I have a few credit cards now and the last time I actually had one swiped was well over 6 months ago if not closer to a year. Ordering off of the web means the only card I swipe is my ATM card when I want cash.
That said - I do use my ATM card here when I don't have cash and they swipe it - which is arguably even scarier if you don't have any limits and or insurance of fraud on the ATM card.
Of our small network (25) computers, we are pretty much all XP Pro client machines and Win2k servers. We still have a Win98 box that is used to monitor the phones (record the length of each phone call on each phone, and where it went, for billing purposes - I don't think it retains any audio content). That machine will likely stay Win98 as long as it continues to work. I see no reason to spend any effort on it while it isn't causing any problems and it is working. It has a PII processor and I think hardly any RAM at all (compared to most computers these days). Only two people ever occasionally log on to it to gather the data and print it off - it never browses the web or downloads e-mail. It is inside of our network, so it is behind the firewall and as safe as that means. We still have one user machine that is still Win2kPro, only because I'm hesitant to upgrade it and then have the programs on that machine to work (having upgraded many in the past, it is common to have to reinstall stuff, and this user has a ton of stuff on there).
We will be upgrading our servers and Exchange server to Win2K3 in the new year. I wanted to wait until more bugs had been resolved in it and see that we will be okay to upgrade to it.
We actually did try the reset in house and that didn't do anything on it. Then we did the total reset (the one that wipes it), but that broke it within our network - so that was why the consultant brought it out - he had a backup of settings close to what we needed and tossed those on. Then brought it back and used another backup that we had here (but which wouldn't work at first)... all in all, it was extremely annoying and confusing for the both of us (it wasn't behaving in a logical way). Part of me wonders if the device was just toasted and then he took it away and brought back a working one.
A user's machine just died today and I rebuilt it and got it working, but then someone from above authorized that she (his wife) get a brand new and nice machine (I think someone complained). So that is on the way and this machine that I fixed up and is still a pretty decent machine - I am going to try to put this machine before our network, but after the Sonicwall. That way I can run Snort on the network and get some proper logging. For now I will leave it as an XP machine, but if I can't get enough functionality of it, then I will upgrade it to Linux or FreeBSD.
Thanks for the tip, I'm new to setting up VPNs (they have always already been setup in the past when I've had to deal with them - and then when I ask people for help setting them up, I get a lot of shuffling of feet and mummers, but not absolute details).
I am seeing now that it will be much easier to setup a Linksys router at each home installation for our users - those will VPN very easily (so I'm told, and given the settings) to the Sonicwall.
We are all on a single switch (theoretically that is, the actual hardware is more like 3 or 4 switches, but they are just pass through), so I suppose Snort might make a good option.
I will look into it - that would be a nice thing if I could just leave the firewall as is and get around it by sniffing - it is just a matter of how well I can format the logs. And I haven't looked in awhile, but I don't recall there being a Snort for Windows - I suppose there is likely a Cygwin option and then perhaps a "logs2html" sort of thing?
As for Sonicwall, I haven't seen anything like that on our systems - but then again, it is much easier to track down an issue with one user like that on this thing than it is to track down the issue between 20+ computers.
That said, we have had a few oddities with it off the top of my head that I have noticed: 1) Occasionally it will just freeze up and need to be rebooted - that is fine enough I guess since we are on a Windows network we are used to such things
2) Once in 6 months it has gone into "oh crap" mode where the wrench light on the front turns on and it kills our net connection, which is when we switch over to an emergency Linksys (home network) product that chokes under us usually (that was one thing that made me appreciate the Sonicwall more). Then we have to pass of the hardware to one of our IT consultants and he reformats the thing for us.
3) The other day I setup the firewall to allow port 6699 in (it was Friday, and I didn't mind if the user wanted to hog the network over the weekend when nobody was really here). I came in on Monday and the access on that was turned off. I didn't do it, and nobody else has access to the thing - I can think of one guy that technically knows the password, but he wouldn't know what is what in the layout in there.
In general, I'm not saying it is a bad product. But for our uses, I would have preferred something different if given the choice to do it from the get go.
We have virus scanning on all machines that talk over the network to a central server that nightly grabs updates. We have Exchange server also with virus scanning. And then I used EventSinks to interface into Spamassassin. It doesn't kill the mail, it just marks it with its decisions and then let's it through.
We are upgrading to Win2K3, Exchange 2K3, and Outlook 2K3 - this will allow more spam filtering options and more built in stuff for the end users (take the load off of the server - and me since I have to adjust the whitelists for new clients).
There are about 5 main ad servers that get the bulk of hits for us in terms of ad traffic - so blocking that is easy. Then when someone manages to get spyware, that will show up in the logs eventually and I can then try to narrow it down based on who's IP is very active.
