Pages

Thursday, April 29, 2004

Man sells ex-wife’s wedding dress on e-bay

FCC Requires Firewire on All Cable Boxes

Holy cow batman!!  I am making the call right now! 

As of April 1st, cable companies are required to provide a Firewire-enabled cable box to anyone that asks, as per an FCC interpretation of Section 304 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. What this means to you is that easy ripping and recording of HDTV streams is just a phone...


[Gizmodo]

iPod Explorer

I had not heard of this but apparently the folks at http://www.redchairsoftware.com/ have created an app that will let you use your iPod as a MP3 streaming server complete with web interface.

 

Kind of neat eh? 

In Class, the Audience Weighs In

This is cool.  I am all for getting the kids more un-afraid of technology and also getting them interested in actually participating in class… 

Professors equipping their students with wireless keypads for classroom give-and-take say they make classes come alive.


[New York Times: Technology]

Wednesday, April 28, 2004

Man sells ex-wife’s wedding dress on e-bay

Commodity Community Wireless Gear

This one is worth following simply because the company sells 802.11g Mini-PCI cards…  That’s right, those of you with Dell Latitude’s can have 802.11g on your built-in Mini-PCI slot!!! 

The folks who brought you the Pringles cantenna and the concept of an off-the-grid community wireless network have partnered in a new firm: Rob Flickenger and Matt Westervelt's Metrix Communications is attempting to be a one-stop shop for networkers trying to find commodity boards, antennas, kits, and parts that are surprisingly tedious to buy separately or as individuals. The gear is focused on outdoor, ruggedized equipment typically used for long haul or interconnection points, but they also carry less technical items, like a high milliwattage PC Card (200 mW)....


[Wi-Fi Networking News]

iPod update 28-4-04 Released

For all you iPodophiles out there (you know who you are)! 

iPod Update 2004-04-28 supports all models of iPod and iPod mini introduced before April 28, 2004. This update is required to take advantage of new features in iTunes 4.5 and the iTunes Music Store.

Changes for iPod without a Dock connector

  • Compatibility with iTunes 4.5 and the iTunes Music Store
  • Improved playback performance

Changes for iPod with a Dock connector and iPod mini

  • Compatibility with iTunes 4.5 and the iTunes Music Store
  • Improved playback performance
  • Support for the Apple Lossless Encoder, to enable compressed music encoding at high quality


[ActiveWin.com Headlines]

Tuesday, April 27, 2004

Commodity Community Wireless Gear

This one is worth following simply because the company sells 802.11g Mini-PCI cards…  That’s right, those of you with Dell Latitude’s can have 802.11g on your built-in Mini-PCI slot!!! 

The folks who brought you the Pringles cantenna and the concept of an off-the-grid community wireless network have partnered in a new firm: Rob Flickenger and Matt Westervelt's Metrix Communications is attempting to be a one-stop shop for networkers trying to find commodity boards, antennas, kits, and parts that are surprisingly tedious to buy separately or as individuals. The gear is focused on outdoor, ruggedized equipment typically used for long haul or interconnection points, but they also carry less technical items, like a high milliwattage PC Card (200 mW)....


[Wi-Fi Networking News]

iPod update 28-4-04 Released

For all you iPodophiles out there (you know who you are)! 

iPod Update 2004-04-28 supports all models of iPod and iPod mini introduced before April 28, 2004. This update is required to take advantage of new features in iTunes 4.5 and the iTunes Music Store.

Changes for iPod without a Dock connector

  • Compatibility with iTunes 4.5 and the iTunes Music Store
  • Improved playback performance

Changes for iPod with a Dock connector and iPod mini

  • Compatibility with iTunes 4.5 and the iTunes Music Store
  • Improved playback performance
  • Support for the Apple Lossless Encoder, to enable compressed music encoding at high quality


[ActiveWin.com Headlines]

Monday, April 26, 2004

AT&T Wireless To Introduce The How Many Bars Do You Have Man

One word.  LAME   or maybe Ugh! 

Now that AT&T Wireless is trying to bounce back from all the troubles they've been having, they've decided to steal a page from competitor Verizon Wireless. While they promise that they've fixed a lot of the problems that caused them problems and have very publicly apologized, they're also starting up a marketing campaign that will try to get the phrase "How many bars do you have?" as famous as "Can you hear me now?" I can just imagine the thought process. AT&T Wireless execs standing in a bunch of mobile phone users listening to what they're saying, knowing they can't use "Can you hear me now?" Maybe it's just me, but "How many bars do you have?" just isn't that convincing.


