text:
Retesting the ASUS Rampage IV Black Edition Audio and the Pitfalls of Audio Testingby Ian Cutress on 1/31/2014 4:45 AM EST
- Posted in
- Motherboards
- Asus
- Audio
- Audio Precision
59 Comments
Back to Article
tim851 - Friday, January 31, 2014 - link> I fall wholeheartedly into the 'tone deaf' part of the crowd when it comes to analyzing audio and prefer an easy-to-read number as a comparison, although I understand this is not the be-all and end-all when it comes to audio.<
The problem is once you go beyond easy-to-read numbers, audiophiles go crazy and start forming sentences that contain more fluff than an Apple press release. I acknowledge that there is difference in sound quality of across devices, but the willingness of audiophiles to hear unicorns sing is amazing. The snake oil salesmen of old have all switched to audio gear, for sure.
So yeah, stick to numbers. Reply
YukaKun - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkWell, the fire proof test I have is to use Studio Monitors (Active ones) to test if the sound card is good or not (among other things, of course). They usually detect noise and other artifacts the sound cards produce right away, so you can either cry or give the sigh of relief.
That being said. I've managed to nail down that a MoBo can be said to have a decent sound card if it posses at least an ALC892 in it. This chip/codec contains very good sound processing and options to actually enjoy anything (specially from the HTPC perspective). I also have a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD USB and it very worth its price tag, even not being 5.1 or 7.1. If the sound card sucks, I attach this baby and fix everything.
Cheers! Reply
Mr Perfect - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkI would agree, please stick to objective testing and quantifiable numbers like SNR. Subjective audio testing really can get bizarre. As soon as reviews start commenting on how "warm" or "brown" a sound card is, I'm going to start skipping the audio sections. Reply
bim27142 - Monday, February 03, 2014 - linkHonestly, I would prefer subjective audio listening for as long as comparison and description is clear and understandable... Let's say, subjectively the reviewer will compare the audio output of this motherboard's audio to a, say, Asus Xonar STX or even just the DX... of course, quality difference will be tremendous but at least from there, I can have an idea how it really sounds... numbers are just numbers... Reply
Sabresiberian - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkYour analysis of the situation is born out of ignorance and your own bias. Numbers are still an inaccurate substitute for ears. We have a situation here something like the reporting of frames per second as a measure of video quality - it is a factor, but hardly tells the whole picture, as has (finally) been proven recently with the focus on measuring consistency in frames started by The Tech Report. SNR and THD are good numbers to know, but they are just a starting point for evaluating sound quality and a rather small part of the big picture.
It is no fault of Anandtech or any hardware site that better analysis isn't done, as it is expensive, time-consuming, and until the last couple of years not all that important in mainboard testing. However, since Asus and others are now claiming they have some kind of better sound solutions on their boards, it is good to have as much information as we can. We can't yet get a total package of measurements that will indicate clearly what we will hear, and a site like this getting involved in subjective impressions (meaning using their ears to measure information they can pout in a review) is difficult, so reporting the numbers that are possible is a good thing, but hardly paints a complete picture.
I'm sure there is plenty of "snake oil" in the audio business, as there is in all businesses, but it isn't to the degree you indicate. People should buy with their ears and their budget, and if an inexpensive on-board sound solution works for you, good news, you can save a lot of money. Others have better ears and want to get more out of their listening experiences, sneering at them because you can't hear what they do is childish at best. Reply
argosreality - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkThere's no if's, and's or buts about snake oil in the audio business - it flat out exists. Numbers don't like (but can be misreported or misrecorded as this article indicates) but ears...ears *DO* lie. They lie for a number of reasons. Genetics, age but even more...what you want to hear. Spend 10k on those speakers? You're going to damn well believe they sound amazing. that 1k wooden nob that "isolates" the sound of your receivers volume? Yea, you want it sound good.
It also boils down to personal preference. Some people want the most accurate sound reproduction possible. Others want a warm, natural sound. Some just want booming bass. To each of those, their "ears" will find issues. The numbers, the science? They'll show the truth. So, don't let your own ignorance and bias color YOUR responses Reply
JlHADJOE - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkIMO what really needs to be done is to find a way to quantify these aspects of audio that are currently hidden behind fancy words. Aside from SNR and THD+N, things like "attack" can actually be seen by plotting the square wave response of a DAC or amplifier.
So that's one snake-oil buzzword down, now what we need to do is try and get the rest of them.
We can render very detailed plots from frequency/levels using raw digital files. Now run the same file through the audio equipment, capture the output and see how the new plot compares to the pure digital original and we have an objective way of seeing exactly how the equipment changes the original waveform, and slowly, but almost certainly we can begin to find what quantifiable differences there are (or the lack thereof) when an audiophile reviewer says something like "airy", or "forward". Reply
ThreeDee912 - Saturday, February 01, 2014 - linkThere's a good intro to DACs and digital signals from a guy at Xiph, which are the same guys that write the FLAC audio codec. It addresses some common myths about digital audio, like "stairstep" samples, bit-depth, and dithering. Even just from this ~24 mins of video, you can see a lot of silly audio rumors still floating around online today are absolutely false.
http://xiph.org/video/vid2.shtml (needs Chrome or Firefox) Reply
TruePath - Saturday, February 01, 2014 - linkIt's a little more complicated than that. After all the original was no doubt recorded (then post-processed) in a studio. You are playing that audio back in a very different environment with a different speaker setup and most likely without the kind of professional quality microphone used in the studio.
So, sure, it's that simple for the studio to evaluate and tweak their audio setup. Simply use a high-quality mic and make sure the original sound matches the playback as closely as possible at that microphone (repeat with the mic at other points you care about playback quality).
But since you don't have the original room nor the original mic this begs the question of WHAT sound you should be reproducing. Different studios are likely to take the exact same original and capture it in a slightly different manner depending on the type and number of microphones (where it's sensitive) they use and other factors. So how do you even define a standard against which your sound can be compared?
I tend to think the best way is to insist on binaural recordings (recordings made by mics placed on each ear of a dummy human head) and standardize on a particular kind of mic that should be used to compare against the original. Of course, how you weight different distortions is going to make a bunch of difference but at least you have a clearly defined notion of perfect reproduction to start from. Reply
CalaverasGrande - Thursday, February 06, 2014 - linkAttack can be quantified by slew rate and rise time.
I'm happy you brought that up. I have a nice little home studio based around a relatively ancient Motu 828MKII firewire soundcard. These boxes have reasonable sound quality, and work really well with Macs.
Mine is not stock, it has had the audio opamps and digital clocking upgraded to tighter specs.
Ironically it actually has slightly worse SNR now. However the THD+N is much lower, and the bandwidth gained an octave on either side.
There is nothing subjective about things rattling off your desk, or being able to record frequencies higher than I can hear.
This brings up my next point. A lot of mobos have optical outs. Those are neat, but they are next to useless if the signal is so jittery that it sounds worse than the analog signal, or worse, is so jittery it can't communicate the audio to your AV device. Reply
TruePath - Saturday, February 01, 2014 - linkThis business about wanting a warm sound and the like made sense when we were stuck in the bad old days of analog audio but it shouldn't persist.
Deliberately choosing an audio component that distorts the sound being reproduced only ensures that you can never get exactly the sound you want. Sure, it might make the sound seem more warm but when you want to play something where the input already captures that warm sound you still get that distortion on top of the already warm audio you are playing.
Now that audio files are all digital instead of choosing an audio solution less capable of reproducing the recorded sound the most accurately (I know that's a bit vague) simply reprocessing the sounds in software should suffice to imbue them with whatever effect you desire. This then would allow you to take the same audio files from one device to another and expect them to all sound very very similar.
Yes, I know that if you want your in game sound to be warm this isn't really an option but really, how good can the game be, if you are paying attention to the fact that the background music isn't as warm as you usually prefer. Ideally, you could tune these parameters in hardware (and at the high end I'm sure you can) so you could get the effect even in games. Reply
TruePath - Saturday, February 01, 2014 - linkNumbers can't be an inaccurate substitute for ears. Our machines, which represent the audio in numbers, are far far more sensitive to changes in pressure (sound) than the human ear.
I don't doubt that some people with sensitive ears get something out of some reasonably subtle effects. However, just as with wine when double blind studies are done many people are not able to reliably identify which of the experiences is better despite claiming it was clear as day when they knew what was what.
The suggestion that you just go into the store and see what you like is a recipe for wasting money. You know that people are easily subject to placebo effects here and yet you place yourself in a situation where a friendly sales guy can subtly maneuver you using your desire to appear sophisticated and knowledgeable into convincing yourself that, why yes, you can tell the difference between the cheap junk unit and the fancy one.
Also, as I've already suggested there is absolutely no need to go out and buy an audio unit tuned to your tastes. It should be possible to simply buy the one that objective analysis indicates is best able (using taste only to decide what kind of distortions matter more) to reproduce the widest range of sound at your ears and simply modify the audio in software so that the actual sound you hear is whatever you prefer. Reply
ThreeDee912 - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkUnfortunately while a good portion of audio does involve actual science, there is a large amount of pseudo-science, subjective opinion, and even placebo effect involved. A couple years ago, there was a bit of a debate about lossless 24-bit 192kHz audio being better than normal 16-bit 44.1 kHz, and how people with "golden ears" or "better ears" could clearly hear the larger range of frequencies. Then some people at Xiph, who develop the popular FLAC audio codec, stepped in and showed how they were all being silly. I particularly like how they compared these audiophiles to hypothetical "spectrophiles" that claim they can see X-rays and microwaves everywhere. It just doesn't happen.
Even earlier than that, years before iTunes came around, there were 2 competing MP3 player programs for Mac, Audion and SoundJam. Despite both of them implementing the MP3 decoder the same way, numerous audiophile review websites and magazines all claimed that Audion somehow sounded "better" than SoundJam, even though the Audion devs weren't doing anything special. It's also mentioned in an article about the history of Audion and iTunes on the dev's site.
https://www.panic.com/extras/audionstory/ Reply
sheh - Saturday, February 01, 2014 - linkI'm not familiar with these players, but MP3 decoders aren't necessarily created the same (e.g., dithering, among other things), and the rest of the playback chain can be variable as well. Reply
Jedibeeftrix - Tuesday, February 11, 2014 - linkbrilliant comment. +1 for you, sir. Reply
davidedney123 - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkI really feel all these advanced audio options on motherboards are pure marketing. If you give a damn about audio quality from your PC you use a digital output and an external DAC, and these days there are lots of very cheap options available. All of the "audiophile" components in the world are not going to give you good results if they are located in the EM quagmire inside a PC. Reply
willis936 - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkWhile it's a hard pill to swallow with all of the marketing fluff that surrounds audio and the even more flamboyant marketing around PC OEMs and motherboards there is good engineering sense behind the things they do. "THE RED LINE". Cheesy as hell but having a separate ground plane helps and paying close attention to the ground path of every component is absolutely necessary in high fidelity audio circuits. There's no shortage of reading on the characteristic of caps and in some places the quality of the cap won't affect performance but in other places close to the signal path the can. Nichicon, WIMA, Nippon, etc. are all more expensive but also _may_ result in better performance.
The marketing gimmicks alone don't make a good product though. The implimentation (ie the layout) is much more important than the components chosen. If you pull up the spec sheet for any one of these codecs you'll see absurd SNR and dynamic range numbers. Expecting those out of your speakers is like expecting to get 1.9Gbps out of your fancy 11ac router. It's just not going to happen for practical reasons. The quality of the tiny circuit around the codec is going to be largest limiting factor in most cases.
So while it may seem like marketing trash there's a good reason attention is being paid to this part of the board. There is absolutely no reason at this day and age to spend $200 on a dedicated sound card unless you are working in a professional studio. Even these fancy on board sound cards are good enough for amateur recording given a $100 mic. Reply
thewhat - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkI appreciate the RMAA tests that you're doing. Even if it has it's limits, it's a very useful tool, IMO.
But it seems that, when you're testing, you're always using the same onboard soundcard for the input. As you also noted, this means that the input performance can "bottleneck" the results. But I'm guessing the majority of readers don't use the line-in at all and would rather just see the clear line-out performance and the headphone performance (you can test the latter with a 3.5mm splitter and a headphone load).
RMAA lets you use different in/out devices, so why not get a good quality dedicated soundcard that has a verified good quality input with high SNR and use that for testing the output on the motherboards? (And you could also use that to test the input performance independently.) Reply
mr_tawan - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkI second that. You could get a good USB audio interface to do the test. This way even though the bottleneck would be possed on the audio interface, at least the test runs with consistency across test subject (mainboard).
The problem would be to get the proper audio interface to work with.
PS. Audio Interface is another name of the device we call sound card, usually used for professional-level AFAIK. Reply
bludragon - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkTHIS. At least then you keep the variable quality of the input fixed when comparing outputs and you can also run things the other way - have the external reference provide the output to test the input on the motherboard. There are plenty of "pro" audio usb options you could use for this for not too much $$. e.g. E-MU 0204-USB Reply
TruePath - Saturday, February 01, 2014 - linkHmm, the claim in the article is that RM:AA is actually much more sensitive to poor implementations when you use the same hardware for both input and output.
In particular, by feeding back the same input into an output on the same device you can sometimes create feedback effects from any signal leakage while detecting the same leakage merely by analyzing the audio out would require a very very sensitive instrument because you've moved the potential interference both closer to the output (EM leakage is more likely from the input that from random computer parts) and can amplify that weakness to a more noticeable size by creating the appropriate kind of feedback in software.
I understood that this was the argument for using the same input and output. Sure, ideally you would have a very sensitive input that lets you directly examine the output for bias (including using feedback) but lacking that you instead choose to increase the pressure on the output by running the most problematic kind of signal right next to it. Reply
thewhat - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkAlso, one thing I noticed with some onboard chips is that they start making noise with CPU/GPU load (sometimes just scrolling in some window), so it might make sense to try to simulate that and see if it affects the results. Perhaps simply running Furmark during the test would do it... Reply
ShieTar - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkSee the comment from davidedney above, there is a good likelyhood that you are noticing EM emissions from the CPU/GPU or power supply components connected to it being induced into the analog part of the audio solution. Testing this is far from trivial, as it does not only depend on the Mainboard itself, but also on the type of CPU, GPU and PSU; as well as the case geometry and internal reflectivities for the frequencies in question. Reply
kwrzesien - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkIt may be far from trivial, but this is exactly the kind of functional testing I'm looking for in a review here at AnandTech. I want to know if the solution *works* and in what ways - headphones, line out, optical out, front connection on a case (maybe this should be a part of the case tests too). What headphones can I buy that are supposed to work, and do they? Will it hum, crackle or pop? How does it work connected to an AVR? Reply
YoshoMasaki - Tuesday, February 04, 2014 - linkSeriously. All I want is to stop hearing random FM radio stations through my dang speakers already :-\ Reply
Braumin - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkAs a reviewer, I think it's best to stick to the numbers. I think we all appreciate that you are trying to add some additional info to your testing. I think consistent testing is the key if you can't get the absolute top end testing equipment.
Audio is a tricky thing for sure, and it has a certain, well let's call them devout group of followers. Reply
Exodite - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkThanks for this.
I'll add my voice to those who prefer that you stick strictly to numbers, as trying to judge something as nebulous as audio "quality" is bound to backfire. Reply
Justin TenCate - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkFor me, the most important aspects of any PC audio test are noise threshold and audible interference. I can't tell you how annoying it is to spend 20+ hours recording a track to have it mangled and mashed into some unrecognizable combination of squeals, beep, ticks and hisses by cheap MoBo audio on a "premium" board. If I am paying extra for enthusiast gear, I expect the audio to be accurate, distortion and interference free at the very least. Reply
sheh - Saturday, February 01, 2014 - linkIf you're recording for hours, and mobo quality isn't satisfactory or consistent, just get a standalone or external sound card. Reply
Aizen99 - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkI'd be more interested in you guys exploring sound editing software and text to speech then hardware testing audio chips that have been more then good enough.
For instance one of the selling points for me getting Creative soundcards over the competition in ages past was the ability to record audio from wave output. In ages past you couldn't record audio from a wave device that was playing it at the same time internally without resorting to round about methods using the analog out into the mic/line in. It was a royal pain in the butt. Reply
lever_age - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkAP is certainly very respected, but they're not the only player in town. More so if you don't need super top-of-the-line performance and features.
There's the dScope Series III and R&S UPV, off the top of my head, but those are relatively expensive as well. There are cheaper analyzers too, but I don't think it's particularly that worth it for a site like AnandTech.
One thing perhaps worth considering is still using RMAA but being more careful about actually physically measuring output levels for consistency and so on. Also, rather than loopback, you could record with a high-quality (and by this I mean a couple orders of magnitude less expensive than an AP analyzer) audio interface on another machine. To avoid ground loop issues, maybe a USB-powered interface running off a laptop off the mains. Or some external interface powered via isolation transformers. It's hard to get more legitimate noise results without some effort, anyhow. Reply
slalomsk8er - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkPlease use an audio interface and test input and output of the motherboards separately.
This will give a more consistent test environment. Please also test for the nagging noise that can creep in to the audio signal. On some Laptops it is so bad, that you can nearly count by ear the pixels the mouse is traveling ;) Reply
vortexmak - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkSo how much of a difference is there actually between an audio solution like ALC1150 and an external DAC. Also which sound is better.. motherboard or smartphone ? Reply
jrs77 - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkIt's nice that you try, but I'd say: don't bother testing onboard-audio at all!
The reason is pretty simple. The onboard-audio provides good enough sound for the genmeral crowd. Be it for watching movies, playing games or listening to MP3s and audio-streams.
Those who really listen to music or like to watch films in a hometheater-setup don't use a PC for playback to start with.
The best suggestion you can make to the majority of people is to use a cheap USB-DAC like the Behringer U202, which only costs some $20 and it'll drastically improve the sound, especially when more advanced headphones are used.
So yeah... don't bother testing onboard-audio, as you'll only get shout at by the audiioophiles while the majority isn't interested at all. Reply
willis936 - Saturday, February 01, 2014 - linkOn what grounds are you making the claim that a $20 USB DAC performs better than all, or even most onboard audio codecs? I'll want to see some graphs before I take a statement like that seriously. Reply
OoklaTheMok - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkIn this day and age, who really uses the analog outputs from a computer? A computer is an inherently nasty place for audio. There are plenty of clean digital output options such as SPDIF, USB, HDMI and DisplayPort. Reply
kwrzesien - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkMaybe we need a survey of what users here are running? I have some good headphones and a Logitech 2.1 system on my desktop, both using rear analog audio on an old X58 board (Realtec something). If there is a $20 solution that would be better I'd like to know. Reply
jrs77 - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkA Behringer U202 USB-DAC costs only $20, like I posted above. Reply
sheh - Saturday, February 01, 2014 - linkWould be nice if all amplifiers had some sort of digital input (other than SPDIF, which is limited). Reply
Impulses - Sunday, February 02, 2014 - linkMy Xonar STX sounds just as accomplished and accurate as a lot of dedicated external amp/DAC solutions... Although I only got it for the value proposition as an all-in-one solution (headphone amp) and for Dolby Headphone.
If you don't care for the latter then yeah, just go with a USB DAC if using headphones or HDMI/SPDIF if you have an AVR you like and a 5.1 setup (for stereo/2.1 a USB DAC is probably still the bettervalue tho, paired with something like a T-amp if on a budget).
I think most people who are critical of their audio will probably stay away from on board solutions for practical reasons as much as anything... It's hard to predict what you're gonna get with any given mobo, and if you have high end headphones or an AVR then it's kind of irrelevant either way. You're gonna need better amplification or you're gonna pass thru a digital signal. Reply
saratoga3 - Friday, January 31, 2014 - link>ASUS achieve a -108 dB SNR compared to my -101 dB SNR result due to ASUS using Audio Precision testing tools and my test using the Line In + RMAA methodology. The RMAA test also relies on a 1 kHz pulse at -60 dB for its test rather than a range of frequencies, which as a result causes the peak seen at 1 kHz.
I don't see any discrepancy. You're comparing different types of tests. Your RMAA measurement is dynamic range (ratio of a test signal to distortion+noise) while the audio precision test looks like a simple noise floor measurement. In general, the dynamic range is usually less then the noise floor.
Essentially, Asus is choosing a more favorable test to quote numbers from while you are choosing a more realistic one. No surprise really, they want to look good :) Reply
Rajinder Gill - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkThe ASUS test is dynamic range - you just aren't seeing the whole screenshot :) Reply
Rajinder Gill - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkSweep data:
C:\Apwin\VISTA\DA\WL-Dynamic Range.at2c, 09/06/13 16:05:27
DGen.Freq, Anlr.THD+N Ampl, Anlr.THD+N Ampl, ,,,,,
Source 1, Data 1, Data 2, ,,,,,
Hz, dBr A, dBr B, ,,,,,
20000.0009537, -115.647123142, -115.36093713, ,,,,,
15886.5652084, -115.935569993, -115.649383982, ,,,,,
12619.1482544, -115.927113829, -115.640927817, ,,,,,
10023.7455368, -116.310144004, -116.023957992, ,,,,,
7962.14389801, -116.482618551, -116.196432539, ,,,,,
6324.55444336, -116.621886408, -116.335700397, ,,,,,
5023.77319336, -116.512704794, -116.226518782, ,,,,,
3990.52333832, -116.387036958, -116.100850946, ,,,,,
3169.78740692, -116.236844922, -115.95065891, ,,,,,
2517.85182953, -115.960987994, -115.674801983, ,,,,,
2000.00095367, -115.848584101, -115.56239809, ,,,,,
1588.65737915, -115.533297062, -115.247111051, ,,,,,
1261.91425323, -115.412973441, -115.126787429, ,,,,,
1002.37369537, -115.315274306, -115.029088294, ,,,,,
796.214103699, -115.273364021, -114.98717801, ,,,,,
632.454872131, -115.161721996, -114.875535984, ,,,,,
502.378463745, -115.179798775, -114.893612764, ,,,,,
399.052619934, -115.013372807, -114.727186795, ,,,,,
316.97845459, -115.123112258, -114.836926247, ,,,,,
251.784324646, -115.10771629, -114.821530279, ,,,,,
199.999809265, -114.993108255, -114.706922243, ,,,,,
158.866882324, -114.925062347, -114.638876336, ,,,,,
126.191139221, -115.19014528, -114.903959269, ,,,,,
100.238800049, -115.09490713, -114.808721119, ,,,,,
79.6222686768, -115.236857676, -114.950671665, ,,,,,
63.2457733154, -115.125680908, -114.839494896, ,,,,,
50.2367019653, -115.156564104, -114.870378092, ,,,,,
39.9055480957, -115.117977236, -114.831791224, ,,,,,
31.6972732544, -115.265528306, -114.979342294, ,,,,,
25.1798629761, -115.268139426, -114.981953414, ,,,,,
20.001411438, -115.375876845, -115.089690834, ,,,,,
test page image came from: http://imageshack.com/a/img571/1842/3ej1.png Reply
saratoga3 - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkWhat is the test signal amplitude? Reply
AggressorPrime - Friday, January 31, 2014 - linkThank you for your further research in this issue, and I look forward to seeing more refined testing in your audio reviews. Like some of the other commentators have mentioned, please stick to numbered results. And kind of hearing tests should only be icing on the cake, not certifiable evidence, considering how the brain likes to fill in the gaps.
I've recently started looking more and more into audiophile grade equipment. I start off on a site that seems to do a great job explaining how one DAC, amp, headphones, or speaker sounds better than another, then I see them talking about how digital cables can sound different, how SATA and fan cables can make your audio better, how a black box you put your laptop on can improve audio, and that site just loses all credibility. I can't trust people who ignore science and believe in magic. Reply
TheRealAnalogkid - Saturday, February 01, 2014 - linkBeing a musician and an audiophile (by necessity, I pay as little as I can to get by) I have to disagree with many of the blanket "snake oil" comments. There is a need for better audio outside of a studio environment. Even on a game mobo audio is distracting; fortunately the Asus STX cards are a good substitute and don't cost a fortune. Just simply going "digital out" isn't as open and shut as it sounds. I wish it wasn't so, believe me. Reply
sheh - Saturday, February 01, 2014 - link"Professional and prosumer audio equipment can be honed to perfection and cost an appropriate amount, where discussion on quality over $10k per meter cables can happen."
10,000$ for a cable wouldn't be an appropriate amount, but snake oil. :) Reply
StrangerGuy - Saturday, February 01, 2014 - linkIs there really a point to this anyway? A next to nothing improvement for nearly everybody with an overpriced board on one hand, and 3.5mm jacks on any mobo which will never satisfy the golden ears crowd. Reply
Rick83 - Saturday, February 01, 2014 - linkI'll stick with my former recommendation of using an affordable, but standard across all tests soundcard to separately test in- and outputs.
And not to test at only a single frequency, but instead try to get at least a certain amount of key pulses to go through.
Currently there's no single fixed point in the measurement approach, no reference, nothing. By going with a reference card, you're of course limited by the quality of its inputs and outputs, but at least you can attempt to get a feel for those, and then obtain a set of comparable results. Reply
popej - Saturday, February 01, 2014 - linkMeasurement equipment should be more precise than measured device. Typical audio input on mother board is not proper equipment. Asus even doesn't provide audio input specification on their site. But 100dB of dynamic range is a very good value for input. BTW, you seems to mix dynamic range with SNR, which are 2 different measurement in RMAA. Reply
TruePath - Saturday, February 01, 2014 - linkYes, but it is right next to the output on the motherboard so using that line as input is going to put more stress on the design of the audio components.
You are ultimately right, however, in the sense that it would be better to *both* use the motherboard input to stress test the output while actually doing your analysis using another higher end audio solution. You could simply drive the board's audio in with some test signal to produce a harder test. Reply
madwolfa - Sunday, February 02, 2014 - linkI'm only using analog outputs on my Asus mobo for el-cheapo Logitech speakers (for "Windows sounds", basically, and YouTube). Everything else goes to external DACs (USB and S/PDIF) for some serious listening. Reply
bim27142 - Monday, February 03, 2014 - linkI can say you guys are on the right track... as I often wonder why there are no comprehensive reviews out there when it comes to motherboard audio (when we know that recently OEMs are getting better and better in this segment)... Now show me some re-review of the Maximus VI Impact audio sub-system. Reply
Theresa N - Monday, February 03, 2014 - linkI'd like to see an evaluation and comparison of laptop audio. I find the older (I have not tried recent realtek audio chipsets) realtek audio and accompanying headphone amps or associated audio circuitry satisfactory with good headphones ($180 intra-aural and $500 around the ear)) headphones. Reply
Theresa N - Monday, February 03, 2014 - linkI'd like to see an evaluation and comparison of laptop audio. I find the older (I have not tried recent realtek audio chipsets) realtek audio and accompanying headphone amps or associated audio circuitry satisfactory with good headphones ($180 intra-aural and $500 around the ear)) headphones. Reply
choirbass - Sunday, February 09, 2014 - linkExternal DAC's really should be a solid consideration regarding audio. Reply
choirbass - Monday, February 10, 2014 - linkHm, it looks like there's no way to edit posts. However, seeing as how there are numerous earlier mentions involving that post; headphones more negate the need for room acoustic speaker placement, as that does have a large impact on how something sounds, et al. as far as speakers go. The need for an external DAC can be more limited down to an inexpensive surround HT processor, it could have a 1/4" jack for headphones, and even lower powered amplifiers for typical speakers, for <$100 even. Eh, grammer is somewhat of a mess, but hopefully a partial point was understood :) Reply
Sivar - Tuesday, February 11, 2014 - linkA very realistic and honest look at audio testing. Ian, this writing has given me confidence that your future audio tests will be really worth reading.
It's worth noting I think that 24/192 audio is good for audio testing, but is literally meaningless for playback. For example, audio with sampling rates above about 44KHz are useless -- not for "most people" or "for most speakers" or "in some expert's opinion" -- I mean mathematically provable that it has exactly zero benefit. Same goes for 24-bit audio (vs 16 bit).
Readers see http://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.h... or read about the Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem. Reply
Timur Born - Tuesday, April 15, 2014 - linkThanks for the article! Two opinions from me:
- You should still test at 44.1 or 48 kHz, because that is what everyone uses. Do games even use more than 22 kHz samples now?
- And one very basic test you should add is to connect a pair of speakers with three prong (earth) power-plug. Even very expensive ("durable" class) mainboards in combination with top class power-supplies fail to provide proper grounding on *any* port. That includes onboard audio as much as PCIe, USB and Firewire connected audio solutions. This is not a simple ground loop issue, but one where the mainboards create noise depending on load (especially GPU load) on their ground lines. Reply


