I'm aware of at least one telemarketing attempt that was using VoIP for originations and would hang up if it thought a person answered the phone. It -WANTED- to leave a message on an answering machine, and it had special routines to listen for what would likely be the "tone" to indicate it was time to start broadcasting the message.
So maybe it was trying to fill up your answering machine.
Here's the catch, 800 MHz AMPS and 800 MHz digital should have approximately the same foot print RF-wise, assuming similar antennas and output power. In the early days of digital, especially CDMA, the (often untrue) claims were that digital would work better in weaker areas. It was a perception, since there wasn't any static, instead the audio would drop out a bit here and there, but there was no static, so it must be better, right? As the technology improved, so did performance in more marginal areas.
I've been out of the biz for a few years, but last I remember, the FCC mandated analog channels remain for a few years. Plus, if I remember correctly, all those On*Star systems in GM based cars are using analog cellular equipment, not digital. At one point it was going to cost about $600 per car to upgrade the On*Star equipment to digital.
There is still analog capacity out there. Even if it is limited. And, I agree completely about spectrum use being a problem, at least in urban areas. But, there is no excuse for these problems in open rural areas. The spectrum usage should not be as much of an issue as it would be in a medium to large city. If my complaint were in a metro area, I would agree spectrum use would be the issue, but I wasn't. I was a good 2 hours from any major city, if not more.
Like you said, a good xcvr is the key, as opposed to features. For years Motorola was a great phone. That changed, IMNSHO, in the late 90s, and the last motorola phone I used was crap. Not because of the cheap, flimsy, plastic feel, but phone call quality.
Finding a good xcvr is half the battle. I have a basic phone, yeah it's got a color display, but it doesn't play mp3s or take pictures, but it's a good phone. My wife's BIG feature is the Speaker Phone. Those are the phones we wanted. I have a Samsung, that until recently, has worked very well (except the rural usage problems I originally commented on). My wife has an LG. It's her 2nd LG, and she's happy with it.
I'd be curious to hear which phones (and xcvr) others find work really well and have good audio quality.
For the record, I have a dual band, dual mode phone and my wife has a dual bnad, tri-mode phone.
However, both phones suffered the same problems. The old analog phone I had with me (not activiated) had service, and was able to connect to 611, but the carrier I was on informed me that my phone wasn't part of their network and put me into an IVR system.
I could have dialed 911 if I had an emergency. Definitely on the old analog. And in theory using the newer phones, since 911 calls are SUPPOSED to go out on any carrier the phone can see, regardless of what the IRDB profile stored in the phone says.
If someone knew his phone number, they could have punched it into the system and voila, his safeway card was used for the purchases!
A smart defense attorney should have been able to point that out.
Now, if Safeway had video surveilance of everyeone that purchased something, and could link the picture to the transaction, then there'd be evidence. Lacking that, the use of a discount card, especially at safeway, is useless as proof that someone did something.
And what is worse, the effective usability of cell phones is now WORSE than what they were just 4 to 6 years ago.
Yes, things were still mostly analog, with a few early adopters having digital, but for roaming your analog service was virtually seamless, especially along major interstates.
I recently drove west along I-10 with a digital phone, and spent literally hours where I could not get a call out. Yes it was in some of the "mountain" areas, but it was an area that used to have analog coverage that worked (because I drove it and know).
It really infuriates me what they've done. I spent several years building cellular (analog) networks, even in some mountain areas. I know the service is possible in these areas, but since the "new and improved" digital phones include the ability to restrict what services the phones may roam on (and in some cases, the newer phones won't even do analog), we've gone BACKWARDS. It's pathetic!
This is just the repackaging of ideas that were being worked on about ten years ago. And, it sounds very much like something a company I worked with before was wanting to do as well (except it wasn't free). It will be interesting to see how well this develops. Could be fun to play with.