I am trying to work out the VPN stuff now, and it isn't going well. Technically, the new Exchange will make it easier on us - you don't need to VPN to get secure Outlook access, it will do it all for you just by pointing it to the web server. But that doesn't help if they want to access the files too.
Still - I'm curious how detailed the logging gets on SW.
Excellent! This is what I want - someone that has used it and I can bounce some questions off.
I am a Windows admin for a small network (20+ machines). I am more of a programmer than I am an admin in terms of my knowledge, but alas, it is my position.
Our network connection is 128K to be shared between us all. *PAINFULLY* slow. I can currently block out domains on our current firewall, so that gets some of the ads. I look in the url logs to see what is getting downloaded a lot and then block the ad servers that show up in there. That is good because it is less stuff for network to have to download.
That said, what I really need from the firewall beyond blocking ports and the like is good logging, and then good VPN.
Can you tell me the level of the logging and if you have done anything with the VPN (ideally on a Windows to Windows setup)?
The logging I'm looking for (I have another post on this thread), would be to see what computers inside our network are doing. Not to track the users and what they are doing, but in order to track viruses, spyware, and worms. Our current firewall will show the top urls visited on the web. It will show the amount of data that the top 25 protocols allowed. And it will show the top ip addresses - in terms of data transferred to them - which can be in or outside of our network. (Which is awful since one of our IPs could be sending out 50 megs to an IP on the outside and they both will then show up on the list - awful).
Basically, I want the granularity that is beyond that so that I can see that our inside IP address went to A, B, and C web pages which amounted to 800 hits and 50megs, and also checked 8 megs worth of POP3 mail. They had 2 megs of AIM data, and 1 meg of MSN data. Then there was 1 meg of data sent out over TCP port 6699.
That sort of thing - I have checked out the website, and while they mention that "it logs" - the images of it (at least last week), were... pretty much non-existant.
Also, what sort of hardware does it need? It is hard for me to get hardware here, even low end - so it might cost me as much to get a desktop machine new as it would to get a 486.
LOL - exactly. Which is why I said that at the end - I miss the availability of any larger country, and the economies of scale that they offer. But I sure don't miss the SUVs, the taxes, or even the Americans so much (as I learned over Thanksgiving):)
I don't get taxed yet, so the purchases difference shouldn't matter yet. Just a habit to see the difference in price and say "hot damn".
I bought my fiancee a 20gig iPod for Christmas, but I got it here in Bermuda. I should be able to get it in the States for $400. Had I done that, I would have then needed to have it shipped here - assuming that was for some reason free, I would then need to pay at least 22% duty on it, and more than likely 33% (it never is clear to me what gets the 33% electronics/computer parts duty - it isn't as obvious as it sounds).
It is hard to buy things in the States since I have American credit cards, but a Bermudian billing address. Companies frequently won't ship to Bermuda, so that means that I have to get it shipped to the States - which means that the billing and shipping address won't line up. So then I have to call the credit card company, and then the place I'm buying from, and then call some more, and then they call each other... and then there is a conference between all of us... I have really stopped buying anything since this happens all of the time. Oh - and the 1-800 numbers aren't free here - so I get the long distance pleasure of it as well as the joy of being on hold.
So all in all, I just said screw it, I'm gonna buy it here and suck it up. I paid about $650 for it here. Then they said that for $90+ more I could get another year added to the one year warrantee. Well, I knew the thing was going to die in 18 months, so I asked what this would let me do - I asked if it dies, do I just get a brand new one? The guy said that was indeed the case, and I signed up. So a mere $700 something, I had me an iPod.
Now I am considering a Sony Ericsson T616, and I am thinking that even though I can get it for between $219 and $265 in the States... I would rather not have to go through all of the crap. If I get it without a service plan, it is $450. It isn't clear if it will be any different with a service plan (I already have one with them).
In the end - I miss the easy availability and the economies of scale. But I don't miss much else:)
At work we have a Sonicwall SOHO 2 on a Windows network. It was in place before I got there. We "need" to keep it because we have a client that theoretically wants to come in and look at data on one server. They have yet to ever do this, and it isn't clear if it would even work (the VPN should work since it was tested when it was made, but the server's data is supposedly questionable from something one of the accountants told me).
The Sonicwall SOHO 2 serves its purpose in that it keeps out the worms and I can block/open ports.
