I try not to pay much attention to hard drives these days, but sometimes I just can’t help myself. And two things have happened this week on that front.
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Intel and the SSD, 2011
I saw and heard a couple of interesting bits about Intel and SSDs today.
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Using s-video gear with Commodore monitors
Commodore and Atari used an early implementation of s-video on their home computers in order to show off their computers’ advanced-for-their-time graphics. Many monitors sold for those computers featured compatibility with this feature, which was called “separated” or “y/c” composite or at the time. JVC called the feature “s-video” when they started using it on their SVHS camcorders starting in 1987, and JVC’s name stuck. Other companies followed suit, and s-video and the mini DIN plug became an industry standard.
Commodore and Atari used a different connector than JVC did, but all it takes to use s-video gear with those old monitors is a cable, which you can make with about $10 worth of parts from Radio Shack. Read more
How to connect an Amiga to a TV
Amiga monitors aren’t always the easiest thing to come by. Of course just about every Amiga sold was also sold with a monitor. But sadly, many of the monitors weren’t as reliable as the computer. So being able to connect an Amiga to a TV helps.
There are several options, and while some are far from ideal, most of them are suitable for playing video games. And these days I’m sure you’re a lot more interested in Shadow of the Beast than you are in Amiga Word Perfect 4.1. Read more
The tyranny of consumerization is real
Computerworld cites the Ipad 2 and increasing demand by end users to use such consumer devices in corporate environments as “The tyranny of consumerization.”
This has happened before. And if history repeats itself, the future will be better than today, but the road there is going to involve some pain.
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The decline and fall of system administration
Infoworld’s Paul Venizia stirred up a controversy, asking what happened to sysadmins who can fix things, as opposed to just rebuilding machines any time something went wrong.
The definition changed, mostly. At least that’s what I think.
On content farms
It looks like Google has taken action against content farms, low-quality sites that publish articles about anything and everything quickly, and try to make money from the ads.
I can’t tell yet if this has really affected my traffic any–my traffic can drop or jump 20 percent on a daily basis for no apparent reason. But I support the change.
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Tornadoes, round 2 for 2011
I was getting ready to go to bed when I heard the sirens.
I flipped on the TV, and yes, there were tornadoes on the way.
Building a Tamiya model kit
A coworker called me in a panic on Valentine’s Day. He’d bought some Tamiya model kits for his son, and quickly found they were in over their head. Would I build them for them?
I finally got started today.
Keep paper models from warping
I use a lot of miniature paper buildings on my train layout. The usual knock on paper as a modeling material is that it’s prone to warp. But there’s a simple solution for that, and seven years of St. Louis summers hasn’t made it fail on me yet. Here’s how I keep paper models from warping.