NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT Better Than 8800 GTS?

OK, you've heard about the power of the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS and GTX. Now there's a new kid on the block, the 8800 GT. Given its name you'd expect it to be a poorer performer in every respect, right? Not exactly. Since it's newer technology it does outperform in some areas. And the kicker is that it is cheaper!

The following quote from NVIDIA's site tipped me off:

"HD DVD / Blu-ray Video Playback on NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT is classified as Excellent. HD DVD / Blu-ray Video Playback on NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra, GeForce 8800 GTX and GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB/640MB are classified as Good."

Woa! Planning to play HD content? GT is better than GTX! OK, it has 512 MB instead of GTS' 768, but still gives it a run for its money.

Now Google the review sites and check out the benchmarks for yourself.

-Krip

Categories: Hardware_, Video_

QVGA Pocket PC Roundup (ver 9)

see update here

Here's a list of QVGA Pocket PCs (240 x 320) available in the UK (and many in the US also). All the models have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth unless otherwise noted.

Devices listed in order of price.

If looking for a VGA device, see our VGA Pocket PC Roundup.

Price inc. VAT

Phone?

OS

Processor

RAM

ROM

Slots

Screen

GPS?

3G?

Kbd?

Camera

2nd Camera?

Special Features

HP iPAQ 110

?

no

WM6 Classic

Marvell PXA310 624 MHz

64MB

256MB

SDIO

3.5"

No

n/a

no

no

no

HP iPAQ rx4240

$299

no

WM5

Samsung SC32442 400 MHz

64MB

128MB

SD

2.8"

No

n/a

no

no

no

Sprint PPC-6800

$399 w/2yr contract

yes

WM6

Qualcomm 7500 416 MHz

64MB

256MB

microSD

2.8"

No

EVDO

yes

2MP

a.k.a. HTC Mogul

Asus MyPal A639

£245

no

WM5 WM6 upd

Intel PXA270 416 MHz

64MB

128MB? + 1 GB

miniSD

3.5"

GPS

n/a

no

no

no

Swivel GPS Antenna

Asus MyPal A696

£200 - £300? ($434)

no

WM5

Intel PXA272 416 MHz

64MB

256MB

SDIO

3.5"

GPS

n/a

no

no

no

Ultra-slim; Destinator software

Acer C530

£279

no

WM5

Samsung SC32442 300 MHz

64MB

128MB

SDIO

2.8"

GPS

n/a

no

no

no

Copilot 6

HP iPAQ rw6815

£290

yes

WM5

Intel PXA272 416 MHz

64MB

128MB

miniSD

2.7"

No

No

no

2MP w/LED light

no

Fujitsu-Siemens N520

£309

no

WM5

Intel PXA270 312MHz

64MB

128MB

SDIO

3.5"

GPS

No

no

no

no

No Bluetooth

HP iPAQ rx5935 (HP iPAQ rx5915 US)

£309 ($499)

no

WM5

Samsung SC32442 400 MHz

64MB

2GB inc maps

SD

3.5"

GPS

n/a

no

no

no

TomTom Navigator 6

E-TEN Glofiish X500

£319

yes

WM5

Samsung S3C2442 400 MHz

64MB

128MB

microSD

2.8"

GPS

No

no

2MP

See also Pharos GPS 600

HTC P4350

£329

yes

WM5

TI OMAP 850 200 MHz

64MB

128MB

microSD

2.8"

No

No

yes

2MP

no

T-Mobile Wing

£329

yes

WM6

TI OMAP 850 200 MHz

64MB

128MB

microSD

2.8"

No

No

yes

2MP

no

HTC Touch

£354

yes

WM6

TI OMAP 850 201 MHz

64MB

128MB

microSD

2.8"

No

No

no

2MP

no

3D Touch UI

HTC Touch Dual New!

£384

yes

WM6

Qualcomm MSM 7200, 400MHz

128MB

256MB

microSD

2.6"

No

HSDPA

no

2MP

yes

No Wi-fi!, TouchFLO

HTC Touch Cruise New!

