Technical Corner

We go over a few questions from our listeners. Here is one regarding some PC utlity tools:

First, love the cast. Keep up the good work. Second, the TcpAckFrequency trick also works on XP. Third, I would love a list of apps and/or hardware you guys use for testing/benchmarking/troubleshooting. You have referred to a few in a couple different episodes, but it would be really nice to have a list.”

Tool links:

Prime95: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Others/Home-Education/Prime95.shtml

Memtest86: http://www.memtest.org/

Sandra: http://www.sisoftware.net/

Iometer: http://www.iometer.org/

3DMark 06 and 3DMark Vantage: http://www.futuremark.com/

Furmark: http://www.ozone3d.net/

GPU-Z: http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/

PC Gaming

We discuss some titles that were recently launched including the new Command and Conquer and Dragon Age Expansion.

Contests

Congrats to Zeke the Squirrel on winning the iPad Contest, here is his entry:

The iPad has some potential I think, but there are also a few things they really left out. First I’ll start with what they did right:

• Size: The size is perfect. It’s large enough that reading it like a book would be comfortable, but not so large it would be too difficult to take on the go.
• Power: With a 1ghz processor, it’s a formidable mobile device. Not just that, they’ve also managed to keep it running for 10 hours (on wi-fi) which is plenty of time if you just need to keep busy on a trip or connected while away. 3G battery life will no doubt be a bit shorter, but the fact that you have 3G on what is essentially a netbook is great.
• Backwards Compatibility: The fact that you can use most, if not all, of the apps that you’ve already got for your iPhone or iPod Touch makes getting one much more appealing to those who already own Apple products. Plus it means that you’ll have tons of additional apps at launch.
• Price: Apple is known for it’s pricey computers. I certainly would have expected this thing to run upwards of $800. The fact that I can get one for almost the same as what I paid to get an iPod Touch at launch is a huge plus in my book. Are there cheaper e-readers and netbooks? Sure there are, but having both rolled into one, plus the app store makes this device worth the extra few bucks.

While there are certainly a few things the iPad has going for it, there are also some things that Apple could have done better.

• The name! iTablet. iSlate. Those are just a couple of names that had been thrown around before the reveal. iPad just isn’t all that appealing to me at least.
• The Network: Being AT&T exclusive is the only thing that’s kept me from getting an iPhone so far. Maybe Apple hasn’t noticed, but there are plenty of other mobile providers that offer high speed data plans, many of which have better coverage (at least in most places) than AT&T.
• The Interface: While it works great for the iPhone and iPod Touch, I think they could have gone with something a little closer to OSX on this one. They’ve got so much more screen to play with, but still only 4 icons on the ‘dock’? At least you can customize the background this time. Also, I guarantee one of the first jailbreak themes will be Star Trek based, because who doesn’t like the LCARS interface?
• USB?: USB sounds like a no-brainer to me, but I guess Apple thought otherwise. Sure, you can get the 30pin-USB adapter for connecting to a digital camera (and perhaps some other devices), but why not just integrate it? I suppose this may help with power management, as well as keeping the size down. Obviously running an external hard drive of of the iPad would eat some battery.
• Camera: Or should I say lack-of. Some people thought there may even be two cameras in this, one facing the user, and one on the back. I’m a bit surprised there isn’t at least one of those on here. Both cameras I could understand as being a little excessive, but either one would open up a world of possible uses for the iPad. It’s certainly a little big to be holding up and snapping pictures all the time, but the user-facing camera would have been great for apps like Skype.

The iPad is something I’d love to get my hands on and play with, but there’s no way you’ll catch me standing in line on launch to get one. Just my thoughts…

“Zeke”
C.J. Aube
“Even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes.”

The “Name the overclock Segment” and the “Dirt 2″ contest winners will be announced next episode. Don’t miss out on the chance to race the DHS podcast crew, Cornelious, and Scott Johnson from the Instance Podcast in Dirt 2.

Contact Information

We welcome your feedback, comments, and suggestions! If you would like to submit a question for a future podcast you can leave a message for us at 214-705-3788 . Try and keep your message under a minute so we can play it back on the next show. We can also be reached by email: podcast@doghousesystems.com

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