But where it is truly awful is the detail of its logs. It will tell me the top IPs that got the most traffic - but it includes IPs that are outside of our network, and inside of our network. It will tell me the web URLs that get the most hits. And it tells me which protocols transmit the most data and how much that is. But while that is nice in theory, it is largely useless. I want to know what pages and what protocols specific inside IPs are doing. I want to know which inside computer is connecting to what outside computers over what protocols. Also, if I block a protocol/port, it will still log all of the attempts towards it exactly the same as if it were being allowed in. It doesn't say that 1000 hits were attempted on it but didn't get in - it just says that there were N megs of data against it (apparently not through it).
I don't care about logging what they do - I'm pretty laid back about all of that. If they are doing naughty things, that is their deal (my superiors have yet to tell me otherwise).
But I do very much care if people have spyware or viruses on their systems - and a firewall is a great way to track down who has those issues. I can do it with what we have now, but it could be far easier.
I looked into Smoothwall and thought that it looked good - and it is free. Even then, I don't know if I can get money even to get a lowly machine to run as the firewall. It isn't clear on their site how detailed the logs go. And it isn't clear if I can mimic the same VPN processes that are in place now, with the Smoothwall system.
I would love to hear feedback about the software. That way I can make a more informed decision as to what to do about the overpriced SOHO (in order to use features on it, you continually have to pay to have them turned on, such as VPN or virus checking).
I live in Bermuda where getting around by scooter is a very common thing - as opposed to say Boston or Denver in the U.S. My Vespa with gas and carrying my laptop and rain gear is around 300lbs. That is lighter than the single wheeled beast in this article. My Vespa ET4 is 125cc and can go much faster than 36mph (although there isn't much need for it since the speed limit here is 35kmph and I personally never go over around 50kmph - occasionally 60, but that is considered dangerous here). Vespa claims that it gets 46mpg, but I have seen it doing better than that, which is good since our gas is well over $5 per gallon.
I would be interested in seeing the price on that singled wheeled unit and trying it out compared to my Vespa - but I would imagine that it can't hold much of anything and is largely a gimmick.
In true Slashdot fashion, I haven't read the article. That said, if I were going to write something to analyze it - I would break the music down with a FFT and then run that through Bayesian analysis. You could technically even use that then to generate new songs that are based on the existing popular ones.
The problem with that technique is that it doesn't account for new music - it just "assumes" (not that there is any real thought involved) that what is popular now is what will remain popular.
The issue that needs to be addressed is that our tastes fatigue over time and exposure, so something that is popular now will get played to death and then eventually there will be a rebellion in tastes and a new cycle will begin. This was seen in the switch from the hair metal of Poison to the flannel rock of Nirvana.
That said, it is all cycles, and it is just a matter of how fast the cycles are turning over and what current influences have led to the current cycle (disco died and then eventually came back slightly tougher as techno, which then evolved on into industrial, trance, and other sub components).
In the end, there are outside influences that are harder to account for in an algorithm, and it might very well work better to use humans as more efficient algorithm analysis (unconsciously in their head via what they like and dislike).
Sounds like astroturf.
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iPod-Jacked
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Reminds me of when Sony sent out the people on the streets to pose as a couple wanting their pictures taken with a new phone camera. Or when the game companies pay people to play the games in coffee houses.
Get people to go out and act like it is cool to have the thing.
I don't know - maybe I'm just cynical - but it sounds planned/rigged.
Either way, I'm still going to buy an iPod for my fiancee.
My uncle is a quiet and reserved guy. He works with highly infectious agents as his job - space suits and special rooms - that whole deal. For Christmas back in the day he gave me The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. I read it that weekend and then asked him about ebola - my uncle is one of the team that they send to the part of the world that is having some new outbreak - ebola is one of his specialties. He was in the Peace Corps in Zaire back when then first discovered ebola, and even met his wife that way when they were both in the same tent recovering from malaria.
He said ebola was really nothing to worry about since it killed its host so fast. He said that it was indeed a bad thing if you ever got it, and it does need to be contained, but it dies very quickly outside of its host, and it kills its host too quickly.
He also noted that AIDS isn't particularly impressive either. It dies quickly outside of the person as well.
He isn't discounting the viruses by any means - just in terms of the scary stuff that he works with, he wasn't as scared by those and they are on different containment levels than other things.
He mentioned smallpox as being horrible.
I am now finishing up Richard Preston's The Demon in the Freezer and I must say that it is very interesting (his books all seem to be written in a way that you can finish them in an unnerving weekend).
Smallpox in itself is scary stuff, and then the bioengineered completely resistant smallpox is really freaky. Anthrax is nothing compared to this stuff - anthrax can kill its host, but it is not contagious from that sick host - if someone with anthrax coughs in the same room as you, you don't then get anthrax. Whereas one person with smallpox can infect an extremely large area around them very quickly - and they don't necessarily show any signs of having it but are capable of spreading it in the first few days of being infected.