Hmm.. I wonder.. ISPs get carrier exemptions so they are not responsible for what their customers do. Phone companies also get carrier exemptions, except I believe they have to file for common carrier status (not sure). I wonder if this becomes popular enough if John Q. Public could arrange to get common carrier protections.... hmm...
It's not a republican or democratic issue - they've both gone down the path of supporting whoever gives them money. It's a political (general) issue that I think will only get worse before it gets better. These are things revolutions are made of. Not a violent revolution with guns, but a customer/consumer revolution with dollars and technology. It's already begin, witness the P2P growth of unlicensed media, the villainification of those that copy ("pirates", used for many years for software copying and now applied to music, movies, anything), etc.
Not that I disagree w/you on why people continue to buy things they do not own and the lunacy of what DMCA has done, but I do dislike revisionist history.
googled (DMCA signed by president): On October 12, 1998, the U.S. Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, ending many months of turbulent negotiations regarding its provisions. Two weeks later, on October 28th, President Clinton signed the Act into law.
From the article: "...the total loss of the IS-804 satellite gives Zeus Holdings the right to not consummate the acquisition of Intelsat. Zeus Holdings has advised Intelsat that it is evaluating the impact of the IS-804 failure."
Could it be this is their way of getting out of the acquisition of Intelsat by Zeus Holdings? Two satellite failures in about 3 months time is a pretty high failure rate.
Or, I wonder if it could be the tin whiskers reported earlier causing unexpected power failures.
I'd have to ditto this sentimate. I get my composition book from Walmart, usually $0.87 or cheaper. And when you need ultra portability, there is a mini-composition book which fits in your pocket quite nicely. I love my fountain pens, and find I write a lot more frequently now that I've gone to pen and paper.
I don't have the fold out calendar, I still use the computer for most appointments, but that's about it.
My wife had a Clie for a while, the flip-n-twist model with the keyboard. She loved it. She upgrades about every year, has had two of them so far, and when it was time to buy her third, she found out Sony left (or was leaving) the US market and bought an Ipaq 4355 (w/the keyboard). Very useful PDA. The keyboard makes it.
I don't remember where, but I believe there was a previous article (also on/.) that mentioned Sun's marketing premise was to first get the market to associate Linux with a single company, in this case Red Hat, and then go after them specifically.
The problem for Sun is that Linux is available from a variety of sources. They try to compete against companies, and now face competing against a movement.
Someone figured out that if they could associate Linux with a single vendor, then they could launch what they hope to be an effective marketing effort by targetting that vendor individually.
To me, this is not an accident, and is part of a deliberate marketing ploy Sun is hoping to use to combat the threat of Linux to their platform. While Sun iron makes a lot of sense on the high end, they continue to face increasing pressure at the high end from IBM, and at the low end from PC based servers. And, Linux runs on that entire range of hardware. I'm sure Sun's profit margins are a lot slimmer, especially on their higher volume equipment, than in the past. It's the lower priced, higher volume equipment that Sun faces the biggest challenge, IMO, from Linux.
I would like to know what percentage of their overall revenue comes from higher volume sales v. the rest of their line and products. If I get motivated enough, I'll look up their financials to see if they are split out like that.
Plus, with Oracle promoting Linux for their databases, Sun can't just rest on its laurels for high-end databases. Especially with Oracle's Linux clustering. Think about it. Oracle is another very expensive layer for enterprises. Oracle can use Linux to lower the effective total operating costs of an installation. This is what Sun is competing against now. It seems to me, that in some significant way, that Oracle is helping push Sun towards commoditizing their hardware/software similar to how Intel is now. The margins are a lot slimmer, and are forcing Sun to become more creative in shoring up and growing their revenue.
There, the network is private, run by a company, and the expectation is that the conversations are private as well. It might very well be illegal for AOL (and other IM networks) to be monitoring individual IM sessions.
I doubt it. Telcos (including wireless) are allowed to monitor any activity (incl. voice traffic) on their network, all in the name of network security and maintenance. Targetting specific person or persons and following their calls through a network (aka wireless) would probably be crossing the line, or at least in a grey area, maybe.