text:
JACKSONVILLE, FLa. - A recount of Tuesday's election for 4th Judicial Circuit, Group 1, confirms That Judge Brian Davis received a majority of the votes and will advance to the general election against a write-in candidate.
Incumbent Judge Brian Davis received 49,449 votes -- or 50.3 percent of the vote in a four-way race. He needed 50.5 percent to avoid triggering an automatic recount.
The candidate with the next highest number of votes -- Melina Buncome (Williams) -- received 21,937 votes, or 24 percent of the vote.
The circuit covers Duval, Clay and Nassau counties, so all three recounted the ballots and reported the results to the state, which will post the official results.
Davis will now be on the ballot in November because of write-in candidate Gerald Wilkerson qualified in the race.
This entire election might be rendered moot because Davis was nominated earlier this year to be a U.S. district judge in Florida's Middle District. It is unclear when Congress will hold a confirmation hearing for this and other spots on the federal bench.
Copyright 2012 by News4Jax.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
- Tickets & Reservations
- Map Search
- Explore Russian Trains
- Popular Routes
- Passenger Information
- Trip Planner
- About
Information about the city is unavailable at the moment.
Welcome to Saint Petersburg! Its canals flow around buildings inspired by Paris's romantic architecture, parks reminiscent of the greenery of Versailles, cathedrals taken straight from the reverent Rome, and streets cobbled like the avenues of jolly old London. To visit St. Petersburg is to visit all of Europe's best cities all at once, a land dubbed by Peter the Great as "a window looking into Europe." With all this beauty, it is no surprise that St. Petersburg inspired many of Russia's most amazing artists. Tchaikovsky was among the dozens of renowned musicians to enrichen the world's heritage with...Read MoreView train stations in St. Petersburg
Moscow - Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg - Moscow Helsinki - Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg - Helsinki Moscow - Nizhny Novgorod Saint Petersburg - Tallinn Nizhny Novgorod - Moscow Moscow - Vladimir Moscow - Kazan Vladimir - Moscow


