many thanks to Sony for ruining it for the rest of us. I hope that your business model makes up for the customer goodwill you're setting on fire today. Now where am I going to put my down payment on a Wii Monday, October 23
by
The Trained Monkey
on Mon 23 Oct 2006 00:37 BST
Now that I been running Media Centre Edition for a few months I have got a good collection of recorded programmes on my hard drive, so I turned on the google-fu and looked for a program to convert the Media Centre dvr-ms file format (MPEG2 with metadata) into something more manageable like a Wmv or Divx. Whiule divx doesn't support the dvr-ms format there are a number of bits of source code out there for converting dvr-ms to wmv. But before i got to the source I came across a utility DCUT for Media Centre Edition. The utilty intergates into the MCE and appers under 'More Programes' which is what you would expect as it has been written as a side project by a Microsoft Developer.It allows you not only to edit the dvr-ms files but also compress them to wmv format. Result I have got lots of lovely edited files and saved a shed load of space. Plus Dcut's conversion process runs with low priority, and doesn't adversely affect other MCE functions. So you can go one watching and recording while to slowly converts in the background.
Daniel Giambalvo you rock Download Dcut for Media Centre Edition Screenshoots of Dcut 0.95.1 Sunday, October 22
by
The Trained Monkey
on Sun 22 Oct 2006 20:47 BST
Well it seems I've reached the 100 articles milestone and it looks like I'm not going to stop blogging any time soon. Due to Sunday being a bit of a boring day and that I'm still getting over my man-flu. I thought I'd test out the Google-fu and google'd my name and I was suprised to find my site at the top the of the google listings.
but what intrested me was "Who are all the other Kevin King's listed in the search results?" Well i went a clicking and have come up with Kevin King the Phoenix Arizona based wedding and reception photographer Kevin King the MagicalComedian Kevin King the Standup Comedian Kevin King the Public Speaker Kevin King the Breakfast DJ Kevin King the Rugby Player Kevin King the Artist Kevin King the Photographer Kevin King the Author What a bunch of Kev's! Monday, October 16
by
The Trained Monkey
on Mon 16 Oct 2006 22:08 BST
Wot NO Outlook Mail....till next week eeek Well I've got to say at least they did seem to response 24hours after they said they would "next working day" which would have been Friday. But it would nice of Microsoft to have told there paying customers that they were going to have "maintenance" and not an outage. If it was a outage i wouldn't mind 'shit happens' but "maintenance" is normally planned and there is no excuse for not telling the customer there are not going to have Outlook services till next week, ok I can log into the web interface but it not as easy when your in a hotel room on expensive wifi, you want to be able to sync and go. I like the bit about the refund of the support call... Below is the email I recieved. --- My name is (BLANK). I am from the Microsoft Office
technical support team. This is regarding the case number (NOT TELL). I have taken the ownership of this case
and I will be working with you on this case. The Due to this reason you will not be able to use
So please bear with us till next week. We would send you
a mail and communicate to you when the maintenance is done. Sorry for this
inconvenience caused to you. If you have used your free incident for this support it will be returned back to you and if you have charged for this issue it will be refunded. We will keep this case open for next week and keep you updated on the status of the issue. Thanks for using Microsoft Product Support Services! -----
by
The Trained Monkey
on Mon 16 Oct 2006 21:30 BST
Flew to Finland this morning, not as cold as I thought it would be, nevermind. I'm told they don't get proper winters here anymore there is no moreicehockey on the lakes etc all due to global warming. Apparently they have just had the hotest summer in 100 year this summmer and it looks like its continuing. Anyway must sign off as the freebroadband @ freebroadband.radissonsas.com
doesn't seem to be working and i'm using Sonera HomeRun at silly money for 60minutes. i've contacted them and hopefully they sort it if not as part of the Radisson 100% Guest Satisfaction Guarantee, i get to stay free. Sunday, October 15
by
The Trained Monkey
on Sun 15 Oct 2006 16:48 BST
1) You can house a company anywhere even in a Massachusetts Town house, just don't go how to the basement as there is a Trapdoor down there.
2) Six minutes is the average duration that someone watches a movie in a hotel room, you may ask how I found this out, well it was from a Sheraton Hotel rep in a Boston Logan Airport Bar. I wonder what they were watching and I wonder if they were male? 3) You can have your cake and eat it, There was a 2 for 1 deal on Jaffa Cakes at Tescos. 4) Exchange is the only way to go. After my Hotmail Plus account packed up again on Wednesday night and no response from Hotmail support for 48 hours.. There seems no more reason to keep it when your playing £14.99 for something that isn't supported. So I've moved all email over to my domain with Fasthosts. 5) In the highway code it says reflective road studs may be used with white lines.
by
The Trained Monkey
on Sun 15 Oct 2006 15:11 BST
Yesterday I decided to take the plunge and try Abobe Lightroom.. Thanks Gee It's avalible in two flavours PC and Mac.
