CD and DVD Upcoming Releases
03.06.2007 Megadeth: That One Night - Live in Buenos Aires
05.08.2007 Megadeth: United Abominations
01.31.2007 Windows Vista: The "Wow" Starts How?
Microsoft has been campaigning for Windows Vista with the slogan: The "Wow" Starts Now. Windows Vista is the best looking Windows Operating System that Micrsofot has ever released. Unfortunately that doesn't really say much about what Windows Vista really is.
Windows Vista has been armed with a much better security model compared to its predecessor, Windows XP. For sure it is more secure than Windows XP, but is Windows Vista secure enough to fend off all the coming attacks from viruses, spywares, malwares, etc.? We can't really tell yet.
Beyond security, will Windows Vista be fully accepted in shorter amount of time compared to Windows XP? Windows Vista is a hungry beast. It wants large amount of RAM (Random Access Memory), and powerful CPU (Central Processing Unit). Furthermore, it needs powerful GPU (Graphic Processor Unit) to show off its shiny new look, Aero and Glass.
These are a few things to consider when buying new computer with Windows Vista pre-installed:
- Get Dual-Core Processor such as AMD Atlhon64 X2, Intel Pentium D, or Intel Core 2 Duo.
- Get a minimum 1GB of RAM, but 2GB is much prefered.
- Avoid integrated graphic card with shared system RAM.
- Graphic card with digital out (DVI) is generally better than analog (VGA).
One more thing: "You get what you paid for."
01.23.2007 Apple Releases "Security Update 2007-001"
Apple releases "Security Update 2007-001" to address QuickTime 7.1.3 vulnerability.
http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n61798
The update is available for QuickTime 7.1.3 on Mac OS X v10.3.9, Mac OS X Server v10.3.9, Mac OS X v10.4.8, Mac OS X Server v10.4.8, Windows XP/2000.
Security Update 2007-001 (Mac OS X 10.4.8 Universal) - 4.9MB
Security Update 2007-001 (Mac OS X 10.3.9) - 2.4MB
From Apple Support:
Security Update 2007-001 is recommended for all users and improves QuickTime security.
Description: A buffer overflow exists in QuickTime's handling of RTSP URLs. By enticing a user to access a maliciously-crafted RTSP URL, an attacker can trigger the buffer overflow, which may lead to arbitrary code execution. A QTL file that triggers this issue has been published on the Month of Apple Bugs web site (MOAB-01-01-2007). This update addresses the issue by performing additional validation of RTSP URLs.
The update can be obtained through Apple Software Updates (Mac OS X and Windows XP/2000) or Apple Support Downloads page.
01.23.2007 Apple Releases Xserve RAID Admin Tools 1.5.1
Apple also releases Xserve RAID Admin Tools 1.5.1 for Mac OS X 10.2.8 or later.
From Apple Support:
The Xserve RAID Admin Tools 1.5.1 Update addresses overall reliability of the RAID Admin software and Xserve RAID firmware.
01.22.2007 Megadeth: "That One Night - Live in Buenos Aires" is Available for Pre-order
Megadeth DVD "That One Night - Live in Buenos Aires" is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com. It is scheduled for March 06, 2007 release date.
The DVD is recorded in front of more than 25,000 fans at Obras Stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Oct. 9, 2005.
Line-Up:
- Dave Mustaine (Lead Vocals and Guitars)
- Glen Drover (Guitars)
- Shawn Drover (Drums)
- James MacDonough (Bass)
Tracklistings:
- Blackmail The Universe
- Set The World Afire
- Wake Up Dead
- In My Darkest Hour
- She Wolf
- Reckoning Day
- A Tout Le Monde
- Hangar 18
- Return To Hangar
- I'll Be There
- Tornado Of Souls
- Trust
- Something I'm Not
- Kick The Chair
- Coming Home
- Symphony Of Destruction
- Peace Sells
- Holy Wars
- Alternate track of "Symphony Of Destruction"
For more informations:
http://www.megadeth.com/
http://www.megadeth.com/news/chartattack.html
Image Entertainment - Megadeth: That One Night - Live in Buenos Aires
01.22.2007 Heaven and Hell Tour 2007 to Feature Megadeth and Down
Tour dates and line-up for "Heaven and Hell Tour 2007" is now officially confirmed.
The Bands:
Heaven and Hell
Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Gezzer Butler, and Vinny Appice reunites as "Heaven and Hell" for the first time in 15 years. It is confirmed that they will be playing Black Sabbath songs off The Dio Years.
Megadeth
Dave Mustaine is back with Geln Drover, Shawn Drover, and James LoMenzo. Having just completed "United Abominations", the latest and the first album from this line-up.
Down
Featuring Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown from Pantera, as well as Pepper Keenan of COC.
