Collins’ Onovia

I’m sitting here watching Fox News and they are talking about GTA4. They are again pointing the finger at Rockstar and retail stores. They want to make sure that there’s no hidden content like the “Hot Coffee” mini game mod that there was in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and that the game isn’t sold to minors.

Let me say that most kids under 17 don’t have money trees. The money comes from the parents. If a parent gives their kid $50 to go buy a video game, they need to be more aware of what they are buying. It’s so damn annoying to hear that yet another parent is suing because their already fucked up kid happened to play a violent game and then shoots people up. I’ve played violent video games my entire life, along with all my friends. And here we all are, many years later. None of us are violent killers, drug addicts, or car thieves.

My whole point here is that there is no one to blame but the parent and child. Anyone that carries out the actions in a fictional game needs to imitate Mario, and smash their head into a brick.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working at setting up a video verification system in the central station for the alarm company I work for. The technology driving this system is amazing. This is the best (if not only) 100% wireless video alarm verification system on the market. The Videofied concept is that it will cut back (if not eliminate) false alarm dispatches from an alarm company, and provide video alarm response where never possible before.

The best part about this solution is that it’s a “Stick and Go” system. It can be preprogrammed and shipped from the monitoring company, installed in the site, and monitoring can begin. The Videofied system can support up to 24 devices, and works as a “hub and spoke” type configuration. The main control panel being the hub, and the devices being the spokes.

Videofied right now is focusing on copper theft. This is a crime that is exploding. Don Horne of Electricity Today, stated that copper theft increased 1,150 percent from 2005 to 2006. Those are some scary numbers.

Conventional CCTV systems are a horrible solution for copper theft because by the time someone sees the video, the copper is gone and the damage has been done. Electrical substations, cellphone towers, and rooftop air conditioners are among the hardest hit targets. These are also the hardest sites to alarm due to the fact that there may not be a conventional phone line or power source. With Videofied, there is no “hardest” part to the equation.

If you’re company is concerned about copper theft, but can’t afford to install a $30,000 CCTV video system that no one will watch anyways, Videofied is for you! Just send me an email

with your contact information and I or someone my company will return your call and answer any questions you might have!

Ever since January 17th, 2007 I have been dealing with random computer shut offs. I’ve replaced several components in my pc trying to diagnose the problem. To this day, it still shuts off 1-2 times a day. Quite annoying for a gamer and a coder. So, I just ordered the following parts to build my new computer. It’s only a small upgrade, but it will do for now o.O

The case
I looked high and low for a “cool” looking case. I also wanted it to live up to it’s look. I decided to go with the Antec Nine Hundred gamer case. Important features for this case are the top control panel, large bay room, and excellent cooling reviews.

The Power Supply
I’ve long been told that this is the single most important piece of hardware in a PC. You don’t want the PSU malfunctioning or dying out on you, so I went with the CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W power supply. A little pricey, but worth it.

The Motherboard
The ASUS P5N-D Motherboard caught my eye early on. It’s a great motherboard with good reviews. Loads of features, and supports all of the latest hardware.

The Video Card
This is the part that I’ve skimped out on with my last two computer builds. Each time, I kicked myself in the ass because of it. This time I went with the EVGA 512-P3-N862-AR GeForce 9600GT. While this GPU is not top of the line, it’s certainly not the bottom.

The Processor
The Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 Yorkfield 2.5GHz Quad-Core Processor caught my eye right away. This thing must pack quite the punch. And at just under $300 for the retail box, how could you go wrong?!

The Memory
Because I’m going to make the leap of faith to Vista64, I knew right from the start that memory was going to play a huge factor in how my computer performed. So, I went with the OCZ SLI-Ready Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel kit. 4 Gig of quality memory should do the trick!

The Hard Drive(s)
Ah… now to the slowest piece of computer hardware known to mankind. The hard drive is the bottleneck in any PC. Initially I’m going with a single drive setup. The Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s will be my initial drive, while the Western Digital Raptor WD360ADFD 36GB 10,000 RPM SATA will be installed soon as only my boot drive.

The Other Stuff
APC SurgeArrest
ASUS 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe
ASUS Xonar DX 7.1 Channels PCI Express Interface Sound Card (Note: I realize that the motherboard has an onboard sound chip, but the fact that I’ve always had two sound cards and the amazing reviews for the Xonar really made me get this)
Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Home Premium
ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler
OCZ OCZTFRZTC Freeze Extreme Thermal Conductivity Compound

I’m excited for all these parts to get here so I can fire this thing up! I’ll take pictures once everything is in place.