I have shared my personal troubles when working with a server that is not on a proper backup routine. I also talked about another blogger who had similar problems not too long ago. Today, however, I read a truly sad story of how things can go really wrong when you don’t take backups seriously.

It started out pleasantly enough. I was just catching up on John Chow’s trip to China. Now I don’t read John’s blog regularly but I like to scim his RSS feed for interesting headlines. Well I found one today, “Hunting Pandas At The Shanghai Zoo“. Turns out it was just a video of him and his family at the zoo but the real gold was in the link to the “true life account” of how John had a rock fight with Pandas.

That was a funny post to read. I’ll be laughing about that one for a while. What about the backup post you promised? Just hold on, I;m getting there. I promise.

I decided to check out Carl’s blog (the third guy from the Panda story). Alright, here you go. This is the point of my article. the first post I see on Carl’s blog is an explaination that the data recovery company he sent his hard drive (after a server crash) was not successful in recovering any data.

So what is the magnitude of this loss? HUGE! He says he has lost 5 years worth of data for his personal blog as well as 10 years worth of data for his Surreal-News forum. Ouch! Among other data lost was sites of friends and family. That is a tough loss to take.

What can we learn from this? Carl says it himself. “never really intended to run many important sites from my server. I really should have set up RAID regardless.” That’s how it usually goes. You don’t intend to store important data but eventually it creeps onto the server and before you know it you’ve lost important data.

I wish Carl the best of luck in the future and hope he does imlement RAID like he says. You should setup up some nightly backup (at least weekly) software onto a seperate harddrive. Doing a weekly or monthly offsite swap (take a copy off site) is always good when possible.

Ever get the feeling that the universe is against you, or at least your computer hates you? Do you know where I am coming from? We have all had those days. I know I sure have but today I want to focus on the misfortune of a fellow blogger, not to kick him while he is down, but to offer some advice and encouragment for the future.

I enjoy reading the posts by Jim over at Blogging Startup. He posts about the ups and downs of blogging and new startups.

Today I saw his post and immediately felt his pain. He has had a rough week finished off with a hard drive crash with only a two week old backup. Talk about a final kick to the teeth. What’s worse his latest work project, that was due today, was completely wiped out in the crash.

Now I hear some of muttering to yourself, “why didn’t he have a more current backup?” Well that is easier said than done and Jim even vows now to do daily backups. I left a comment for Jim pointing out the flaw in his noble intentions. That flaw being himself. We, as human beings, eventually get lazy or we just forget and the universe sees these slip ups and sees fit to punish us at that exact moment.

I too have been in this same boat. I used to run my own web server that hosted my blog, an old one, not this one, as well as my current projects on the go. I enjoyed running my server and learn a lot from setting it up but failed in one area, backups.

I tried to tell myself I would make daily backups but the truth of the matter is I didn’t and wouldn’t you know my hard drive crashed and took my backup drive along with it. So unlike Jim I had nothing, not even a two week old backup, nothing!

I scrambled for the next couple weeks re-doing a project for a client that was nearly done and ended up a week late which didn’t impress them much. Oddly, they have never called me to do another project <sarcasm/>. You see, they identified the flaw in the situation, me! I had failed to take proper care in handling my data, and theirs. I should have had more fail safes in place.

Today I do not do my own hosting altough I am perfectly capable. I just don’t have any interest in spending the money and time in implementing proper backup that hosting requires.

Now back to Jim. I suggested he buy himself an extra hard drive and get some mirroring software to protect himself from repeating this same mistake in the future. Upon writing this post I pin pointed a flaw in my advice. What if the backup drive fails like it did for me?

I want to add to that advice and say go one more step further. Buy a third drive and an external enclosure (USB external hard drive) and have the backup routine included semi regular backups to the external drive as well. The chances of three drives frying on you at the same time are slim.

So Jim, you have my sympathy, but now you are on the hook to protect yourself for next time. Really there is no excuse from us not to learn from the mistake the first time around. Unless you enjoy these type of things ;).