Personally, I would much rather die of a drug overdose while having sex with supermodels than have to die of any of these viruses. Hopefully the chances of either being my final exit are equally slim.
I get my news slightly differently
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News at a Glance
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This page picks up the news images off of Yahoo and Reuters, then it grabs headlines off of Yahoo, and then also grabs feedback off of randomly generated users on Ebay. Then it randomly combines the images.
I don't follow the news much, but this helps me - sure the things don't usually go together, but they are amusing and you can still get an idea about what is going on.
There is also the news generator page that grabs the headlines and builds a markov matrix out of them and then when you hit the page it randomly generates a new headline and story by iterating over the MM. It rarely makes sense and at best sounds like it was translated by someone that doesn't speak English very well.
I am in the process of starting a legitimate company that has nothing to do with anything sketchy such as spam. In the process as I have to read through all of the legal forms, I am finding that all banks and credit card processing companies are cracking down and won't allow a huge number of services - many of which are arguably very legitimate compared to spammers.
We know that they get their ISP to block them out. We know that the banks and the CC processors block them out.
I think I could probably figure out ways to still do the computer side - but I must say that I'm not sure how these guys are doing the banking side. I don't know how they are collecting the payments for their services, and I don't know how they are explaining those payments in taxes and the like.
It seems that if you want to stop them - that is the place to block it - but I don't even know what the process is.
When I was under Windows I developed a Komodo addiction or dependancy (the IDE from ActiveState).
Now that I am using Mac OS X, there is no Komodo and I really want one now.
The thing is built on the Mozilla base - so ActiveState should grab up some of them dudes and force them to work on Komodo for Mac OS X - make it so.
Re:More medical advice, worth absolutely nothing.
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Hackers On Atkins
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Thus, you're stupid, regardless of whether a thousand studies back you up--because those thousand studies have nothing to do with the individuals you're preaching to.
LOL
Thus not only I am stupid, but the scientific method is stupid too.
I should have clarified that the gripes I had with the Mac were not necessarily the fault of the Mac and very likely my fault for not adjusting yet - nonetheless, they were the gripes that I had/have.
I am aware that the web page issue is not Mac's fault, and is instead due to the fact that each browser responds slightly differently (I know they each swear to their own standards and *the* standard - but from my own experiences I understand where they are coming from.
Whoa... I just noticed that this thing allows Emacs navigation in this text box - I think someone else in this thread already said this.
I am so in love with this thing.
I feel so wrong for liking this since I've hated Macs for so long:) (to be fair, I still can't stand the old style ones - they have come a long way and this is a nearly perfect system in my eyes so far).
I have been using Aquisition as the p2p tool, I will look at the other stuff. I never watch movies on my laptops, so I will likely not need to worry about the DivX thing for a bit.
Thanks so much for the tips - I'm slowly learning where things are on this, and the new keyboard short cuts are starting to make sense. I tend to hit the "fn" key instead of the "ctrl" key a lot - that is annoying - hopefully I can adjust soon.
Oh, the extra buttons sound nice if you can map them to things. That would work if 1) I could get the mouse - I live in Bermuda and it is hard to find things here (will look when I get into the States for Thanksgiving), and 2) if I didn't actually have the laptop on my lap most of the time.
At work though I do have a desktop surface that the laptop is on, so perhaps the mouse would work there. I like the idea of the laptop just because it is all self contained (and so light!).
Is the resolution on the Bluetooth mouse good? In the past (over 2 years ago) when I used a wireless mouse the resolution on them was not so good - and since I was doing graphics at the time, that was no good for me - likely doesn't matter now since I don't do much in the way of graphics any more.
I have twice tried to download Fink after reading that it seems to be very useful in getting a lot of the tools I want (Xemacs immediately comes to mind). It keeps timing out - my work connection is quite slow - I will try it again tonight at home where my connection is faster.
I haven't seen VersionTracker yet - I will check that out. I know that FreshMeat.net has an OS X section, so I've been looking through there.
I like to play hearts a lot, so that will be my next thing to look for (free program). If I can't find one, perhaps that will be my "Hello World" app for the Mac.
Thanks for the tips - none of my friends are Mac people, or the ones that are aren't ever online, so it is hard for me to know where to find things (since I don't even necessarily know what I'm looking for).
Will Finder allow me to download and upload files? All via drag and drop? If so, that sounds quite nice. I recall there was a program called "Fetch" back on older Mac systems and so I was looking for that.
Slashdot Mirror
I have a few credit cards now and the last time I actually had one swiped was well over 6 months ago if not closer to a year.
Ordering off of the web means the only card I swipe is my ATM card when I want cash.
That said - I do use my ATM card here when I don't have cash and they swipe it - which is arguably even scarier if you don't have any limits and or insurance of fraud on the ATM card.
