Huygens Probe detaches tonight!- December 25, 2004 Wow - the Cassini mission to Saturn has gone well. Tonight, the Huygens probe is going to be released. Descent through Titan's atmosphere is set to occur January 14th. I wonder what we'll discover!http://blogs.msdn.com/draper/archive/2004/12/24/331921.aspx X-Box Media Center Extender reviewed on WinSuperSite...- December 24, 2004 I don't entirely agree with Paul: http:www.winsupersite.comreviewsmcx_xbox_review.asphttp://blogs.msdn.com/draper/archive/2004/12/24/331792.aspx The MCE vs TiVo cost issue- December 23, 2004 I've had a few comments regarding my awarding Windows Media Center Edition a + on price in my previous post. Heres my rationale: I fundamentally challenge the idea that an MCE box needs to be used as a stand alone system. I use my MCE system constantly as my main desktop PC. I do absolutely everything that I did when I was running vanilla Windows XP Professional. IOW - Dont spend $2K on a dedicated MCE system spend $2K on a system that can be used as...http://blogs.msdn.com/draper/archive/2004/12/23/331084.aspx MCE vs TiVo- December 21, 2004 Ok, Ive got my new MCE box up and running and connected to my living room via my X-Box Media Center Extender. General impressions: My wife and I purchased an 80 hour TiVo Series 2 a number of months back for $299 at our local Frys electronics. I had been hungering for a DVR for quite some time, yet I was unable to justify a 2K family investment in a dedicated MCE box for the living room. I have to admit, the TiVo has performed spectacularly. It literally changed.http://blogs.msdn.com/draper/archive/2004/12/21/328308.aspx Santa was good to me this year!- December 19, 2004 Well, I decided to burn some unused vacation time and do a little relaxing through the holidays this year. My wife, Yoshi, proved to be the most awesome incredible Santa ever! She even came early! My long time interest in assembling a high quality replacement box that I could deck out as a Windows Media Center machine at home was finally realized. Heres what she got me: Dual proc Opteron board I decided on the Tyan Tiger K8W. Opteron 246 1 Sony double layer DVD burner 1 200 GB...http://blogs.msdn.com/draper/archive/2004/12/19/325701.aspx Interesting development in nanotech...- December 17, 2004 Nanotechnology fascinates me. What other technology in the course of human evolution can even touch its potential How invigorating it is to be alive and see it unfolding before our eyes "In a demonstration that holds promise for future advances in nanotechnology, California Institute of Technology computer scientists have succeeded in building a DNA crystal that computes as it grows. As the computation proceeds, it creates a triangular fractal pattern in the DNA..http://blogs.msdn.com/draper/archive/2004/12/17/323715.aspx Editing JPEG metadata (EXIF)- December 15, 2004 I've had a few comments asking what tool I use to edit JPEG metadata. The answer is: Picture It! Library which was included in my MSN Premium subscription. The metadata is stored in the EXIF portion of the image data and travels along with the image as it moves from place to place.http://blogs.msdn.com/draper/archive/2004/12/15/313105.aspx |