pig

The secret history of the sub-$1,000 computer

Once upon a time there were no iPods, iPhones, Xboxes, Blackberrys, or Tivos. Really, I'm not kidding. There were PCs, though. And they were really expensive. But we didn't have anything else to spend our money on, so that was OK. We paid $2,000 for our PCs and liked it.

Back in those days, there were three microprocessor companies--Intel, AMD, and a little Texas (it's an oxymoron, I know) company named Cyrix. If you don't recognize the name, that's because Intel had such a lock on PC makers back then that Cyrix's processors were sold primarily through the third-party reseller channel.

It's a popular misconception that Cyrix "cloned" Intel's processors. Cyrix's processors were actually all original designs. In fact, Cyrix's manufacturing partners--initially Texas Instruments, later IBM and ST Microelectronics--licensed Cyrix's designs for their own branded processors. … Read more

Sober thoughts on dealcoholized wine

A few years back I wrote a monthly letter on marketing and business strategy, but there was a section at the end called Tobak's Great Wine for Techies. I think that was the only part anyone read. It had tutorials on wine varietals, regions, aging and storage, plus monthly wine pics, on-line resources, all kinds of stuff to help folks enjoy great wine without breaking the bank or taking a class.

You can check out the archives here.

I'm only bringing this up because 26 days ago I decided to go sober for a month. I've gone a week or two before but never a month. I don't know what I was thinking, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

About two week in I recalled reading about dealcoholized wine. I got on-line and found a handful of wineries in the business of making wine without the buzz.

They all use roughly the same process. They make the wine using typical fermentation techniques, then employ a filtering process to remove virtually all the liquid, including the alcohol. This produces a kind of dealcoholized wine syrup. Then they add water back in and bottle it.

Ariel Vineyards, owned by J. Lohr, claims to have won a gold medal in a blind tasting against wines with alcohol. The website also listed about 20 awards. This got my attention.… Read more

Mini-SD? T-flash? Oink, oink...

Most computer peripherals are already available in tons of wacky incarnations: speakers, mice, keyboards, and of course USB storage drives. But memory card readers have, at least until this point, remained pretty boring. Cue Brando's USB Piggy Card Reader, which really does look just like a piggy bank. It can handle, according to ProductDose, SD, CF, XD, MS, Mini SD, and T-flash/Micro SD cards. And it connects to your computer via a USB 2.0 "tail." Sure, it might be taking the definition of "memory hog" (oink, oink) a little too literally, but it'… Read more

Defense budget funds Gallo

The U.S. defense budget gave us the Internet and thermo-nuclear obliteration. For a quick peep at what our tax dollars are up to now, we go to some 2007 Pig Book listings for defense and homeland security appropriations.

We'll skip the $1.2 billion F-22 project and lower our sights to the $1.35 million set aside for the Obesity in the Military Research Program, proving that MREs aren't that bad after all. But to cover its bases, Congress threw in $1.6 million to improve the shelf-life of vegetables.

With wine you dine; hence $5.5 … Read more

Year of the Boar, in a flash

We had no idea that the lunar calendar would be such a popular theme in gadgets, but it's as good an excuse as any to release a "limited edition" based on what we've seen in the past. After 24k phone charms and gold and silver USB keys, we now have PQI's "Fortune Pig" flash memory card to celebrate the Year of the Boar, done in a tasteful red and gold. Gadget Lab says the case bears different boar designs on the 1GB and the 2GB versions, but we can definitely say that both … Read more

USB keys for 'Year of the Pig'

Items like this appear to leave little doubt that Western capitalistic values have taken firm hold in China.

Lenovo and the Beijing Zhongshi Boda Company have released a pair of gold and silver USB drives made from 30 grams of the precious metals. Spluch says they're being sold as a limited-edition set to commemorate the "Year of the Pig" according to the lunar calendar, inscribed with Chinese proverbs, for $1,280 in Beijing. That's a lot of money, especially in China, but it's still a bargain compared with this single USB key from Japan that … Read more

Stick your bacon in this

This polished silver digital piggy bank records the cash you feed it and displays the total on an LED screen. It aims to teach kids the value of a dollar, according to the manufacturer, and costs $24.95 at the Science eStore.

But oddly enough, the seemingly modern Pig E Bank Electronic Bank doesn't take dollars. It only recognizes pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. As RedFerret noticed, that's a lot of coinage needed to save for a new PlayStation 3.

Considering the U.S. dollar coin has big plans starting in 2007, what kind of hogwash is that?… Read more