I hate having to reinstall Windows. I try to avoid it like death, but sometimes it's just inevitable. Asus sent a new motherboard, and as I've written before, new motherboards usually mean new chipsets, which mean new drivers, which mean Blue Screens of Death for Windows.

Thankfully, there were no blue screens of death. However, one of my hard drives stopped working shortly after this, but I think it was already dying. Regardless, my installation of Vista had become overly bloated, so I reinstalled anyways. Things seem a little more responsive, and I don't have a shitload of unneeded baggage trying to start when Windows does.

I eventually got the broken drive working again. Now I just need to get my other broken drive working so I can retrieve my pictures.

Eventually, I will switch over to pure Linux. I'm just waiting on the Linux port of Unreal Tournament 3.

On the Agenda...

(A) Re-do my audio cables that run from computers to my surround sound receiver. I didn't insulate them properly, so there's constant buzzing in the background. It's faint, but noticeable. Ideally, I'd like to replace the receiver and run an HDMI cable to it for digital audio. For now, however, I need to purchase new jacks.

(B) Finalize my Linux installation on my MacBook. I still need to get the touchpad, 3D acceleration, and wireless working properly. I can't wait to be able to play Unreal Tournament 2004 on it.

(C) On top of all that, I need to finish a ton of reviews. I'm still looking for more PC cases for review as well.

(D) Did I mention Pittco is quickly approaching? August 16th-17th doesn't seem all that far away. And yet there's so much to do!

I finally took the plunge and had a car stereo installed in my 1998 Chevy Prizm. It's a cheap Sony model, but it has a detachable faceplate and front auxiliary input. The auxiliary input is what I was after, however. Unlike my old car, a Dodge Stratus, the Prizm doesn't have a tape deck or CD player. I was forced to play my music over an FM transmitter that ate two AAA batteries every two-to-three days. Modern technology, eh?

I eventually broke the transmitter and started listening to the radio, which gets repetitive. Amanda suggested getting a car stereo, so I finally gave in and had it done. Rather than spending a few hours putting the wiring hardness together, I had the fine folks at Circuit City do it for a small fee.

It works great. Now I just need to fix my air conditioning or buy a new car. Greeat.

The Christmas Season has kept me fairly pinned down this year, so I haven't had as much free time as I'd like to have. Of course, part of this results in sleeping in until noon or later most days, but the other part consists of family, friends, and various activities.

I hope the Holidays were as kind to you as they were to me. I've got a new alarm clock that plays from my iPod Touch, a keyboard with a built-in mouse for my Home Theatre PC, amongst other fantastic gifts. I hope people enjoyed my gifts as much as I'm enjoying theirs. I make fudge for most of my family every year, and this year I baked 20 pounds. That's only 6 hours of my life right there!

Nightwish - Dark Passion Play

Nightwish is a fantastic Finnish symphonic metal band that I discovered years ago from Rachel. They formed in 1996, and I think I heard of them shortly before Evanescence became popular. I think I just like rock bands with female lead singers. Some of my other favorite bands include Evanescence, Garbage, Paramore, Flyleaf, and The Donnas.

The lead singer was forced from the band a few years ago, and I thought the band would meet an end since the lead singer, Tarja Turunen, had all kinds of national recognition, such as the official voice of Finland. Surprisingly, I found a brand new album from Nightwish on iTunes of all places. With a quick visit to their homepage, it seems they'd found a new female singer. She doesn't have the former's edge, but the music is definitely fresh and kick current American garbage's ass.

They have some fairly extensive bios on the band members as well, and their interests aren't far off from my own at all. First, it'svery interesting to find that they sing everything in English. Secondly, it's more interesting that some of their interests seem so American. I mean, my kind of American, not American pop culture. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to move to Europe (provided we're in the Scandinavian region).

On a semi-related note, maybe Europe wouldn't be so bad. With music videos such as Crazy Loop from Dan Balan (another European artist), I can only imagine seeing what MTV would be like there. Free of all the Hip Hop, Rap, and R&B garbage that appears here. Oh, Europe.

