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I guess they'll be going after Wikipedia, the Massachusetts State Police, and lots of folks on AutoTrader.com. I can't wait to see how this works out for Ford.

The balance doesn't seem to be all that delicate to me. Per the chart at this page http://mysite.verizon.net/mhieb/WVFossils/Carboniferous_climate.html . It shows both temperature and CO2 levels on a geological time scale and includes links to the sources for both sets of data that were used to create the chart. CO2 levels have been in the thousands of ppm (peaking at ~7000 ppm) for hundreds of millions of years at a time vs the hundreds of ppm we are now.

You may find the chart at this page interesting http://mysite.verizon.net/mhieb/WVFossils/Carboniferous_climate.html It shows both temperature and CO2 levels on a geological time scale and includes links to the sources for both sets of data that were used to create the chart. CO2 levels have been in the thousands of ppm (peaking at ~7000 ppm) for hundreds of millions of years at a time. I definitely agree regarding government marketing a crisis so that they (and their financial backers) can solve it (profit from it).

Each person should review the Terms of Service (ToS) they accepted (and most likely continue accept each time they use their Internet connection) and look to see what is stated there. Also, realize that the ISP's will update it with nearly no notice. Inside of those agreements that you agree to generally through your use of their services you'll find all kinds of interesting things. For example, here is some relevant quotes from Verizon's ToS in Section 14.4:

"You hereby consent to Verizon's monitoring of your Internet connection and network performance, and the access to and adjustment of your computer settings, as they relate to the Service, Software, or other services, which we may offer from time to time."

Who is to say that "adjustment of your computer settings" doesn't include adjustment of .html files being delivered to you. Oh and just in case that wasn't strong enough, in Section 15.8 you get:

"15.8 You agree that Verizon assumes no responsibility for the accuracy, integrity, quality completeness, usefulness or value of any Content, data, documents, graphics, images, information, advice, or opinion contained in any emails, message boards, chat rooms or community services, or in any other public services, and does not endorse any advice or opinion contained therein. Verizon does not monitor or control such services, although we reserve the right to do so. Verizon may take any action we deem appropriate, in our sole discretion, to maintain the high quality of our Service and to protect others and ourselves."

Similar allowances are inComcast's Acceptable Use Policy. Basically, folks have to understand what they are signing up for and how often it can change.

There are companies out there today, Phorm for example, who already are working with ISPs around the world in order to put their gear in the ISP networks to create targeting advertising based on all Internet habits, not just specific sites with specific cookies or the like. So far they all seem to be giving you an ability to Opt Out, but that appears to be a way to create good will for the moment. If there was case law backing them up, who knows if they'd continue the practice.

I just read the filing. Evidently, the fact of the router is secondary. They posted a link to the firmware for the product and the complaint references that. http://www2.verizon.net/micro/actiontec/actiontec.asp

I was surprised too. I though verizon might be covered by the right of first sale. But unless they are redirecting the firmware from the ActionTech site, they are probably in violation.

O'm on the board of my neighborhood Homeowner's Association. We're currently putting together a complaint to our county licensing department, the FCC, etc. due to Comcast's very poor installation practices lately. There's a growing number of isntalls in our neighborhood where they not only fail to bury the wire from the junction box to an approved depth to avoid damage from landscaping equipment, they do NOT bury it AT ALL. There's currently, right now, a bright orange wire lying loosely above ground at the opposite end of my townhouse row. This is a) ugly and b) unsafe. Kids playing can trip and get hurt. Our landscaping company is either going to avoid caring fro the lawn right there and let it get ugly and out of hand or risk damaging their equipment.

The wire near my house was installed by a guy driving a Comcast van in Nov 9 2007. I dug ouo tmy camera and took the first pic of this the next day, Nov 10. I just went out and took more pics today, Dec 2.

http://mysite.verizon.net/amigabill/comcast/comcast.html

IMNSHO, Comcast sucks ass and deserves to die.

I wouldn't be so eager to welcome your new corporate overlords. Verizon's business model is based on overselling bandwidth just like Comcast (look at the price vs. bandwidth and that's obvious), and in the end that means they're still not willing to really let you use as much as they say they're selling you. If you look in the TOS for that residential FIOS connection you might be eying you'll find that you're not allowed to operate a "server", or use too much bandwidth, which is, of course, never defined. To wit:

The Service may be referred to as, "Verizon Fios Internet Service", "DSL Service", "Verizon Online DSL, "Verizon DSL"...

