Pioneer, by most accounts makers of the world's most advanced Plasma TV's, recently announced they are ceasing production of plasma panels. Instead they will outsource their manufacturing to rival Panasonic.

The reason? The technology simply costs to much to make and the profit returns are slim. This despite their TV's being typically more expensive than other's. This follows previous decisions by both Fujitsu and Sony to get out of the plasma market altogether and concentrate on making LCD based TV's instead.

With LCD's the dominating technology in the market, and newer technology based on OLED coming online, I think it's only a matter of time before Plasma goes the way of the CRT and is relegated to the technological dustbin. Which really is a shame, as I've recently become somewhat of a Plasma convert. In the endless 'which is better' debate, there are pros and cons to both Plasma and LCD, but when it comes to pure picture quality, Plasma is the winner.

Pioneer's next generation Kuro displays, due this summer, will be their last product to use their own panels. Methinks they will also be my next TV.

- The first hackers worked on telephones and telecom equipment and were called 'phreakers'. I remember when I was in junior high we would play pranks using pay phones. Originally the phones had their phone number printed on them. So we would call up pizza places and order a bunch of pizzas and send them to people we didn't like. Of course they'd ask for our number to call back to confirm and we'd give them the payphone number. They'd call back, we'd confirm and our enemies would be left wondering why a pizza delivery guy was at their door with a dozen pizzas. After awhile the phone companies got smart and stopped printing the number on their payphones. However somehow we found out a bunch of special numbers that did all kinds of weird and wonderful things. One of them was to read out the number of the phone you were calling from - including payphones. So we'd start our cycle of pizza pranks all over again. We'd also write down the numbers of various pay phones throughout town and call them randomly. Whenever someone would answer them we'd scream obscenities if it was a guy or vulgarities if it was a girl.

- When it came to computers, in the good 'ol days of Commodores, Apple II's, and Tandy computers there were a couple of fun pranks I used to do. The first one involved what we called 'Control-G bombs'. Pressing Ctrl-G used to cause a computer to emit a high pitched single beep. So in computer class I wrote a script that would wait a random time interval and then start beeping like crazy. We'd load this program up on all the computers and run it. I remember it being side splittingly funny watching the teacher turn red with anger as he ran back and forth between classrooms shutting various computers down amid a growing cacophony of shrill beeps. The other thing was some mischief I liked to do at any Radio Shack I came across. When no one was looking I'd go to the PC they had on display which would be running demos, exit to DOS and type 'Del *.*' and answer 'Yes' to the 'Are you sure?' prompt. This would then wipe out all the data on their computer. Keep in mind this was in the days before they had templates to lock things down and images they could quickly recover from. I'm pretty sure I pissed off a lot of helpless Shit Shack employees who had to then rebuild everything.

- I never really bothered writing viruses. For me programming was more about creating new worlds, not causing havoc. Two of those early programming achievements stand out. The first one involved Rob, a friend of equal geekiness, and I creating a networked game of Battleship using character graphics on Commodore PET computers. It may not sound that great, but for the time it was an amazingly advanced accomplishment. The second involved my attempt to create my own version of my all time favorite computer game - Ultima IV. I wrote a bunch of code in Assembly Language that displayed the world in a screen just like in Ultima and allowed me to move a character around in it. This was not just some lame attempt at it - in all respects it looked and responded EXACTLY like my favorite game of all time. This rocked my world with the realization that if I put my mind to it I could create games that were the technical equal to the best that was being sold at that time.

- Before the internet people used dial-up modems to connect to each other. Instead of websites you had Bulletin Board Systems (BBS's). I remember getting hold of the phone numbers to a number of networks and dialing in to them and poking around - places such as Franklins Inn, a local hotel/mall, the U of A, and several RCMP detachments. In addition I was able to get into my high school and access the controls to the building heating system. Which I then shut down - over a weekend - in the middle of winter.

- When I was in university I came across an obscure technical publication that detailed how you could modify credit card readers and turn them into card writers. I also found documents that detailed the exact format that various banks used to encode info onto people's credit and debit cards. Not much use having all that know how without having people's PIN numbers right? (Although I did find out that the ATM's in places like 7-11's transmitted their information, including account numbers and PIN numbers, back to the central bank in clear text). Except that when I worked at Safeway as a cashier I would discretely watch people enter their PINs and I had copies of their receipts which had their account numbers on them (Here's a helpful hint, check you receipts when you pay by debit at stores. If they do not mask some of your account numbers ALWAYS ask for copies of your receipts and destroy them). So yes, for awhile I was contemplating doing some very bad things. Thankfully I ended up getting a real job and moved to Fort Mac, thereby putting an end to my criminal aspirations. Again, keep in mind this was almost 20 years ago, while 'skimming' is currently an epidemic problem, I was looking at it way back then.