text:
You won't be able to dismiss this by usual means (escape or click button), but you can close it programatically based on user choices or actions.
"These adhesive gift tags added such a beautiful and personal touch to my shower gift favours! Great delivery speed! Highly recommended!"
"I ordered these stickers to place on tags I purchased at a craft store. These turned out perfect! The size is great and the font is a good size too. I had ordered stickers elsewhere that were too small and the words were hard to read. These were perfect and really colorful! I'm putting these tags on small bottles that I will fill up with sand and give as wedding favors for our beach wedding. Turned out great!"
"The tags are beautiful and even better that pictured. They are also priced lower that any other I have seen. Excellent quality and value!"
"I am using the adhesive tags on gift bags to give guests at an upcoming wedding rehearsal dinner. We changed the color of the names to gold to match the teal and gold decorations we are using ---- so very cute! Put them on teal, gold, and white gift bags which contain fun items (champagne, nuts, water, sunscreen, Tylenol, salt water taffy, gold fish, etc. as the wedding is at the beach). The color of the tag seems to be more teal than turquoise. Once again, we so appreciate the custom design options and extremely FAST service. The stickers arrived several days before promised."
"The whole set of invitations, reply cards, accommodation cards, reception cards and ceremony cards were perfect! We matched our flowers to the cards. We had tons of all types of colors of orchids everywhere submerged in water - from the ceremony to the reception. We got soooo many fantastic comments on how our stationary matched everything else and how tasteful and beautiful everything was. We had all of our stationary printed with round corners, in the shimmery style card. We also elected to use the brown pocket"