[Techdirt]

iHateSpam for Exchange

Oooooooh.  I know a few people who love the client version of this.  If you have used this version please let me know how it works.

<snip> 

iHateSpam for Exchange was developed for the Exchange Admin. Control spam according to the needs of your company and your users iHateSpam for Exchange (V5.5, 2000 and 2003) is an easy install and up and running in minutes. Spam detection is in excess of 98%, with a low rate of false positives. Evaluation version available.


[Slipstick - Outlook and Exchange News]

Rumour: Sprint to Carry CU928 Pocket PC Phone Edition By Mid-2004

This would be cool!!! 

ThunderCK over at SmartAssets has some interesting news about the CU928:
"This unit it being sold in China but I asked my corporate Sprint Rep late Friday about this and he sent me a fax that had the specs of the unit and the information that Sprint would carry this PPCPE mid-year! The only spec that was in my fax and not above is the unit is 7.4 oz..."
If this is true, that's some great news - I wasn't expecting to ever see this device in...


[Pocket PC Thoughts]

Sunday, April 25, 2004

AT&T Wireless To Introduce The How Many Bars Do You Have Man

One word.  LAME   or maybe Ugh! 

Now that AT&T Wireless is trying to bounce back from all the troubles they've been having, they've decided to steal a page from competitor Verizon Wireless. While they promise that they've fixed a lot of the problems that caused them problems and have very publicly apologized, they're also starting up a marketing campaign that will try to get the phrase "How many bars do you have?" as famous as "Can you hear me now?" I can just imagine the thought process. AT&T Wireless execs standing in a bunch of mobile phone users listening to what they're saying, knowing they can't use "Can you hear me now?" Maybe it's just me, but "How many bars do you have?" just isn't that convincing.


[Techdirt]

iHateSpam for Exchange

Oooooooh.  I know a few people who love the client version of this.  If you have used this version please let me know how it works.

<snip> 

iHateSpam for Exchange was developed for the Exchange Admin. Control spam according to the needs of your company and your users iHateSpam for Exchange (V5.5, 2000 and 2003) is an easy install and up and running in minutes. Spam detection is in excess of 98%, with a low rate of false positives. Evaluation version available.


[Slipstick - Outlook and Exchange News]

Rumour: Sprint to Carry CU928 Pocket PC Phone Edition By Mid-2004

This would be cool!!! 

ThunderCK over at SmartAssets has some interesting news about the CU928:
"This unit it being sold in China but I asked my corporate Sprint Rep late Friday about this and he sent me a fax that had the specs of the unit and the information that Sprint would carry this PPCPE mid-year! The only spec that was in my fax and not above is the unit is 7.4 oz..."
If this is true, that's some great news - I wasn't expecting to ever see this device in...


[Pocket PC Thoughts]

Thursday, April 22, 2004

NetStumbler 0.4.0 Released

This is good news for you war-drivers out there.  Check out Netstumbler  and stumble your way to more hotspots!  I just installed the updated version on my iPaq and will give it a whirl this afternoon.

Wednesday, April 21, 2004

NetStumbler 0.4.0 Released

This is good news for you war-drivers out there.  Check out Netstumbler  and stumble your way to more hotspots!  I just installed the updated version on my iPaq and will give it a whirl this afternoon.

NNTP for Outlook

I saw this on the Slipstick blog and I must say, ABOUT TIME!!!!  I can’t believe it has taken someone this long to come up with a plug-in to let us do what many have asked for from MS.  Bravo! 

http://www.mapilab.com/outlook/nntp/

 

Truth in Advertising

Another doozie from Bill “needs a blog” Odom! J

 

http://www.shitbegone.com/

 

Eyeball, Spyball

Gruesome sight for bad guys.  I love seeing (oh the puns!) technology being put to good use. This gadget review on [Gizmodo] really puts things into focus.  They should start dropping these things from planes along with the propaganda letters. J  It’s like a super ball that can hear and see in all directions.  I would love to have one of these to play with.  If the soldiers yell “Fire in the Hole” right when they toss it, no one will know where it landed as they will all be scrambling to get the heck out of the way! J

Microsoft to acquire Bioware - announcement at E3 ?

