The "PLEASE PUT ME ON YOUR DO NOT CALL LIST." line just doesn't work. State based "Do Not Call" lists also have loopholes for charity, and you still get some calls (although not as many).
I prefer to engage the caller in a raunchy phone sex session. Good entertainment. Just don't start off with the four letter words right off the bat - engage them for a little bit. As a bonus, the longer you have them on the line, the less other people they can annoy.
Another option if you don't mind tying up your line for a few minutes is to use the hold feature many phones have. Just tell the caller "This sounds really interesting, but can you hang on a minute? I have to grab my notepad." Put them on hold and ignore it.
If you have a "call transfer" feature on your line, try transfering them to a pizza place, or some other business - maybe one that has pissed you off in the past. Speed dial works great for this.
Heh. Squid with AdZap works fine. No ads and no problems. Just another case of free software doing a better job than commercial stuff.
I felt I HAD to start using ad blocking software when sites started doing REALLY invasive ads (X10, yahoo, flash ads, etc.) That and the tracking being done by companies like doubleclick. With limited bandwidth, it was a no-brainer decision. Some sites are so bad that they have 200K or so of ads for ~2K of content. Pathetic. Then there are the annoying sites that spread 20K of text over 5 pages just so they can get more ad impressions at our expense. Unfortunately, the responsible sites that I like suffer due to the actions of irresponsible sites.
In the 200K ads vs 2K content example, you kinda wonder what their operating costs would be if they DIDN'T serve ads. Maybe they wouldn't need so many ads to make ends meet if their bandwidth bill was 1/100th the size that it currently is.
Yeah there is the argument that if you want the content, you MUST take the ads too. I don't agree with that, which is why I use TIVO and bypass ads on tv, or change channels or pop in a CD when listening to radio and the ads come on. Media execs would call me a theif saying that they "own" my time between content delivery. Bullcrap. That is a red herring / false argument in a vain attempt to hold onto a failing business model. Adapt or die, I say. It's the same type of argument that commercial software vendors try to use against open source / free software.
For what you do, 10% is a RIP OFF. At least the head hunters do SOME work to earn their pay.
If you want to earn that 10%, you are going to have to do some WORK for that money. Considering that most other job sites only charge a couple hundred bucks for listings, you are at a serious disadvantage right off the bat.
So are you going to interview all potential candidates and employers and only match them when the fit is good? Are you going to schedule interviews? What's your "value add?" What makes you different? Your list of features is a "me too" list as other sites have pretty much the same thing.
Granted, firewire is cheap, but it still has distance limitations. You also need those special cables.
I've thought about this some, and was thinking iSCSI as an option. If performance is REALLY an issue, I suppose you could invest in GigE.
As for the SAN / NAS issues, what we are seeing in the industry is that people want / need both. Some vendors are starting to deliver devices that do both in one box. Raw disk for databases and such, and network file systems for other tasks.
Frankly for home systems, NAS should be just fine.
Heh. It's actually funny that it's taken Sun this long. Most of the REALLY GOOD admins automate all the mundane stuff already by using scripts / apps that they have built over the years. I mean really - restarting failed processes, handling disk full issues, log pruning and analysis, etc. are all automatable tasks. There is a number of sysadmin related tasks that CAN'T be automated, and that require a significant amount of brain-power to solve. Software can't think - it can only do what it has been programmed to do.
there aren't enough QUALIFIED US workers to satisfy demand.
That USED to be true before the massive layoffs happened. There is PLENTY of highly-qualified "supply" at this point in the computer tech area (we are talking programmers / sysadmins now, not Chem or ME.)
First, it's not anti-technology, it's anti-police-state, anti-corporate-state, anti-stupidity.
It's like an electric can opener. If I open 3 cans a week, that would be a lot. Why the hell should I get an electric can opener? The good old fashioned kind works fine. If they changed can design with a new patented top and only sold electric can openers for that top, I would be just as pissed. Why should I be forced to upgrade just to keep doing what I have always been doing?
I don't watch a lot of TV. I want to catch some news, a little foodtv, and a few football games. What I do watch, I usually timeshift with TIVO. If I record one show a year to keep in a collection, that would be a lot. If I was no longer allowed to record due to copy protection shit, I'll be one pissed off mother F-er. I DEFINATELY won't buy technology that has those limitations.
