This is my blog page; some of my ramblings will be here. Feel free to bookmark whichever page you would visit most. The most important PC tech ramblings will appear on my PC page, but there may be a more in depth story here in my blog.
January 5, '09 - Monay - Bunny is back
Back online now and I can update again. Yeeeaaa. 
So far, my pc page and system recommendations have been updated. I also updated my World of Warcraft page. I haven't gotten a chance to update Epic Fail yet, that will be a few days, so you'll just have to hooolllddd yer horses there. Once it does go up though there will be a couple of weeks and a new picture series.
December 26, '08 - Friday - GTX 2xx 55nm dye shrink
It looks like Nvidia is stealth launching a 55nm dye shrink on their 2xx series. It was mentioned recently that a GTX 295 is in the works which will be a dual GPU card, but there was no mention of the 55n shrink reaching the existing GTX 280 and GTX 260. While a dye shrink normally gives a boost in speed, what I call a "half-generational graphics card step" (sometimes refered to in the industry as the "tick" in a "Tick-Tock" cycle), it appears that the cards launched so far are clocked at the same speeds as the existing larger dye cards. So far Evga is the only manufacturer to launch 55nm parts with their GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked edition and the GTX 260 Core 216 base speed edition. With the same speeds performance should be nearly identical between these and older cards. However, the smaller dye processing means the GPU will run at cooler temperatures, thus leading to a lower fan volume (and possibly higher overclocking), so there still should be some gain to the end user. The 55nm cards may also manually overclock to higher points than their larger dye counterpart, so those who enjoy OCing parts after purchase may also see a gain there. Additionally smaller dye cards reduce in price fairly quickly, as the smaller dye has a higher profit margin for the company. Since this was a stealth launch and there is no news about it yet, it is unclear if only the GTX 260 Core 216 models will be refreshed or if this will also extend to the GTX 280s. Logically it should. Keep an eye out for 55nm parts from other companies, as well as a 55nm GTX 280 in the near future.
What seems puzzling is that the two cards launched so far have the same speeds as the original dye size. Normally a half-generational step will be clocked faster and perform better. As example, the series 7 half-generation steps were the 7900 GTX and 7900 GT, boasting slightly faster speeds and better performance than their predecesors the 7800 GTX and 7800 GT. The lack of a name change (this time) could be part of Nvidia's 'name simplification policy' they started with this generation. Hopefully we'll see some new cards showing up with faster clock speeds in the future and sporting new names to easily distinguish them from the original dye size.
December 23, '08 - Tuesday - Year end updates - Link
Week 25 is now done and posted. I also decided to remove my personal part listings on the PC page. I think it just served to confuse some and there is plenty of discussion on what parts you should choose and why. I don't think it's necessary to reference what parts are in my personal system as it may risk confusing some.
Again, Happy Holidays peeps. Hope everyone is having a fun time and feels safe and loved.
December 16, '08 - Tuesday - Woot for updates - Link
Week 24 is now done and posted. I also updated my WoW page.
December 12, '08 - Friday - Intarweb blackout / Epic cheat - Link
Today is the last day I have access to my site until the new year from where I have been updating. It is very likely that from this afternoon until a few days into next year I won't be able to update the site. I will still be able to answer email and be on the boards every day, so there is that. If you have any questions or anything, send an email or board PM.
I've decided to cheat a bit and post the few days of Week 24 that are entered so far.
December 10, '08 - Wednesday - Week 23 / Dear Santa - Link
Week 23 is up in web and .pdf form. I will be unable to update it via my normal method, so this may be the last posting until early in the new year. I will still have access to web / boards / email though every day.
Dear Santa, I can has presents? Here is list. 
December 8, '08 - Monday - Xmas New Years
In case I get locked out from web updates over the winter break I'll say it now... Merry Xmas and Happy New Years peeps!
December 8, '08 - Monday - Dollhouse - Link
zomg a new series by Joss Whedon. The site even has a trailer video up.
December 3, '08 - Wednesday - Warcraft clickie
A new button is up on the menu for my World of Warcraft page. Clickie or don't.
December 3, '08 - Wednesday - Week 22 up - Link
Week 22 is up in web and .pdf form.
December 1, '08 - Monday - WoW pics - Link
There are some new screen shots up at my WoW page.