Jeff Atwood of Coding Horror has published a nice article on whether it is worth it to upgrade from dual core to quad core.

I’m a big fan of dual-core systems. I think there’s a clear and substantial benefit for all computer users when there are two CPUs waiting to service requests, instead of just one. If nothing else, it lets you gracefully terminate an application that has gone haywire, consuming all available CPU time. It’s like having a backup CPU in reserve, waiting to jump in and assist as necessary. But for most software, you hit a point of diminishing returns very rapidly after two cores. In Quad-Core Desktops and Diminishing Returns, I questioned how effectively today’s software can really use even four CPU cores, much less the inevitable eight and sixteen CPU cores we’ll see a few years from now.

To get a sense of what kind of performance improvement we can expect going from 2 to 4 CPU cores, let’s focus on the Core 2 Duo E6600 and Core 2 Quad Q6600 processors. These 2.4 GHz CPUs are identical in every respect, except for the number of cores they bring to the table. In a recent review, Scott Wasson at the always-thorough Tech Report presented a slew of benchmarks that included both of these processors. Here’s a quick visual summary of how much you can expect performance to improve when upgrading from 2 to 4 CPU cores:

Yup, it’s true. The iPhone has been hacked by a 17 year old from New Jersey.

Read more…

Here are some gaming console stats.

We pulled together a desktop that can ably handle today’s average demands, built with easy-to-assemble, off-the-shelf components for a total cost of less than $250.

read more | digg story

By: Aaron Brooks

Nintendos seventh generation gaming console was code named Revolution. It sought to becoming futuristic and including all conveniences like a wireless controller and Wii remote which has three dimensional functions. The Nintendo Wii also has Wii Connect 24 which can receive messages from the World Wide Web.

Slated for release in the US in mid Nov 2006, the Ninetendo Wii won the Game Critics Award for Best of Show and Best Hardware at the E3 2006. The hardware of the gaming console is state-of-art with the unit being the smallest measuring just 157 mm in height :

• The loading slot is in the front and accepts 12cm optical discs and 8 cms discs from Nintendo’s older console.

• The console will have two USB ports and one SD card slot.

• In Japan the console will have DVD -Video capabilities. A Sonic Solutions Cine Player CE DVD Navigator software engine will be used in consoles to be released in 2007 with DVD-Video functions.

• The Wii remote has accelerometers and infrared detection that enables positioning in 3D space. This means gamers can participate in the game using hand gestures as well as buttons. The controller connects to the Wii console through Bluetooth technology. There are umpteen functions like connectivity to other devices, 4KB non volatile memory and an accelerometer, analog stick and trigger buttons.

• The Wii has a sensor bar that can be positioned such that the Wii remote can be used as an accurate pointing device from a distance of 5 meters. However the sensor bar is sensitive to halogen lights and sunlight affecting its functions.

• The Wii CPU has a processor known as Broadway with a 90nm SOI CMOS process. The Memory of the Wii is 1T-SRAM.

• The Nintendo Wii has 512 MB built-in flash memory that can be expanded using an SD card.

• The Wii has four remote controller slots; one SD memory slot; two USB ports; one sensor bar port ;four Nintendo game cube controller ports; two Nintendo game cube memory card ports; WiFi 802.11.b/g wireless built in ports.

• The Wii can connect to the World Wide Web through the WiFi and USB to Ethernet adaptor.

The CNET editors have rated the Nintendo Wii as an 8 /10. According to experts at CNET the positive is the futuristic controller design with motion-sensitive gameplay options and the Wi-Fi is all set to extend free online services and game play. The Nintendo Wii is the most affordable of all GenX gaming systems. The negative in the Wii is short battery life, no advanced HD graphics or surround sound and inability to play CDs or DVDs.

What Nintendo Wii brings to gaming is an affordable console with motion sensitive controllers and a focus on fun filled gaming.