text:
THERE is a new man in charge at of the 'UK's fourth emergency service' – the Basingstoke-headquartered Automobile Association.
Chris Jansen was formerly at British Gas where he was an executive, and will now steer the leading breakdown motoring organisation, which also provides car insurance and driving lessons, along with loans and credit card operations.
Mr Jansen is already familiar with the AA because the organisation used to be owned by Centrica, which is the parent company of British Gas.
The AA's parent company is now Acromas, which owns the over-50s travel and financial servi-ces group Saga, where Mr Jansen's predecessor Andrew Strong has moved to be chief executive of Saga Holidays.
Mr Jansen said: "I am delighted to be here and am very excited about the future.
"The opportunity to lead the AA – such a well loved and trusted company – was one I couldn't resist.
"My mother was very happy when I told her and proudly showed me my father's old AA badge.
"It's been really good to meet so many of the AA team already here in Basingstoke. Just walking into Fanum House, seeing the plaque from the Queen's opening ceremony some 40 years ago and the vintage bikes, gives a real sense of history.
"I'm also making my way round the country – often in the passenger seat of a yellow van – spending as much time as possible with patrols and frontline staff at our other sites.
"I have only been here for a few days but there are literally thousands of years of experience within the AA.
"My challenge is how do I harness all of this, listen to the ideas of our people and then focus to make the great ideas a reality for our customers."
Welcoming Mr Jansen to the AA, the motoring group's chairman Andrew Goodsell said that the new chief executive has an excellent background and relevant experience from working in senior positions with British Gas, Centrica, British Airways and Proctor & Gamble.
Mr Goodsell said: "His appointment follows on from the successful refinancing last year. With Chris at the helm, the AA is well positioned to build on the successes of last year as the UK pulls out of recession.
"We are investing for the future with plans of investment in fleet, equipment and diagnostic tools of over £100 million over the next four years.
"With our recent business-to-business successes and expansion in the home emergency market, the AA is in great shape to expand the business in the new year under the leadership of Chris."


text:
ScareCrowe says: "This set is Dedicated to those of the Stache and my love for them"
Only voters receive the private messages a model sends to her fans.
Voting is how you show love and appreciation to your favorite models & photographers.
Zivity pays them a cash royalty for each vote they receive.
Love the uber vintage vibe and those props are awesome! Great job!SweetSurrender
Buy votes to support this artist on Zivity. Votes are $1 each, and when you vote on a set you like, 55% goes to the model and 30% to the photographer. You can vote in the next step after registering and purchasing votes.


text:
Our MAX "Flex and LCDS best practices from the trenches" presentation
has just been published as a chaptered screen cast video.
Meanwhile I also posted the slides on slideshare :
In this presentation we go beyond the Flex and LCDS pimp demo, as we share practical and pragmatic practices that come from the collective experience of the real people who design, develop, and operate the Hendrix application.
Hendrix is an Adobe business critical enterprise rich Internet application (RIA) that provides Adobe's service and sales representatives with a single, intuitive interface for addressing customer questions.
Adobe recently published a case study on Hendrix in their showcase portal, in which you will have a good overview of the project nature and ROI.
Whereas in this presentation you will find out about Hendrix integration landscape, technical constraints and challenges, as well as Hendrix core architectural principles:
- How we drove the development and build the Hendrix architecture for a better encapsulation and modularization. How we advocate a clear separation of concern.
- How we focused on APIS definitions.
- How we handled exceptions.
We also presented the wonders of CTI integration and finally our last words were be about agility:
- Agility tips for a distributed team,
Agility enabling tips :
You will see how you can easily build a complete and efficient software factory
while streamlining your flex development
All of these points were showcased through a sample (and simple) multiscreen (web and android) demo application.
Note that this sample application will be shortly released on adobe open source portal (on sourceforge.net) as part of the Cairngorm 3 project.
I'll keep you posted.


text:
Music has always had a special place in my heart. I was raised listening to Classic Rock, but I listen to so many different genres today, it's not even funny. And yes I'm a Ciara fan! Not only is she beautiful, but man that girl can dance! Last night I was invited out to the Key Club in Hollywood for a special concert.
iD Gum and MySpace put together a FREE show with Ciara, which was live streamed (now on replay) on MySpace.
On a quick side note…yeah…I kinda love this gum. No joke! We grabbed a handful last night and I can't stop chewing it. LOL! The peppermint is so yummy.
Anyways…if you were following me on Twitter or Instagram last night, you might have seen my tweets and photos about the show. Austin Brown, who I had no idea was Michael Jackson's nephew, opened for Ciara.
When Ciara hit the stage she did her thing. She sang a few of my favorites and new songs too. Then she brought some fans onstage for a little dance battle. It was funny! Check out the entire show here.
I decided to wear this top from Forever 21 that I've had for a few months with these purple skinnies from Old Navy. You can't see my shoes, but they're my favorite black pointy toe Guess heels. And in case you're wondering who the handsome guy below is, that's my little brother Ray. We didn't have the best view because there were so many people, but I did manage to snap a few pics and video (below). We had so much fun!! Thanks iD Gum and MySpace!!
Follow iD Gum on Facebook Follow iD Gum on Twitter
Here are some pics of the beautiful Ciara…enjoy!
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post on behalf of Social Chorus and iD Gum. All opinions expressed in this post are mine.


text:
World wheat production in 2013/14 is projected to reach 695.9 million tons, down 5.2 million this month, while foreign production is down 5.9 million to 639.2 million. Wheat production is projected down for Russia, Ukraine, the EU-27,and Tunisia.
The largest decline in the 2013/14 wheat output is projected for Ukraine, down 2.5 million tons to 19.5 million this month, with both area and yield reduced. Wheat area is projected slightly lower (by 0.1 million hectares) this month, reflecting new official estimates on planted area adjusted for winterkill. While the northern, western, and central parts of Ukraine are enjoying comparatively favorable growing conditions, the southern regions of the country, as well as parts of eastern regions (such as Kherson, Nikolayev, Zaporozhe, Odessa, and especially the Crimea),suffered a 6-week stretch of excessive heat and low precipitation, beginning in the second half of April and running through mid- to late May. Most wheat in Ukraine is currently going through the milk stage of development. Despite recent beneficial grains in the region, the preceding abnormal heat is expected to adversely affect wheat yields.
Wheat production in Russia is down 2.0 million tons to 54.0 million this month. Parts of the major winter wheat producing areas of the South District (neighboring Ukraine) and some of the adjacent parts of the Volga District were hurt in May by relentless heat and dryness during the critical flowering and early filling stages of plant development. Temperatures were consistently 5-10 degrees C higher than normal. In the northern part of the South District, the number of days when it was hotter than 30° C (86° F) was almost 4 times higher than a 30-year average.
Precipitation was insufficient and unevenly distributed in the region, totaling around 45 percent of the 30-year average. In addition, persistent rainfall (150-200 percent of normal) and cool weather delayed planting of spring grains in Siberia, which might affect the final rate of abandonment, given the region's short window for the crop-growing season.
Wheat output is projected down 1.3 million tons this month for the EU-27 to 137.4 million, with slightly reduced area and yield. Wheat output is projected down by 0.4, 0.2, and 0.1 million tons in Italy, Poland and Germany, respectively, as early statistical estimates suggest lower area and yield in these countries. Wheat output is also slightly reduced for Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Sweden.
Recent flooding in the Po valley in Italy is expected to have only a marginal effect on the country's wheat output, as the main wheat growing areas are located to the south of the floods. This month's excessive precipitation and flooding in Central and Eastern Europe is also not expected to have a large impact on wheat development as it occurred between the periods of planting and harvesting; rather, excess rainfall is likely to replenish soil moisture in the region.
Wheat production is slightly reduced for Tunisia, where growing conditions appear to have worsened somewhat in the areas away from the coast.


text:
Only thirty tickets remain for the last game at Wilderspool to take place a week today, Thursday.
Warrington Wolves under 16s side take on their Cumbrian counterparts in the fixture on May 15 which kicks off at 7pm.
Ten years after the last Super League match at the famous old ground, this will be the last game before the stadium is locked up for good next month.
A rush on tickets today, Thursday, means only 30 remain.
Tickets are priced £3 and £1 for juniors at WolfWare and at warringtonwolves.com. Season ticket holders can get in for free.


