Well just when you thought EA (aka old ruins of westwood) is totally done calling 2008 with the FPS “Tiberium” looks like they have something else up their sleeves with a new sequel to the largely popular Red Alert series. We’ve seen C&C 3 adn Kane coming up previously, so we can technically and most expectedly see Red Alert next in the rotation for a sequel.

Many old time gamers will know Red Alert as part of the Command and Conquer series which took the world by storm and redefined real time strategy since the mid 90s. Red Alert was a classic which we can only reminisce on but will never set our hands on playing given what Red Alert 2 (RA2) can offer in terms of graphics and eye candies.

However RA2 did not quite get the package right in a rather non-catchy and as immersive story line delivered in the classic RA1 series. Coupled with the fact that it simply takes no brains to complete any new C&C title on hard released since the late 90s. I hope EA won’t disappoint with this new title, presumably too, their answer to Blizzards up and coming Starcraft 2.

More info and larger cover shot of what you can expect in this comoing April’s edition of PC gamer here.

Dang I am really hading it with software activation. Did a reformat of my computer and installed my Norton internet security 2007 only to be told that I can’t activate my software as I had exceeded my allowed number of activation for my CD key? WHAT?

Called them up on their 1800 toll free number which kept me like 5 mins on the hold before speaking to a human, who not amusingly seems speaks like someone on the other end of the earth, also given the second long delay between talking. It turns out that they could not do anything about it as their system will auto lockdown any CD key (original or fake) if it had exceeded the number of 3 activations on their server.

That is given people who reformat our computers regularly every year, we are quite out of luck with only 3 installs on the same PC before having to void that Key and get another.

So I told them “thing means I can throw away that $99.00 CD I’ve brought as I could not even install it again on the very same PC?” They operator coyingly said “No” but they did mention that I can go purchase their LATEST! 2008 version with 3 more activation KEYS! Like “WOW!”

And they can transfer my Norton account over to that with my subscription, then call them up first so they can tweak the system before activating any future copies. Yes thank you Symantec, for so much for your “excellent support and convenience for customers” you scored a blacklist on my cards now.

I understand the need of software activation but they should not bring it to a point that it even hurts rightful paying customers who can’t even use the legitimate software they had purchased. Some people recommended using key-generators or cracks for the software, but I can’t believe that legal users even have to crack their original software to work. This is completely Absurd. Thumbs down for Symantec.

The thing which pisses me off is the lack of flexibility on Symantec side, even their operators cannot do anything about it without caring whether you can run their software. Recalling on a opposite light, I remembered I had a similar problem once with Microsoft on my Windows XP OS activation, till I called them up and screwed them totally on the phone. In the end, activation is not a problem with them now.

Nope it’s not Red Alert 3, but it’s still form the good ‘ol command and conquer universe. It’s EA Games “Tiberium” first person shooter coming up autumn next year. Though obviously uncreative name “Tiberium”, I guess the peeps at EA mus tbe thinking, “Hey! since we should all know about it’s toxic nature which not only kills and mutates people real well, it makes a cool name for a new game as well!”

I just hope beside the overused “Tiberium” term, it’s not something like C&C Renegade revisited or it’s sequel. I was wishing they put the havoc engine into a better light with so many benchmarks set all around by UT3, Call of Duty 4 and even Crysis. Only time will tell whether this game will set the new benchmark on 3D FPS or simply fall like a flop like it’s predecessor.

There had not been any talk or bugfixes regarding this bug, so I why not share this.

For those who are running the rather good spam filter “Spam Karma” on your blogs and have not actually upgraded for sometime, there are some incompatibility the existing code have with PHP 5.0 and particularly MySQL 5.0.12 on the admin management page “get recent comments”, sprouting the following error:

Solution, in your wordpress plugin folder (wp-content/plugin/etc…) look within the file “spam_karma_2_plugin.php” at line#500, you will find:

Replace the following with:

The fix mainly put the whole FROM query item in brackets before the LEFT JOIN, so that SQL can recognized the FROM query in one block and not spilling into the other.

With USB 2.0 starting to show it’s age, the first members of the USB 3.0 promoter group including HP, Intel Microsoft, NEC Corporation, NXP Semiconductors and Texas Instruments said that USB 3.0 will deliver more than ten times the data transfer bandwidth of USB 2.0, which tops out at 480 Mb/s. The new interface will be designed to be used in consumer electronics and mobile applications to be able to deal with digital media file sizes that are likely to exceed 25 GB.

Intel said that USB 3.0 will be based on current USB technology and ports and cabling will be backwards compatible; however version 3.0 will offer enhancements for better protocol efficiency and lower power consumption. The development group will also integrate an upgrade path to optical capabilities for USB.

Only time will tell for the improvement of USB. A completed USB 3.0 specification is expected to be released in the first half of 2008.