By: Aaron Brooks

Gaming is a multi-pronged world with consoles, accessories and more crowding the market. apart from gaming consoles there have developed over the years a great many gaming accessories that take gaming to new never before explored levels.

With Wii Nintendo brings to the fiercely competitive market a product that has family appeal, is affordable, and encompasses great technology. Nintendo intends with the release of Wii to retain its market presence and bring to its consumers new delights in gaming.

The much awaited Nintendo Wii comes with its own batch of must have accessories:

• The Wii remote is slotted for release in the US on November 19th and is priced at USD 39.99. According to pre-release information the Wii remote has a one-handed remote control design and so is more sensitive to pointing, movements, and user friendly. The remote has wireless functions and works using a short-range Bluetooth radio. One can use a maximum of four controllers at a distance of 5 meters from the Wii sensor bar. The Wii remote is multi functional and allows ambidextrous use, can be used horizontally, or like a steering wheel. According to expert gamers the design is such that experienced players will be able to hold a remote in each hand or a Nunchuk in one and a remote in the other. Technically advanced the Wii remote can sense movement and orientation. The remote can identify linear motion along three axes. The optical sensor can determine the direction. According to experts reviewers at CNET the pointer can get jerky or twitchy. And, the tilt control requires a light and subtle touch. The remote controls cannot be calibrated manually and gamers have to make do with Wii’s calibrations.

• The Nunchuk is also slotted for release on Nov 19th and is priced at Us 19.99. This is a device that can be plugged into the Wii remote. It has an analog stick and two buttons and can be used in games like Red Steel and Twilight Princess. Since the nunchuk has motion sensors it permits gamers to perform specific character actions, like a spinning slash attack. According to industry reports this is all set to become the most popular and “must have” accessory.

• The Nintendo Classic Controller will also be released in the US on Nov 19th and is priced at USD 19.99. This is the classic-style expansion controller which can be used with the Wii remote slotted in to play games using a traditional game pad. It is to be used to play existing games, virtual console games, and multiplatform games. It connects to the Wii remote through a cord.
Aimed at gaming being fun the Nintendo Wii will disappoint if graphics and special effects are what are required. The biggest draws are supposed to be the motion-sensing remote , pseudo-reality controls, and internet capabilities. The Wii in its present form will not play CDs or DVDs although this feature is in the offing.

By: Andrew Gates

The graphics card is a vital performance component of your computer, particularly if you play 3D games, or work with graphics and video content. The graphics card sits in an expansion card slot in your PC and it is specifically designed to process image data and output it to your monitor, enabling you to see it. A graphics card works by calculating how images appear, particularly 3D images, and renders them to the screen. 3D images and video images take a lot of processing capacity, and many graphics processors are complex, require fans to cool them and need direct power supply. The graphics card consists of a graphics processor, a memory chip for graphics operations, and a RAMDAC for display output. It may also include video capture, TV output and SLI and other functions.

Graphics Cards

What are your needs?

The first decision you need to make is whether you need a graphics card for handling 3D images or whether you are simply requiring 2D image rendering. For 2D requirements, you need only a low-cost solution. In many cases, an integrated graphics solution will suffice for 2D applications.

However with 3D graphics, the performance of the graphics card will impact directly on the frame rate and image quality of 3D programs and games. The differences between the low and high-end cards can be substantial, both in cost and performance.

Rendering 3D graphics is like lighting a stage, both the geometry of the shapes in question and the lighting of it need to be taken into account. The geometry of an image calculates the parts of an object that can and can’t be seen, the position of the eye and its perspective. The lighting is a calculation of the direction of the light sources, their intensities and the respective shadows that occur. The second part to presenting a 3D image is the rendering of colours and textures to the surfaces of the objects, and modifying them according to light and other factors.

Most modern graphics cards include a small microchip called the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), which are provide the algorithms and memory to process complex images. They reduce the workload of the main CPU, and provide faster processing. Different graphics cards have different capabilities in terms of processing power. They can render and refresh images up to 60 or more times per second, calculate shadows quickly, create image depth by rendering distant objects at low resolution, modify surface textures fluidly and eliminate pixelation.

