True Color Gif?

Never before I heared anything about true color gifs > check out an example and explanation here

Kempelton 2 for Firefox 2

I fail to understand, why this brilliant Firefox2 theme gets so little attention. It blends wonderfully into Vista. Compared to this I think the new FF3 default theme's a laugh.
And please don't get onto our nerves by pointing out how Vista sucks, because it doesn't. Get it here for FF2. Kempelton is Thunderbird's default theme by the way.

Note > Kempelton 3.0 for FF3

Office PC

An example of a fast family PC without focus on gaming. Prices are in Swiss Francs from digitec.ch. A reduction of 160.- is possible without losing much performance (CPU & graphics).

Article number	Labelling			Price
140135	Asus P5K SE, Intel P35, Socket 775, 1333FSB	Details		132.-
136187	Intel Core 2 Duo E6750, Dual Core, 2.66 GHz, 4MB, FSB1333	Details		243.-
122978	Kingston ValueRAM, 2x1GB Kit, DDR2-800, CL5	Details		64.-
140974	Samsung HD320KJ, T166S, 7200rpm, 8MB, 320GB, SATA-II	Details		99.-
145250	NEC AD-7200A, 18x DVD±RW Writer, DL, DVD-RAM, grau, bulk	Details		34.-
126923	Case: Jou Jye CF-6129, black, ATX 2.0, 400W	Details		59.-
132394	Gigabyte GeForce 8500GT, PCI-E, 256MB GDDR2, passiv	Details		86.-
119761	Zalman CNPS9500 AT, Socket LGA775	Details		63.-
7.6% MWSt.		Total CHF excl. VAT		724.91
Total CHF incl. VAT				780.-

6-bit or 8-bit LCD?

Most TN panels are very fast switching but only able to produce 262k colors, using dithering to display the 16,7M delivered by the PC. The issue might be important if you're a photographer.
But always keep in mind that the end product - the print - might show much less than even 10k distinguishable colors, so this issue might be overplayed by some geeks.

I suggest reading these articles and comments.
at TFTcentral & Photo.net

huge screen

Why not a 24" display. Bought a Samsung Syncmaster 245b and can't say anything bad about it. The huge resolution of 1920 x 1200 is nothing for gaming in native resolution though, it just requires to much GPU performance. The best about all this is the low price CHF 640.-

Facts: hdcp compliant dvi port, every source is scaled to full screen, no hdmi port, TN panel (fast, 6-bit).

Read a very detailed review here.
(image source)

Canon EOS 40D

Well you've probably read about the breathtaking feature list of the Canon EOS 40D. I was reluctant to post anything here, since simply everyone was praising the camera so much. Finally I found quite a balanced read (go for the conclusion) here.

If you're not waiting for the Canon EOS 5d follow up, if full format sensors are not your thing - then get the 40D right away.

[Update August 2008:] meanwhile I bought the camera too. The cam is close to perfect for my use, the price was right and I was not willing to pay more for a 50D.

Logitech keyboard

Called "Access Keyboard 600" this might be your choice if you work in a data center, where cordless keyboards are forbidden (doesn't make much sense these days, but rules are rules :-(


UPDATE 04.nov. - actually I bought one right after posting here. Please take note, that the feeling when you type resembles a usual keyboard more than the quiet and soft MX3200. Personally I like the keys of my 3200 much more, but also got good feedback for the access keyboard 600.

8800GT - the GPU we all waited for

Nvidia announced the 8800 GT. Great cost/performance ratio.

112 stream processors clocked at 1. 5GHz and a 256-bit memory interface running at 900MHz.

Reviews and benchmarks:
Tomshardware, Anandtech, Tweaktown & H Enthusiasts.

ZEROtherm Hurricane HC92 CU8800 VGA Cooler @ Modders-Inc. – GeForce 8800 GT @ Chilehardware (es) – GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB BFG OC SLI @ Guru3D – GeForce 8800 GT @ HardOCP –XFX GeForce 8800 GT Alpha Dog Edition @ Hardware.info – ASUS EN8800GT @ Hardware.info – MSI NX8800GT @ Hardware.info – nVidia GeForce 8800 GT @ Hardware.info – EVGA 8800GT 512MB Superclocked Edition @ Hardwarecanucks – NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB @ HardwareZone – NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT @ HotHardware –EVGA GeForce 8800GT SSC Edition @ Motherboards.org – BFG 8800 GT OC @ NeoSeeker – MSI 8800GT-512MB @ TBreak – Nvidia's GeForce 8800 GT GPU @ Tech Report – NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT @ TechARP – NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT @ TechARP – Nvidia Geforce 8800GT Roundup @ DriverHeaven , Thank you TechPowerUp