Corsair Announces New Fan/RGB Controller

Being firmly entrenched in the RGB craze for some time now, Corsair has announced their latest entry in the lighting and fan control market, the Corsair Commander Pro. The Commander Pro replaces the, now discontinued, Commander Mini and incorporates elements of the Lightning Node Pro and fan RGB hub while adding several new features. It's full list of features include 6 fan controllers, 4 thermistor connectors, 2 internal USB 2.0 connections and 2 RGB LED channels that support 4 RGB strips or 6 RGB HD fans each.

According to Corsair's announcement the Corsair Commander Pro "Available immediately from the CORSAIR worldwide network of authorized retailers and distributors" and although a quick search didn't turn anything up you can order it direct from them for 69.99.

An Unhappy Cyclops and Windows 10 Wallpaper

Has anyone noticed that Microsoft's new default user icon looks like an unhappy cyclops?

Maybe it's because he upgraded to Windows 10, has multiple monitors and can't set individual wallpapers. Fear not, my one-eyed friend, there's a way to get this done. Like many other Windows 8x features that appear to be missing in Windows 10, it's still there, just hidden but easy to find and no dubious third party apps are required.

• Bring up the "Run" command box by holding your Windows and R key

• Paste the following text in the box (no quotes): "control /name Microsoft.Personalization /page pageWallpaper"

• Hit Enter or click OK
• This will bring up the old style Desktop Background selection window
• Browse to where your desired photos are, right-click each photo, set it to the desired monitor and save changes

Seriously, Amazon?

In what I can only describe as an Apple-esque walled garden tactic, Amazon is going to stop allowing the sale of non Prime compatible devices like Chromecast and Apple TV, effective October 29. 

According to the Amazon Overlords:

“Over the last three years, Prime Video has become an important part of Prime,” a spokesperson said. “It’s important that the streaming media players we sell interact well with Prime Video in order to avoid customer confusion. Roku, Xbox, PlayStation and Fire TV are excellent choices.”

So to start with Amazon is assuming their customers are idiots and can't properly research a purchase or read a product description. While I agree that there are a startling number of 85s* out there this argument just doesn't hold much water, Secondly, it's reported that fewer than 20% of Amazon users are Prime members so anyone wanting a cheap or convenient device to use other streaming services will just have to shop elsewhere.

Popular opinion is that this isn't tantamount to an antitrust violation, due to there being other outlets for purchase, although I imagine this will suck worse for Google as outlets for Apple products are far more ubiquitous but, in my opinion, this just comes off as a sleazy, underhanded move.

* 85 is an Alien 3 reference used to indicate someone has a low intelligence.

Back in the saddle, again.... again.

Many of you know about my on again, off again history with writing. All the way back to the early '00s, with PCExtremist.com and freelancing, I've wanted to both read about and get hands-on with technology and than share what I learn and how I feel about the experience with anyone that will listen. 

As my career started to take off I found less and less time to keep up with all all the diversity in tech news and had to focus on what I was relevant to success in my job and most of what I learned was either proprietary or confidential and not appropriate to share on a public forum.

In 2009 I started this blog in an attempt to rekindle my interest in flogging any hardware I could get my hands on and reporting on anything in the tech news I found of interest but over the years my dedication to this site has been spotty, at best, leading to complete silence since the end of 2012 mostly due to my dealing with spinal/neurological deficits, unemployment and the subsequent deep depression that followed.

I'm still unemployed but after a few surgeries, I'm feeling better physically than I have in a very long time. The emotional health thing is a daily maintenance task and I've been told to get off my butt and find hobbies other than feeling sorry for myself and melting my brain with the TV. Several people have said that writing again would both be good as a mental stimulus and as a possible way to showcase some of my talents to possible future employers... yay me.

This brings me full circle to the title of this (much longer than I intended) post in that I'm going to resume publishing content on this blog. I'm not sure with what, how much or how often I'll be assaulting the interned with my opinion but I'm hoping it will eventually several posts, daily. We'll see.

USS Enterprise to Boldly Go...

To be parted out. After over 50 years in service the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Enterprise is to be decommissioned and sold for scrap.

She'll start her final mission with a quick jaunt from US Naval Station Norfolk, in Virginia  to a nearby shipyard to have her fuel rods removed. From there she'll be towed down around the southern tip of South America and head northward to her final destination in Puget Sound, Washington. Once there her reactors will be removed and full cannibalization will commence. She's expected to yield 90K tons of scrap.

There were several attempts to save her and make her a floating museum but the process of removing the 8 nuclear reactors will cause significant damage to the flight deck and hull. The cost to replace this damage is prohibitive, according to the navy.

The USS Enterprise, know as Big E by her crew, is the second oldest ship in the Navy and the oldest combat vessel in service. Gray Lady, you will be missed.

Zombie Flick Shot at CERN

Forget an all-consuming black hole, this movie postulates a zombie apocalypse after a burst radiation release from the LHC.
LINK
Made by physics students and filmed on location CERN, this thing looks like it's going to be a hoot

Tim Cook is a KOOK

Taking random jabs at convergence in a technology world where convergence is constantly evolving and arbitrarily saying that touch-screens don't want to be vertical... guess we all use our phones and tablets horizontally. I can just see this conversation in the workplace:
Boss: Hey! You're not supposed to be napping at your desk!!
Underling: I'm not, I'm making a call in my iPhone!

LINK