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As soon as I finish downloading Microsoft Office Ultimate (which I bought for $60 - you need a .edu email address to qualify), I am going to shut down my Thinkpad, remove the hard drive, and install the new hard drive I bought earlier. Then I will put the nlited DVD of Windows XP SP3 (using the original Windows license that came with the Thinkpad) in the drive and hopefully boot to the install screen. If all goes well, I’ll have a clean install on a clean hard drive. I’ve already backed up my data and also have an external USB case for the old hard drive handy.

Gulp. Here goes. I’ll be twittering updates if anyone is curious to follow the progress.

… was awful.

In a nutshell, mystical world existing in parallel to our own, schoolgirl recruited from ordinary life in which she doesn’t fit in, to play a role in prophecy therein. Schoolgirl learns something about herself and changes her attitude. World is saved by love.

Oh and let’s also mention that arrival into new world occurs via immersion in mystical water and then breaking out of a giant cocoon. And girl gets wings.

There is the super badass armor that drinks blood, the ultimate fighter badass who is really a dethroned king, and the bad guy who seeks total annihilation for no good reason.

Throw in some utterly pointless magical ability and some big flying dirgible warships, and a catgirl.

A waste of time all around. Thanks, Netflix Recommendation Engine!

The WD Raptor has long ruled the roost in terms of raw hard drive performance. These are 10,000 RPM drives that are widely used in servers and high performance gaming rigs. They are expensive, and they maxed out at 150 GB if I recall correctly. However, WD is now releasing the next generation, the cleverly named Velociraptor series, and these things are probably the fastest hard drives on earth. But I think the name has a double meaning for WD, because the very existence of this drive is a clear sign that the days of rotating-platter hard drives are soon over. These raptors might be the pinnacle of their evolution, but their breed is going extinct.

That the Velociraptors are awesome drives is not in dispute. Part of their advantage is that these unabashedly desktop-PC-oriented drives actually use notebook-drive technology for better power consumption and speed:

The new VelociRaptor takes an untraditional approach for a desktop HDD with its 2.5″ drive design. The 2.5″ form factor allows the drive to be smaller, lighter, and more power efficient than its 3.5″ rivals.

But what good is a 2.5″ HDD in a desktop system which typically accommodates 3.5″ HDDs? Western Digital addressed that issue by affixing the VelociRaptor to an “IcePack” heatsink which allows the drive to fit into a standard 3.5″ drive bay.
[...]
When it comes to performance, Western Digital promises a 30% increase in performance though is SATA 3Gb/sec interface, 1.4 million MTBF, and Rotary Acceleration Feed Forward (RAFF) to improve performance in vibration-heavy environments.

Using a 2.5 inch drive surrounded by a stabilizing and cooling frame to round out the 3.5 inch enclosure is just brilliant. I think that the 3.5 inch format is itself a dinosaur of sorts - they do rule in raw capacity, but 2.5 inch drives are catching up, and their smaller platter size means they can spin faster and consume less energy.

The idea behind the velociraptors is to compete with solid-state hard drives (SSDs) on performance, while maintaining the cost advantage (at present) of traditional HD technology. And there’s no doubt that these monsters deliver. But as the Extremetech indepth review notes, it represents the pinnacle of hard drive technology. This is the peak of evolution, but SSDs are only just starting to evolve. The new generation of SSDs is on the horizon, and are already faster and cheaper than before, so the value and performance proposition of the VR is going to fall, inevitably.

Consider that SuperTalent is going to release a 120 GB SSD for only $699 shortly. The read speed is going to be rated at 120 MB/sec. As TGDaily notes,

When I bought my 32 GB SSD from Samsung in 2006 and put it inside Q30Plus notebook, SSD drive settled me back for almost $2K. But read speed of 120 MB/s was stuff dreams were made from. Performance of that drive, considered world’s best SSD - was in 35-50 MB/s read range (don’t ask about write). But even that was enough to beat default 1.8″ 4300 rpm drive. Now, imagine putting a 120 MB/s read, 40 MB/s write SSD in your notebook that is currently ran either with 5400rpm or even 7200 rpm HDD.

As the CEO of SuperTalent Joe James notes, SSDs are going to drop in price 50% every 9 months for the forseeable future (call this James’ Law). Couple that with continual improvement in performance as SSD makers gain more and more experience, and you can see the writing on the wall.

The traditional hard drive makers know it too, and products like the VR are only half their response. The other half is to try and buy time through delaying tactics - such as lawsuits:

Seagate Technology, the largest maker of computer hard drives, made a pre-emptive strike against an emerging competitor on Monday when it filed a lawsuit in federal court accusing STEC Inc. of patent infringement.

In the suit, Seagate contends that STEC’s solid-state drive products violate four Seagate patents covering how such drives interface with computers.

STEC, based in Santa Ana, Calif., makes solid-state drives for corporations and other large enterprises, a market that Seagate executives have said the company plans to enter this year.

STEC is a relatively minor player, so this lawsuit is Seagate’s way of testing the waters before going after the bigger fry like Micron and Samsung. It’s a desperation move, and it will fail, but it will give Seagate time to try to catch up.

