Slashdot Mirror

Do you want an i-Opener, and for how much? Are space-vehicle rescues "your thing"? Does your cute iMac suffer from a video-game-violence deficiency? Do your Web habits stray to courtroom and crime-scene voyeurism? Do you think that online privacy agreements must of needs outlive the dot-com-ephemera which offer them? If Yes to any or all, you've come to the right place.

Money changes everything. After numerous writeups about the hacking potential of their iOpener device, Netpliance changed their service model and even the design of the product itself. Sounds like that wasn't enough: Cy Guy writes: "Netpliance has announced that they are raising the price of the i-Opener from the introductory price of $99 to $399 (neither price reflects the $21.95/month cost of Netpliance's Internet service which must be used with the device.) In a c|net interview Netpliance president Kent Savage dismissed hacker modifications to the device as a factor in the price increase." As Ioldanach puts it, "Think its 'cause they finally realised it was cheaper to raise prices then 'hack-proof' their product?"

What I'd like to see is Netpliance package the LCD and CPU of the i-Opener and sell those packages to OEMs, so they could create custom housings, new uses, etc -- after all, lots of people would like a small LCD X-terminal.

MacGuyver, The A-Team, NASA ... Grave writes: "Looks like NASA got DS1 functioning again. A probe that was almost entirely made up of experimental technologies can be salvaged, yet two hopefully-soon-to-be-routine flights to Mars can't be. Ah, well, at least we know that Ion Engines are workable. Bring on the TIEs!"

TRUSTe dusts off the white hat for a bit? Last week, a story appeared which noted the alarming news that failed web-merchant Toysmart planned to sell its customer information in an effort to recover some money. According to this Standard story, "The nonprofit organization TRUSTe announced Friday it is planning to file a brief in bankruptcy court that will decide whether Toysmart.com can sell its customer lists." Jamie raises two points to consider:

1. Time will tell what effect (if any) TRUSTe's planned brief will have on the Toysmart bankruptcy proceedings.
2. The company that bought Boo.com insists they will continue to honor the old privacy policy for old customers.

Maybe we could combine this with 'Survivor'? jgalvin222 writes "APB Online, Inc. has filed for bankruptcy. This web site is known for offering in-depth breaking news, tons of information on ongoing investigations, and you can listen to live police scanners. This web site will surely be missed, and if you read the article, you can see that some of their techs have volunteered to post crime and safety articles over the next couple of weeks - without pay. If anything, you should peruse their video library, some of the clips are both amusing and interesting."

The Devil will find work for idle hands to do. Ryan writes: "Here is something to keep us Mac fans happy. Go2Mac reports that Diablo II has gone gold for Mac version, making this one of the quickest PC to Mac conversions ever." Here is the official announcement from Blizzard.

Do you want an i-Opener, and for how much? Are space-vehicle rescues "your thing"? Does your cute iMac suffer from a video-game-violence deficiency? Do your Web habits stray to courtroom and crime-scene voyeurism? Do you think that online privacy agreements must of needs outlive the dot-com-ephemera which offer them? If Yes to any or all, you've come to the right place.

Money changes everything. After numerous writeups about the hacking potential of their iOpener device, Netpliance changed their service model and even the design of the product itself. Sounds like that wasn't enough: Cy Guy writes: "Netpliance has announced that they are raising the price of the i-Opener from the introductory price of $99 to $399 (neither price reflects the $21.95/month cost of Netpliance's Internet service which must be used with the device.) In a c|net interview Netpliance president Kent Savage dismissed hacker modifications to the device as a factor in the price increase." As Ioldanach puts it, "Think its 'cause they finally realised it was cheaper to raise prices then 'hack-proof' their product?"

What I'd like to see is Netpliance package the LCD and CPU of the i-Opener and sell those packages to OEMs, so they could create custom housings, new uses, etc -- after all, lots of people would like a small LCD X-terminal.

MacGuyver, The A-Team, NASA ... Grave writes: "Looks like NASA got DS1 functioning again. A probe that was almost entirely made up of experimental technologies can be salvaged, yet two hopefully-soon-to-be-routine flights to Mars can't be. Ah, well, at least we know that Ion Engines are workable. Bring on the TIEs!"

TRUSTe dusts off the white hat for a bit? Last week, a story appeared which noted the alarming news that failed web-merchant Toysmart planned to sell its customer information in an effort to recover some money. According to this Standard story, "The nonprofit organization TRUSTe announced Friday it is planning to file a brief in bankruptcy court that will decide whether Toysmart.com can sell its customer lists." Jamie raises two points to consider:

1. Time will tell what effect (if any) TRUSTe's planned brief will have on the Toysmart bankruptcy proceedings.
2. The company that bought Boo.com insists they will continue to honor the old privacy policy for old customers.

