I don't think this is half bad. Copyright holders need to go to court, rather than allowed to go straight to the ISP under previously proposed schemes. Of course this is ignoring other possible agendas... and we know the block is useless anyway, but that isn't the point.
2x Shuttle XPC running vCentre QNAP NAS for shared storage and media server Cisco 857w Generic gigabit switch Linksys VOIP gateway Small UPS
This sits behind the glass door of a nice oak AV cabinet in the living room, and I have a couple of 120mm PC fans in the back of it to circulate air. Reasonably cheap, no noise, easy on the power, and ok with the wife since I don't have an ugly rack of equipment sitting in the corner. Excepting for upgrades/reworks, this is more or less the setup I've run for the last 7 or 8 years.
Rest of house runs combination of Wifi & Ethernet. An additional Shuttle XPC sits in the shed as my "offsite" backup repository.
I second everything mentioned above, and also recommend the book "Grain Brain" (look it up on Amazon). It is written by a neurosurgeon who makes a very compelling, leading edge (and medically unpopular) case against grains and gluten, its relationship to inflammation and its effects on Alzheimer's, and the uncanny links with other first world epidemics like diabetes, obesity, heart disease, etc. Its very easy to read and there is lots of research referenced throughout.
At 33 I recently went through a cardiac event, scary as it is at this age, and I am definitely not what you would call morbidly obese. This book will change your thinking and your habits A LOT.
the Smart TV industry will kill the PC industry, because you can now do things like surf the net and Skype? In that case, the PC industry better hurry up killing the console industry, they've been working on that one for two decades.
Its not ideal, but better than having the ruling overturned. Although, the prospect of having the studios pay ISP's to process the infringement notices will give them yet another reason to complain about "the cost of piracy".
It would appear that common sense does not prevail anymore. I also feel that that the "younger" generation may not actually realise that their phone can do more than just texting/IM and facebook. Like, there was actually a time where people *spoke* on to each other using phones. So last decade...
The purpose of Tor is to provide anonymity. Given that in order for Tor to work it requires "community" participation, that means anyone can operate an exit node, but there is also an understanding that exit nodes can be used to siphon data. The key point here is that the exit nodes cannot determine the origin of the data, hence anonymity.
However, there is nothing preventing you from encrypting data over Tor.
With cars becoming all *-by-wire, if you are going to the effort to detect the phone being used, why not get it to shut the car down? (Of course there are safety issues here, but you get my drift)
I thought the same thing as well. I'm in Australia, even the people here are calling it a publicity stunt, although, if thats true then I don't understand the actual benefit the family gets with the publicity... aren't they described as a "crackpot" family?
My thoughts exactly, does it not have to store the carbon somewhere? Of course I have no knowledge in this area, but sureley that would change the structural integrity of the concrete over time? Could someone more knowledgable comment on this?
Or, for all we know, because its absorbing carbon it could very well make it stronger.
Since you have a linux computer on board, you could extend this beyond just real time control. Programmed flight paths? Use a smaller embedded linux computer and add extra gear, maybe cameras and GPS, you could do all sorts of cool stuff (although, now this is starting to sound like a military spy plane... expect a knock on the door from the FBI)
While there are a lot of unknowns about your question (e.g. number of locations, current size of WAN links, windows/linux enviroment, types of wan traffic, types of applications etc) really your only choices are:
1. Upgrade WAN links 2. Implement a citrix enviroment... and to a certain extent, because its cheaper than a "real" file server: 3. Using comodity PC hardware, run file servers with DFS, and backup the DFS at the main office. If you are using Windows this could work really well, with file/folder authentication, and domain authentication can be done over the WAN to the main office. On the other hand, there are risks using comodity hardware...
The compression boxes that others have mentioned, which might work for you, work best depending on what *type* of WAN traffic you have. If its mostly MS Orifice, that will compress reasonably well. If you have other application/proprietory traffic, maybe not so good. For example, I worked for a company that ran their remote offices with citrix clients on 64k to 128k links. After adding more clients than the links cound handle, the company starts to scream, but does not want to spend the money. Our consulting partner tells us about these whizz bang boxes that can compress data into almost nothing. So we ran a trial, and we found that (just as I thought we would) that citrix ran slower than before. Why? Citrix compression was already enabled. I wonder what made the consultants think they could compress already compressed data.
Answer the phone, say "hello" so that the computer on the other end knows someone is home, wait for the operator to go into his/her spiel about whatever product it is, then simply put the phone down on the benchtop and walk away, while the operator is still talking to themselves. They will usually spend a good minute or two talking away before they catch on.