It's normal for a lot of companies to start you off as a contractor before going full-time.
If this company is large, well-established, and been around for a while, and not a younger (less than 5 years), smaller sized company, then odds are they are telling the truth about easier to hire contract.
Of course, the fact the position is advertised as full time, and they are now telling you it is contract, and that the reason is because it is easier to get approval, then that means the position your going for may not be fully funded.
Bottom line: Ask questions. Questions such as:
Is this position fully funded already, or is that why you need approval?
If it is funded, as a contractor (i.e. temp), how long is it funded for?
Does the company have any restrictions on how long you have to work as a contractor before being eligible to go perm?
How long until this position is moved from contractor to perm?
When moving to perm status, will benefits start the first day, or will there be an additional probationary (no benefits) period beyond the time spent as a contractor?
Will you be working under a staffing company (where you are a regular employee of the staffing company), or would you be working as an individual directly with the company (W-2 versus 1099 in the US)?
I've seen some companies use contractors as a way to check out the work and abilities of someone they are interested in hiring when the candidate does not have the "required" education or job experience they originally listed. It can be a great way to get a foot in the door of the company.
Of course, there are also companies that use contractors as a way to staff up and down with little penalties.
You should do your own due diligence, check out the company, their track record, things like that. If you'll be working for a staffing company, research them as well.
One nice thing about working for staffing companies, you submit your time card to them and they take care of all the billing and collecting. You are a regular employee of the staffing company. That means you have labor law protections. When you work as a contractor directly for the company, it's a simple business arrangement, meaning if they don't pay you, you can't use labor laws (easily) to collect. Plus, in several cases, the staffing company will pay you weekly.:)
Excuse me, have you seen the state of "modern" healthcare in the US? It's mostly a joke! And you can place most of the blame on HMO like structures and insurance restrictions that control what doctors are able to do for their patients.
For most people, as long as they never get anything hard to diagnose, they will be fine. However, when doctors need to run a series of tests to find a problem, those tests get expensive. And, many insurances/hmos will do whatever they can to block/prevent/refuse those tests.
And, if you don't have insurance, things are even worse.
It is very rare to find a doctor that takes the direct involvement necessary to do thorough testing in order to systematically rule out causes in order to get to a final diagnosis.
Bitter, first-hand experience speaking here. With real insurance, with HMO insurance, and with no insurance. It's possible to get decent medical care, but not easy. The whole system is almost as screwed up as the patent system.
One thing about the Sharp PDA that made me want it was the USB interface that could work as a host or peripheral. All of the other PDAs I've checked out had peripheral only USB interfaces, meaning I could not plug it into my cell phone for wireless data.
Funds have kept me from getting the 6k, and now when I have the funds, it looks like I'll be unable to get one. We'll see.
Anyone know of a decent, powerful PDA with USB host capability built in? Otherwise I'm left with something like an IPAQ with a USB host card instead of just a simple cable from the device to the cell phone.
Either that, or I'll go back and look at the Samsung i700 now that the WM2003 upgrade is available.
Either way, it looks like Sharp's loss, or at least an ebay purchase.
The delay is typically less than a second. For a person with good hearing, it will sound like annoying echo. For someone with bad hearing, they won't always hear the live voice, instead they'll only hear the FM broadcast with the volume turned up for their hearing needs.
Then again, you can use better headphones that block the outside noise and let you listen to just the broadcast.
Thanks for all of the suggestions. I'll be checking them out. The radioSHARK idea is not portable enough. I need to be able to operate for an entire day, copy the data off (if necessary) and recharge/change batteries (as needed) at night, and be ready to go again the next day. I estimate needing to repeat this for 4 days in a row at the most. I like the 20 gig/256meg Neuros the best so far.
I like the built in FM tuner. The big question is if you can record from it. It doesn't look like it. And that's exactly what I want.