December 1, '08 - Monday - Various happy things
There are various happy things to report. In shopping news... Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog now has a listing for the DVD. No Blu-ray listing though. The Sony BDP-S350 Blu-ray player is on sale for quite a bit off it's normal price. And I found the coolest dice box evar for gamers.
In gaming news... it seems I won a free month pass at the euphNET gaming center, woot. (More on that in week 22 of Epic Fail.) So, I can play games through all of December. You'll see me there pretty often, mostly on weekends, also occasionally for brief periods during the weeknight afternoons or evenings. I'll put up a rabb1t card on the station I'm on so you know who I am if you come looking for me.
November 26, '08 - Wednesday - Week 21 up - Link
Week 21 is up. Remember, the .pdf is already up, but a bit behind. The .pdf won't 'catch up' on the days it is missing until week 22 is posted next week.
November 25, '08 - Tuesday - euphNET internet gaming center? - Link
I'm going to try and get over to a local Internet gaming center to play this weekend. (Those of you reading Epic Fail already know about that.) Hopefully I can stay all weekend, but it depends on if I get money or not. So far it's looking like I won't have much money to play, maybe none at all. Anyways... if I go over I'll be at euphNET at 612 South Mary Ave. in Sunnyvale, CA, 408 733 3712.
For those who may want to help out teh bunny I'll send euphNET an email and let them know. Maybe those of you who want to help can make a donation and they would let you do a sort of gift card for time for me.
Local peeps can stop by and say hi if ya want. I'll put down a 'rabb1t card' on the system I'm playing at so peeps can find me easier.
November 24, '08 - Monday - Turkey day
In case I don't get a chance to say it later, I'll say it now - Happy Turkey day peeps. I hope everyone is having a fun time off playing games, watching stuffs, spending time with loved ones (and not so loved ones, heh), and that in general everyone is well and feeling loved and appreciated by those around them. Happy holidays peeps.
November 24, '08 - Monday - .pdf early
The .pdf for Epic Fail week 21 is going up a bit early. I have the chance to do it now, but not Wednesday (when I normally do), so it's up a bit early now and it will be missing a few days because of that. (Though those of you super eager to see what's going on could read that version before the web version I suppose. )
As usual the web version of week 21 should be up either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.
November 20, '08 - Thursday - Epic Fail subtitles - Link
Reading Epic Fail? Does a subtitle for a day seem familiar? Check if you are right about where I got it from at the bottom of the index page.
November 20, '08 - Thursday - Nvidia dedicated PhysX with mixed GPUs - Article link, Driver link
Nvidia's newest drivers add support for mixed graphic cards in order to run one as a dedicated PhysX card. While the previous drivers allowed you to run dedicated PhysX on a single card if you had matching cards, the new drivers allow for mixed cards. "How/Why is this a big deal?" You ask. Well, what this means is you can have one card, say you have an 8800 GT, and then you upgrade to a new card, say a 9800 GT. Now, instead of selling the old 8800 GT you can now use both (provided you have an SLI capable motherboard and power supply powerful enough to run both) and set the 8800 GT to be a dedicated PhysX card. You would then get the full power of the 9800 GT running just graphics and the full power of the 8800 GT running PhysX. Previously you'd be running both on the 9800 GT, theoretically losing at least some power on one application as its power is being split.
Right now there are only about 6 games on the planet that benefit from PhysX hardware acceleration, so I'm certainly not going to tell you to run right out and do something like buy an 8500 GT or 9500 GT just to run dedicated PhysX, but that is an option now. Is it necessary? Does PhysX reduce your overall framerates enough when running both graphics and PhysX on a single card to be of concern? That I can't say yet. I'm sure over the next few days and weeks we'll see reviewers asking exactly that question. I'm sure we'll also see comparisons like a single GTX 260 running both compared to something like a much lower cost option like a 9800 GT running graphics and a 9500 GT running PhysX.
There are, however, limitations. PhysX will only run on series 8 cards and higher (8xxx, 9xxx and 2xx), you will need an SLI capable motherboard, and you will need a power supply strong enough to run both cards. But this could be very exciting news as time goes on as it provides a very low cost means of users having a very powerful physics accelerator making the prospect of PhysX much more attractive to game developers as they know more people would have access to it.