The advertising says that its been built from the ground up by photographers for photographers, helping solve your unique workflow problems. Well I've got to say that it really does take the effort out of coverting, touching up, add metadata, archiving etc. These are all jobs that I had to do is different packages and it brings them all under one roof in a interface that isn't just easy to understand its logical too with the library, develop and print tabs these are all features that are understandable as people have been using them for years in photography.and with the addition of the web tab getting your pictures online couldn't be easier. Example of the added metadata. This was metadata I put in for the copyright for my Flickr account This is a screen grab of the interface taken while I was touching up some images of AutoClav 1.1 from Infest 06 in Bradford. Click on the image to expand it.
by
The Trained Monkey
on Sun 15 Oct 2006 01:49 BST
Below are the two photographs that have been published in the Las Vegas travel guide made by Schmap.. A link to the guides are on the right. I'm quite chuffed that they chose my pictures. Schmap make searchable maps, playable tours and
reviews for hundreds of sights and attractions, hotels, restaurants,
bars, parks, theaters, galleries, museums. Check them out
Saturday, October 14
by
The Trained Monkey
on Sat 14 Oct 2006 15:47 BST
While I was walking around Homebase I saw this and thought I'd better blog it from www.dyson.com and not from www.root6.com. Dyson's product is here and if you like a bit of Rock root 6 is here
by
The Trained Monkey
on Sat 14 Oct 2006 00:08 BST
There is a great article in the Guardian about Mark Thomas and SOCPA today it even has a special apperance of Fisheye, link below
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/commons/comment/0,,1920277,00.html#article_continue past articles on the subject http://blog.kking.co.uk/blog/_archives/2006/9/3/2291786.html http://blog.kking.co.uk/blog/_archives/2006/7/17/2132097.html http://blog.kking.co.uk/blog/_archives/2006/8/25/2263061.html Friday, October 13
by
The Trained Monkey
on Fri 13 Oct 2006 09:43 BST
I've been away for the last week in Boston, MA and New York, I've got to recommend Boston in fall the colours of the trees were amazing and you just know that the snow is coming in a few weeks. While we were in Boston I we went to see see MTI Films in Providence, you guys Rock!.[1] They make a product called Control Dallies hopefully we'll be able to do some crazy things with this great product. [1] (c) James Clarke. Tuesday, October 10
by
The Trained Monkey
on Tue 10 Oct 2006 21:59 BST
from http://www.rushkoff.com/2006/10/raw-efforts-succeeded.php
Thanks to your spontaneous generosity, we raised over $80.000 on behalf of Robert Anton Wilson in less than a week. This means he can be taken care of by family at home or, if need be, in a managed care facility for over six months. If at the end of six or eight months all of this money has been spent on care - and Bob has chosen to carry on living - we'll see about what other financial solutions might be possible, including another plea to his reading public. But for the time being, save your pennies and pence, give yourselves and each other a hearty "job well done," and get back to the good work of helping people think smarter and act kinder.
by
The Trained Monkey
on Tue 10 Oct 2006 18:14 BST
Another web leak of Microsoft's next version of Windows Mobile - codenamed 'Crossbow' - pictures have popped up on the web to show the upcoming operating system's vista style graphics. Crossbow is due to ship to OEMs in Q4 to allow them plenty of time to get devices ready for the OS' introduction in late Q1/early Q2 2007. Crossbow is expected to give gadgets more a better telephony experience and to improve its messaging technology.Then in Q4 2007, and Microsoft will release 'Photon', the follow up to Crossbow, to developers. article and screenshots on MSMobile News http://www.msmobilenews.com/page/1489/
by
The Trained Monkey
on Tue 10 Oct 2006 16:04 BST
Early/leaked images from Cubase SX4, now its looking like Ableton Live and as ever the loyal fanbase at cubase.net already has tens of pages of people saying how much it's going to suck...good boys.....control room patching is here and channel strip is here,
by
The Trained Monkey
on Tue 10 Oct 2006 14:56 BST
Most people know how much I feel that our chimp/ape/monkey cousins are closer to human than some people classed as human well someone Danny Wallace with the help of the Horizon team has made a programme about the subject here's the blurb off the bbc website
Tuesday 10 October 2006, 9pm on BBC Two Danny Wallace is on a mission to convince the world that chimps are people too. He believes the time has come to make our hairy relatives part of the family. Our primate brethren share 99.4% of our crucial DNA and are more closely related to us than they are to gorillas. This being so, should they be afforded the same rights as people? The reason for this scientific showdown is simple. If chimps can communicate, cook and reason, then how different are they to humans? Armed with the latest scientific evidence, Danny travels the globe to quiz primatologists, philosophers and animal rights lawyers to investigate whether or not chimps should be classed as people
by
The Trained Monkey
on Tue 10 Oct 2006 14:17 BST
I went to Avid in Tweksbury yesterday and came across a great bit of Corporate branding .... I wondering if you can upgrade to Speed Bump HD
Thursday, October 5
by
The Trained Monkey
on Thu 05 Oct 2006 13:30 BST
Nvidia is have announced the world's first DirectX 10-compliant graphics chip, the GeForce 8800 (codenamed G80), shipping in the middle of November. However, despite the advantage of early launch, demand for GPU will depend on penetration rate of the Windows Vista OS and availability of new PC games supporting DirectX 10.
