Short Break

As you may have noticed, I stopped blogging for a few days. I've been extremely busy with work and have had little free time to myself. I have an idea for fundraising, but it is still in the works.

More information coming soon :)

iPhone 3G Activation Down

This is a picture of an AT&T store in Chicago. Due to the thousands of people going after the new iPhone's today, it seems the iTunes activation servers can't handle it.

So if you're thinking about going out and getting an iPhone 3G, make sure you confirm the activation servers are working. Otherwise you could be left with 2 inactive phones (Upgrading renders your old iPhone's SIM Card useless).

So much for AT&T's "everyone gets activated" in store strategy. However, if you plan to make a hack for the activation, now's a perfect time to pick up a new iPhone.

Go See Hancock

A few nights ago I went to see Hancock starring Will Smith. Hancock is about a guy that has superhuman abilities. The public doesn't really view him as a hero, because he's kind of a jerk. He's always drunk and if he saves someone, he manages to mess it up. Hancock gets a little insiprtaion from a friend and decides to head down a better path.

Major Internet DNS Security Hole

I honestly could not believe the article when I read it. It seriously sounded like something coming out of a book, like it wasn't reality. A man named Dan Kaminsky found a hole in the DNS system that could allow a hacker to pull off almost perfect phishing, by actually using the correct domains. If left alone, this type of security flaw could lead to the destruction of the internet. Luckily it has been fixed.

Of course not much detail was givin, but lets say you went to www.google.com. Well it would be possible for a hacker to modify the way DNS routes your PC to www.google.com & instead route it to their own PC. This could be potentially dangerous for credit card transactions and online banking. Some of you may already know it's possible to do that with the HOSTS file, but this involves tricking the DNS server as well as your PC.

It is extremely important that you update your operating system ASAP to make sure your pc is patched against this vulnerability. Everything server-side should be implemented by now to prevent this exploit from working any longer.

Source: Yahoo! News

5 Reasons to Stay Off the Skulltrail

Intel's big Skulltrail gaming series is pretty much crap. Don't get me wrong if your plastic can handle the $3500+ swipe, then you're in for a treat...sorta. I can point out five major reasons why I suggest to either stick with a single Intel Core 2 Extreme Processor or just wait for Nehalem.

1) Cost
The cost of the system is completely ridiculous. Each processor will run you about $1,500 and the motherboard itself $650. That isn't including RAM, which is mentioned a little further down the list.

2) *cough* Server *cough*
Yeah that's right: Server. That's all Skulltrail is. It's an internally rebranded server motherboard. The Northbridge & Southbridge of Intel's Skulltrail motherboard are unmodified server chips

3) Memory
What kind of Memory/RAM does the Skulltrail Motherboard take? You guessed it, Server RAM. You can only use FB-DIMM. This means performance can actually take a hit and it cost a bit more than DDR2.

4) Heat
Heat can be a problem in a single processor gaming system. That's why a lot of gamers or overclocking enthusiests use liquid cooling. The bad news is, a Skulltrail system will have quite a bit more heat with the two processors. So unless you have some serious Cooling equipment, heat can be a serious problem.

5) Eight Cores, Four Too Many
Unless you are video editing or 3D rendering, I highly doubt the need for eight cores. Few programs can utilize multiple cores, even fewer can utilize eight. At the current time four is efficient unless you run processor intensive apps.

So bottom line, don't buy a Skulltrail system (Especially for Gaming). Unless you have a spare $4000 sitting around and do HD video editing or 3D rendering, go for it.

Darx07 Gaming: Some Changes

I don't really expect people to donate a total of $4,500 towards the startup of a gaming company. So I'm going to break up the fundraising for now. One of the main reasons being, Intel's projected release of the Nehalem processor line. The new architecture will feature eight core processors and is coming next year. It would be a terrible idea to invest a lot of money into processor(s) that are so close to being obsolete.

So I changed the Funraising goal to $1,200. This means I only need a little more than 250 people to donate $5. I'm hoping there are at least 250 generous people
out of the billions online.

The best news is, I can begin Alpha stages without server equipment. I'll be sacrificing my gaming rig as the server (which is sufficient) & my laptop as a client until I raise enough money to buy a decent server. If I manage to raise the $1,200 I will be purchasing a Server Cabinet and a 3U Rackmount Chassis to store my existing PC in. Total price of the two items plus shipping is $1,225.38

Xbox 360 Pro Price Cut: $299

This picture from Gamestop pretty much confirms the Xbox 360 Pro $299 pricetag. If you haven't managed to grab a 360 yet (or need another), next week will be the perfect time to do so. Will Sony have a response?

I'm still contemplating whether or not I should get myself an Xbox 360, but I could put the money towards a server instead...

E3, Only 5 Days Away

E3 is now only five days away. What are you most excited for? Here is a personal list of things I want to see:

- Sony Wii-like remote
- Sony's Home
- Final Fantasy XIII & versus XIII
- Something tricky from Microsoft (Xbox 360 price cut?)

Yeah my list isn't long, I'm not expecting much. If I can think of anything else that I forgot to list, I'll be sure to update.