At least this way the company will incur higher costs than they would have had if I simply ignored them; the charge for the call and time that has been consumed by the operator. I also found that some organisations have not called back.
My other favourite is to say "hang on I'll get mum/dad/whoever" to talk to them, put the phone on the bench, and walk away. They ususlly stay on the line longer with this tactic.
I once had a crazy friend who was upgrading his Pentium III era PC, and got fed up with getting certain peripherals to work, so he started yanking things out of the PC with the power on. We then found that the sound card was hot plugable, it would dissapear and reappear in device manager every time.
Strange thing is, the other day I was thinking about Back to the Future 2, how all those years ago the writers thought we might all have flying cars in 2015, and how off the mark they were. Looks like they were right after all!
This is my favourite tactic with Telemarketers. "Ok hang on a sec I will go and get him/her...". Record is 5 minutes 12 seconds.
I also silently listen to them while they are "waiting", I find that some of them will talk to themselves.... hillarious listening. The funniest one was an indian caller that every 10 seconds would mutter under her breath "hellohellohellohello? hello? hellohellohellohellohellohello?"
Given the size of your enviroment and the language you used, i'm willing to bet that your employer would not be willing to shell out $$$ for something like SMS. Plus since you are asking this question, you would also lack the expertise. SMS has a fairly steep learning curve. There are open source solutions available, but I have not used any of them, so YMMV. Why not just use login scripts? Its crude by today's standards, but it gets the job done, and it will cost you nothing.
There are many dialup ISPs here in Australia are flat rate. for $20-$25AU, I can get a completely unlimited account, disconencted every four hours.
A standard dialup, connected 24/7 will download up to four times the 3gb cap on our cable, for around a third of the cost. Add the call costs (another $20) and you are still well under the cost of broadband.
Add to this the fact that broadband is an entertainment meduim, see why its unreasonable?
Further to this, the old acceptable usage policy allowed ~500mb per day (10 x the daily average). With the new 100mb per day deal we have now, we have an 80% reduction in service, yet the price is the same.
I'd rather get a gamecube. If Nintendo release games based on classics, so be it. At least you can bet that the games are top notch. PS on the other hand, have a focus to quantity, and that just dosen't cut it for me.
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I don't think this is half bad. Copyright holders need to go to court, rather than allowed to go straight to the ISP under previously proposed schemes.
Of course this is ignoring other possible agendas... and we know the block is useless anyway, but that isn't the point.
2x Shuttle XPC running vCentre
QNAP NAS for shared storage and media server
Cisco 857w
Generic gigabit switch
Linksys VOIP gateway
Small UPS
This sits behind the glass door of a nice oak AV cabinet in the living room, and I have a couple of 120mm PC fans in the back of it to circulate air. Reasonably cheap, no noise, easy on the power, and ok with the wife since I don't have an ugly rack of equipment sitting in the corner. Excepting for upgrades/reworks, this is more or less the setup I've run for the last 7 or 8 years.
Rest of house runs combination of Wifi & Ethernet. An additional Shuttle XPC sits in the shed as my "offsite" backup repository.
I second everything mentioned above, and also recommend the book "Grain Brain" (look it up on Amazon). It is written by a neurosurgeon who makes a very compelling, leading edge (and medically unpopular) case against grains and gluten, its relationship to inflammation and its effects on Alzheimer's, and the uncanny links with other first world epidemics like diabetes, obesity, heart disease, etc. Its very easy to read and there is lots of research referenced throughout.
At 33 I recently went through a cardiac event, scary as it is at this age, and I am definitely not what you would call morbidly obese. This book will change your thinking and your habits A LOT.
This means you are trackable.
the Smart TV industry will kill the PC industry, because you can now do things like surf the net and Skype? In that case, the PC industry better hurry up killing the console industry, they've been working on that one for two decades.
Its not ideal, but better than having the ruling overturned. Although, the prospect of having the studios pay ISP's to process the infringement notices will give them yet another reason to complain about "the cost of piracy".
It would appear that common sense does not prevail anymore. I also feel that that the "younger" generation may not actually realise that their phone can do more than just texting/IM and facebook. Like, there was actually a time where people *spoke* on to each other using phones. So last decade...
The purpose of Tor is to provide anonymity. Given that in order for Tor to work it requires "community" participation, that means anyone can operate an exit node, but there is also an understanding that exit nodes can be used to siphon data. The key point here is that the exit nodes cannot determine the origin of the data, hence anonymity.
However, there is nothing preventing you from encrypting data over Tor.
With cars becoming all *-by-wire, if you are going to the effort to detect the phone being used, why not get it to shut the car down?
(Of course there are safety issues here, but you get my drift)
Humour. Try it.