3.7.5 You may not use the Broadband Service to host any type of server whether personal or commercial in nature...

ATTACHMENT A

ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY

...

3. You may NOT use the Service as follows: ... (n) to generate excessive amounts (as determined by Verizon in its sole discretion) of Internet traffic, or to disrupt net user groups or email use by others; ...

[emphasis mine]

Further, consider that P2P software could be considered a server, which would include the bittorrent client you use to download the latest Linux distro or the Skype software you use to make VIOP calls (something Verizon has reason not to like too much).

My point is simply that if you dislike Comcast because of its unstated caps, traffic shaping, QoS stuff etc. I don't see any reason to think Verizon will be any better in the long term. As for customer service, I've had Verizon as a phone provider and found the customer service poor. Perhaps their better as an ISP, but stories I've heard from others suggest that's not the case.

I've personally been using Speakeasy for years. They seem to be much more honest in their dealings, allow you to run a server, and don't (apparently) block or degrade certain protocols, although their TOS still contain some "excessive usage" weasel words IIRC. The only problem is that it's DSL (and not even cheap DSL), so the bandwidth to price ratio isn't nearly what you'd get from Cable or FIOS. On the other hand, I can't stomach the idea of rewarding those other companies' practices.

Thanks. That's certainly interesting information. Like I said, I couldn't get any straight answers from the FIOS guy I talked to, and the only answer he did give contradicted their TOS. Not that I expected him to know a lot of technical details, but it seems like "is there a cap?" is a pretty basic question.

Concerning running servers on residential FIOS, the easiest place to look seems to be the "Features" section of the FAQ which says:

1. Can I host a Web page?
Verizon FIOS Internet Service consumer packages include 10 MB of personal Web space. The consumer offers do not permit customers to host any type of server, personal or commercial. [emphasis mine]

As for the TOS themselves, I believe these terms of service apply to all Verizon residential internet connections, including FIOS. Some of the parts I don't like are the following:

3.7.5 You may not use the Broadband Service to host any type of server whether personal or commercial in nature. ...

ATTACHMENT A

ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY

...

3. You may NOT use the Service as follows: ... (j) to damage the name or reputation of Verizon, its parent, affiliates and subsidiaries, or any third parties ... (n) to generate excessive amounts (as determined by Verizon in its sole discretion) of Internet traffic...

So, at the least, they reserve the right to object to you running a server or violating unstated data transfer caps. And then there's that damaging reputation thing, which I'm not clear on the practical implications of.

It's interesting to know that they may not enforce these on their FIOS connections at the moment. I'd still be sort of reluctant to rely on them continuing to let me violate the TOS in the future, but maybe it's worth it. I really just wish I could get that sort of service from ISP that would deal with me straight.

3.7.5 You may not use the Broadband Service to host any type of server whether personal or commercial in nature.

A rebuttal:

a) The amount of incoming radiation DOES change though. The fluctuation does correlate to current trends, better then CO2 levels do. Current hypothesis show a direct link between cloud formation and solar output, and a direct link between cloud levels and energy available for absorption. Given that the highest guess for a doubling of CO2 (some guessed number) results in a increase of 2 wm2 (from 2 wm2 current hypothesis) potential warming, it is strong dwarfed by the change of 120 wm2 that can be the affect of a cloud. To the study concerning the affects of cosmic rays (still understudy, but very interesting, and marks a strong relationship): http://www.junkscience.com/Greenhouse/sky-experiment_2.pdf Calling the Sun and it's actions, especially when Mars, Jupiter and several other planets are experiencing the same thing "irrelevant" kinda of a strong but incorrect statement.

b) Kinda wrong. According to the Global Warming Hypothesis, if CO2 was the major affect warming the atmosphere, it would affect the Troposphere the most, with the Troposphere being warmer then the surface. BUT, after the aforementioned satellite studies, they found that the Troposphere is 1C cooler then the surface. Link: http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=1824

c) A large fraction. 14% of the increase. 85% is still natural, and that means a whopping total of 3-4% of the total amount of CO2 is from our fossil fuel release. A good page on the true amounts is laid out here: http://mysite.verizon.net/mhieb/WVFossils/greenhouse_data.html Before you start trying to chop down the messenger, look at the references. The EPA and the IPCC. And the site adds in the amount of Water Vapor to the affect. Something you have not brought up, even though it is the largest greenhouse gas, amounting to 95% of the total affect.

d) The oceans absorb and release CO2 based on their temperature. There are both the largest absorber and largest releaser of CO2. 20 times what humans produce. And the ocean can easily absorb more CO2 then we, as human, have access to produce through all of our fossil fuels before it becomes noticeable acidic. You claim is correct, but with NO relative reference it is a worthless point. Gif from NASA: http://geo.arc.nasa.gov/sge/casa/CO2-cycle.gif

e) Right on some, but in all dishonest by omission. Like I posted above, without the relative numbers, you are dismissing one part without allowing anything relative to be mentioned. I would like to see a link to what you say on C12/C14 ratios. Oh, if you google it be careful, because you just end up proving the earth is only 10,000 years old. Bad argument.

