Thermalright True Copper Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Heatsink – Limited Edition
Dragonsteel Mods :: Monday, December 08, 2008
AcousticPC (has sent me over the Thermalright True Copper Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Heatsink – Limited Edition, or TRUE Copper for review. This thing is huge, coming in at 1900Grams or about 4lbs, it’s enough to bust some motherboards, but if your board can handle it then get it as it will provide the best cooling performance of any air cooled CPU cooler on the market today, and most likely in the foreseeable future as well. AcousticPC is a company that I can relate to, I like my PC to be as quiet as possible, and silence is what AcousticPC specializes in, you can find most anything to make your PC as silent as possible. AcousticPC was nice enough to not only provide the TRUE Copper for review, but they also sent over a couple of the new Noctua NF-P12 fans to use with it for a truly silent and high performance cooling solution for your CPU.
Real World Linux Use – What To Test In Live Mode
PC Mechanic :: Monday, December 08, 2008
In this series I’m going to covers the ins and outs of using Linux as your primary home computer operating system. It will cover in a realistic sense what you can and moreover cannot do with it. Please Login or Register to read the rest of this article. Gold/Silver Membership required. Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.
Knowing About EXIF And Your Privacy [Photography]
PC Mechanic :: Monday, December 08, 2008
EXIF is the EXchangeable Image File format and is used by digital cameras to store information about the photos you take. Everything and the kitchen sink (figuratively speaking of course) is stored every time you take a photo. Here are two examples of EXIF data using the Flickr service:  View EXIF "meta" data  View EXIF "meta" data You’ll notice that the two photos differ significantly as far as the EXIF data is concerned. In addition to the time and date, the make/model of digital camera is given along with all available photo information as well. In 2005 (the first photo), I had an Olympus D-535 camera. The second was taken recently with my Fujifilm Finepix A820. Two different cameras, two totally different sets of settings based on environment and what my point-and-shoot digital cam "thought" was best for each shot. Both photos are also geotagged, meaning they both contain GPS coordinates stating exactly (more or less) where each photo was taken. To note: No, I don’t have one of those super-duper-pooper expensive digital cameras that records GPS positional information. Rather I manually enter in positional information using Flickr’s map function using point-and-click or entering manual coordinates. Concerning your privacy With online photo services like Flickr and Picasa, you can opt whether or not to have this information shown. Maybe you have a super-secret way of taking photos and don’t want people to know how you took specific shots. Maybe you simply don’t want people to know when you took specific photos. Hiding the EXIF data is the way to do that. Concerning the geotagged locations, the vast majority of digital cams are not GPS-enabled (and if yours is, trust me, you would know). Flickr does have privacy options to only let specific people (i.e. your "friends" list) know where shots were taken if you geotag. Or you can simply not geotag photos at all. I’m not familiar with Picasa’s way of geotagging privacy but if anyone has info on that, feel free to chime in with a comment on their options. Also remember: If you e-mail a photo to someone direct from your digital cam, all the EXIF data is present within the file(s). This information can be seen even in the standard Windows Explorer as a column. If you don’t want this information shown for whatever reason, you need to bring the file into an image editor and re-save it to remove the EXIF data. Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.
Backing Up An Entire Flickr Account [Windows]
PC Mechanic :: Monday, December 08, 2008
While it’s true the Desktop Flickr Organizer for Linux can’t be beat as far as backing up your Flickr account is concerned, I was searching for a way to do the same in Windows and yes, I found a way. The app is called Downloadr. It is very basic but it does the job it’s supposed to do and furthermore doesn’t crash like flickredit does. The way to back up your entire Flickr account (meaning all photos including private ones) is to do this: In your preferred web browser, login to your Flickr account first. Launch Downloadr. Click Extras then Authenticate (this will launch the flickr.com site in your preferred browser) In the browser, instruct Flickr to “OK, I’LL ALLOW IT” to authenticate the Downloadr app to access your account. In Downloadr, click Extras then Complete backup. If all goes well, this is what happens: Above: Clicking Extras then Authenticate to authenticate Downloadr to your Flickr account. Above: After clicking Extras then Complete backup you get this window. All you have to do is click the big Backup now button at the bottom. Above: Downloadr is backing up your entire Flickr account. Final notes: For each time you run a complete backup you must Authenticate via Downloadr each time for it to work. It’s a minor annoyance but only takes a few clicks. And yes, this will work on large Flickr accounts without crashing. As you see from the above screen shot I have 1000+ photos. For a Flickr account that’s somewhat large (although some have several thousand photos). Downloadr was able to get everything without a problem. Yes, it took a long time to get it all – but the fact is it did get them all without complaint. Downloadr is here and freeware: from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.