HDTV is VERY expensive. Yes, the quality is better, but I DON'T GIVE A SHIT about an incremental increase in quality unless I can get it at the same price or near the same price as my current set. I've got MUCH more important things to do with my cash, such as plan for my family's future. HDTV is just not a priority and never will be for me and the rest of the world which still hasn't bought into the HDTV thang. HDTV sets accounted for less than 1% of sets sold last year, so I'm not alone.
If HDTV were like computers where I can buy a new computer that's 10 time faster with 10 times the storage as my old one for the same price or less than I paid for my old one, then sure, I'd buy it. But it's not. This is why HDTV is failing to take off.
It wouldn't be so bad if ALL TVs being sold TODAY had a dual mode built in. But most (>90% sold) don't. Walk into ANY store today and count the number of TVs with DTV / HDTV versus those that don't. Only a small fraction of the TVs that these stores carry can handle the new format that is currently being broadcast. THIS is the problem. So what you are saying is that I can buy a TV today, and will be forced to buy a converter in a few years. I actually may be forced to buy 4 or 5 converters which increase my costs significantly. And for what? A close to zero or even negative increase in quality? And copy restrictions too? I don't think so. This is NOT the same as black & white versus color, or 8-track versus Cassette / CD. With the added copy restrictions, it's WORSE than what we have today. That's not innovation.
TVs are actually quite reliable. The ones I buy today will probably last 25+ years. I have an old one I bought over 15 years ago that works great with a picture quality about the same as a brand-new model. To force me to dump it or a TV I buy today before it's useful life is over won't fly with me or a good portion of the country. As the date approaches and the general public learns what this really means, things will change or we will have a revolution.
Yeah, in the US it's typically known as an Employment Agreement. I had one with a dot bomb and ended up with a NICE chunk of change at the end, significanty more than those that didn't. Note that unless you are Very valuable to a company, you probably won't get one. Also note that if a company goes bankrupt, the agreement means NOTHING as you are just one of the creditors. In fact, in a bankruptsy situation, the company CAN'T pay severance unless approved by the court (which has a close to zero chance of happening.) I've been in THAT situation too.
Anyway, these severance agreements are Standard Operating Proceedure, but may contain things that are not enforcable.
This is BS. The power you describe is an illusion. The power REALLY exists with mail server operators which USE the list. They have the right to decide who accesses their systems. The "blacklists" are merely a list of mail servers with certain characteristics. They block NOTHING. The MAIL SERVER that refers to the list is the entity doing the blocking. The list operators CANNOT be held for how their information is used. The list CAN be used to just tag mail, log a notice, or any other purpose - it doesn't have to be used to reject mail, that's purely the decision of the mail server operator alone.
You are forgetting the fact that spammers use forged addresses and third party open relays. They will NEVER GET THE ERROR MESSAGE. Instead, the incompetant sod running the open relay gets to deal with it.
If it's not closed, it's open. Virtually all spammers forge headers - this is a VERY WELL KNOWN fact. What he SHOULD be doing is securing his mail server against unauthorized relaying. Restricting a mail server to only relay from email addresses from your domain is NOT enough. It needs to be based on IP address, SMTP Auth, or other mechanism that truely restricts unauthorized use. Information is widely available on the net on how to secure your server, so I'm not going to repeat it here, but you can check out http://spam.abuse.net/adminhelp/ for some info.
Most Mom & Pop's don't run thier own mail servers. If you don't have the knowledge to secure your mail server then you shouldn't be running one. You should use your ISP's. If you don't know how to drive a car, you probably shouldn't drive until you get some education. Take a cab or bus instead. It's the same thing.
People like this can't be educated. He has taken a stand and refuses to believe that his mail server is an open relay even when presented with irrefutable evidence. He KNOWS that his mail server accepts forged mail. The problem is VERY clear to all the parties involved.
This lawyer is both stupid and stubborn which IMHO is the worst kind of lawyer.
As an FYI, most rejections refer you to web pages on the RBL which explain things. None of the web pages I have EVER seen has said anything about "you nasty friend of spammers". Instead, they generally inform you that you are running an open proxy or relay and point you to information on how to fix it, however they rely on YOU (or your administrator) to know what mail server you are running. The web page has NO way of knowing which mail server you are running based on your browser / browsers IP address. Note that SOME rejection messages can refer you to a CGI script that looks up the offending mail server info, but not all MTAs support the ability to customize error messages in the fashion needed for this functionality.
