Mashko Dot Com

Mashko Dot Net

Mashko Dot Net is up an running. This was fun but you can catch me over there.

posted by Mashko @ 08:54 0 comments

Wii Sports is TIME's #1 Video Game of 2006

There is no possible way to say this enough times: great graphics don't make great games. Wii Sports
—a mini-sports anthology that includes golf, boxing, tennis, baseball and bowling—looks like ColecoVision. The little guys on the screen don't even have arms. The tennis game alone is worth the price of admission. Which is nothing since it comes free

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posted by Mashko @ 08:40 0 comments

Firefox and Thunderbird get updates

Both Firefox and Thunderbird received minor updates today, not just for Mac OS X but also for Windows and Linux. Firefox 2.0.0.1 is available for download immediately via Mozilla's web site, and fixes a number of critical security (and other) issues...

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posted by Mashko @ 22:25 0 comments

New Xeons, Opterons compared in performance, efficiency

The Tech Report put Intel's "Woodcrest" and quad-core "Clovertown" Xeons up against AMD's Socket F Opterons in a range of applications, including tests from fields like computational fluid dynamics and proteomics. They've also quantified power efficiency in terms of energy use over over time and energy use per task, with some intriguing results.

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posted by Mashko @ 08:48 0 comments

Xbox 360 HD-DVD Review

I recently went out and purchased the HD-DVD drive for the Xbox 360 on a whim. I had been doing some reading over Thanksgiving about the HD players and didn't even realize that it was released. After reading about the pricing and the format war going on, I figured $199 for an item that normally runs $499
as a standalone player, $200 isn't much of a cost to incur. As for the format, I plan on picking up a PS3 in the next couple months so I'll have both formats covered.

Now apparently this item is pretty scarce but I was able to pick up at the first place I stopped in. Turns out it was on hold for someone but they ended up not wanting it. In the box, I received the unit, a usb cable, power cord,a remote, King Kong and a bunch warranty info. Also a disc to update the 360's firmware. So when you get down to, I really only payed about $140 for the drive, not a bad deal.

As for set-up, nothing could be easier. Plug the power cord in, hook the the drive up via the usb cable and turn the machine on. After everything boots and your on the dashboard, insert the update disc and let it run. Set-up time is probably about two minutes, if that.

My 360 is hooked up to a 47" Samsung DLP Hdtv capable of 1080i via component cable. This was probably the first time I ever looked at the FBI warning and said "Wow" not to mention I was actually able to read every word. The clarity on the text was incredible. This was something I should have seen coming but I didn't expecting it. As for the movie, I never liked King Kong the first time I saw it, so I pretty much skipped around just to see what it looked like in HD. Everything was crisp, bright and the audio was much better then on standard DVD. It was a wide-eyed experience, kind of like this years season premier of Lost.

To keep this short and sweet, if you have the money to burn and are an early adopter, pick this thing up if you have a 360. If the public decides in two to three years that Blu-ray is the format standard, at least you've been watching hi-def movies from the start. At $200, even if HD-Dvd fails, you'll still have a few years worth of playtime with this format.

posted by Mashko @ 08:36 0 comments

No more Coke machine hacking...

Coke has finally released a firmware update so the popular Coke machine hack is rendered useless. Ah well, it was fun while it lasted.

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posted by Mashko @ 08:34 0 comments

Sony releases PS3 firmware 1.3, ignores 1080i woes

Sony just rolled out a global update for the PS3 this morning, fixing some of the smaller gripes with the console, and completely ignoring the only one we care about.

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posted by Mashko @ 09:42 0 comments

Making an iPod into a home media hub

Digital Lifestyle Outfitters is launching HomeDock Pro, the first in its line of HomeDock systems that lets you watch iPod videos on your TV screen. The addition of video means that you can basically treat an iPod like a pre-release, non-wireless iTV.

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posted by Mashko @ 09:25 0 comments

Spy on Live CCTV

Do you know that you can actually access to someone's CCTV and spy on them? Yes, with the help of Google. This only work on non password protected cameras, however.

So if you're really, really bored.... Check it out.

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posted by Mashko @ 08:50 0 comments

The BEST GADGETS of 2006

CrunchGear’s editors searched far and wide for the best gadgets of 2006. We
’ve included devices from our own pages and some things we picked up over the year that made us smile. Read on for everything we loved this year.

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posted by Mashko @ 08:44 0 comments

12" Macbook Pro

Does exactly what it says in the title also on this site you will find information about the iPhone which also will hopefully coming out in janurary priced at $249 for the 4gb model and $449 for the 8gb model. Im just annoyed they bring it out after christmas so I cant ask for it for christmas!

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posted by Mashko @ 17:15 0 comments

Playing DivX and Xvid content on Xbox 360 – An easy guide!

Ever wanted to play DivX or Xvid movies on your Xbox 360 console? We provide an easy guide to making it happen! We even did it without encoding to WMV format and moving files around everywhere.

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posted by Mashko @ 17:11 0 comments

Open Source Sued - "Free" too much a competitive edge?

Plaintiff Daniel Wallace had sued the open source giants, contending that they had conspired with the Free Software Foundation and others to offer their wares at an "unbeatable" price (read: free), thereby squeezing competing alternatives from enterprising software writers like Wallace out of the market.

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posted by Mashko @ 13:04 0 comments

Microsoft launches Google Earth killer.

Microsoft is about to upgrade its mapping product, Live Local, to Microsoft Virtual Earth, a competitor to Google Earth.

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posted by Mashko @ 09:53 0 comments

Most Realistic Multiplayer Flash Tank Game Ever

It's like paintball with miniature tanks. You've got to play this to believe how good the graphics are for a flash game.

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posted by Mashko @ 10:47 0 comments

Court Ruling: RIAA CAN'T Examine People's Hard Drives!

Schell ruled that the defendant's hard drive can only be examined by a neutral forensics expert, not the RIAA's own "experts".

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posted by Mashko @ 01:18 0 comments