My motherboard hated any nvidia graphics cards. It seems that PC CHIPS has a varied reputation amongst computer builders. While it has worked great for me, it really bit me when it refused to play nice with nvidia. I stopped buying cards after the second one, so it may not like ATI cards as well.

I ended up buying a new board that would work with the CPU from the PC CHIPS one. This one was built by MSI (K8MM3). It’s nice, works with graphics cards, but has one flaw: the onboard ethernet jack doesn’t work. I bought it from NewEgg and I feel kind of stuck. I could return it for a new one, but I’d get charged 15% restocking fee on-top of the $8-9 it would cost to ship it.

The Tivo has been black for a month now. Without a clean line of sight, DirecTV doesn’t work so well. Needing a DVR, I’m turning to MythTV.

My set-up.
Motherboard: PC Chips MG871
RAM: 512K
Case: MicroATX
Hard Drive: 500gb Samsung
CD/DVD: Lite-on
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce FX5200

I’ll track the ups-n-downs of getting this box up and running. I have a feeling it will be a little bit of a challenge.

The BBC has a great article by Jakob Nielsen about what is going wrong with the Web 2.0 craze.

Nielsen states that the hype about Web 2.0 has caused design firms to neglect good design. Their rush to add dynamic features and needless tools render sites “glossy but useless.”

Nothing could sum-up the redesign earlier this year by USAToday any better. USAToday is a news site. Often labeled McNews, its main purpose is to deliver information to readers.

Someone at a design firm must have convinced the editors that they needed to create a community feel. The words, “It’s all about Web 2.0. Don’t get left behind! It’s the next wave!” were surely used. But what the hell does it have to do with news?

Nothing.

But look what you get!

What are the benefits of membership?
As a USATODAY.com member, you can participate in the nation’s conversation by contributing your own comments and reviews throughout the entire USATODAY.com site. Interact with our expert journalists, your input will guide the conversation. Connect with other readers on the site. Create your own blog. Upload photos. Find and interact with people like you.

I ask again, what the hell does that have to do with the news?

There are a million places online to start a free blog. How many people will call USAToday their blog home? Neilson states that research has found that only 10% of users contribute to a site. In other words, 90% of USAToday readers will not blog, upload photos, or do anything other than read the news.

“Most people just want to get in, get it and get out,” said Mr Nielsen. “For them the web is not a goal in itself. It is a tool.”

USAToday is now pure bloat. Their front page requires 23 javascript calls. A hand-full is understandable, but TWENTY-THREE? To deliver the news? Most aren’t for the news though, but to facilitate the “benefits” of membership. You know, those blogs that at least 90% of the readers will never use. Therefore, USAToday subjects 90% of its readers to slow page loads, bloat, and browser crashing instability in order to provide something that none of them want. How nice.

Web firms rushing to serve the small, committed minority might find they make a site far less useful to the vast majority who come to a site for a specific purpose.

Truer words have never been spoken.

If you want a horrible web hosting service, use dot5 hosting. They must be one of the worst service providers ever. They are the epitome of you get what you pay for. Cheap cost = horrible quality.

Their technical support is non-existant. If you open a ticket, you’re lucky to get a response. If they do respond, they’ll oversimplify the answer so that it doesn’t even pertain to the problem.

They have “online” tech support, but that is some guy in India who is typing from a set list of answers. Ultimately, they’ll tell you to email support at dot5. Which of course gets no response.

I once pressed the online guy for a Corporate phone number. He first tried to pass-off the tech support number for the same facility he was located. I knew the number so I called him on it. He admitted he had no number for Corporate. And guess what, neither does the dot5 web site!

In the week and a half I’ve had an account, POP mail has not worked. They tried to blame my ISP on why I couldn’t receive POP mail. They said my ISP was blocking port 110. When I told them I was already using port 110 with a POP email (for this site), therefore it couldn’t possibly be my ISP, they suggested I email support. Right….

The bottom line: If you have a simple blog or homepage that requires no requirements beyond uploading and changing permissions, give them a shot. If you want to do ANYTHING more than that, STAY AWAY. They are the worst online experience I’ve ever had.

Want an easy web server right on your Mac?
One that includes PHP, Apache, and a mySQL database?
One that sets-up in a minute or less?
One that requires no permissions set or separate package installations?
One that can be deleted in a second?

MAMP is the answer. Just download the package, copy it to your applications folder and start the application. All the required pieces are there. Copy blog software such as WordPress or Movable Type or CMS software like Joomla into the folder and run it. That’s it!

It isn’t designed to be a full-fledged web server for true internet use, but if you want to experiment, try new configurations, edit templates, etc., it is the easiest way to go. Below is a download link.

Highly Recommended!

Will Smith and his real-life son Jaden Smith star in The Pursuit of Happyness about the personal triumph of real-life person Chris Gardner.

In 1981, Chris Gardner was a struggling salesman in little needed medical bone density scanners while his wife toiled in double shifts to support the family including their young son, Christopher. In the face of this difficult life, Chris has the desperate inspiration to try for a stockbroker internship where one in twenty has a chance of a lucrative full time career. Even when his wife leaves him because of this choice, Chris clings to this dream with his son even when the odds become more daunting by the day. Together, father and son struggle through homelessness, jail time, tax seizure and the overall punishing despair in a quest that would make Gardner a respected millionaire.

Watching what they had to go through on a daily basis to get by was tough. Overall The Pursuit of Happyness can be a downer. There are plenty of trials and tribulations, but of course they come through in the end which redeems the film.

Oh, and it features Rubik’s Cubes.

Coffee-Mate is giving you a free 7-day supply of creamer.