- Now that I have a career I simply have way to much to lose by causing mischief. Although it would be laughably easy to bring the entire network of any company I've worked at to it's knees, causing potentially millions of dollars in lost revenue. While I would never do anything like that, the knowledge that any disgruntled IT worker could easily do so is not something I like to think about. That said, I remember having some fun when I worked at Syncrude. I would do things such as remapping the keys on various people's keyboards so that whatever they typed came out as garbage and they'd think their computer was broken. I remember also setting it so that when certain people would log on that their wallpaper would be some obscene photo. No matter what they did, and what Help Desk person they got to help them, the picture would keep re-appearing on their computer.

- Be careful what you sell at garage sales. One could make a small business out of picking up used computers and digital cameras and blackmailing the sellers based on confidential documents or incriminating pictures that one recovered. Computers are fairly obvious, but what a lot of people don't know is that when you delete pictures on your digital camera, they're not really deleted. One can easily recover every sick, twisted, photo you've ever taken of you and your significant other :)

- Finally, I'll leave you with some wireless fun. Wireless networks are the new playground for those curious as to what their neighbors are up to. Most don't even encrypt their network, and if they do, it can be cracked relatively easily. I remember being at a hotel in Edmonton not so long ago, bored one night, and having had a few beers in me. I accessed the internal network of the hotel across the street through their wireless network and copied assorted x-rated pictures to the desktop of their front desk computers, along with a note that said 'you really should secure your network shares'. So while I might not muck about as much as I did in the good 'ol days, I still have fun occasionally.

Between ongoing problems with the webcam occasionally locking up and my work laptop going wonky I finally decided my wireless network was long overdue for an upgrade.

When I first installed it I thought I was being smart by using the slower Wireless-B standard instead of the more common Wireless-G standard. By going that route I wouldn't have to compete with at least half a dozen neighbors' wireless networks, and also avoid interference from numerous cordless phones.

This time I've leapfrogged over all of them and gone with Apple's new Wireless-N router, the Airport Extreme. In addition to the much faster wireless speeds, the router also bumps up my wired connections to Gigabit Ethernet and also gives me the option of hooking my USB printer to it and being able to print wirelessly.

This baby has great reviews, looks stylish, and because it works with both my Macs and my Windows based systems it was an obvious choice.

Once I found the correct Admin utility to use (I also had the older version in my Utilities folder) setup was a breeze and I quickly had my iMac's, my gaming PC, and my laptop all setup and working properly. The speed in web browsing was definitely noticeable.

Now that the back end was upgraded, I wanted to connect my web camera to something better than the old, unsupported, Linksys bridge I had it hooked up to. So I went out and bought a Linksys WET54G Wireless-G bridge. I connected it to my PC, upgraded IT to the latest firmware, configured all the settings, connected it to the camera - and - nothing. It didn't work. I mucked around with it for a couple hours with no luck before finally giving up and calling Linksys tech support. They were completely useless and I was about to despair when on a whim, I changed it to use DHCP and voila! it was working.

So at the end of the day I'm now on a much faster wireless network that is also more secure than it previously was (WPA2 is much better than the MAC access list I was using before).

And if that isn't enough reason to be smug, I'm also the first person on the block running Wireless-N.

Warner Bros. have announced that they are abandoning HD-DVD.

They will continue to sell HD-DVD's until May of 2008 at which point in time they will only release Hi-Def titles on Blu-Ray. This announcement coupled with expectations that Apple will release new Pro systems with Blu-Ray drives at the upcoming Macworld pretty much sounds the death knell for HD-DVD.

I've seen various stats, but it's fairly obvious that despite a higher average price tag, Blu-Ray is outselling HD-DVD by a wide margin, even when you take PS3 players out of the picture. In addition, Blockbuster, the number one movie rental company in the US have also thrown their weight behind Blu-Ray.

It looks like Sony is finally going to win a format war :)

The two Martian explorers, Spirit and Opportunity recently passed a major milestone - they've now been in operation collecting data and exploring the Martian surface for 4 years!

Especially amazing is the fact that they were only expected to last 90 days. With Mars being essentially a graveyard for failed exploration missions, some would even say a curse, I just find it incredible that these things are still going.

