Today we’re discussing graphics cards and what to look for if you plan on purchasing a new system. There are two main variances in graphics cards to look for, integrated and dedicated. Many manufacturers will try to trick you into one or the other using terminology that can be rather confusing.

Let’s start by breaking down exactly how the two are different. Integrated cards are built in to the motherboard of the computer. This means that in addition to having your processor, your memory, and possibly your sound and network adapters, your system also has your graphics processing unit, or GPU for short, built right in. As a result, the GPU will not have its own memory to work with, except in very few exceptions. It will sacrifice features and performance and rely on your systems main memory to operate. This means your system will, if even for a tiny amount, suffer overall performance decrease as the graphics are taking away from your systems primary resources. The result is bad performance, and a cheap integrated setup will hurt your overall experience. Windows Vista Aero is a great example of this, as a good integrated setup will allow you to switch between windows just fine, a cheap integrated setup will cause slow, choppy performance with even the simplest of tasks.

In the case of a dedicated GPU, the graphics processor has its own board, and runs independently of the main system. This usually comes with the bonus of having its own memory, keeping in mind that some dedicated cards have hyper threading and Turbo Cache features that allow it to borrow some of the system resources in addition to built-in memory. You’re going to find, in general, better performance and reliability. The downside to this is that you can expect less battery life as it has to power an extra card, processor, and memory.

Bottom line is this, when shopping for a notebook or a budget PC, take the time to look at the video card. Many people stop at the processor and believe that is the best way to determine a computer’s capabilities. When it comes to gaming, your video card is more important than the processor these days. If you get stuck with integrated video, you can expect a machine that will work for playing DVDs, solitaire, and day-to-day tasks. Dedicated graphics cards will give you the performance you need to enjoy 3d graphics-intensive games and grant you an overall better experience. Just remember to keep an outlet handy.

If you thought Rock Band and Guitar Hero were the pentacle of geekness in the music world, you were wrong. Gibson has gone high tech and released two new versions of its record breaking Robot guitar.

With a Robot Les Paul and a Robot SG hitting the market soon, the idea behind a self-tuning guitar seems to be paying off for Gibson in a big way. One of the most frustrating things about playing a guitar is keeping the thing in tune, especially when you’re playing a set in front of an audience. Gibson has taken the effort out of this by introducing a technology that literally turns their guitars into robots.

Here’s how it does what it does. The Gibson Robot has a push-pull master control knob which can be pulled out and turned to highlight a given key. Once you select the desired key, the knob goes in and your job is simply to strum the guitar as robotic knobs set the strings to the perfect pitch. There are sensors which pick up the vibrations of each of the strings in order to accurately detect the strings current tone.

This is a pretty interesting technology, and worth checking out… if you have a lot money bank that is. The Les Paul version goes for $3,999 dollars US while the SG rings in at a slightly less costly $3,599.

Today I’m going to split from the normal topics and discussion on the show to discuss a matter that is spreading through the press and blogs. There was a cheerleader that was assaulted by a group of 8 high school students after being lured to a house. She was knocked unconscious and then repeatedly beaten by the teenagers, driven away from the scene, and threatened not to go to the police.

The discussions that took place on the tape released to the public are typical of what you might find in a high school argument. The girl was beaten after giving a quote unquote wrong answer to the question, “Why don’t you like April?” This is childish crap turning violent and possibly life threatening, and is an example of society in its current state. This is how high school was when I went there in the late nineties to two-thousand and one. This is how high school has been for possibly decades.

The parents of the victim and the sheriff of the town the assault took place are blaming MySpace and YouTube for this incident. This is where the adults in the situation are being unreasonable. YouTube has been a hub for videos of all types, and yes though they may include questionable and sometimes unethical content, I don’t see how placing the blame for senseless violence can be set on one of hundreds of video hosting sites. YouTube doesn’t promote violence, and has never featured anything like this before. YouTube features video podcasts, musicians, interesting video art projects, and dogs on skateboards.

MySpace is a social network, and as such is a reflection on its users. Many users, including politicians, musicians, actors, actresses, scientists, educational institutions, and yes even Christian evangelical preachers use the site to promote themselves and their message. If users use MySpace for senselessness, then the content produced by the users is the fault of the users and not the fault of hub by which they voice their message. Free speech is a funny thing. If high school students chose to speak negatively about each other at the mall, then banning malls across the country is somewhat idiotic. Yet every day the mall is just as much a place for spreading gossip and making enemies as MySpace has ever been.

My point here is that we need to stop blaming technology for our kids moronic outbursts and start parenting by perhaps either setting up reasonable rules as to what your kids can and can’t do online, or if you do allow them the privilege of setting up a MySpace, Facebook, twitter, or a Pownce, or any other social network page, that you take the time to learn your kids user names and check up on what their up to from time to time. Guess what, parents need to evolve, technology isn’t going to stand still because a parent is incapable of controlling their children’s actions online.

This was a tragedy, and the kids involved deserve punishment to the full extent of the law. I have a sad feeling that Myspace and YouTube are going to be brought up in a senseless lawsuit brought on by concerned parents. Blame the idiots, not the unwilling third party technology that they use to be idiots. Blame parents that apparently have no control or idea what their children are doing online. It is the responsibility of the parent, not Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Facebook, MySpace, or Google executives.

This is just an opinion article
Matt Ryan of The Daily PWN

Over the past year and five months, I have seen virtually every kind of negative review possible for Windows Vista. I’ve heard it compared to Windows ME, BOB, and other failed projects. As the pundits continue to refer to Vista as an obvious disaster, I take a look at my laptop and wonder what all the fuss is about.

The day vista was released into the public, I went to my local Fry’s and picked up a brand new HP Pavilion dv6000z. I picked the laptop with AMD processors, integrated video, and overall minimum requirements. It came with Windows Vista Premium. I immediately started using some seriously intensive programs such as Second Life, Half Life 2, and the Adobe Suite. I discovered quickly that RAM wasn’t going to cut it at 1gb so I upped it to 2.

I’ve spent a year now on this laptop running Vista through test after test, trial after trial. I’ve recently started live streaming from it hoping that would wake up some of these hidden “problems” that I keep hearing about review after review. I haven’t found these outrageous issues. Infact, my Samson C01u condenser USB microphone only works on Vista, and not on XP. Webcams I’ve tested plug in and self-install just fine on Vista, not on XP.

I’ve tried hooking up old printers, and found that they install easier on Vista than XP every time. Networking took some figuring out, which I’ll grant was a headache at first. Getting Vista to shake hands and play nice with XP took a little getting used to.

Of the hundreds and thousands of problems pundits continue to throw at consumers concerning the horrors of this operating system, I have stumbled across one or two. This is why my advice to anyone concerning Vista has been and will continue to be to upgrade if you’re getting a new PC. Old PCs may have a thousand issues, however the ones I’m coming across with Vista pre-installed for the most part seem to function just fine. Yes, Vista takes more system resources. That is a sad thing, though something I’d expect from any Microsoft release.

I’m only writing this because I can’t switch to a mac….

-Matt of The Daily PWN