Why tablets (iPad, Android) are not for me

Over the past couple months, I have had a few chances to use tablets. In fact, I bought a number of them(iPad, Playbook, Android HoneyComb and Froyo) and found myself returning them within a few days. While they can be used for browsing, playing simple games, watching videos etc, there is a lot that cannot be done:

• Typing like a regular keyboard
• Using a spreadsheet
• Keeping my neck more less straight
• Multi-tasking ( works more less well on the Android and Playbook, but less automatic switching like in Windows)
• Proper browsing - the mouseover function is brilliant; let us not forget the ease of double clicking a word and then right click - "Open in a new tab" etc. 
• Simple connection to a monitor or TV ( again it was possible with the Android and Playbook devices, but I never got a mini-HDMI cable ) 
• Keeping the screen clean!

AMD A10-5800k Reviews

I have been trying to find the best settings for overclocking my AMD A10-5800k Trinity. While I can reach 4.7GHz with the CPU on air, I haven't been very lucky with the iGPU only reaching 1050 Mhz. I believe the latter will translate to a more important performance boost when gaming. Given I paired the 7660d with a Radeon 6770 DDR3, games in DirectX 11 perform well, however I should make a comparison to see which GPU actually performs better. For example, The Witcher 2 is a DX9 game. It is quite demanding on the GPU. In the AMD Performance Monitor, I see that the 6770 is almost fully loaded, while the 7660d does not seem to be used at all. Given my system RAM is 2133MHz and the iGPU can overclock, I may get an improvement from using the 7660d alone.

This article on overclocking by tamjinhang is excellent. Given the BIOS configuration for each motherboard is different, you will have to adjust accordingly.

Tweaking of the voltage and the frequencies is time consuming and can be frustrating. I wish that there were a simple version of Linux used only for testing benchmarks and stability of an overclocked system. Windows 8 doesn't deal well with multiple reboots without proper recoveries : not uncommon when overclocking.

While I like the concept of Dual Graphics, there doesn't seem to be enough titles out there that justify DX 11. The chicken and the egg debate continues.


The articles below are not all linked to the first page of the articles. Hover you mouse cursor above to see the publisher URL.

As for the articles on the AMD A10-5800k, here they are :

Vortez Tony Le Bourne

PC World New Zealand Review: AMD A10-5800K

AMD Trinity A10-5800K Review - Testing & Conclusions | Widescreen Gaming Forum
AMD A10-5800K Unlocked "Trinity" Quad Core APU Review
AMD A10-5800K + Radeon 7660D Tested 
Dual Graphics, Influence mémoire - AMD A10-5800K et A8-5600K : APU desktop, deuxième ! - HardWare.fr
[M] AMD Trinity A10 5800K APU Review
AMD Trinity A10-5800K APU Review 
AMD A10-5800K and A8-5600K APUs for Socket FM2 Review | techPowerUp
AMD 2nd Generation A10 5800 & A8 5600 Desktop APU Review » Page 5 - Test Setup and Overclocking - Overclockers Club
AMD Trinity for Desktops. Part 2: Socket FM2 Platform and AMD A10-5800K Processor Review. Page 10 - X-bit labs 
Review: AMD A10-5800K Dual Graphics evaluation - CPU - HEXUS.net - Page 3
AMD Trinity A10-5800K Review | Pure Overclock
AMD's Trinity APU Efficiency: Undervolted And Overclocked : Trinity: Great Gamer, But What About Power? 
AMD Trinity A10-5800K APUReview | Overclockers
AMD A10-5800K review | Processors Reviews | TechRadar
Rage3D.com : AMD A10 5800K Launch Review [ Battlefield 3 / Sniper Elite v2 ] 
AMD A10-5800K APU Performance Review - Introduction
AMD Trinity: A10-5800K & A8-5600K 2nd Gen APUs | silentpcreview.com
ocaholic - CPU Charts: 29 CPUs - updated AMD A10 5800K 3.8 GHz Trinity - Charts - Reviews 

AMD Trinity Review - AMD vs Intel - A10 5800K vs Core i3 3220
AMD Trinity A10 5800K APU | AMD Trinity A10 5800K APU Review
AMD A10 and A8 Trinity APU: Virgo Desktop Experience - HotHardware
AnandTech - AMD A10-5800K & A8-5600K Review: Trinity on the Desktop, Part 2

If you have any articles that you would like to add, in any language, please do not hesitate to post it in a message below.

China will never use its missiles against Taiwan

Although the majority of this blog is about PC related solving and not politics, I have chose to give myself the opportunity to write about my opinion regarding the question of unification across the Strait of Taiwan.

Unfortunately, I never pursued a doctorate in my field to have a position that would be considered valid in the world of academia regarding the recognition of Taiwan, however, I will still state my opinion in the few following sentences. Although the people of Taiwan have a distinct political history for the past hundreds of years, the greater part of of the culture has been closer to China than it has been to Japan or even to the United States.

Will computers be able to excite me once again?

About 10-15 years ago, I found that computers had little to offer. Yes, the graphics were improving, laser printers were reasonably fast and creating decent page layouts was not a task that required a great deal of technical know-how, however I find myself once again at a point where I realise that the majority of my learning is done through low tech methods : reading print, looking at pictures, going for a hike in different seasons, hanging out with friends, cooking and working with the delicate intricacies of rough or primitive tools and equipment. Understanding how to control a set of variables which are recognizable but not identified is gratifying.

Holding you next to me

If there is one thing that we are not yet able to translate, it would be the expression of love. We have all lived it, yet writing it in another language gives us a sense of failure.