text:
Giambattista Valli Resort 2013
A designer's job is to sell a fantasy as much as it is to sell clothes, and though Giambattista Valli insists he's focused on the latter, he can't help but inject a little dreaminess into his collections simply because, as someone who vacations in Positano and hangs out with chic European aristocrats, he leads a pretty fantastic life. And that makes his designs all the more appealing—they suit everyday situations and color them with a touch of dolce vita.
The clothes he presented for resort were, in true Valli style, bright, printed, on the sophisticated side of sexy, and completely wearable. All the necessary silhouettes were there—form-fitting sheaths with short peplums, bare shouldered shifts with high necks and knee-length hemlines, slim cropped pants and long silk dresses for evening. And why not throw in a super-short short for good measure. In a black macramé floral, it's actually kind of versatile.
In terms of fabrics, Valli would be the first to tell you that he loves an animal print, and this season it's ocelot—not vampy, more artful, watercolor to be exact. The spots popped up on those small shorts, boxy tops, a pretty sheath with an open back and his signature, minimal evening coat. Other pieces, like a blousy wrap jacket, were done in a magnified palm-frond print, and there were also sheer tops in green and purple florals mixed among lipstick-red looks such as a utilitarian-ish sleeveless, collared top with a wide belt.
Knowing that his collection sells in more than 200 stores around the world, Valli's conscious that he's dressing women of different cultures and climates. He's right, in that they have disparate requirements for fabric weight and flashiness. But for many, the fantasy of that beautiful life is the same.
For more information and a full profile on Giambattista Valli, visit Voguepedia.com.


text:
Afraid that pasta's going to whack your diet? Fuggedaboutit! There's nothing wrong with a little Italy, not when Hungry Girl's in the kitchen. Catch her guilt-free pasta swaps today at 4pm ET/ 3pm CT.
Hungry Girl's got plenty reasons to say I love you, Italian food:
- Her Fettuccini Hungry Girlfredo is creamy, delicious and full of satisfying flavor.
- And you won't believe the ingenious pasta swap that goes into Hungry Girl's Slaw & Order.
She'll also show you how to supersize your serving size the smart way, and walk you through her list of grocery store go-tos for surviving your big-time pasta cravings.
Going out for dinner? She's got you covered. Hungry Girl is taking you out and serving up all her Italian restaurant dos and don'ts. Don't miss it. It all happens today, 4pm ET/ 3pm CT.
Visit Hungry Girl's website
for more tips and advice from this episode.
Craving More?


text:
Emergency Planning and Response Authorities
The federal government's responsibilities for emergency response are established by statute and by executive orders issued by the President.
The Stafford Act (PL-93-288) provides the authority for the federal government to respond to disasters and emergencies. Under the Stafford Act, the President is authorized to:
- Establish a program of disaster preparedness that uses services of all appropriate agencies;
- Make grants to states, upon their request, for the development of plans and programs for disaster preparedness and prevention; and
- Ensure that all appropriate federal agencies are prepared to issue warnings of disasters to state and local officials.
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972/ Oil Pollution Act of 1990 expands the National Contingency Plan (NCP) to include response to releases of hazardous substances, as well as oil, to any navigable waters of the US. The Oil Pollution Act broadens the response and enforcement authorities of the federal government.
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) gives EPA the authority to control hazardous waste from "cradle to grave", including its generation, transportation, treatment, storage, and disposal.
The Comprehensive Emergency Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) expands the NCP to apply to releases to any environmental media and to cover releases at hazardous waste sites requiring emergency removal actions.
The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) expands EPA enforcement authority and establishes a chemical emergency response planning infrastructure at the state and local levels.
Executive Orders (EO)
EO 12088-Federal Compliance with Pollution Control Standards delegates pollution prevention, control, and abatement responsibilities to federal agencies, including EPA.
EO 12580-Superfund Implementation, as amended by EO 12777-Implementation of Section 311 of the Clean Water Act (CWA), delegates to EPA specific authorities under the NCP, as well as the responsibility for its amendment.
Homeland Security Presidential Directives also give EPA the legal authority for its emergency response program.


text:
We Exist for the Glory of God and Christ.
OC has always been and remains today firmly committed to the glory of and service to God and Christ. All other aspirations and activities are subservient to this immutable commitment.
Everything Belongs to God.
Since he created all and sustains all, we believe academic study and the capacities of mind and heart are sacred and gifts from God. Our scholarship and our lives are shaped by and given meaning by a worldview that God is creator and sovereign in our lives. Jesus is Central. God's love, manifested through the free gift of grace through Jesus, the Christ, is the central message of scripture. Eternal salvation comes only through faith in Christ, and right living comes only through obedience to Christ.
The Scriptures are our Ultimate Guide.
We believe the Bible is inspired by God, is the ultimate source of wisdom and truth, and is fully sufficient to guide our lives on earth and to prepare us for eternal life with God. As human beings, we do not fully understand the mind of God. Therefore, we seek to be diligent and humble students of the scriptures, always learning and growing in the likeness of Christ.
Our Response.
Our response to God is obedience to Him and service to our fellow man under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and with full acknowledgement of our humanity and need for grace.
Path Less Taken.
OC is determined to avoid following the path to secularism taken by so many church-related colleges and universities. Though a university can be neither a Christian nor the church, as a community of believers we are firmly dedicated to the service of Christ and our fellow man. It is not merely our Christian identity we wish to preserve; it is more important that our people be Christ-like and Christ followers. Thus, as an institution, we will reflect the values that are taught in scripture.
Vibrant Relationship with Founding Fellowship.
OC is an independent university founded by members of churches of Christ to provide excellent Christ-centered higher education. All trustees, administration, and full-time faculty of the University have been called from that fellowship throughout its history, and governance of the University is entrusted to a self- perpetuating Board of Trustees that is responsible for stewardship over the University's mission. OC will cherish and nurture the relationship with the churches of Christ, while welcoming and serving students and communities who do not share that spiritual heritage.


text:
>> Although Gap is having a little trouble these days —the brand just cut their entire European design team and were overtaken by Zara as the world's biggest retailer — all bets are still on executive VP of design Patrick Robinson, whose first full Gap collection debuts this Fall. It is he who chose the likes of Julia Restoin-Roitfeld, Georgina Chapman, Cecilia Dean, and Scott Schuman to front Gap's Fall 2008 campaign, proving he really is trying to bring fashion back to the company.
Can Mikael Jansson's shots of those four, Ryan McGinley, Karlie Kloss, Sean Avery, Jourdan Dunn, and more, plus Patrick's new designs, make the difference for Gap? Only time will tell, but until then, enjoy the rest of the Fall campaign.


text:
Interested in using Cartoons? Great!
Use link below to learn how. THANKS
The Back Pew Book is.. my collection of Clean Humor & God's Truth cartoons. 114 pages of Back Pew cartoons covering the gamut of faith topics. Bible stories, marriage, family, church, sports, computers, and much much more. Please check it out, and enjoy!
Help support The Back Pew
Want to Embed Back Pew
cartoons on your website?


text:
Angus Carving Board
Do you need a Father's Day or birthday gift for that guy in your life that loves to BBQ? This beautiful, New England hardwood Angus Carving Board @williams-sonoma.com, is the perfect gift for any occasion! It has an area of "cut pyramids" that keep meat in place and a well around perimeter of the tray that catches juices. Can be purchased for $105.00.


text:
With these numbers you can begin to develop Return on Investment (ROI) for your mobile App Project. Let's say you spend $5000 to develop, build, and distribute your custom app for your business. If a "tap" inside is worth $2 it would require 2500 taps to recoup the project costs. If your app is accessed "sessions" 200 times per day with 10% click rate that equals 20 clicks per day. 2500 clicks divided by 20 clicks per day equals 125 days to recoup your investment. $1 clicks equals a ROI in 250 days. If you produce a good content rich app 200 sessions per day is very low. Jam-Mobile.com produces and sells many simple but functional apps that produce sessions per day way beyond 200. Mobile analytics build in to your app can give you great information about app usage and more. We will talk about mobile analytics in a future post. Lastly all apps are not created equal but hopefully this gives you a framework to begin to evaluate mobile investment.
Project ROI:
$5000 (Project Cost) / $2 (Cost per Tap) = 2500 Taps
200 (Session per Day) * 10% (Tap Rate) = 20 Taps per Day
Return on Investment (ROI) = 2500 (Taps) / 20 (Taps per Day) = 125 Days
BUT WAIT! If I sign up with iAd I have to share 40% of the ad revenue. This is true but you don't have to use iAds or other ad services to have a return on your investment! We have built custom apps were the client controls the ad displayed and the "click" or "tap" on the ad and resulting link location. The client keeps and controls 100% of the advertising revenue.


text:
Trees Make the Best Mobiles: Simple Ways to Raise Your Child in a Complex World: Jessica Teich
As a new parent, I read every single "First-Timers" book on the market. But, nothing compared to Jessica Teich's "Trees Make the Best Mobiles." It's been my tried-and-true baby shower gift ever since. Practical, take-a-breath advice that encourages parents to use what is at-hand and not a sea of colored plastic to raise a healthy child. Be sure to follow it up with Richard Louv's "The Last Child in the Woods" around age 3.


text:
A Seahawks victory this season would have a significant impact for both teams. Seattle would improve to 5-1, giving them solid control of the NFC West, while Arizona would drop to 3-4. A Cardinals win, on the other hand, would put Arizona just a half-game behind Seattle.
The Seahawks offense has been hit or miss with a revamped offensive line and trying to find a running game - where are you, Beast Mode? The defense has been primed, ranking first overall.
The Cardinals have lost all three home games against Seattle under Bruce Arians, outscored 105-34.
"It doesn't matter if it's on the road or at home, we've got to beat them," Arians says. "If we're going to win the division, we've got to beat them."