Of our small network (25) computers, we are pretty much all XP Pro client machines and Win2k servers. We still have a Win98 box that is used to monitor the phones (record the length of each phone call on each phone, and where it went, for billing purposes - I don't think it retains any audio content). That machine will likely stay Win98 as long as it continues to work. I see no reason to spend any effort on it while it isn't causing any problems and it is working. It has a PII processor and I think hardly any RAM at all (compared to most computers these days). Only two people ever occasionally log on to it to gather the data and print it off - it never browses the web or downloads e-mail. It is inside of our network, so it is behind the firewall and as safe as that means.
We still have one user machine that is still Win2kPro, only because I'm hesitant to upgrade it and then have the programs on that machine to work (having upgraded many in the past, it is common to have to reinstall stuff, and this user has a ton of stuff on there).
We will be upgrading our servers and Exchange server to Win2K3 in the new year. I wanted to wait until more bugs had been resolved in it and see that we will be okay to upgrade to it.
I wish I had mod points.
Someone that does - the parent needs to be modded up.
We actually did try the reset in house and that didn't do anything on it. Then we did the total reset (the one that wipes it), but that broke it within our network - so that was why the consultant brought it out - he had a backup of settings close to what we needed and tossed those on. Then brought it back and used another backup that we had here (but which wouldn't work at first)... all in all, it was extremely annoying and confusing for the both of us (it wasn't behaving in a logical way). Part of me wonders if the device was just toasted and then he took it away and brought back a working one.
A user's machine just died today and I rebuilt it and got it working, but then someone from above authorized that she (his wife) get a brand new and nice machine (I think someone complained).
So that is on the way and this machine that I fixed up and is still a pretty decent machine - I am going to try to put this machine before our network, but after the Sonicwall.
That way I can run Snort on the network and get some proper logging.
For now I will leave it as an XP machine, but if I can't get enough functionality of it, then I will upgrade it to Linux or FreeBSD.
Thanks for the tip, I'm new to setting up VPNs (they have always already been setup in the past when I've had to deal with them - and then when I ask people for help setting them up, I get a lot of shuffling of feet and mummers, but not absolute details).
I am seeing now that it will be much easier to setup a Linksys router at each home installation for our users - those will VPN very easily (so I'm told, and given the settings) to the Sonicwall.
We are all on a single switch (theoretically that is, the actual hardware is more like 3 or 4 switches, but they are just pass through), so I suppose Snort might make a good option.
I will look into it - that would be a nice thing if I could just leave the firewall as is and get around it by sniffing - it is just a matter of how well I can format the logs. And I haven't looked in awhile, but I don't recall there being a Snort for Windows - I suppose there is likely a Cygwin option and then perhaps a "logs2html" sort of thing?
As for Sonicwall, I haven't seen anything like that on our systems - but then again, it is much easier to track down an issue with one user like that on this thing than it is to track down the issue between 20+ computers.
That said, we have had a few oddities with it off the top of my head that I have noticed:
1) Occasionally it will just freeze up and need to be rebooted - that is fine enough I guess since we are on a Windows network we are used to such things
2) Once in 6 months it has gone into "oh crap" mode where the wrench light on the front turns on and it kills our net connection, which is when we switch over to an emergency Linksys (home network) product that chokes under us usually (that was one thing that made me appreciate the Sonicwall more). Then we have to pass of the hardware to one of our IT consultants and he reformats the thing for us.
3) The other day I setup the firewall to allow port 6699 in (it was Friday, and I didn't mind if the user wanted to hog the network over the weekend when nobody was really here). I came in on Monday and the access on that was turned off. I didn't do it, and nobody else has access to the thing - I can think of one guy that technically knows the password, but he wouldn't know what is what in the layout in there.
In general, I'm not saying it is a bad product. But for our uses, I would have preferred something different if given the choice to do it from the get go.
We have virus scanning on all machines that talk over the network to a central server that nightly grabs updates. We have Exchange server also with virus scanning. And then I used EventSinks to interface into Spamassassin. It doesn't kill the mail, it just marks it with its decisions and then let's it through.
We are upgrading to Win2K3, Exchange 2K3, and Outlook 2K3 - this will allow more spam filtering options and more built in stuff for the end users (take the load off of the server - and me since I have to adjust the whitelists for new clients).
There are about 5 main ad servers that get the bulk of hits for us in terms of ad traffic - so blocking that is easy.
Then when someone manages to get spyware, that will show up in the logs eventually and I can then try to narrow it down based on who's IP is very active.