Summary:

a) Wrong
b) Wrong
c) Close. BUT: Still dwarfed by all other sources of CO2 emissions. And CO2 is still only the 3% of the total GHE.

Please, if you have some facts to rebut this, lay them down. With links please.

Josh

OK, its not football, but it is the only Quake-based chess game I know of:
CHESS III ARENA

Man-made CO2 accounts for about 0.11% of all greenhouse gases(natural and anthropogenic)
http://mysite.verizon.net/mhieb/WVFossils/greenhouse_data.html

Oops, here's comes somebody babbling about "the right to jury nullification". Doesn't exist, except in the overactive imaginations of people who also believe in the "civil flag".

The right of juries to judge questions of both fact and of law is not just a legal precedent stretching back to colonial times and acknowledged in many court decisions, it is written into the state constitutions of Maryland and Indiana..

Claiming that a principal written into decisions written by folks like John Jay and Oliver Wendel Holmes as well as state constitutions "doesn't exist", shows either your ignorance or your determination to ignore fact in pursuit of some poltical end.

You might think we'd be better off without it, you might think it's fine that jurors aren't told about it, and be within the bounds of legitimately debatable opinion. But when you insist that it "doesn't exist", you are simply in factual error.

(As for flags, I think you mean the "admiralty flag" bit, which is of course paranoid nonsense. It's not as if politicians willing to disregard the Consitution (who certainly do exist) are going to feel obligated to play some bizarre game about accessorizing the flag.)

Tolkien himself addressed these issues when dealing with movie rights to LotR during his lifetime, and completely disagreed with every single point!

Maybe the parent poster thinks he's a better judge of what should work than the author himself, but personally, I doubt it.

Oh, and Verizon's better in that regard? I have news for you: all consumer ISPs suck.

Verizon's Terms of Service and Acceptible Use Policy (scroll down to the AUP, it's more interesting):
http://www.verizon.net/policies/vzcom/tos_popup.as p

I researched that when a Verizon salesman came to our house. Note in particular that you may not use the service for
- Anything deemed objectionable by Verizon
- Anything that defames Verizon
- Using hyperlinks that contain the verizon name
- To make off-topic posts to newsgroups
- Excessive traffic as determined by Verizon
- And the required gem that's in all TOS/AUPs: "3.7.5 You may not use the Broadband Service to host any type of server whether personal or commercial in nature."
- The last time I searched for this document, it actually enumerated a number of protocols that you may not serve from your connection, including (but of course not limited to) http, ftp, and bittorrent. This version seems to not have that clause. I believe there was also something in there last time about not pointing a domain name to a dynamic IP address (i.e., you can't use a DynDNS service)

Hell of a lot of good all that bandwidth would do me if all I'm allowed to do with it is surf the freaking web.

I love you just used RECORDED argument to supports your idea it is extremely deceptive. Plus ice ages suck so I'm all for global warming, and that's if we can actual change the earths temperature with just C02. Even with that false white paper that tried and failed to demonstrate that Global warming can cause ice ages was proved wrong so suck it up! Humans grow taller in warm climates. Animals/plants love the heat. I just love it the media and large Multinational Corporations are starting to figure out they can make money this fake short term problem so they keep pushing it. http://mysite.verizon.net/mhieb/WVFossils/ice_ages .html "Now, as we begin the 21st century the terminology is morphing toward"climate change," whereby no matter the direction of temperature trends-- up or down-- the headlines can universally blame humans while avoiding the necessity of switching buzz-words with the periodicity of solar cycles. Such tactics may, however, backfire as peoples' common sensibilities are at last pushed over the brink"

Quagmire means swamp, yes? Like 300 million years ago, when most of the earth was a hot swamp, in the Carboniferous period? Where did that name come from again.. oh yes, from coal! I wonder what happens to the climate when we humans turn all that coal back into CO2 in the coming few hundred years? (though the author of the first link seems to disagree here).