I attend various conferences. Some of them broadcast on a low power FM radio signal for people in the audience that are hard of hearing. Those people can have a private radio with headsets and adjust the volume to make it easier for them to hear. It also is a great way to record the program without the distracting noises from the audience.
I'd like to find an MP3 player, HD based or replacement memory sticks (SD, xD, whatever), that has the ability to record using a built in microphone and an FM tuner. A microphone jack would be a plus.
The closest I've found is a small 128/256 meg device, but the memory is not interchangeable, it's built in.
Anyone know of anything like that? Who makes it? And where it can be found?
Anyone remember the story 60 Minutes, or 20/20 or one of those "news magazine" tv shows, about pickups with exploding gas tanks?
The complaint was that the gas tanks were outside the frame (or something like that) and that they'd explode on side impact crashes.
They even showed a nice convincing demonstration by crash testing a few trucks for the nice TV cameras.
And then, after the fact, the truth came out -- while explosions COULD happen given the right circumstances, it wasn't that easy to do. In fact, the news people couldn't duplicate it in front of the cameras. So they placed a charge and DETONATED the gas tanks at the time of impact.
Or how about the rollover stories about the Isuzu Trooper started by Consumer Reports? We happened to have one, and I know how well they handled. They were NOT easy to roll over UNLESS YOU WERE TRYING TO ROLL IT OVER. I was following my wife down a mountain highway at 65+ and she had to make an emergency lane change, just like the consumer report "story". It handled just like you'd expect a trunk based vehicle to handle, and she never lifted a wheel off the ground. I also took the same vehicle off-roading (serious off-roading in the Rockies) -- it was a very capable, well-rounded vehicle. And not prone to tip-over.
Moral -- "news" organizations often have an axe to grind for whatever reason -- and they will do anything to (1) bury that axe into the person, company, side of the story they want to hurt, or (2) whatever it takes for ratings. End result - Can't Trust Them!
I wonder if the electronic transmission has "safety sensors" that won't shift to a lower gear if it might cause engine damage. If so, even if you put the selector down to the first gear, the computer would override the driver in order to protect the engine.
Hmm, the computer overriding the human for self-preservation. That could be interesting.....
I'm really disappointed. It seems they were in such a rush to release 2.0.0 with Gnome 2.8.0 that they left a pretty glaring problem.
From their Known Issues: 2) Alarms don't work properly if Evolution runs past midnight
That's a pretty fundamental flaw for a program that is supposed to be essentially an Outlook replacement.
I commend Novell for their overall Linux efforts, but rushing things to release for the sake of making a date with this type of flaw seems like a dangerous way to conduct business.
It is things just like this that give some people enough pause to NOT deploy open source solutions. What was the earlier/. article about switching from Linux to Windows saying? Problems with programs, support, etc? Releasing a "stable" 2.0.0, exiting the beta 1.5.x series, and having a problem that prevents alarms from working properly if you leave Evolution running overnight certainly doesn't make me very confident.
What is the reason for denying the wireless AP connection? Are they forcing removal because of interference with the campus network? If so, the students may be outa luck. Even though it is unlicensed, I believe there is still a requireement for noninterference.
I just read the article. Interference claims are the reason for the action, and not all wireless APs are blocked, just the 2.4 gig ones. The 5 gig ones are allowed on specific channels.
Not a very valid argument, unless you had the owner of the house putting a sign out front saying "Unlocked door".
WiFi access points ADVERTISE their existance, like a sign in the yard. The mere existance of an access point is just like the presence of the door. It doesn't mean anything.
Keep in mind, I'm talking about casual use, and not someone with tools to sniff and find the hidden identity of access points that are configured not to advertise, and then connecting to them. That would be, like the example, equivalent to someone walking up to every door and trying the lock until he finds one that is open.