Updates include the Shader Model 4.0 support, DirectX 10 will improve visualization and rendering capabilities utilised in PC games, it also see a reduction in CPU overhead,. It means that content developers will get additional space to write bad code and waste cycles. Nvidia expressed the doubt that ATI's next-generation R600 chip, which is also expected to support DirectX 10, may appear in the market before 2007. Nevertheless, ATI will continue benefit from its close relationships with Microsoft around the Xbox 360. Since DirectX 10 is positioned as a Vista-only solution, with presumably no ability to work with previous Windows versions, Nvidia's move to launch the GeForce 8800 in November should rather be considered as a symbolic step. So far, Microsoft only promised that Windows Vista will run DirectX 9.0, allowing to later upgrade it to DirectX 10 via Windows Update. When Microsoft releases a DirectX 10-capable OS, ATI will perhaps catch up.
by
The Trained Monkey
on Thu 05 Oct 2006 10:02 BST
Calls to 0870 numbers and infomation lines at an outlandish 9p per minute for telephone calls that are usually answered by a computer, 0870 might be best described as the international dialling code for rip-off Britain.
A web designer has complied a list to circumvent that national-rate numbers and is sharing the numbers. On his website www.saynoto0870.com currently it lists 5,000 firms that publicise expensive numbers that often cost three times the cost of a call to a landline number. All you have to do is enter a company name and the website reveals a local geographical number and sometimes even details of a free phone line for a business. So enjoy the cheap 0870 calls. Wednesday, October 4
by
The Trained Monkey
on Wed 04 Oct 2006 17:47 BST
From: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/04/guns_for_sale_online/
Two men have been arrested after more than 40 police officers raided two addresses in Kent early this morning. Police were supported by officials from the Ministry of Defence. Both are suspected of having weapons prohibited under the Firearms Act. The officers were investigating the alleged sale of weapons over the internet. Both addresses are still being searched. Detective Eddie Fox of Kent's organised crime unit said: "Today's action was part of an ongoing enquiry. A number of items are being ceased and removed from the two locations for analysis and examination but we can't specify what they are at this stage." Earlier this summer the government was criticised by the splendidly-named Quadripartite Committee which oversees government export strategy. The Times reports MPs were influenced by comedian Mark Thomas who helped a group of school children set themselves up as arms dealers. But it appears this investigation involves historic weapons and the MOD officials were on hand to advise on safety. UK arms exports average about £5bn a year, according to the Campaign Against the Arms Trade researchers using government figures. The UK government publishes some information on licenses granted for arms exports, but not enough to work out the value of the trade. There's government information on exports available here (pdf) Tuesday, October 3
by
The Trained Monkey
on Tue 03 Oct 2006 03:43 AKDT
from http://www.rushkoff.com/2006/10/robert-anton-wilson-needs-our-help.php
by - Douglas Rushkoff I hope people I've inspired with my work would band together to help me ... more » Saturday, September 30
by
The Trained Monkey
on Sat 30 Sep 2006 21:36 BST
I think i got one of the best compliments from a work colleague I could get on Friday, it came after a email discussion about were to go drinking that night.He said to go to the Intrepid Fox (which has now closed down) When I popped this fact out he said "I work in Camden now Kev, though granted
your job does require an up to date knowledge of the Soho drinking scene"
It does doesn't it thats when I realised I probably do have one of the best jobs in the world, bang in to the middle of Soho, working with some of the best minds in Television and Film. Helping people make everything for Adverts to the next Oscar winner. What could I want more? Thursday, September 28
by
The Trained Monkey
on Thu 28 Sep 2006 15:01 BST
BBC
director general Mark Thompson and Microsoft's Bill Gates have signed
an agreement to work on exploring opportunities for the delivery and
consumption of BBC content.
