IBM backs OpenCL by releasing a Linux SDK

Looks like OpenCL is picking up steam with Big Blue's support:
MAINFRAME VENDOR IBM has released a Linux development kit for the Open Computing Language OpenCL.

Is Math overrated in programming

Maybe but you can never know enough IMO.
"Math is the new Sanskrit, the new Latin." He believes we overestimate the value of math as a tool to assess a student's ability.

Why I never recommend DELL computers

This says it all:

In Faulty-Computer Suit, Window to Dell Decline

I've personally worked on my share of Dell PC's where you could actually see the burst capacitors on the motherboard of a pc that fails to boot :(

Handbrake

All software should be as awesome and just work like this. I've used video encoding software in the past like Nero recode and it wasn't half as intuitive and easy to use as this!
Finally found the perfect solution to recode all the flv video files I have laying around to ipod compatible format. I have QuickTime pro but it doesn't read flv files by default. Besides handbrake is pretty fast and uses all 4 cores @ 100% from what I can see.
I used the following guide:
http://www.methodshop.com/gadgets/tutorials/youtuberip/index.shtml

iOS 4 Software Update

With over 100 new features, the free iOS 4 Software Update lets you do some amazing things.
I guess I didn't even blog about this major update yet. Well it's worth upgrading in my opinion just to get some video's from iTunes that refused to play in the past. For example the Julie Zelenski Stanford C++ video's would sync to the ipod but when you actually tried to play them back you would just hear the video and get a black screen for the video :(
Very annoying since I wanted to brush up on my C++ but now I can finally watch these awesome video's on the go :)

DailyTech - Windows 8 to Leverage USB 3.0, Bluetooth 3.0, Facial Login, 3D Display DirectX

DailyTech - Windows 8 to Leverage USB 3.0, Bluetooth 3.0, Facial Login, 3D Display DirectX

Not only is the iPhone 4 not sexy curved anymore but drops more calls now?

I figured Apple had a good reason to made the edges square(to improve reception or put bigger battery inside?) but it looks like it still failed:
Will the new Apple iPhone 4's antenna design contribute to lower signal reception? According to one antenna consultant and PCMag.com tests, it's all in how you hold the phone – or don't.

WG111v2 Version 4.0.0

WOW they finally come out with Win7 drivers after I've been running it over a year now!
Better late than never I guess...
New Features and Enhancements
* Win7 x86 and x64 support (WHQL certified)..Just tried them out and the setup program still don't work right!You have to manually help out Windows find the correct drivers halfways through the install or it will never complete!

US last again in healthcare

Spend 2x as much and still FAIL!
Hopefully the new healtcare plan law will help improve upon this?
U.S. scores dead last again in healthcare study

Developers expect iOS and Mac OS to merge over time

Ars recently took a look at what direction Apple may be headed in for the future of its development platform. Though concrete answers are hard to predict, the truth is that the Cocoa APIs are built on the 20+ year-old NextStep and use Objective-C, a language that until recently lacked many features common to modern development environments, such as automatically managed memory.
Last time I used the iPhone SDK the iPhone still lacked automatically managed memory :(

Identifying iPod models

Handy link to have now that iOS 4 update for iPhone, iPod Touch is out!

This document will help you determine the model of iPod you have. To ensure that your Mac or PC is compatible, check the system requirements for your particular iPod.

Parallels Workstation 4.0 Extreme

Didn't think this was possible after having seen how hit or miss 3D was using VirtualBox and VirtualPC.
Will have to checkout the benchmarks.
The world’s first workstation solution with dedicated graphics for virtualized environments.

For more info here's a cool Intel flash video covering their virtulization methods.

Cut the Military Budget

You know when the current Secretary of Defense tells Congress to stop sending him so much money you got a problem!
Unfortunately, Einseinhower being a military man, seemed to be the last President to realize the dangers of the military industrial complex :(
Today, the United States spends more on its military than during the height of the Cold War. The Soviet Union no longer poses a threat, yet we continue to spend huge sums protecting countries in Europe and Asia. This defense subsidy allows Europeans to provide a level of social welfare far in excess of what the United States offers its citizens. If Germany, France, and Britain bore more of their own defense costs, US tax dollars could go elsewhere, or nowhere.

Single core performance is still king

This is directed to all the multi-core lovers out there.
But what we notice in the majority of our benchmarking is that no matter how many cores, the results tend to be more limited by the speed of the cores than how many there are (obviously there are some multicore tests that do indeed show a difference, but they are the exception rather than the rule).