Maybe we could combine this with 'Survivor'? jgalvin222 writes "APB Online, Inc. has filed for bankruptcy. This web site is known for offering in-depth breaking news, tons of information on ongoing investigations, and you can listen to live police scanners. This web site will surely be missed, and if you read the article, you can see that some of their techs have volunteered to post crime and safety articles over the next couple of weeks - without pay. If anything, you should peruse their video library, some of the clips are both amusing and interesting."

The Devil will find work for idle hands to do. Ryan writes: "Here is something to keep us Mac fans happy. Go2Mac reports that Diablo II has gone gold for Mac version, making this one of the quickest PC to Mac conversions ever." Here is the official announcement from Blizzard.

Halcyon writes: "The maker of the Flat Panel Linux Box for $99, Netpliance once again gains the interest of the open source community by posting the winners of the Pilot 100 Program. The program originally started by the development department of Netpliance in order to tap a new market created by these $99 Internet terminals turned portable pc's. Some skeptics of Netpliance have speculated that these refurbished machines are a cheap way to conduct R&D through easily bought community members, but I don't see any of the winners complaining. Decide for yourself. " What's strange is that they are trying to get people to put Linux/*BSD on machines, when I had thought that's what they were trying to *stop* before.

Halcyon writes: "The maker of the Flat Panel Linux Box for $99, Netpliance once again gains the interest of the open source community by posting the winners of the Pilot 100 Program. The program originally started by the development department of Netpliance in order to tap a new market created by these $99 Internet terminals turned portable pc's. Some skeptics of Netpliance have speculated that these refurbished machines are a cheap way to conduct R&D through easily bought community members, but I don't see any of the winners complaining. Decide for yourself. " What's strange is that they are trying to get people to put Linux/*BSD on machines, when I had thought that's what they were trying to *stop* before.

Kalin R. Harvey writes: "Last week I wrote an article which dealt with the i-opener net appliance from Netpliance that everyone was so excited about hacking last month. The response from the community has been great, a lot of people really liked it. So did Netpliance it seems. I was recently contacted by their CTO, Marc Willebeek-LeMair, and asked to meet with the company at their headquarters "to brainstorm about the various issues" raised in the article. He described my article as "intriguing", and I found the message to be very positive overall; it means they have been listening. It means there is a good chance that they want to do the right thing. We haven't set a firm date yet, but are hammering out the details now. What I want is to get from the /. community and the i-opener-hacker community is feedback. Put aside the bad blood that has been brewing between the open source community and the company since they decided to thwart the hack. Look honestly at the situation and consider the issues involved. What would you say to the decision-makers at Netpliance if you had the chance?"

visionik writes: "Today I received a charge on my credit card for Netpliance i-opener service, even though I called them prior to ordering and verified that monthly service charges would not be put on that card. According to Netpliance, they will be charging monthly service on the cards of everyone who ordered an i-opener since March 1st, even though their Web site and support people indicated otherwise. I'm contesting the charges immediately, but thought this should be brought to the attention of everyone else who ordered an i-opener directly from Netpliance." visionik kept a small diary of his dealings with Netpliance. In part, it reads thus: (more)

1. 3/11 I saw the article on Slashdot, and thought it would be a nifty project to run linux on, followed quickly by a thought that I didn't have time to mod it anyway, followed by another thought: hey, even better - i'll order one for my brother's birthday (which is monday the 27th)

2. 3/11 I called netpliance to verify that I could order the unit on my card, without service, and that my brother could subsequently sign up for services on his card. they said sure, no problem. i asked if it would arrive before the 27th, and they said -again- sure, no problem.

3. 3/11 I went ahead and ordered one a bit later in the day via the web form. The site said my total was $99 plus shipping ... nothing about service; and that the shipping would be 7-10 days.

But when visionik called Netpliance to inquire why the amount his credit card was charged was higher than he expected it to be, he learned that he was also being charged for service, including a prorated charge for service in March. He writes: "So I say I want to cancel the order. This guy laughs and says 'Fine, but you'll have to wait at least 30 days before we will [credit] your credit card.' That was enough. I told him I was contesting the charge and filing a complaint with my card company, to which this ballsy guy laughed again and said 'good luck'!"