Would I be writing this in code, that would make very, very little sense, however that may be the only language that my device would understand.

The technological dream of machines feeling love from their masters is absurd: we may love our cars, computers, phones or other tools, but objects which have wiring diagrams, predictable behaviours and a wide range of physical limitations are simply uninteresting.

Ads in Windows 8 !

Seeing ads on this blog should not cause an outrage, just about any newspaper, or blog site has them. On my Android device, I have blocked ads, so do I in browser with Adblock Plus.

There is some irony this post. I cannot say that ads provide me any revenue : I have not yet met the minimum number of page views to claim revenue. Microsoft mission is to provide tools to improve productivity. They have succeeded with Windows, office suites and a whole range of products. As for having ads in the weather app, I am not insulted, but a little surprised. I rarely have to make my way to the last section of the weather report, but a phantoms lurks in the background.

Amazon.com Promotional Credit Scam

If you have received a message from Amazon.com for a 5$ of promotional credit, be very very careful.

I just got burned.

The selection to which the credit can be applied is limited to a single product, which I encourage you to look up. There is a 5$ credit that can be used towards a purchase of a product priced at 4.99$ : lo and behold, there is only one product priced at 4.99$.

I should have read more carefully but something really did not seem right. Now I know.

Airports, shops and spending a little bit more than you should

Although you may not meet that many people that you know while at the airport, there is "high school" aspect to the environment. While some may be sleep deprived from flights, other are searching for bragging rights of their travels and other recent material purchases. I am a little bit of hypocrite : I have my 5 year old laptop pulled out to type this post. My reaction to write this post is practicing writing observations with minimal delay. I could in fact just use pen and paper to get it done as quickly.

If smartphones, tablets and other devices are symbolic representations of progress and the advancements of technology, in my opinion they are incentives to initiate a sentiment of envy, make us consume things which are taxing on our lives and the planet.

The phrase "being connected to nature" sounds like a cliché, and it is, however there is some truth to it : it is possible to be stressed in a natural environment due to freezing, yet one can be amazed, and will continue to be amazed for millennia with plants growing, birds singing, animals rutting (including humans), and learning, for the greater part of our interaction with devices is low tech. 

We read, listen and now touch; all these actions are part of basic human existence. We appease to our senses - hopefully we'll continue to do so in the future.

No microphone on Toshiba Satellite - Solution

Some time last year I bought a Toshiba Satellite laptop for my parents. Unfortunately, a change in the software or hardware prevented the internal micrpphone from working.
A headset or external mic plugged in would work, but no dice when going to the Control Panel (in Windows 7) to change the settings of the microphone/recording devices.

SOLUTION : Update the BIOS

Go to the Toshiba Support Centre, choose your model ( you may have to look under the computer, or use the Windows Key + Break), choose the Drivers tab search for BIOS and download the update.

I am not sure if it is a good thing to have the mic re-enabled. I may now have to speak with them over Skype.

TSL Audio File - Extraction and conversion

While the format is not that common, someone may have sent you an audio file with an TSL extension.

When I acquired the Headway ESL books, but had no access to the audio CDs, I searched the Internet for the audio files. I came across a site that hosted the Headway audio files, but was asking a prohibitive 75$ for the software which can read TSL files.

The TSL files are in a format which can be read by Cenix's Power Voice II - It can be downloaded here http://www.cenix.co.kr/cenix/?doc=bbs/gnuboard.php&bo_table=e_customer_data_vr.

The internet, drinking and writing to your ex

The first and last items of the title are the most important. Perhaps I would not be writing this now, had I not consumed a couple glasses of wine, however, I know I think about my ex on a daily basis. We didn't leave on bad terms, however there was a partially mutual agreement that we would not communicate once I found myself in a different geographic space. ( Writing without gender is tricky - should I present my character or the plot and conflict first?) Regardless of the technical challenges of the writing style, I admit that I still have strong feeling for my ex even if almost three years have passed since we have seen each other.

Does that mean that I haven't managed to meet anybody new? Yes and no. Yes because nothing has lasted, and no, because some romantic embraces are in my memory.

Steam's Big Picture - Perfect transition to Window 8

I am surprised with Steam's Big Picture :

• Fast - really fast
• Resembles the Start screen in Windows 8
• More of an icon/app environment, like mentioned in the point above.
• The browser is even quick
• Less is more - not as many details about the games in by viewing the icons

I like it.

Mass Effect 1 - Crash at startup / Configuration

I just got a copy of Mass Effect 1 at Gamer's Gate but couldn't manage to get it to start. It seems that the version that has been out for download has not been patched.

You have to go to BioWare's site to get the Patch 1.02 to get it to work.

Enjoy.

Roman Numerals and Adobe's Acrobat Print Dialog - convert to Arabic ( 1 2 3 etc...)

Roman numerals are simple. However, they take a little more thinking when reading or writing them. In fact, a whole new level of numeracy is required to use them. I as in 1, II as in 2, IIV as in 3, IV as in 4, V as in 5, VI as in 6 etc. X for 10, L as in 50, C as in 100 M, D an in 500 and M as in 1000. But when you have a number like 45682 which becomes MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMDCLXXXII
it gets quite impractical as M is the highest number. Even a year like MCMLXXXIV for 1984 is long to write.



As for printing pages of a document in Acrobat which is encoded/numbered with roman numerals, the document must be saved or modified with a program that will wipe the page numbering scheme. Pages in the print dialog will return to the default format of 1, 2, 3 etc.
I use PDFill Free Tools. I merge two documents together and the page numbers in the print dialog are back to normal.