I've been a busy little CT-resident these days, as I'm sure you've seen on the site. Unfortunately, the side effect is that I haven't had any time to post to the blog, which is something I deeply regret. With hopes of igniting the spark of consistent blogging, I give you an update of recent history:
Derek got pretty sick a little while ago, so I had to step in and handle the CPU and GPU reviews, my old stomping grounds, for a while. I remember how much I missed doing those reviews, but I also quickly remembered how hectic things can get when everyone seems to want to launch a new product. Today marks the start of what I think is going to be an incredibly hellish month in terms of product launches. ATI just launched their new Athlon 64 chipset and in about 2 hours ATI and NVIDIA will go head to head with their latest high-end mobile GPUs. We've got at least one more GPU launch later this month, and a bunch of other stuff I can't talk about but I'm definitely working on for this month. Derek is doing much better and you'll see his comeback this month as well.
Vinney and I went to Taiwan for about three days, marking the very first business trip Vinney's accompanied me on. She completely changed the dynamic of the usual business trip for me, she made it much more enjoyable to say the least. Normally the highlights of my trips happen when I come across some interesting hardware or manage to get some quality benchmarking time with unreleased technology but then the rush dies down and I'm just tired. With Vinney there, there was no lull, it was just like being at home - except surrounded by tons of people who spoke a very different language.
Taiwan was fun, it always is, but extremely tiring. I tend to keep a very grueling schedule during my trips, simply because I don't fly half way around the world to goof off. Just about every day in Taiwan was 8AM - 11PM, with back to back meetings. Unlike a tradeshow however, I actually was able to eat lunch, dinner and sometimes even breakfast, but by the end of the week I was wiped. I'm still recovering from the jetlag, it usually takes me two weeks to get back on a normal schedule, regardless of what methods I try.
The meetings in Taiwan went very well, there seems to be a largely positive outlook on the market for 2005 from the companies I talked to, but at the same time there is quite a bit of caution curbing some of the optimism. Worries about a slow down in the CPU market, concerns over a lack luster reception of dual core, things like that. Not to mention that very few of the motherboard makers (other than ASUS and MSI) were happy with NVIDIA leaving them out of the pool of nForce4 SLI launch partners. It seems like quite a few of them are waiting for a chipset alternative to offer them some more leverage in the market, we'll have to see if ATI can do for chipsets what they did for GPUs.
I promised an update on NVIDIA's Video Processor situation, so here it is: right now, on the surface, nothing has changed. There's still no solid release date for the drivers and codec that will enable the video processor, but thanks to all of the negative press lately the folks at NVIDIA are scrambling to enable its support. There's the power of the internet for you :)
I'm well into my work on a follow-on Mac article, I'm not going to say what yet but I'm hoping to be done with the piece by the end of this month. Right now the article is scheduled to go up the last Monday in November that date is very much depending on how many of these product launches and interesting review opportunities actually end up happening this month.
A bit more on the personal side of things, married life is wonderful. So much in my life has changed in just three months and I can't even begin to remember what things used to be like, it's so very wonderful.
Many of you have asked for a blog on Connecticut, so I'll make that the topic of my next one - for now I'm off to make breakfast. Mom and Dad came up this weekend for a little family gathering at our place; Dad taught us how to make some extremely delicious Indian eggs so I'm going to give my newly learned abilities a try :)
Take care.
Derek got pretty sick a little while ago, so I had to step in and handle the CPU and GPU reviews, my old stomping grounds, for a while. I remember how much I missed doing those reviews, but I also quickly remembered how hectic things can get when everyone seems to want to launch a new product. Today marks the start of what I think is going to be an incredibly hellish month in terms of product launches. ATI just launched their new Athlon 64 chipset and in about 2 hours ATI and NVIDIA will go head to head with their latest high-end mobile GPUs. We've got at least one more GPU launch later this month, and a bunch of other stuff I can't talk about but I'm definitely working on for this month. Derek is doing much better and you'll see his comeback this month as well.
Vinney and I went to Taiwan for about three days, marking the very first business trip Vinney's accompanied me on. She completely changed the dynamic of the usual business trip for me, she made it much more enjoyable to say the least. Normally the highlights of my trips happen when I come across some interesting hardware or manage to get some quality benchmarking time with unreleased technology but then the rush dies down and I'm just tired. With Vinney there, there was no lull, it was just like being at home - except surrounded by tons of people who spoke a very different language.
Taiwan was fun, it always is, but extremely tiring. I tend to keep a very grueling schedule during my trips, simply because I don't fly half way around the world to goof off. Just about every day in Taiwan was 8AM - 11PM, with back to back meetings. Unlike a tradeshow however, I actually was able to eat lunch, dinner and sometimes even breakfast, but by the end of the week I was wiped. I'm still recovering from the jetlag, it usually takes me two weeks to get back on a normal schedule, regardless of what methods I try.
The meetings in Taiwan went very well, there seems to be a largely positive outlook on the market for 2005 from the companies I talked to, but at the same time there is quite a bit of caution curbing some of the optimism. Worries about a slow down in the CPU market, concerns over a lack luster reception of dual core, things like that. Not to mention that very few of the motherboard makers (other than ASUS and MSI) were happy with NVIDIA leaving them out of the pool of nForce4 SLI launch partners. It seems like quite a few of them are waiting for a chipset alternative to offer them some more leverage in the market, we'll have to see if ATI can do for chipsets what they did for GPUs.
I promised an update on NVIDIA's Video Processor situation, so here it is: right now, on the surface, nothing has changed. There's still no solid release date for the drivers and codec that will enable the video processor, but thanks to all of the negative press lately the folks at NVIDIA are scrambling to enable its support. There's the power of the internet for you :)
I'm well into my work on a follow-on Mac article, I'm not going to say what yet but I'm hoping to be done with the piece by the end of this month. Right now the article is scheduled to go up the last Monday in November that date is very much depending on how many of these product launches and interesting review opportunities actually end up happening this month.