At the time of this writing I'll predict that cards in the $40-75 range (new) will have more than enough power to run current PhysX acceleration. These would be; 8500 GT, 8600 GT, 9500 GT, 9600 GT. I'm betting more powerful cards would be better sold on the secondary market to recover money when you upgrade and keeping dedicated PhysX on one of these lesser cards. (It would be great if you could find one with a passive cooling system as well so it doesn't add any noise to the system. Something like this XFX 8500 GT may be an ideal choice for this.) Again, is buying an extra card a better choice than spending the money on a slightly better single card than you'd otherwise get to run both? Only time and reviews will answer that question.
November 19, '08 - Wednesday - Week 20 bits
Week 20 .pdf is up, as well as a second Steampunk con dealer's room shot I seem to have missed from before.
November 18, '08 - Tuesday - Week 20 early - Link
Week 20 is up early. I don't expect anything will happen in the next few hours before I sleep. As always the .pdf version will be current and uploaded Wednesday evening.
November 18, '08 - Tuesday - Star Trek movie - Link
Zomg the new Star Trek movie trailer! 
Meeearrr pew pew pew. Boom!
November 17, '08 - Monday - Midnight Lich King pics and Pic series 4
Picture series 4 is up. It includes pictures from the midnight launch, which sadly aren't as clear as I'd hoped. The launch pictures are also duplicated over at my WoW page.
November 17, '08 - Monday - Core i7 launch
Intel's Core i7 has launched today and many items can be purchased at NewEgg. I've scattered a few recommendations in on the tech page, but I expect that I won't be recommending them in system builds until my next build change probably sometime around bunny day in March. While the motherboard and ram prices are much lower than I expected at launch, not being too much more than an Nvidia 790i build, the CPU prices will simply kill you at the moment. So for now I only recommend someone with an unlimited budget consider such a build.
Update: I should clarify what I mean by the above. While a Core i7 build isn't that much more expensive than a Core 2 Quad build, a gaming system can run just fine on a much less expensive core, such as an E8400 or E8500 which cost about half of what the slowest Core i7 costs currently. So, for those considering a high end quad core build the Core i7 would be the way to go (if you don't mind bleeding edge), but for someone who just wants a great gaming system you can get more than enough power with something which costs far less. Someone looking at say my 2nd or 3rd system recommendation would get plenty of power to game with, but someone looking at the 4th or 5th may want to consider a Core i7 build instead. I will still likely not change these recommendations until around bunny day to let the drivers mature and let prices settle a bit, however, I have added alternate Core i7 verisons to the 4th and 5th builds for early adopters.
November 14, '08 - Friday - Sexiest mouse ever? - Link, Dev video
SteelSeries has launched quite possibly the sexiest mouse evar, the special World of Warcraft edition. While it does have the official WoW branding it would be great for any game. It's got 3200 DPI, 10 profile settings, a D-pad on the side, and 15 total buttons. It also has a cool armored look and colored lights that you can set to whatever color you like. While not entirely necessary, a good mouse can really improve your accuracy. Also, those with higher resolution (I'd say 1680x1050 and up) benefit more with a high resolution mouse.
It is important to note that this is a limited edition run. I'm guessing when they are out there will be a 'generic' version which doesn't have the hand brushed metal or the WoW branding and that version will likely be lower cost. (I'd guess it would launch around $75.)
November 12, '08 - Wednesday - Midnight Lich King and Week 19
Week 19 is up in web form. The .pdf and picture series 3 are also up. I should get picture series 4 up on Monday. It closes out tonight, so I will get those developed pretty quickly.
Don't forget Lich King launches tonight at midnight. If you are local you can come say hi to me if you want.
November 11, '08 - Tuesday - Vet's day
A big thanks, salute, Hooyah, Oorah, Semper Fi, and all that to our vets. Remember, they do the fighting so you don't have to.
November 9, '08 - Sunday - Sexy monitor - Link, Amazon link
I have no idea how long the Dell UltraSharp 2709W has been around, but it's looking awfully sexy. The stats, at quick glance, aren't all that much over everyone else, but what does really catch the eye is the 110% RGB Color Gamut. This means that it has more colors than an old school CRT monitor. This is the first time I've seen an LCD boast more colors than a CRT making this an excellent choice for graphic designers, and an awesome choice for gamers. Bit pricy, but if you have the money to invest in a good monitor, and a good graphic card to back it up, it totally looks worth it. I've actually changed the highest system recommendation to include this monitor over the 30", as the loss in 3" and resolution is compensated for by the awesome image quality. For me, a better color representation would be a more enjoyable gain than a few inches and res over 1920x1200.