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I'm aware of at least one telemarketing attempt that was using VoIP for originations and would hang up if it thought a person answered the phone. It -WANTED- to leave a message on an answering machine, and it had special routines to listen for what would likely be the "tone" to indicate it was time to start broadcasting the message.
So maybe it was trying to fill up your answering machine.
Here's the catch, 800 MHz AMPS and 800 MHz digital should have approximately the same foot print RF-wise, assuming similar antennas and output power. In the early days of digital, especially CDMA, the (often untrue) claims were that digital would work better in weaker areas. It was a perception, since there wasn't any static, instead the audio would drop out a bit here and there, but there was no static, so it must be better, right?
As the technology improved, so did performance in more marginal areas.
I've been out of the biz for a few years, but last I remember, the FCC mandated analog channels remain for a few years. Plus, if I remember correctly, all those On*Star systems in GM based cars are using analog cellular equipment, not digital. At one point it was going to cost about $600 per car to upgrade the On*Star equipment to digital.
There is still analog capacity out there. Even if it is limited. And, I agree completely about spectrum use being a problem, at least in urban areas. But, there is no excuse for these problems in open rural areas. The spectrum usage should not be as much of an issue as it would be in a medium to large city. If my complaint were in a metro area, I would agree spectrum use would be the issue, but I wasn't. I was a good 2 hours from any major city, if not more.
Like you said, a good xcvr is the key, as opposed to features. For years Motorola was a great phone. That changed, IMNSHO, in the late 90s, and the last motorola phone I used was crap. Not because of the cheap, flimsy, plastic feel, but phone call quality.
Finding a good xcvr is half the battle. I have a basic phone, yeah it's got a color display, but it doesn't play mp3s or take pictures, but it's a good phone. My wife's BIG feature is the Speaker Phone. Those are the phones we wanted. I have a Samsung, that until recently, has worked very well (except the rural usage problems I originally commented on). My wife has an LG. It's her 2nd LG, and she's happy with it.
I'd be curious to hear which phones (and xcvr) others find work really well and have good audio quality.
For the record, I have a dual band, dual mode phone and my wife has a dual bnad, tri-mode phone.
However, both phones suffered the same problems. The old analog phone I had with me (not activiated) had service, and was able to connect to 611, but the carrier I was on informed me that my phone wasn't part of their network and put me into an IVR system.
I could have dialed 911 if I had an emergency. Definitely on the old analog. And in theory using the newer phones, since 911 calls are SUPPOSED to go out on any carrier the phone can see, regardless of what the IRDB profile stored in the phone says.
If someone knew his phone number, they could have punched it into the system and voila, his safeway card was used for the purchases!
A smart defense attorney should have been able to point that out.
Now, if Safeway had video surveilance of everyeone that purchased something, and could link the picture to the transaction, then there'd be evidence. Lacking that, the use of a discount card, especially at safeway, is useless as proof that someone did something.
And what is worse, the effective usability of cell phones is now WORSE than what they were just 4 to 6 years ago.
Yes, things were still mostly analog, with a few early adopters having digital, but for roaming your analog service was virtually seamless, especially along major interstates.
I recently drove west along I-10 with a digital phone, and spent literally hours where I could not get a call out. Yes it was in some of the "mountain" areas, but it was an area that used to have analog coverage that worked (because I drove it and know).
It really infuriates me what they've done. I spent several years building cellular (analog) networks, even in some mountain areas. I know the service is possible in these areas, but since the "new and improved" digital phones include the ability to restrict what services the phones may roam on (and in some cases, the newer phones won't even do analog), we've gone BACKWARDS. It's pathetic!
This is just the repackaging of ideas that were being worked on about ten years ago. And, it sounds very much like something a company I worked with before was wanting to do as well (except it wasn't free). It will be interesting to see how well this develops. Could be fun to play with.
Hmm.. I wonder.. ISPs get carrier exemptions so they are not responsible for what their customers do. Phone companies also get carrier exemptions, except I believe they have to file for common carrier status (not sure). I wonder if this becomes popular enough if John Q. Public could arrange to get common carrier protections.... hmm...
fascinating. thanks for the reference to the old usage of the term. [i enjoy word history.]