All has not been completely smooth though. A recent dust storm threatened to completely coat their solar panels and one of the rovers has a broken wheel, forcing it to have to move around backwards.

Still, considering the continual problems with the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station, this program has exceeded all expectations and is an unqualified success. Personally I think everyone involved with this project should get the highest honour possible in the US.

Here's to 4 more years!

So I went and bought another iMac. Why you ask? Well obviously cause it's BBF - Bigger, Better, Faster.

While I was very happy with the iMac I already had, I decided to upgrade. I could have gone and bought one of the brand new aluminum models that just came out, but I had my heart set on a very specific model.

The problem with the new ones is they come with a glossy screen and I've gotten quite used to the non-glossy display of my current Mac. In addition, there's been a number of um, problems with the new Macs - think of them as teething problems of a new design.

So I scoured eBay until I found what I was looking for - a 24" iMac, 2.33Ghz duo core, 2GB memory, Nvidia video with 256MB of video memory, built in wireless, and a 750GB hard drive. The rare thing about this one is the expanded video memory as this was not a standard config but was instead a build to order option from Apple. The other unique thing about this model over other iMac versions is that it comes with a Firewire 800 port which is much faster than Firewire 400. And finally, as it's slightly newer, it has a longer warranty on it, good until 2010.

Sitting it next to my 20" model really shows the difference. It's even more impressive in person with its 1920x1280 resolution screen. I connected the two systems together and ran the built-in Migration Assistant which copied over all the user accounts, applications, documents, and network settings. After about 6 hours (it also copied the 10,000 songs I have in iTunes) it was finished, I rebooted and everything that was on my old system was on the new system - talk about slick.

I'm in Mac heaven right now :)

Halo? Please. Real gamers wouldn't be caught dead playing Halo - on a console no less. All the cool geeks are busy playing Episode 2.

And I've just happened to have finished it. Hopefully I won't have to wait a year for Episode 3 to come out. So how was it? Well as you can see from the screenshot, a lot of the action takes place outside which is pretty cool. There's no new weapons, and really only one new enemy - the Hunters - which are basically smaller versions of Striders. Actually I found them to be much more annoying to deal with than Striders.

The story progresses along, but there's no real breakthrough in understanding exactly what's going on, it merely exists to forward to the next episode, and as I've heard they're already working on the beginnings of Episode 4, apparently the next one won't neatly wrap things up either.

So the main reason to play is because HL2 is still the best game ever made and it's fun as hell to play. Puzzle wise there was nothing to hard. There was only one point I got stuck at and it was only because I over looked something that should have been relatively obvious. The final battle scene is pretty intense though and I did more than a bit of swearing and banging on the desk until i was able to finish it.

It looks like I might finally get to toss my behemoth tube monitor, as this time I was given the choices of standard resolutions, 16x9 (Hi-Def TV), or 16x10 (widescreen monitor). Finally! Hopefully all games coming out from now on will properly support these new resolutions.

This was also the first time I've had a kickass system to play this level of game on, and I must say it was pretty sweet playing at 1680x1050 with all the settings maxed. With the new game engine, a lot of work was supposedly done supporting multi-core systems. So those running more than one CPU will definitely benefit.

If you get the 'Orange Box', basically the special edition version, they throw in Half Life 2, Episode 1, Portal and Team Fortress 2 (TF2). Portal (which I haven't played yet) is a new puzzle/physics oriented game and TF2 is the next evolution of their classic multi-player game.

Easily the best 50 bucks you could spend!

Which format is going to win out? HD-DVD or Blu-Ray? Well seeing as I just bought a Blu-Ray player, I'm hoping for the later.

I was itching to spend money a couple weeks ago, so in a fit of impulse buying I bought Samsung's BPD-1200 player. Why Samsung? Well as much as I hate to admit it, even though Sony invented the technology, Samsung for whatever reason currently makes the best Blu-Ray players.

I raced home, hooked everything up, popped in a disc (Underworld: Unrated) and was frustrated to find I couldn't get any sound. I mucked about with no luck, hooked the player up to the internet to check for a newer firmware version (I was running the latest) and was about to give up when I finally got it working. To quote Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon, "I'm getting to old for this shit!".

Once everything was working I was taken in by the beauty that was Underworld in all it's 1080i glory. Chris couldn't really see any difference, but me being the videophile that I am, could definitely see it. That being said, I will admit that while my TV might be the reference for watching Hi-Def, you don't really appreciate the higher resolution on it's relatively small screen. I probably wouldn't recommend either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD unless your TV is over 50" and obviously it has to be a HD TV.