November 6, '08 - Thursday - Midnight Lich King
I will be picking up my collector's edition of Lich King at a Midnight launch. (Wednesday night / Thursday morning.) You can come say hi to teh rabb1t if you want. I will more than likely be in my blue/black cammo pants, military like boots, and black trench, so I should be pretty easy to spot. Plus, I may be among the first in line, heh.
The store is located at 20735 Stevens Creek Blvd., Cupertino, CA, 95014, (408) 996-0549. Maybe see ya there. You can say hi if ya want. Pics will no doubt appear in Epic Fail once the series 4 pics have been posted. I may also link them to my WoW page, hehe.
November 5, '08 - Wednesday - Boyoyoing. Week 18 - Link
Week 18 is up in web and .pdf form. Unfortunately I didn't get extra money I was expecting to yet, so picture series 3 has to wait until next Wednesday to go up. I won't have a chance to get it up before that. 
October 31, '08 - Friday - Halloween
Happy Halloween spooky time peeps! Be nice (to others) and safe in whatever you do this weekend.
October 30, '08 - Thursday - My bad
My bad. I had a really bad night last night and I updated the index to mention I got the .pdf up, but I guess I forgot to upload it. I also seem to have not updated the .pdf version number.
October 29, '08 - Wednesday - Week 17 - Link
Week 17 is up in web form and .pdf. Sorry it was late. I've been sick lately and slept in a bit, then the computers were blocked for a bit.
October 27, '08 - Thurssday - You can has pictures
The first two picture series for Epic Fail are up. Peep series 1 here, and series 2 here. The .pdf file will have the pictures as of the Wednesday night update after week 17 is up.
October 23, '08 - Thurssday - Pushing buttons
zomg I r teh dumz. I checked at my class campus, not sure why I didn't before now, and they have the full on Adobe suite. All menus should now be updated to the new size which includes the new Home Entertainment button, woot! 
Also, I have access to the programs I need for editing the pictures for Epic Fail once I can get them developed.
October 22, '08 - Wednesday - Week 16 - Link
Week 16 is up in web form and .pdf. The .pdf also has some early cover art, woot!
October 21, '08 - Tuesday - Star Wars: The Old Republic - Link 1, Link 2
After years of theory and speculation the BioWare MMOG has finally officially been revealed as the new Star Wars online game, replacing Star Wars Galaxies. I'm not quite sure how to feel about this, as I was never really happy with what Star Wars Galaxies had to offer. Being a MMOG it never felt quite epic in the same way the Star Wars movies felt. I guess time will tell, as we likely have years before Star Wars: The Old Republic actually launches.
October 19, '08 - Sunday - Updates
The systems page got a price check, AMD CPUs got updated, the Home Entertainment page got some pictures, and my World of Warcraft page is up. Not much to see at the WoW page yet, but you can peep it if you like.
October 15, '08 - Wednesday - Week 15 - Link
Week 15 is up in web form as well as .pdf
October 12, '08 - Sunday - Diablo III, Wizard - Link
Apparently the Barbarian is the only previous Diablo class that Diablo III will have at launch. The rest will be all new. (Though it has been mentioned, if demand is high enough, that the old classes may re-appear in expansions.) The third class was announced at BlizzCon. Meet the Wizard.
October 9, '08 - Thursday - Epic Fail pdf - Link
The .pdf version of Epic Fail is now available. There are links at the top of each Epic Fail page. Feel free to view it online, or download it and print it out. (Though I recommend waiting to print it until the story is complete as it will change each week until that time.) This will go up each week late Wednesday evening, or early Thursday morning. Note that it will only be as current as the web version.
October 8, '08 - Wednesday - Shopping in the great white north? - Link
NewEgg now has a site up for Canadian shoppers.
October 8, '08 - Wednesday - Week posting and index - Link
Week 14 of Epic Fail is up, as well as an index page.