text:
CES 2006 - Day 3: Playstation 3, Quarter-size Hard Drives, SED and lots of TVsby Anand Lal Shimpi & Manveer Wasson on 1/9/2006 1:25 AM EST
- Posted in
- Trade Shows
45 Comments
Back to Article
quanta - Friday, January 13, 2006 - linkFrom page 8:
Like LCD and DLP technologies, SED displays are fixed pixel displays and there are three electron emitters per pixel. The downside to a fixed pixel display of course is that you end up sacrificing quality if you display content isn't at the same resolution as the native resolution of your display.
Actually, that only exist if at least 1 dimension of display content dimensions isn't integer divisor of display's native resolution. Secondly, DLP can overcome this by shining at only the biggest subset of mirror in the DMDs that do not cause distortions, then use adjustable sets of lenses to perform zooming, with each set zooming at only 1 axis. Reply
Kensei - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkPlease do a review of this thing when it becomes available. I'd love to see how its output compares to Blu-ray and HD-DVD. I'm sure it's not as good... but just how much worse is what I'd like to know. Reply
highlandsun - Thursday, January 12, 2006 - linkSamsung has pretty good scaling technology, but it seems to me this is something you only need in your display. (And Samsung TVs do pretty good upconversion already.) So, kind of silly. Reply
VooDooAddict - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkRaptor X.
I feel so guilty. I'm drooling over a hard drive that costs more then a 7800GT.
I've wanted a windowed Hard drive for ages though... but don't have the dremmel skills nessesary to add a window to an existing drive. Reply
Questar - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkNobody has the dremel skills. Drives are assembled in clean rooms. Beaking the seal will be the end of a drive. Reply
Clauzii - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkI´ve seen a drive approx. a year ago on the net - modded with blue light - woring - 20Gig. Damn where was it....? Reply
Clauzii - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkBut also found this .. it´s nothing new ....... Reply
Clauzii - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkThis: http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Transparent_20disk_...">http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Transparent_20disk_... Reply
Clauzii - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkworing = working...
Eris23007 - Monday, January 09, 2006 - link
I've noticed lately that article text seems to disappear a few seconds after page load, frequently when one of the sidebar ads appears. Can't be retrieved except by highlighting it, moving the page back and forth (so it redraws), etc. Happened on a number of articles over the past week or so...
IE6/XP-SP2 Reply
Clauzii - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkAlso here - to me it actually looks at it started happening after the last WindowsUpdate I had (4days ago - WMF-Fix?)
Also IE6+XP SP2 Reply
BladeVenom - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkScrew Blue-ray discs, Sony can keep their DRM, and rootkits. I think I'll get Samsung's "Hyper DVD." Then I'll just wait till HD-DVD is cracked before I switch to a new format. Reply
GTMan - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkThere is a 0.85" drive with a nearly identically sized drive beside it that is 1.8". Number must be wrong. Also one is 4 GB and the other is 80 GB. Maybe that should have been 8 GB. Reply
Tanclearas - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkOk. What exactly is so great about the iPod interface? I have used it, and many other MP3 players, and fail to see how the iPod interface is so much better than most other players on the market. In fact, I have never understood why people believe the iPod is so different or so much better than a lot of its competitors. It wasn't the first, nor do I think it is "the best". I don't think I've seen any player that I could classify as "the best". Most seem to have all of the appropriate capabilities, with buttons/controls laid out in an effective way.
The only thing I can say is that I have indeed used some players that had poor designs or build quality. In that regard, the iPod is better than some players out there, but is Apple building some sort of brand loyalty by secretly including some narcotic drug that gets delivered via the ear buds? Reply
Questar - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkDefine "best".
I define best as easiest to use, no manual reading required. Reply
Tanclearas - Tuesday, January 10, 2006 - linkSo buttons labelled with the standard icons for Play, Pause, Stop, Skip Forward, Skip Back, Rewind, Fast Forward, and a jog dial or D-Pad for menu navigation are too complicated for you? I've seen several designs like that. Others try to "copy" Apple's circular layout, and that is where many of the poor models that I mentioned fail. In some of those "copies", they use poor quality buttons, or the buttons are just too small.
Come to think of it, Apple's touch-sensitive circle is more annoying than helpful. Reply
AnnihilatorX - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkSED, LED LCD, OLED, Plasma
Not mentioning glassesless 3D displays. Too much is going on
Typo in Last bit:
"some piece of mind to those still holding on to their older analog sets."
piece -> peace Reply
Aquila76 - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkRmember when buying a TV was solely size based?
'I'd like a 32" TV please.'
'OK, here are some by Samsung, Toshiba, etc.'
Now it's like trying to choose regular, free-range, organic, etc. at the grocery.
I JUST WANT TV AND STEAK PEOPLE!!!! Reply
oneils - Thursday, January 12, 2006 - linkLol! Since I'm the youngest guy in the office, I inevitably get asked all sorts of techie questions. One of my colleagues asked for advice on purchasing an HDTV. I looked at cnet.com's guide to HDTV and was blown away. Where have a I been these past two-three years? I had no idea how many options there were: plasma; edtv; lcd; crt rear projection; lcd rear projection...and probably a couple I am missing.
I had no idea what to tell him, other than to stick to major brands (sony, samsung, panasonic etc...). I no my way around computers (I build my own rigs), but I only have a 36" CRT SDTV and was completely lost when I ventured into HDTV territory.
Aquila76 - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkAnybody able to use the forums today? I was able to log in, but when I try to go to any forums I've commented in, I get this (both Firefox and IE):
Server Error in '/' Application.
Column 'vchlicensekey' does not belong to table qGetLicenses.
Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.
Exception Details: System.ArgumentException: Column 'vchlicensekey' does not belong to table qGetLicenses.
Source Error:
An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.
Stack Trace:
[ArgumentException: Column 'vchlicensekey' does not belong to table qGetLicenses.]
System.Data.DataRow.get_Item(String columnName) +121
FuseTalk.API.InitialiseKeys() +324
FuseTalk.API..ctor(String c) +237
FuseTalkNet.Forum.Page_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e) +351
System.EventHandler.Invoke(Object sender, EventArgs e) +0
System.Web.UI.Control.OnLoad(EventArgs e) +67
System.Web.UI.Control.LoadRecursive() +35
System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain() +750
Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:1.1.4322.2032; ASP.NET Version:1.1.4322.2032 Reply
Sunbird - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkNo problem for me here. IE6 on WinXP SP2. Reply
Aquila76 - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkHmm... I wonder if my account is experiencing the 'y2k6 bug' that wiped out some of the lifers. Reply
semo - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linksome lifers accounts got wiped out?
y2k6 bug?
man i should stop living under this stupid rock. soooo much hilarity. Reply
Aquila76 - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkdwell, SampSon, buck and a few others got wiped out last week - all their posts got wiped too. Reply
ukDave - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkLast word in 2nd last paragraph on pg14.
"comarpsion" should be "comparison".
Word. Reply
Calin - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkWhy they compare the quality of digital TV seen on a shiny new digital TV to the quality on a 1980's analog TV? Why not compare to the latest analog only TV they built?
Probably because the quality difference would be underwhelming?
Calin Reply
psychobriggsy - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkIf I read what that digital TV 'convertor' box did, then they have been available in the UK (and probably other European countries) for around 4 years already, initially as the ITV Digital boxes, and for the past couple of years as Freeview boxes.
They usually have two SCART (Eurotel) outputs (what we have instead of S-Video outputs, ours can carry RGB signals as well as composite, but the connector is pig-large), one to the TV, another to a recorder, and an RF output in case the TV is old and doesn't have SCART inputs.
Cheap models (<£40) skimp of course, or 'specialise' in not having some of the features like RF output of digital signals. They also lose the 7 day program guide and only offer Now&Next, grrr.
Regardless, it should mean that these boxes will cost under $99 when they're released in the US, probably around $79. If they try it on with $199 then you know they're trying to rip you off, unless it downconverts terrestrial HD signals too. Reply
semo - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkgood point. how many ppl have tvs from the 1980s anymore (as far as the targeted audience of ces is concerned) Reply
Sc4freak - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkIs it just me, or is the entire page completely screwed up? Reply
gsellis - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkI noticed that the index and pages were one off. Reply
JarredWalton - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkLooks fine for me with Firefox 1.07, but Internet Explorer is all messed up. The odd thing is that it's only *this* article that's having problems.
Oop... found the issue. The article description had a double-quote in it, and changing that to " fixed the problem. Thanks for pointing this out! Reply
tuteja1986 - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkhttp://www.theinquirer.net/?article=28840">http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=28840
world largest is panasonic not samsung :)
Samsung 102"
Panasonic 103"
So as you can see Panasonic wins by 1" ...lol Reply
Cygni - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkI just cant see how anybody really expected HD-DVD or Blu-Ray to be a success, to be quite honest. They seem to be expecting everyone to dump all their "old school" DVD's to pick up the SAME titles in the new formats, like most people eventually did with the VHS->DVD move... but i think its quite obvious that there just isnt any motivation to DO that this time.
Can you say Laserdisc anybody? I just dont see Blu-Ray or HD-DVD taking off like they think it will. Will they stick around in the long run, unlike Laserdisc? Probably, simply because the added storage will be useful in the long long run and the discs/drives should eventually be dirt cheap... but they ARENT going to be a run away, must upgrade success. Thats for sure.
And when can i get a 103" OLED display? :p Reply
Chadder007 - Monday, January 09, 2006 - link:werd:
I thought this was hillarious
The problem is that the jump from progressive scan DVD (480p) to Blu-ray and HD-DVD at 720p or 1080p just isn't that great, even on a 46" display.
Blu-Ray AND HD-DVD will be a failure. Reply
sprockkets - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkIt just confirms what I have been saying, recording HDTV to DVD on 720x480 doesn't look that much worse than it coming on 1920x1080 live.
Sure the original was smoother and clearer, but, it wasn't mind blowing, and if I didn't tell you, you probably wouldn't notice the difference either. Reply
gsellis - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkFirst, thanks to the AT crew for going out of their way on such a horrible journey to cover this event. We all know you had to suffer to do it, but anything for the AT user's, right? ;)
On the DVD to HD-DVD/Blu-Ray compare, their content did not show much difference because of the source. The played content was probably film of Pro-HD and compressed to MPEG or HD codec with a high-end encoder (the reds in that closest did not appear to be crushed as much as a standard encoder would do with something like DV content.) It looks like the source was at least 4:2:2 and maybe 4:4:4.
If the sources had been DV vs HDV, their would have been a little more dramatic. And as noted, if it had been compared to NTSC 480i, it would have also been more dramatic.
But, you are very correct in that this is not VHS-DVD where the quality jump is higher and the feature set is bigger. DVD is non-linear in how you can view content compared to tape and the big bonus was adding the bonus material. The bonus material is already there, so what can they add to really make it worth it? Especially when the players can do upconverts? And 720p movies fit on DL DVD-ROM already.
OK, (maybe coining a new twist on an old term or it probably has be done) having a Blue disc player and replacing your DVD library makes your v-penis(tm) bigger :p Reply
MrSmurf - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkYou can play your current DVDs in the newer standards. I think both will have moderate success on the PC once the price goes down due to their size but it'll be some time both stand alone players even put a dent in the market. Reply
Xenoterranos - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkHellz yeah. I wouldn't mind that 82 in LED lit LCD either, probably the closest you can get to a big screen OLED screen right now. Reply
OddTSi - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkSomeone please fix the page formatting. Everything is all over the place. Reply
JarredWalton - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkShould be fixed now. Reply
andrewln - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linksome very interesting products..
SED, 82" LCD?!.. 103" plasma..tiny projector....4K projector
clear raptor...finally, something new for hard drives
dual lense camara
dissapointments? or i'm wrong?
0.85" 4GB hard drive?...can't they make 4GB sd already, not moving parts and requires less power
nano clones..? why not make it better rather just cloning?
wireless tablet....i thought we have those already
ps3....no coment
MrSmurf - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkThings like the small HDD are more to impress us with how far technology has advanced. It's a novelity. Reply
swtethan - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkby samsung... worlds largest... hehehe Reply
littlebitstrouds - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linkI want a 103" plasma Reply
swtethan - Monday, January 09, 2006 - linksweet stuff! Reply


