+

= File/Media Server

About a month ago, I picked up a Drobo and stopped using my Vista PC for my raid storage.  At first I picked up the Droboshare with the Drobo which is a network interface for the Drobo which has gigabyte Ethernet.  I thought that would be good, but turns out the connection to the Drobo is still USB 2.0. So it basically has a bottleneck from 1000Mbs to 400Mbs.  Also when testing out the Droboshare over my gigabit network I was getting constant disconnects from the Droboshare.
I later decided I would pay about 400 more and just get a new Mac Mini that has Firewire 800 and hook that up to my Drobo and share it over the network.  This solution worked and has been very reliable so far.  I can also run Boxee and other media related applications on the Mini which is a plus.
If anyone is planning on getting a Drobo and a Droboshare, I would highly reccomend checking out this common solution instead.

Apple has recently released Safari 4 Beta for the Mac and PC.
It has a few new views like cover flow and supposedly loads up Java and Web pages faster.
It also moved the tabs to the top of the window in the title bar.
Here are what the new views look like:

You can download Safari 4 Beta and find more information here.

After applying a update for Shadowrun a cross platform FPS game I play on my PC against 360 players, I got a new Dashboard for the PC.
I guess Microsoft is updating it due to the new Xbox 360 update coming up on November 19th.
You can find out more about Games for Windows Live here – GamesforWindows.com

Some developer created a really cool plugin for Windows Vista MCE that allows you to interact with Netflix via the MCE interface.
More importantly, it allows you to browse the instant Watch Now movies that Netflix offers through the MCE interface and allows easy playback.
I installed the plugin on my Vista MCE machine and it works really well. It was also easy to install. I highly recommend this plugin if you have a Netflix account and a Windows Vista MCE.
You can find out more and download the plugin from here – http://www.anpark.com/Software.aspx

Microsoft recently released a whole new suite of Live services and programs for Windows XP and Windows Vista.  A new MSN Messenger Live, Photo Gallery Live, Windows Mail Live, and Windows Live Writer Suite.  If you use Vista, the new Photo Gallery Live won’t look much different from the existing Windows Vista Photo Gallery, but it has a upload to Flickr option that makes it easy to upload your pictures right from the gallery.
As I write this post, I’m using the new blogging program from Microsoft called Windows Live Writer.  When I first ran it, it asked me if I want to setup a new Blog using Microsoft’s Live Spaces service or if I all ready had a existing blog somewhere else.  I host Wordpress on my own web site and not on Wordpress so I thought it would be slightly more complicated to setup.
It asked me some information like my Blog URL and my username and password.  Right away it detected what type of blog and started up this neat interface which I am testing out now.  Now I can easily post to my Blog using my PC.  Thanks Microsoft Live.

On Friday I got a Logitech Ultra Vision SE web camera from Amazon.com for  $108.99 – $80 mail in rebate.  Last night I tested it on Ustream and it seemed to work realy well with a good image quality.
If your looking for a good camera with a great image quality I recommend this camera highly if you can find it for a good price.  It is slightly large so it may be better for Desktop use rather than for a notebook or mobile casting setup.
You can find more about the camera here.

I received the mouse I purchased from TigerDirect.com for $7.50.
The mouse retails for $79 normally. The mouse is unique because it has a alloy scroll wheel that you can set to keep spinning if you want using a microswitch located on the bottom of the mouse.
The mouse is made for Notebook computers so it comes with a tiny USB dongle that stores into the unit for travel and takes only one AA battery that can be easily obtained anywhere.
Overall so far I like the mouse, it’s a nice size and not too small compared to some notebook mice. You can find out more about the mouse here.

Intel just recently released it new line of CPU’s based on the 45nm manufacturing process.  Currently my E6600 Core 2 Duo is manufactured using the 60nm process.Intel also utilized Hafnium to produce these chips.  If you recall science class, Hafnium is the 72nd element in the periodic table of elements.  It is a metal.

I plan on upgrading my Desktop PC running Vista to a 45nm CPU since my current Asus P5W-DH motherboard I bought in Summer of 2006 supports the new CPU’s. 

Last week, I added a S-ATA Blu-Ray drive to my PC.  I already had the Xbox 360 HD-DVD hooked up to my computer via USB.Instead of having separate stand-alone Blu-Ray and HD-DVD drives to watch High Definition DVD’s, I chose to just get drives for my computer since it is hooked up to my LCD already.Both drives are read only and don’t burn High Definition DVD’s but I never planned on doing that, since the cost of the discs are still high at this point.I use PowerDVD Ultra to play the movies with great results.The greatest benefit to having the drives on my computer is that I can backup my HD-DVD’s or Blu-Ray’s to my computer to archive and protect the originals.