Tour Dates:
The Heaven and Hell Tour 2007 (subject to change):
March 11 Vancouver, BC Pacific Coliseum
March 13 Edmonton, AB Rexall Place
March 14 Calgary, AB Saddledome
March 16 Regina, SK Brandt Centre
March 18 Winnipeg, MB MTS Centre
March 20 Sault St. Marie, ON Steelback Centre
March 22 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
March 24 London, ON John Labatt Centre
March 26 Montreal, PQ Bell Centre
March 27 Quebec City, PQ Colisee Pepsi Arena
March 28 Ottawa, ON Civic Centre
March 30 New York, NY Radio City Music Hall (Megadeth will not be on this show)
For more informations:
http://www.heavenandhelllive.com/
http://megadeth.com/news/pr/heavenandhell.html
01.21.2007 Megadeth "United Abominations" Release Date: May 8th, 2007
Dave Mustaine states that "United Abominations" release date is set on May 8th, 2007.
http://forums.megadeth.com/showthread.php?p=7668908 (free registration required)
Currenly known "United Abominations" track listings:
- United Abominations (view lyrics here)
- Washington is Next (view lyrics here)
- Gears of Wars (lyrics and demo MP3 download info)
- Blessed Are The Dead
- Never Walk Alone
- Sleepwalker
- Amerikhastan
- Burnt Ice
- Out On The Tiles (Led Zeppelin cover)
A few more song titles are yet to be revealed.
For more informations, please visit Megadeth Official Website.
01.19.2007 Dave Mustaine Unveils New Dean Guitars Signature Line
Dave Mustaine Reveals new line of Dean Guitars.
http://www.deanguitars.com/dean_winter_07/usa_dave_mustaine_vmnt.htm
http://www.deanguitars.com/dean_winter_07/dave_mustaine_vmnt1.htm
http://www.deanguitars.com/
01.16.2007 Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory is now in Universal Binary
Finally, Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory is available in Mac OS X Universal Binary. One of the best and FREE game out there. Did I say FREE?
The PowerPC version was a resource hog. I'm downloading it right now and will test it later today.
I used to play a lot at Hamsters House Of Fun server. http://www.ham-clan.com/
Get Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory for Mac OS X Universal Binary here:
http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/finger.pl?id=476&time=20070115181957
http://www.insidemacgames.com/news/story.php?ID=14582
http://www.macsimumnews.com/index.php/archive/wolfenstein_game_ready_for_mactels/
01.10.2007 Megadeth "United Abominations": Three New Song Titles are Revealed
Dave Mustaine has once again revealed two more song titles from the upcoming Megadeth album "United Abominations". According Mustaine's Megadeth Official Forums posting the titles are:
- Sleepwalker
- Burnt Ice
Other known and confirmed song titles from "United Abominations":
- United Abominations
- Washington is Next
- Gears of War
- Blessed Are The Dead
- Never Walk Alone
- Amerikhastan
- Out on The Tiles (cover of Led Zeppelin song)
"United Abominations" is tentatively scheduled for release in March 2007.
http://forums.megadeth.com/showthread.php?p=7594040 (free registration required)
01.09.2007 Look! It's a Phone, It's an iPod, It's a MacPhone!
A short editorial
On January 9, 2006 Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, introduced the much rumored Apple iPhone during his annual keynote at MacWorld San Francisco. As written on Apple website: "Introducing iPhone. Apple reinvents the phone."
For the last 3 years Apple has been rumored to have been working on a phone-like device. Apple and Motorola introduced Motorola ROKR, an iTunes-enabled phone on September 7, 2005 and somewhat closed a chapter on the rumor. Motorola has since then released other iTunes-enabled phones such as RAZR V3 and KRZR.
Apple iPhone is a different breed compared to any iTunes-enabled phones. Its appearance resembles more like an iPod than a phone. There are other smart phones with touch screen, but Apple strives to make its iPhone to be a class of its own. Underneath its shell, Apple iPhone runs a variant of Mac OS X. Its capabilities make Apple iPhone more like a Mac than a phone.
Steve Jobs on his keynote said that Apple would like to capture 1% of Mobile Phone market, or about 10 million units. Should Apple be able to reach that goal, they would be shipping an additional 10 million of Mac OS X. It is a surprise that Apple didn't call it "MacPhone".
Apple iPhone is tentatively scheduled for release in June 1007.
01.09.2007 Apple TV, Apple iPhone, and New Airport Extreme 802.11n
Thanks to bad WiFi receptions, bandwidth hog and some other factor, I didn't get to connect to the internet at MacWorld.
Ayway, two new products from Apple announced by Steve Jobs.
- Apple TV
http://www.apple.com/appletv/
Priced $299 (U.S.) and will ship in February.
As expected, it has 40GB hard drive for local caching and storage.
"It is a cool product, but not necessarily a must have product at this point. I will find out more before making any purchasing decision." - Apple iPhone
http://www.apple.com/iphone/
Tentatively scheduled for released in June 2006 (U.S.)
GSM Quad Band (no 3G) and EDGE
Cingular exclusive (for U.S.)
$499 (4GB) and $599 (8GB) with 2 year contract.
3.5 inch screen at 3:2 ratio (landscape)
Operating System: OS X
iPod capability
Built-in 2.0 megapixels camera
802.11b/g and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
"Yikes! It is basically a Mac. I'm surprised that it's not called MacPhone. One thing that might stop me from getting this so called phone is the price with 2 year contract. Now I have to wait till June to spend my hard earned money."