October 1, '08 - Wednesday - Hi-def Wii - Link
As I predicted, it looks like a high-def Wii may already be in the works. Unfortunately it may not release until 2011 and may be a Wii 2 rather than a simple high-def update to the current Wii. I guess it makes sense, as I was doubtful the original Wii could handle higher def without a graphics chip update. It looks like it will have full backwards compatibility though, so that will be roxor.
October 1, '08 - Wednesday - Phew
Phew. Got a couple of donations so far. I should be ok for food and gas until my next paycheck. Thank you rabb1t fans for saving me yet again! Feel free to send more love if you like. I can always use everything I can get these days.
Since we are now current each week should get posted sometime Wednesday morning, since the weeks end on Tuesdays.
September 30, '08 - Tuesday - Emergency update / Current - Link
Week 13 of Epic fail is up a bit early due to an emergency. Please help if you can.
September 29, '08 - Monday - Let Mortal Entertainment begin! - Link
The Home Entertainment page I've referenced in Epic Fail is now up. It will likely take a while to fine-tune it, but all the links I want are there and the text should be just fine for now. Enjoy!
Unfortunately I won't be able to give it a menu button or pictures for a while due to not having the programs I need with me to do that, so bear with me there. Use the old school link for now.
September 29, '08 - Monday - Just one left
Week 11 and Week 12 of Epic Fail are up.
September 28, '08 - Sunday - Failing on the weekend - Link
Week 10 of Epic fail is up.
Hope everyone is sleeping in and having fun playing games.
September 26, '08 - Friday - Locking SATA cables
Locking SATA cables have come out and they would be a good choice for those who move their systems around, say to lan parties, or those who want to be extra sure their connections are secure. Some motherboard manufacturers are including them already, but, in the mean time, I've included them in a few of the system recommendations for this generation. When I create 'generation 6' buying them separately will likely be unnecessary. Listings on the PC page will likely remain for about a year.
I may or may not get week 10 up later today.
September 25, '08 - Thursday - Even Moar Epic Fail - Link
Week 9 of Epic fail is up.
September 23, '08 - Tuesday - Moar Epic Fail - Link
Week 8 of Epic fail is up.
September 22, '08 - Monday - The cycle begins anew - Link
Week 7 of Epic fail is up. I may or may not have time to post another week today. Also, a few minor changes to the PC page went up and a new article on Digital Download is up on the article page. I have also been asked a few times why I chose the name 'rabb1t', and I updated my bio page with the answer.
September 21, '08 - Sunday - Sneaking in early
I got to sneak in on some PC time early. I will officially have regular access (to updating my site) again starting tomorrow morning, so today's updates are a bit of a surprise. (More about that in Epic Fail day 81 and 81.) My system recommendations and PC page have been made current at long last. Woot!
Lich King finally has a date - November 13th. Didn't I always say it would be between Halloween and Turkey weekend?
August 13, '08 - Wednesday - Updates - Link
Week 6 of Epic Fail is up. This will be the last week I can post until September after I get access to these systems again on the 22nd. I won't be able to update my site at all during the college campus shut-down, as the city libraries won't let me access my web program.
I've added a new "Lifespan" stat to all parts on my pc page just above the recommendations. This will let you know the average maximum time the part will serve you. I also will list when I recommend changing that part within it's lifespan. Note that this lifespan is based on technological obsolesnece, which is when the part will be too far behind to serve you in gaming, as opposed to functional obsolesence, which is when the part stops functioning.
August 6, '08 - Wednesday - Epic Fail current
Epic Fail is now as up to date as I can get it. I'm not sure if I will be able to input another week before I lose access to systems I can update my site from. Next week the schools shut down until September 22nd and I can't update from the city libraries.
August 5, '08 - Tuesday - Death Knight Talent change
Death Knight talents got changed. It looks like a few of the regenerating abilities I had planned were removed, and some were moved around. Hopefully I will still be happy with the plan I made. It's always tough to tell since I don't know what the base abilities are and which abilities I'd like that are boosted by talents. If you are curious about my build, just ask. They keep changing so I've removed the talent link until I create my character.
Updated Epic Fail; Week 4 is posted. Hopefully I can get 5 in before I lose access for a month.