In 5 years, every notebook will come with an SSD. Traditional hard drives are going to be relegated to cheap desktops, servers, and external drives for backups or NAS. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: The Velociraptor is dethroned from the performance peak.

Major spoiler about finding Earth, if it can be believed:

Read the rest of this entry �

I have to agree with Author that fanservice is a term whose definition brooks no hijacking. The examples he gives of others abusing the term might better be phrased as “brainservice” and “engineerservice”, respectively. Pedantically, it’s [thing whose base needs is being serviced]-service. This is why I invented geekservice as a term; I think the song “it’s good to be a geek” is disturbingly accurate in it’s exploration of the primal forces that truly motivate our kind:

Belonging to multiple categories myself (geek, fan, intellectual, etc) I may be catered by various types of -services in different contexts. For the most part I tend to refrain from fanservice, though with my Ranma viewing entering season 5, I’ve pretty much caught up on my quota.

When my daughter was 3 years old, I bought her this amazing toy called Magnetix, which is basically nothing more than a few large metal marbles and some multicolored plastic rods with magnets at each end. It’s a great toy, letting you build all sorts of nifty geometric shapes, and she really loved it. It’s invaluable as a child-distractor, though she’s already starting to outgrow it.

This takes the idea to the next level - and is definitely not for kids, nor something you will ever outgrow:

That’s brilliant. Forget the rods, just use the balls, and make those magnetic. Is it just me or should this thing be part of every graduate physics curriculum?

Congratulations to Don on his continuing recovery.

Also, the term “kawaii religion” is cool enough that I am stealing google karma for it from Don with this post.

Moot! I’ve got your theory of consciousness right here: consciousness is an emergent property of increasingly complex thought.

Corollary: computation is not, and never will be, a substitute for thought, no matter how bayesian you wanna get.

Corollary 2: thought need not be intelligent.

Now, define thought, and we can call it a day. Chipotle, anyone?

What we know about the four revealed Cylons of the Final Five:

Tyrol - a mechanic crew chief aboard a battlestar. Clearly the best mechanic on the show, and by implication aboard the fleet. Not unreasonable to assume one of the best mechanics in the Colonies overall.

Tori - a political aide. Managed to become aide to the most powerful politician and important civilian leader aboard the fleet.

Anders - former sports superstar turned resistance fighter turned viper pilot. Managed to become the Michael Jordan of his sport, then became a leader in the Caprica resistance, and then a leader in the New Caprica resistance. Now a viper pilot, which is the elite fighter jock corps of the Colonial military.

Tigh - war hero during the Cylon War, best XO in the fleet, most self-destructive alcoholic in the fleet (these latter two things not simultaneously. Call it an Exclusive-OR). Also rose to top leader of resistance on New Caprica.

and, most importantly: all of them managed to 1. survive the Colonial holocaust, 2. get aboard Galactica (even Anders who was left behind), and 3. continued their upwards career trajectories despite fierce competition.

do we see a pattern? clearly, they are overachievers even by the already rarefied standards of the Galactica crew (and the demands of narrative focus). Presumably, the Fifth won’t be a slacker in whatever it is that they do.

There are other major clues, the best being the infamous “Last Supper” photo (click to enlarge):

… which has an empty place setting for the Fifth (and thus implying, with Moore confirming, that none of the other characters pictured are the Fifth, ruling out Baltar, Adama, Roslin, Helo, Apollo, and Starbuck). The Holy Grail is a nice touch, implying that the Fifth has an intimate connection to Earth.

The other major inference we can make is that the Fifth probably already knows that they are a Cylon and has known all along. This is because they did not respond to the Activation song which drew the other Four together. Therefore, the Fifth must be somewhat aloof and a loner, as they are acting to their own agenda and cannot afford personal scrutiny.

I am assuming that the Fifth is aboard Galactica and not aboard some other ship in the fleet, because that’s where all the major characters usually are (and the show is named after her). I suppose it is possible that the Fifth is some random dude aboard the Garbage Schooner or something but this seems unlikely. The Galactica is the nexus of the fleet, and given the likely overachiever status of the Fifth it seems improbable that they’d gravitate anywhere else.

So, who is aboard Galactica, is a major character, an overachiever, has been a bit of a loner and aloof, and is absent from the Last Supper photo?

I think only one character fits: Read the rest of this entry �

Japan’s giant panda, Ling Ling, has died of natural causes:

TOKYO - Japan’s prime minister said Thursday he has asked to borrow some giant pandas from China after Ling Ling, one of the best-loved animals at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo, died of old age this week.

Ling Ling, the only giant panda owned by Japan, died Wednesday at the age of 22 — the equivalent of 70 in human years.

His death came just days ahead of a landmark visit to Tokyo by Chinese President Hu Jintao during which zoo officials are hoping for an agreement that will bring another panda to Japan.

China has a long tradition of offering giant pandas as gifts to foreign governments to improve ties, but now only leases the animals abroad as they are an endangered species.

I’ve only seen a panda once, at the San Diego Zoo. I wanted to visit Ling Ling that one day I had in Tokyo a few years back but just never got around to it.