It's not a republican or democratic issue - they've both gone down the path of supporting whoever gives them money. It's a political (general) issue that I think will only get worse before it gets better. These are things revolutions are made of. Not a violent revolution with guns, but a customer/consumer revolution with dollars and technology. It's already begin, witness the P2P growth of unlicensed media, the villainification of those that copy ("pirates", used for many years for software copying and now applied to music, movies, anything), etc.
Not that I disagree w/you on why people continue to buy things they do not own and the lunacy of what DMCA has done, but I do dislike revisionist history.
googled (DMCA signed by president): On October 12, 1998, the U.S. Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, ending many months of turbulent negotiations regarding its provisions. Two weeks later, on October 28th, President Clinton signed the Act into law.
So, you can thank Clinton for the DMCA.
From the article: "...the total loss of the IS-804 satellite gives Zeus Holdings the right to not consummate the acquisition of Intelsat. Zeus Holdings has advised Intelsat that it is evaluating the impact of the IS-804 failure."
Could it be this is their way of getting out of the acquisition of Intelsat by Zeus Holdings? Two satellite failures in about 3 months time is a pretty high failure rate.
Or, I wonder if it could be the tin whiskers reported earlier causing unexpected power failures.
I'd have to ditto this sentimate. I get my composition book from Walmart, usually $0.87 or cheaper. And when you need ultra portability, there is a mini-composition book which fits in your pocket quite nicely. I love my fountain pens, and find I write a lot more frequently now that I've gone to pen and paper.
I don't have the fold out calendar, I still use the computer for most appointments, but that's about it.
My wife had a Clie for a while, the flip-n-twist model with the keyboard. She loved it. She upgrades about every year, has had two of them so far, and when it was time to buy her third, she found out Sony left (or was leaving) the US market and bought an Ipaq 4355 (w/the keyboard). Very useful PDA. The keyboard makes it.
I don't remember where, but I believe there was a previous article (also on /.) that mentioned Sun's marketing premise was to first get the market to associate Linux with a single company, in this case Red Hat, and then go after them specifically.
The problem for Sun is that Linux is available from a variety of sources. They try to compete against companies, and now face competing against a movement.
Someone figured out that if they could associate Linux with a single vendor, then they could launch what they hope to be an effective marketing effort by targetting that vendor individually.
To me, this is not an accident, and is part of a deliberate marketing ploy Sun is hoping to use to combat the threat of Linux to their platform. While Sun iron makes a lot of sense on the high end, they continue to face increasing pressure at the high end from IBM, and at the low end from PC based servers. And, Linux runs on that entire range of hardware. I'm sure Sun's profit margins are a lot slimmer, especially on their higher volume equipment, than in the past. It's the lower priced, higher volume equipment that Sun faces the biggest challenge, IMO, from Linux.
I would like to know what percentage of their overall revenue comes from higher volume sales v. the rest of their line and products. If I get motivated enough, I'll look up their financials to see if they are split out like that.
Plus, with Oracle promoting Linux for their databases, Sun can't just rest on its laurels for high-end databases. Especially with Oracle's Linux clustering. Think about it. Oracle is another very expensive layer for enterprises. Oracle can use Linux to lower the effective total operating costs of an installation. This is what Sun is competing against now. It seems to me, that in some significant way, that Oracle is helping push Sun towards commoditizing their hardware/software similar to how Intel is now. The margins are a lot slimmer, and are forcing Sun to become more creative in shoring up and growing their revenue.
There, the network is private, run by a company, and the expectation is that the conversations are private as well. It might very well be illegal for AOL (and other IM networks) to be monitoring individual IM sessions.
I doubt it. Telcos (including wireless) are allowed to monitor any activity (incl. voice traffic) on their network, all in the name of network security and maintenance. Targetting specific person or persons and following their calls through a network (aka wireless) would probably be crossing the line, or at least in a grey area, maybe.
