Puissance » Hardware

The New Home Theatre PC

Puissance — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 19:34:46 +0000

Out with the old and in with the new! The old media centre that I built in 2006 is long gone with a bad motherboard and an old Celeron processor. Although overclocked, I can’t believe that I used a Celeron processor. It’s now at the electronics dump. The new home theatre PC was built over a year ago, but I made sure that it had HDMI capabilities with a low wattage 64-bit dual core processor. Fortunately, it can still decode 1080p without lag. It’s running Windows 7 x64 with RAID 0 on the OS partition and RAID 1 on the Data partition. Now with a new LCD television, it was about time for a new setup. I didn’t have a sound system, but my dad had a Yamaha AX-570 receiver and a pair of old school Tannoy Oxford speakers. It looks like a decent setup with a mixture of old and new components. Here are the pictures. I’m not going to include any captions because I think you’ll know which is which. Cool, eh?

Petro-Canada Mobility Nokia 1208 Review

Puissance — Fri, 16 May 2008 00:14:10 +0000

Recently, my brother bought me the Nokia 1208 from Petro-Canada. I figured that I don’t need a monthly plan because I don’t like monthly fees, which cost at least $25 from most providers. I went with prepaid because I don’t use the phone often. I compared many prepaid services and I figured that Petro-Canada Mobility was best. Why?

Service Review

they have many locations for purchasing additional prepaid minutes
phones are practical and inexpensive; nothing fancy
$20 and $50 prepaid minutes expire in 180 days (~6 months) [Most service providers require frequent top ups]
$100 prepaid minutes expire in 365 days (1 year)
minutes carry over
good rates at $0.20/min for local calls and $0.30/min for long distance (I move to Waterloo every four months for school and will use the phone)
rates are cheaper than pay phones on the street, which cost $0.50 per call
includes call waiting, caller ID, voice mail, three-way calling, and text messaging ($0.05/message incoming and outgoing)
Rogers GSM network
Very easy to activate and use

There are some disadvantages when using Petro-Canada Mobility:

per minute charges (not per second), it gets rounded up
can’t choose a number
you get charged for incoming text messages (it’s horrible)
you get charged ($0.20/min) when checking voicemail because you have to dial out, but you can also check voicemail from another phone
ugly Petro-Canada splash logo when powering up phone
says Petro-Canada on phone (as network)

Phone Review
I chose the Nokia 1208 for its features, too. Here’s why:

inexpensive ($50)
practical
long battery life (7 hours talk, 14 days standby)
big clock screensaver (digital or analogue); displays message notification, too
standard and neat features, such as bright flashlight, conversion tool, calculator, call log, call timers, contacts, calendar, alarm clock, reminders, loudspeaker, etc.
very lightweight
has colour

Disadvantages:

screen too small
large text, only 3 lines (could be good for others)

It’s a good plan and phone for those who will be only making outgoing calls occasionally or for emergencies. The long battery life means that it doesn’t have to be charged for weeks if you’re a light user. Moreover, you get a reliable network and useful features like the flashlight. Check out the video review:

ART Tube MP Original Review

Puissance — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 01:46:51 +0000

For musicians, singers, and beatboxers who need a microphone preamp, I would recommend the ART Tube MP. Head over to Compudio.ca and read the ART Tube MP Review.

Link: Compudio – REVIEW | ART Tube MP Original