Argh!!!  I love Bioware!  They make Neverwinter Nights.  I don’t know what this means to future software but it’s close to heart because I know quite a few people who play Bioware games. 

Will the Knights of the Old Republic developer join the dark side? Internet reports suggest that Microsoft is set to acquire Canadian RPG development studio Bioware, with the company planning to announce this latest addition to its developer line-up at the E3 trade show next month. According to the reports, a senior Microsoft Game Studios official broke the information under condition of anonymity; our own sources at the company remained tight-lipped on the subject today, but did confirm that the company is hoping to have a "massive" announcement at E3.


[ActiveWin.com Headlines]

Custom Quota Messages for Exchange users

If you have used Exchange for any length of time I bet you have gotten at least one message from System Administrator telling you that you were over some kind of limit.  The folks at “You Had me at EHLO”  have an excellent post on how to make your own custom messages.  I know a few administrators have talked about this in the past…  Now, if you want to do this in a production environment is another story, but at least we know it can be done.

 

Maybe they will put it in an official Service Pack at some point.

6.25 Gig/Sec

 The folks at Neowin were talking about the new Internet Speed record.  Man I would *love* to get my hands on a connection to the new Internet V2… <salivate now>

 

Tuesday, April 20, 2004

NNTP for Outlook

I saw this on the Slipstick blog and I must say, ABOUT TIME!!!!  I can’t believe it has taken someone this long to come up with a plug-in to let us do what many have asked for from MS.  Bravo! 

http://www.mapilab.com/outlook/nntp/

 

Truth in Advertising

Another doozie from Bill “needs a blog” Odom! J

 

http://www.shitbegone.com/

 

Eyeball, Spyball

Gruesome sight for bad guys.  I love seeing (oh the puns!) technology being put to good use. This gadget review on [Gizmodo] really puts things into focus.  They should start dropping these things from planes along with the propaganda letters. J  It’s like a super ball that can hear and see in all directions.  I would love to have one of these to play with.  If the soldiers yell “Fire in the Hole” right when they toss it, no one will know where it landed as they will all be scrambling to get the heck out of the way! J

Shimy Shimy Cocopod

I’m surprised that Apple isn’t jumping on them for being too close to an iPod…  I mean, they did the same thing to a beautiful PocketPC app that was going by the name of pPod.  Now that I go to the website I discover that Apple has killed the pPod so I’m betting that the CocoPod will be close behind it.

The CocoPod is a goofy-looking audio player, with a 20GB hard drive, built-in FM radio and voice recording, on-the-fly MP3 encoding, and an SD/MMC slot for backing up data directly to the device. It's sort of ugly, but in 18 months when it's selling on discount racks for $99, it'll...


[Gizmodo]

Wal-Mart Blog

Hey Bill!  Check this out!  The evil-ones have a blog now.

http://wizbangblog.com/archives/002266.php

 

Tihs is fnuny

 Check this out.  I found this while looking at other Gnomedexers.

http://www.smays.com/2004_04_01_smays_archive.html#108233586400258183

 

Gnomedex 2004

In case I haven’t told you yet…  I am going to Gnomedex this year!!!  Woohoo!  After going through so much the last 3 years and getting so close to going only to have it fizzle out, I am finally going. 

Not only that, but TechnoDaddy, Bill “needs a nickname” Odom, and Noggin are going too!  The world may not be a safe place to be… <insert evil cackle here>  At least the bar won’t be a safe place to be. J

I can’t wait to hang out with fellow geeks and N.A.D.D sufferers. J

I have N.A.D.D!

I don’t know what to do about it…  There probably isn’t a cure for it either…

 

Thanks Bill for pointing me to a new site for content and for pointing out that I have N.A.D.D. J

 

Here is the link for those of you out there who want to see for yourself…

http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2003/07/10/nadd.html

 

Monday, April 19, 2004

Shimy Shimy Cocopod

I’m surprised that Apple isn’t jumping on them for being too close to an iPod…  I mean, they did the same thing to a beautiful PocketPC app that was going by the name of pPod.  Now that I go to the website I discover that Apple has killed the pPod so I’m betting that the CocoPod will be close behind it.

