RMstudents Technology meets medical education

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzXy2c83VuU

I haven't been so happy with Battlestar Galactica but I'm very confident Avatar won't disappoint.

Also, this poster rocks.

So Intel has cut prices on its processors, some by 50%! For instance, the Q6700 (one model above my Q6600) sold for $530 just a month ago. That's actually why I went with the Q6600 (which I picked up for $200 at Microcenter), the only difference between the two is the multiplier on the Q6700 is x10, whereas the Q6600 is x9.

Well now Intel has cut the price from $530 to $266! Of course because of market forces the chip's actually selling for $300 (like on NewEgg)... but it wasn't that long ago that Intel announced a similar price cut on the Q6600 and it too sold at $300 and now it can be had for less than $200. There are also new Penryn Desktop (Wolfdale) chips announced like the e8300 which should be a sub-$200 45nm dual core chip.

In short, more bad news for AMD.

Anyone remember this scene from Robocop (there was no YouTube video):

Dick Jones directs Kinney to threaten ED-209. Kinney points a gun at the robot.]

ED-209: PLEASE PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPON. YOU HAVE 20 SECONDS TO COMPLY.

Dick Jones: I think you'd better do what he says, Mr. Kinney.

[Alarmed, Kinney quickly tosses the gun away. ED-209 growls menacingly.]

ED-209: YOU NOW HAVE 15 SECONDS TO COMPLY.

If you remember, ED-209 then ripped Mr. Kinney a new one. Thus the Robocop program was made possible who ultimately took Dick Jones (OCP executive board member) down. Man I loved that movie.

It's scary how well Intel has been moving. For such a giant company they've become very organized and agile.

Anandtech takes on the e8500, and of course it is nothing short of amazing. 4.5Ghz on water cooling. I don't need that much speed, but boy do I want it. And here's more proof that Intel is pretty much "set" for the next 4-5 years. Even if they screw up this Intel Atom launch, and all the other things they're getting into, they can surely depend on this nice tick-tock model they've got going:

Jonathan, you wanted an update. Here it is. Just saw some good news at Gizmodo. Let's pretend that this binary star does explode in a manner that releases gamma rays at Earth .. given that it's 8000 light years away, it means we still have plenty of time to find a means of getting out of this place. Oh and wait, it won't be our problem anyway.

There's so much to talk about (to myself I guess), like Intel's branding of Silverthorne and Menlow as Atom and Atom Centrino respectively, and my experiences so far with the quad core I put in. Yes, that's right, I bought a quad core, for $200! (Microcenter ftw). Well all in due time.. and due time = when finals are over and I've caught up with life.

update:

I am really behind in my reading and I can't make this as long as I'd like to. This is more for myself (sort of something I can look back on), as is most of the blog I guess.

whatever happened with your 8800GT?

Slipped in the 8800GT a while ago, and although my PC is louder, it also kicks more ass than before. I've included a picture of the card as well as a comparison between it and my old 7600GT. (the 7600gt is the shorter one). Note also that my 7600GT was rigged for silent running (made possible due to it's 2-slot design which had a giant heatsink (on the GPU) whereas the 8800GT has a dedicated fan.

8800GT

7600gt vs 8800gt (it's so long!)

This is all possible thanks to Janelle!

Do you remember Dr. Lipschitz from Rugrats? The one who kept pushing his self-help book about raising children? Well, our very own lung physiology professor ... (must be registered with RMStudents.com to see the 2nd picture, thanks again to Janelle for that tip)

and

One of my favorite game series of all time, Zelda, has grown (in terms of characters) ever since the N64 iteration. By the way the N64 Zelda, Ocarina of Time, is arguably the best Zelda game. Anyway, it was in that game where I was first introduced to the Goron race. They're a proud race, who put loyalty and honor above all else. Uh, what else... oh they're big, and they like to live in mountains and dig out caves and whatnot.

So today in lecture Jaimin pointed out what should've been obvious... our GI professor Dr. Zbilut shares an uncanny resemblance to Gorons. Thanks Jaimin. You decide for yourself:

and

For fans of Half-Life and Half-Life 2, this audio clip will have you laughing: http://kotaku.com/347004/gordon-freeman-pours-heart-out-on-coast-to-coast

 
For those not in the know, basically the person's called radio show and pretended to be the main character in Half-Life and its sequels. He keeps true to his character in the sense that where he works and what he does and who his friends are have all been lifted directly from the game. That last bit about working on portal technology is also part of the Orange Box, an excellent game called Portal. I recommend checking out Portal's trailer to get a better understanding of what that game is about.

So my nVidia 8800GT finally arrived. Funny how it arrives on the day we have an informational financial aid meeting advising us not to spend our money on frivilous items. Anyway, why is this card so great?

Similar to how Intel and AMD go through die shrinks, nVidia is in the process of moving its line of cards to a new 65nm proces (down from 90nm). All the usual advantages are here: less heat, more speed, more features (stream processors), and of course, cheap! nVidia said these cards would sell for $250. There was just one problem: the cards were too good.