£389

yes

WM6

Qualcomm MSM 7200, 400MHz

128MB

256MB

microSD

2.8"

GPS

HSDPA

no

3MP

yes

FM Radio, TouchFLO, TomTom

LG KS20

£389

yes

WM6

64MB

128MB

microSD

2.8"

No

HSDPA

no

2MP

yes

FM Radio

HTC P6300

£399

Yes

WM5 Direct Push

Samsung 400 MHz

128MB

256MB

SDIO

3.5"

No

no

no

2MP

no

i-Mate JAMin

£414

yes

WM5

TI OMAP 850 200 MHz

64MB

128MB

SDIO/MMC

2.8"

No

no

no

2MP

no

HTC TyTN (AT&T 8525)

£419

yes

WM5 WM6 coming

Samsung 400 MHz

64MB

128MB

microSD

2.8"

No

3G

yes

2MP

yes

a.k.a. HTC Hermes

HTC TyTN II (HTC P4550)

£479

yes

WM6

Qualcomm 7200 400 MHz

128MB

256MB

microSD

2.8"

GPS

HSDPA

yes

2.8MP

yes

a.k.a. HTC Kaiser

-Krip

Categories: Hardware_, Windows Mobile_

Updated 30 Dec 2007

24 Inch HDCP Monitors (ver 3)

Here's a list of 24 inch monitors that support HDCP (sorted by price).
If you're really interested in 1080p support for HD, look for 1:1 pixel mapping for the best picture.

Model	Price	Resolution	HDCP	Inputs	Refresh Rate	Contrast Ratio	Bright. (cd/m2)	1:1 pixel mapping	Reviews
NEC MultiSync LCD2470WVX	Just announced	1920 x 1200	Yes		5 ms	1000:1	400	?	engadget
HP w2408 New!	£319	1920 x 1200	Yes	VGA, DVI-D	5 ms	1000:1	400	?	PC Mag
LG L245WP-BN	£405	1920 x 1200	?	VGA, HDMI	8 ms	1000:1	500	?
Viewsonic VX2435wm	£464	1920 x 1200	Yes	VGA, HDMI, S-Video, Composite, Component	5 or 8 ms?	1000:1	500	?
Dell 2407WFP-HC	£522	1920 x 1200	Yes	VGA, DVI-D, S-Video, Composite, Component	6 ms	1000:1	400	?	cnet (8.0)
NEC MultiSync LCD2470WNX	£525	1920 x 1200	Yes	VGA, DVI-D	6 ms	1000:1	500	?	hdtv news
BenQ FP241W	£529	1920 x 1200	Yes	VGA, DVI, HDMI	6 ms	1000:1	500	?	cnet (9.0), trusted reviews (10!)
BenQ FP241WZ	£575	1920 x 1200	Yes	VGA, DVI, HDMI	6 ms	1000:1	500	?
Samsung SM-245T	£610	1920 x 1200	Yes	VGA, DVI, HDMI, S-Video, Composite, Component	6 ms	1500:1	300	Yes	Trusted Reviews
Samsung SM244T	£625	1920 x 1200	Yes	VGA, DVI	6 ms	1000:1	500	?	pc pro

 

Categories: Hardware_, Grapics_, Video_

-Krip

The Programmer's Bookshelf

Books every programmer needs:

• Code Complete, Second Edition, by Steve McConnell

Books for the .NET programmer:

• Framework Design Guidelines, by Krzysztof Cwalina and Brad Abrams
• C# 3.0 In a Nutshell, Third Edition, by Joseph Albahari and Ben Albahari

And for the web developer:

• HTML and XHTML Pocket Reference, Third Edition, by Jennifer Niederst Robbins
• JavaScript Pocket Reference, Second Edition, by David Flanagan

-Krip

XBOX 360 - Pros and Cons

What's good and bad about the XBOX 360? My take:

Pros:

• Great picture of course - to HD television, via VGA or Component cables (both options supplied)
• Great sound - even better via optional optical audio cable
• Great games
• Smart looking console
• Plays CDs and DVDs too
• Game updates automatically download to hard disk
• Scores and achievements stored centrally on XBOX Live
• Can download other free and low cost games
• Can play media from PC (even without Windows Media Center) via Media Sharing feature in Windows Media Player (see my post here), and position last stopped at is stored!