Their 4U 2T system goes for $25K, so 50T would be about $750K and fit in 2 1/2 racks. They claim that they will be doing iSCSI soon, but right now it's just NAS. Still, this is a far cry from $20M. If budget is a concern, you can figure out how to use an array of NAS in place of a SAN.
If you are hell-bent on SCSI or FC, you are going to be into serious dough as SCSI drives are almost 10X the price of IDE at this time, and don't come with as large of capacity (which means that you will need more rackspace, chassis, power, etc.) $20M is probably not too far off. Modern IDE drives with dedicated smart controllers are really not too bad. Just keep a pile of them to swap out bad ones as you are going to be going through drives pretty quick.
With the size of your drive array, backup is going to be a serious issue. You are going to need a multi-drive robotic array of good size. Those are not cheap either.
Nice try junior, who said anything about a production network? Do you think that just because a machine has net access means that it's in production? Don't you use test environments that mirror production exactly? Get a clue.
When you get out in the real world, you find that sometimes businesses use various OS's based on many reasons, not just personal preference.
X may not be engineered for speed, but it's still faster than windows in normal everyday use on average hardware (note that not all hardware is supported or supported well on Linux due to pig-headed hardware mfr's.)
Try installing Exchange 5.5 on NT4. PAIN IN THE ASS.
You need to install the base OS, option pack, various service packs, hot fixes, exchange, etc. in EXACTLY the right order (which is not documented anywhere.) If you fuck up the order, start over with a reformat of the hard drive.
I had to re-install a exchange webmail box from scratch and the damn thing got infected with nimda before I got a chance to install the hotfix that protects from nimda. Ended up having to configure the firewall to block that machine while installing just to be able to complete the install with out the box getting infected. Fucking pathetic.
Things don't get any better on Win2K or XP, where hotfixes can conflict and break things. Again, all undocumented (or underdocumented at least.)
MS just doesn't get it. They show no signs that they will ever change their ways. They just don't care. They don't care because they don't have to (being a monopoly and all.) They KNOW that they have businesses by the balls, as much of the software used / needed by business is only available on the MS platform (for now anyway.)
Fuck it. I'm tired of the computer industry as a whole. Crappy software is everywhere, on every platform. The mac sucks, so does linux, solaris, all versions of MS software, etc. Everything is a pain in the ass, unreliable, has crappy documentation, doesn't work the way you need it to, etc., AND THIS WILL NEVER CHANGE. In the 25 years I have been working with computers, it has not gotten any better. At least Linux is free so I'm not paying for crap, just still getting it.
Yeah, but it's X-10. X-10 SUCKS. Who the hell wants a system that randomly turns your bedroom light or stereo on at 3am? I used to have lots of x-10 stuff, but got tired of it just not working reliably and ripped it out. That and going through wall switches left and right ( they just are NOT built well.)... And I'll NEVER forgive them for the pop-up ads.
Misterhouse is cool, but I'd rather use some other HA technology than X-10.
Escient uses Lutron stuff. Only problem is that it's a closed architecture / proprietary thing. Why of why these guys refuse to work with open standards is beyond me. It limits you to only technology supported by Lutron.
An alternative is open technology supported by companies like Leviton, Samsung, Siemens, Philips, Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Trane, Cisco, and Many others world wide. See Echelon who developed the technology, and the Lonmark site which has info on integrators, manufacturers, etc.
It's called a "generator." Your UPS only needs to run a few critical systems until the generator kicks in. You can get just about any sized UPS or generator limited only by your budget. It's obvious this guy has a few pennies to spend.
Um, this guy was promoting RELAY technology. RELAYS CAN'T DIM. PERIOD.
What you WANT is a PWM system (Pulse Width Modulation) which is a solid-state technology that can do light dimming, motor speed control, etc. This is how electronic dimmer switches work. Some do the PWM at too low of frequency which causes lights to whine (even my aging ears can hear it.)
This "relay" type of system is a pain in the ass anyway. It requires a home-run style wiring, where all the wires go to the control box. What you want is a daisy-chained system with addressable electronic control modules at each device (such as a light.) This is how the Lonworks system works. Lonworks is a technology several generations beyond X10.
Slashdot Mirror
The "PLEASE PUT ME ON YOUR DO NOT CALL LIST." line just doesn't work. State based "Do Not Call" lists also have loopholes for charity, and you still get some calls (although not as many).
