Show notes
This week really has it all. We start with listener mail, as Scott and Geoff answer questions about solid-state storage and the future of AMD. Our recent escapade into the wacky world of Facebook generates buzz both in the comments and among our panelists, Josh Buss joins us to talk about a very unusual ATX case design, and we talk about Gmail getting better for the corporate world. Lastly, the Kansas City original "bacon explosion" has our editors drooling on mic... and Damage promises to benchmark the BBQ beauty this weekend.

Send in listener mail, and we'll answer on the podcast. - jdrake@techreport.com

Listener mail:

Raid 0 with the ANS-9010? (0:02:19) - from AJ aka Usacomp2k3:

"I know you already covered the ans-9010 in the last podcast, but I have a quick question regarding it: In theory, splitting a drive into 2 'drives' and using an external storage controller to group them in RAID 0 should result in zero performance gain. The only time this wouldn't be the case is if the controller within the drive is less than up to the task of delegating the workload properly. I'm guessing that's why the ANS-9010 sees such an improvement."

SSDs for the swap drive (0:06:14) - from Chris:

"How does the staff at TR feel about using smaller SSDs as a swap drive? I know you guys talk about the marginal increase in boot times, however using a SSD as a swap drive must be preferable to a mechanical drive. Has anyone been doing this and if so, any noticeable performance increases to warrant the price tag for a smallish 8gb SSD drive?"

How is AMD going to survive? (0:10:36) - from Suspenders:

"After reading through AMD and Intels X86 licensing agreement, it appears that the agreement allows Intel to cancel it if AMD declares bankruptcy. Since this would effectively kill the microprocessor part of the company, what do you think is the chance of this happening, and what are AMD's other options to stay alive short of bankruptcy? I ask because it seems to me that Intel would probably take any opportunity to cancel the agreement if they could (see recent letters and grumblings from them about wanting to have a little chat over the Foundry Company spin-off)."

Tech discussion:

TR on Facebook (0:19:14)- Read more - Our Facebook page

Lian Li's TYR PC-X500 Enclosure (0:28:43)- Read more

A look at four X25-E Extreme SSDs in RAID (0:44:58)- Read more

Western Digital makes 2TB Caviar Green official (0:50:22)- Read more

Stanford prof replaces David Kirk as Nvidia Chief Scientist (0:54:30)- Read more

Google takes Gmail off the cloud (0:58:53)- Read more

Survey: Your netbook and you (or other people) (1:07:47)- Read more

The Bacon Explosion.... taking bacon to the next level (1:17:35)- The recipe - NY Times story