August 4, '08 - Monday - The saga continues - Link
Week 3 of Epic Fail has been posted. I'll get to week 4 and 5 (and soon starting 6) as quick as I can.
August 1, '08 - Friday - We can haz party / rabb1t Fan gathering - on 8/20
I've decided to have some pizza on my birthday. All you rabb1t fans are welcome to come. (Although I will only be buying pizza for basically myself, since I'll likely still be super poor, I will try to get some vanilla and chocolate cupcakes to share if I can.) It will be on August 20th at the Hollenbeck Round Table at 1663 Hollenbeck, Sunnyvale, CA, 94087, 408-245-5905. I've reserved the back room from 7 PM to 9 PM, though I will be (happily) surprised if anyone shows up. (If you know for sure you will show up, let me know by email so I can keep tally to let Round Table know.)
You can share teh rabb1t birthday with him and meet other local rabb1t fans.
July 30, '08 - Wednesday - Epic Fail - Link
I've started typing in, "Epic Fail: The Journal of a Homeless Gamer". I don't know when it will be complete, as I can't finish it until I'm no longer homeless, but I will try and update it weekly so you can at least read some of the story now, as it's happening, if you like. I've typed in the first two weeks so far. Note that I've got links beyond that, but the pages aren't there yet.
July 24, '08 - Thursday - Reveal
Back in the day when I was working for a game company I said people would be impressed who I was working for. Well, times have changed. The company in question has suffered an epic fail, and has let all employees go at this point save for a small handful at the upper level. (I think all but the 3 or 4 founding members are now gone.) I'm fairly certain it's safe to now reveal that from October of '07 to February of '08 I was working as an online community manager / tech support person on the Hellgate:London and Mythos forums under the name "Virtus". Doubt many will care at this point, but there it is if you were around on those boards and had a favorite mod and it happened to be me. 
July 23, '08 - Wednesday - Waiting and Hoping
I'm still waiting for jobs to give me call backs on interviews, as well as ones to call back on applications I've sent out. Still trying and waiting. It's taking much longer than I expected. But, I suppose I'm in reasonably good health and getting fair sleep, so that's good I guess. 
In hopeful news it looks like the Asus Eee PC prices are dropping. The high-end 1000H I'm looking at has already dropped a bit in price in the half week it's been out. It's down to $550 at NewEgg, down by $100 from their launch price, and down to $600 at Amazon (it's also on my Wish List), down by $50 since yesterday. Hopefully soon I can get at least a part time something going on and pick one up in a few weeks. Though, I do want a "Pearl White" one. Where is my white one? That would get me constant access to teh Intarwebs again, and all that allows for (constant access to proper job searching and tracking, board posting, news reading, site updating, maybe even some Diablo 2 or web game playing.)
Blizzard put up an official talent calculator for Death Knight. (Build link removed, as an updated version invalidated this build.) Hopefully I can get back into a place before launch so I can play.
Anyways... still a daily struggle, but I trudge on.
July 17, '08 - Thursday - Still Struggling and Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog - Link
I'm trying an update from a public system. Hopefully nothing will explode. (Ack! I exploded my other domain. Had to run to my ex-home to get my backup disk to save it. )
For those Joss Whedon fans out there, like me, you must go see "Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog". (Link above) You also need to do it quickly, as it will soon disapear from the web. It will go to a small fee per download and DVD soon after that.
For those who bought an Nvidia GTX 280 or GTX 260 at launch, check your manufacturer's site. They may be offering a rebate due to recent price drops. I know Evga and BFG are.
For those ATi fans out there, keep your eye out for the upcoming 4870 X2. It should be out soon and will be something to watch for in the high-end.
Updates will be very rare, as I don't want to risk the connection from a public system very often. I'll update about every other week if I can. Hopefully I can pick up an MSI Wind or Asus Eee PC 901 or 1000 (though the Asus seem overpriced compared to the Wind currently) and have something I can connect to the web from and update from where I don't have to worry about security, but with no money for gas or food right now, spending monies on a low-end portable is very unlikely at the moment. (These are also on my Amazon wish list, which you can get to by clicking on my biography page. You know, just in case anyone out there is feeling super generous. )
I'm still homeless and still struggling to find a job. Things are still going slowly and I'm down to my last few dollars in my account. If you can spare any help at all, please please send help.