text:
Half of surveyed iPhone users in China express interest in switching to the Galaxy S4
0. phoneArena posted on 16 Apr 2013, 02:49
China is a very important market for Tim Cook and gang, ringing in a huge percentage of Apple's revenue now. Avanti, the Taiwanese research arm of TrendForce, took to the streets in China to survey a representative sample of 3000 smartphone users, and it turned out that more than half expressed interest to own Samsung's newest Galaxy S4 flagship...
This is a discussion for a news. To read the whole news, click here
1. shuaibhere (Posts: 1986; Member since: 07 Jul 2012)
Good news for sammy!!! But about xz in china???? It's doing well...
2. TechBizJP08 (Posts: 495; Member since: 25 Mar 2013)
No thank you!!
3. sam_tek (Posts: 105; Member since: 18 Feb 2011)
It's about time!
It really shouldn't have taken this long in my opinion.
I loved the original iphone, but it stopped w/ the original iphone. There are such good alternatives for one phone (that costs more) to have such a huge share.
btw, don't bash me. it's an opinion. if you have any thing fruitful to share, please do.
4. Antonyjoseph (Posts: 217; Member since: 06 Apr 2013)
Sales volumes have never been an issue with apple. Their margins on each device is so high that even if they sell only to their dedicated fanboys, they will continue to rake in huge profits.
5. anywherehome (Posts: 971; Member since: 13 Dec 2011)
of course, if you compare iPhone with SGS4 its like go out of a cave to a super modern hi-tech house :)
icons vs. choose your default app for anything (no dictatorship)
icons vs. copy file
icons vs. open any file
icons vs. multi-user api
icons vs. photosphere
icons vs. nfc
icons vs. connect any keyboard or mouse
etc etc etc :)
6. Leo_MC (Posts: 2677; Member since: 02 Dec 2011)
Lag vs smoothness.
Oversaturation vs natural colors.
Good camera vs great camera.
Uncomfortableness vs high usability.
Instant updates vs being at Samsung+operators mercy.
Manga ui vs Pixar ui.
Plastic vs high build quality.
Yeah, that's a good deal...
7. superstar (Posts: 30; Member since: 14 Apr 2013)
True, you forgot cheapo crappy plastic vs high end uni body aluminium and glass!
9. you_troll (banned) (Posts: 8; Member since: 16 Apr 2013)
>this would have been true pre-ics..
>busted on this one.. has natural colors already + deep blacks
>SGS4 is #1 in the camera department
>depends on how puny your hand is, and if you are able to use two hands, I might agree
>Samsung rarely needs update since almost everything is optimized, so is iP
>debatable, would rather have a polycarbonate chassis than easy to nick ones
12. Leo_MC (Posts: 2677; Member since: 02 Dec 2011)
Lag have been reported in JB Nexus devices so it will be no surprise if Samsungs gets it too.
No, amoled has oversaturated colors (Phonearena had a comparison, loock for it)
No, iphone has the best camera (Phonearena had a comparison, loock for it)
For note screen, one needs 12 cm thumbs (the average length is 7-8 cm) that means 240-260 cm length; if I found it ok to use 2 hands, I would choose a laptop, not a stupid 5" screen on a phone, not evene a 7" screen on a tablet.
Every device needs updates; with Samsung you have 1-1 1/2 years worth of updates; good luck with future security issues.
Samsung uses a bad polycarbonate; you use that cr*p.
13. you_troll (banned) (Posts: 8; Member since: 16 Apr 2013)
>Lag has also been reported in iP5, lag is everywhere. your point?
>it's not oversaturated now, still not natural, but it's getting there..
>no, SGS4 has the best camera (look it up on PA)
>that's you, that's why I have no qualms if you want smaller phones
>the s2 starting from 2.3 to 4.2.2, (need I say more?)
>yes, and the aluminum and glass of the iPhone can never be damaged.. (sarcasm)
18. RebelwithoutaClue (Posts: 3575; Member since: 05 Apr 2013)
Guess the millions of people and the dozens of manufacturers are all stupid than eh, making big 5" screen. Who would want that, only stupid people with immense thumbs....
Any source for that comment on bad polycarbonate or did phonearena tell you that one as well...
11. RebelwithoutaClue (Posts: 3575; Member since: 05 Apr 2013)
I don't know what stone you crawled underneath, but the S4 doesnt lag, has a better camera (the S3 already was as good as the iphone one), updates for top models are pretty quick, high usability is rather objective. Plastic doesnt equal low build quality, just less premium feel. So when you give arguments, better make sure they stick.
15. Leo_MC (Posts: 2677; Member since: 02 Dec 2011)
S3 didn't lag either; now it does.
Phonearena said iphone camera is the best; pick a fight with them, not whith me.
iphone (or WP) have instant updates; Samsung has them after 6 months (median time for 2012; also a thing that Phonearena said; again, pick a fight with them if you don't believe it).
Usability in a phone is given by the fact that it can be used with one hand; S-paddles can't.
Bad plastic in Samsungs eguals low build quality (for the plastic in Nokias you're right).
17. RebelwithoutaClue (Posts: 3575; Member since: 05 Apr 2013)
Don't know what S3 you are using, but most of S3 phones don't lag. And ofcourse the iphone 5 has a better camera, it's newer. I have an iphone 4s as well and believe me, there are no instant updates.
If you only look at being able to use it with one hand, yes than it's more usable. Thank god most people define usability a bit more realistic.
Bad plastic in Samsungs? Still no argument there, the plastic is very strong (just look at will it blend between an S3 and an iphone 5 ;)) Just looks cheap.
But I already can tell there is no argueing with you. So you can have the last word
19. you_troll (banned) (Posts: 8; Member since: 16 Apr 2013)
>S3 does not lag, if it does, it's broken or it's running a not so optimized app.. same with iP5, it does not lag, but when it does, something's wrong with that or the app running
>Phonearena said s4 is the best, pick a fight with them not with me
>nope, iP has patch updates, WP has the worse update track record
>you have a little hand and you prefer iP, therefore iP suits you, but not all agrees
>not true, I have dropped my s3 lots of times, and not scuffs and scratches.. now, try dropping your iP5
14. anywherehome (Posts: 971; Member since: 13 Dec 2011)
youre just nicely brainwashed :)
everything you have written is just a lie :)
just try to select text and process it in any app (translate) = you see how the iConboards are inferior? :)
24. donfem (Posts: 693; Member since: 30 Mar 2011)
But, don't you think these people thought about the points you raised and still decided to dump iphone?
26. Leo_MC (Posts: 2677; Member since: 02 Dec 2011)
Good point except that not iphone users want to switch to S4 but smartphone users.
If you ignore the bad title phonearena gave this article and you look at the results, you get to realise your question is valid both ways: if S4 is so good why 52% would want a half year old, presumably worse, more expensive device?
21. Wiki_jaan (Posts: 704; Member since: 24 Jun 2012)
android fans VS ikrapfan
8. Trex95 (Posts: 1118; Member since: 03 Mar 2013)
I do prefer iphone but i still want a big screen.
10. martinlosha (unregistered)
Here you have it android fanboys......the prove.
Chinese people liked the s4 because of the big amoled screen, the camera and the process power of the phone.
Nobody mentioned Android...
So stop acting like Google is doing a favour to Samsung. Is the opposite I would say.
Samsung is doing a favour to google.
16. xperiaDROID (banned) (Posts: 5629; Member since: 08 Mar 2013)
To the people who live in China, there are a lot of smartphone to choose!
Samsung Galaxy S4
HTC One
Sony Xperia Z
BlackBerry Z10
LG Optimus G Pro
20. ibap (Posts: 785; Member since: 09 Sep 2009)
While I'm not an iPhone fan, I have the feeling this survey should be evaluated by the "follow the money" criterion.
22. TechBizJP08 (Posts: 495; Member since: 25 Mar 2013)
It means they are "only" interested. The option to buy is another story. Because as what xperiaDROID said.
(To the people who live in China, there are a lot of smartphone to choose!
Samsung Galaxy S4
HTC One
Sony Xperia Z
BlackBerry Z10
LG Optimus G Pro)
23. joey_sfb (Posts: 6600; Member since: 29 Mar 2012)
Apple fan after paying so much for an over price phone want the world to acknowledge they have made the best decision.
The fool and their money will soon depart.
Androids, windows users have choices, they can choose to spend little for a budget phone or a lot for a high end model. Apple fan has only one choice to pay high end price for a low end model.
Still keep on ranting on Android that they will never get to experience what true high end phone feel like. Hey! Take a hint why so many bought s3, note 2 want to buy s4 and note 3. Yeah we are fans for now. But if there a better choice out there we will move as well. iOS is struck in year 2009 and had never advance since then.


text:
Community Health Sciences
School of Community Health Sciences
Public health is the science and art of protecting and improving the health of communities through policy development, health education and promotion, and research for disease and injury prevention.
The School of Community Health Sciences provides the educational and research experiences to transform students into the innovators, educators, practitioners and researchers that are needed to promote the public's health in our communities.
The opportunities for our graduates are as diverse as the interests of the students we serve and our alumni work in local, state, national and international settings.
Faculty and Staff
Meet the School of Community Health Sciences Faculty and Staff.