The CocoPod is a goofy-looking audio player, with a 20GB hard drive, built-in FM radio and voice recording, on-the-fly MP3 encoding, and an SD/MMC slot for backing up data directly to the device. It's sort of ugly, but in 18 months when it's selling on discount racks for $99, it'll...


[Gizmodo]

Wal-Mart Blog

Hey Bill!  Check this out!  The evil-ones have a blog now.

http://wizbangblog.com/archives/002266.php

 

Tihs is fnuny

 Check this out.  I found this while looking at other Gnomedexers.

http://www.smays.com/2004_04_01_smays_archive.html#108233586400258183

 

Gnomedex 2004

In case I haven’t told you yet…  I am going to Gnomedex this year!!!  Woohoo!  After going through so much the last 3 years and getting so close to going only to have it fizzle out, I am finally going. 

Not only that, but TechnoDaddy, Bill “needs a nickname” Odom, and Noggin are going too!  The world may not be a safe place to be… <insert evil cackle here>  At least the bar won’t be a safe place to be. J

I can’t wait to hang out with fellow geeks and N.A.D.D sufferers. J

I have N.A.D.D!

I don’t know what to do about it…  There probably isn’t a cure for it either…

 

Thanks Bill for pointing me to a new site for content and for pointing out that I have N.A.D.D. J

 

Here is the link for those of you out there who want to see for yourself…

http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2003/07/10/nadd.html

 

Saturday, April 17, 2004

67% Geek = 134 Proof of phun

Thanks to a comment on TechnoDaddy's site I found the Geek Test site. :)


I AM 67% GEEK!
67% GEEK
Nerd, Freak, Geek, Dweeb. Sound familiar? That's okay, cause I will be the richest person at my 15th year high school reunion. If a "con" isn't happening that weekend.

67% Geek = 134 Proof of phun

Thanks to a comment on TechnoDaddy's site I found the Geek Test site. :)


I AM 67% GEEK!
67% GEEK
Nerd, Freak, Geek, Dweeb. Sound familiar? That's okay, cause I will be the richest person at my 15th year high school reunion. If a "con" isn't happening that weekend.

Wednesday, April 14, 2004

Bit Torrent question

I was *just* talking about this with TechnoD and Bill “needs a nickname” Odom. J

Here is the post: 

Bit Torrent and the ability to download everything in one click (is this the end of Direct TV, Tivo and the music business?!).

Used BitTorrent a little bit when it first came out and was a bit underwhelmed. It didn’t work, there weren’t a lot of places to find files, etc.

I decided to take another look at it when a designer friend of mine was telling me that he has the latest version of every single piece of design software on his Mac compliments of bit torrent (yes, I know it’s wrong… not the point I’m trying to make, the point is coming :-).

Part I: I installed bit torrent and immediately noticed an amazing new trend (prob. not new to all of you) of people posting dozens of albums in one RAR file for download. Huge file sizes in the 500 to 4,000 meg size range. The last season of seven seasons of Southpark, every Nirvanna album and here is another file with every Howard Stern radio show from March in one file.

In one click you grab one really well organized, clean and deep sets of files—scary.

Part II: A couple of month ago I got the Gateway Connected DVD player. For $195 it connects via WiFi to my desktop and I can hit the My Music or My Videos button on the remote control and pull up those directories on my hard drive (in the other room).

Part III: Today I moved into my new apartment in Santa Monica and was faced with the standard $100 month cable/dish bill and I’m thinking “dang, I only watch less then a half dozen TV shows and they are all here on bit torrent… maybe I should save the $1,200 a year and just download the shows and watch them via my Gateway Connected DVD player?”

The Point/Question: How soon before you’ll be able-with one click-download every prime-time TV show or last year’s top 500 CDs in one click?!

(Note: This is not a trick question, I have yet to find a file containing that much content—however, I did find a file with last weeks top 100 singles that someone put together in one nice package).

[The Digital Music Weblog]


[Marc's Voice]

Music executives want to see more expensive online music sales

Let me sum it up.

<soapbox>
Make crap music with only one good song on the CD and singles are going to sell better than the whole CD.