Tarja - My Winter Storm

Tarja is the former lead singer of Nightwish. Since her departure from the band, she's also released a new album. The music and theme is reminiscent of Evanescent, but somewhat darker. She hasn't departed the style that was Nightwish. The music is obviously much more focused around her vocals, but it's still metal in some aspects. I'm glad to see that she's sticking to those roots.

I recommend anyone who has an interest in Rock music look at both albums on iTunes or whatever other music downloading program they may have. I'm not encouraging piracy, as I do support these groups. Just check it out, yo!

Until Next Time

I want to start writing more entries, and hopefully fall back into a semi-regular schedule once school starts again. Hopefully you'll see the return of the weekly profile next week, and possibly design changes here and there as well.

A few months ago, we started hyping over the predicted "widescreen" iPod, followed by the touchscreen iPod, and now the iPhone. It seems that the iPhone has taken over all the hype of Apple's predicted 2007 Product Line-up. In the excitement that ensues the predictions made by all the market analysts, I think we've forgotten other great rumors coming from Apple.

If Apple plays its cards right, their new "iTV" could take over he living room. First and foremost, however, is that it will have to support Hi-Def signals, and not just the low-resolution shows that come from the iTunes store. Microsoft's XBox 360 has already begun offering TV and Movie downloads over their network, and this could hurt Apple, but let's have faith. The iTV will probably prove to be much more successful in terms of music and movie downloads becaues of the iTunes backbone, and the likely fact that Apple will open most of it up for both Hardware and Software companies. However, Third Party peripherals and software won't be enough to make a winning combination like the iPod. Apple is going to have to offer more interoperability between its own products to successfully penetrate most U.S. households.

While the first iPhone will mostly likely not be a smart phone, it has been claimed that Apple is working on a second model that is. Provided this second model supports both celluar networks and WiFi, Apple could integrate the iPhone into the iTV setup. Imagine being apple to dial out on your cell phone from your home theatre. Or, it's been rumored that the iPhone 2.0 will support Video iChat. Integrate this with the iTV and now you have a product for the small or home office markets. There is also the possibility of using the iPhone as a sort of remote.

A wireless version of the iPod would come in handy much like the iPhone. The biggest (and probably most popular) feature here would be the ability to control the iTV without looking at the screen. While your bothersome, younger sibling is watching a re-run of Full House, you could be in the next room with your iPod and decide to put on a scary movie. Perhaps if you had friends over with their WiFi iPods (say that 5 times fast), they could blast their newest song over your home theatre. If the wireless iPods are never to come true, then I ask only for an iPod dock on the iTV unit itself. Give me direct control of my iPod from my TV screen.

One of the latest rumors floating around is the long-desired Apple tablet. Will it be THE TabletPC to own, or will it flop like many Tablet's have? With the ingenuity Apple has shown over the past few years, there is a very good chance that their tablet will be a kick-ass product. I can't even begin to fathom how they would re-invent the TabletPC or even add TabletPC-like features to OS X. Somewhere in there, however, has to be integration with the iTV. Whether it be streaming (or redirecting from the source) media from the iTV to Tablet, a super-sized remote control, or a secondary viewing device, I don't care. I enjoy my mobility and would probably buy an Apple TabletPC before an iPhone or even the iTV itself.

These are, of course, just theoretical ideas and personal wishes for Apple's 2007 Product Line-up, but some of the features could be very likely. While Jobs made no mention of a TV Tuner at his expo, I don't see why we have any reason not to expect one. I would image there would be atleast two different models. One on the slim slide for simple media streaming, and a second as a full PVR. While I don't expect the second to be released immediately, I do expect that Apple will follow through with a similar product upon the success of the first iTV. Just make sure it has CableCard support so I can watch all my damn channels!