I prefer to engage the caller in a raunchy phone sex session. Good entertainment. Just don't start off with the four letter words right off the bat - engage them for a little bit. As a bonus, the longer you have them on the line, the less other people they can annoy.
Another option if you don't mind tying up your line for a few minutes is to use the hold feature many phones have. Just tell the caller "This sounds really interesting, but can you hang on a minute? I have to grab my notepad." Put them on hold and ignore it.
If you have a "call transfer" feature on your line, try transfering them to a pizza place, or some other business - maybe one that has pissed you off in the past. Speed dial works great for this.
Heh. Squid with AdZap works fine. No ads and no problems. Just another case of free software doing a better job than commercial stuff.
I felt I HAD to start using ad blocking software when sites started doing REALLY invasive ads (X10, yahoo, flash ads, etc.) That and the tracking being done by companies like doubleclick. With limited bandwidth, it was a no-brainer decision. Some sites are so bad that they have 200K or so of ads for ~2K of content. Pathetic. Then there are the annoying sites that spread 20K of text over 5 pages just so they can get more ad impressions at our expense. Unfortunately, the responsible sites that I like suffer due to the actions of irresponsible sites.
In the 200K ads vs 2K content example, you kinda wonder what their operating costs would be if they DIDN'T serve ads. Maybe they wouldn't need so many ads to make ends meet if their bandwidth bill was 1/100th the size that it currently is.
Yeah there is the argument that if you want the content, you MUST take the ads too. I don't agree with that, which is why I use TIVO and bypass ads on tv, or change channels or pop in a CD when listening to radio and the ads come on. Media execs would call me a theif saying that they "own" my time between content delivery. Bullcrap. That is a red herring / false argument in a vain attempt to hold onto a failing business model. Adapt or die, I say. It's the same type of argument that commercial software vendors try to use against open source / free software.
EOM
if someone could build a "wave cancellation" device
What you REALLY need is the Cone of Silence.
For what you do, 10% is a RIP OFF. At least the head hunters do SOME work to earn their pay.
If you want to earn that 10%, you are going to have to do some WORK for that money. Considering that most other job sites only charge a couple hundred bucks for listings, you are at a serious disadvantage right off the bat.
So are you going to interview all potential candidates and employers and only match them when the fit is good? Are you going to schedule interviews? What's your "value add?" What makes you different? Your list of features is a "me too" list as other sites have pretty much the same thing.
Granted, firewire is cheap, but it still has distance limitations. You also need those special cables.
I've thought about this some, and was thinking iSCSI as an option.
If performance is REALLY an issue, I suppose you could invest in GigE.
As for the SAN / NAS issues, what we are seeing in the industry is that people want / need both. Some vendors are starting to deliver devices that do both in one box. Raw disk for databases and such, and network file systems for other tasks.
Frankly for home systems, NAS should be just fine.
Heh. It's actually funny that it's taken Sun this long. Most of the REALLY GOOD admins automate all the mundane stuff already by using scripts / apps that they have built over the years. I mean really - restarting failed processes, handling disk full issues, log pruning and analysis, etc. are all automatable tasks. There is a number of sysadmin related tasks that CAN'T be automated, and that require a significant amount of brain-power to solve. Software can't think - it can only do what it has been programmed to do.
there aren't enough QUALIFIED US workers to satisfy demand.
That USED to be true before the massive layoffs happened. There is PLENTY of highly-qualified "supply" at this point in the computer tech area (we are talking programmers / sysadmins now, not Chem or ME.)
First, it's not anti-technology, it's anti-police-state, anti-corporate-state, anti-stupidity.
It's like an electric can opener. If I open 3 cans a week, that would be a lot. Why the hell should I get an electric can opener? The good old fashioned kind works fine. If they changed can design with a new patented top and only sold electric can openers for that top, I would be just as pissed. Why should I be forced to upgrade just to keep doing what I have always been doing?
I don't watch a lot of TV. I want to catch some news, a little foodtv, and a few football games. What I do watch, I usually timeshift with TIVO. If I record one show a year to keep in a collection, that would be a lot. If I was no longer allowed to record due to copy protection shit, I'll be one pissed off mother F-er. I DEFINATELY won't buy technology that has those limitations.