 

I can’t listen to just one song off of “The Wall” by Pink Floyd.  It’s just not possible.  I find myself already humming the beginning of the next track.  But try to listen to any of the pop music out there all the way through and you will be track hopping before you get half way through the CD.  Some people say that it’s our cultures built in ADD tendencies but I say it’s just crap music.
</soapbox>

 

 

Prices are going up. It's common to find albums selling for $14 online as opposed to that originative $10 mark, and the music industry is finding that selling singles online hurts the bottom line.


[Ars Technica]

Robo-Cars Make Cruise Control So Last Century

Interesting read.  If I were able to let the car drive me to work I could get an extra half hour of sleep… or maybe read more blogs. 

As cars become more in touch with surroundings and able to act autonomously, drivers are on the brink of the Jetsons age.


[New York Times: Technology]

VMWare VirtualCenter

 New coolness from the folks at VMWare.  You can read all the whitepapers at their site but the light came on yesterday when we started talking about blade servers.  If one VMWare ESX 2.01 can handle 10 VMs and you have 8 blades in a rack taking up 4U you can get 80 servers into 4U!!!  Granted you have to couple this with SAN space but most datacenters already have a SAN so it’s not a big issue.  When you think of the other things that make this handy…  You have 79 less network wires, keyboard, mouse and fiber…  And the new term “VMotion” and templates mean that you can add machines to the environment or move them around at ease.

 

Once again the folks at VMWare have put the M into PFM!

Will Linux For Windows Change The World?

Isn’t this just another way to have virtual machines inside windows?  I can do that now with VMWare so I don’t see what all the fuss is about.

 

Now what would be cool is MS Outlook for Linux!  Where is that at? 


[Slashdot]

Robots May Fight for the Army

Cool!  I wish I had a packbot! 

A Massachusetts company is working on a new generation of robots that would help American soldiers in battle. The machines won't look anything like the Terminator, though. By Mark Baard.


[Wired News]

Your Wish Is Its Command

Two please… Need them now. 

The FDA gives Cyberkinetics the green light to begin clinical trials on a brain-computer interface involving implants. Chips placed beneath paralyzed patients' skulls could allow them to command a computer to act -- merely by thinking.


[Wired News]

Tuesday, April 13, 2004

Bit Torrent question

I was *just* talking about this with TechnoD and Bill “needs a nickname” Odom. J

Here is the post: 

Bit Torrent and the ability to download everything in one click (is this the end of Direct TV, Tivo and the music business?!).

Used BitTorrent a little bit when it first came out and was a bit underwhelmed. It didn’t work, there weren’t a lot of places to find files, etc.

I decided to take another look at it when a designer friend of mine was telling me that he has the latest version of every single piece of design software on his Mac compliments of bit torrent (yes, I know it’s wrong… not the point I’m trying to make, the point is coming :-).

Part I: I installed bit torrent and immediately noticed an amazing new trend (prob. not new to all of you) of people posting dozens of albums in one RAR file for download. Huge file sizes in the 500 to 4,000 meg size range. The last season of seven seasons of Southpark, every Nirvanna album and here is another file with every Howard Stern radio show from March in one file.

In one click you grab one really well organized, clean and deep sets of files—scary.

Part II: A couple of month ago I got the Gateway Connected DVD player. For $195 it connects via WiFi to my desktop and I can hit the My Music or My Videos button on the remote control and pull up those directories on my hard drive (in the other room).

Part III: Today I moved into my new apartment in Santa Monica and was faced with the standard $100 month cable/dish bill and I’m thinking “dang, I only watch less then a half dozen TV shows and they are all here on bit torrent… maybe I should save the $1,200 a year and just download the shows and watch them via my Gateway Connected DVD player?”

The Point/Question: How soon before you’ll be able-with one click-download every prime-time TV show or last year’s top 500 CDs in one click?!

(Note: This is not a trick question, I have yet to find a file containing that much content—however, I did find a file with last weeks top 100 singles that someone put together in one nice package).

[The Digital Music Weblog]


[Marc's Voice]

Music executives want to see more expensive online music sales

Let me sum it up.

<soapbox>
Make crap music with only one good song on the CD and singles are going to sell better than the whole CD.

