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The Quick PCI-Express 2.0 Guide

Formally standardized one year ago, PCI-Express 2.0 is now beginning to show up in force. Although in many ways this is a fairly simple extension of the previous standard, it has created a good deal of confusion. Join us as we unravel the key points.

The Clicky Keyboard Directory

Does your keyboard click? No? Have we got some links for you!

TLD Locator

Oh sure, you know that web addresses ending in .uk originate in the United Kingdom. And .us is for the United States. But what about .ro, .al, or .mk? With our new TLD locator, you can find the location associated with any country-code Top Level Domain in a snap.

Why is 56k the Fastest Dialup Modem Speed?

Odds are, you have heard the term "56k" as relates to dialup modems. But where does that number come from? The answer may surprise you, unless you are a communication systems geek.

The DRM-Free Music Directory updated

Today Warner Music Group announced that it would begin selling its music in MP3 format on Amazon's MP3 store. This means that Amazon now has 3 of the 4 major labels (EMI, Universal, and Warner), leaving Sony as the lone holdout. This means Amazon now has more major labels with its service than any of its competitors. The DRM-Free Music Directory has been updated to reflect this.

So meta it hurts: Ads make a gradual return

As part of our continuing efforts to ensure 10stripe continues to exist, we will be gradually rolling out reasonably benign ads for various Amazon.com products. More information on 10blog.

Even more meta: we have a blog

For a lot of reasons, we now have an official blog, 10blog, to carry the various announcements, news, and previews that have up to now been run on the front page (this page). It won't be extremely high-volume, but it will provide a better look into what is going on behind the scenes.

More meta: RSS returns

After a lengthy absence, the site once again has an RSS feed. There are a variety of reasons why this is the case, most of which are unlikely to interest you in any way. The feed is cached by Feedburner, and located here (in the event auto-detection does not work for you). There are some known kinks that we will be working out over the next several days. Contact us if anything is severely broken.

Life of an NVIDIA Video Card

We showed you the life of a processor; now we'd like to show you the life of a video card. In keeping with our "equal time" efforts, this time we decided to follow an NVIDIA card.

The Big Processor Guide updated

Now that Intel has launched the first of their Penryn-based products, we have added them to the guide.

Map of AMD Processor Codenames

In honor of Friday and of Dreamhost's fiddling with the server, we bring you a new map. This runs in parallel to the similar map of Intel processor codenames, but is for the green guys.

Life of an AMD Processor

The design and manufacturing of a modern computer processor is quite a complicated affair. A single processor may require the effort of people on several different continents. As a demonstration of just how far-ranging this process can be, we have mapped out the stages in the life of an AMD processor.

Map of Internet Penetration by Country

Week 2 of "hey-we're-finally-updating-again" month begins with another map of the world. This time, we've mapped data on Internet users around the world, collected by the ITU. Some of it probably will not surprise you... but some of it might. Eastern Europe is certainly a study in contrasts.

The DRM-Free Music Directory

For those of you that want to download your music (legally), but don't want it locked down with any digital rights management, we have compiled this directory to some of the services you might want to buy from. Enjoy!

Map of Semiconductor Fabs

If you've ever wondered where companies like Intel, AMD, and IBM actually make their chips, now is your chance to find out. We have assembled a color-coded map showing the fabs of the semiconductor industry's leaders (and some of its smaller players) for your amusement.

Map of Intel Codenames

Today we launch a new feature: maps. We start with a map showing different locations that have inspired Intel codenames. We will be publishing three more maps over the course of the next two weeks (one each Monday and Wednesday), with more to come after that. Keep an eye on the Map Index (or this page, of course) to stay up to date on the freshest maps. Consider this penance for the site's extended break.

Big Processor Guide updated

The Big Processor Guide has been updated to include Merom Refresh, Tigerton, Barcelona, some Celeron Ds, and the Pentium Dual-Core, and to correct Merom FSB speeds. Numerous minor fixes and revisions.

Who made your power supply?

Odds are, your power supply was not made by the company you think it was. So who really deserves the credit (or blame)?

June refresh

The page markup has been tweaked to resolve a long-standing rendering bug seen only in Internet Explorer. Additionally, the navigation bar (at right) has been adjusted a fair amount. Search is being tweaked to only search within 10stripe. Several content updates are forthcoming, as well as one quite large announcement.

Background updates

The Big Processor Guide and The Big Power Supply Guide have been given slight facelifts and minor updates.