I'm also expecting a very iPod-like remote. At least in the sense that it will have a scroll wheel. Do you really need anything else? Maybe a "home" button somewhere along the way. And power.

Software? I don't know. I'm expecting something similar to the new interface they released with the Mac Minis, Front Row. Hopefully there are plenty of 3D Graphics abroad, which a user should be able to toggle on and off. While browsing streamed media, I'm assuming the interface will be much like iTunes 7. For movies, you'll have your screenshot, and music you'll have a list of albums. You'll probably also be given the option to browse with title/artist/album text only as well, but I don't think they're going to make it the default view. I just hope it isn't a laggy while browsing album art.

Apple has options, like they always have. I have faith in Steve Jobs and the rest of the company, and I wish them the best of luck with their 2007 products; May it be a vastly successful year for them. Now the rest of us just have to wait for the products to be announced.

As some of you may know, I run Windows on my laptop, and Linux on my desktop. Over the last year or so, I've become fairly addicted to iTunes. I've been able to find songs on iTunes that I've never found on the P2P networks, and therefor I've more or less moved away from P2P. iTunes, however, creates the problem when I use my Linux desktop as my media box. It has the Soundblaster Audigy card in it, which is superior to my laptop's Intel High Definition sound. To an audiophile, anyways.

I used to use JHymn to convert my iTunes songs over to MP3's to open them to Linux. I own an iPod, so my only concern was the ability to play them under Linux. This was killed when iTunes 6.0 came out, however. So I'm now sharing my music collection on the Linux box with my laptop in iTunes so I can listen to everything I have. But it's a pain to switch the audio cable between the two computers depending on which one I'm using. I didn't want to waste my money on one of those cheap A/V switchers from RadioShack or the like, so I took the next best route: build my own.

I'm not attempting to build a high-quality sound mixer, just a simple switch between two audio sources. I had several 3.5mm stereo jacks, 2-way parallel switches, and a project lying around, which cost me maybe $10 from online retailers.



In addition to the parts, I also needed a drill, screwdriver, pliers, scissors, soldering iron/gun, and an exact-o knife.

The first step was to mark off holes to drill. I had two audio inputs, 1 output, and 1 switch. I also added a fifth hole just in case I ever felt the need to be able to split the output (headphones or sound system).



That being done, the jacks themselves are 1/8", and the casings make it slightly larger, so I figured a 3/8" bit would do the trick. Just clamp your project box and make sure you're wearing safety glasses, melting plastic can damage your yes and possibly burn your skin. The job looks about right to me.



Make sure there's plenty of room around the holes to mount inside. Sand or file away any melted plastic so everything is nice and flat and the jacks mount flush.



Next step is to begin soldering. Each jack has three leads: left signal, right signal, and ground. We're going to start with the left signal (it was farthest from the top. From the inputs, I ran wire to the switch in the center on opposing sides, then ran the center lead on the switch to the left channel lead on the output jack.



Repeat this for the right leads, then run the both ground signals from the input to the output. You'll solder both wires to the same lead. You should have something like this when you're done.



If I'd done it right, I should have been able to run audio from my laptop and desktop into the switcher and connected the output to my speakers. After checking all the connections, it worked! I was able to use the switch to switch back and forth with no issues.



It may be done for now, but I'm running a 5.1 System and only running 2-channel audio into it. Once I get a new receiver, I may use the switcher for SPDIF Digital Audio. Also to note, I think the sound might be ever so slightly lower in volume than before, so I could add a simple stereo amplifier to it, but adjusting the volume on the PCs or speaker system is sufficient for now. Plus there's already 2+ volumes to adjust on each PC and the volume on the speakers. Why add another volume control?

I also ran into some mounting issues with the project box. It was so easy to sand inside the box, even with a dremel. I could have mounted the parts on different sides, but I probably could have a taken a slightly more popular route and mounted it inside a mint tin. Maybe for a future upgrade!

I hope this was useful to someone. Enjoy!