What Specifications to Consider

Processor clock speed

This impacts on the rendering capability of the GRU. The clock speed itself is not the critical factor. Rather it is the per-clock performance of the graphics processor, which is indicated by the number of pixels it can process per clock cycle.

Memory size

This is the memory capacity that is used exclusively for graphics operations, and can be as much as 512MB. The more demanding your graphics applications are, the better you will be served with more memory on your graphics card.

16-32M
64M
128M
256M
512M
640M and more

Memory bandwidth

One thing that can slow down 3D graphics performance is the speed at which the computer delivers information to the graphics processor. A higher bandwidth means a faster data transfer, resulting in faster rendering speeds.

Shader model

DirectX Shader Models allows developers control over the appearance of an image as it is rendered on screen, introducing visual effects like multi-layered shadows, reflection and fog.

Fill rate

This is the speed at an image can be rendered or “painted”. This rate is specified in texels per second, the number of 3D pixels that can be painted per second. A texel is a pixel with depth (3D). The fill rate comes from the combined performance of the clock speed of the processor and the number of pixels it can process per clock cycle, and will tell you how quickly an image can be fully rendered on screen.

Vertices/triangles

Graphics chips don’t work on curves, rather they process flat surfaces. A curve is created by multiple flat planes arranged to look like a curve. 3D objects are created with multiple triangular surfaces, sometimes hundreds or even thousands, tessellated to represent the curves and angles of the real world. 3D artists are concerned with the number of polygons required to form a shape. There are two different types of specification: vertices per second (I.e., angles the triangles), and triangles per second. To compare one measure with the other, you have to take into account the fact that adjacent triangles share vertices.

Anti-aliasing

A technique used to smooth images by reducing the jagged stepping effect caused by diagonal lines and square pixels. Different levels of anti-aliasing have different effects on performance.

RAMDAC

The Random Access Memory Digital to Analogue Converter takes the image data and converts it to a format that your screen can use. A faster RAMDAC means that the graphics card can support higher output resolutions. Some cards have multiple RAMDACs allowing that card to support multiple displays.

TV-out

Some graphics cards provide the option to connect a television via either a composite (RCA) or S-Video connector. TV Out

S-video Out
S-video In and S-video Out (VIVO)
YPbPr Connection for HDTV

DVI

Some graphics cards include a connector for DVI monitors, handy because a lot of LCD screens support DVI. DVI offers better image quality than the standard VGA connector.

Dual-head

Dual-head is a term used when two monitors are used side by side, stretching your desktop across both.

SLI (Scalable Link Interface.)

With SLI you can couple two graphics cards in your computer, enabling each card to take half the rendering thereby doubling the performance.

When considering your graphics card, it pays to think about how much you need your computer to process your graphics output. Using a high end graphics card with a high pixels per clock rating, large memory, fast processor and other features means that you can run the latest games efficiently, or work in intensive graphics development.

Different Models

While there are many vendors of graphics cards, there are actually only two major manufacturers of chips for graphics cards. Nearly every graphics card on the market features a chip manufactured by either ATI or Nvidia. Cards using the same graphics chip will perform roughly the same as each other. However, even though they use the same chip, some feature slightly higher clock speeds, as well as manufacturer guaranteed overclocking-an even higher clock speed than that specified. Other factors that will influence your decision should include the amount of memory a card has (128MB, 256MB, 512MB) and its additional features, such as TV-Out and dual-screen support.

Roberto Sedycias

Since it became commercially available back in the early eighties, notebooks called the attention of computer users because of its small size and portability. Not much of a commercial success back then, it only took a short time before the computer industry improved this item, up to a point that is now considered to be one of the best selling computer consumer products.

For one who intends to buy a budget notebook, he may have some difficulties in picking the right one, since there are several notebook manufactures offering so many models. Budget notebooks are in a class by itself with basic features but capable of delivering full solutions for computer related tasks.