Why should IM companies be any different?
If this company is large, well-established, and been around for a while, and not a younger (less than 5 years), smaller sized company, then odds are they are telling the truth about easier to hire contract.
Of course, the fact the position is advertised as full time, and they are now telling you it is contract, and that the reason is because it is easier to get approval, then that means the position your going for may not be fully funded.
Bottom line: Ask questions. Questions such as:
Is this position fully funded already, or is that why you need approval?
If it is funded, as a contractor (i.e. temp), how long is it funded for?
Does the company have any restrictions on how long you have to work as a contractor before being eligible to go perm?
How long until this position is moved from contractor to perm?
When moving to perm status, will benefits start the first day, or will there be an additional probationary (no benefits) period beyond the time spent as a contractor?
Will you be working under a staffing company (where you are a regular employee of the staffing company), or would you be working as an individual directly with the company (W-2 versus 1099 in the US)?
:)
I've seen some companies use contractors as a way to check out the work and abilities of someone they are interested in hiring when the candidate does not have the "required" education or job experience they originally listed. It can be a great way to get a foot in the door of the company.
Of course, there are also companies that use contractors as a way to staff up and down with little penalties.
You should do your own due diligence, check out the company, their track record, things like that. If you'll be working for a staffing company, research them as well.
One nice thing about working for staffing companies, you submit your time card to them and they take care of all the billing and collecting. You are a regular employee of the staffing company. That means you have labor law protections. When you work as a contractor directly for the company, it's a simple business arrangement, meaning if they don't pay you, you can't use labor laws (easily) to collect. Plus, in several cases, the staffing company will pay you weekly.
Excuse me, have you seen the state of "modern" healthcare in the US? It's mostly a joke! And you can place most of the blame on HMO like structures and insurance restrictions that control what doctors are able to do for their patients.
For most people, as long as they never get anything hard to diagnose, they will be fine. However, when doctors need to run a series of tests to find a problem, those tests get expensive. And, many insurances/hmos will do whatever they can to block/prevent/refuse those tests.
And, if you don't have insurance, things are even worse.
It is very rare to find a doctor that takes the direct involvement necessary to do thorough testing in order to systematically rule out causes in order to get to a final diagnosis.
Bitter, first-hand experience speaking here. With real insurance, with HMO insurance, and with no insurance. It's possible to get decent medical care, but not easy. The whole system is almost as screwed up as the patent system.
One thing about the Sharp PDA that made me want it was the USB interface that could work as a host or peripheral. All of the other PDAs I've checked out had peripheral only USB interfaces, meaning I could not plug it into my cell phone for wireless data.
Funds have kept me from getting the 6k, and now when I have the funds, it looks like I'll be unable to get one. We'll see.
Anyone know of a decent, powerful PDA with USB host capability built in? Otherwise I'm left with something like an IPAQ with a USB host card instead of just a simple cable from the device to the cell phone.
Either that, or I'll go back and look at the Samsung i700 now that the WM2003 upgrade is available.
Either way, it looks like Sharp's loss, or at least an ebay purchase.
The delay is typically less than a second. For a person with good hearing, it will sound like annoying echo. For someone with bad hearing, they won't always hear the live voice, instead they'll only hear the FM broadcast with the volume turned up for their hearing needs.
Then again, you can use better headphones that block the outside noise and let you listen to just the broadcast.
Thanks for all of the suggestions. I'll be checking them out. The radioSHARK idea is not portable enough. I need to be able to operate for an entire day, copy the data off (if necessary) and recharge/change batteries (as needed) at night, and be ready to go again the next day. I estimate needing to repeat this for 4 days in a row at the most. I like the 20 gig/256meg Neuros the best so far.
I like the built in FM tuner. The big question is if you can record from it. It doesn't look like it. And that's exactly what I want.