The second disc I watched was Black Hawk Down. After watching it a couple of things became apparent. When buying a high def disc, check to see how it was encoded. Newer discs are encoded using either Mpeg-4 or VC-1. Older discs (such as Black Hawk Down) were mastered in Mpeg-2. While still better than standard DVD's, Mpeg-2 discs do not look as good as ones using the newer formats. The second thing was that I had a heck of a time getting it to initially play, I couldn't get past the main menu. Finally after several tries it played. As new discs come out, it is very likely you might run into issues playing them (Pirates of the Caribbean was notorious for this). Why? Because unlike standard DVD's the format and features for Blu-Ray are continuously evolving. You definitely want to keep your firmware up to date.

A good review can be found here.

Well I finally have my new system built. Not everything went according to plan, but overall I'm very happy with my new toy.

So what issues did I have? Well for one I couldn't find the video card I wanted. For whatever reason Sapphire stopped making the water cooled version so I had to settle for a regular fan cooled version (and yes it's noisy when it ramps up). I've also held off buying the raid controller for now. That will have to wait for another day when I have more money to waste, er, I mean enhance my system. Finally I've decided to keep my 21" Trinitron monster as a second monitor. No, not so I can have the satisfaction of a multi-monitor system (that is pretty neat though) but mainly because there are so many stupid games that still don't support widescreen resolutions.

So now that I've spent all that money and put in all that effort you'd think I'd be using my new rig all the time right? Wrong. Before I bought all the parts I made a conscious decision that I would only use it as a gaming machine. And Chris and I would start using the iMac I bought awhile ago as our main system for everyday use. I'll leave the write-up of using the Mac for another entry.

So how does my gaming machine perform? Let's just say I ran a F.E.A.R benchmark and it averaged over 160fps without breaking a sweat. Ya, it's pretty sweet. I've already finished the F.E.A.R expansion pack as well as the BFME II expansion pack. Next up is Quake 4 and Star Wars KOTR: The Sith Lords. By the time I'm done them I'm hoping Half Life 2: Episode 2 will be out. I'll be in geek heaven!

Here's some pix of my gaming rig's construction:

The first thing I wanted was a smaller case. I'm tired of all the typical PC tower cases with their six drive panels on the front. Who the hell is going to put in six DVD/CD drives?

The second thing I wanted was silence. I've seen some of the power systems out there with their 8+ fans. Are you kidding me? 8 fans? Am I going to be playing games or doing wind tunnel testing?

The third thing I wanted was something that ran cool and didn't suck up a lot of power. Again, do I want a computer or a block heater?

Finally, I wanted something affordable. There's no point in building the absolute fastest system (which would cost over $5000) simply to play games with, especially when there'll be something even faster a couple months later.

Here then are the specs of my new rig:

What's cool about the motherboard is that I can upgrade the processor later on to Intel's quad core (4 processors) chip. It also comes with a PCIe x4 connector (most motherboards come with a PCIe x1 as the 2nd connector) which allows me to put the Adaptec controller in. Why not just use the motherboard raid? Because performance on integrated raid controllers is never as good as when you use a dedicated controller - plus mine comes with 128MB of cache.

The video card is water cooled, which means that it's completely silent. And because it's water cooled Sapphire has overclocked it, making it the fastest X1950 XTX card available.

I'm finally giving in and moving to an LCD monitor. Mostly because I'd like to start playing games in a widescreen aspect ratio and because my current 21" Trinitron generates soooo much heat and is too heavy for the glass desk I want to end up getting. I went with the HP over Samsung due to the inability to get the model with quality panels in it (see next post) and the HP allows me to swivel to portrait mode which is great for surfing the web.

As to the choice of OS, I'm not going with Vista but will remain running XP. Gaming on Vista is a complete joke and it will be quite awhile before you start to see DX10 only games.

Why Intel and not AMD? If I had my choice I would still go with AMD, but Asus doesn't have any other motherboards in a small form factor (SFF) that also has a PCIe x4 slot. Performance wise Intel is better, but AMD chips are typically more energy efficient. So it's a bit of a wash for me - in the end motherboard options are what made me pick Intel.

So far I've ordered the motherboard and CPU off of eBay (and saved over $100 doing so) and I'll be ordering the rest over the next week or so. Final cost? It should be under $2000. Once I get everything together I'll post pictures of the assembly process as well as benchmark results.