In Firefox, bookmarks are stored in an html file, but browsing history (History sidebar and URL autocomplete) is in a Mork db. With Places, both will be stored together in a SQLite db.

In Thunderbird, Mork is used not only for the email summary files but also for the address books, which is much more frustrating. It's nearly impossible to find or write non-Mozilla code that can read or write Thunderbird address books, which is a serious impediment to synchonization tools. (Honorable mention to Dawn, which does a fair job of Mork address book conversion.)

I, too, believe that Thunderbird has far more to gain from the move to "Unified Storage" than Firefox does.

no blacklist is idiotic enough to still believe the "from:" is reliable

That might be true of RBL maintainers, but it's hardly true of mail admins in general. Unfortunately there are still providers who believe their users' reports of spam. My SMTP server is blacklisted on some server in Canada, though we have SPF records and are not on any public RBL. A visit to their website shows that they employ users' reports, among other things, to determine what to block. I've even had a problem with Verizon blacklisting my server. After searching their website for hours, I finally found the form required to report an incorrect blacklisting. I'll add that I needed to do this three times because they'd correct the problem, then reinstitute the blocking six months later.

If companies the size of Verizon can't tell the difference between spammers and legitimate servers, you can bet there are a lot of other people managing e-mail systems with little knowledge in these areas. Smaller ISPs and overworked admins in businesses who know little about email other than how to set up an Exchange server are common examples. As for users, they are always amazed to hear that nearly every single feature of an email message can be forged. If it says it's "From: joe@example.com" then it must really be from Joe.

Most of the domains I manage have been "Joe-Jobbed" at some point or another.

While several large parts were pre-built, I did the design and building for a 75 gallon saltwater aquarium with 20 gallon sump.

Cool parts? Moonlighting, from a cold cathode tube designed for computer cases, and the complete sump for filtration.

Most things were automated (lighting was on timers, water loss due to evaporation was replaced by an automated switch), so the final result was self-sustaining for the most part.

The "this is completely mine" was the external Durso.

In all I estimated that I did about 200-300 hours of research and designing, and about 200 hours worth of construction and set-up on the tank before I ever added a fish.

While several large parts were pre-built, I did the design and building for a 75 gallon saltwater aquarium with 20 gallon sump.

Cool parts? Moonlighting, from a cold cathode tube designed for computer cases, and the complete sump for filtration.

Most things were automated (lighting was on timers, water loss due to evaporation was replaced by an automated switch), so the final result was self-sustaining for the most part.

The "this is completely mine" was the external Durso.

In all I estimated that I did about 200-300 hours of research and designing, and about 200 hours worth of construction and set-up on the tank before I ever added a fish.

If he is seriously suggesting that Dick Cheney is interested free markets why does Halliburton [halliburtonwatch.org] get no-bid contracts... DOH!

Because perhaps he has given thought to it. Those two are not mutually exclusive. Haliburton recevied no-bid contracts because they were the only ones capable of doing the desired task. Nto all of their contracts were no-bid. If you've got a requirement to put an experiment into orbit that requires human activity on it over the course of 5 days, and you need it done soon, are you going to put out a bid request, or are you going to go to NASA and offer them the contract? Lets say you need to rebuild your render farm. You need (or think you need) a veritable army of Cell based blade servers to create a powerful render farm. Who are going to? Do you set it out for bid, or do you go to IBM. Maybe a few years from now you might put it out to bid, but right now nobody else will have the capability to do it. So you go to IBM. Further, in issues of security, putting something to bid may breach needed security. Maybe you don't want your potential competitors to know what you are building your render farm on until it's too late for them to catch up quickly. So even if there might be another company available, you have to pick one.

It's funny, those who complained about Haliburton "doing" these things were silent when Haliburton was doing the same things (getting no-bid contracts) while a Democrat was in office. Gore singled Halliburton out as a model to be used. yet you dont' see sites such as halliburtonwatch.org talking about that. Why? sadly, it isn't about Halliburton or the process, it is about who is in the Oval Office - and who isn't. In a company the size of Halliburton there are bound to be problems, and said problems need investigating. but tying it to who is in the WH is an injustice and a disgrace.

http://mysite.verizon.net/vze1tvxm/thepoliticalare na/The%20Truth%20About%20Halliburton.htm
http://www.slate.com/id/2090636

(last I knew Slate wasn't exactly a bastion of the Dick Cheney Fan Club, or the Republican party)

Halliburton primary does a lot of what the US Army used to do during peacetime: build and military installations. Not many companies have the reach and scope they do and have been doing for over a decade. That alone gave them better contacts with decisionmakers in the DoD than Cheney ever could have been.