Penryn launching earlier than expected
Intel first 45 nm processor based on the Penryn core will be officially introduced on Nov 12th 2007. While there were no details available immediately, Penryn is expected to debut in dual- and quad-core desktop versions (with up to 410 million transistors) initially. The chip will be available earlier than generally anticipated and could beat AMD’s 65 nm Phenom to the market. 15 new 45 nm processors are scheduled to be introduced by the end of the year and another 20 in the first quarter of 2008. In total, there will be more than 750 prodcuts integrating a Penryn process in the near future, Intel CEO Paul Otellini said during his opening keynote.

“We expect our Penryn processors to provide up to a 20 percent performance increase while improving energy efficiency,” Otellini said. He noted that two 45 nm fabs, D1D in Oregon and Fab 32 in Chandler, Arizona are in full production at this time.

While we can see this chip primarily targeted to compete head to head with the “crippled” 3-cored AMD 64 also due to be released into the market soon, the executive also announced that Intel’s 45 nm processors and 65 nm chipsets would use halogen-free packaging technology beginning in 2008 in order to make these products more environment-friendly.

To spoil that moment of Zen. I can’t believe that this is actually a real commercial Microsoft used for promote MS-DOS back in the stone ages. 45kb of extended memory? You can’t simply stop laughing and go “what-the?” at the same time.

OMG, a graphical Shell?

Well, got some time now to blog about some flashbacks early this week, particularly getting my ‘ol computer speakers repaired.

And yup, got my 6 year old Altec Lansing 4.1 speakers repaired at Ban Leong Service Center in Ubi. It’s wired connector was damaged due to wear and age, otherwise everything else is ok. Actually I almost set my mind on getting a new set for about $200, but most speakers these days do not have the power or “offpph” we get from speakers of the yesterday, which are all discontinued now.

Speaker sets you get in SimLim with the highest power rating, (excluding those with THX ratings) in RMS are not even half of my current one, and all like neutered ducks. What’s more, the sole distro for Klipsch Speakers are not bringing in the Promedia Series anymore, bummer. I really do not want to throw away this speaker set due to just a minor fault (which ironically actually rendered the whole set inoperable though). So I called the sole distro and repairs for Altec Lansing, Singapore last Wednesday in Ban Leong Pte Ltd and was tended by a guy called Franky, who I came to know is their speaker guru.

Apparently, my ATP4 model is old and they have no spare parts, then he asked since it’s a connector problem, then they can replace it with their current spare parts, and thankfully they have the 8 pin connectors in stock!

They told me to bring it into the service center which I did on the following day (Last Thursday). Moreover, I was also told that last week being Comex week, they will have most of their staff including himself at Suntec the whole show period. So they won’t be able to get it repaired the next working week, which is ok on my side. So I will be expecting a call say… the following Tuesday or Wednesday after Sunday’s Comex.

Who knows, got a call 1st thing on last Monday morning telling me the speakers are repaired and all working. Collected it on Tuesdays. The repairs only cost $25 with 2 connectors replaced, very reasonable instead of dunking this old $200 speaker set which is actually still in working condition.

I’ve got my sound and bass back, every thing’s all working like new again! Kudos to franky and the service crew at BanLeong! cheers for a job well done!

True that 45nm processors processors will be out in a few months and I definately know that I will want it, but as in the PC line there will always be something better down the road. And if you are to wait for “that something to come” it will be replaced in a matter of time too. What’s more with Intel price cuts to current processors, current Intel 65nm processors are going dirt cheap now- my targetted Quad core Q6600 with Asus 5PB motherboard going for $715 contrary to $1400 few months ago. With prices dropping further everyday (and comdex end of this month) I could see my new system being built with the following upgrade hardly over $1500 for hardware:

• Intel Quad Core Q6600 + Asus P5B Premium Mobo
• Geforce 8800GTS 320MB
• 4GB Patriot Ram (4×1GB)
• Additonal 500GB Hitachi SATA Harddisk (Bringing to 1TB in total)
• Logitech G9 Laser Mouse

That should be more than enough for Quakewars, Unreal Tournament III and Starcraft II. The only thing I worry now is whether my Antec Truepower 480W can support the wattage for QuadCore Systems.

OS-wise I will be opt-ing for Windows Vista Ulitmate 32-bit with service pack one when it comes out very soon, contrary to the 64-bit I shortlisted before. Theoritically, 64-bit is better technologically, not only bit-wise, but after some research I believe that the effective lifespan of Vista won’t see the light of 64-bit being even implemented so soon. Furthermore with the given the problems of drivers signing, etc. For 64-bit, the safe bet will be the succesor of Vista itself which we will see in about 5+ years time (where my next hardware upgrade will also be scheduled).