HDTV is VERY expensive. Yes, the quality is better, but I DON'T GIVE A SHIT about an incremental increase in quality unless I can get it at the same price or near the same price as my current set. I've got MUCH more important things to do with my cash, such as plan for my family's future. HDTV is just not a priority and never will be for me and the rest of the world which still hasn't bought into the HDTV thang. HDTV sets accounted for less than 1% of sets sold last year, so I'm not alone.
If HDTV were like computers where I can buy a new computer that's 10 time faster with 10 times the storage as my old one for the same price or less than I paid for my old one, then sure, I'd buy it. But it's not. This is why HDTV is failing to take off.
Sigh.
It wouldn't be so bad if ALL TVs being sold TODAY had a dual mode built in. But most (>90% sold) don't. Walk into ANY store today and count the number of TVs with DTV / HDTV versus those that don't. Only a small fraction of the TVs that these stores carry can handle the new format that is currently being broadcast. THIS is the problem. So what you are saying is that I can buy a TV today, and will be forced to buy a converter in a few years. I actually may be forced to buy 4 or 5 converters which increase my costs significantly. And for what? A close to zero or even negative increase in quality? And copy restrictions too? I don't think so. This is NOT the same as black & white versus color, or 8-track versus Cassette / CD. With the added copy restrictions, it's WORSE than what we have today. That's not innovation.
TVs are actually quite reliable. The ones I buy today will probably last 25+ years. I have an old one I bought over 15 years ago that works great with a picture quality about the same as a brand-new model. To force me to dump it or a TV I buy today before it's useful life is over won't fly with me or a good portion of the country. As the date approaches and the general public learns what this really means, things will change or we will have a revolution.
Yeah, in the US it's typically known as an Employment Agreement. I had one with a dot bomb and ended up with a NICE chunk of change at the end, significanty more than those that didn't. Note that unless you are Very valuable to a company, you probably won't get one. Also note that if a company goes bankrupt, the agreement means NOTHING as you are just one of the creditors. In fact, in a bankruptsy situation, the company CAN'T pay severance unless approved by the court (which has a close to zero chance of happening.) I've been in THAT situation too.
Anyway, these severance agreements are Standard Operating Proceedure, but may contain things that are not enforcable.
This is BS. The power you describe is an illusion. The power REALLY exists with mail server operators which USE the list. They have the right to decide who accesses their systems. The "blacklists" are merely a list of mail servers with certain characteristics. They block NOTHING. The MAIL SERVER that refers to the list is the entity doing the blocking. The list operators CANNOT be held for how their information is used. The list CAN be used to just tag mail, log a notice, or any other purpose - it doesn't have to be used to reject mail, that's purely the decision of the mail server operator alone.
You are forgetting the fact that spammers use forged addresses and third party open relays. They will NEVER GET THE ERROR MESSAGE. Instead, the incompetant sod running the open relay gets to deal with it.
If it's not closed, it's open. Virtually all spammers forge headers - this is a VERY WELL KNOWN fact. What he SHOULD be doing is securing his mail server against unauthorized relaying. Restricting a mail server to only relay from email addresses from your domain is NOT enough. It needs to be based on IP address, SMTP Auth, or other mechanism that truely restricts unauthorized use. Information is widely available on the net on how to secure your server, so I'm not going to repeat it here, but you can check out http://spam.abuse.net/adminhelp/ for some info.
Most Mom & Pop's don't run thier own mail servers. If you don't have the knowledge to secure your mail server then you shouldn't be running one. You should use your ISP's. If you don't know how to drive a car, you probably shouldn't drive until you get some education. Take a cab or bus instead. It's the same thing.
People like this can't be educated. He has taken a stand and refuses to believe that his mail server is an open relay even when presented with irrefutable evidence. He KNOWS that his mail server accepts forged mail. The problem is VERY clear to all the parties involved.
This lawyer is both stupid and stubborn which IMHO is the worst kind of lawyer.
As an FYI, most rejections refer you to web pages on the RBL which explain things. None of the web pages I have EVER seen has said anything about "you nasty friend of spammers". Instead, they generally inform you that you are running an open proxy or relay and point you to information on how to fix it, however they rely on YOU (or your administrator) to know what mail server you are running. The web page has NO way of knowing which mail server you are running based on your browser / browsers IP address. Note that SOME rejection messages can refer you to a CGI script that looks up the offending mail server info, but not all MTAs support the ability to customize error messages in the fashion needed for this functionality.