Apple also shows off the newly redesigned and updated Airport Extreme Base Station.
http://www.apple.com/airportextreme/
It now officially supports 802.11n protocol, offering up to five times the speed and twice the range compares to 802.11g protocol. It has one WAN port and three LAN port. It also has one USB 2.0 port that can be used for printer sharing or USB mass storage sharing
01.07.2007 Look! It's a Phone, It's an iPod, It's a MacPhone!
A short editorial
On January 9, 2006 Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, introduced the much rumored Apple iPhone during his annual keynote at MacWorld San Francisco. As written on Apple website: "Introducing iPhone. Apple reinvents the phone."
For the last 3 years Apple has been rumored to have been working on a phone-like device. Apple and Motorola introduced Motorola ROKR, an iTunes-enabled phone on September 7, 2005 and somewhat closed a chapter on the rumor. Motorola has since then released other iTunes-enabled phones such as RAZR V3 and KRZR.
Apple iPhone is a different breed compared to any iTunes-enabled phones. Its appearance resembles more like an iPod than a phone. There are other smart phones with touch screen, but Apple strives to make its iPhone to be a class of its own. Underneath its shell, Apple iPhone runs a variant of Mac OS X. Its capabilities make Apple iPhone more like a Mac than a phone.
Steve Jobs on his keynote said that Apple would like to capture 1% of Mobile Phone market, or about 10 million units. Should Apple be able to reach that goal, they would be shipping an additional 10 million of Mac OS X. It is a surprise that Apple didn't call it "MacPhone".
Apple iPhone is tentatively scheduled for release in June 1007.
01.07.2007 Megadeth "United Abominations": Three New Song Titles are Revealed
Dave Mustaine in Megadeth Official Forums posting, has revealed three more song titles from the upcoming Megadeth album “United Abominations”:
- Amerikhastan
- Blessed Are The Dead
- Never Walk Alone
Mustaine also mentions that “United Abominations” will have 11 songs for US release, and 1 additional song for Japanese release. He also reserves 2 extra songs for later use as “B-Sides”.
Other known and confirmed song titles from “United Abominations”:
- United Abominations
- Washington is Next
- Gears of War
- Out on The Tiles (cover of Led Zeppelin song)
“United Abominations” is tentatively scheduled for release in March 2007.
http://forums.megadeth.com/showthread.php?p=7574234 (free registration required)
01.06.2007 I Need More RAM to Run Windows Vista
I have been using Windows Vista on my HP notebook. I only have 768MB of RAM. Running Vista on this moderately powerful computer is not a walk in the park. The weakest link is the integrated Radeon Mobility XPress 200 with 128MB shared RAM. It got the experience rating of 2, while the other components got 3 to 3.5 rating.
Anyone wants to donate 2x1GB PC2700 SO-DIMM? It's for HP L2005US
Just a shot in the dark.
01.01.2007 Happy New Year
2007 is out of Beta testing and finally released.
01.01.2007 Prelude to MacWorld Expo 2007
It's that time of the year again. The second week of the year starts out with Consumer Electronic Expo (CES) and MacWorld Expo San Francisco.
As usual, Apple will skip CES and have their own party at MacWorld San Francisco. To sumarize facts, expectations and rumors:
- Apple set-top box codenamed "iTV"
- Yet another preview for Mac OS X 10.5 codenamed "Leopard"
- One year anniversary of Intel based iMac and MacBook Pro
- The words on Apple Phone
- A new Mac (desktop or portable)
- iLife '07 and iWork '07
- There's something about .Mac
- iPod, iTunes, and anything related
Then again, Apple won't be announcing everything in one day. Expect Apple to take their time and slowly releasing informations on their products throughout the first quarter of 2007.
01.01.2007 Windows Vista Business and Ultimate: The Experience Part 1
I have been using Windows Vista since it went RTM back in November 2006. It is tough to objectively evaluate Windows Vista since my personal computer is a bit under-powered. I did have the chance to use Windows Vista on numbers of newer and more powerful computers. The two versions I get to use are Windows Vista Business and Ultimate.
I first installed Windows Vista Business on the computers. Windows Vista Business is somewhat the upgrade to Windows XP Professional. Unfortunately I was unable to activate the copy since it was looking for Key Management Service (KMS) locally. We don't have a KMS server set yet.
Related articles:
- Volume Activation - http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/resources/vol/default.mspx
- Windows Vista Volume Activation 2.0 - http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsvista/plan/faq.mspx
- Windows Vista Volume Activation 2.0: Step-by-Step Guide - http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsvista/plan/volact1.mspx
I then installed Windows Vista Ultimate on the same computer on a different hard drive. It ran a little sluggish, due to insufficient amount of RAM and less powerful graphic cards. Once I turned Aero and Glass off, Windows Vista ran a lot faster.
Computer Specs:
- AMD Turion 64 ML-30 1.60GHz
- 768MB DDR PC2700 (128MB shared with the graphic card)
- ATI Mobility Radeon XPress 200 (128MB Shared RAM allocated)
- Hard Drive: 40GB 4200 RPM
...to be continued