A bit more on the personal side of things, married life is wonderful. So much in my life has changed in just three months and I can't even begin to remember what things used to be like, it's so very wonderful.
Many of you have asked for a blog on Connecticut, so I'll make that the topic of my next one - for now I'm off to make breakfast. Mom and Dad came up this weekend for a little family gathering at our place; Dad taught us how to make some extremely delicious Indian eggs so I'm going to give my newly learned abilities a try :)
Take care.
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crtfanboy - Tuesday, November 16, 2004 - link
hey, how about that egg recipe?trajan lodge - Monday, November 15, 2004 - link
Thought there was a bit of pro ATI bias in the review of Nvidia'a go 6800 GPU. It's production ready and UNDERCLOCKED with a lot of headroom on the horizon and this was hardly discussed. ATI's part is not even on sale yet.jc - Monday, November 15, 2004 - link
Anand!I'm new to your site, but I've really been enjoying it. I got married in March after a long courtship. I would not have thought it would be much different, but wow, it is awesome. Here's hoping you're as happy as we are! Woot!
jc
Max - Sunday, November 14, 2004 - link
Hi Anand, I hope you're loving CT. As a fellow resident, I must say that its pretty cool here, especially on the IT front. Depending on where you are in the state, there are rediculous amounts of hard/software retailers, developers, architects, etc etc. I'm in the Fairfield County area myself and my newly formed business seems to be doing pretty well because of the sheer volume of IT needs. Anyhoo, drop me an email if you'd be interested in chatting or meeting up to talk about geek stuff... I've been an avid reader of your site for a long time and its really cool to see that you're in the area.-Max
Webdoctors - Thursday, November 11, 2004 - link
What?! U went to Taiwan and didn't visit me? Next tyme U coming to Taipei make sure to give some advance notice to your fans in the East... it'd be great to meet another Indian or anyone that knows English :(. Did you check out Gonghua computer Market when you were here? They seem to sell products before they are even press released (AMD64 mobos/cpus)The plane trip must really suck, it was 12 hours for me from NY and it really messed with my sleep schedule. Kudos for you doing so much in only 3 days!
Lord Haw Haw - Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - link
Just incase you aren't familiar with the on-going Voodoo doll fiasco:Enter the Microsoft Office for Mac Sweepstakes & win a Voodoo doll !!!
http://sweepstakesonline.com/macoffice/
The prize is a "Professional" doll that's made to look like you... whoopee! What planet do these geeks live on! You can bet these guys are going to make the MSN online music store really cool. I can just imagine it:
"Get a free My Little Pony with just 50 U2 song downloads. Take photos of it in different poses & the chip we've installed will upload them straight into your 'My Pictures' folder."
My advice is set up XP next to the lavatory in case this kitsch causes you to feel the need to use the "My Little Barf Receptacle".
Lord Haw Haw - Wednesday, November 10, 2004 - link
I thought, after the surreal voodoo doll weirdness (http://sweepstakesonline.com/macoffice/), which, obviously due to fantastic take up has had to be extended (http://promomagazine.com/news/breakingnews/microso... as: they are struggling to understand why no one has applied) that Microsoft would opt to try to get hip with the teenage music downloaders by offering free customised My Little Ponies (http://www.hasbro.com/mylittlepony/) - clearly the inspiration, along with the Teletubbies (http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/teletubbies/) for the Windows XP make-over... but those streetwise geeks at Redmond have gone one better.What's more hip than pastel coloured plastic ponies with combable hair and a name inspired to cause "It's my little pony"; "No, it's MY Little Pony"; "NO, it's MY My Little Pony!" rows between four year old girls? What keeps teenagers awake at night; gazing out the window in class; & breaking out in spots wishing they could grow up quicker just to be like them?
Can't guess? Well, don't worry - that's why Microsoft scours the world for the finest geeks stock options going nowhere can con. After all, these are the guys who knew you secretly hanker after your nappy-days & so cribbed the theme for Windows XP off the Beebs barely post-coital Teletubbies, using a nomenclature for the personal folders mimicking the language of a possessive two-year-old, and decorating the side bar of every window with a needy yellow dog cartoon that must have Tex Avery trying to claw his way out of his grave just to strangle... anyone.
I know you'll never guess this inspired choice of joint marketing partner, so I'll put you out of your misery: Microsoft has chosen to hype their music store with that paragon of teen desire.... drum roll please.....
Bankers
That's right, it's a link up with American Express. Just think of U2's shame when they have to cancel their next tour because all their ex-fans are camped out in the financial districts of the worlds major cities hoping to catch a glimpse of pinstripe.
BRILLIANT! Now you know what Bill Gates used to dream about when he was a boy... (ugh)
"Last month, Apple and rock band U2 announced a deal to sell customised iPods.
Microsoft is fighting to expand its online music share and break the hold Apple's iPod has on the market.
Microsoft's MSN music service began a free-song promotion yesterday sponsored by American Express. Visitors who buy music downloads with their American Express will receive free songs."
Anonymous - Monday, November 8, 2004 - link
Anand: Can you comment on the stability of ATI's AMD board?Doc - Monday, November 8, 2004 - link
If you want to know how to write a well informed Mac article, of use to users & not just the curious, read John Siracusa at Ars Technica:http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/macosx-10.3.ars
GhandiInstinct - Monday, November 8, 2004 - link
Come on Anand! I know there's a raging political spirit in ya! Flame the election, you know you want to!!!!