For an easy guide to budget notebooks, check the following major manufactures:

SONY
Sony VAIO notebooks are fashioned products targeted to consumers who demand flexibility and power without compromise. It is expected to find features such as 15.4“ WXGA, duo core processor and 100 gb hard disk. Although not the cheapest of budget notebooks, it compensates the higher price by offering more technological features.

Most common features one can expect from Sony budget notebooks: 1 - Intel Core Duo Processor T2250 1.72 Ghz; 2 - Windows Vista; 3 - 1 gb DDR2 ram; 4 - Widescreen XGA display type; 5 - Intel graphics media accelerator 950; 6 - 100 gb SATA hard disk 5400 rpm; 7 - CD-RW/DVD rom; 8 - wireless lan 802.11 a/b/g; 9 - Modem and Lan port 10/100; 10 - USB connectivity; 11 - It weighs around 6.5 pounds; 12 - Lithium ion battery up to 5.5 hours; 13 - One year limited warranty. Price starts from U$ 929.00 and up according with optional accessories.

DELL
With features such as 15.4“ WXGA, duo core processor and ATI Radeon Xpress graphics, Dell budget notebooks offer a flexible combination of power, mobile productivity and entertainment at a good price.

Most common features one can expect out of these notebooks are: 1 - AMD Turion 62 X2 1.8 ghz/1mb cache processor; 2 - Windows Vista; 3 - 512 mb ram; 4 - Widescreen XGA display type; 5 - ATI Radeon Xpress 256 mb video graphics chipset; 6 - Up to 80 gb hard disk; 7 - CD-RW/DVD rom; 8 - It weighs around 6 pounds; 9 - 9-cell lithium ion battery; 10 - One year limited warranty. Price starts from U$ 549.00 and up according with optional accessories.

TOSHIBA
All Toshiba budget notebooks feature an 15.4“ diagonal WXGA display, DVD optical drive which reads and writes up to 11 formats, high speed wireless lan (802.11 b/g) for easy connection in networks.

Most common features one can expect out of these notebooks are: 1 - Intel Celeron processor with 1+ Ghz; 2 - Windows Vista; 3 - 512 mb ram; 4 - Widescreen XGA display type; 5 - Radeon Xpress 200M video graphics chipset; 6 - 60 gb hard disk; 7 - CD-RW/DVD rom; 8 - wireless lan but no Bluetooth connectivity; 9 - Modem and Lan port 10/100 mbps; 10 - USB and firewire connectivity; 11 - It weighs around 5 pounds; 12 - 4-cell lithium ion battery; 13 - Tv-out s-video; 14 - One year parts and labor warranty. Price starts from U$ 599.00 and up according with optional accessories.

HP
HP Budget notebooks with features such as 15.4“ display screen, AMD Sempron 3500+ and a sophisticated black resin finish, offer an attractive mix of style, mobility and performance.

Expected features one can find in this HP notebook category: 1 - AMD Sempron 3500+; 2 - Windows Vista; 3 - 15.4“ WXGA Widescreen; 3 - 512 mb ddr2; 4 - CD-RW/DVD rom; 4 - Wireless connectivity 802.11b/g wlan; 5 - It weighs around 7 pounds; 6 - Nvidia video graphics chipset with 256 mb; 7 - 6-cell lithium ion battery; 8 - USB, lan and modem port; 9 - Integrated stereo speakers; 10 - 60 gb SATA hard disk; 11 - Tv-out s-video; 12 - One year warranty in parts and labor. Price starts from U$ 569.00 and up according with optional accessories.

A while ago portable electronics devices were a luxury at an expensive price. Nowadays it became an affordable must have kind of product for lots of people. Notebooks are in this category for sure! And basic notebooks are the best option for those who are in a tight budget. So, if portability is a must for your personal or professional computer related tasks, waste no more time. Get yourself a budget notebook!