DannyMinick.com » Mac

AMD kills ATI brand, looking to promote “Radeon” and “FirePro” brands

Danny Minick — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 07:47:23 +0000

ATI, the name of hope for all PC gamers who were sick and tired of NVIDIA rebadging the same GPU over the past couple of years, is to be no more. The callous souls over at AMD have decided that our little consumer brains aren’t sophisticated enough to handle two awesome brands, so they’re just axing the use of the ATI moniker from here on out. Product line names will be retained, with the Radeon and FirePro branding still intact, but ATI Eyefinity will now be known as AMD Eyefinity. The first graphics cards to, erm, benefit from the new nomenclature will ship “later this year,” and the whole thing is said to have been motivated by AMD’s move to Fusion APUs — hybrid CPU and GPU chips — where it’s considered beneficial to have a unified branding strategy.

via AMD kills ATI brand, you can look forward to blood-stained Radeons — Engadget.

Microsoft gives me the blues.

Danny Minick — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 06:31:17 +0000

Today, I was going to my PC to burn some audio files to CD. I start up Windows XP on my PC that I built myself. Now, mind you, this is the third PC I have built with no problems. And yes, it has the neon glow, blu-ray burner, etc.

The specs on this particular PC are as follows:

Intel Core 2 Duo @ 3.66 GHz
3 GB of Ram
Two 160GB Hard Drives and a 40GB Backup drive
Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3

I go to start up Nero, and burn the first CD with no problems. I go to insert another CD, and I get a bloody welcome to a BSOD. So I reboot.

I do the same process again, and BSOD #2 appears. I reboot.

I makes it to the Windows XP welcome screen, and BSOD #3 appears. I reboot, this time with a Windows 7 disc in hand.

I install Windows 7, with no trouble, and finish my CD burning tasks.

I think Nero may have killed my Windows XP OS. And if that’s all it takes to kill an OS, thanks Microsoft. So here’s to Windows 7!

It’s a good thing I have several Macs. Those are my primary systems. And they never fail. NEVER.

But I am still a fan of Windows. I grew up on Windows, mostly. My father had a Macintosh Performa in the early 90’s, which I still have to this day.

Using the Canon SD780 IS

Danny Minick — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 06:17:14 +0000

After returning the horrid Eee PC I bought from Asus, I decided to throw my wad of cash at Canon. I was heavily impressed with the PowerShot SD780 IS at Best Buy, after playing with it for about an hour. The price was set at $279, however, due to the new program Best Buy does that allows you to price-match other stores in the area, I got it for $249. And I must say, I am quite impressed.

My previous camera was the Kodak M1033, which was a pretty good camera, but did have some flaws. It was slow at taking pictures, was extremely grainy in low light, and the focus on the lens had a loud motor and could be heard when recording in video mode. The specs were 3.0 inch LCD screen, 10 megapixels, 3x Optical Zoom, and recorded in HD. (720p)

This camera is lightweight, available in three colors; red, black, and gold, has 12.1 megapixels, 2.5 inch LCD screen, 3x Optical Zoom, has an HDMI output, records in HD (1080p or 720p) and is part of the digital ELPH family. Not to mention, it takes really good photos.

I do recommend this camera above all others in the $250 – $300 range. But that’s my opinion. Try out the camera for yourself.

UPDATE: Having to send the camera in for repairs. The microphone is malfunctioning. Canon has a long history of excellent cameras; I think I just have a faulty one. No one is perfect.