The plans include an online archive, and radically overhauled website and other ways to share online content in the future. Thompson said the BBC needed to forge strategic partnerships with technology companies for the benefit of licence payers. Highfield added that Microsoft was a key supplier to the BBC and that it was a gateway to audiences through web services such as MSN and Windows Live Messenger and hardware such as Xbox and Windows Media Center. He added: "The BBC needs to work with all players in this space to make sure our content is enjoyed by the widest possible audience, without them having to come to bbc.co.uk to find it." Areas of potential collaboration include search and navigation, distribution and content enablement. Any actual procurements of new technology or launch of new services by the BBC would be subject to regulatory approval. ---- But as a license payer does that mean I'm paying for everyone to see it around the world, where is the added value for me? Monday, September 25
by
The Trained Monkey
on Mon 25 Sep 2006 21:28 BST
Well i'm just back from my first ever Driving Lesson, eeeeekkkk.
Oh what fun it can be moving a big metal box around with your hands and feet.Crazy as it may seem I think I'm quite good at it. We did some left turns and right turns as well as lots of pulling away and stopping. Next week lesson 2 Friday, September 22
by
The Trained Monkey
on Fri 22 Sep 2006 14:54 BST
Ricky Gervais is to quit producing podcasts joking he had to "knock it on the head before everyone hates us. I
was trying something out. I wanted to see if I could cut out the middle
man and make podcasting a commercial concern."
----- Sorry Ricky everyone hates you already...stopping podcast isn't going to change that.
Tuesday, September 19
by
The Trained Monkey
on Tue 19 Sep 2006 16:10 BST
EFF says Microsoft's Zune will not play protected Windows Media Audio and
Video purchased or "rented" from Napster 2.0, Rhapsody, Yahoo!
Unlimited, Movielink, Cinemanow, or any other online media service.
It seems that all of the 'PlaysforSure' media that has been sold and is currently being sold will not play on the Zune. In addition, Microsoft has now advocated violating the DMCA in order to transfer files to the player. Microsoft Zune architect J Allard was quoted as saying there's 'Lots of DVD ripping software out there that encodes to those formats, so the most popular formats out there, whether it's MPEG-4 or H.264, we'll support those.'" full article http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004910.php Monday, September 18
by
The Trained Monkey
on Mon 18 Sep 2006 17:25 BST
Friday, September 15
by
The Trained Monkey
on Fri 15 Sep 2006 16:02 BST
Ben Heckendorn has re-configured his console into a laptop form-factor. With a resolution of 1,280 x 720, it's HD ready. Portable XBOX 360.
by
The Trained Monkey
on Fri 15 Sep 2006 10:21 BST
BT has unveiled plans to launch a podcasting site. It has teamed up with the Podshow Network.
UK version ... more »
Sunday, September 3
by
The Trained Monkey
on Sun 03 Sep 2006 19:29 BST
The Intrepid Fox has existed since 1784, and in recent years it has been one of the remaining havens for fans of the goth and alternative culture of London.(other than The SHIP on the same street) The owning brewery has recently sold the property to developers, who wish to turn it into flats. The Intrepid Fox is due to close on September 11th 2006. While the news has been released at very short notice (no doubt to
the advantage of the sellers and buyers, if not the management and
punters), I believe that it is still worthwhile lodging a complaint
with relevant parties. It may not make a difference, it may be too
late, but the Fox is one of the last bastions (particularly in central
London) of the alternative/gothic culture and well worth stating a
desire to protect. (even if the toilets are sometime very smelly) Save The Intrepid Fox Petition There is more information and further contact details at http://www.intrepidfox.com Evening Standard. To read it, visit http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/restaurants/article-23365362-details/Last%20orders%20at%20Soho%20rock%20pub/article.do
by
The Trained Monkey
on Sun 03 Sep 2006 17:54 BST
Can I have one for christmas.... hc5000
http://global.mitsubishielectric.com/bu/projectors/products/homeuse/hc5000/index_b.html with a price of below £2000
by
The Trained Monkey
on Sun 03 Sep 2006 17:23 BST
Well last thursday the was a Mass Lone Protest The police presence was
minimal (three coppers stood in the shade of a tree about a hundred
yards away). The highlight was a live
TV broadcast by BBC London allowed the 120 people there to reach a
much larger audience than just the tourists gawping from the open-top
buses. (Watch the broadcast here.I take great relish in pointing out the undemocratic idiocy of SOCPA.
The video's also worth watching to see Mark Thomas take Tory London Assembly
member Brian Coleman to pieces. Coleman protested against the protests.
Without police permission.) Arrest that man, officer.
Previous SOCPA posts: http://blog.kking.co.uk/blog/_archives/2006/7/17/2132097.html http://blog.kking.co.uk/blog/_archives/2006/8/25/2263061.html |