I am trying to work out the VPN stuff now, and it isn't going well. Technically, the new Exchange will make it easier on us - you don't need to VPN to get secure Outlook access, it will do it all for you just by pointing it to the web server. But that doesn't help if they want to access the files too.
Still - I'm curious how detailed the logging gets on SW.
Excellent! This is what I want - someone that has used it and I can bounce some questions off.
I am a Windows admin for a small network (20+ machines). I am more of a programmer than I am an admin in terms of my knowledge, but alas, it is my position.
Our network connection is 128K to be shared between us all. *PAINFULLY* slow. I can currently block out domains on our current firewall, so that gets some of the ads. I look in the url logs to see what is getting downloaded a lot and then block the ad servers that show up in there.
That is good because it is less stuff for network to have to download.
That said, what I really need from the firewall beyond blocking ports and the like is good logging, and then good VPN.
Can you tell me the level of the logging and if you have done anything with the VPN (ideally on a Windows to Windows setup)?
The logging I'm looking for (I have another post on this thread), would be to see what computers inside our network are doing. Not to track the users and what they are doing, but in order to track viruses, spyware, and worms.
Our current firewall will show the top urls visited on the web. It will show the amount of data that the top 25 protocols allowed. And it will show the top ip addresses - in terms of data transferred to them - which can be in or outside of our network. (Which is awful since one of our IPs could be sending out 50 megs to an IP on the outside and they both will then show up on the list - awful).
Basically, I want the granularity that is beyond that so that I can see that our inside IP address went to A, B, and C web pages which amounted to 800 hits and 50megs, and also checked 8 megs worth of POP3 mail. They had 2 megs of AIM data, and 1 meg of MSN data. Then there was 1 meg of data sent out over TCP port 6699.
That sort of thing - I have checked out the website, and while they mention that "it logs" - the images of it (at least last week), were... pretty much non-existant.
Also, what sort of hardware does it need? It is hard for me to get hardware here, even low end - so it might cost me as much to get a desktop machine new as it would to get a 486.
LOL - exactly. Which is why I said that at the end - I miss the availability of any larger country, and the economies of scale that they offer. :)
But I sure don't miss the SUVs, the taxes, or even the Americans so much (as I learned over Thanksgiving)
I don't get taxed yet, so the purchases difference shouldn't matter yet. Just a habit to see the difference in price and say "hot damn".
I bought my fiancee a 20gig iPod for Christmas, but I got it here in Bermuda.
:)
I should be able to get it in the States for $400. Had I done that, I would have then needed to have it shipped here - assuming that was for some reason free, I would then need to pay at least 22% duty on it, and more than likely 33% (it never is clear to me what gets the 33% electronics/computer parts duty - it isn't as obvious as it sounds).
It is hard to buy things in the States since I have American credit cards, but a Bermudian billing address. Companies frequently won't ship to Bermuda, so that means that I have to get it shipped to the States - which means that the billing and shipping address won't line up.
So then I have to call the credit card company, and then the place I'm buying from, and then call some more, and then they call each other... and then there is a conference between all of us...
I have really stopped buying anything since this happens all of the time. Oh - and the 1-800 numbers aren't free here - so I get the long distance pleasure of it as well as the joy of being on hold.
So all in all, I just said screw it, I'm gonna buy it here and suck it up.
I paid about $650 for it here. Then they said that for $90+ more I could get another year added to the one year warrantee. Well, I knew the thing was going to die in 18 months, so I asked what this would let me do - I asked if it dies, do I just get a brand new one? The guy said that was indeed the case, and I signed up.
So a mere $700 something, I had me an iPod.
Now I am considering a Sony Ericsson T616, and I am thinking that even though I can get it for between $219 and $265 in the States... I would rather not have to go through all of the crap.
If I get it without a service plan, it is $450. It isn't clear if it will be any different with a service plan (I already have one with them).
In the end - I miss the easy availability and the economies of scale. But I don't miss much else
At work we have a Sonicwall SOHO 2 on a Windows network. It was in place before I got there. We "need" to keep it because we have a client that theoretically wants to come in and look at data on one server. They have yet to ever do this, and it isn't clear if it would even work (the VPN should work since it was tested when it was made, but the server's data is supposedly questionable from something one of the accountants told me).
The Sonicwall SOHO 2 serves its purpose in that it keeps out the worms and I can block/open ports.
But where it is truly awful is the detail of its logs. It will tell me the top IPs that got the most traffic - but it includes IPs that are outside of our network, and inside of our network. It will tell me the web URLs that get the most hits. And it tells me which protocols transmit the most data and how much that is.
But while that is nice in theory, it is largely useless.
I want to know what pages and what protocols specific inside IPs are doing. I want to know which inside computer is connecting to what outside computers over what protocols.
