Source:http://www.guidetoonlineschools.com/online-schools

We’d like for you to tell us what sorts of board features/capabilities are currently important to you and what’s on your wishlist for your next-generation build.

Even if some of the features you want don’t exist yet, we’re sure that ASRock’s engineers would like to hear about what the best of you can dream up.

I thought about this for a bit and some pretty quick ideas came to mind.  I have been reviewing hardware and looking at all of the new stuff, and some things I have been hoping for just haven’t materialized yet.  So below is my comments on it:

Others have mentioned this, but here are some ideas combined together in what I would like to see.

1) Strip off legacy devices finally. Remove PS/2 ports, floppy, IDE, switch VGA for DVI.

2) Built in gigabyte ethernet and wireless. Both are needed.

3) Solid, well build, northbridge and southbridge heatsinks. Possibly active cooling options at least on the Northbridge. (Still giving plenty of clearance for aftermarket aircoolers.)

4) mini-lcd of some sort displaying system stats/info. RAM clockspeed, CPU vcore, etc. Instead of just the 2 digit post screen.

5) Overclocking options. Control buttons/knobs, able to change more than one facet of an overclock.

6) All pci-e slots run at 16x. Space them a little further apart to allow for dual-slot cards in crossfire to get a little breathing room.

Neat ideas that might not be for all or cost effective:

Lighted pci-e (mini and 16) connectors. ie, take the existing dark blue and make it a transparent blue with embedded LEDs. Button to disable on the board.

RAM slots that angle away from the CPU socket so we don’t have to worry about aftermarket CPU aircoolers hitting them.

SSD vs Hard Drives Comparison via Slashdot

I actually found the Slashdot discussion more interesting than the post or linked article itself.  Personally, I am sold on the SSD drive for a primary OS drive.  The performance increase is will worth the money.  (For reference, I am running a 60gb SSD as my OS drive with a 7200rpm drive as my data storage drive.  That is working very well for me.)

Finding the best WiFi Broadcast Channel  via Lifehacker

Tweaking your wireless router settings may increase the reliability of your setup.  Typically I change the broadcast channel from the default as a precaution against any interference, though the number of AP points in range of my house is fairly limited.  It is just good practice though since you should be going into the tools and changing the default password along with throwing at least a basic encryption setting on there.

Win a BlackBerry Bold 9650 via BerryScoop

The contest may well be over by the time I get this posted, but worth checking out.  BerryScoop has plenty of interesting posts on all sorts of BlackBerry related topic.  (As an advid user of my crackberry I enjoy the site.)

Business Casual Comic for 7.7.2010

I love this comic strip though also amused at the hype factor in folks electronics selection.  If you haven’t checked out the strip before – make sure to do so!

Well that is all for now!  Might have a follow up if I see some more good links.

I like this post because it is geared for the average user.  Tech guys, IT Pros, etc generally know about heat issues and how to solve them (or should), but we often forget to mention them to others.  Or if we do, we tend to either leave it too vague or far too specific.  This article does a good job at breaking it down and keeping it simple while giving some links to those who want to know a little more.

Generally though for the average home PC, just making sure to blow the dust out of it from time to time will be the biggest lifesaver you can give to your PC.  Take a look at the back of your computer near the power supply.  Notice a dust buildup back there?  If so, just imagine what the inside looks like.  Like the article explains, dust acts like a blanket insulating the components of a PC.  The hotter they run, the shorter you can expect them to last.  The worst is fans though, dust can gunk up, slow down, and eventually stop a fan.  If this happens to your CPU fan – yea you get the idea.

Head on over and check it out – if you aren’t aware of heat issues, it will be worth your time.  Of course from time to time here on SGB, I will also cover the more advanced topics as well such as aftermarket CPU coolers, case fans, etc for those a little more brave.

Basically it allows you to set multiple apps to launch at once.  One idea that is mentioned is if you normally run a set of programs to cleaning files up etc.  I more see a use in terms of removing autostart programs and resetting them to a manual launch after boot.  (ie – launch IM, email, web.)  Doing that would improve boot time significantly if there are a lot of things that you tend to have come up on boot.  This way if you were in a hurry… you could be more selective and efficient.

Check out Utility Launcher here.

[tags]Utility, windows apps, software, windows[/tags]

Via Galatica Sitrep:

BSG (now CSI) writer Bradley Thompson went and got hitched the other night, and he did so in grand style. The officiator was none other than Admiral Adama himself, Edward James Olmos, in a ceremony that concluded with a rousing “SO SAY WE ALL!” It was a great party and a blast to see so many members of the BSG cast and crew again. Reminding me that BSG will be back for the final episodes starting in January!

Now when I got married, having my Uncle perform the ceremony was awesome.  I gotta say though, having “SO SAY WE ALL!” conclude your wedding… does rank up there in the whole awesomeness/geekness zone.

Also – webisodes that lead up to the last half of season 4 (Season 4.5) start this Friday at 11am CST.

DriverBackup2 is a lightweight driver-backup tool. The application is portable with a caveat: you’ll need administrative privileges for full use. You can opt to backup one or all of your drivers, the backed up files are dumped into a tree structure based on driver name. DriverBackup2 also allows you to restore and delete unnecessary drivers.

With newer OS’s (XP SP2/3, Vista, etc) driver installs tend to be a bit more friendly.  However, a great example is my older IBM laptop that runs WinXP.  Every time I reinstall, I need to get new vid, ethernet, etc drivers from them.  (Since I can never seem to find the backup folder on the external drive where I save them after downloading.)

Try it out and see what you think – could be quite the handy util.

Hopefully this helps brighten your economic outlook a little bit.