text: Florida Center for the Book was established in 1984 as the first affiliate of The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. Florida Center for the Book celebrates the literary heritage of Florida, brings readers and writers together and promotes books, reading, and libraries. The offices of Florida Center for the Book are in the Broward County Main Library, 100 S. Andrews Ave., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301. Phone: 954-357-7386 Fax: 954-357-7323 To stay up-to-date on all Florida Center for the Book programs, sign-up for our e-mail notices; e-mail Tara Zimmermann, email@example.com with your e-mail address.


text:
| Skip to content
Social Security Online
|FOIA - Freedom of Information Act
|Home FAQs Contact Us Search
|FOIA Home
Privacy Impact Assessments (PIAs)
|This is an archival or historical document and may not reflect current policies or procedures
Major Systems and Applications
President George W. Bush signed the E-Government Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-347, 44 U.S.C. Ch 36) on December 17, 2002. It became effective on April 17, 2003. Section 208 of the E-Government Act requires that the Office of Management and Budget issue guidance to agencies on implementing the privacy provisions of the E-Government Act. You can find that guidance at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/memoranda/m03-22.html. The E-Government Act requires agencies to conduct PIAs for their electronic information systems and collections. Agencies must make these PIAs publicly available.
We have conducted the following PIAs:
Major Systems and Applications
|Privacy Policy | Website
Policies & Other Important Information | Site
Last reviewed or modified Thursday Jun 13, 2013


text:
Sale! Alpha Xi Delta Coral Billboard Jersey
As low as $37.95! See quantity discounts below.
Be the first in your chapter to show off this coral, oversized spirit jersey decorated with your sorority's monogram on the front pocket and sorority name spelled out large across the back. Our billboard jersey provides a unique look you need in your closet. This thick, high quality, soft material is sure to make you relaxed, comfortable and cute while representing your sisterhood. 100% heavyweight cotton.
Below are the available bulk discount rates for each individual item when you purchase a certain amount
- Buy 4 - 9 and get $2.00 off
- Buy 10 - 19 and get $4.00 off
- Buy 20 or above and get $7.00 off


text:
In my posts i'll try to share with you some experiences i've had in the past week during my work as a web developer.
As all of us are talking about the new coming Windows Vista, I decided to dedicate my first post to guide you all on how to setup IIS 7 along with MySQL and PHP 5. Before entering the venture myself, I searched the internet for tutorials on how about to do that, however, the closest i got was to install IIS 7, PHP and MySQL, however, everywhere i looked the PHP didn't work with MySQL.
I decided to go on the ride anyways, hoping to get it to work, and fortunately, i did ;).
Here is how i was about doing that:
First step, IIS 7.
I have Windows Vista RTM 64bits, thus this guide will show all the steps required to set it up on Vista 64bits, however, i will try mention all the steps that 32bit users should accomplish instead.
In order to set IIS 7 up, please go to Start->Control Panel->Programs->Turn Windows features on or off.
see yellow mark on the picture below
Inside the window that popped up, Look in the list for Internet Information Services. and check the box next to it.
Click ok and wait for it to install IIS 7. When finished close the Control Panel window.
That's it, IIS 7 is all set, in order to confirm that, you can try to go to http://localhost in your favorite browser.
Next step: PHP 5.
Because i was using the 64bit edition of Vista, instead of downloading the regular distribution from php.net i downloaded a 64bit version from http://www.fusionxlan.com/PHPx64.php, Please download the zip package, as of this time, the latest version is 5.2.0
People who are using the 32bit edition of Vista, please download the zip package from http://www.php.net/downloads.php.
Unzip the zip to your drive, i used C:\php. now inside C:\php you will find a file named php.ini-dist.
copy this file to c:\windows\ and rename it to php.ini (erase the -dist part).
Now open the php.ini in notepad.
Inside the file, look for the line ;extension=php_mysql.dll and delete the semi-color (;) from the beginning of the line.
Now save and close the file.
Next, let's copy the dll to the right place...
Go to c:\php\ext and copy the file php_mysql.dll. Now go to C:\Windows\System32 and paste the dll there.
When asked to, Click continue to gain Administrator privilege.
Now let's configure IIS to work with our PHP.Go to start->run and start InetMgr.exe (IIS Manager).
Inside IIS Manager click on "Handler Mappings".
On the right side of the window, click on "Add Script Map..." (Yellow box in the pic below)
In the window that pops up, fill up the fields with these values:
"Request path:" *.php
"Executable:" C:\php\php5isapi.dll
"Name:" PHP
The window should look like this one when you are done.
Click "Ok", And when the "Add Script Map" dialog pops up, Click "Yes".
Ok, so we have PHP and IIS 7 working together, now it's time to add the last piece to the puzzle, MySQL.
Download MySQL, i used MySQL 5.1 located at: http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/5.1.html
32bit users, download the 32bit distribution, 64bit, download the 64bit one.
Once you downloaded the MySQL installer, 32bit users, all you have to do is go through the Installer steps (Click next,next next next) and you should be fine.
64bit users, you still got some little work, after installing the MySQL, i had a problem running the configuration wizard, in order to solve that problem, i used the following trick.
I downloaded the 32bit zip package (without installer), inside C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.1\bin i renamed the file libmySQL.dll to libmySQL64.dll and copied the 32bit file into the directory instead. Then i ran the configuration wizard, and this time it worked.
After the configuration process was completed, delete the 32bit file from the directory and rename the file libmySQL64.dll back to libmySQL.dll.
That's it, you are all set with IIS 7+MySQL+PHP.
In order to make sure that everything is in order, create a file named test.php inside C:\inetpub\wwwroot\ and write inside
Then inside your favorite browser browse to http://localhost/test.php and you should see all the settings of your php installation, if you will scroll down, you should also see MySQL settings which will confirm that MySQL is indeed installed.
A fix for Sessions Issue: Vista seems to have a permission problem with php's session.
Warning: Unknown: Failed to write session data (files). Please verify that the current setting of session.save_path is correct () in Unknown on line
In order to solve the issue, inside CMD as administrator (Right click on CMD.exe and "Run as administrator"). write these two commands:
icacls %windir%\serviceprofiles\networkservice\AppData\Local\Temp /grant Users:(CI)(S,WD,AD,X)
icacls %windir%\serviceprofiles\networkservice\AppData\Local\Temp /grant "CREATOR OWNER":(OI)(CI)(IO)(F)
Well, i hope that my first Post will assist at least some of you, any comments regarding my writing are welcome. And of course, if you have any questions or you are having any difficulties in the process, don't hesitate to comment and i promise to try and help with every comment.
Till the next time...


text:
The Belamar Hotel is a hip hideaway that fuses modern design with retro motifs for a hotel in Manhattan Beach like no other. Comprising of 120 boutique guest rooms and 7 glamorous suites, guests are welcomed with stylish décor and A-list amenities, including complimentary Wi-Fi, plush robes, Keurig coffee makers, and flat-screen TVs. If that's not enough, our Manhattan Beach hotel suites offer jetted tubs for long soaks, living areas, and sunny terraces that overlook the courtyard.
Nestled in Manhattan Beach, CA - voted one of the "Ten Best Beaches in California" by readers of USA TODAY - The Belamar Hotel is also home to Second Story Restaurant, which has become a culinary hot-spot with its fresh California cuisine and daily happy hour. Our hotel also boasts over 7,000 square feet of Los Angeles meeting venues and wedding space - made even more special with our on-site catering services. And when you're ready to venture beyond our Manhattan Beach boutique hotel, guests can explore a diverse collection of upscale shops and attractions, including the nearby coastal communities of Redondo Beach and Hermosa Beach.
The rooms were wonderful, the staff was friendly and accommodating, the bar/restaurant had great ambiance and excellent food. What a wonderful experience.
This hotel is a good value and the staff makes it even better. Their attitude is friendly and welcoming. The room was comfortable and peaceful. The restaurant was good and the location was perfect.
Book yourself a room at the Belamar. Wow! Customer Service is Gold here, the rooms consist of a COMFORTABLE bed, generous sizes of toilettries, a good night sleep because it's quiet, and walking distance to everything.


text:
The slightly narrower Backland W, and a top quality touring all-rounder.
The slightly narrower Backland W, and a top quality touring all-rounder with skin and Backland Tour binding.
Features a symmetrical step on each end that's stable, light and durable.
Incredibly lightweight Poplar and Caruba wood keeps Backland's weight down but without compromising downhill performance.
The Atomic Backland 78 is our lightest and mightiest Adventure Touring ski for women. With a 78mm waist, Ultra Light Woodcore and beautiful graphic finish it's perfect for all alpine touring enthusiasts. It's exceptionally light for climbing but still performs on the way down – the smaller waist width and All Mountain Rocker ensure total control at all times even on hardpack, while the Step Down Sidewall construction absorbs shocks, makes it robust and ensures solid edge grip on all terrain. Finally for skinning you can choose between 100% Mohair PreFit skins, custom-made for the Backland 78, or our MultiFit AM Rocker Skins that can be trimmed and fitted to size.
Ski Technology
Additional information about laminates, sidecuts and more.
Technical Specifications
Additional information about ski technical specifications.


text:
Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes has taken a brief respite from setting medical drama spores adrift on the wind to create a new ABC series about the spin-filled world of crisis management. However, rather than the more minor celebrity-related snafus—such as, say, your cast members openly complaining about writers not fully appreciating their estimable talents, or blaming their firing on a vast homosexual conspiracy—Rhimes is looking to the big-league example of Judy Smith, the former George H.W. Bush press aide who's been at the center of some of the most controversial fuck-ups in recent history: Smith's client list includes Monica Lewinsky, Michael Vick, and Senator Larry Craig, and she's also worked on the Iran-Contra investigation, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry's arrest, Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court nomination, the Chandra Levy investigation, Clinton's impeachment, the D.C. sniper case, and the Congressional inquiry into Enron. Smith will serve as a consultant and co-executive producer on the show, which will use her career as a basis for its look into how a powerful PR guru and her "dysfunctional staff" turn scandal lemons into redemption lemonades while also, presumably, having sex with each other.
Submit your Newswire tips here.