I guess what we need to do is read the service agreements we have with broadband providers

Okay. How about this: Verizon Terms of Service.

I haven't read it thoroughly, but as I understand it, the service is basically for entertainment purposes only. I can't use it to login for work and check on my server (section 3.4). I can't post a racist comment to an online forum. I can't send an obscene picture to another consenting adult who asked for it. I can't even send something obscene to myself. I can't really do much but access mainstream media like, say, disney.com. I can't count on my "connection" for anything.

What we need is neighborhood wireless (or wired) mesh networks with robust redundant connections to the actual internet via guaranteed (commercial) gateways. Then the telcos and the cable companies won't matter as much anymore.

True - and it's exactly like every other tax-supported network, such as roads and the mail system. These projects are ultra-critical national infrastructure, and they seem to do just fine with public support.

It's telling that these other systems also have "neutrality," and it works extremely well. The USPS has no interest in delaying your parcel by two weeks. Every driver on the freeway is bound by the same set of rules. And guess what - when we need extra capacity, the taxpayers buy it! What's wrong with that system?

The difference is that unlike these government projects, the internet backbone is almost entirely privatized. It's true that ultraconservatives ordinarily support privatization as "more efficient" than government support. But haven't we recently seen some phenomenally anti-consumer behavior in privatized industries? And this administration is hardly a "typical" conservative gang - the federal bureaucracy has grown explosively under its leadership. Odd, that. I guess it depends whether the heads of the corporate shepherds are your friends.

The problem, as future economic historians will state in tragic retrospect, is that unlike the federal government, private corporations do not have their customers' best interests at heart - often they're in direct conflict. We don't put Microsoft in charge of our missile defense network, because every 20 minutes, they'd be hassling the federal government to pay their monthly licensing fees for the laser-guidance software!

It's more evidence of our shameful government that has completely discarded the notion of serving the people.

- David Stein

I also divide by 10 because it's just quick and simple. Then, if I am getting worse than that, I know that something is just wrong. 768kbps / 8 = 96KB (in a perfect world). So if I don't see AT LEAST 77KB, then something is REALLY wrong.

Lastly, what tools are you using to measure your speeds!? When Verizon put the fiber into the house, we started measuring throughput using their website. The speeds were horrible! NO ONE was happy. But part of the problem was that I quickly threw a dumb box together so that I didn't have to have Verizon technicians in my bedroom to see my daily PC (nor install any software on it either). Once I ran the same website based test on my daily PC, the speeds were there. Between 4500kbps and 4900kbps for my 5M line. And I run those test every so often. The results are truly all over the place.

You can try the Verizon Infospeed Testhere, although I suspect they will check for valid Verizon IP addresses.

I also use DSLReports Tools to monitor my line a bit more independantly.

Finally, the real deal is when you start downloading ISOs anyway. That's when you find out what your line CAN be like. To that end, I've never been happy.

Who the hell blocks port 80?

Several Cable and DSL providers do. Google "blocking port 80" and you can find some names pretty fast. Whether they actually block it or not the majority ban it via their TOS. Most reserve the right to automatically bump you to a commercial account or simply disconnect you. Examples:

Charter's policy - "Customer may not establish a web page using a server located at Customer's home. Customer will not use, or allow others to use, Customer's home computer as a web server, FTP server, file server or game server or to run any other server applications or to provide network or host services to others via Charter's network." and "Charter reserves the right to disconnect or reclassify the Service to a higher grade or to immediately suspend or terminate Service for failure to comply with any portion of this provision or this Policy, without prior notice."

Verizon's Policy - "3.6.5 You may not use the Broadband Service to host any type of server personal or commercial in nature."If, in the sole discretion of Verizon: (a) you are in breach of any of the terms of this Agreement (including but not limited to) all policies regarding abuse and acceptable use of the Service)... then Verizon at its sole election may terminate or suspend your Service immediately without notice."

You also agree to pay any service fees or equipment charges and, assuming they allow you to have DSL again, agree you might be charged fees for giving back your service.