Also, if I block a protocol/port, it will still log all of the attempts towards it exactly the same as if it were being allowed in. It doesn't say that 1000 hits were attempted on it but didn't get in - it just says that there were N megs of data against it (apparently not through it).
I don't care about logging what they do - I'm pretty laid back about all of that. If they are doing naughty things, that is their deal (my superiors have yet to tell me otherwise).
But I do very much care if people have spyware or viruses on their systems - and a firewall is a great way to track down who has those issues. I can do it with what we have now, but it could be far easier.
I looked into Smoothwall and thought that it looked good - and it is free. Even then, I don't know if I can get money even to get a lowly machine to run as the firewall.
It isn't clear on their site how detailed the logs go.
And it isn't clear if I can mimic the same VPN processes that are in place now, with the Smoothwall system.
I would love to hear feedback about the software. That way I can make a more informed decision as to what to do about the overpriced SOHO (in order to use features on it, you continually have to pay to have them turned on, such as VPN or virus checking).
I live in Bermuda where getting around by scooter is a very common thing - as opposed to say Boston or Denver in the U.S.
My Vespa with gas and carrying my laptop and rain gear is around 300lbs. That is lighter than the single wheeled beast in this article. My Vespa ET4 is 125cc and can go much faster than 36mph (although there isn't much need for it since the speed limit here is 35kmph and I personally never go over around 50kmph - occasionally 60, but that is considered dangerous here).
Vespa claims that it gets 46mpg, but I have seen it doing better than that, which is good since our gas is well over $5 per gallon.
I would be interested in seeing the price on that singled wheeled unit and trying it out compared to my Vespa - but I would imagine that it can't hold much of anything and is largely a gimmick.
In true Slashdot fashion, I haven't read the article.
That said, if I were going to write something to analyze it - I would break the music down with a FFT and then run that through Bayesian analysis.
You could technically even use that then to generate new songs that are based on the existing popular ones.
The problem with that technique is that it doesn't account for new music - it just "assumes" (not that there is any real thought involved) that what is popular now is what will remain popular.
The issue that needs to be addressed is that our tastes fatigue over time and exposure, so something that is popular now will get played to death and then eventually there will be a rebellion in tastes and a new cycle will begin.
This was seen in the switch from the hair metal of Poison to the flannel rock of Nirvana.
That said, it is all cycles, and it is just a matter of how fast the cycles are turning over and what current influences have led to the current cycle (disco died and then eventually came back slightly tougher as techno, which then evolved on into industrial, trance, and other sub components).
In the end, there are outside influences that are harder to account for in an algorithm, and it might very well work better to use humans as more efficient algorithm analysis (unconsciously in their head via what they like and dislike).
Reminds me of when Sony sent out the people on the streets to pose as a couple wanting their pictures taken with a new phone camera.
Or when the game companies pay people to play the games in coffee houses.
Get people to go out and act like it is cool to have the thing.
I don't know - maybe I'm just cynical - but it sounds planned/rigged.
Either way, I'm still going to buy an iPod for my fiancee.
My uncle is a quiet and reserved guy. He works with highly infectious agents as his job - space suits and special rooms - that whole deal.
For Christmas back in the day he gave me The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. I read it that weekend and then asked him about ebola - my uncle is one of the team that they send to the part of the world that is having some new outbreak - ebola is one of his specialties.
He was in the Peace Corps in Zaire back when then first discovered ebola, and even met his wife that way when they were both in the same tent recovering from malaria.
He said ebola was really nothing to worry about since it killed its host so fast. He said that it was indeed a bad thing if you ever got it, and it does need to be contained, but it dies very quickly outside of its host, and it kills its host too quickly.
He also noted that AIDS isn't particularly impressive either. It dies quickly outside of the person as well.
He isn't discounting the viruses by any means - just in terms of the scary stuff that he works with, he wasn't as scared by those and they are on different containment levels than other things.
He mentioned smallpox as being horrible.
I am now finishing up Richard Preston's The Demon in the Freezer and I must say that it is very interesting (his books all seem to be written in a way that you can finish them in an unnerving weekend).
Smallpox in itself is scary stuff, and then the bioengineered completely resistant smallpox is really freaky.
Anthrax is nothing compared to this stuff - anthrax can kill its host, but it is not contagious from that sick host - if someone with anthrax coughs in the same room as you, you don't then get anthrax. Whereas one person with smallpox can infect an extremely large area around them very quickly - and they don't necessarily show any signs of having it but are capable of spreading it in the first few days of being infected.
Personally, I would much rather die of a drug overdose while having sex with supermodels than have to die of any of these viruses.