Apple Releases OS X 10.6.4 Update

Get it while it's fresh!
download here
The following fixes/updates (among other things) are included with this release:

* improves compatibility with some Braille displays
* resolves an issue that causes the keyboard or trackpad to become unresponsive
* resolves an issue that may prevent some Adobe Creative Suite 3 applications from opening
* addresses issues copying, renaming, or deleting files on SMB file servers
* improves reliability of VPN connections
* resolves a playback issue in DVD Player when using Good Quality deinterlacing
* resolves an issue editing photos with iPhoto or Aperture in full screen view
* resolves an issue with Parental Controls Time Limits for Open Directory or Active Directory users
* resolves a display sleep issue with MacBook Pro (Early 2010) computers
* resolves an issue with MacBook Pro (Early 2010) computers in which the right speaker may sound louder than the left speaker
* includes Safari 5.0; for more information about Safari 5.0
* security improvements

Just in case:
Inevitable Mac OS X 10.6.4 update problems surface

Intel® Rapid Storage Technology

If you are running an Intel DP35DP like I am you probably don't want to install the new Intel® Rapid Storage Technology 9.​​6.​​0.​​1014 software.
I was getting random mouse freezing for like a second or so, sort of like when you got an IRQ conflicts in the old days, for those that rememeber, and it was quite irritating!
Problem solved by removing the Intel® Matrix Storage Manager software!
The drivers themselves seem fine since I left those alone. It's just the software. Must do some sort of polling that's causing the system freezes I"m thinking.

Why it's time to ditch awful HD 1080p widescreens

WHEN IT COMES TO MONITORS, the major LCD screen vendors seem to be playing us for suckers.

New mac mini

Wow wasn't expecting this big of a change!
Doesn't look anything like the one I bought just a year ago:
Introducing the new Mac mini. Redesigned in a very big way.

Singularity

All aboard the Singularity train now?

Study: highly-rated professors are. . . overrated

highly-rated = over-rated

OMFG I could've told you that from all the college classes I've taken not to mention the basic bullshitter principle.
If there isn't a BS principle like Occam's razor there should be. It goes something like this:
The person that does a better job of dishing out bullshit tends to be rated higher, liked better, etc over their peers!
This tends to work in politics, jobs, getting the girl, etc...
Or another way of saying I guess would be highly-rated usually over-rated except in rare instances.

About leadership

Wow this is awesome and one of the best quotes I've ever come across if true:
Often Steve Jobs has said, "Management tends to be about persuading people to do things they do not want to do, while leadership is about inspiring people to do things they never thought they could."

After attacks, Adobe fixes Flash bug

If you are using Flash you probably want to download and install this asap!
Less than a week after fielding reports that hackers were targeting a bug in its Flash Player software, Adobe Systems has rushed out a fix for the problem.

Adobe's new 10.1 Flash update, released Thursday, fixed a bug that was first spotted via a small number of targeted attacks late last week.

Hacker turns in Hacker

Why am I not suprised?

Lamo, who once hacked Microsoft and The New York Times, claims that he was only doing the right thing. He states, "I wouldn’t have done this if lives weren’t in danger.
I'm sure the fact that he's a convicted criminal himself and dealt with the FBI in the past had nothing to do with it ;)

Open-Source Could Mean an Open Door for Hackers

Makes sense. All it takes is a better programmer to take the source code and make it do as they please :)
A new analysis suggests that attackers exploit open-source software flaws faster and more effectively.
Still doesn't explain Apple though since they also publish the Darwin source code for all to see?

Finally an alternative to overpriced SSD drives

Powerful, intelligent, affordable–Solid state hybrid drives deliver SSD-like performance without sacrificing storage capacity and affordability.

Mac OS X Steam Performance: Half Life 2 Episode 2, Still Slower than Windows

Well at least it's a good start.
Now that Steam is available for the Mac there are benchmarks out now comparing performance against Windows.
Bottom line is that Windows is still best OS for gamers as anyone with a clue would already know!
To Valve’s credit, at least on current generation Macs, Steam engine games are absolutely playable. It supports Apple’s whole “it just works” mantra. You’re just better off running them in Windows if you have the option. Although I will admit that the convenience of not having to reboot is sometimes worth the frame rate penalty, at least for shorter gaming sessions. If I’m going to be playing for more than 20 minutes, then a reboot is more than worth it.

Adobe Announces Critical Vulnerability for Flash, Steve Jobs Likely Saying "Told Ya So"

I wonder if anyone at WWDC next week is gonna bring this up just so Jobs can say I told ya so LOL:
Exploit attacks Flash Player 9 and 10 as well as Reader/Acrobat 9.x
Personally Acrobat 9 has been getting on my nerves for last couple of months since it's painfully slow to open even on my quadcore!
I think it has something to do with having installed my Wacom tablet. Seem like it does some extra checking now that it opens any pdf :(

Bush's Glib Waterboarding Admission Sparks Outrage

WOW what can you say about an admission like this other than post it in his own words:
"Yeah, we waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed," Bush told a Grand Rapids audience Wednesday, of the self-professed 9/11 mastermind. "I'd do it again to save lives."-George W. Bush

Why Google's Windows Ban Doesn't Make Sense

I beg to differ.
It's like saying you are no more likely to survive a plane crash than a car crash.
While that may be true it doesn't change the current reality that you are more likely to die in a car crash than a plane crash as it stands.
Analysis: Was Windows really the weak link in the Chinese hackers' attack on Google?

