• Backing up your DVDs? We gave you a fast server of the tools we use on Windows (RipIt4Me, DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink 3.2) and OS X (HandBrake and MacTheRipper) to back up DVDs we own.
• Why? So we can protect them from theft, loss, rampaging toddlers, travel damage, or simply watch movies on an iPod or HTPC or media extender or AppleTV. Yes, circumventing copy protection is illegal in the US of A under the DMCA. Don't back up DVDs you don't own!
• Want us to explain how exactly to get a DVD into your iPod or on a home server so you can browse it from your home theater? Kick an email to dl.tv@ziffdavis.com and if there's enough interest, we'll get all step by step.
• HD Update: HDTV Overscan stinks. Robert explains why overscan wastes good HD content, can make your desktop toolbars disappear, and why he wants HDTV makers to stop using overscan. (They're learning!)
• Viewer Pic Of The Week: the dashboard on Raymond's big rig, a Freightliner Century Class, sports XM Radio, a 30GB iPod and an ICOM-706MKIIG so he can get his ham radio on... he's also got a Macbook running Parallels stashed in the cab of his truck. Sweet! Got a picture of you getting your geek on? Email it to us at dl.tv@ziffdavis.com and put Tech Picture in the subject.
• Is my DVD drive dying? It might be dying, Richard, but it's worth trying a firmware upgrade before you replace it. Four years isn't -that- old for a DVD drive. Fortunately, an easy (and cheap) upgrade. Just unplug your machine, open the case, unplug the cables from your old drive, undo the screws or clips holding it in, slide the old drive out the front of the machine, slide in the new drive... you get the idea.
• If you're buying a new DVD drive, you should make it a DVD burner. For less than $40, you can pick up a LiteOn DVD burner in most shops. For a little bit more, say, $10, a Pioneer DVD burner will make less noise. As far as we're concerned, Plextor is the Cadillac of DVD drives, but they cost a bit more.
• Intel's new mobile chipsets, the Centrino Duo and Pro include draft-n WiFi, an 800MHz bus and updated graphics that offer DirectX10 support. (Relax, gamers, you'll still want an Nvidia or ATI card for top 3D performance.) No major processor changes were announced, but new Core 2 Duo parts will take advantage of the faster bus. Cisco over at PCMag has tested six notebooks with the new chipsets. Are they faster? 10-33%, but faster clocked processors and differing OS installs (XP vs. Vista) certainly account for some of that performance difference.
• Aperio Systems unveiled the Worlds First Trillion Pixel (Terapixel) Image this week. The company implemented BigTIFF support for into the libtiff library and has open sources its implementation. Cool.
• Is Microsoft's Silverlight announcement the biggest thing on the web since Java? Yes, the bloggers are excited, Dani, but we don't get real excited about cross platform runtime environments plugins for your browser when they're in beta. Even if it is Microsoft's best effort yet to kill off Adobe's Flash.
• Speaking of which, Adobe has Apollo in beta, Sun announced JavaFX this week, all our programmer friends just want open standards that don't require you to download an attachment... or test you code on every single browser you can get your hands on (one reason why so many developers use Flash), and, let's face it, if folks want to see a shiny new website, chances are they'll download the attachment, wherever it came from!
FOLDING@HOME UPDATE
• First off, wow, Team DLTV is doing awesome, closing in on the Top 100. Way to go!
• Jack's right: folding.extremeoverclocking.com has "heaps more info that the official F@H site, such as Production tracking (team/user), team/user conquest and team/user threats!" Check 'em out.
• "Can the Wii run Folding@Home???" Sadly, Michael, it can't.
• Folding@Home Max OS X (Intel) is still in beta, that's why it's so sparse, tho there is a mock up of the nifty 3D molecule display, Ricky. The activity monitor is the easiest way we've found to see if it's running. The biggest trick to getting it running, Ben, is turning it on in your System Preferences. Hope our install helped. PS, check for updates on the 5.91 beta4 regularly, it's not supposed to be used after July 2.
• Yes, there are other distributed computing projects. Doug asked us to point out that, "BOINC, the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing has MANY projects that scavenge spare CPU cycles from your PC for valuable science." SETI@home has the highest profile, but it's just one of more than 20 projects you can contribute to.
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Ready to Watch DLTV, Season 1, Episode 164?