Search terms: IDE Raid Chassis
Sponsered link: raidzone.com
Their 4U 2T system goes for $25K, so 50T would be about $750K and fit in 2 1/2 racks. They claim that they will be doing iSCSI soon, but right now it's just NAS. Still, this is a far cry from $20M. If budget is a concern, you can figure out how to use an array of NAS in place of a SAN.
If you are hell-bent on SCSI or FC, you are going to be into serious dough as SCSI drives are almost 10X the price of IDE at this time, and don't come with as large of capacity (which means that you will need more rackspace, chassis, power, etc.) $20M is probably not too far off. Modern IDE drives with dedicated smart controllers are really not too bad. Just keep a pile of them to swap out bad ones as you are going to be going through drives pretty quick.
With the size of your drive array, backup is going to be a serious issue. You are going to need a multi-drive robotic array of good size. Those are not cheap either.
Nice try junior, who said anything about a production network? Do you think that just because a machine has net access means that it's in production? Don't you use test environments that mirror production exactly? Get a clue.
When you get out in the real world, you find that sometimes businesses use various OS's based on many reasons, not just personal preference.
X may not be engineered for speed, but it's still faster than windows in normal everyday use on average hardware (note that not all hardware is supported or supported well on Linux due to pig-headed hardware mfr's.)
eterm does this without alphablending and has done so for years.
Try installing Exchange 5.5 on NT4. PAIN IN THE ASS.
You need to install the base OS, option pack, various service packs, hot fixes, exchange, etc. in EXACTLY the right order (which is not documented anywhere.) If you fuck up the order, start over with a reformat of the hard drive.
I had to re-install a exchange webmail box from scratch and the damn thing got infected with nimda before I got a chance to install the hotfix that protects from nimda. Ended up having to configure the firewall to block that machine while installing just to be able to complete the install with out the box getting infected. Fucking pathetic.
Things don't get any better on Win2K or XP, where hotfixes can conflict and break things. Again, all undocumented (or underdocumented at least.)
MS just doesn't get it. They show no signs that they will ever change their ways. They just don't care. They don't care because they don't have to (being a monopoly and all.) They KNOW that they have businesses by the balls, as much of the software used / needed by business is only available on the MS platform (for now anyway.)
Fuck it. I'm tired of the computer industry as a whole. Crappy software is everywhere, on every platform. The mac sucks, so does linux, solaris, all versions of MS software, etc. Everything is a pain in the ass, unreliable, has crappy documentation, doesn't work the way you need it to, etc., AND THIS WILL NEVER CHANGE. In the 25 years I have been working with computers, it has not gotten any better. At least Linux is free so I'm not paying for crap, just still getting it.
Yeah, but it's X-10. X-10 SUCKS. Who the hell wants a system that randomly turns your bedroom light or stereo on at 3am? I used to have lots of x-10 stuff, but got tired of it just not working reliably and ripped it out. That and going through wall switches left and right ( they just are NOT built well.) ... And I'll NEVER forgive them for the pop-up ads.
Misterhouse is cool, but I'd rather use some other HA technology than X-10.
Or you could even have it where the lights turned on when you enter the room.
You mean like these? (PDF file)
Oh wait... These only work with OPEN systems. Not that closed architecture lutron stuff.
Escient uses Lutron stuff. Only problem is that it's a closed architecture / proprietary thing. Why of why these guys refuse to work with open standards is beyond me. It limits you to only technology supported by Lutron.
An alternative is open technology supported by companies like Leviton, Samsung, Siemens, Philips, Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Trane, Cisco, and Many others world wide. See Echelon who developed the technology, and the Lonmark site which has info on integrators, manufacturers, etc.
It's called a "generator." Your UPS only needs to run a few critical systems until the generator kicks in. You can get just about any sized UPS or generator limited only by your budget. It's obvious this guy has a few pennies to spend.
Um, this guy was promoting RELAY technology. RELAYS CAN'T DIM. PERIOD.
What you WANT is a PWM system (Pulse Width Modulation) which is a solid-state technology that can do light dimming, motor speed control, etc. This is how electronic dimmer switches work. Some do the PWM at too low of frequency which causes lights to whine (even my aging ears can hear it.)
This "relay" type of system is a pain in the ass anyway. It requires a home-run style wiring, where all the wires go to the control box. What you want is a daisy-chained system with addressable electronic control modules at each device (such as a light.) This is how the Lonworks system works. Lonworks is a technology several generations beyond X10.