Cons:

• No HDMI output - need newer version of console for that - strange since this was billed as "HD"
• LOUD! Machine is loud!
• Failure rate - these consoles have a high failure rate from problems like overheating to just issues with the DVD drive - my drive broke during shutdown the second day I had it!
• Scratched DVDs - brand new game I had was scratched and had to be replaced
• Never had any such issues with my Atari 2600 years ago! Guess it's the moving parts that are the issue.

-Krip

Categories: Games_

Machines with nVidia GeForce 8800 Graphics Card (ver 2)

If you're interested in a machine with a fast directx 10 graphics card, the 768 MB nVidia GeForce 8800 is hard to beat. Here's a list of machines available with this card:

• Evesham desktops (many of their models support this card)
• Dell XPS 720
• Alienware Area-51 7500
• Dell XPS 420 New!

Review of some of them found on pcworld.com here.

-Krip

Categories: Hardware_, Graphics_

The Courtauld Gallery

Some notable paintings from the Courtauld Gallery:

• Landscape with an imaginary view of Tivoli, by Lorrain, Claude (1642)
• A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, by Manet, Edouard (1882)
• Self-portrait, by Fry, Roger Eliot (1928)
• Yellow Irises, by Picasso, Pablo (1901)
• Adam and Eve, by Cranach the Elder, Lucas (1526)
• Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione (after Raffaello Sanzio), by Rubens, Peter Paul (1630)
• Portrait of Charles and Captain John Sealy, by Kettle, Tilly (1773)
  [Note at time of writing image is wrong]

-Krip

Categories: Art_

SQL Compact 3.5 Database Sample

To create a SQL Compact 3.5 Database from Visual Studio 2008, follow the directions in this great article:

Sync Services for SQL Server Compact Edition 3.5 in Visual Studio 2008

You can for example just sync the entire Northwind database so you have a sample sdf to play with.

-Krip

Categories: SQL Server_, Windows Mobile_

Installing SQL Server Compact 3.5 for Windows Mobile

First download the bits here.

Then copy the 3 appropriate CAB files from your PC to the device and run them all. For mine, I grabbed these (all in the folder C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server Compact Edition\v3.5\Devices\wce500\armv4i):

sqlce.wce5.armv4i.CAB
sqlce.repl.wce5.armv4i.CAB
sqlce.dev.ENU.wce5.armv4i.CAB

More details from the readme:

2.1 Installing and Uninstalling SQL Server Compact 3.5 Runtime on Mobile Devices

SQL Server Compact 3.5 can be deployed on Windows Mobile devices either by manually copying and installing the CAB files, or through Visual Studio. The SSCEDeviceRuntime-ENU.msi file puts the SQL Server Compact 3.5 CAB files for deploying SQL Server Compact 3.5 on the Windows Mobile devices. The CAB files are put into the folder: %Program Files%\Microsoft SQL Server Compact Edition\v3.5\Devices\platform\processor. The cab files description is as follows:

• SQL Server Compact 3.5 Core (sqlce.platform.processor.cab):The sqlce.platform.processor.cab file contains sqlcese35.dll, sqlceqp35.dll, sqlceme35.dll, and System.Data.SqlServerCe.dll.
• SQL Server Compact 3.5 Replication (sqlce.repl.platform.processor.cab):The sqlce.repl.platform.processor.cab file contains sqlceca35.dll, sqlceoledb35.dll, and sqlcecompact35.dll.
• SQL Server Compact 3.5 Tools EN (sqlce.dev.lang.platform.processor.cab): The sqlce.dev.lang.platform.processor.cab file contains isqlw35.exe, a program that implements SQL Server Compact 3.5 Query Analyzer. It also contains sqlceerr35lang.dll, which provides error descriptions for use during development. To use SQL Server Compact 3.5 Query Analyzer, install sqlce.repl.platform.processor.cab.

Hope this helps,
Krip

Categories: Windows Mobile_, SQL Server_

Windows Mobile 6 for T-Mobile Ameo Available

T-Mobile have released an upgrade to Windows Mobile 6 for their Ameo (both UK and German). Get the UK version here.

-Krip

Categories: Windows Mobile_

Office Mobile 6.1 Available

Office Mobile 6.1 is now available for WM5 and WM6 devices. It supports the new file format introduced in Office 2007. Download it here.

-Krip

Categories: Windows Mobile_, Office_