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The difference between “established/old” media and “new” media

July 8th, 2007
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Looking at all the iPhone reviews out there, I can see a distinct difference between "established/old" media and "new" media.

Take a look at the reviews carried out by Walt Mossberg/Katherine Boehret , David Pogue , Steven Levy  and Edward C. Baig  (old media) and compare these to say the review by Paul Thurrott  (new media).

Notice the difference?  What strikes me is how shallow the old media reviews are compared to new media.  What I want to read are real-world, warts-and-all reviews of products, not first impressions or a piece written after handling a device for a few minutes.  Opinion and thought is one thing (I've read - and written - plenty of opinion pieces), but a shallow review is next to useless.  In fact, these shallow reviews come across more as adverts than reviews.

I hope Paul overcomes his iPhone issues because I look forward to his thoughts on the device.

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Heads-up on July’s Patch Tuesday

July 5th, 2007
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Here's what Microsoft has in store for us next Tuesday:

  • Three Microsoft Security Bulletins affecting Microsoft Windows with a Maximum Severity rating of Critical. These updates will require a restart. 
  • Two Microsoft Security Bulletins affecting Microsoft Office with a Maximum Severity rating of Critical. These updates will not require a restart.
  • One Microsoft Security Bulletin affecting Microsoft .NET Framework with a Maximum Severity rating of Important. This update will require a restart.

We'll also see an updated version of the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool.

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Which is best for a desktop PC - Wired or wireless network?

July 5th, 2007
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Question: I have several PCs at home, some desktops and some notebooks.  Would you recommend that I use a wired or wireless network to connect them all up?

Good question!

It depends ... :-)   My setup at the PC Doc HQ sees all the desktop PCs connected up to a wired network while the notebooks and PDAs connect wirelessly.  This provides a robust connection for the desktop PCs while the notebooks and PDAs are free to roam.

However, not everyone wants to have network cables trailing all over the place and holes drilled in walls and ceilings.  In this case connecting all the PCs wirelessly might be better.  However, if you go down this route you need to make sure that the desktop PCs receive a strong signal so that the connections is as robust as possible.

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Can you drag tabs between browser windows in Internet Explorer?

July 5th, 2007
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Question: Can you drag tabs between browser windows in Internet Explorer?

Nope.  This is something that I periodically wish I could do, but it's just not possible, which is a shame.  However, you can do this in Firefox, so if it's something that you want to do regularly, you might want to switch browsers.

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Creative charging $9.99 for Vista drivers?

July 5th, 2007
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Creative Labs decides to destroy its reputation over $9.99 :

From the “that’s gotta be a dumb PR move” files, Creative Labs decides to try to charge $9.99 for Vista compatible drivers  for the Audigy range of sound cards.

No, this isn’t April 1st and I kid you not.  Creative really does think that people are going to pay money for a driver.  Understandably, Creative customers are getting emotional over this .  Destroying your reputation over $9.99 … bad move.

This charging money for drivers game is getting real old.  Any company that tries to pull this kind of stunt is underhandedly double dipping customers.  There’s no excuse for it.  I for one won’t be buying any more Creative Labs gear until they get the message that providing drivers is a service that customers have already paid for when they bought the hardware in the first place.

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George Ou is right - AMD marketing is blatantly lying

July 4th, 2007
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George Ou is spot on - AMD marketing is blatantly lying  when it comes to benchmark results for the Barcelona range of processors. 

On AMD’s “Barcelona” performance page , AMD shows the following fictitious and outdated information.  Apparently some of these misleading numbers are even showing up on Wall Street Journal advertisements.

- It’s fictitious since AMD doesn’t have a 2.6 GHz Barcelona quad-core CPU and they won’t even have it in September which is already late by AMD’s original timeline.  The fastest Barcelona processor coming out in September is 2.0 GHz.  It isn’t really clear when AMD will be able to ramp up the clock speed an extra 30% to get to 2.6 GHz but it most likely won’t be any time soon because processors don’t just ramp 30% over night.

- The numbers AMD posted for Intel’s XEON X5355 and X5160 have been outdated since April 2007 and you need a magnifying glass to see that disclaimer in the fine print on the bottom.  The actual up-to-date SPEC.org certified scores for the two Intel products listed are significantly higher.  It isn’t like AMD can they forgot to include the very latest scores that were just posted days ago, we’re talking months here so it’s a blatant omission.

- Intel’s XEON X5365 3.0 GHz quad-core CPU which shipped back in April  was deliberately omitted from these results even though AMD showed off numbers for a 2.6 GHz Barcelona chip which doesn’t even have a launch date yet.  Putting in 2.0 GHz Barcelona scores would be shady enough since the part hasn’t officially launched yet but including 2.6 GHz Barcelona scores is just outrageous.

Blatant lies.

The truth is that AMD has nothing new to compete with Intel's fresh lineup of processors and all that the company is left with is the hope that they can spin the bad news into good news.

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