Another Microsoft blunder

I would've killed back in 2001 when I bought my first iPod to get a hold of some Apple shares since I knew right then that Apple was onto something.
On the other hand, Microsoft, which happened to have some extra cash laying around, once again didn't have a clue at the time:
All told, Microsoft spent a little over $151 million to acquire 18.2 million shares of Apple stock, for roughly $8.31 per share. Microsoft confirmed that it sold all of its AAPL holdings some time ago, and likely did so at a healthy profit—after all, AAPL has traded significantly higher than $8 for many years. But what if Microsoft had held on to that investment just a little longer?
I bet whoever had the power to sell those stocks at Microsoft feels like a total twit!

HP announces billion colour monitor

FLOGGER OF EXPENSIVE PRINTER INK HP is selling the newest entrant to its performance series of LCD monitors, the ZR30w, which it says displays over one billion colours.
Will need to get this to replace my current 24" LCD :)

Magic quantum wand does not vanish hard math

Why am I not suprised.
It's like hoping a quantum computer will make understanding quantum mechanics easier. Not gonna happen LOL!
In the end, they conclude that NP-complete problems are just as hard on an adiabatic quantum computer as on a classical computer. And, since earlier work showed the equivalence between different variants of quantum computers, that pretty much shuts down the possibility of any quantum computer helping with NP-complete problems.

Google kicks out Microsoft Windows

Actually, when I visited the main Google campus not long ago I just remember seeing everyone using Apple laptops and don't even remember seeing any Windows machines so I don't know why this is news?
Google kicks out Microsoft Windows

Planck found in 'Euler's Identity' Crop Circle?!

My math post for the month :)
Planck found in 'Euler's Identity' Crop Circle?!

Another reason not to get an iPad

AT&T pulls a switcheroo on 3G iPad users
Only reason I was even recommending it for people living out in the boonies where satellite or Clearwire is only other alternative :(

The dirty truth about computer security

I think this single sentence explains it best:
The message here seems clear: If even Google's employees—some of the most sophisticated computer users in the world—can't be trusted to use Windows safely, how can anyone?
And if you doubt the level of computer sophistication at Google just Google Peter Norvig's comments on programmers that work there and how good they are with C++ :)

List of known issues when you install SQL Server on Windows 7 or on Windows Server 2008 R2

Very handy to have if you need to install SQL:
This article describes the known issues when you install Microsoft SQL Server on a computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2.

Notes

* For all editions except express edition of SQL Server 2008 running on Windows 7 and on Windows Server 2008 R2, you must have at least SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 (SP1) installed. Express edition already includes Service Pack 1.
* For all editions of SQL Server 2005 running on Windows 7 and on Windows Server 2008 R2 , you must have at least SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3 (SP3) installed.
* In this article, Windows 7 indicates the client version of Windows 7. Windows Server 2008 R2 indicates the server version of Windows 7.

How to determine and to recover from Winsock2 corruption in Windows Server 2003, in Windows XP, and in Windows Vista

What to do if the Winsock registry keys are damaged or corrupted.
You know if:
Additionally, you may have no IP address or no Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA) address, and you may be receiving IP packets but not sending them.

Rosetta Code

Awesome programming resource for comparing different programming languages:
Rosetta Code is a programming chrestomathy site. The idea is to present solutions to the same task in as many different languages as possible, to demonstrate how languages are similar and different, and to aid a person with a grounding in one approach to a problem in learning another. Rosetta Code currently has 396 tasks, and covers over 200 languages, though we do not (and cannot) have solutions to every task in every language. (Though you can help with that!)

A variety of tasks are listed, and visitors to this site are invited to solve the tasks in the language of their choice. The tasks cover everything from the mundane Empty Program to the classic Towers of Hanoi, the practical User Input, the mathematically-inclined Lucas-Lehmer test, and the involved yet entertaining RCRPG.

In graphics: Supercomputing superpowers

Coolest thing I've seen in a long time!
Treemaps rule!
* A treemap is a way of analysing large amounts of data in a small space
* In this example the top 500 supercomputers have been depicted in proportion to their speed as of 31 May

SQL Server 2008 R2 Express Database Size Limit Increased to 10GB

Seems like Microsoft is giving everyone another reason to upgrade to the latest version of SQL Express.
Was the database size limit changed for previous versions of SQL Server Express?

No, the database size limit in previous versions of SQL Server Express (including SQL Server 2005 Express and SQL Server 2008 Express) stays unchanged at 4GB.

Justice Sonia Sotomayo I like

Finally, it seems that we got someone with some sense on the court!
Court rule on Miranda rights - Suspects must say they want to be silent
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the court's newest member, wrote a strongly worded dissent for the court's liberals, saying the majority's decision "turns Miranda upside down."

"Criminal suspects must now unambiguously invoke their right to remain silent - which counterintuitively, requires them to speak," she said. "At the same time, suspects will be legally presumed to have waived their rights even if they have given no clear expression of their intent to do so. Those results, in my view, find no basis in Miranda or our subsequent cases and are inconsistent with the fair-trial principles on which those precedents are grounded."
Why am I not suprised the self-contradictory circular logic was lost on the majority of the court?

Well it just gives more justification to the dozens of websites that already suggest to keep your trap shut when speaking to the cops other than to say you want you lawyer if you are being detained.