Listen To Your Favorite Radio Station Online
PC Mechanic :: Monday, December 08, 2008
Most everyone probably has a favorite radio station, FM or AM (unless you only listen to CD’s or satelite radio), they like to listen to while driving in the car, running, or whatever. Well, if you are ever at your computer and want to tune in, look no farther than the Internet. Virtually all radio stations have a web page and, typically, offer an online stream of their broadcast. This is a great way to listen to shows or music anytime. The best thing is you are not limited to only what your radio picks up, you can tune in to any radio station in any city by just visiting their page. The quality, while it is not crystal clear, is usually good, but this depends a lot on the stream offered by the station. Unfortunately one thing you cannot listen to on the online stream are any sporting events they may carry (baseball, football, etc.) due to blackout rules. Believe me, I have tried many times on many different online stations. Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.
Web Browsers Put To The Test
PC Mechanic :: Monday, December 08, 2008
When it comes to browsers, you have many options (listing a few): Firefox, IE, Safari, Opera and now Chrome. While the browser you prefer is simply that, personal perference, it is interesting to read reviews of how well they perform when compared to each other. ExtremeTech recently ran an article which tests these browsers called ‘Which Web Browser is King?‘. While the article is an interesting read, if you want to cut to the results here they are (note, the point system is explained in the article): Based on our arbitrary score assignments, Google Chrome is the speed king: Google Chrome—30 points Mozilla Firefox—20 points Opera—10 points Did not place: IE7, Safari These are pretty object tests, but speed isn’t always the most important thing to consider when choosing a browser as, again, it boils down to whichever one you like the best. Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.
Only Buy From Reputable Online Retailers
PC Mechanic :: Monday, December 08, 2008
If you are doing your shopping online, be vary wary. This time of year is notorious for taking advantage of naive online shoppers as ’scammers’ will throw up junk sites hoping to capture your credit card info or take your money and give you nothing but headaches. If you are going to buy expensive items online, make sure you are purchasing them from a reputable retailers (or eBay sellers). Here are a few warning signs which might let you know an online site is not on the ‘up and up’: Price is significantly lower than anywhere else. You cannot find any information about the retailer online (you can try doing a Whois search to see how long the domain has been in existence). Thrown together looking site. This is not necessarily a warning sign, but someone looking to take advantage of naive buyers probably will not put together an impressive site. No contact phone number or the phone number goes to someone’s answering machine. Again, these are just a few things to be wary of. Personally, I stick to sites like Amazon and the like as it is worth it to pay a little bit extra to _know_ you are going to get the item… and can return it if needed. Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.
Real World Linux Use – Picking The Right Distro
PC Mechanic :: Monday, December 08, 2008
In this series I’m going to covers the ins and outs of using Linux as your primary home computer operating system. It will cover in a realistic sense what you can and moreover cannot do with it. Please Login or Register to read the rest of this article. Gold/Silver Membership required. Post from: PCMech. Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On And Live The Digital Lifestyle.
Digital Photography Gifts: Image Editors, Kids’ Cameras
PC World :: Monday, December 08, 2008
Dave’s annual gift-giving recommendations: photo editors, kid-friendly cameras, and how-to books.
Go Whole-Hog This Holiday with the Piggly Christmas Edition Game
PC World :: Monday, December 08, 2008
Even piglets love Mom and apple pie, so help Mrs. Piggly gather the ingredients to make a Christmas pie for her children. Serve yourself a generous helping of this attractive and enjoyable game.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 Digital Camera
PC World :: Monday, December 08, 2008
The Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 camera is smaller and lighter than an SLR, but not by much–and it costs more than many low-end SLRs do.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1: Dawn of the Mini-DSLR
PC World :: Monday, December 08, 2008
There’s no doubt the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 camera–the first to use the Micro Four-Thirds System–is revolutionary. But our review suggests you may be better off buying a “real” DSLR for now.
Stop a Berserk Santa in Santa’s Breakout
PC World :: Monday, December 08, 2008
Santa’s flying by with a chip on his shoulder and a mean throwing arm for snowballs. Can you save angels and presents to make it a truly happy holiday?
Ziibii for IPhone
PC World :: Monday, December 08, 2008
Admit it, you’re drowning in a sea of friends, photos and feeds and need a lifeline. Ziibii lassos updates from many of the…
Installing Vista SP2 Beta
PC World :: Monday, December 08, 2008
Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Beta is here. Are there any installation surprises you should know about?
Apple LED Cinema Display
PC World :: Monday, December 08, 2008
Apple’s new LED Cinema Display is the company’s first display designed specifically for use with its laptop line. The new…
Apple LED Cinema Display
PC World :: Monday, December 08, 2008
Apple’s new LED Cinema Display is the company’s first display designed specifically for use with its laptop line.
Facebook 2.0 for IPhone
PC World :: Monday, December 08, 2008
In my review of Facebook 1.1, I was pretty impressed with the iPhone version of the social-networking site. With Facebook 2.0…
