Slashback: Wireless, Gasoline, Prevarication

Slashback tonight with story updates on wireless networking on the highway, on the bounce, and among friends, as well as a more pessimistic report on Nigerian scammers, a good reason your car's mileage might not match the EPA's estimate, and a strange response from Macrovision about the copy protection it's employing in European-market CDs. Read on for the details.

It's not a feature, it's a bug. A representative from Macrovision writes "This statement is being issued to address some concerns that were recently aired on Slashdot with regards to the copy protection of some music CDs, the new Beastie Boys CD in Europe in particular.

Macrovision does NOT install any spyware, shareware, malware or any self-replicating code of any kind onto a user's PC.

When playing a (Macrovision CDS-200) copy-protected CD for the first time, playback software components may be installed, if needed. This software is used to enable the on-disc music player to load an on-screen user interface and to play back the audio. For further information, please contact: cds-info@macrovision.com."

Seems to me that a CD which that requires any software installed for it to be played by a standard CD drive is by definition at least "brokenware," or perhaps "meddleware." What if it's being used in a computer without an operating system supported by these "playback software components"?

Definitional evasion aside, so far CD "copy protection" is mostly about as effective as critics proclaim it to be: ptorrone writes "There has been a lot of talk about the copy protection on the new CD 'Contraband' from Velvet Revolver, but for us we didn't have any problems making MP3s for all our devices despite their efforts to stop us it seems. Here's our story..."

MSN Search pales next to Google, so far. An anonymous reader writes "Reported earlier today here on Slashdot, MSN is preparing a new search engine which is set to knock Google's socks off. However, early results show that not only is the new algorithm lacking enough smarts to knock Google as king, it doesn't even compete with the current MSN algorithm."

Open wide and say "ARRL!" dos4who writes "Well, the ARRL Field Day 2004 results are in, and posted on The The American Radio Relay League website. In the Single Operator High-Power class, congratulations to W5ZN for logging a score well over 600,000!

I had the opportunity to witness the Abbotsford, British Columbia club in action, and it was an awesome experience. Just the sight of all those massive antennae clustered on one field invoked visions of E.T. popping in for a visit."

And william_lorenz writes "Our own group from Ohio made contacts all over the United States and had a great time doing it, camping out in tents and running multiple battery-operated radios and make-shift antennas throughout the day and night. We even played with some Slow Scan TV! What are your stories?"

Seems unlikely it's the only country not to have done so ... bluethundr writes "On the flipside of a story from yesterday the Register reports today: 'Malam Nuhu Ribadu says Nigeria is the only country in the world that has failed to apply special laws or establish dedicated "front offices" to combat the crimes.'"

Are you pumping what you think you're pumping? couch_warrior writes "It was noted in a recent /. inquiry that EPA estimates of mileage vary from real-life experience. While there are several factors that can affect this, one major but often overlooked factor is that the amount of gasoline contained in a supposed 'gallon' varies by up to 10% due to gas pump fraud. Two illustrative stories show localized evidence of this scam, but few states regulate gas pumps effectively. The laws are on the books, but enforcement is typically lax. Cynics might speculate that this is because both the State and the Fed are getting a cut of the illegal proceeds. It is a way for them to increase the tax revenue on fuel, without taking the political hit for raising taxes. A challenge for /. readers -- go buy some gasoline in graduated containers, and check for yourself [avoid 1,5, and 10 gallon sizes; many states use these for testing purposes and the computers inside the pumps 'catch up' temporarily at these intervals]. Persons of conscience might feel motivated to flood their local state weights and measures bureau with complaints (if test results warranted :-)"

Never beam your secrets in a cornfield. bgumm writes "Hot on the heels of the Texas DOT's WiFi stories, here comes one from the corn state, Iowa. The Iowa DOT and an Iowan wireless network company, I-Spot Access, have partnered to offer WiFi at six highway rest stops across the state. USA Today picked up the story, as did the Des Moines Register..."

And for those in a state too backward to have rest-stop WiFi just yet, Porsupah writes "WirelessWeek is reporting that Ricochet has been sold on again; this time, to YDI Wireless. Bay Area readers may fondly remember the company as bringing flat-rate 28.8k wireless connectivity to all of the area several years ago for $30/mo, before expanding aggressively to cover several other major US metropolitan areas, financed by MCI, with a nominal 128kbps service at $75/mo. After bankruptcy, Aerie Networks bought some of the remnants, relaunched in San Diego and Denver, and then.. nothing. What next?"

Comments

That Flexbeta article...

[sploo22]

...is total and complete FUD. Come on... they searched for "Olympic gold metals." You can't judge the accuracy of the search engine by a query that only finds mistakes. And the number-one Google result for "fastest processor currently available" claimed it to be the Athlon 1.3GHz.

Overall, the biggest problem with the new MSN search seems to be that it doesn't ignore words like "the" and "what" which shouldn't be in your search in the first place. I hate Microsoft and their anticompetitive tactics just as much as the next guy, but how is this article any better?

A Microsoft Tactic?

[artlu]

Does anyone think that microsoft may try to capitalize on people's fears of Google having complete access to email and the like? Seems like it might be a good option for them to attempt even though it would be pure hypocrisy.

GroupShares Inc. - A Free and Interactive Stock Market Community

Not entirely true.

[Anonymous Coward]

Assuming this is correct, of course. Also, according to this, copyright protected discs are only banned from using the CDDA logo.

More accurately, "If it's not redbook, it's not CDDA!"

Truckstop WiFi

[abiggerhammer]

Public WiFi at rest stops is neat and everything, but I've started noticing open WAPs at truckstops as well. For some chains, like Flying J, it appears to be a deliberate choice on the part of the company -- they all have 'flyingj' as their SSID. (Added bonus: at one where I refuelled in Michigan, I couldn't pull an IP under Windows, but it worked just fine under Linux.)

I go to school in Iowa and my parents live in Texas, so I drive across both states pretty frequently. TxDOT doesn't spend a lot of money on rest stop maintenance, so there may be WiFi, but the bathrooms are nasty. (Iowa rest stops are very nicely outfitted, however, but that's not too surprising, since I-80 is one of the major freight corridors in the US.)

Other Wi-Fi options for travellers

[Einer2]

For those who travel cheap, a lot of KOAs are also being wired as hot spots. Unfortunately, the access charges tend to be rather steep. I was told at the KOA in Cedar City, Utah that it'd be $3.95 for one hour of access. I get the impression that flat-rate packages are a much better deal, though.

Re:Alternatively...

[Tsiangkun]

This has the makings of a great documentary.

1) Test the accuracy of the gas pumps for one specific vendor. Inform vendor of results.
--show retest done next day, next week, and the following month . . . assuming of course it's not an honest mistake that will be fixed.

2) Get candid interviews with patrons of the station as they watch the video showing the bad measurments and the managments response when they are informed.

3) Show scenes from the class action lawsuit filed on behalf of anyone who bought gas from specific vendor in the time frame the testing was performed.

4) Hold flash mob at specific gas station to get incredible riot like footage to hype the film

5) profit.