 

I can’t listen to just one song off of “The Wall” by Pink Floyd.  It’s just not possible.  I find myself already humming the beginning of the next track.  But try to listen to any of the pop music out there all the way through and you will be track hopping before you get half way through the CD.  Some people say that it’s our cultures built in ADD tendencies but I say it’s just crap music.
</soapbox>

 

 

Prices are going up. It's common to find albums selling for $14 online as opposed to that originative $10 mark, and the music industry is finding that selling singles online hurts the bottom line.


[Ars Technica]

Robo-Cars Make Cruise Control So Last Century

Interesting read.  If I were able to let the car drive me to work I could get an extra half hour of sleep… or maybe read more blogs. 

As cars become more in touch with surroundings and able to act autonomously, drivers are on the brink of the Jetsons age.


[New York Times: Technology]

VMWare VirtualCenter

 New coolness from the folks at VMWare.  You can read all the whitepapers at their site but the light came on yesterday when we started talking about blade servers.  If one VMWare ESX 2.01 can handle 10 VMs and you have 8 blades in a rack taking up 4U you can get 80 servers into 4U!!!  Granted you have to couple this with SAN space but most datacenters already have a SAN so it’s not a big issue.  When you think of the other things that make this handy…  You have 79 less network wires, keyboard, mouse and fiber…  And the new term “VMotion” and templates mean that you can add machines to the environment or move them around at ease.

 

Once again the folks at VMWare have put the M into PFM!

Will Linux For Windows Change The World?

Isn’t this just another way to have virtual machines inside windows?  I can do that now with VMWare so I don’t see what all the fuss is about.

 

Now what would be cool is MS Outlook for Linux!  Where is that at? 


[Slashdot]

Robots May Fight for the Army

Cool!  I wish I had a packbot! 

A Massachusetts company is working on a new generation of robots that would help American soldiers in battle. The machines won't look anything like the Terminator, though. By Mark Baard.


[Wired News]

Wednesday, April 7, 2004

A Leathal Combination: MythTV+RSS+BitTorrent

Can you imagine it?  Hundreds of clients out there recording shows and automatically sharing them on bittorrent?  Awesome!  Then having your client, when it detects a scheduling conflict, download the episode you want from bittorrent so that you can still watch it!  It would remove the need for multiple tuner support on one box because in a sense the network would become one huge multi-tuner system…

 

 

There has to be a way to make this happen.  TechnoD, we should get together this weekend and see if we can hash something together eh? 

In response to a post by Dave Winer, Matt Goyers says "So just think about what you could do with RSS, BitTorrent and a Media Center." I'm not sure why you'd use Media Center when MythTV is available. I suspect its just a matter of time until someone puts RSS+BitTorrent inside Myth TV. If I'd thought about it sooner, I'd have had my Networking class do it this semester for a final project.


[Windley's Enterprise Computing Weblog]

Tuesday, April 6, 2004

A Leathal Combination: MythTV+RSS+BitTorrent

Can you imagine it?  Hundreds of clients out there recording shows and automatically sharing them on bittorrent?  Awesome!  Then having your client, when it detects a scheduling conflict, download the episode you want from bittorrent so that you can still watch it!  It would remove the need for multiple tuner support on one box because in a sense the network would become one huge multi-tuner system…

 

 

There has to be a way to make this happen.  TechnoD, we should get together this weekend and see if we can hash something together eh? 

In response to a post by Dave Winer, Matt Goyers says "So just think about what you could do with RSS, BitTorrent and a Media Center." I'm not sure why you'd use Media Center when MythTV is available. I suspect its just a matter of time until someone puts RSS+BitTorrent inside Myth TV. If I'd thought about it sooner, I'd have had my Networking class do it this semester for a final project.


[Windley's Enterprise Computing Weblog]

Friday, April 2, 2004

New server

Well, you may have noticed that we were up/down for a bit this week.  Our previous hosting provider SUCKS!!!  We switched to a much better place and now have a complete server to ourselves. J  This means we have ROOT!  Woohoo!

 

Normal blogging will resume. J 

Thursday, April 1, 2004

New server

Well, you may have noticed that we were up/down for a bit this week.  Our previous hosting provider SUCKS!!!  We switched to a much better place and now have a complete server to ourselves. J  This means we have ROOT!  Woohoo!

 

Normal blogging will resume. J 

Windows XP SP2 to RTM 23rd June - RC2 Planned

FYI 


[Neowin.net]