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Welcome To Your Home For Tech News and Developments

What are we about and what do we do?

Welcome to B.S. Tech News! We are a newly formed independent news group that will focus on a large variety of different forms of technology from the modern era and all the way back to the vintage technology.

Some of you may have noticed that our main image is an old Commodore PET computer. This is because while we here at B.S. Tech News love modern technology and computing, we have a soft spot for vintage equipment and pushing things to their limits. So worry not, this blog will not be strictly focused on old technology.

Now the main purpose of this blog is to help track, manage, and cover the latest developments in the technology sector from companies such as Intel, AMD, Nvidia, Samsung, and many many more. Coverage can range from computer components, gaming consoles, vehicle technology, and other technology types. Not only the latest from major tech companies, but also cover smaller companies and individuals who are doing incredible things with the latest tech (or some of the oldest) as well.

Now why have we decided to cover tech news? As a group we have been interested in technology since we were all very young, and we like to stay on top of the latest developments in this area. That may explain the modern segment, but why vintage technology? We see the vintage and retro tech just as interesting because it helps to show where the industry came from and see what trends carried forward and what did not. Not only this, but we find it very enjoyable to see what old tech can still do in today’s modern world.

For more information on our leader Ben, please follow this link: https://bstechnews.tech.blog/2020/01/12/welcome-to-my-blog/

We here at B.S. Tech News would like to welcome you all once more to our page and we hope you enjoy our content and new/media coverage.

The Cost Of Being A Tech Hub: Austin, Texas and Housing.

When it comes to any major city it is fair to say that the most popular option for living is to rent; whether that be a home, apartment, or a duplex. For many renting is a way of life. What happens when the rent begins to rise though? Not everyone can makeup the extra cost by budgeting differently. Sometimes the answer is to move, but what happens when the rent across the board is rising? That is exactly the situation facing Austin, Texas.

The cost of living in Austin has been rising over the past few years as an influx of new residents have moved in, drawn by a number of factors. One reason is comparably cheaper housing costs then other states and another reason being the increase in Tech jobs coming to the area with Austin earning the title “The Silicon Hills”. For instance, Apple announcing their new campus at the tail end of 2018 promising to bring in thousands of jobs, it has been steadily drawing in new residents. According to the Austin Chamber of Commerce the Austin metropolitan area has grown by roughly 152 people per day since 2010. To quote them, “The majority, 56.2%, of Austin’s growth since 2010 is attributable to net domestic migration. Net international migration accounts for another 12.3% of total change, and 30.4% is due to natural increase.” So while the natural cause of city growth (babies born every year) is a factor it is easy to see that migration is a steady constant factor.

This influx in new residents has had a large effect on the rent prices across the city. According to data collected by the site Rentjungle.com a two bedroom apartment in Austin Texas in 2011 on average cost $1,120 and in January 2020 it cost $1,699 on average. From 2019 to 2020 Austin also saw an average rent increase of roughly 3.23% across all apartment types year to year. According to apartmentguide.com the most expensive neighborhood to live in is Bouldin Creek with the average one bedroom apartment renting for $2,223 (in 2018). Bouldin Creek is located south of the river in downtown Austin. This is a common trend in cities where the rent costs more the closer you get to downtown. In Austin this sphere of high rent is growing and expanding farther from downtown, driving up the rent in more areas. For reference the cost of apartments in the north of Austin are increasing as well, though the average on as of 2018 was only $860. So rent can vary vastly across the city.

In comparison to the rest of Texas, Austin is considerably more expensive. Bestplaces.net rates the US cost of living at a flat 100 on their index and compares states and cities against that 100 rating. Texas as a whole is rated at 84.3 for the cost of housing, 15.7 points lower than the US average. Austin on the other hand is rated at 159.6. That is 59.6 points higher.

To bring things to a close, while Austin is known as a major Tech hub and is continually growing, it is at a cost that some people can’t pay. Rent. With the increase of rent many people currently living in Austin will find that they may have to alter their lifestyle or move to a new location to accommodate for the increase in rent costs. Austin is also facing a homeless crisis that can only get worse with the increase in rent year to year. So in short save your money, rent wisely, and be ready to see your rent increase.

