Thanks to adjunct aliceandbill.com reporter Tony Waters, here’s what seems to be Antec’s competition in the fanless power supply space. The CoolMax Fan-less looks to be available in 300, 350, and 400 watt models, is priced slighly below Antec’s entry, and shares many of the Phatom’s specs. I haven’t actually seen one yet but I am troubled by the very last one of its bulleted feature list: “High quality gold-coated fan guard & connectors are good for conduction.” Fan guard? Hopefully this is just another example of the foibles of cut-and-paste page composition. No weight was given.

Studio executives gathered at the Digital Hollywood conference here this week debated new business models made possible by the Internet, home networks and a burgeoning array of digital devices. They also warned that copyright concerns could delay for years new products and services that fully take advantage of the new technologies.

But Hollywood would need strict anti-copying guarantees first. Specifically, locks would need to be pushed deep into the guts of television set-top boxes, PCs and home networks–broaching a hot-button issue that’s riled device makers that largely oppose such measures. More than 40 technology companies and trade associations warned bill sponsors on Tuesday that the legislation would engender an “unmanageable flood of litigation that would tie up innovators and chill investment.”

I dunno… Didn’t we get rid of the pirates when we attacked Tortuga? Note to Movie Industry Ezekatives: If you build a better lock, they will build a better key. Word.

My generation….
“The overriding theme at the Aging by Design conference held in Waltham Mass., is that businesses, specifically technology product and Web site designers, have yet to figure out how to build tools or resources that truly appeal to most people over the age of 50. About 6,000 Americans turn 65 each day, according to the AARP. And the fact that these people are getting older doesn’t mean they’re spending any less money. The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group estimates that half of all new car sales in the United States are made to individuals older than 50. The older demographic, which is set to grow even faster as the baby boomer generation moves further into retirement, clearly represents a lucrative opportunity for savvy IT marketers.”

And just where do you think those 13 - 19 year olds in the current demographic get their money? What, they work for a living? We’ve been saying this for years in that other column we used to do. Glad somebody caught on.

What can you do with Google from an Internet connection in the United States that you can’t do from an Internet connection in China?

The answer: Find sites that are banned by the Chinese government!

Apparently, according to Dynamic Internet Technology Inc., “Google omits results from the government-banned sites if search requests are made through computers connecting to the Internet in China. Steered by an identical search request, computers with a United States connection retrieved results from the sites blocked by China.”

Google Guys! You’re making your billions off the backs of an oppresed people by cooperating with a Communist regime? C’mon… Admittedly, Capitalism generated from Communism is an interesting concept, but have you turned yourselves into the oppressors of information in exchange for the almighty buck? If this is true, what might you be blocking in other countries, even here in the United States?

Is it time to switch to Yahoo!?

Antec’s newest power supply is called the Phantom. That’s because “Fanless” didn’t sound as sexy. I kid you not (well, about the name, yes), the thing has no fan! It’s a power supply wrapped in a huge heatsink. How huge? It’s no bigger overall than a standard power supply so it will fit in almost any case you can find, especially one of those really nice Antec cases. What makes it huge? Well, I am endowed with 2x the strength of the average 130 pound weakling and the Phantom is an uncomfortable palm –because of its weight.

If you look at Antec’s website, you’ll see that it rates the Phantom at roughly 5lbs. That’s wrong. In fact, all of Antec’s power supplies carry the same weight listing. It’s the foibles of cut and paste page composition. According to the amazingly accurate planar scale at the Lab of Doom and Pepsi Cola (yes, the LofD&PC is back!) the Phantom loads down the springs at a chunky 7.5lbs. Is that an issue? Maybe. Antec itself recommends that if you’re shipping a Phantom-equipped PC somewhere it’s advisable that you remove the Phantom and ship it separately. The more your computer case resembles one of those light-weight, stressed aluminum designs, the more important that advice is.

So why bother? Antec tells it best: Plenty of companies claim that their power supplies are “quiet.” Or “ultra-quiet.” Or “virtually silent.” And they may well be. But the simple truth is, our revolutionary Phantom is utterly, absolutely, undeniably silent.

What’s to make noise if there’s no fan? (And no, you back there in the fifth row with the tape on the bridge of your glasses, I can’t hear an electrical hum either.)

The question, however, is whether or not the Phantom has legs. Apple’s original power supplies were also fanless but they didn’t max out at 350 watts. Antec warns that some PC cases depend on the power supply’s fan to cool the case and therefore you shouldn’t install a Phantom in one of those. (Duh!) However, I have three PCs with 120MM fans (plural) installed that I run 24/7 and the Phantom will find a home in one of them. Antec rates the Phantom at 80,000 hours mean time between failure. MTBF numbers, in general, mean absolutely nothing practical to consumers.

I don’t expect anything to happen but I’ll let you know. (And I really like the cool blue light dripping out the back.)

Two atoms walk into a bar, walk up to the counter, and sit down on bar stools. Suddenly, one of the atoms jumps off his stool, pats himelf down, looks all around the ground and mumbles, “Damn!”
“What’s the matter,” asks his friend.
“I lost an electron,” replies the first.
“Are you sure,” his friend inquires.
“I’m positive,” he answers.

What’s green all over? No, not the Grinch. How about a web hosting company that’s powered solely by renewable energy sources, who’s CEO drives an electric car, and who plans to open a small data center powered entirely by electricity generated from its own solar panels by the end of next year. (Wonder if that will put a big dent in nighttime browsing or if they’ll be a huge stack of batteries complete with caustic gells or liquids and lead plates –all of which are just sooo environmentally friendly…?)

How altruistic, you say? Maybe not. “It’s a completely different spin. It allows us to distinguish ourselves from the oceans of very similar service providers,” says Steve May, founder and CEO of SOlar Data Centers. According to the news.com story, “His gambit is more about marketing than it is about tree hugging.”

Methinks Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, et al., are about to discover the law of diminishing returns. Apparently, the more complex they build their game consoles, the more complex the job is to program for them. Supposedly, the polygons needed for character creation was in the hundreds range for the first generation of consoles, bumped to the thousands in the current, and will possibly leap to the hundreds of thousands as the next iteration of consoles appear by 2006.

At this point, creating a top-rate game can cost as much as $5 million. Experts in that area estimate that number can easily triple, leaving many game manufacturers unable to compete.