Hopefully the chances of either being my final exit are equally slim.
http://www.cardboardutopia.com/commentPics/foShizz y.pl
This page picks up the news images off of Yahoo and Reuters, then it grabs headlines off of Yahoo, and then also grabs feedback off of randomly generated users on Ebay.
Then it randomly combines the images.
I don't follow the news much, but this helps me - sure the things don't usually go together, but they are amusing and you can still get an idea about what is going on.
There is also the news generator page that grabs the headlines and builds a markov matrix out of them and then when you hit the page it randomly generates a new headline and story by iterating over the MM. It rarely makes sense and at best sounds like it was translated by someone that doesn't speak English very well.
I am in the process of starting a legitimate company that has nothing to do with anything sketchy such as spam. In the process as I have to read through all of the legal forms, I am finding that all banks and credit card processing companies are cracking down and won't allow a huge number of services - many of which are arguably very legitimate compared to spammers.
We know that they get their ISP to block them out. We know that the banks and the CC processors block them out.
I think I could probably figure out ways to still do the computer side - but I must say that I'm not sure how these guys are doing the banking side.
I don't know how they are collecting the payments for their services, and I don't know how they are explaining those payments in taxes and the like.
It seems that if you want to stop them - that is the place to block it - but I don't even know what the process is.
When I was under Windows I developed a Komodo addiction or dependancy (the IDE from ActiveState).
Now that I am using Mac OS X, there is no Komodo and I really want one now.
The thing is built on the Mozilla base - so ActiveState should grab up some of them dudes and force them to work on Komodo for Mac OS X - make it so.
Thus, you're stupid, regardless of whether a thousand studies back you up--because those thousand studies have nothing to do with the individuals you're preaching to.
LOL
Thus not only I am stupid, but the scientific method is stupid too.
I like your style.
Wow! Thanks so much for the informative response.
:)
I should have clarified that the gripes I had with the Mac were not necessarily the fault of the Mac and very likely my fault for not adjusting yet - nonetheless, they were the gripes that I had/have.
I am aware that the web page issue is not Mac's fault, and is instead due to the fact that each browser responds slightly differently (I know they each swear to their own standards and *the* standard - but from my own experiences I understand where they are coming from.
Whoa... I just noticed that this thing allows Emacs navigation in this text box - I think someone else in this thread already said this.
I am so in love with this thing.
I feel so wrong for liking this since I've hated Macs for so long
(to be fair, I still can't stand the old style ones - they have come a long way and this is a nearly perfect system in my eyes so far).
I have been using Aquisition as the p2p tool, I will look at the other stuff.
I never watch movies on my laptops, so I will likely not need to worry about the DivX thing for a bit.
Thanks so much for the tips - I'm slowly learning where things are on this, and the new keyboard short cuts are starting to make sense.
I tend to hit the "fn" key instead of the "ctrl" key a lot - that is annoying - hopefully I can adjust soon.
ahh - thanks! It sounds like the spell checking does do what I want, I just couldn't figure it out.
Excellent.
I just bought a new 15" Alum PowerBook, this is my second day with it.
I hadn't heard about these spots.
When do the start showing up?
If I don't have the 3 year AppleCare, am I just screwed if/when I get spots on mine?
Oh, the extra buttons sound nice if you can map them to things.
That would work if 1) I could get the mouse - I live in Bermuda and it is hard to find things here (will look when I get into the States for Thanksgiving), and 2) if I didn't actually have the laptop on my lap most of the time.
At work though I do have a desktop surface that the laptop is on, so perhaps the mouse would work there. I like the idea of the laptop just because it is all self contained (and so light!).
Is the resolution on the Bluetooth mouse good? In the past (over 2 years ago) when I used a wireless mouse the resolution on them was not so good - and since I was doing graphics at the time, that was no good for me - likely doesn't matter now since I don't do much in the way of graphics any more.
yup, that did it!
I didn't realize that the letters themselves were little windows.
Nifty. (not sure I've used that word before)
I have twice tried to download Fink after reading that it seems to be very useful in getting a lot of the tools I want (Xemacs immediately comes to mind).
It keeps timing out - my work connection is quite slow - I will try it again tonight at home where my connection is faster.
I haven't seen VersionTracker yet - I will check that out. I know that FreshMeat.net has an OS X section, so I've been looking through there.
I like to play hearts a lot, so that will be my next thing to look for (free program). If I can't find one, perhaps that will be my "Hello World" app for the Mac.
Thanks for the tips - none of my friends are Mac people, or the ones that are aren't ever online, so it is hard for me to know where to find things (since I don't even necessarily know what I'm looking for).
Will Finder allow me to download and upload files? All via drag and drop? If so, that sounds quite nice.
I recall there was a program called "Fetch" back on older Mac systems and so I was looking for that.