For those interested here all the sites I gathered information from.
https://www.apartmentguide.com/blog/austin-neighborhoods-by-average-rent/
https://www.austinchamber.com/blog/02-21-2019-austin-migration
https://www.rentjungle.com/average-rent-in-austin-rent-trends/
https://www.deptofnumbers.com/rent/texas/austin/
https://www.bestplaces.net/cost_of_living/city/texas/austin

Austin Texas, Outsourcing, And The Average Person

Outsourcing is found in many different areas of employment, but many only think of customer service centers for large companies and factories when it comes to outsourcing. What is not usually thought of is tech sector jobs being outsourced, such as app development being outsourced outside the United States. Certainly there are development firms outside the United States, but most people don’t think of firms in the United States exporting their development when they have their own workforce. Yet it still does happen.

Even more strange is food delivery services outsourcing their customer service to outside the US. That brings us to the topic of this short audio interview with an average person working for a food delivery service who has seen outsourcing at work in their job in Austin, Texas.

For your listening pleasure it is embedded below.

Austin Texas’ Electronic Waste: Where does is it end up?

Electronic waste in Austin, Texas (and the world as a whole) is a growing problem that requires attention and more solutions. From the improper disposal of televisions, ovens, computer parts, old power-tools, and more the problem continues to grow.

Part of this problem is that electronic waste now encompasses a larger group of products then what it did, say, 50 years ago. Now electronic components exist in everything from clocks to water heaters to digital thermometers. So many items in our everyday lives contain electronic components that it’s easy to lose track. However some people are responsible and send off the old items to recycling centers. Aside from specific recycling centers though, where does electronic waste end up?

To create a better tomorrow this subject of e-waste must be faced and options need to be known. The purpose of this photo gallery is to highlight some of the solutions that exist and to also highlight some of the problems with disposal that the world faces. Not only problems with proper disposal, but also with negligence and littering as well.

Best-Buy offers a large recycling program that includes batteries, cords, and other consumer electronics.

Not all electronic items are obvious at a quick glance, this wall clock contains a small electronic motor and timing system on it’s back. Not all electronics are properly disposed of either.

Not all electronic waste is properly disposed of; and then there is non-disposal as this discarded pen and box show. Electronic waste can also encompass the packaging of the electronics in a sense.

Your Home Away From Home For Tech News

Tired of searching for interesting news stories relating to technology and tech development? Are sites like Google News not exactly what you are looking for? Well we here at B.S. Tech News have the solution for you! Introducing our newest addition to our news coverage capabilities: Scoop.it. Your new best friend for finding curated stories.

What is Scooped you ask? Scooped is a site where we here at B.S. Tech News hand pick interesting and intriguing stories; bringing them together under one roof for you. With new updates and stories constantly arriving on the feed it has something for everyone. So come check it out by following the logo linked below!

Click on the logo to find our curated stories!

Socket PGA 478; How is it today?

Think back to the early 2000’s: Y2K had just passed without issue not long prior, 9/11 rocked the US and the world as a whole, and Intel has just released their newest CPU socket; PGA 478. Made as a replacement for the weaker PGA 423 it boasted support for many different Pentium 4 processors and Celeron D processors. Phased out in 2004 with the introduction of LGA 775, many people have forgotten PGA 478 as a relic of the past. However, I had a thought; what could this old socket do today?

Finding a Processor.

To begin I searched high and low for a CPU to use that would meet a thought to be impossible specification; it had to be 64-bit capable. I decided to look for a Pentium 4 to use for this build. For those who were alive and remember the early 2000’s computer era then you most likely remember 32-bit operating systems and that socket 478 Pentium 4’s were never advertised as being 64-bit capable. This was true for all except two processors. Only the SL7QB and SL7Q8 were capable of running 64-bit and this was only found thanks to some old forum posts from a previously intrigued person over at CPU-World. So now I just had to find one.

In the end I settled for the SL7QB as both CPUs are exceedingly rare these days. Even Ebay failed to provide a well priced option with the SL7Q8 no-where to be found and with only the SL7QB being found to the tune of 100$ from China. Searching some more I found Priceblaze.com that was offering one for 48.52$ at the time (Now it runs for almost 70$ US) and it arrived a few weeks later in good shape. Though for this price one could buy an older used i5 on Ebay. Yet, I now had the most critical component. Next came finding the rest of the parts.

The Other Parts

When searching for a motherboard I wanted to try to find one that offered PCI-Express for it’s many benefits over AGP, and so I went with the ASRock P4VM890 that had PCI-E 1.1 on the board. This motherboard also supported up to 2 GB of RAM which I filled with two new-old stock Atech 1GB PC3200 DDR 400 MHz modules. This motherboard also sported SATA-1 connections, something that would come in very handy later.

