Articles

We have put together a short article outlining the basic details of Blu-ray technology. Consider this a companion piece to the GeekSpeak interview with Sony

We will add to this review in the coming weeks with more information about our testing along with impressions of Blu-ray technology.

Can a computer be sleek, stylish, and fast enough to drive the latest games? More specifically, is a Shuttle XPC SD37P2 barebone box adequate for an enthusiast gamer? The Geeks have documented their Shuttle computer builds in the past; see Dedi's Athlon XP-based SN41G2 and Sean's take on the same machine, but a lot can happen in three years. Miles reviews Shuttle's latest Core 2 Duo powered XPC SD37P2 barebone PC.

Miles reviews Shuttle's latest Core 2 Duo powered XPC SD37P2 barebone PC.

Adaptec GameBridge TV turns your PC or notebook computer into a gaming box by allowing you to take the output of your game console (PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360, or GameCube) and connect it to our computer. It can also be used to save and store the video it captures on your computer, making it easy to take screenshots and capture many glorious video game moments for both good (game reviews and lasting memories) and bad purposes (archiving embarrassing game moments and blackmail). Archived images and videos can then be stored on CDs and DVDs.

Using RSS will change the way you use the web. In this article Dedi has written a brief primer on RSS.

Personal Video Recorders (PVR) are a wonderful way to match your time and TV desires. Plextor's PX-TV402U PVR is a fine solution for getting content onto your computer. We review the Macintosh version of the Plextor ConvertX PVR.

On Monday, after much weekend fun, Geek John Tracy tackled the repair of his broken Apple Power Book Ti. John graciously took pictures and wrote up entire process of fixing a broken PowerBook LCD hinge

Apple's Powerbook Ti computer is a lightweight laptop with an ultra-sleek, visually appealing design, but what happens when the hinge on the Powerbook's oh-so-slim display is accidentally bent backwards and busted?

In this article, our very own John Tracy, Mac Geek Extraordinaire, provides a glimpse into the nightmare world of getting one fixed.

Comic Con is more than just a place to see the latest book, toy, movie and video game offerings, it's a place to meet and speak with the people who make them possible -- the creators, visionaries and people behind the scenes. With that in mind, we made a point to meet with several artists and writers to discuss the new creations they brought to the show and the projects that are lined up in the future.

Of course, there are others who make the books you see happen, so we also took this opportunity to highlight a few of our favorite comic store owners and publishers as well. We also look at the Eisner Awards -- the comic book industry's equivalent of the Oscars.

Comic Con is known for the creators and talent that are attracted by the large number of fans in attendence. Hollywood plays a big role in these programs, sending producers, directors and stars to speak with the fans and to unveil sneak previews and advanced information. Of the more than one hundred panels offered, GeekSpeak attended many, but found the panels on Ray Bradbury, Firefly: Serenity, Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars and Rob Zombie's: The Devil's Rejects to be the most interesting.

There is much more than just comic books at Comic Con. In fact, there are a great many toys and statues. Here is a Photo Blog of some of the best coming your way soon.

The 35th Annual Comic Con was held in San Diego, the city where it began. Comic Con 2004 ran from Wednesday, July 21 through Sunday, July 25, at the San Diego Convention Center. GeekSpeak was there getting hip-deep in the geekness of the festivities.

Seagate's first-generation Serial ATA hard drive, the Barracuda Serial ATA V, has been kicking around the GeekSpeak Lab for over a year. We've used it in several computers and have really put the drive to task, filling it up with data and then reformatting it and repeating. The one thing that became apparent throughout the process was its noise, or lack therof. This is truly one very quiet hard drive! In this article, we look at the technologies behind Seagate's successful Barracuda hard drives and put this particular drive to the test.

Hard drive capacities have ballooned to hundreds of gigabytes while newfangled connection technologies - like the spiffy new Serial ATA connector - continue to surface. Have you ever wondered how hard drives work? Or how areal density relates to a drive's size and speed? What does Serial ATA mean for legacy hard drive connections like Ultra ATA and the millions of existing hard drives that use the Ultra ATA standard? Is SCSI doomed to die? This article, while light on the speculation, heaps up a hefty serving of detailed information and cold, hard facts regarding hard drive technologies. If you’ve ever been confused about hard drive connection technologies, or just wondered how they work, then this is the article for you.

Getting a new computer does not mean you have to trash your old one. There are a lot of options available to you. Our producer, Maggi, received this information from the County of Santa Cruz Public Works Department and it is a great start in finding a new home for your old stuff.

Any geek can make music with Acid 4.0 although we make no claims that said music will be good - or even bearable. To steal an analogy from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Acid 4.0 merges an 80's sampler keyboard and your computer all "wrapped around a gold brick with a slice of lemon." It's richly featured and quite tasty. Delve into the world of free-form music and learn how to become an "artist"!

Shuttle has built a sexy little beast of a box called the Shuttle XPC that is fast becoming popular. While Shuttle offers these machines in a few different flavors, supporting both the Intel Pentium 4 and AMD Athlon XP processors, it's the Shuttle XPC model SN41G2 that stands out among the rest. Shuttle's decision to use NVIDIA's nForce2 chipset and the numerous features technologies it supports including USB 2.0, FireWire, integrated dual-monitor video, S-Video output, and Dolby Digital audio puts this machine on par with more expensive systems offered by larger retailers. In fact, this system is not only smaller than most, it out innovates them by conveniently including access to these connection technologies on both the front and back of the box!

In this article, we took far too many photographs to show you how easy these little Shuttle XPCs can be built and equipped and we outline just how affordable a cutting-edge machine can truly be.

Forget about tape backup, Zip disks, Orb drives, memory sticks, USB key chains, CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, DVD-RAM and all of the other slow, unreliable, and limited storage solutions that litter the PC landscape. The computer industry is latching on to a new "solution" that combines high capacity storage with very fast read and write speeds, a "solution" that can be plugged and unplugged while a computer is running and one that is capable of powering devices through the very cable it sends data through. Enter the portable hard drive with FireWire connectivity.

A listener emailed the geeks for a "cheap computer" recommendation. Our uber-geek Dedi responds with a technical description of her most recent computer purchace. Sean also lends a few words.

ATI showed off its latest crop of RADEON video cards at GDC. And even though the latest RADEON video silicon is based heavily on the previous version's chips, with a few underlying modifications and speed enhancements, the bottom line is ATI's RADEON continues to deliver the extreme gaming performance and is much sought after by the enthusiast gaming community because of it. At the show, ATI made it known publicly and loudly that its current crop of RADEON video cards support Microsoft's newest DirectX 9.0 technology, a technology that will enable game developers to design the next-generation of "Toy Story"-like games over the next 2-3 years. Read more to learn what ATI has in store for 2003.

Nokia provided details about the Nokia N-Gage, a mobile 3D gaming device that is approximately the size of a Nintendo GameBoy Advance. It contains advanced cell phone features, MP3 music storage and playback, an FM tuner, and much, much more. Technophiles: don't dismiss this as just another gaming device without first taking a closer look.