I attend various conferences. Some of them broadcast on a low power FM radio signal for people in the audience that are hard of hearing. Those people can have a private radio with headsets and adjust the volume to make it easier for them to hear. It also is a great way to record the program without the distracting noises from the audience.
I'd like to find an MP3 player, HD based or replacement memory sticks (SD, xD, whatever), that has the ability to record using a built in microphone and an FM tuner. A microphone jack would be a plus.
The closest I've found is a small 128/256 meg device, but the memory is not interchangeable, it's built in.
Anyone know of anything like that? Who makes it? And where it can be found?
Anyone remember the story 60 Minutes, or 20/20 or one of those "news magazine" tv shows, about pickups with exploding gas tanks?
The complaint was that the gas tanks were outside the frame (or something like that) and that they'd explode on side impact crashes.
They even showed a nice convincing demonstration by crash testing a few trucks for the nice TV cameras.
And then, after the fact, the truth came out -- while explosions COULD happen given the right circumstances, it wasn't that easy to do. In fact, the news people couldn't duplicate it in front of the cameras. So they placed a charge and DETONATED the gas tanks at the time of impact.
Or how about the rollover stories about the Isuzu Trooper started by Consumer Reports? We happened to have one, and I know how well they handled. They were NOT easy to roll over UNLESS YOU WERE TRYING TO ROLL IT OVER. I was following my wife down a mountain highway at 65+ and she had to make an emergency lane change, just like the consumer report "story". It handled just like you'd expect a trunk based vehicle to handle, and she never lifted a wheel off the ground. I also took the same vehicle off-roading (serious off-roading in the Rockies) -- it was a very capable, well-rounded vehicle. And not prone to tip-over.
Moral -- "news" organizations often have an axe to grind for whatever reason -- and they will do anything to (1) bury that axe into the person, company, side of the story they want to hurt, or (2) whatever it takes for ratings. End result - Can't Trust Them!
I wonder if the electronic transmission has "safety sensors" that won't shift to a lower gear if it might cause engine damage. If so, even if you put the selector down to the first gear, the computer would override the driver in order to protect the engine.
Hmm, the computer overriding the human for self-preservation. That could be interesting.....
I'm really disappointed. It seems they were in such a rush to release 2.0.0 with Gnome 2.8.0 that they left a pretty glaring problem.
/. article about switching from Linux to Windows saying? Problems with programs, support, etc? Releasing a "stable" 2.0.0, exiting the beta 1.5.x series, and having a problem that prevents alarms from working properly if you leave Evolution running overnight certainly doesn't make me very confident.
From their Known Issues: 2) Alarms don't work properly if Evolution runs past midnight
That's a pretty fundamental flaw for a program that is supposed to be essentially an Outlook replacement.
I commend Novell for their overall Linux efforts, but rushing things to release for the sake of making a date with this type of flaw seems like a dangerous way to conduct business.
It is things just like this that give some people enough pause to NOT deploy open source solutions. What was the earlier
Hopefully 2.0.1 will be released VERY soon.
What is the reason for denying the wireless AP connection? Are they forcing removal because of interference with the campus network? If so, the students may be outa luck. Even though it is unlicensed, I believe there is still a requireement for noninterference.
I just read the article. Interference claims are the reason for the action, and not all wireless APs are blocked, just the 2.4 gig ones. The 5 gig ones are allowed on specific channels.
Nothing to see here, another non-story.
And lest we forget, "I wonder if it will be friends with me?"
Not a very valid argument, unless you had the owner of the house putting a sign out front saying "Unlocked door".
WiFi access points ADVERTISE their existance, like a sign in the yard. The mere existance of an access point is just like the presence of the door. It doesn't mean anything.
Keep in mind, I'm talking about casual use, and not someone with tools to sniff and find the hidden identity of access points that are configured not to advertise, and then connecting to them. That would be, like the example, equivalent to someone walking up to every door and trying the lock until he finds one that is open.