If you live in an area with only those two broadband providers (a surprisingly large portion of america) then what do you do if you want to run a personal web server with a fast CPU and a lot of RAM? Or if you want to host your own domain for non-commercial purposes on a server like that. Do you pay 2-3 times more for a "commercial" account? Even though you will actually be using 1/10th the total bandwidth as the kid next door who plays online games?

Verizon has posted a brief explanation of the problem on their website:
http://netservices.verizon.net/portal/site/msa/?ep i-content=GENERICCONTENT&viewID=content&action=ann ouncementview&epi_menuItemID=3b5b13ac7c2403335f23b 61153295c48&nv=F-iv&hsl=true&fr=y&id=email_interru ption

Verizon Online E-Mail Interruption on April 22-23, 2006
At 5 a.m. EST on April 22, Verizon Online implemented an update to our anti-spam software that contained a software defect. The defect inadvertently caused incoming e-mail to verizon.net e-mail accounts from various mail servers to be returned to the sender and not delivered to its intended verizon.net recipient. The sender of the e-mail should have received a notice stating that their e-mail had not been delivered because it was identified as spam. The e-mail providers affected included AOL, Yahoo!, MSN, Google, RoadRunner and other smaller e-mail providers. Our customers' ability to send e-mail during this time was not affected.

Verizon was able to resolve the issue and incoming mail delivery from the affected mail servers resumed by midnight, April 23 EST.

Verizon Online customers who think they may not have received e-mails they were expecting over the weekend should contact the sender and ask them to re-send the e-mail. Those sending e-mail to verizon.net e-mail accounts through one of the affected e-mail services should not need to take any action to have their e-mail unblocked.

We regret any inconvenience this may have caused.

http://netservices.verizon.net/portal/site/msa/?ep i-content=GENERICCONTENT&viewID=content&action=ann ouncementview&epi_menuItemID=3b5b13ac7c2403335f23b 61153295c48&nv=F-iv&hsl=true&fr=y&id=email_interru ption

Actually, Verizon had this very thing going for more than a year now. Hardly news.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/21/verizon_cl ass_action/print.html

Which was replaced later with this:

The original message was received at Fri, 22 Jul 2005 05:10:41 +0300
from [192.168.0.253]

      ----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----

        (reason: 550 You are not permitted to send mail. Please visit
  http://www.verizon.net/whitelist to request removal.)

      ----- Transcript of session follows ----- .... while talking to relay.verizon.net.:
>>> MAIL From: SIZE=5144 BODY=7BIT
http://www.verizon.net/whitelist to request removal.
554 5.0.0 Service unavailable

And later they got this:

http://www.emailblockingsettlement.com/

I work for a financial services company who has a clients who are supposed to receive emails from us related to trades. Since I manage our web presence, email deliverability is also my problem.

Here are the places to start:

Free Certification
AOL: http://postmaster.aol.com/whitelist/
Yahoo: http://add.yahoo.com/fast/help/us/mail/cgi_bulkmai l
Verizon: http://www2.verizon.net/micro/whitelist/request_fo rm.asp?id=isp

Reporting
Spamcop: http://www.spamcop.net/w3m?action=ispsignupform
Hotmail: http://postmaster.msn.com/snds/
Senderbase: http://www.senderbase.org/

Email Signing
SPF: http://www.openspf.org/
DomainKeys: http://domainkeys.sourceforge.net/

Paid Certification
Bonded Sender: http://www.bondedsender.com/
Habeas: http://www.habeas.com/
Goodmail: http://www.goodmailsystems.com/

A lot of providers outside the US have many of their own rules and regulations to follow, which makes it quite difficult to achieve deliverability. At the end of the day, we try to follow all the rules that have been laid out from existing companies and then deal with individual providers on a needs basis. The more users that use that ISP, the more we are willing to obey their individual rules.

Unfortunately, I see paid certification becoming the way of the future. If I can pay to guarantee to have my clients email delivered rather then negotiate with ISPs every other week based on their varying criteria, I'm pretty sure my company will pay for it. I don't like it, but results are the bottom line.

I've had things stolen from me. Have you?

CDs that have been stolen from me, I can't use anymore. (They were stolen before making backups was cost effective) I can't use the high-end Denon tape deck and the speakers that were stolen from my apartment years ago.