I thought the same thing as well.
I'm in Australia, even the people here are calling it a publicity stunt, although, if thats true then I don't understand the actual benefit the family gets with the publicity... aren't they described as a "crackpot" family?
My thoughts exactly, does it not have to store the carbon somewhere? Of course I have no knowledge in this area, but sureley that would change the structural integrity of the concrete over time? Could someone more knowledgable comment on this?
Or, for all we know, because its absorbing carbon it could very well make it stronger.
Because we all know they are just sitting there waiting to get first post.
Oh wait...
Since you have a linux computer on board, you could extend this beyond just real time control. Programmed flight paths? Use a smaller embedded linux computer and add extra gear, maybe cameras and GPS, you could do all sorts of cool stuff (although, now this is starting to sound like a military spy plane... expect a knock on the door from the FBI)
While there are a lot of unknowns about your question (e.g. number of locations, current size of WAN links, windows/linux enviroment, types of wan traffic, types of applications etc) really your only choices are:
... and to a certain extent, because its cheaper than a "real" file server:
1. Upgrade WAN links
2. Implement a citrix enviroment
3. Using comodity PC hardware, run file servers with DFS, and backup the DFS at the main office. If you are using Windows this could work really well, with file/folder authentication, and domain authentication can be done over the WAN to the main office. On the other hand, there are risks using comodity hardware...
The compression boxes that others have mentioned, which might work for you, work best depending on what *type* of WAN traffic you have. If its mostly MS Orifice, that will compress reasonably well. If you have other application/proprietory traffic, maybe not so good. For example, I worked for a company that ran their remote offices with citrix clients on 64k to 128k links. After adding more clients than the links cound handle, the company starts to scream, but does not want to spend the money. Our consulting partner tells us about these whizz bang boxes that can compress data into almost nothing. So we ran a trial, and we found that (just as I thought we would) that citrix ran slower than before. Why? Citrix compression was already enabled. I wonder what made the consultants think they could compress already compressed data.
I get calls like this all the time.
Answer the phone, say "hello" so that the computer on the other end knows someone is home, wait for the operator to go into his/her spiel about whatever product it is, then simply put the phone down on the benchtop and walk away, while the operator is still talking to themselves. They will usually spend a good minute or two talking away before they catch on.
At least this way the company will incur higher costs than they would have had if I simply ignored them; the charge for the call and time that has been consumed by the operator. I also found that some organisations have not called back.
My other favourite is to say "hang on I'll get mum/dad/whoever" to talk to them, put the phone on the bench, and walk away. They ususlly stay on the line longer with this tactic.
Please elaborate on the amusement?
I once had a crazy friend who was upgrading his Pentium III era PC, and got fed up with getting certain peripherals to work, so he started yanking things out of the PC with the power on. We then found that the sound card was hot plugable, it would dissapear and reappear in device manager every time.
Strange thing is, the other day I was thinking about Back to the Future 2, how all those years ago the writers thought we might all have flying cars in 2015, and how off the mark they were. Looks like they were right after all!
This is my favourite tactic with Telemarketers. "Ok hang on a sec I will go and get him/her...". Record is 5 minutes 12 seconds.
I also silently listen to them while they are "waiting", I find that some of them will talk to themselves.... hillarious listening. The funniest one was an indian caller that every 10 seconds would mutter under her breath "hellohellohellohello? hello? hellohellohellohellohellohello?"
Given the size of your enviroment and the language you used, i'm willing to bet that your employer would not be willing to shell out $$$ for something like SMS. Plus since you are asking this question, you would also lack the expertise. SMS has a fairly steep learning curve. There are open source solutions available, but I have not used any of them, so YMMV.
Why not just use login scripts? Its crude by today's standards, but it gets the job done, and it will cost you nothing.
There are many dialup ISPs here in Australia are flat rate. for $20-$25AU, I can get a completely unlimited account, disconencted every four hours.
A standard dialup, connected 24/7 will download up to four times the 3gb cap on our cable, for around a third of the cost. Add the call costs (another $20) and you are still well under the cost of broadband.
Add to this the fact that broadband is an entertainment meduim, see why its unreasonable?
Further to this, the old acceptable usage policy allowed ~500mb per day (10 x the daily average). With the new 100mb per day deal we have now, we have an 80% reduction in service, yet the price is the same.
Go figure.
Actually, thats New Zealand you are thinking of...
Yeah right, I'd like to see them do their work without them
I'd rather get a gamecube. If Nintendo release games based on classics, so be it. At least you can bet that the games are top notch. PS on the other hand, have a focus to quantity, and that just dosen't cut it for me.
N64 wasn't a flop, it was the console of quality.