For a CPU cooler I wanted to try to find a more modern model then the old fashion aluminum bricks. Ebay once more offered me with very few options except for an old Raidmax Silent Tank RC-001 CPU cooler. It is one of the few interim period coolers that fit both PGA 478 and LGA 775 and still resembled a modern cooler with copper heat pipes. While overkill for what I was going to build, it would serve me very well.

For a graphics card I went ahead and initially purchased an EVGA GT 640 (more on this later), as anything much more powerful would be useless due to the CPU bottleneck.

For a case I found an old no-name white steel box case on Ebay to house all to components. It arrived with an old motherboard and some basic components in the case, but nothing that would be salvageable in this new build. So I gutted the whole case leaving it bare and ready to accept the new parts.

For a hard-drive I decided to see what this motherboard would be able to support, so I selected a PNY CS900 250GB SSD. If it worked this would be one of the best options to help this computer along in this modern age.

Lastly I decided on running Windows 7 Pro 64-bit as my operating system as I wanted to be able to test the latest programs and software.

Now with most of my new components in hand, I assembled the PC and began testing.

Initial Testing and Trouble Shooting

Initially I didn’t get anywhere as I couldn’t get a display signal from the GT 640. After a lot of research, testing, and searching I discovered that the GT 640 I had was built to the PCI-Express 2.1 standard, which broke backwards compatibility to my 1.1 revision board. While a BIOS update could have fixed this ASRock never did issue an update and so I ended up stepping down to an old GT 545 which worked just fine. Since I could see what I was doing I booted the computer up again and to my surprise the PNY SSD was recognized right away. Now that I could see what I was doing and knew that the SSD was good to go I moved on to installing Windows 7.

Surprisingly enough there was no trouble with installing Windows 7 and all of it’s updates, though it was time consuming. My initial impression was that it was snappy and not overly slow, and this was without turning on the “performance” mode that disables graphical options for Windows. I then proceeded to install programs such as Google Chrome, Steam, and Discord with no issues. With all the major items out of the way I put it to the real test.

Internet Browsing and Gaming

Internet browsing was a tad slow upon opening Chrome but it worked well enough that it gave a very passable experience. Websites loaded rather well and there was no input lag on search bars. The only real issue with internet browsing was that I couldn’t watch almost any Youtube videos beyond 144p and or 240p. I managed to fix this by installing the h264ify extension which forces Youtube to use other code options for older machines. With this installed I saw dramatic improvements and could even watch some simpler videos in 720p with no issues. Moving along I tried my hand at a few different games.

To begin I installed a few games that are fairly easy to run on older hardware, such as; FTL, GTA San Andreas, The Escapists, Fallout New Vegas, and even Mad Max. Both FTL and The Escapists gave me zero issues in playing and required no graphical downgrading in order to provide me with a highly surprising 60 FPS experience. Neither game stuttered or had input issues, which is mostly attributable to the SSD. GTA San Andreas however was slightly different.

San Andreas did not like to run in 720p with most options on high or medium, though rendering itself playable when turned farther down graphically. I opted to lower the resolution to 1024 x 768 in order to play with medium settings and found it to run just around a 30 fps mark. So while a bit on the slower and more costly side, it was a playable (albeit retro) experience. Next up it was Fallout New Vegas.

Fallout New Vegas was an oddity. No matter what resolution (below 1280 x 720) and no matter what the graphical options were set to, it would only produce a high of 19 fps. This was odd as even by going into the ini file of the game and manually lowering effects and draw distance it still only gave me 19 fps. So until I can figure out why this is, I can’t call it playable.

Lastly Mad Max was more of a “can it even boot” test, and the short answer is… no. No, Mad Max cannot boot on this old Socket 478 machine. I presume the issue may be due to RAM limitations what with the PC’s total of only 2 GB of DDR1 at 400 MHz. So while it would have been interesting to see, Mad Max was a maddeningly quick disappointment.

In Conclusion

In conclusion there are many things to be said about Socket PGA 478. While old, outdated, and serving truly no purpose in this modern age (except for retro hardware usage) it was an fun experience. With a one core two thread CPU it was still an surprisingly nice experience. While relegated to playing simpler/retro games and watching most videos in 480p for a consistently smooth experience, it was a serviceable experience nonetheless.

So hats off to Socket PGA 478 for making such an impression over 15 years after it was phased out of production.

Introducing Myself

Hello and Welcome to B.S. Tech News! My name is Ben and I run this tech blog as part of my University assignment. I’m a Junior Communications major currently and if all goes well this blog should continue running after this semester ends.