If you sneak into my house, past the watch dogs, into the kitchen, and photograph paintings that my 5 year old has made, then yes I'm going to feel a little wierded out, but you haven't taken anything away so that I loose the use of it. There is no stealing, just invasion of privacy. (Like the NSA in the news lately)

If on the other hand, you just want to look at them, here you go: http://mysite.verizon.net/color_and_paint/

dual 8080. Output to model 15 teletype for hardcopy, composite video to crt.
http://railroad-signaling.com/tty/m15.jpg
http://mysite.verizon.net/res02dad/sitebuildercont ent/sitebuilderpictures/ht_pictures_012.jpg

$23 is only $2 less than I pay for really fast DSL (3.0 Mbps/768 kbps) from Verizon. (It's a $30 plan, minus a $5 discount because I get their phone service too. Quite a nice deal, and fast. But they block port 80.)

Not to mention the great DB2 SQL Cookbooks.

5 megabits up is enough to run a nice little web server so long as you don't get Slashdotted or DDOS'ed.

I've been using FiOS for several months now, and the only applications where I see a substantive difference over other broadband providers are when I'm transmitting data to/from a remote server that also has plenty of bandwidth.

I know of very few sites where I can pull data much faster than I did with cable, probably because of limitations on the server, not on FiOS. The "experience" of the internet is likely to only improve when both ends of the server/client connection are properly ready to handle more bandwidth. I'm afraid 15-30Mb connections will have to become ubiquitous before we see a substantial improvement in this regard.

And as to the hosting idea -- I think you may still need an asymmetric pipe. I uploaded some linux iso's to an off-site server last week. Each image is 500-600 MB. I could get really good transfer rates if I uploaded one image at a time, but by uploading all three of them in three separate FTP sessions reduced the transfer rate by a factor of three (in other words, they were sharing).

This won't matter for the web junky looking for a better user experience, and it probably won't matter for the geek who wants to host a weblog from his mom's basement. But the residential FiOS offering does not appear to be equipped to handle respectable amounts of upload traffic.

Note that Verizon's "business-grade" FiOS is available as a $50/mo upgrade. You can upgrade the connection speed and get up to 5 static IP's. Don't know all the details, but here is some more information.

http://biz.verizon.net/pands/fios/features.asp
lists the business plans.

I recently got the 15/2 home plan for $45/month. In reality I get a max of around 14.5mbps down, but only rarely use all of that. For upload I consistently max it out at about 1.88mbps. I don't like that they block port 80 on the home account, but otherwise service has been pretty good. One problem I ran into that required calling them is that the ONT box on the side of the house had to be reset after a power outage. If this problem repeats itself, I think I might just install a switch on the power cable going out to the box from inside my house.

Here in Montreal Canada I'm paying $45 for buisness class DSL that comes with unlimmited transfer, 8 ips, and no filtering.

Wait, so you already have two (or more) tiered access in your country, and the world hasn't ended? Why did you jump into this conversation?

I agree, regulation is a necessity when the provider has a legislated monopoly. For internet access though, most providers *don't* have a monopoly in most areas of the US (where most is defined as population coverage, not land area coverage), so regulation doesn't really matter. Check this out. $59.95 a month, no usage restrictions, no up-front costs, business quality customer service (I have yet to wait on hold to talk to an actual person... Though I've only called twice so far), and upstream bandwidth that would make your DSL line cry. The government didn't set those prices, competition from cable did, and that will soon be available to most of the US east coast.

For some reason I find this activity to be strangely addictive, and since I'm between tasks at work it's the perfect timekiller. Like Minesweeper but for cash.

Anyway, here's what I've found. My reject rate is higher than I thought it would be, almost 9%. At first I was a little offended by this, as I was actually trying to do a good job. I even went to a company's website to verify the storefront. Then I realized why it doesn't pay to do a great job, just a good job.

It is my theory that the verification and acceptance is done automatically, by having multiple users verify the same business. The answer with the most votes wins. Most people won't go to the effort required to verify a difficult identification (one where the sign or address is not clear) so they click "none of the above". I've found I can get through most HITs in a couple of seconds, especially if I've done a bunch from that city. After a while you get to know the blocks.

As for the content of the pictures, I've a theory for that too. The "select the best pic" thing has been going on at A9 for a while now. Search for a business and you get asked to select the best picture. These Turk pictures are the leftovers. This explains why the pictures are mostly 1) open fields or blank walls, 2) business run from a home (can't tell which picture is the best because you don't know which house it is), or 3) inner city pictures. People using A9 to find a business are probably not looking for the inner city liquor store, hair salon, or check cashing place.

I've only found one truly interesting picture so far. I was working on Sacramento and the HIT was for a Walgreens. This was one of the pictures I was presented.