I called Netpliance to ask them about this, and was surprised to reach a courteous human after only a few layers of voice-prompts. The sales representative I reached seemed taken aback by my questions, and surprised that the idea that anyone who'd been assured otherwise would be charged for the service. He quickly transferred me to one of his bosses, named Jerome. I asked Jerome whether people were being automatically charged for Netpliance's ISP service after being informed that they would not be via phone or the company's Web site.

He responded that signing up for the service was now required of all customers who purchase an i-opener from Netpliance. "According to the Web site, the service now automatically goes into effect two days after the order is recieved."

But what about those in visionik's situation? Asked whether all customers, like visionik, now being charged for the service had been aware of this change at the time of order, Jerome acknowledged that there may have been a gap between the change to automatic start of service and that policy being reflected on the Netpliance page. "I think it wasn't announced on the site [earlier in the month]. I hadn't looked at the Web site, so I'm not sure what it said. ... I'm not sure exactly when that change went into effect. There may have been a lag."

Might the i-opener again be sold without the service agreement-requirement? Jerome's diplomatic answer: "I'm not sure about that."

Jerome then transferred me to John, a customer-service supervisor, who confirmed that everyone who buys an i-opener direct from Netpliance is now being charged for the ISP service as well, and that there are "a couple" of people who are being charged although they did not sign up for the service or specifically asked not to be, but he did not indicate the actual number.

John described buying the i-opener device/service combination from Netpliance as a matter of convenience, and said "You can buy them at Circuit City and save shipping, or you can buy them from Netpliance and pay $40." For ones bought at Circuit City, currently the only i-opener's retail outlet, he said that to initiate service, "you do have to call. Our main focus is to sell it to our mainstream customers, a certain type of person we're aiming at."

Perhaps they should consider aiming at home-networkers looking for inexpensive flat-panel terminals as well.

After we ran this story about running NetBSD on an i-opener (and this earlier story from a Linux perspective), MrPoopyPants writes "I was considering buying one of the Netpliance I-Openers with intent to modify it but when I followed the link I discovered this notice. It appears that they will no longer sell their products without the service and they have renderd the devices immune to modification." Netpliance have also issued a press release announcing the same thing. This is somewhat ironic, as their developer's corner page says "Netpliance believes in open source development. As part of our effort to support the community, we will be developing a site that will be the premier source of i-opener product information. Please watch this site for more details." Netpliance are soliciting ideas and feedback, to devcorner@netpliance.com.

After we ran this story about running NetBSD on an i-opener (and this earlier story from a Linux perspective), MrPoopyPants writes "I was considering buying one of the Netpliance I-Openers with intent to modify it but when I followed the link I discovered this notice. It appears that they will no longer sell their products without the service and they have renderd the devices immune to modification." Netpliance have also issued a press release announcing the same thing. This is somewhat ironic, as their developer's corner page says "Netpliance believes in open source development. As part of our effort to support the community, we will be developing a site that will be the premier source of i-opener product information. Please watch this site for more details." Netpliance are soliciting ideas and feedback, to devcorner@netpliance.com.

After we ran this story about running NetBSD on an i-opener (and this earlier story from a Linux perspective), MrPoopyPants writes "I was considering buying one of the Netpliance I-Openers with intent to modify it but when I followed the link I discovered this notice. It appears that they will no longer sell their products without the service and they have renderd the devices immune to modification." Netpliance have also issued a press release announcing the same thing. This is somewhat ironic, as their developer's corner page says "Netpliance believes in open source development. As part of our effort to support the community, we will be developing a site that will be the premier source of i-opener product information. Please watch this site for more details." Netpliance are soliciting ideas and feedback, to devcorner@netpliance.com.

Elwood writes "Andrew Gillham has booted NetBSD/i386 -current on his Netpliance i-opener. He did this without opening the case and without using a 2.5" IDE hard drive." Read on for details.

The steps involved (using a normal keyboard) are:

1. Get to a root shell, via 'ESC 4' and fast typing.
2. Bring up PPP to a NetBSD machine. Having a PBX helps
3. Backup the 16MB of flash, with the following:

   # cat /dev/hd0 | gzip -9 > hd0.gz
   # ftp 
   ftp> put hd0.gz 

4. Replace flash with NetBSD image, by ftping compressed file.

   # gzip -d -c file_name.gz | cat > /dev/hd0

5. Wait a few seconds, yank the power to prevent QNX updating flash.
6. Reboot under NetBSD, enjoy.

Full details are available at the main NetBSD Changes page.