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I happen to get a chance of watching the advanced showing of "A lot like love" at RockWell Power Plant last night. (am not a Fan of any of the cast or director, just got the tickets for FREE) :)

What can I say? It's an ok film but a bit predictable (aside from the fact that the story spans 7 years) Unlike the last (romantic-comedy) film I've watched in Home-video "My Sassy Girl". It's difficult to predict and it unravels well in the end.

I'm not much into spoilers so I won't even try to begin telling what the story is about (In case you haven't seen it, that is). But I'd say, in it's category it's one of the better film that I've watched. And I heard they are making a Hollywood version of "My Sassy Girl".

There another Trade-in promo from HP



http://h50043.www5.hp.com/hpnewsroom/article.asp?articleid=4530

(I've been doing some Database optimization troubleshooting/recommendation lately, so i'll post some of 'em....)

In SQL Server 2000, you can automatically reduce the physical file sizes of your Dabatases (records, Indices, Logs, etc) when SQL server detects that it already has large amounts of free space. But primarily, the purpose of this is just to 'NOT' run out of disk space.

Growing & shrinking your database files causes defragmentation (aside from the consuming resources) which leads to reduced performance of your database. So making these automatic will create additional resource overhead and file fragmentations every time these options kicks in (I believe it checks every 30 minutes).

For me, it's ok to leave the 'automatically grow files' on. But as much as possible be accurate on the file growth values.

Manually 'Shrink, then Reindex' your database regularly. Try to use DBREINDEX command as much as possible. INDEXDEFRAG only if you can't afford to many locks upon these maintenance tasks.

On the other hand, if you really want to defragment your files, use a defragmenter tool (Disk Defragmenter). Problem is, you have to turn-off your SQL server because it does not defrag opened files.

[tidbits]
Data pages in SQL server is 8k. (In Oracle, you can set this per database)
512 bytes for Windows 2000 and above. (hmm,.. DO I hear 'Database corruption' possibilities?)

DBCC MEMUSAGE in SQL Server 2000 has been replaced by these performance counters
-Procedure Cache Pages
-Procedure Cache Hit Ratio
-Procedure Cache Pages
-Procedure Cache Object Counts

I've been trying to come up with a PC specs for a Internet Cafe/Gaming shop.

As far as I can remember, the average 'decent' PC was always around the price range of around PHP27K-30K. Decent I mean with mid to high-end components that will enable you to NOT upgrade for at least 1-2 years under normal use (back then ha?). What usually happens is whenever you buy a good or high-end PC component, overtime this will depreciate of course, but will be replaced on market by a newer technology with about the same price of when you bought your hardware. (Is this related to Moore's law? Nah, not really, it's more related to supply & demand) :)

For example, a standard above average video card (for entry-level hardcore gamers) costs PHP5,000.00 in early 2003. In my case, the nVidia MX440 64Mb/64bit and that was the cheapest you can get in Virra Mall at that time (I miss Virra Mall). Now it sells for slightly above 2K and the standard for entry-level hardcore gamers is the ATI 9550EE (rev 2.2 now available) which ranges from 4.7K-5.7K (too many models/brands to choose from). Go for GeCube 9550Extreme Edition rev 2.2.

But at present, this isn't the case anymore. An average decent PC can cost you around 23K-25K with the same components as before (not including media readers, external drives,USB peripherals, etc)

(I know this might all be relative and depends on how you look or where you stand in the market, but you made it this far, read on!) :)

Anyways, here's the specs I've come out with 'under 21K' tight budget...

AMD Sempron 2500+ (Boxed)
ECS N2U400A-L nForce2 U400
1x256MB DDR 400
Palit fx5200 128mb/128bit DDR
17" Monitor
Mars Casing w/ Keyboard & Mouse
40 GB Seagate 7200rpm (2-yr wty)
Ozaki CM688B 2.1 with Subs
TOTAL estimate 20,800

[Reviews]
CPU: AMD Sempron (Sempie), we're taking about bang-for-buck here, right?

Motherboard: ECS N2U400A -- I initially put there the Epox EP-8RDA3i nForce2 mobo. But apparently, this is 'overkill' for a tight-budget gaming shop. (I still insisted on an nForce2 though)

2nd choice mobo: ECS KT600AL KT600 -- new KT600 chipset w/ SATA & RAID. nice.

Memory: 1x256Mb for now, since if you upgrade another stick of the same 256MB, the additional performance will come from the Dual Channel (not to mention it's easier to maintain it that way)

Video Card: Palit brand since I've been hearing a lot of heat issues with Inno3D FX5200. But what about Inno3D's renewable warranty? (I need suggestions on this)

Monitor: If I can have it my way, any monitor that can at least go 1152x864 @80-85 Hertz refresh rate or higher would be gggreat! :)

Hard Drive: 40GB Seagate -- more distributors offering Seagate drives. Easier/faster to replace (RMA).

Speakers: Ozaki -- well, just heard some nice reviews about it. :)

Comments are most welcome!!! (please?!) :)

Is IT as a career beginning to lose its shine?
http://www.itnetcentral.com/computerworld/article.asp?id=14524

Web Audio braodcasting
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,120104,tk,cx040405a,00.asp

Dual-Core battle, AMD in the lead
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0%2C1558%2C1813748%2C00.asp

Critical Flaw Found in Firefox
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,120756,00.asp

Ever wonder why we now have an anti-spyware/adware industry? (or at least that fast?)

From CNet:
"In an interview with CNET News.com, Harvard University law student Ben Edelman, 25, who has researched and publicized findings on how spyware and adware programs work, said his most interesting discovery is the "huge amounts of money changing hands."

"The biggest, richest American companies are buying advertising through spyware. The biggest, richest venture capital firms are investing in those who make this kind of unwanted software. That's names like American Express, Sprint PCS, Disney, Expedia, Guy Kawasaki's firm," he said. To read the full interview, click here."

Haven't been blogging for a while.....been very busy at work. But I promised myself to do more blogging next week...In the meantime, check this out.... :)


Go to iblog, the Philippine’s 1st Blogging Summit. Attendance is FREE. Register now to save your seat!


[tidbits]
Hong Kong Broadband Launches 1 Gbps Home Service for US$215/month
I want my broadband!! :)