Slashdot Mirror
Domain: deforest.org
Stories and comments across the archive that link to deforest.org.
Stories · 5
-
Sprint ION's $100/mo, 8Mbps Home Service Tanks
Dr. Zowie writes: "In the current gloomy high speed connection market, a ray of light was Sprint's ION service. For $100/month, they would provide local phone service, long distance service, and 8mbps down, 1mbps up DSL-like digital connection. I've been waiting for the service to turn on to write a review about it -- but the service has been discontinued and all orders are being cancelled. Too bad -- ION was like a geek dream come true." ION was only available to a relative handful of people, but it sure sounded good. Anyone have suggestions for this sort of combination service? -
Flare Sends A Gigaton Of Solar Detritus Toward Earth
Dr. Zowie writes: "This morning at about 10:00 UT, a major explosion occured on the Sun. The solar X-ray output went up by over 1,000 times. About a billion tons of material are speeding toward Earth at over a million miles per hour, and should hit sometime in the next couple of days. Low latitude aurorae and anomalies in radio communications and power service are likely consequences. You can see the event from the SOHO spacecraft's home page -- images and movies are here. In the movies, watch for the burst of radiation hitting SOHO about 13:00 UT -- that's a high energy proton storm caused by the flare itself. You can also see the earthly effects of a similar event from last year." -
Choosing a Router/Firewall for the Home LAN
Dr. Zowie asks: "How should one choose a router for a home LAN? We just added a few hosts on our home ethernet, which is connected via DSL. There are an amazing number of new entries into the market for routers and even stand-alone firewalls. NetGear, Linksys, SMC, and even Panasonic all have boxen in the $99-$300 range, each of which will do some combination of NAT, routing, source-IP filtering, port filtering, and content filtering.""It's not at all obvious from the packaging, the web sites, or the drool-proof pamphlets in the boxes which routers will do what. For example, we'd like to pass through packets for our two server machines, and use NAT/DHCP on a third address for the rest of the LAN. Nearly all the boxes advertise that they can do NAT routing, but many don't support NAT and static-IP routing simultaneously.
Die-hards will insist that one should run a standalone box with dual ethernet cards and the appropriate routing goodies -- but these standalone boxes, at 5-15 watts and a couple hundred bucks, seem like comparatively hassle-free solution. Which one do you use?"
-
Cassini Greets Jupiter
Dr. Zowie writes "The Cassini probe, despite predictions of doom on launch and on its Earth flyby, appears to be working just fine as it wends its way outward toward Saturn. It's currently flying by Jupiter for an additional gravity assist. Today, the imaging team released their first high ('better than Hubble') resolution color images of Jupiter. I can't wait to write a Jovian screensaver..." Halfway down that last page is a sweet movie (GIF or QT) showing time-lapse clouds around the Great Red Spot on successive rotations of our largest planet. -
Recombinant DNA For The Home Hobbyist
Dr. Zowie writes: " Scientific American 's "Amateur Scientist" column this month tells how to amplify and isolate DNA chains in your kitchen, using the tried-and-true Polymerase Chain Reaction technique. Use it for massively parallel computing experiments; to ID friends, pets, and favorite houseplants; or to help eliminate epidemics. But what'll happen when enterprising teenagers start playing with plasmids and recombinant DNA?" I love articles that remind you that one of the ingredients it recommends playing with is a nasty mutagen. Interesting that PCR has become so common that all it takes is a hundred dollars and a dark room!