12/21/2012 or december 21 countdown timer

This is all rubbish pseudoscience superstition anyway. But if you insist, here's a coundown clock. Its set at Greenwich mean time


The Official Countdown


source

the end

cybertec surge suppressors

You see lots of surge suppressors or surge protectors in the market. Here's one. Cybertec brand.

The pics clearly show the "surge suppressor" claim on the box, while the internal pics only show power sockets, switches, indicator lights and a box for the fuse. Compare this with a true suppressor which has varistors and EMI filters

I bought it because its only 300 pesos, I need a power strip with individual switches, it looks a heck of a lot better than my old one which has a busted switch and no fuse, and I need plugs that are widely spaced apart so that a small power supply or transformer does not cover adjacent slots. I would have liked to have a real one but I'm on a budget.

Nvidia caught hobbling PhysX!!

 Okay,  we all know what physX does. It adds more special effects to games and makes them even prettier and more realistic. But if you run physX on your CPU only, its very slow. If you have an  Nvidia video card, the physX runs on the video card and its much faster. If you have an ATI video card and you want physX, it has to run on the CPU, and did I mention that its very slow?

Now evidence has surfaced that physX is intentionally hobbled by Nvidia. First, it only runs in one thread. Right there we have a big issue, but it gets better. The link below claims that in essence the physX code is written old style, designed for processors like the pentium 2 and below. Now if it were re-written correctly, designed to take advantage of modern processors, we should expect a 1.5-2x speed improvement. Now if you add to that support for more cores, I think you would be able to run physX comfortably on a modern CPU.






Link

Apple raises ebook prices for everyone

I've never liked apple because of its unfair business practices and this is one example. Apple whether you like it or not is a major player here so you have a large incentive to toe their line.

This will only encourage piracy as it drives up book costs.

Oh, apple ebooks have DRM by the way.

in reference to:

"Apple requires that if you sell books through them that you absolutely cannot sell them for less through anyone else. To my understanding Amazon also requires this, so Apple and Amazon prices should be identical in the future, but Amazon doesn't force prices to end in .99. What this means is that an e-book that the author was quite happy to sell for $2.29 or $2.49 is now going to cost $2.99 from everybody."
- Slashdot Apple Story | Apple Raises E-book Prices For Everyone (view on Google Sidewiki)

wi-tribe plan 1998

For 1998 pesos you get "up to 2mbps". The cap is 12 gigs. No mention of the post cap speeds on the official website but some unconfirmed reports say it is 1 mbps

24 months lock in period but you can lower that to 12 and 6 months by paying 4498 or 6998 pesos.

It still has a cap so it still sucks
in reference to:

And no mention of the 1am to 7am off peak hours where the  cap meter runs 75% slower. It probably isnt out yet

- wi-tribe Philippines |  MOVE UP Plan P1998 (view on Google Sidewiki)

wi-tribe 200pesos per gig

Wi tribe has officially launched their bandwidth on demand.

For either plan 998 or 1998, if you already exceeded the cap and you speed is already throttled, you can pay 200 pesos per gig to get your speed back up to pre-cap speeds

Thats quite expensive. I propose an alternative

Instead of paying 200 pesos for 1 gig, just get your smart buddy prepaid sim card and activate unlisurf and transfer the sim card to your smart bro prepaid usb 3.5g modem to get 5 days of unlimited surfing up to 2mbps. It also costs 200 pesos.  See links for more details.
link
link2

@ 1 mbps you can download 55 gigs in 5 days or 120 hrs

in reference to: wi-tribe Philippines |  MOVE MORE Bandwidth On Demand (view on Google Sidewiki)

the mobile broadband con

http://www.pcpro.co.uk

Looks like even people abroad are having problems with their internet.
in reference to: Latest Issue | PC Pro (view on Google Sidewiki)

wi-tribe: no cap during trial period

This is my previous wi-tribe thread. Read it for basic details.

LINK


There are some unconfirmed reports from the Tipidpc wi-tribe thread that the trial period is uncapped, after paying up you get slapped with the 3 gig cap.

This is fraud!!!

Mark twain vs quacks

This is positively Brilliant! I expect no less from such a distinguished writer.

As a surgeon I have seen too many of my patients delay medical treatment due to herbal remedies before so I agree with you sir!




in reference to:

"Nov. 20. 1905 J. H. Todd  1212 Webster St. San Francisco, Cal. Dear Sir, Your letter is an insoluble puzzle to me. The handwriting is good and exhibits considerable character, and there are even traces of intelligence in what you say, yet the letter and the accompanying advertisements profess to be the work of the same hand. The person who wrote the advertisements is without doubt the most ignorant person now alive on the planet; also without doubt he is an idiot, an idiot of the 33rd degree, and scion of an ancestral procession of idiots stretching back to the Missing Link. It puzzles me to make out how the same hand could have constructed your letter and your advertisements. Puzzles fret me, puzzles annoy me, puzzles exasperate me; and always, for a moment, they arouse in me an unkind state of mind toward the person who has puzzled me. A few moments from now my resentment will have faded and passed and I shall probably even be praying for you; but while there is yet time I hasten to wish that you may take a dose of your own poison by mistake, and enter swiftly into the damnation which you and all other patent medicine assassins have so remorselessly earned and do so richly deserve. Adieu, adieu, adieu! Mark Twain"

- Letters of Note: You're an idiot of the 33rd degree (view on Google Sidewiki)

solar flashlight review

  

My personal review of this led flashlight. See the pictures.



You'll see flashlights like this. Advertised on Ebay or in 168 mall as solar charged flashlights. Its a scam. This one cost me 90 pesos in 168 mall 2 weeks ago. I bought one since I'm waiting for my fenix e01.

3 leds. Decent light for a keychain light. Enough to walk on a dark street. But its dead now. Opening it up shows this (see pics above). You see a lithium button cell, which is not rechargeable. The solar cell does work. Turn on the switch and place the solar cell under strong light and you can see a faint glow from the leds.

Rating: 1 out of 5

update: I was going to use my canon 590IS to try to take some beamshots like the pro reviewers. This 6000 peso P&S digicam has manual controls so I can fudge around with the aperture and shutter settings. But like I said, its dead. I'm not throwing any more money on this lemon. If you see stuff like this sold in 168 mall, please inform the saleslady that it isnt rechargeable.