A Verizon subcontractor has been laying fiber in front of my house this week. When it goes live, an install crew will bring fiber up to the side of my house and install an Optical Network Terminal (ONT). From that, I'll get a Cat5/100Mbit cable to a router inside.

I have a choice of packages:
5 Mbps/2 Mbps for $40/month
15 Mbps/2 Mbps for $50/month
30 Mbps/5 Mbps for $200/month

http://www22.verizon.com/FiOSforhome/channels/FiOS /root/package.aspx

However, I'll probably go for a business package that includes static IPs and 15 Mbps/2 Mbps for $100/month.

http://business.verizon.net/pands/fios/features.as p

The ONT also provides standard POTS service, and eventually cable TV:

http://www22.verizon.com/FiosForHome/Channels/fios /FiosTV_comingsoon.aspx

it wouldn't be without precident.../a.

I finished the audio file, which unfortunately doesn't contain the entire keynote. You can get it here.

I have transcribed the portion of the keynote that is contained in the audio file listed above. You can get it here.

Login and set uup your web space

http://www.verizon.net/fios/

Verizon sees the end of copper, and is trying very hard to get rid of it. Unfortunately, replacing all that copper takesa hughe a** amount of money and time. But I'll drop my cable the minute it is available here.

I hate to plug an old project, but this was something I started working on when I was 15 or so and I was quite proud of it. I suppose I still am. It's a DOS menu system programmed in QuickBASIC. It builds out batch files and then reruns itself, so it uses no memory while your program runs.

I threw the files back up from an old backup. Unfortunately, my harddrive crashed while I was working on the next version and I lost all the source code. By that time DOS was very much on its way out even for games. If you (or anyone else) like it, email me at stuntman06@hotmail.com (put QSM or SWX or something in the subject) and I'll create a registration key for it.

QuickStart Menu v1.00: http://mysite.verizon.net/res0gn20/qsm/qsmenu.html

Until people get fiber internet access.

At the very heart of the Internet, the colo centers of Northern Virginia, the typical price for bandwidth is $200 per megabit per month based on consumption at the 95th percentile. El Cheapo links can cost as little as $100/meg while some folks pay MCI as much as $400/meg.

That's what the companies you buy from are paying for their bandwidth, so when they charge you $60/month for a mutli-megabit link (after agregation), you're getting a fair price.

Yes, it is true that in the same area Verizon is offering FiOS (http://www.verizon.net/fios/) at 15 megs down, 2 up for $50/month to selected residential customers. But you can't use the bleeding edge as your yardstick.

I've done lots of driver development on various machines (linux, solaris, OSX, vxWorks), and my favorite for general hacking has been OSX. Besides the traditional OS-level drivers, it also allows user-level USB drivers. I use the user-level access for my projects and it provides simple no-hassle operation. The code is still limited by the user's permissions, but I don't need access to other system resources. The windows equivalents need to rely on libusb, a generic os-level driver that passes user-level commands through to the USB device. Because of window's USB driver model, though, libusb can only work for one device type and must have the VID/PID's set before installation. OSX is much simpler when you need to write a hack that modifies a device's PID - it doesn't need another driver installation to continue talking with the device.

Actually, vxworks was the easiest to write drivers for, but since it is an embedded OS with no distinction between user code and OS (they share the same namespace!), it doesn't really count.

I took down the torrent as soon as I found out about this. Here is a picture of the e-mail exchanges we had. http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeejvh7/sitebuildercont ent/sitebuilderpictures/assmonger.jpg

Yeah, the QT and KDE dependencies kind of suck, but what are you gonna do. I run Gentoo with Gnome, but there are a couple of programs that I use that require QT and there is just no getting around it. QCad and LyX come to mind. I was really bitching to myself about LyX depending on QT until I read somewhere on the net that LyX's author is the founder of KDE! Oops hehe. On Gentoo, compiling QT takes a couple of hours on my AthlonXP 2400+, but such is life. You can bet I don't upgrade that puppy very often.

By the way, for those interested, here is a MIDI file that I wrote using Rosegarden a while back that I am using in my game project Space Commander

My Rosegarden creation: commander.mid. For some reason the Verizon server seems buggy and doesn't serve the file properly in FireFox, but I was able to download it using "wget http://mysite.verizon.net/b.d.hilton/commander.mid ". My Netwinder webserver is down right now so all I have is the Verizon webspace to post stuff.

Yeah, I like the sawtooth instrument. So what, I'm a rock'n'roller d00d.